"STRIKERS: 1945" FAQ by t-bob <soconnor@mail.javanet.com> -------- V. 0.1 (Alpha) -------- Poop mersh! Welcome to my 31337 FAQ of my favorite shooter as of late. As far as I know, this game is kind of old, but it's still lots-o-fun. I wrote this FAQ mostly because I hadn't already seen one and I'm bored out of my skull (summer vacation and all). Well, anyway, this game is kind of a continuation of the shoot-em-up series Capcom started with 1941 back in the day. The gameplay is different, but the P-38's still kickin' (really!). Psikyo produced it this time around, with gameplay a little more like the "Raiden" series. Let's get on with it. -------- BASICS -------- This game is a pretty standard vertical-scrolling shoot-em-up. Sink in your quarter (or token) and hit START. You'll be presented with a choice of six (6) planes: the P-38, the P-51, the Spitfire, the Bf-109, the Zero, and the Shinden. Each plane has pretty much the same basic weapon; the only thing that differs from plane to plane is the color. The difference is in the Power-Ups and the Bombs (more on those in just a second). Your goal is to shoot everything you see. Ummm... that's it. You have two (2) buttons: Fire and Bomb. Fire shoots your main gun, shoots your Helpers' guns, and charges your Helpers (more detail on that in the "POWER-UPS" section). Bomb releases a bomb (more on that in the "BOMBS" section). There are three (3) different items in this game: Power-Ups (capsules with a green "P" on them), Bombs (capsules with a red "B" on them), and gold bars. POWER-UPS: These are hands-down the most important part of the game. They increase the size and power of your regular gun, and also give you a Helper Plane. With each Power-Up you get a Helper Plane and everything gets stronger and bigger except your bomb. I don't think there's a limit to the number of Power-Ups you can have, but I'm not sure. The most I've ever had is four. Your Helper Planes will be your greatest asset. They mimic your movements with a slight delay, fire their own guns whenever you fire, and can be "charged." To charge your Helpers, hold down the Fire button. You'll hear a little "power-up" sound and your Helpers will flash. Release the fire button and they'll do their little thing. What kind of weapon Helpers fire and what they do when charged varies from plane to plane. Small red planes and some larger enemies and buildings release Power-Ups. BOMBS: Bombs are basically to get you out of trouble. If you're about to be hit, drop a Bomb. Every Bomb will either instantly nullify projectiles, evade them, or both. You start with two (2) Bombs, and can get more. Larger enemies and buildings generally release Bombs, but not exclusively. GOLD BARS: These give you points. Buildings and ground-based targets release them. TARGETS: There are two kinds of targets: flying and ground-based. Most ground-based targets are stationary, but there are exceptions; most flyers move around, but there are exceptions. Some buildings (ground-based) can be shot too. Your weapons will hit any target. If it moves, shoot it. If it doesn't move, shoot it anyway. Not all things can be shot though. Generally, shootable things have brighter colors. -------- PLANES -------- NAME: PLANE NAME BOMB: WHAT THE BOMB DOES. POWER-UP: WHAT THE HELPERS DO. COMMENT: MISC. COMMENTS. -------- NAME: P-38 BOMB: The P-38 does a backflip, and drops a bomb that detonates in the same place the P-38 dropped the bomb at as the P-38 finishes its backflip. The bomb is increadibly powerful, and hits most of the screen. If the bomb is dropped directly on an enemy (that is, the enemy is hit with the physical bomb, not just the explosion), the enemy will sustain *massive* damage. POWER-UP: The Helpers shoot out little planes at a medium rate of speed that bear a striking resemblance to the helper planes you could get in "1943". They will home in on whatever target they can reach first. When charged, the Helpers spread out, about one plane length apart in the area where you released the fire button. They will stay there (slowly moving forward to adjust for screen scrolling) and will fire shots that look like the P-38's regular gun with no Power-Ups. COMMENT: The P-38's pretty good. It has a good Bomb and Helper shot, but its Helper charge isn't that great. When you've got 3 or 4 Helpers, it's good, but with 1 or 2, it's not that great; it doesn't cover much ground, and doesn't have the strength in firepower to make up for that. Furthurmore, it works best agains stationary targets of which there aren't many. With 4 Helpers, it covers enough territory to be effective, but as soon as you die, you'll lose that effectiveness. -------- NAME: P-51 BOMB: Several big planes which span the width of the screen fly by, negating all projectiles. In their wake, a series of bombs detonates going from the bottom of the screen to the top. Fairly powerful, and it covers the entire screen. POWER-UP: The Helper shoot out missiles, similar to the Shinden's, but they're faster, and two can be on the screen simultaneously instead of just one. They're not as powerful as the Shinden's missiles, but their speed makes up for it. When charged, the Helpers spin in circles around eachother, with blue rings around them, and slowly advance towards the top of the screen. They negate projectiles. COMMENT: Good Bomb, great charge shot, OK Helper shot. The Bomb hits the entire screen, which is good, but the charge shot is the best feature. Charge up, release, and follow the spinning Helpers up the screen, staying in the center or towards the bottom of the ring. YOU WILL NOT BE HIT. The Helpers negate all projectiles, so you are effectively invincible! Just don't run into any physical enemies. When the Helpers actually hit enemies in their charge state, they do good damage too. The only downside is that it takes longer to charge than other charge shots. Still, the P-51 has probably the best charge shot in the game. -------- NAME: Spitfire BOMB: The Spitfire will be engulfed in a column of flame that will cover the screen above it. It's about 1/5 of the screen wide. You can move around, but very slowly. It's pretty powerful. It will destroy any projectiles that come in contact with it. POWER-UP: The Helpers will shoot out bright red projectiles about as big as the Helper planes themselves. When doing this, all Helpers will shoot in unison, and only one projectile per plane will be on the screen at one time. When one of these porjectiles hits a target, it will slow way down until the target is destroyed or they go completely through the target. When powered up, the Helpers form an arc in front of the Spitfire and shoot projectiles similar to the Spitfire's standard shot. It's like the 3-way shot from "1943." COMMENT: Pretty good Bomb, OK Power-Up, kick-ass Helper shot. You can control where the bomb hits, which is good, but a full-screener would just be easier. The Power-Up covers a wide territory, but that's about it. The Helper shot is awesome. When you hit a target with it, you will do massive damage; MASSIVE. It's the Spitfire's best asset. Exploit it. -------- NAME: Bf-109 BOMB: The Bf-109 does a backflip, and a bunch of planes converge on the center of the screen and drop a bunch of Bombs. I'm not sure, but I think the damage enemies take is reduced proportionally by how far away from the center they are. POWER-UP: This plane has some phat Power-Ups!! The Helpers shoot crescent- shaped shots that home in on the enemy that's farthest away from you. Each Helper shoots at a different target. They also each shoot out a small, red bomb-like thing that dissipates pretty quickly. I don't know why this is in the game; it's pretty useless. When charged, they slowly move vertically, swirling in small circles and shooting VERY powerful green and red rectangle- shaped shots until they reach the top of the screen. COMMENT: Probably my favorite plane. The Bomb leaves a little something to be desired, but the Power-Ups make up for it!! Their regular shots are useful, and the charge is very effictive against bosses. A great plane. -------- NAME: Zero BOMB: Blue lightning will instantly falsh everywhere for about 3 seconds. You can move around, but you can't shoot. The lightning isn't very powerful, but will cancel out all projectiles shot, so all you have to do is dodge enemies (which is really easy). POWER-UP: The Helpers just shoot. When charged, they move right in front of an enemy and shoot at it until either it blows up (they will move to a new target then), or until the charge wears off. COMMENT: The Zero was my favorite plane until I discovered the Bf-109. Basically, the Zero does with its Helper charge what the Bf-109 does with its Helper shot. It's easier to just shoot instead of keep charging. However, this "homing" ability is a great asset, even if you have to charge it. The Bomb is one of my favorite (and one of the best) in the game too, because it hits everything on the screen instantaneously. A good plane. -------- NAME: Shinden BOMB: The Shinden does a backflip and a burst of energy in the shape of a plane about 1/5 the width of the screen flies forward. It's pretty powerful and will negate projectiles it touches. POWER-UP: The Helpers shoot missiles in unison. They can only fire missiles when the missiles they last fired either hit an enemy or went off the screen. These missiles are very strong, but it's hard to hit smaller targets with them. They come out very slowly and after about 1/2 a second, they speed up and fly straight. When charged, the Helpers form themselves into a horizontal line and fly slowly towards the top of the screen firing a constant horizontal stream of projectiles. The strength of this stream increses with the number of Helpers you have but the size does not. COMMENT: The Shinden's kind of a weird plane. It's Bomb is OK. It's Helper shot is OK. It's Helper charge is OK. It doesn't really have a strong suit like the other planes do, or even a specialty. If you can hit things with the Helper shot with consistency, then that's great; the Shinden could be powerful in your hands. Me, I have a hard time being effective with it. ---------- STRATEGIES ---------- 1. Don't always charge your Helpers. Depending on the situation, your Helper shot might be better than your charge shot and vice versa. Know your plane. 2. Only drop a Bomb when you're about to get hit. Bombing just to do quick damage may wipe out all the enemies, or kill the boss faster, but you'll regret it later. 3. Your priority is staying alive. As long as you never run out of planes, you'll keep going. Don't get distracted with points or a cool-looking enemy you want to kill. Dodge bullets, then worry about taking out enemies, then worry about picking up gold bars. 4. Picking up extra Bombs and Power-Ups (Power-Ups in particular) should be high on your priority list, up there with taking out bad guys. Don't go chasing after them right away though; after they go to the top of the screen they'll float back down slowly, making it easy to pick them up. 5. And last but not least, never stop shooting. You should never let go of the fire button. If you're not shooting, you should be at least charging your helpers. ---------- Well, um... that's it. --(l.206)--(EOF)--