___ _ _ |_ _|_ __ ___ _ __ ___| | __ _ __| | | || '__/ _ \| '_ \ / __| |/ _` |/ _` | | || | | (_) | | | | (__| | (_| | (_| | |___|_| \___/|_| |_|\___|_|\__,_|\__,_| FAQ and walkthrough Version 1.0 By Luke J. Martinez, a.k.a. 1stTobalMan May not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal and private use. May not be placed on any Web site, other than GameFAQs.com and its partner sites, or otherwise be distributed publicly. Use of this document on any other Web site or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited and violation of copyright law. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Copyright Luke J. Martinez 2010. This FAQ/walkthrough is intended to show all the known features of Ironclad (a.k.a. Chotetsu Brikin'ger in Japan) for the Neo-Geo CD, and provide a straightforward method of completing the game. Table of Contents 1. Controls 2. Gameplay basics I. Object II. Power ups III. Damage, lives and continues 3. Tips 4. Walkthrough 5. Author's notes 1. Controls Start: A: attack (hold down for lethal shot), select (at menus) B: extend/contract Ironclad C: hyper bomb D: N/A Joypad: move ship in one of eight respective directions, move cursor at menus 2. Gameplay basics I. Object The Iron Mask Republic is invading the Chop Kingdom. Chop Kingdom's fate now lies in the hands of the resistance. Take on the role of one of three high tech ships and push back the Republic to save the kingdom. With the assistance of Ironclad, a robot helper, advance through six action packed stages of shooting, gathering power ups and defeating bosses along the way. The player will choose a path that leads to one of five possible endings. There are four difficulties: easy, normal, hard and MVS (arcade). The harder the difficulty, the more enemies will appear throughout the stages. The game allows two players (player two presses start during gameplay) to play simultaneously; each will control his own ship. Players may also compete for points to earn high scores. Defeating enemies and getting power ups earn points. When a high score is achieve and the game is over, a player will be prompted to enter his initials. II. Power ups Each ship has different attacks. The main difference between these attacks is the strength. When the Ironclad is attached, however, our ship emits a more powerful attack. Additionally, lethal shots (charged attacks) can be done while the Ironclad is attached. We can collect power ups to change or upgrade all our attacks. Interestingly, the ship, Ironclad and lethal shot attack are all upgraded individually. So, there is one power up to upgrade the ship's attack, another to enhance the Ironclad and yet another to enhance the lethal shot attack. Ship attack upgrade: denoted by a red sphere with a "P." Three must be cumulatively collected to upgrade ("level up"). Increases strength of ship's firepower. Upgrading can be done twice. Look for the pink "P" sphere that instantly gives an upgrade! An upgrade after the second will result in stronger firepower, but it isn't official (e.g., it will not say "level 4"). We will return to level 3 when our ship is hit. Ps collected upon being maxed out will result in earning 5,000 pts. Ironclad enhancer: this power ups has the message "L-ARM" on it and cycles through one of three weapons. -Fire: When attached, it is a short range shield. Can be used offensively. When extracted, the Ironclad becomes a short range flame thrower. Good for a variety of uses. -Missile: When attached, throws out a couple homing missiles. When extracted, throws out one. Useful for taking out ground based enemies. By default, our ship releases one missile with each attack. -Laser: When attached, it is a single, long range projectile that shoots straight. Not too useful because of its narrow scope and weakness. When extracted, the Ironclad will shoot two thin lasers toward the direction of our ship, but at angles. Lethal shot enhancer: has a message "R-ARM" on it and cycles through one of three weapons. -Drill: we start the game with a drill. It is a single, long range projectile that shoots straight. Packs a wallop, but has a narrow scope. Good for bosses. -Buzz saw: small projectiles unleash themselves across the screen. Unpredictable. Good for clearing out lots of enemies on the screen. -Mace: powerful short range attack. Ironclad swings several maces doing lots of damage. Good for a variety of uses. Gold medal: 3,000 pts. Mainly dropped by bosses. Silver medal: 1,000 pts. Dropped by regular enemies when a lethal shot is used on them. If not picked up within a couple seconds, it will turn into a bronze medal worth 500 pts. Life: Spherical "E." Refills one bar. If we pick one up when our life is full we will earn 5000 pts. We will keep our equipped Ps and enhancements at the end of each stage. When hit, our ship will lose all its red spheres being put toward an upgrade (for our ship), but they will temporarily float around for retrieval. When a hyper bomb is used, our enhancers (L and R arm weapons) will be totally lost. Also, we become temporarily invincible. When our ship is destroyed, we will keep our previous levels should we continue playing, even if we switch to a different ship. III. Damage, lives and continues The longevity of our ship is determined by a four-bar (three-bar on hard) life meter. Every time we take damage, a bar is lost. We will be temporarily invincible after getting hit. Colliding with enemies doesn't cause damage, but being hit by an attack does. Many projectiles from enemies, fortunately, can be shot and destroyed. A contracted robot will temporarily protect (our ship) against fire that hits it directly. Once the shield around our robot is gone, it will need to be extended for recharge. Otherwise, protection will be lost. When our life meter is gone, our ship will blow up, scattering our power ups in the air (to be recollected again). This is perhaps the best way to gather power ups throughout the game (collecting what one had). A pink P also appears when we continue, allowing for easy upgrading. We have unlimited continues by pressing start. We will have the option of changing ships before returning to play. If we don't continue within ten seconds, the game is over. However, we will be asked if we want to save the game's data thereafter, allowing us to return to the branch before the last stage played. 3. Tips Practice, practice, practice! Only by playing Iornclad over and over can one become familiar with boss patterns, maneuvering through mazes of projectiles and where the thickets of enemies are. One also will become more familiar with the weapons scheme, which can be confusing at the beginning. Each of the three ships has something to offer; the Fokker is fast, but weak, the Bristol is average and the Rogozarski is slow, but strong. The best ship is the ship that enhances a skill one lacks, therefore, it depends on the player. A player that has trouble avoiding projectiles may want to use the Fokker, while the player that isn't quite an accurate shot may want the Rogozarski. With that said, the Bristol is the best ship for beginners because it helps them get a balanced feel for the game. The heavy ship, from my experience, is good for boss battles, and the light ship is good for stages near the end, where there are lots of enemies that fill the screen. To Ironclad, or not Ironclad? Having an Ironclad attached to one's ship as much as possible is the best plan because: one, it will offer protection for our ship, and two, it will allow us more firepower. Keeping the robot attached will require the continual pressing of the B button, which takes some getting used to. Holding the B button will not work, because get attached, then released in the process. Even when we are not holding the B button down, we can accidently re-release the Ironclad if we hold down the B button for too long. This can become frustrating, but only through experience can we master the art of attachment. The robot is also useful when it is positioned midway on the screen (thus, we will need to retract it a little to achieve this position), but not so useful when on the left end of the screen (a position it will go to when a lethal shot is released). The best set up is having the ship upgraded to maximum, obviously. The best "arm" weapons, from my experience, are the short range ones. We will need to get closer to the enemy to attack, but the fire and mace do tons more damage than the other weapons, especially when used successively. Ironclad is styled for button mashing and getting lucky, thus, giving it an arcade-like feel. Bosses have patterns and power ups are chancy. The name of the game is: shoot first, ask questions later. We will get further being as aggressive as possible than being conservative and contemplative. The trick is to become skilled at dodging attacks while being aggressive. As mentioned, the power up scheme is rather confusing at first, but here are some tips to get the most out of the power ups: firstly, if we lose a ship in the middle of a stage, we can retrieve our old enhancements by timing them, and then grabbing them both in on flail swoop. This works especially for the fire and mace; they seem to cycle together. If we can hold out for a few seconds, we can continue attacking like we didn't miss a beat. Sometimes we want to avoid additional power ups. When we have our weaponry set up perfectly, additional enhancement pose the threat of throwing off our rhythm. The best way to use power ups while fighting a boss is to pick up an enhancement after continuing, then giving it up to bomb the boss. Then, pick up the other enhancement and give it up to bomb again. Picking up each enhancement individually will allow us to bomb the boss twice. This tactic comes in handy against bosses that continually destroy our ship. The best way to approach a boss in general is to charge a lethal shot while waiting for it to become vulnerable (their life meter will turn green), then shoot the boss with the lethal shot and start firing the ship attack over and over. Try to get one or two more lethal shots in, then stick to the ship attack. Before one is about to be destroyed, use a bomb. When our ship is lost, use the tactic mentioned above to quickly do away with the rest of the boss' life meter. This strategy works with most bosses. At the end of each stage, we go to a map and must choose a way to go from the branch before us. In general, the A stage is easier to get through (less enemies), but the boss is pretty hard. A B stage is visa versa: the stage is harder (more enemies), and the boss is easier. So, there always is a trade off. It is really a matter of preference of what path to take. Some players like easy stage, other like easy bosses. C Stages have a tendency to lead us to shorter, alternate endings. There are then many combinations of paths to take to complete the game. Some suggestions are: 1-A, 2-A, 3-B, 4-A, 5-A, 6-B (hard). 1-B, 2-B, 3-C, 4-B, 5-B, 6-C (normal). 1-A, 2-B, 3-C, 4-B, 5-C (easy). If playing a two player game, either player one may choose the path to take on the map. 4. Walkthrough 1-A We will make our way through a war torn city, shooting numerous helicopters and tanks. Early on, a chopper will drop an L-arm enhancer (only flying enemies drop power ups). Soon, a mini boss, Grim, will appear. Take it out with a bomb and excessive shooting. A chopper right before the fight will drop a P (for the ship attack upgrade). A chopper after the fight will drop a life. Further ahead will be some futuristic machines that aren't too difficult to blast away. If we pass them, there is another mini boss fight. Hit it hard and fast to proceed to the boss. Note the boss' life meter in the upper left; it must be depleted to advance. When the meter turns green, the boss is vulnerable to attacks. Hit each cart with a combo of lethal shots and Ironclad attacks. The trick is not staying in one spot too long. If we can shoot faster than it can, this train will be derailed. Our next stage is either 2-A or B. 1-B Proceed to the first mini boss like in 1-A, except we will enter the sewer after beating it. There are a lot of land based enemies here, so keep pushing out those missiles. Eventually, we will return to the surface and face a huge tank, the boss. It is actually easier than the 1-A boss. The boss' gun has a slow reaction. However, the boss takes us on a drawn out chase; stick close to it and unload on this tank with everything when possible. From here we move onto the branch of 2-A or B. 2-A We go through a forest backdrop. Get ready for a bunch of incoming, attacking enemies. There will be one that will drop an R-arm enhancer before the cliff. The first enemy after the cliff will drop an upgrade. After passing some ground and air based enemies, we will encounter a big house. The mini boss emerges from it! At first, it will shoot slow moving orbs at us. These home in on us. After taking the boss' life meter down a bit, it will call for backup: two other mechs. Continue to focus on the original mech with ship attacks and lethal shots, but watch out for its charging attack. The other mechs will shoot mazes of shots at us; take them out if the fight drags on. The trick is to move in the direction of the non-fireing mech when the original mech charges us. Once the original is eliminated, it's on to the boss. This boss has a shield around it and will shoot a variety of projectiles at us. Dodge the projectiles and get long range shots in through the shield. The trick is dodging the projectiles while being patient enough to get attacks through the shield. This boss will go down in flames in enough time. We may choose between 3-A or B from here. 2-B Like 1-B, this stage is filled with enemies. They start out ground and air based, but when we reach the greenish area of the cave, a full air offensive will be unleashed. Two Ps and an R-arm will be available along the way. After quite a bit of shooting, the mini boss appears. It actually looks like the boss in 2-A, but has a less effective shield; there are more opportunities to get shots in. Also, the projectiles seem more predictable. Show this boss our shooting skills learned from earlier in the stage to make it cave in. Then, onto the real boss, the same boss from 2-A! Use the same strategy in 2-A to stop this spinning machine. 3-B or C are our next options. 3-A We start on a deserted city street. There are mostly ground enemies here. We proceed until we reach a wall. A chopper there will leave an R-arm behind. Blast away the wall to enter a some sort of power plant. Pick off the occasional air enemies that appear, all while destroying the turbines obstructing the way. Eventually our ship will decent to some conveyor belts. One of the first enemies here will drop an upgrade. This stretch is a hodgepodge of air enemies; midway through an L-arm will be dropped. Close by, an R-arm will also present itself. Deeper into the power plant we encounter tunnels mounted with flame throwers. Take out a row of flame throwers by aligning our fire with flame throwers. Yet another onslaught of air enemies will be thrown in the mix. Right before the boss will be a maze of pipes, flame throwers and air enemies. Quickly maneuver through the maze to avoid being squished by the screen. Then, the boss appears. It is tough because it has a shield and throws many different projectiles at us: lasers, orbs and little robots that also release orbs. Watch out for the slow, orange spheres (get behind them); they explode into lots of small shots that move left. The trick is out maneuvering the orange spheres and getting lots of good shots in as much as possible. This boss will bring out a small shield when its life gets low. Don't wait for the right time, just keep shooting and soon enough this boss will be toast. We move on to the branch that leads to 4-A or B. 3-B We are lead deep into a light brown shaded base. From the start will come a mixture of ground and air enemies. Watch out for the big gun torrents and floating balloon bombs. Once shot, the balloon bombs will send homing orbs (these can't be shot) at our ship. After exploring the base a bit, the foundation of a gun torrent will be punctured, allowing entry to another area of the base. We will follow underground train tracks now, but not without constant buggery from choppers that unleash unsightly amounts of projectiles at us. A barrier that must be shot away will appear. Once past it, we will take out a few lingering enemies and then break through the above surface, into a sacred area of the Iron Mask's. The boss soon appears and is rather challenging because it has lots of life. It will constantly attack us with mazes of shots, including missiles and buzz saws. The buzz saws and missiles can be shot, but the other projectiles can't. Most of the time, this giant mech is vulnerable to our attacks, so keep shooting at it while trying to dodge its attacks. With enough consistency we'll stop its cultish aspirations. The path to 4-A or B awaits. 3-C We enter a dark brown shaded base. We will firstly encounter several ground enemies. A lone chopper after the big torrent gun will drop an R-arm. Soon, more choppers will fill the screen. Use a bomb to clear them if need be. Next, we will pass over a considerable length of interchanging conveyor belts and rig-like surface. Blow up or avoid the rows of big torrents here. The final stretch is a runway filled with air and ground enemies. One of the last enemies there will drop another R-arm. At the end of the runway is the boss. It moves very fast and occasionally shoots straight projectiles. It will mainly release drills that propel straight across the screen. The boss will often try to charge at us with its own built-in drill. When releasing the drills, it is vulnerable to attack. Just don't stand still too long, or will collide with us head on. Luckily, it doesn't have lots of life, and will shortly expire. Only through this stage can we access the branch that leads to 4-C, the first ending. 4-A We start in a forest that is being cleared out. One of the enemies near the start will drop an R-arm. Before the backdrop turns to the cleared part, a chopper should drop a P. An L-arm power up is found on a nearby foe, once over the cleared out forest. Watch out for the souped up enemies here; they all have buzz saws or lasers, but they won't be a match for us if we are leveled up. From here on out, the stages will be like this, packed with beefed up enemies. Eventually, we will reach the boss, a robotic chicken; it has three forms. The first form can be taken out with a bomb and excessive shooting before it even gets any attacks in on us. The boss will then form into a visible chicken and shoot missiles and flames at us. The flame gives reason to worry. It has a lot of life. When the boss corners us to the left side of the screen, use the ship's attack to unleash as much firepower as possible on it. The trade off is being directly in the line of its flame attack. When it is low on life, the boss turns into a ship and moves around (faster than before), shooting at us and continuing to use the flame thrower. It will also produce other enemies to attack us. Once this form is defeated, it will stay in the ship form, but be totally on fire. Simply touching the ship will result in damage. Keep one's distance and release a bomb. The bomb alone should do end this nonsense. We are then lead to the 5-A or B branch. 4-B While proceeding through the cave, we are met with a relentless flow of air enemies. A P and R-arm are found upon entering the reddish part of the cave. Eventually, we will reach an opening that leads to a power plant. Continue through the tunnel of the plant, taking out the turbines and occasional flying enemies that appear. Not long after, we are lead outside of the power plant. Outside are tons and tons of balloon bombs obstructing our path. We can either avoid them completely or shoot them and avoid the orbs that come out way. The balloons will break either way. Keep up whatever tactic for a while. The path eventually leads to a brief skirmish with more air enemies, and an opening to the boss. A giant tank will appear, however, it is easy and has little life like the one in 1-B; take out the slow gun with some well placed lethal shots and ship attacks. Perhaps throw in a bomb for good measure. Then, move onto the hatch using the same tactics. If we are fast enough, we can defeat this boss before it has a chance to get any good shots off us. The branch leading to 5-C, another possible ending, awaits. 4-C (last stage) This stage takes place entirely in the sky. The sky will go from pleasant to stormy a couple times. Be prepared to button mash like never before, as there is no shortage of enemies on the screen ever. Along the way, a P will become available. At one point, the sky will turn red, and a giant bomber will appear. An enemy right before the bomber will drop am R-arm enhancer. On the bomber will be a wave of torrent guns. The battle will end if the generator in the far right middle is destroyed. A bomb comes in handy here. Don't breathe easy when that's done, because another wave will appear shortly after. Once the generators have been blown, Grim returns for a rematch. It will put up a shiled that must be broken through. This final boss throws everything but the kitchens sink at us: mazes of lasers and spherical shots are cause for worry. After a while, it will make a clone of itself, and both mechs will shoots projectiles at us. Get near the real boss and focus our attacks on it. The real boss flashes when hit. When the boss' life is low, it will start shooting orbs and try to charge at us. Avoid the attacks and keep shooting! Once it is destroyed, the game is over. We will be treated to an ending screen and message, followed by a staff roll: "Grim and the Iron Mask Republic are defeated, but sources report they are preparing for a second strike. To be continued..." 5-A The first mini boss from stage one meets us in the sky and transports us to a coliseum for bizarre boss fights. First is a watered down version of the 4-C final boss. Next is the drilling mech boss from 3-C, except it has a clone and both are very trigger happy. These mechs will shoot everything but the kitchen sink at us. The best defense here is offense. Return fire with everything we got. They have lots and lots of life and are tougher than anything we've fought before, but if we can withstand their punishment, we'll survive and leave the bloody spectator sport to go onto the last stage, 6-A or B. 5-B This stage is pretty simple. Every non-boss enemy we've encountered in the game will systematically engage us in the gray sky above. Every so often, we will catch glimpses of the futuristic city below. A large plane will fight us before we encounter a giant bomber. On this bomber is a wave of gun torrents that must be dealt with. But, like in 4-C, if we take out the generator, we can move on. We will get to another area of the bomber, one with more gun torrents, except now there is a huge gun that appears. It the boss and is very similar to the big gun in 5-C, and should be an easily defeat. However, this gun has a few other guns helping it out. Proceed to the last stage, 6-B or C. 5-C (last stage) We encounter a ship (boat) at sea almost immediately after the beginning. We will slowly be brought to the side of the ship, where a row of small gun torrents is conveniently set up. Air enemies will be present, but not in full force as before. We must eliminate wave after wave of guns to move further along on the ship. When we do move to another area of the ship, we do so only to face another wave of gun torrents. However, once this wave is defeated. A huge gun will pop up from inside the ship. It has rather slow reaction times, and it's big shot can be avoided pretty easily, just don't stand still too long. It's an easy fight, fortunately, but it only leads to a fight against Grim, the final boss. Here, he fights similarly to the 4-C fight, except he shoots a lot more lasers and can teleport now. He will also an attack that draws us close to him, only so he can shoot a fireball at us. He seems easier than the 4-C fight because this Grim lacks its clone. Once he's gone, we will get another ending screen, message and staff roll; this time the message is a bit more ominous: "the invasion has been thwarted, but the Iron Mask Republic plans to strike back even harder next time. To be continued..." 6-A (last stage) Our ship presides over a city skyline. The usual nasty enemies will appear briefly. Shortly after them, we will decent onto the streets. Lots of projectile throwing enemies fill them. Eventually, the boss will appear; it is a spitting image of the 1-A one, but this time is a tad easier, perhaps because we've face him before. Once he's kicked to the curb, the street opens up and we go into the sewers. Use any equipped enhancements to drop a bomb before entering the maze of flame throwers. That way they are eliminated before entering. An enemy will drop a R-arm before the maze. Unfortunately, the rest of the maze is long, and we have to wing it at the end. Our timing must be accurate to get out of the maze without a singe. Once we are out, we must navigate through some falling beams. They can be shot. Upon another deep decent, we will encounter some re-programmed Ironclads. There are rows and rows of 'em and they are sharp shooters. These Ironclads are easily the hardest non-boss enemies we'll face. Just be as aggressive as possible with them. Bomb them at every chance possible. We will do another decent and reach the core of Republic. Blow up the core with ship attacks. It should blow up easily. Now the Republic's hideout is in the process of being destroyed. As our ship is escaping, who else but Grim catches up with us and starts fighting us. He is very much like the final boss of 5-C, except now he has an attack that temporarily disables our Ironclad. Once we bring his high life meter down to almost nothing, he will transform into Rage, a more aggressive mech that charges us with a scythe. It's main attack will first be the scythe. We should be OK as long as we aren't in the direct path of the scythe blade (we can position ourselves along the path of the handle to avoid any damage). After it's life dwindles down, it will rely more on lasers and projectiles mazes. We've seen this before, it's nothing new, so if we can persevere a little more, we will finally beat the last boss and be treated to the best ending screen and message, along with a staff roll: "you cut off the Republic at the source, the core, permanently defeating them. We can all live in peace now!" 6-B (last stage) We begin over a skyline like in 6-A, except we remain over it, encountering all sorts of enemies. There are many torrent guns atop the buildings, like the base in 3-B, but more widespread. The air enemies seem to get easier though, as many from the first stage reappear midway through. Eventually, our path will be ridden with flame throwers and balloon bombs. Handle them the way we have in the past. At the end, the path gets narrow. Our ship is taken to an interior area where the drill boss awaits. It is the same boss as before, so fight it accordingly. This disappointing challenge leads to a stairway that leads to the final boss. Jacob, the man apparently behind all this, jumps in a gigantic mech called Ogre. It's life meter reaches across the entire screen! Fortunately, it is open to attacks most of the time. Its attacks are mostly maze shots. However, it has shields and everything, even a punch and nasty big gun. The best advice is to always shoot at the head with the ship and be on guard at all times. This boss even recharges itself once throughout the fight! If we are persistent, we will overcome the final boss and Republic, and see the good ending screen and message, followed by a staff roll: "The Republic is no more!" 6-C (last stage) On the streets is where our starting point is. We go past the area in 6-A, all the while taking out the small torrent guns aligning the streets. There are a couple opportunities to use a bomb. Follow the street to some tracks. Those tracks will take us to a path lined with big torrent guns. Eventually, we reach an entrance to a tunnel. There we will encounter a huge rocket. We move along it until we encounter the same big gun boss from 5-C. Use the same strategy to defeat it. The rocket has launched by the time we take out the gun. There is still a way to stop it, but we must defeat the final boss, Grim, to do so. Its first form is an exaggerated version of Grim in stage one. He is a push over, but, when his life is low, he turns into Rage. He fights exactly like in 6-A, except he has an attack that holds our ship in place while he strikes us with the scythe. Use the same strategy here. Once this boss is defeated, we are treated to a good ending screen and message, followed by a staff roll: "The Republic has defeated itself once the rocket's it was using changed direction and wiped out the Republic's hideout." This is the easiest good ending to get. 5. Author's notes Special thanks to my family for their moral support. Submit questions, comments or corrections to: kevinrian@live.com.