HIGHWAY HUNTER System: PC An FAQ by the Yuka Takeuchi Fan ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS: Phase 1: Versions Phase 2: Story behind the author Phase 3: Story behind the FAQ Phase 4: Storyline of the game Phase 5: Controls Phase 6: Main menu options Phase 7: Difficulties Phase 8: Powerups Phase 9: Weaponry (yours and enemies') Phase 10: Shields Phase 11: Hints and tips Phase 12: Walkthrough Phase 13: Closing Phase 14: End Phase 15: Really the end this time (basically me being a wiseass) (Yes, I know the word 'Phase' may be a weird one to use for this purpose, but you can easily jump between sections that way- I don't recall using the word 'Phase' for any other reason... well, except HERE anyway...) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 1: VERSIONS 1.0 (September 28, 2005): The first edition of this guide to be submitted to GameFAQs. It contains enemy guides, boss strategies, a timed walkthrough, and explanations of how to play and what the main menu options mean. Actually, as far as I know, this is about all I can do with the guide. That is, unless I went out of my mind and tried to do some strategy guide as to how you could beat bosses with only a V-Laser. Ha ha. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 2: STORY BEHIND THE AUTHOR I'm the Yuka Takeuchi Fan. To be blunt, I'm a sarcastic dumbass. If you're not already aware of it, or are NOT only reading this because you're a fan of my website (Yuka Takeuchi Fan's Severe Waste of Time), I run... wait, I already gave away what I do. Well, no matter. I'm an anime freak that loves video games. There's really not much else I can think of to say, so feel free to just head on to the next section. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 3: STORY BEHIND THE FAQ Back when I was about eight or nine, maybe ten, the Walmart that had recently opened near my house had an electronics section I frequented. At the said age, there was a shelf near the back with a bunch of old games they were selling for about $5 each, then $2.50 each, then $1 each, then the section disappeared. Well, one of the MANY games I bought from that shelf was this one, 'Highway Hunter'. I rather enjoyed it, despite the fact that since I'd bought the shareware version, I only got to play the first five levels, at which point the game ended and told me to buy the full version for about $20. You might suspect that my broke ass at that age wasn't really ready to pay that much; you would suspect wisely. Ten years pass. It's now 2005 and I started looking through the Home of the Underdogs. For the sheer hell of it, I started looking for some of the games I'd bought way back when. Imagine my surprise to see that Highway Hunter was among them! And imagine my GREATER surprise to see that I was able to play all 15 levels with the downloaded version. So, not having anything better to do, I decided- why not make a little strategy guide for this game? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 4: STORYLINE OF THE GAME Before I go further, I should mention that the game has a storyline, but it never really seems to apply to the game, and also, the story seems to change during the game. Nonetheless... Game Manual Storyline: "Five years ago the Axis of Allied Planets took over Earth and installed terraformers to reshape the environment and make it more hospitable for offworlders. Unfortunately the terraformers are killing all human life... After a stint at freedom-fighting, you were captured and put into an 'adjustment camp' working in the garage. You helped develop the Multi- Attack Super Turbo Energy Ranger (MASTER), a prototype vehicle that the aliens will use to annihilate any remaining resistance. Seeing your chance, you steal the MASTER and break out of prison... You must now punch through the prison's security perimeter, rejoin the partisans, destroy the terraformers, and save your world! Good luck!" In-game Storyline (coincidentally the objective): "You are still within the controlled boundaries of the Axis of Allied Planets. Use your MASTER to defeat their defenses and escape to freedom." Personal Analysis: This is going to sound amazingly smart-ass, but if you're familiar with my main contribution to the online world, you're going to see it coming. Anyway. Okay, so your jailbird ass was quite stupidly put to work developing a weapon that will eventually be used by your captors. Being considerably smarter than your captors in this regard, you made a spare set of keys up and bent up the originals. During one of the alien office parties, you take advantage of the guard's lightweight tendencies and slip a few shots of vodka into his beer. Getting into the room with the weapon you developed proved not to be difficult. So you took the spare keys you made out of your pocket and fired up the car. Obviously, since you designed this thing, getting it out of the prison complex wasn't difficult. You make your initial escape through a hard-ass security checkpoint (a crossbar used to prevent idiots from getting too close to the train tracks of yore), and begin hauling ass out of the aliens' realm of control. You decide to worry about the facts that you A) did not think to bring any pals, or maybe the cutie from the next cell over with you, B) you don't have a clue where these 'terraformer' things are, and C) you actually don't really have anyplace you know of to go later. (Throughout the game, you can add in D) you never destroy anything that could possibly be a terraformer, E) you never find this group of allies, F) you never seem to clearly reach any other civilization, G) you never exactly destroy anything you could consider a main command center of the aliens (you're kinda trying to escape and no sane being would build a command center THAT close to the outskirts of their empire), H) these terraformers you failed to destroy aren't liable to just stop extending their deadly reach beyond the point on Earth the game ends at and will likely kill you within a few years, and of course, I) you never find any cute girls to rescue along the way that are willing to 'thank' you for saving their sexy little butts. So realistically, you are a total dumbass.) But you still get to blow a ton of crap up along the way, and that's always a nice stress relief! (And on Hard mode, why enemies had you develop a weapon that blows to pieces upon contact with anything except concrete and air is a story that could take AGES to discuss.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 5: CONTROLS Arrow keys: Move your car around, because it's really hard to hit a lot of the enemies if you stay in one place. ESC: Quits the game and returns you to the main menu, because every so often a person you live with will ask you to do things that will cause you to leave the house and make it somewhat suboptimal to leave the game running. Enter: Skips cutscenes and makes decisions on the main menu. All games of the time needed to use the Enter key for some reason. Spacebar: Fire your weapon, because the 'rear-end the bastard' attack did not make it into the final release. P: Pause the game, because you have to take a whiz or something. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 6: MAIN MENU OPTIONS Start game: Well, you probably didn't get this game to look at the opening screen... Read this!: The instruction manual/useless ordering information. You won't need to look at this if you read enough of this FAQ; it says nothing I won't; nothing of any importance, anyway. Difficulty: Just as it sounds. I detail the three settings in the next section. Be forewarned, the jump from Medium to Hard is immense. Sound: Turn it on to hear the sound effects during the game. Music: Turn it on to hear the music in the game. I personally find it to be quite excellent; I wouldn't turn it off. Control: State whether you wish to use the keyboard, the mouse, or a joystick to play. I will act as if you are playing using the keyboard, regardless of what you choose. Joystick setup: Should you have a joystick, this option will get it ready for play. Speed: Toggles the game speed between four different settings. It defaults at 'Fast', but can be set lower should you wish- be forewarned that EVERYTHING in the game is affected by this. I prefer to leave it on 'Fast' and this guide will assume that you have done the same. Top scores: Take a look at the six highest scores that have been obtained during play. Should you get on this list; you can type a six-letter name you wish to go by. Credits: Take a look at the people who made this game (four people, nice) Exit: If you're done playing the game, hit this option and you will quit the game. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 7: DIFFICULTIES I might be mistaken, but I haven't noticed any real jumps in enemy health or difficulty between the difficulty settings. Although enemies will get WAY harder on Hard for reasons I'll get into shortly (unless you read my little story all the way through), I believe that it is for reasons other than enemy strength. Again, you will see why soon. Also, when I say "5 or 6 weapon blocks per upgrade"- if a powerup will give you a new weapon (3-7 blocks on your ammo bar), you get 6 blocks. If it doesn't (1-2 blocks on your ammo bar), you get 5. And sometimes, the game ignores this general rule too. So, 5 or 6. Easy: -5 or 6 weapon blocks per upgrade -Health powerups give you 3 health blocks -You get an extra health block every 100,000 points -Ramming into walls does not hurt you Medium: -5 or 6 weapon blocks per upgrade -Health powerups give you 3 health blocks -You get an extra health block every 100,000 points -Ramming into walls DOES hurt you Hard: -7 weapon blocks per upgrade -Health powerups give you 1 health block -You get an extra health block every 100,000 points -Ramming into walls DOES hurt you -You might notice that your health gauge no longer reads 'energy'. Rather, now it reads 'lives'. You might think this means little, but no, this one change is the entire reason why the jump from Medium to Hard is such an incredible one. See, in earlier difficulties, getting hit simply caused a notch in your health gauge to die out. Now, your car explodes upon the slightest damage, RESETTING YOUR WEAPON BACK TO ITS EARLIEST LEVEL, THE V-LASER. I should not have to say how much of a handicap this will be to you if you get hit even once during a boss fight... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 8: POWERUPS Red "C": Does about 4-6 HP worth of damage to all non-boss enemies onscreen (and some just offscreen) at the time. If it damages bosses, I wouldn't know; the game does not spawn these anywhere near any boss. Enemies killed with this power-up do not add to your score. Blue "O": Provides temporarily invincibility for a few seconds. Green "U": Powers up your weaponry. The boost you get relies on your difficulty level. Something that looks like a blue pen top with a red outline: Health bonus. How much of a boost this gives you relies on your difficulty level. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 9: WEAPONRY You can rapid-fire any weapon you have simply by holding down the attack button. Try not to do this with the P-Laser, though. THOSE shots you NEED to make count. V-Laser (1 HP per shot) This is your starting weapon, and it totally sucks, but to be fair, most starting weapons in shooting games are like this. It fires one thin, weak laser right in front of your car. The only good thing about this weapon is that it won't run out of ammo, and unless you're playing on Hard, you will never see it again the moment you upgrade to the W- Laser, unless you continue. You are in BIG trouble if you try to use this thing against a boss, which is a disturbingly likely scenario on Hard mode. W-Laser (1 HP per shot, 2 HP total) This is a small step up from the V-Laser. It fires TWO thin, weak lasers right in front of your car. Each laser hits for its own damage. This is the only weapon upgrade you will get that will not run out of ammo. W-Missile (2 HP per shot, 4 HP total) Shoots two missiles in front of you, and each one deals twice the damage of the lasers you've been using. It's a nice step up from the last couple of weapons. From this point forward, your guns consume ammo, so don't fire mindlessly if you don't need to. W-Combo (Probably 1 HP/laser, 2 HP/missile, 4 HP total) Basically, it's the W-Laser with a missile stuck between it, so you get three shots flying out of your car at any given time. It's really no more powerful than the W-Missile, but it covers a slight bit more of a spread. Flasher (Probably 1 HP/laser, 2 or 3 HP/flame shot, it's hard to tell) A W-Laser with a VERY fast-firing flamethrower between it. I can't really tell how much damage it deals compared to its predecessors, but anything in front of the flamethrower tends to die in relatively short order. Unfortunately, the flamethrower does not have much in the way of speed- it puts out a lot of shots but it feels like it takes a while for them to run into the enemy compared to other weapons. Ion Gun (About 2 HP/shot, COULD do 8 HP total but it's not likely to happen) This, and the next weapon up, are the only two weapons in the game that aim off at a diagonal so that you don't only hit enemies in front of you, but also enemies off to about a 45-degree angle from both sides of your car. It's got a pretty damn fast firing rate and can hit lots of stuff (it fires two shots forward and one to each angle). Great weapon, but there's even better stuff ahead. Ion Combo (About 2 HP/ion, 2 HP/missile, COULD do 10 HP total) Hoo hoo, we're talkin' now. An Ion Gun with a missile shoved between the front ions. Basically, the Ion Gun with more power behind it. Two more to go, though, and they STILL kick more ass. P-Laser (Generally instant death against any enemy, it's hard to tell: if I had to guess, it's about 10 HP/pulsing sound effect- and you get a LOT of pulsing sound effects) The good news about this weapon: This is, no question about it, THE weapon of choice against bosses. One shot of this will do insane damage to bosses, and will likely kill them, or at least severely damage them, in only a couple of shots. The bad news: Each shot usually takes an entire block out of your weapon gauge, and it's not such a hot weapon against normal foes (you don't need such power against normal opponents, AND it has a rather thin horizontal area of attack). Do everything in your power to conserve your ammo for this weapon, which likely includes TRYING to hold your fire long enough to get your paws on the... M-Laser (Probably about 2 HP/missile, around 6 HP/laser (hard to gauge), so around 14 HP total... and it's LIKELY to hit for 8 HP every time) This is the last level of weapon you can get. If you get another weapon powerup from this point on, you will add 5 blocks to this weapon... If you have three or more blocks, you'll go up to a second bar with one block, which, when depleted, will go back to your 7-block stock of M-Laser ammo. Anyway, the weapon itself. It's not as powerful as the P-Laser, which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. However, it carries a lot more ammo with it than the P-Laser does, so it'll serve its purpose well. Its purpose, aside from shooting gigantic front-firing lasers out of the sides of your car (and a missile from the dead center), is to ensure that you have ammo to burn on normal foes before you cut loose with your P-Laser on bosses. This is a fine weapon that will serve you very well throughout the game, fitting for the last weapon you can get. COMMON ENEMY WEAPONRY: Lasers: Lasers fire straight down, vertically. Many can't be destroyed, but they're simple enough to simply get out of the way of. Balls: Balls tend to be aimed at your current location, but can be dodged simply by moving. They are generally destructible, unless you aren't in a position to shoot them. For some reason, if they're fired to the side of the enemy, they tend to come at you WAY faster. Missiles: Missiles act like lasers, but quite a number will semi-track your position (i.e., they are fired vertically, but will move horizontally a small bit in order to hit you). They can be destroyed. Enemy bodies: Ground-based enemies hurt you to the touch. Some enemies will use this knowledge to kamikaze-attack you, and you either have to dodge them, or shoot them down. Warning- some enemies do not take well to the 'dodge' strategy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 10: SHIELDS Something you should know- all non-boss enemies that ram into your shield (or enemies you ram your shield into, which is more likely) will be quickly destroyed. However, you don't get a damn point for doing so, which is bad when you get an extra health block for every 100,000 points. So if you can, try to limit your shield's use to blocking bullets. Also, even though the manual SAYS you lose shield energy faster if the shield is hit, you seem to lose shield energy at the same rate no matter what the hell you do, so just absorb bullets for as long as you can with 'em. Hell, the enemies'll always be happy to give you more. Frontal shield (looks like a yellow horizontal bar): Um, duh? Blocks all enemy fire in front of you. Given that many of your enemies in this game fire straight at you from what's generally the top part of the screen, this is often the shield of choice. Plus, you can tear enemies apart simply by ramming right into them (WITH YOUR SHIELD, NOT YOUR CAR!) like described before- just realize your score will suffer. Side shield (looks like two yellow horizontal bars): You probably aren't going to be using this one to slam into enemies. In fact, you CAN'T use this to slam into enemies; they'll take no damage and you'll get your ass kicked. In fact, for some reason (a glitch maybe?), this blocks jack-shit from hitting you. Don't pick this up if you actually have the option to avoid it. Pinwheel shield (looks like a pinwheel): This isn't that effective of a shield, to me anyway. It rotates around you pretty quickly, but some bullets and enemies can squeak through nonetheless if they're fast enough (that pinwheel doesn't protect everything ALL the time...), and bullets that take a little bit more oomph to destroy may just get through and hit you anyway. Also, it'll slap the hell out of all nearby enemies, so your score's likely to suffer quite a bit. I prefer the Frontal shield if it's available. Circle shield (looks like a circle): This isn't that good a shield. It's sort of like the Front shield, but it doesn't cover quite as much of the area to the sides as that one. This has another function, though. Holding the fire button causes the shield to move forward... thus making it almost useless for protection, but slicing up enemies at the top of the screen above you as they appear. But since you have a weapon firing all the time as you do this, you're both defeating the purpose (your weapon kills as well as any shield) and wasting ammo hand over fist. Diamond shield (looks like a diamond with a '+' carved into it): It's an okay shield... It's basically a version of the Front shield that waves around really quickly. It sticks out a bit farther from your car than I'd like, and it tends to rip enemies a new one more often than I'd like as well, but it serves its purpose quite well otherwise. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 11: HINTS AND TIPS -No enemy in the game appears from the bottom of the screen. Thus, if you want to stay the safest you'll get, keep your car along the bottom of the screen so that you'll get surprised less often. -Remember, no matter how big or how tiny the shot, or how much it resembles that P-Laser of yours, getting hit will always take one, and ONLY one health block from your health gauge. Collisions with ground- based enemies will do the same, and generally wipe the enemy from this plane of existence. -Try not to destroy enemies through the use of your shield, or through the 'C' powerup, if any such event is avoidable (although I won't tell you to not pick up 'C' powerups, they're nice breathers and useful around a bunch of hard-to-hit enemies). You earn fewer points that way, and if you don't earn points, you have to rely on life powerups to stay alive. Some stages are not as nice with this second way as others. -Do everything in your power to not die. On Easy and Medium, this means running out of health and continuing; on Hard, this means GETTING HIT. You are put at such a disadvantage by reverting back to the V-Laser that it's plain CRUEL. -NEVER hit the 'Esc' key. Your game will instantly end without so much as a confirmation prompt, and you'll have to either continue or restart. -Don't fire your weapon if you don't need to. Ammo gets scarce in some parts of the game, and you don't want to end up with a shitty weapon during those times. However, don't hold back when you see enemies. If you don't kill what you see quickly, you could eventually get overwhelmed. You get overwhelmed, you get hurt. You get hurt enough, you die. You die, you have to continue. You continue, you get a V-Laser. That's a shitty weapon. -Remember, you're on a road. You cannot drive off this road. You only have so much room to dodge attacks with, and you have to prepare accordingly for some enemies. -Try to keep track of how the road goes. Whether it's straight, straight with some turns, zigzaggy, constant S-curves, whatever, it'll likely help you know where to go to avoid attacks, or perhaps how to tell when enemies might be coming. -Kill everything you can. I repeat from earlier; every 100000 points gives you another health block. -On the flip side, don't attack enemies you can't easily reach. The possibility of losing health to gain, at BEST, 2/25 of the score you need to get another life point, is not a tradeoff you need to make. -Don't begin with the second episode, 'The Lost Roads', unless you really want a challenge. I personally find this to be the toughest set of levels the game has to offer (I maintain that level 9 is the toughest in the game!), and you probably don't want to start it with a V-Laser. -Enemies that fly cannot hurt you via contact. However, if their weapons hit you (hint- they almost always have weapons), those WILL hurt you. -If you don't feel like reading my boss strategies, just remember- usually, your target is the current weapon it's using to attack. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 12: WALKTHROUGH Okay, before I even think about going on, know this. I am NOT going to tell you where every single enemy in the game is because I do not possess NEARLY that level of patience, and I am NOT going to tell you where powerups are, because I believe you're smart enough to realize that grabbing powerups is never bad unless you're about to pick up a shield you don't like. What I AM going to do is tell you what you fight in each stage, and I used an egg timer to give rough estimates for when certain events begin to happen in each stage, such as when obstacles begin to attack you relentlessly, or when a boss appears. My times will not be exact, but they'll be close. Bosses. I will provide boss strategies, but there's not much strategy for your offense other than "Fire repeatedly at its weak point, hopefully with a P-Laser". That said, I will describe boss attacks and boss weak points. Really, this is an easy enough game to where you shouldn't NEED to know a lot of this stuff (on Easy and Medium, anyway), but it's still useful! Also, assuming you have the commercial version of this game, you can choose whether to start on stage 1, 6, or 11. If you're shooting for a high score and want an all-around easier time, I personally suggest you just start with stage 1. The points (and thus, health) and weaponry you earn will give you an advantage in later levels, in which some you're gonna NEED the advantage (especially in the middle levels). Last thing. As I said way earlier, I timed these walkthroughs according to the 'Fast' speed setting. Anything slower, you'll just have to adjust the general time frames accordingly to. I also played on the 'Medium' difficulty setting; I remind you again that enemies do not seem to be harder or easier depending on difficulty settings. On we go... --------EPISODE 1: EVIL DRIVERS-------- "Unit 1-6247 is compromising security grid. Annihilate immediately!" Initial impression: "Hey, what gives? This dude is clearly human. I thought I was out to outrun these aliens that didn't give a flying shit about us. Traitor. I'll do him in for that, assuming he's a boss or something." ---STAGE 1--- Stage setting: Highway, above a city. Initial impression: "Nice opening level. Fits quite well with that initial cutscene where I shot out that crossbar. Let's get moving!" New enemies: -Motorcycle: Not a threat. It's not really a motorcycle either (it has four wheels, I think), but aside from that, it looks enough like one. Their one and only 'attack' is to move slowly down the screen in the hopes that you won't destroy it long enough for it to slam into you. It will die quickly from ANYTHING. (1000 points) -Sidecannon: A bit of a pain in the ass because it loves to inhabit parts of the road that you can't easily shoot at- and it fires shots across the road just quickly enough to where it's hard to squeeze between the shots. If you can hit it, it'll die pretty quickly, but otherwise, unless you're a good dodger, you're likely to take a hit. (4000 points) -Spikeball: Similar to the Motorcycle, but it bounces across the road at a 45-degree angle whenever it hits a wall, making it more likely to hit you than the said foe- assuming you haven't blown it all over the road by the time it draws close. (3000 points) -Orbiter: Has a steel ball orbiting it for whatever reason. Again, it's similar to the Motorcycle. Again, it will come straight down at you, and not much else. It, once again, will die easily. (2000 points) -Helicopter: This is one of the few enemies that even tries to pose a threat on this stage. It flies down, lazily tracking you, and fires missiles at you. These missiles can be shot down. Dies quickly, but it DOES fight back. (5000 points) 0:00 - 1:15 : Simple enough. You'll meet every enemy on this stage in fairly short order. You WILL see Sidecannons that you won't be able to easily hit; just try to block their shots with your shield. (I hope you have a shield, anyway). Otherwise, you'll probably just end up getting hurt. Ditto that for any other enemies you know you can't get in a vertical line with in time to attack. 1:16 - 2:30 : You probably just noticed some odd buildings along the side of the road. By the time you've read this, you've also just noticed that they're trying to fire bombs onto the road. You cannot destroy these bombs; just get out of their way and let them hit the road. They shouldn't hit you. If they're on the left of the road, stay on the right. If they're on the right, stay on the left. 2:31 - 2:32 : Uh-oh. The stage turned red and half blown-up. That CAN'T be good. Not to speak of the untold number of people that were probably just inexplicably killed and all that, but you KNOW that means there's probably a boss around the corner... And after one more motorcycle 'attack', wouldn't you know it... 2:33 - END : BOSS FIGHT- Flathead Lasertank (70000 points total) Weak points- Part 1: Main turret Part 2: Anywhere Part 1: So named because that thing on its top looks like a flathead screw, this is a simple boss, assuming you have its pattern down. You will not be able to have a P-Laser in time to fight this guy; that's okay, just open fire with all you've got. Right now, you probably have half a bar of Flasher shots ready to fire. It'll fire thin, small green lasers from its main turret in the middle, then from the sides, repeat until you've blown the main turret away. (You will get 20000 points right now.) Part 2: From this point until one of you dies, the pattern changes to 'fire missiles that can be destroyed from the front of the tank, and lasers from the side cannons, repeat until dead'. Beware- the missiles are fired on a different timer than the lasers, so it's possible that you'll have missiles and lasers coming at you both at the same time. Shoot anywhere on its body until it explodes. (You will get 50000 points for finishing this guy off.) ---STAGE 2--- Stage setting: Futuristic-looking road, above a very dark landscape. Initial impression: "Hey, I remember this music from the 'episode start' cutscene. I wonder if I'll meet the bastard from that cutscene." New enemies: -Spyplane: This thing acts a lot like the Helicopter from Stage 1. It even fires missiles, too. Treat it exactly like you would a Helicopter, that said. (It's also 5000 points. Damn.) 0:00 - 1:49 : This stage is actually fairly straightforward. Every enemy you've fought thus far from stage 1 makes a return appearance here, with only one exception- the Helicopter has been replaced by the Spyplane- which is essentially the same damn thing! You're not exactly going to be surprised by much in this stage, so you will eventually, with little fanfare, reach- 1:50 - END : BOSS FIGHT- World's Least Structurally Sound Helicopter (110000 points total) Weak points: All three rotors; all must be destroyed Part 1: There's only one real part to this fight; but this thing is a pain. Honestly, I think this is one of the hardest bosses in the game. Again, you are not likely to have a P-Laser; this time you're likely to be fighting with an Ion Gun. The problem with this guy is that he constantly attacks; tiny red bomb-balls constantly come out of the front of this thing on a direct path with you. If you move out of their way, they will not track you. If you shoot them, you can destroy them. However, the rate of fire this thing puts out does not allow you to easily dodge or counterattack the balls, and to destroy the side rotors, you also can't line yourself up with the shots to ensure you destroy them all. Also, for a few moments at the start of the fight, other enemies attack, but luckily this will stop quickly. Just grab the Frontal shield the game spawns near the beginning of this fight and hope for the best, really. If at all possible, try to destroy the side rotors while you still have Ion ammo, leaving the front rotor for your Flasher to sort out. (Each rotor you destroy gives you 10000 points. For some reason, destroying this thing gives you BOTH the typical 50000 points, and also 30000 points for blowing away the body with a single shot.) Question: How the hell does this thing stay up after even ONE rotor is gone? This thing's mass is so lopsided on ANY side that it's mind- boggling. ---STAGE 3--- Stage setting: A grassy field with many roads and ziggurat-like buildings below. Initial impression: "Wait a damn minute. How the hell did I get here? I just spent a few minutes in what looked like Area 51, now I'm in the rolling hills of Montana?" New enemies: -APC: Looks like an APC in jungle camo. Shoots silver balls at you (that you can destroy) at a reasonably fast rate of fire. It'll die quickly, though. (1000 points) -Side Lasercannon: It may as well be the Sidecannon from Stage 1. However, its shots cover a wider horizontal area, and its rate of fire seems slightly lower. I find it a tiny bit easier than its predecessor. (4000 points) -Laser Vehicle: Looks like a van, in jungle camo, with a laser cannon on top. It shoots vertical lasers down at you. It's a bit faster going down the screen than the APC, but can only shoot right in front of it. I'm not sure if you can destroy the shots; I usually had a shield that absorbed the lasers before I could try to hit them. Don't test your luck, though, because many laser shots can't be destroyed in this game. (2000 points) -Army jet: What the HELL is the army doing attacking us? We're REALLY getting too buddy-buddy with these aliens. Anyway, these things fire quick red missiles that VAGUELY track you (but otherwise go straight down) This thing is much like the Helicopter and the Spyplane, despite its missile's different appearance. The jet will constantly head toward one side of the screen as it comes down at you. (5000 points. This is getting ridiculous.) -Spikemine: Get used to these things now. They're a pain and you'll be seeing them a lot in later levels. Shoot them or ram them with your shield, and they'll split into balls that fire in all four diagonal directions. These balls can be destroyed, but it's a bit of a hassle to do so, because it takes shots that you could be putting into other enemies. (0 points, what a ripoff!) 0:00 - 0:55 : Before I say much more, don't worry your little head about those Army jets that are in the background. They will not attack you in any way, and they'll be there throughout the stage. Everything except the Spikemines will show up in short order- also, you will not be seeing anything from the previous stages. 0:56 - 1:11 : Uh oh, Spikemines. If you don't HAVE to shoot one to get past it, DON'T SHOOT IT. You have nothing to gain by destroying either the mines themselves or the balls they shoot out... 1:12 - 1:25 : Hooray, just what we needed, another stage hazard. In addition to the Spikemines that continue to litter the area, blue rockets will now start being fired upward from the ziggurats at the bottom of the screen. Not so bad until they reach the road's height- THEN they point in the direction of the road and fire at you. Good news, at this point, you can destroy them for 3000 points each. 1:26 - 2:26 : Now it's raining out and the stage got darker... Around this point, the Spikemines stop appearing. Hooray! 2:27 - 2:59 : The rockets stop coming at you now, too. At the very end, three Spikemines try to get their last hurrah, and HEY DON'T SNEAK UP ON US LIKE THAT! 3:00 - END : BOSS FIGHT- World's Second Least Structurally Sound Helicopter (90000 points total) Weak points- Part 1: Front laser turret Part 2: Both wing/rotors Part 3: Anywhere Part 1: Not TOO bad, and this time, you should have the M-Laser by the time you get here, although you'll have to try to get out of the way of the very turret you must shoot at in order to not get hit by the lasers it shoots. It only shoots one laser at a time. You cannot destroy the lasers. (20000 points for you once you blow this part away.) Part 2: It gets a little trickier. Now the wings are shooting lasers at you. You can't dodge them as easily as you could the single laser; you'll have to try to get between them, most likely, which is a bit tricky to do because this boss, as many bosses, moves around a lot. This said, shoot the wing/rotor combo. (Each wing/rotor gives 10000 points upon destruction.) Again, please tell me how the hell this thing stays up once YOU'VE RIPPED A DAMNED WING COMPLETELY OFF. This thing should be corkscrewing like a wine freak once a wing is gone... Part 3: OHHHH, this explains it. Something ELSE must be keeping this thing flying! But if that's the case, why did it have wings and rotors in the first place? Probably just to add another part to the fight. For that matter, what's keeping it flying NOW? Oh, I'm digressing. Now, it fires red missiles from its body, much like the Army jets you fought earlier. Since you can both destroy the missiles and hit this thing anywhere now, it will die very, very quickly. (You get 50000 points once this thing comes crashing down.) ---STAGE 4--- Stage setting: A weird desert-like landscape with many volcanic craters. Initial impression: "I hope those things don't plan on erupting anytime soon... Looks like the greenery really let itself go." New enemies: -Drillshot: This thing actually tries to stay put on the road and shoot at you with what look like razor blades. The shots are also fast as hell. Braver than anything else you've fought up to this point (it hangs around for three shots), but it dies quickly. Once it's started shooting at you, it's hard to counter without taking damage, though. (3000 points) -Sideclaw: A Sidecannon with a shorter-range attack. It extends and retracts a small mechanical taser-claw until either you blow it to pieces or you pass it by. An easier kill than its shooty versions, because it's vulnerable at both the base and the claw, making it easy to hit. (4000 points) -Dropship: This thing will not directly attack you. Rather, it tries to hover over the road, generally trying to stop right in front of you, and drop a Fireballer. They take a little bit to destroy, so be quick about killing them. (5000 points, and if you destroy it quickly, you will not fight a Fireballer. Sometimes you'll still get the points from the Fireballer, sometimes not...) -Fireballer: Left behind by Dropships if you don't atomize them, it slowly inches away from you, firing BIG fireballs that you can nevertheless blow away. Not too bad, but still, it's easier to just vaporize the Dropships. (6000 points) -Pistonhead: I have no idea what this thing is. It's basically little more than a faster version of the Motorcycle. It dies quickly... If you can kill it before it slams you. You only fight one or two. (0 points) -Satellite Flyer: Released from the bays along the sides of the screen late in the stage, they try to get in the vertical middle of the screen, RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, and once they do, they retreat straight backwards, firing FAST, tiny missiles right at you. I do not really need to tell you that you don't stand much chance of dodging if you let them get that far. Hope you have an Ion weapon ready. (3000 points) 0:00 - 0:40 : Nothing much to speak of. It's just a shootout with Drillshots, Sideclaws, and Dropships. 0:41 - 0:56 : How the hell is it snowing in the desert? 0:57 - 2:23 : Blink and you'll miss the Pistonhead. Blink again, and you'll probably notice some pod bays on the sides of the road opening up. These things spawn a single Satellite Flyer each, and there are a TON of these things. Stay alert, and you'll eventually pass the last of the bays safely- and you'll make it to... 2:24 - END : BOSS FIGHT- Ultimate Twin Orbiter (100000 points total) Weak points- Part 1: Orbiting missile pods Part 2: Laser cannons Part 1: This thing begins shooting you a moment BEFORE it appears, and you will be lucky to have even a few P-Laser shots left by the time you make it here. It constantly fires missiles like those of the Satellite Flyer out of both of its pods, and because of the rotation of the pods, they'll cover a lot of the field. The boss itself only moves when the road forces it to. (30000 points each pod.) Part 2: You know you were thinking, when you first saw this thing, that 'my, this thing looks like a mobile M-Laser'. Guess what. It more or less is. Now, the boss itself gets involved in the attack, firing BIG lasers out of both of those cannons it has. You can stay between them fairly easily, given how little the boss likes to move. Once both cannons are destroyed, the boss explodes. I warn you now, this is one resilient bastard and you're likely to go down a few weapon levels. Don't sweat it though; you should come out with at least a Flasher. (20000 points per cannon. You get no further points when the boss explodes.) ---STAGE 5--- Stage setting: A red canyon. Initial impression: "Hey, this stage was in the intro- holy shit, that thing coming at me is huge." New enemies: -Subway Streaker: Looks sort of like a scaled-down version of the ship from the opening minutes of Spaceballs; that is to say, it's long as hell. This is easily one of the biggest enemies in the game. However, on the attack, it is little more than a quick, oversized Motorcycle; it does not shoot at you. Because of its size, speed, and resilience to attack, you will probably only destroy it if you catch it with shots before or JUST after it appears. Ion weapons or the M-Laser are good at hitting it from safe angles, though, and will tear it to pieces. (6000 points) -Street Balla: A silver ball that opens up to shoot red balls at you. You know what to do with the red ones. Do the same to the silver one. DO NOT try to go for this thing if it's on the extreme side of the road and you don't have an Ion weapon, or else you'll be eating roadside. Go for it if you're on Easy, though. (8000 points!) -Missilemaster: Imagine all those flying vehicles you've seen that fire single missiles at you. Well, this baby's equipped with a straight- up W-Missile that's exactly like yours. Both missiles can be blown up. This dude WILL NOT STOP FIRING until either it dies, you die, or it moves off-screen. Other than that, it's another damn Helicopter. I do appreciate its active attempt to attack, though. (5000 points... WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT!) 0:00 - 3:12 : This stage has VERY little to offer in terms of surprises. You'll meet all your enemies quickly, and you'll quickly begin cursing at the Street Ballas that are so far to the sides of the road that you simply cannot hit them with anything less than an Ion weapon (Easy difficulty notwithstanding). The stage will try to make up for it by throwing heavy waves of enemies at you, oftentimes with several Missilemasters that fire endlessly at you until they disperse or die. I hope you have at least a decently powerful weapon, because the resistance seems to get increasingly more insistent the farther you go here. Just try to gack everything to death before it slams into you or shoots you. 3:13 - 3:23 : The road is EMPTY and you're being given TWO Frontal shields, one after the other. Why do I think we're about to head into a boss fight? Well... 3:24 - END : BOSS FIGHT- Super Sidehugger (160000 points total) Weak points- Part 1: Laser cannons Part 2: Anywhere Part 1: This dude takes up the entire road, hugging the sides of it with its wheels... Guess this stage was perfectly straight for a reason. Anyway, your first targets are the two laser cannons that shoot tiny little lasers at you. Given that the boss does not move at all, you will not have problems dodging the lasers. In fact, if you have the M-Laser (you're likely to), you can hit either cannon with the laser part of your weapon, not putting yourself in ANY danger in the process. Really, if you've been keeping up on your weaponry, this part is a total breeze. Hell, the M-Laser and P-Laser will destroy the lasers, thus making the fight, once you get the P-Laser, a fight where you can literally stay in front of the cannons, and NOT MOVE, simply firing until the cannon explodes. (30000 points per laser cannon.) Part 2: THIS part is a little tricky. Remember the second boss? Of course you do. See those tiny, tiny little portholes in the boss's front? He's going to fire those wonderful little red balls you got acquainted with back then, en masse, from those ports, alternating ports with every shot. Just try to blow this thing all over the road as fast as you damn well can, because it's a pain to dodge all the shots. You should be able to destroy many of them, though. (100000 points once this thing goes down.) This is the end of the first episode. If you have the commercial version of the game, you will immediately enter the next episode, 'The Lost Roads'. Otherwise, the game will end right here and now. --------EPISODE 2: THE LOST ROADS-------- "You dare enter the lost roads? We will destroy you!" Initial impression: "Um... these roads can't be that lost if all of us seem to know where they are, are they? Geez. And to think you thought you'd get MY tourist dollars." ---STAGE 6--- Stage setting: Above a body of water, on a road that looks like a disturbing combo of dirt and internal organs. Initial impression: "Holy SHIT, I LOVE this song. So how do I make DosBox rip the sound again...?" New enemies: -Buggy: Remember the APC from Stage 3? Give it what feels like a million times the health. That's the Buggy. I hope your weapon's a powerful one because this thing is a pain in the ASS to take down otherwise. (5000 points) -Helicopter (version 2): This is the same thing as the Helicopter you fought in Stage 1- with one difference. It now fires balls at you that you can destroy, rather than missiles that were equally destroyable. The balls can fire anywhere, unlike the missiles, though. (Still 5000 points.) 0:00 - 0:45: Not a lot to speak of here. Buggies will come at you, one at a time. They absorb a relatively insane amount of punishment before dying compared to other enemies you've been fighting, so don't get discouraged if you're firing shot after shot into them and they refuse to die. 0:46 - 1:15: Helicopters start making their way into the mix. Reminder- Helicopter shots fire at your location in this stage rather than straight ahead. 1:16 - 2:21: It seems rather strange that you'd find a Side shield here. Oops, this must be why- submarines start appearing in the background, which you cannot destroy. Hm, like the Side shield would do damn-all, but still. Much like the cannons in the first stage, they'll fire indestructible red balls at the road- the difference here is that there are FAR more of these submarines here (which slowly make their way up the screen as well) than there ever were cannons in that stage. They will not stop appearing until... 2:22 - END : BOSS FIGHT- Lit-Bolt Discuscopter (160000 points total) Weak points- Part 1: Missile launchers Part 2: Anywhere Part 1: I call it the Lit-Bolt from the lightning insignias on its rear, and I call it the Discuscopter because of the rotors on its back and its weird circular appearance. On this freak of flying machinery, you'll first be firing at the missile launchers on its bottom. They're hard to see, so just watch for the places the missiles are coming from- SHOOT THEM. The missiles, like all others, you can blow to smithereens. Should you have an M-Laser, which you should, you can hit both cannons and all the missiles with no trouble, assuming you keep up with its movement. (30000 points per cannon blown up.) Part 2: Start firing at the boss. Hit it anywhere and it'll feel the sting. Its only attack is similar to that of the second boss- constantly shoot destructible silver balls at you (you're probably getting used to this shot type by this point in the stage). However, it fires them pretty slowly and aims as if it's piloted exclusively by blind people. This is actually a pretty pathetic boss... (100000 points once it drops.) ---STAGE 7--- Stage setting: A grate-like road, above what looks like an industrial district. Initial impression: "What th'... This stage is moving too damn fast!" New enemies: -Jetplane: Remember the Spyplane from Stage 2? Good. You know what this is. (If you haven't by now guessed that it's worth 5000 points...) 0:00 - 2:00: Quite frankly, you have damn-all in terms of surprises waiting for you on this stage. Every enemy except for the Jetplane, you've already seen on STAGE 1. The only real hazard you have to deal with on this stage is the relatively fast movement of the zigzagging road- you will constantly have to rock back and forth on the road in order to not eat roadside every other second. The only other part that could prove tricky is... 2:01 - END: BOSS FIGHT- Grabistar (0 points total) Weak points- Part 1: Both claws Part 1: This guy is a pain in the ass! It's one of the hardest bosses in the game if you don't know the trick... See, its only attack- to repeatedly throw its claws out in front of it- can only be reliably avoided if you're as far down on the screen as you can possibly go. It shouldn't hit you very often down there; anywhere else on the screen and you're asking for it to tear you to pieces. Shoot its claws. (NOT A SINGLE POINT FOR DESTROYING THIS @#%$!!!?) ---STAGE 8--- Stage setting: Space. Over a space station. Initial impression: "All right. I've suspended my disbelief enough. Unless the Earth was somehow ripped in half by these terraformers, there is no @#%$ way I could possible have reached space from the Industrial Area. I WANT ANSWERS." New enemies:
  -Decade Falcon: Don't count on being able to destroy all of these 
things; many hover too close to the sides of the screen for you to be 
able to hit with anything that doesn't have the word "Ion" in its name. 
It fires destructible red balls at you until it leaves the screen, be it 
by disappearing off the bottom of the screen, or being ripped to shreds. 
(5000 points)
  -Lunar Tank: Big and slow, it SLOWLY ambles toward you, firing 
destructible red balls at you all the while. Not much of a threat, even 
though it absorbs a little bit of punishment before giving up the 
carburetor. (3000 points)

0:00 - 4:05:
  What the hell? Looks like the boss decided to show up to the party 
early. Now, before you panic, don't worry about him too much. He just 
lazily rocks back and forth with just the tiniest hint of vertical up-
and-down movement, firing a destructible red ball at you every once in a 
while. Do realize, however, that you CANNOT hurt the boss at this point- 
your shots will just pass under it- and that it obscures quite a bit of 
the screen, so you might not have as much time to react to enemies. Wait 
it out, it'll get its later. You'll get acquainted with your old pal, 
the Sideclaw, quite hastily. The Decade Falcon and Lunar Tank aren't far 
behind. I tell you now, you're not going to be facing much resistance in 
this stage, and as the clock up there may let you in on, it's a long-ass 
stage. Not a particularly thrilling one, at that. Persevere. Eventually 
you can actually show that boss who's... um... boss.

4:06 (took long enough...) - END:
  BOSS FIGHT- Sonar Shielder (100000 points total)
  Weak points- Part 1: Anywhere

Part 1:
  This thing MUST have had some shield on it because there is no other 
reason it could have been able to let all your shots pass harmlessly 
through it until now... Anyway, this thing's not too bad. Even though it's 
changed its shot pattern- to two P-Laser wannabes from the tips on its 
front!- they only cover a tiny bit of ground in front of it, and this 
boss is so damn big that you can easily stay out of its way and still 
blast away at it. Guess maybe this thing should've spent more time on 
its weaponry R&D, rather than its shield. (100000 points once it's 
down.)


                           ---STAGE 9---

  Stage setting: Murky, foggy landscape with a pipe-gridded road.
  Initial impression: "This explains the space stage, Silent Hill takes 
us to a lot of weird places."

New enemies:
  -Racer F-U: A big F-1 car that takes up a ton of the road. You should 
not be able to miss this thing. It takes a bit of punishment, so fire 
fast and often. It'll fire red balls at you until you kill it. (3000 
points)
  -Warplane: Looks like a palette-swapped Spyplane... Finally, FINALLY 
there's one of these things that poses an extreme threat. You cannot hit 
the majority of these things without an Ion weapon, and they fire THREE 
angled red-ball shots at a time, which you MUST move between in order to 
avoid injury. They even require a couple of shots to take down! (5000 
points)
  -Gigabomb: A HUGE green missile that streaks right down at you with no 
warning. It's fast as hell and absorbs quite a few shots before going 
down, so be careful when you see these things coming- and look closely 
because they blend in with the scenery a little, too! (5000 points)

0:00 - 0:15:
  You IMMEDIATELY start this stage with a SHARP turn. BE READY or else 
you'll get hit. Your first encounters with the Racer F-U and the 
Warplane will follow quickly.

0:16 - 1:15:
  Get used to this situation you just saw- a Warplane you can't hit 
without Ion weapons is going to fly in the middle of the screen (or, as 
will often be the case, to the extreme side of the road!) and fire three 
balls at you at a time in a pattern you'll quickly get familiar with. If 
you're in a horizontal line with the balls, you'll be safe, but this 
isn't always an option. Advice: Your M-Laser, should you have it, can 
destroy the balls if you fire it THE MOMENT the balls hit the side 
cannons you have... Or, you can try to burn off all your ammo until you 
have an Ion weapon, but this takes a bit of effort...

1:16 - 3:05:
  You'll see your first Gigabomb here. Well, HOPEFULLY you'll see it. 
Again, it blends in with the road pretty well, so I hope you personally 
are good at detecting movement. LOTS of Gigabombs and Warplanes will 
begin to come out as you go along, so you're probably going to take 
quite a few hits here. As you might suspect, once the road finally takes 
to the middle of the screen, you will fight the boss.

END:
  BOSS FIGHT- Ettiandrew F-U (60000 points total)
  Weak points- Part 1: Cannons

Part 1:
  Oddly enough, this thing's wider than the F-U cars you've seen all 
this stage, but no longer. Anyway, it fires red balls at you constantly 
through the cannons near its rear axles. If you have an M-Laser at this 
point, you can destroy all the balls and slap the cannons around quite a 
bit, too. Destroy both cannons to destroy the boss. (30000 points per 
cannon.)


                           ---STAGE 10---

  Stage setting: A REALLY wavy road above what looks like a rotted-out 
spinal column... and skin...?
  Initial impression: "All right, I give up. Who the hell would consider 
THIS a safe road to drive on, and how did I even get here through the 
old F-U track? Somebody's been doing some jumping..."

New enemies:
  -Bat Outta Hell: An organic version of all the planes you've been 
fighting to this point. It will travel mostly from side to side, 
ricocheting off the side of the screen once it hits it. It fires 
brownish-red (destructible) balls at you all the while until you kill 
it. It's fast about it too! (5000 points, how many more times will I 
have to say this, anyway?)
  -Spidersnake: Looks like a cross between a spider and a snake. It'll 
make its way toward you, straight down, until you blow it to pieces, at 
which point it will turn into three little spiders that continue their 
route down at you, more slowly at that. All are cake to kill. (5000 
points for the Spidersnake, 1000 points for each spider.)
  -Fungal Fly: Flies down at you in an erratic pattern, trying to fill 
the screen up with fungus spots that hurt you if you collide with them. 
Kill it so it'll stop releasing the fungus. The fungus can easily be 
destroyed, but you don't really need it around to distract you from the 
other enemies. (5000 points.)
  -Bacterioid: Spawns from the sides of the screen, with no discernible 
spawn points to alert you to their presence. They don't do much. They 
simply try to amble in front of you, then charge right at you. They 
don't take much damage. (3000 points.)

0:00 - 0:24:
  Bats Outta Hell show up immediately. Also, yes, you'd better get used 
to seeing more than one of them at a time. They're pretty damn common 
enemies throughout this stage. Also, I may as well mention it now, this 
wavy road pretty much FORCES you to move constantly. Just get used to it 
for the stage being, and realize it's going to hinder your ability to 
dodge anything.

0:25 - 1:06:
  Spidersnakes start appearing. Not much to worry about right now, 
especially given that they tend to alternate appearances with the Bats 
Outta Hell.

1:07 - 1:40:
  Fungal Flies begin to show up. Almost always on the left side of the 
screen, too.

1:41 - 2:29:
  Bacterioids begin spawning on the sides of the screen. From this point 
until you go to Stage 11, they do not stop spawning. Ever. This includes 
during the boss fight. Luckily, they're but minor nuisances, but they're 
CONSTANT nuisances. Just TRY to keep up with the damn road until you are 
slowly, SLOWLY presented with...

2:30 - END:
  BOSS FIGHT- Broozeley (90000 points total)
  Weak points- Part 1: Eyes
               Part 2: Anywhere

Part 1:
  Thing certainly takes its time showing itself. Once the dragon enters, 
shoot away at its eyes. Before I go on, know that you'll be attacked by 
Bacterioids and spiders throughout the entire course of this fight. If 
you see smoke coming out of Broozeley's nostrils (the smoke won't hurt 
you), try to get out of the way of its front; it'll breathe fire at you 
that's hard to avoid given the nature of the road. (20000 points for 
either eye you shoot out.)

Part 2:
  Exactly the same as the first part. You're just shooting wherever you 
damn well please now. (50000 points once you kill this thing.)


  This marks the end of the second episode. Because the only way you 
could get HERE in the first place was to have the commercial version of 
the game, you will now immediately enter the final episode, 'Anarchy'.


                 --------EPISODE 3: ANARCHY--------

"You see freedom in the distance. The final chapter your escape
begins!" (Typed as seen, I'm afraid.)

  Initial impression: "Right right. Move MASTER, for great justice."

                           ---STAGE 11---

  Stage setting: An icy mountain range.
  Initial impression: "Holy crap... Music's creepy as hell and the whole 
place looks so bleak; could they make this stage a LITTLE less ominous?"

New enemies:
  -Unstealth Bomber: Lazily makes its way across the screen, shooting 
what look like snowballs at you at a fairly quick pace. I can't be 
certain, but it only seems to fire when it's over the road. They take 
quite a bit of damage to drop... (5000 points)
  -Slider: It sure LOOKS like it should be shooting at you, shouldn't 
it? It basically just streaks down from the top of the screen, blatantly 
trying to smash into you- it moves from side to side in its attempt to 
slam into you. (3000 points)

0:00 - 0:21:
  See those rocks? You're going to hate these things. They come down at 
you pretty quickly, they come down in mass amounts, AND YOU CAN'T 
DESTROY THEM NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO. JUST the thing you need if either A) 
this is your starting stage, or B) you just LOVE the idea of fighting 
Unstealth Bombers at the same time. Actually, B applies nonetheless- 
you'll be doing it a LOT throughout this stage.

0:22 - 0:35:
  A Slider will try to catch you off guard the moment the rocks stop 
coming. Be ready, and consider this your introduction to their blatant 
kamikaze technique. You'll still see an occasional rock.

0:36 - 0:44:
  Dammit, not another rock blitz so soon.

0:45 - 1:20:
  Hm, that was fast. Lucky you. You will again immediately be set upon 
by a Slider. Also, you will fight a frickin' battalion of Unstealth 
Bombers, so try to destroy them all before they reach the middle part of 
the screen.

1:21 - 1:55:
  Onward came ANOTHER rock blitz.

1:56 - 2:14:
  Yes, again you'll take a Slider blitz the moment the rock blitz ends. 
The boss is about to show up. Once you see how ugly it is, you'll 
actually probably wish it was just another rock blitz.

2:15 - END:
  BOSS FIGHT- Breakneck Ratty (50000 points total)
  Weak points- Part 1: Anywhere

Part 1:
  This is the ugliest damn thing I've ever seen in my life. Thank 
goodness it's so damn easy to beat. Simply shoot it with whatever you 
have. Its ONLY attack- a forward charge- it telegraphs by moving toward 
the horizontal middle of the screen. It also has a disturbingly low 
lifespan- it will likely die after a few seconds of sustained gunfire 
(bear in mind I had an M-Laser- that I did not have dropped to a P-
Laser- throughout the entire course of this fight). (50000 points for 
wiping this ugly bastard from the face of the planet.)


                           ---STAGE 12---

  Stage setting: A desert, on a dirt road.
  Initial impression: "This music is WAY too peppy for this game. It 
makes it seem as if I shouldn't be fighting an insane alien force, 
rather, simply taking myself out for a simple drive on the back roads... 
How appropriate that that's exactly what this stage looks like, too..."

New enemies:
  -Hot Air Balloon: SLOWLY makes its way down the screen, traveling from 
side to side FAR more than it does up to down. It does not directly 
attack- however, once destroyed, it acts like a Spikemine- it releases 
four red balls in diagonal directions. If you destroy the balloons as 
soon as they appear, it won't be much of a worry, though. (5000 points)
  -Hard Rider: A tiny, black motorcycle that QUICKLY makes its way to 
the bottom of the screen. Its only attack is to crash into you much like 
the Motorcycles on Stage 1, but it moves so quickly that it might well 
succeed if you aren't fast enough to destroy it. (6000 points)

0:00 - 1:45:
  This is a nice, easy stage. It makes up quite a bit for the pain in 
the ass that was the previous stage... Still got your M-Laser? Hang out in 
the dead middle of the (completely straight) road and just fire the 
moment you see hostiles. You'll kill them. The Hot Air Balloons (which 
come out in series of three or four) and the Hard Riders come out in 
huge numbers- you get a lot of points for destroying either one, so you 
should get a few extra health points when all is said and done. If you 
don't have an M-Laser, that's okay. Just try to shoot down all you can; 
the road isn't much of an obstacle here.

1:46 - END:
  BOSS FIGHT- Evil Knievel (50000 points total)
  Weak points- Part 1: Anywhere 

Part 1:
  This is a VERY quick fight, which is good because he could've been 
pretty dangerous had he more HP. This giant biker moves from side to 
side, firing red balls at you at an extremely fast pace. However, as 
stated, he has so little health that you'll take him out before he gets 
too many of them out. (50000 points once it drops.)


                           ---STAGE 13---

  Stage setting: Cobblestone road above a clumpy-looking desert.
  Initial impression: "What'd they pave this road in? Lava?"

New enemies:
  -Giant Buggy: Oddly enough, despite being about twice the size as the 
Buggy in Stage 6, it has far less health. It slowly makes its way toward 
you, shooting orange balls at you once every three years. (3000 points)
  -Unusually Mobile Debris: Sort of like firing squads, these things 
travel in packs, all shooting orange balls at you at the same time. Try 
to destroy them as soon as they appear or else it'll get tricky to dodge 
the shots. (3000 points)
  -Satellite Flyer MkII: The same as the Satellite Flyers from WAY the 
hell back in Stage 4, but their missiles are now green, and they spawn 
out of nowhere in the sides of the screen. Ion weapons are still the 
weapons of choice. Amusingly, if, on their way up, they slam into the 
road, they'll die without you firing a shot. (3000 points)

0:00 - 0:27:
  Giant Buggies and Unusually Mobile Debris start appearing pretty 
quickly, and the fast, oft-curvy road means that you're going to be 
doing a LOT of fast, probably unintended moving on this stage. Try to 
take out the enemies before they get to shoot, because you are NOT going 
to be dodging much on this road. Or shoot their shots, really, either 
works...

0:28 - 1:18:
  Satellite Flyer MkIIs start appearing out of nowhere. They'll join the 
usual complement of enemies.

1:19 - 1:56:
  You've seen the last of the Satellite Flyer MkIIs, and the rest of 
this stage is much like the first part.

1:57 - END:
  BOSS FIGHT- Phooraink (100000 points total)
  Weak points- Part 1: Eyes
               Part 2: Anywhere

Part 1:
  This giant fly lazily flies from side to side (and for some reason, it 
never seems to want to deviate from the right half of the screen), 
occasionally (and without warning) firing a thin blue P-Laser at you. 
Shoot it in the eyes, but try to get the timing of its laser down before 
you attack- you almost HAVE to get in the range of that laser in order 
to hit the eyes unless you have an M-Laser. Each eye you destroy will 
begin firing orange balls at you. (You don't get any points for 
destroying either eye.)

Part 2:
  Phooraink no longer has the ability to fire lasers at this point; all 
it does is fire orange balls from its eyes at this point. Shoot it until 
its guts splatter. (100000 points once you've applied the final swat.)


                           ---STAGE 14---

  Stage setting: A jungle, on a bamboo road.
  Initial impression: "I hope my car doesn't fall through this road. 
That'd really suck right now."

New enemies:
  There are no new enemies on this stage. Every enemy on this stage 
hails from Stage 3.

0:00 - 0:20:
  Several Laser Vehicles are just DYING to catch you off guard the 
moment the stage begins, which they probably will. Also, you'll see Side 
Lasercannons and APCs shortly after.

0:21 - 0:25:
  Oh hell NO! Remember the Spikemines? HERE THEY ARE!

0:26 - 1:11:
  ...There they went. Hm, I doubt you'll be so lucky next time. It's back 
to the first part of this stage as far as enemies go.

1:12 - 1:40:
  Rainin'. The background otherwise disappears now, leaving you with the 
rain and the road. Army Jets will begin appearing now, too.

1:41 - 1:58:
  Prepare to start seeing a few more Spikemines.

1:59 - 2:03:
  The Spikemines hold off... in exchange for those blue rockets from Stage 
3 doing their thing again. This time, you can't tell where they're going 
to fire from by looking at the background. You can still destroy them 
for 3000 points each.

2:04 - 2:40:
  Bah, you know what? The Spikemines figured the rockets needed company.

2:41 - 3:36:
  Make up your friggin' minds, Spikemines! The Spikemines AGAIN hold 
off, but now you're fighting rockets and normal foes.

3:37 - 3:57:
  One last round of Spikemines, which you have no choice but to shoot 
through... Then there's nothing for a little while... Oops, wait, I take 
that back, here comes something.

3:58 - END:
  BOSS FIGHT- M-1 Abrahams (70000 points total)
  Weak points- Part 1: Turret
               Part 2: Anywhere

Part 1:
  Fairly simple, although you once again will have to get in range of 
its attack in order to do damage most of the time. Shoot it in the 
turret it's using to fire lasers at you. (20000 points once the turret's 
ripped off.)

Part 2:
  See that hole in the top of the tank? You probably can't because it's 
constantly firing silver balls at you. Shoot the tank, hopefully taking 
out as many of its shots as you can in the process. (50000 points once 
it explodes.)


                  ---FINAL STAGE! STAGE 15---

  Stage setting: A pulsing cityscape with girders above the road.
  Initial impression: "Right... Hard to believe that after so many levels, 
I reach something RESEMBLING civilization again. Oh well. Let's do 
this."

New enemies:
  -Splitter: A big, spiky-looking thing that slowly ambles down the 
screen, firing red balls at you. Once you blow it up, it splits into two 
halves on the side of the road, both of which fire red balls, and stay 
put until you blow THEM up too. (5000 points for the main body, and 5000 
points for each part that splits off.)
  -RV: Starts off slowly at the top of the screen, then makes a fairly 
quick charge down at you. (6000 points)
  -Flyin' RV: Flies from side to side, slowly making its way down the 
screen, firing red balls at you. If you don't destroy it (or you do but 
it's over the road at the time), it morphs into a plain ol' RV. (5000 
points)
  -Barrier: An electric barrier that WILL hurt you if you don't destroy 
it before it gets too close. Simply shoot at the electrode that sticks 
out from the side of the road more to get rid of it- since the screen is 
partially obscured, you'll have to be quick to figure out which side 
that is! (5000 points)
  -Jet Spikemine: The same as any other Spikemine, but it moves toward 
you more slowly, so that you're pretty much bound to hit it. Hello, 
diagonal balls o' red. (Still no points for this one.)

0:00 - 0:50:
  About ten seconds are spent to show you one of the worst things you'll 
be dealing with on this stage- those girders are going to CONSTANTLY 
obscure the screen. The enemies- the Splitter, the Street Balla 
(remember Stage 5?), and the RV- are fairly simple and come at you one 
at a time. Destroy the Splitters and their parts quickly, though, or 
else they'll start to cause problems.

0:51 - 1:16:
  Here comes a Flyin' RV. Also, the enemies start to show up in slightly 
greater numbers.

1:17 - 1:51:
  The first of many Barriers you'll see in this stage is right in front 
of you. Figure out which side you can destroy quickly, or else you'll be 
eating lightning. Like I said, this is the first of many, so get used to 
the procedure. Enemy numbers begin to increase again.

1:52 - 2:56:
  You're going to start seeing Jet Spikemines now. I don't just mean a 
few. These are TONS of these things all over the road, and like it or 
not, because you have a lot of enemies on the road as well, you're GOING 
to be holding down the fire button.

2:57 - 6:37:
  The Jet Spikemines stop... Now you've got another worry. The girders 
blocking your view are closer together than ever before, AND they're 
dropping explosives on you. You're at your safest in the left lane, but 
all the explosives will drop more or less in the center of the road. To 
sweeten the deal, you'll still be fighting enemies- lots of them- during 
this whole sequence. Some Jet Spikemines will appear here and there, but 
not too many compared to earlier.

6:38 - 7:00:
  Damn, that took a while. Only a few enemies separate you from the last 
boss. Once you see what look like piledrivers poking out, it's go time.

7:01 - END:
  BOSS FIGHT- Stereotype (80000 points total)
  Weak points- Part 1: Rollerball bay
               Part 2: Pistons
               Part 3: Ion Guns
               Part 4: Anywhere

Part 1:
  This is it. You're up against the biggest damn enemy in the game, 
which only makes sense considering that the aliens know that this is 
their last chance to stop you. Ironically enough, though, I consider 
this to be one of the easiest bosses, ESPECIALLY considering how drained 
your ammo stock is at this point (you will have, at BEST, a block or two 
of P-Laser ready to go here, and that was when I was being ultra-
conservative with my shots). They must realize that there's not much 
point to really BOTHERING to take you down- you read my little plot 
analysis.
  Anyway, here's what you have to do. There are no less than FIVE 
targets. In the center, where you would be wise to stay, is a bay that 
releases destructible red balls every so often. Simply stay in front of 
that bay and fire fire fire until it blows up. You will destroy all the 
balls and you are in NO danger from anything else here. (10000 points 
once it's rolled its last ball.)

Part 2:
  Next up are the pistons. Right now, you likely have an Ion weapon of 
your own firing. STAY PUT and continue firing. You'll destroy the 
pistons without putting yourself in the slightest danger. You may, of 
course, speed this up considerably by moving in front of a piston that's 
retracted and shoot at it that way, moving out of the way once it starts 
coming out again. You can destroy the Ions en route to and from the 
center of the screen that way. (No points for either piston.)

Part 3:
  Next are the Ion Guns. Here's what you do. Move in front of Ion Gun 
one. Fire until it dies, destroying every last ion in the process. Move 
in front of Ion Gun two. Fire until it dies, destroying every last ion 
in the process. (10000 points for each Ion Gun destroyed.)

Part 4:
  From this point forward, simply fire your ass off. YOU WILL HIT THIS 
BOSS. It fires giant red balls that you can destroy out of both wings. 
Wanna know something nice? Stay near the very bottom of the screen, so 
you can see your whole car except for a bit of the rear bumper. Stay in 
the dead middle of the screen. THE BALLS CANNOT HIT YOU. Fire until this 
rather sad last boss explodes. That is right, unless you want to destroy 
this boss with a little more speed, YOU ARE LITERALLY IN NO DANGER OF 
GETTING HURT AT ANY TIME DURING THIS FIGHT. (50000 points once you've 
won.)


  Nice work; you've beaten the game. Enjoy the ending, short as it is.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Phase 13:
CLOSING

  I guess that's about everything I set out to say and do. I hope this 
guide was either useful or a good read. If it was both, hey, 50000 bonus 
points for everyone. If it was useful for you, I hope you enjoyed 
Highway Hunter as well. Feel free to take a look at other wiseassery 
I've made at http://yukatakeuchifan.kiwibonga.com, although I'll warn 
you now, if you don't much care for busty anime girls, you're really not 
going to care for the place that much. Whatever it is you plan on doing 
after closing this off, enjoy it, eh?

  You can contact me about this guide at:
  yukatakeuchifan (at) gmail (dot) com .

  I have better things to do than read flames, so if you either have a 
beef with my guide or you're an errant 4chan member that doesn't like 
me, you can, in this order-
  You have a problem with my guide: Please tell me what the problems 
with my guide are and how I might be able to fix them. I'll consider 
them and act as I feel is appropriate.
  You simply feel like making trouble: Go stab your throat.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Phase 14:
END

  This game guide for Highway Hunter was written by me, Yuka Takeuchi 
Fan (also known as Bo Kurland). I honestly don't give a damn if this is 
posted anywhere else, but please at least be fair and tell me if you'd 
like to do so. Gotta stroke my ego somehow. I'd tell you to not sell 
this guide for money, but frankly, if you can find someone dumb enough 
to buy a guide for an 11-year-old game that they know they can find on 
GameFAQs anyway, they friggin' DESERVE to lose their money and you're 
probably doing the world a favor in some obscure fashion.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Phase 15:
REALLY THE END THIS TIME

  For the love of Komon, DO SOMETHING ELSE NOW!