1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789 ABCDEFGHIJABCDEFGHIJABCDEFGHIJABCDEFGHIJABCDEFGHIJABCDEFGHIJABCDEFGHIJABCDEFGHI *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* * SUPER STARDUST HD - FAQ / WALKTHROUGH * *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* For the Playstation 3 Version 1.00 (10/1/07) -------------------- by Rasputin77 (aka Bach741) **BEGIN DISCLAIMER** This is my first FAQ, so please don't be alarmed by its n00biness. Super Stardust HD is copyright Housemarque. This guide is intended for free circulation through all Internet related resources including web pages, newsgroups, email, IRC, FTP and any other forums that exist. The strategies contained within (with the exception of info quoted directly from the in-game directions, below) are copyright Rasputin77. Any unapproved recycling, rehashing, or redistributing of this information will result in prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. Plus, you'll just plain hurt my feelings, and you don't want that, do you? **END DISCLAIMER** ========================= TABLE OF CONTENTS ========================= >>>1. In-game Directions >>>2. In-game Options >>>3. Enemies >>>4. Weapons >>>5. The Rules >>>6. Going About Following the Rules ('Modes') >>>7. Score Multiplier >>>8. Numbered Asteroids >>>9. Shields!!! >>>10. Visual Acuity >>>11. Boost School >>>12. Boost Maneuvers >>>13. Token Retrieval (Chains) >>>14. The Walkthrough >>>15. FAQs >>>16. Miscellaneous Tips ========================= >>>1. In-game Directions ((**This section is taken directly from the in-game directions of Super Stardust HD**)) In-Game Controls: Left stick - move ship Right stick - shoot L1/R1 button - previous/next weapon L2 button - boost R2 button - bomb Start button - pause menu Gameplay: Destroy asteroids and enemies for points. Shoot green cores (which come from within the large and some medium-sized asteroids) for bonus tokens. Shoot weapon ship pods for extra bombs. Boost to ram through asteroids or to quickly escape enemies. Use the bomb to destroy nearby asteroids and enemies. Clear five attack phases to complete a planet. Each of the asteroid types is weak against a specific weapon. Use the optimal weapon to quickly destroy them. Look at enemy colors to discover their weaknesses. Clear the attack phases quickly for higher time bonuses. Save your bombs for additional points. Destroy enemies and asteroids for a higher score multiplier. Losing a ship resets the multiplier. More points are awarded for destroying large groups at once. Boost through point tokens for a chain bonus. Extra lives awarded at 1 million, 5 million and 10 million points. Additional extra life every 10 million points. Game Modes: Arcade - Clear a planet to gain access to new planets. Strive for the ultimate global arcade high score! Planet - Play any of the unlocked planets and shoot for the top of the global planet high score list. Co-op - Save the solar system with your friend! Features a global high score list. Shoot asteroids for tokens. Tokens degrade over time: Extra ship > shield > cycled weapon (Ice Splitter / Rock Crusher / Gold Melter) > points Efficient weapon usage is considered to be the appropriate weapon used on the appropriate asteroid - Rock Crusher on rock, Gold Melter on goldrock (red), and Ice Splitter on icerock (blue). ((End of section with in-game directions of Super Stardust HD)) >>>2. In-game Options Options: Camera distance - Personally, I play with the game in 'near' mode, but you can always select the other option ('far'), and see if it works better for you. Game statistics - This is a pretty sweet place where you can find out all sorts of stuff regarding your performance in the game; how many times you've destroyed certain enemies, or played certain levels, or collected certain tokens, etc. Credits - Give it where it's due. A groovy tune accompanies a scrolling list of the people who made this outrageously cool game possible. Nothing new, is it? =D >>>3. Enemies Throughout this guide, I will refer to anything that has the potential to damage your ship as an "obstacle". However, a good deal of these obstacles are not free-floating asteroids, but rather independently-moving, reacting enemies. Listed here is a list of all of them, and brief descriptions of each: Centipedes (Hmm... asteroids? centipedes? Are we paying homage to something?) - green, and fast, turning tight corners to lock on to your ship. Pilot away from them and shoot back, keeping your eyes on the horizon for more. Black Centipedes - I actually think these look more grey/silver, with red heads. DEADLY fast, and just as aggressive as the regular ones. Use the same tactics with these baddies, with plenty of foresight. Mines - What I'm assuming are also what I've nicknamed the "red spikeys", these will rain down upon the player, with obstacle indicators announcing their presence. Once they land, they will gravitate toward you, so be prepared to move away and take the horde out. As with most enemies in this game, these are best destroyed with wide, sweeping arcs of the Gold Melter. Black Mines - Another color discrepancy I must point out, these look more blue to me than anything else. They react MUCH faster than the regular mines, and therefore overwhelm you more quickly. Handle with extreme caution. (Or rather, don't 'handle' them at all) Spinners - I can't help but call these "Norelco blades", as in the electric razor (with the 3 circular heads), because they look AND sound just like one! After these enemies hover for a few seconds, they'll begin to spin much faster, and start making noise. As soon as this happens, divert your full firepower on them, because they're about to rush in 'kamakazie'-style and take out your ship. Dangerous in large numbers, but easy to take out with a boost. Lurkers - Small purplish, saucer-shaped ships that move FAST... AND are capable of firing upon you. As the only enemy in the game with these combined capabilities, you need to keep a very close eye on them at all times. Problem is, they like to "lurk" (so it's NOT just a clever name!) just outside of your field of vision, and either rush in for the kill or snipe your ship from a distance. The Gold Melter isn't much help against them due to their distancing, so use a ranged weapon and take them out! Swarmers - Very small, and practically harmless, as long as you keep your defenses about yourself. They drop down in massive numbers, but in patterns that are easy to avoid. You can always use a bomb to take most of them out, but some random boosts and decent weapon-work should take out a whole swarm of them rather quickly. Turrets - While they don't move, and should therefore pose the least possible threat, these giant cannons fire 3 shots at a time, at your current location. While that sounds easy enough to deal with, wait until you're in a fierce firefight with asteroids and enemies everywhere, and 10 of them descend at once to surround you. Only smart piloting and keen shooting will take care of these. >>> 4. Weapons While personal playing styles are bound to be different from pilot to pilot, it's somewhat agreed (at least from what I've noticed) that a particular heirarchy of weapon preference should be utilized in order to fare better at this game. As it is not my place to tell you which weapon to use in certain situations, all I can do is offer up my suggestions based solely on experience. Gold Melter - By far the best weapon in the game, IMO, a stream of fire bursts forth from your ship, and can be wielded like some giant, tamed whip. After playing through all 5 planets on multiple occassions, my stats suggest that I use the Gold Melter about 85% of the time. Increased in strength by collecting the red Gold Melter tokens, this weapon has an INCREDIBLE ability to provide defense from all directions, especially when powered up beyond 75% strength. (TIP: "The wave" - An almost surefire way of safely maneuvering your way around each stage, is with a constant stream of Gold Melter firepower pouring out of your frontside. By making a 'wave'-type of motion with the right control stick, shooting back in forth in an arc roughly 90 degrees in width, the concentrated power of the Gold Melter should be enough to carve a safe path out of - or into! - almost any situation.) Ice Splitter - Best used for the Icerocks (big surprise!) you first encounter in Planet 3, this weapon has fantastic range when it's been powered up considerably. Really isn't much use for anything besides taking care of ice, and eliminating distant threats, though. Rock Crusher - While it does do a great job of crushing the regular rocks/asteroids, it doesn't do anything a reasonably powered-up Gold Melter will. The spread of the Rock Crusher at 100% power is indeed impressive, and might fit your needs IF you happen to be surrounded by plain ol' rock. >>>5. The Rules The Rules: 1. Don't die. 2. React quickly. 3. Get points. LOTS of points. >>>6. Going About Following the Rules: SSHD (Super Stardust HD) is primarily about three things: control, reaction, and focus. (What video games aren't, right?) * Control - Not only will your ship need precision piloting, but your aiming skills will be just as essential. * Reaction - Knowing how to react as soon as you see something happening is key to staying alive. * Focus - Paying attention to not only your ship, but everything going on around it, takes practice. Any SSHD veteran will agree - you'll need a constant, steady application of all three of these to achieve any sort of victory. To succeed, you'll need to do things like activate the right weapon to defend yourself from an onslaught of debris (reaction), avoid fire from nearby enemies (control), and identify a much-needed token located halfway across the stage (focus), boosting to it before it disappears... all within the timeframe of only a few seconds. This is why I have nicknamed SSHD "Asteroids on Crack" - a truly fitting subtitle. To apply the proper combination of these abilities, my suggestion to you is learning to think and play in different 'modes'. To help explain thebest course of action to take in any given situation, I have categorized player activity into these 'modes', and how I personally tend to change my train of thought during each. Of course, the gameplay in SSHD is usually far too frenzied and intense to allow for a conscious adjustment between these modes, so they more-or-less happen automatically. Simply consider them templates onto which you can build your own style of playing: ('Modes') Mode 1 - Search & Destroy: In this mode, not much is happening around you, usually taking place during the beginning or ending of a phase. Either new rocks are falling and you need to get to them quick, or old remants are still floating around containing tokens you should be collecting. Technically, you need to be 'searching and destroying' whatever gives you points (which is pretty much anything), but there will be obvious moments when something is waiting for you to shoot it down. The best example of this is when a group of enemies signal the last wave of a phase, and the "Enemies Remaining" bar appears towards the bottom of the screen. When only one or two slivers of the bar remain, there are still enemies somewhere that might not be viewable - either offscreen, or on the other side of the planet. Search them out, and destroy them. Also, certain waves of obstacles won't appear until the previous wave has been mostly or entirely destroyed. If nothing's happening, do a quick sweep for medium or large asteriods that might still be intact, or green cores that have been released, but not transformed into tokens. As always, clean house as you go - you should be a whirlwind of destruction, leaving nothing but the occassional shrapnel in your wake. The concept is simple - if there's ever a lull in activity, then you still have something left to do. The game essentially progresses just as quickly as you're able to clear obstacles. Always keep in mind; time is a very important factor in obtaining high scores. Mode 2 - Defense: Defense consists of minimal movement coupled with maximum firepower. It also demands a keen eye (covered more extensively in Visual Acuity) in order to avoid incoming obstacles. You will see red, pulsating circles appear shortly before an obstacle falls towards the playing surface, signaling where it will land. (Let's call these 'obstacle indicators'.) You will play a large percentage of SSHD in Defense mode, which is primarily: a) Clearing your immediate area while dodging (already-present) obstacles, and b) Watching for (incoming) obstacle indicators so you don't get squashed. Never "run away" from an obstacle. (Yes, my Self-Help book is going on sale next month.) Dodge them, by all means, but there's no reason to continuously run away from anything smaller than an overwhelming swarm of shrapnel/enemies. Instead of constantly piloting away from obstacles, shoot them. It sounds painfully obvious, but I've watched many-a-rookie spend excessive time on the lam while they had tons of firepower at their disposal. As soon as you assume the role of mouse in the game of 'cat and mouse', you'll notice that your chances of getting struck by a stray obstacle increases dramatically. Mode 3 - Collection: So you've searched for and destroyed a few large rocks, broken them into 100 pieces and entered Defense mode so you don't get obliterated. Almost immediately you'll notice the tokens being released from the green cores contained within. While maintaining a decent amount of defense, your next goal is to obtain these tokens (covered more extensively in Token Retrieval) before they disappear. At this point, a formula should be considered that will make or break your ship (and your point multiplier) if it isn't acted upon correctly. Again, it's nothing to take too literally, but something like it should go through your head during gameplay. The forumla is: Value of the token(s), minus (-) Current Danger = your likelihood to collect Painfully obvious, I realize, but still relevant. Here are a few situational examples (using a scale of 1 out of 10): Let's say you have no shield, are surrounded by several bits of shrapnel, and see a shield token floating on the other side of the planet. Value (10, because losing a life is the last thing you want, so shields are priority items) - Current Danger (2, as the shrapnel isn't too hard to take care of, and you aren't being attacked directly) = 8/10, which would be a strong candidate for collection. Boost through the rocks and grab it. Let's take the same scenario, but this time the shield token is in an area with very heavy traffic, and is about to disappear. Value (again, 10) - Current Danger (7, because you know you'll have to boost to make it in time, and boosting INTO heavy traffic is sometimes ill-advised, especially with the weak version of a weapon) = 3/10. You would almost be better off staying in defense mode, taking out all immediate dangers, and shooting every green core you see in the hopes of finding another shield. However if your Boost-and-park abilities are up to par, it may be worth the risk. One more... how about you have no shield, and see a couple of point tokens floating nearby (that you want to boost-collect) while you're being chased by a barrage of the black centipedes. Value (despite the importance of points, I would only rank these a 2 or a 3) - Current Danger (5, as the centipedes can be very fast, and will follow your ship closely) = -2 or -3 / 10!... or, in other words, strongly discouraged! Unless you feel like dropping a bomb to clear the centipedes (bombs really should be used as a last line of defense), trying to zig-zag your way through a bunch of unpredictable enemies for a paltry few-thousand points isn't the smartest thing to do. Boosting through the centipedes and collecting the tokens in one move is an option, but will take good reflexes and aiming. I don't follow this formula literally, and neither should you. It's simply a (haphazardly constructed) suggestion of how the process of determining collection should take place mentally, and effect your game. Being point-hungry is great, but sacrificing your ship (and therefore, more points) is a grave error you should never commit. Remembering that one single ship has the potential to earn you tens of millions of points is a great way to help keep yourself from rushing into potentially fatal situations. Mode 4 - Evasion: This is the point where the alert sirens need to start going off in your head. Things have begun to get hairy, and hiding in your comfort zone while staying in defense mode just doesn't seem to be cutting it anymore. As you've probably noticed, most dangers are introduced in "batches". Small rocks, medium rocks and enemies - they all seem to show up in droves, and sometimes in multiple droves. There will be times, (plenty of times), when the obstacle indicators and sheer voulme of on-screen activity will suggest to you that it is indeed time to GTFO. (Get the **** out!) More often than not, the action will be so frenzied that your first instinct will be to boost. While boosting is essential to Mode 5 (escaping), there is a different technique of evading - one that will require a fairly steady hand. Another key to SSHD is not using your resources until you absolutely need them. This even applies to boosts, since they are exhaustible in the sense of taking time to regenerate. When things start to get congested, try calmly and manually weaving your way through the traffic, and AWAY from wherever it's most dense, shooting the whole way. Sometimes you'll have a moment to pick out a nice, clear area to head towards, but in many cases the direction you'll be most interested in . . . is "AWAY". You can use your weapons to carve yourself a path out of the mayhem, or (with good visual acuity) you can pilot around obstacles while using your weapon to protect your rear and sides. This always involves paying extremely close attention to the immediate area surrounding the ship, looking for obstacle indicators, and identifying anything that might be traveling "towards" your ship. Mode 5 - Escape: Or, as I like to call it, "AHHHHHHH!" This mode involves less of the 'dodging' aspect of evasion, and more of the "find a safe area or die" mindset. The true difference between this mode and evasion, is that there is no initial time or room to maneuver manually. This is when you have no other options other than bombing, boosting, or sacrificing your shield (should you have one). Truth of the matter is, good SSHD playing should result in less of a need for Escape mode. If you're evading when you should be, aiming intelligently, and not making more obstacles for yourself than you need (like breaking apart large rocks when you're already swamped with smaller ones), this emergency situation shouldn't happen often. But, rest assured, it will happen, and pulling it off isn't the spastic chain of desperate commands one might expect it to be. Your first course of action is to boost. Quickly! Boost to the most open area you can find, and concentrate on focusing your firepower in the appropriate direction as soon as you get there. Switch back quickly to Evade mode while your boost meter refills, constantly moving "away" from the busiest regions of obstacles and keeping your eyes peeled for strays. Things will get very hectic, very fast, so don't be afraid to drop one of those bombs if you need to boost away and can't. You will probably have tens of bombs at your disposal, and much fewer ships to sacrifice, so do the math and be smart about it. Also, keep in mind the curvature of the planets, and how escaping from danger in a straight line might not always be the best bet. You'll likely end up in the same place you started, so try adding a little angle to your escape route. The heirarchy of survival technique, when you're absolutely certain there is no chance of evasion, should be: Boost > Bomb > Shield > and then usually Death, unless you get really lucky with the Gold Melter on overdrive. >>>7. Score Multiplier There's one number that matters the most in SSHD (aside from your score), which also happens to be the one number to decrease the fastest - the score multiplier. The more you destroy, the higher your score multiplier becomes (located in the lower-right corner of the screen). To clarify, the scores shown on-screen for every action taken are already multiplied by this factor. For example, you'll notice that point tokens are 2,500 points each at the beginning of each ship's life. Once the multiplier increases (2x, 3x, 4x, etc.), each of these tokens will increase respectively in value (5,000 points, 7,500 points, 10,000 points, etc.). My suggestion is that once you obtain a significant score multiplier, your attention should shift from clearing debris, to collecting more point tokens... and more importantly, collecting them in chains. (see Token Retrieval) Once you lose a life and the multiplier resets to 1x, I personally consider that the best time to overlook the green cores, and "clean house" as much as possible. Of course, collecting ANY value of point token in a chain is beneficial to your score - the trick comes in the balance of deciding when you should be focusing your efforts on clearing the playing field, and when you should concentrate on obtaining as many token chains as possible. Needless to say, that balance shifts as the multiplier increases. For example, when your multiplier is much higher (8x, 9x or 10x which is the maximum), you're likely to spend much more time lining up chain collects for more points, than you will clearing the debris or going after other tokens. Then again, once a green core has deteriorated to the point of being nothing other than a point token, I suppose it really doesn't matter. One of the brilliant things about SSHD is that your own formula of gameplay will determine how large of a score you can achieve. Mix it up, set your own limits, and find out what works best for you. The bonus points awarded at the end of each phase (**Thanks to GameFaqs user CKeur for helping to verify this**) is calculated as follows: [2,000 + (number of remaining bombs * 100)] * remaining time * score multiplier >>>8. Numbered Asteroids This peculiar rock will show up like all the others, with an obstacle indicator to tell you where it's landing. However this asteroid is marked with a number in the obstacle indicator, and is part of a chain of asteroids, all of which need to be destroyed in a timely manner. Once the first one (usually numbered '16') has been eliminated, another one will fall, this time numbered '15'. After that's been destroyed, then comes '14', '13', '12', and so forth. Stay on top of these rocks! (Well, not literally, or you'll explode...) Regardless of where you are within the chain, if a numbered asteroid floats too far from you, or even floats for too long without being destroyed, it will disappear, and THE CHAIN WILL STOP. This is bad, because the reward for successfully completing a chain of numbered asteroids is the biggest green core you'll ever lay your eyes on (which is really a tightly-formed collection of smaller cores). As soon as the last numbered asteroid has been taken care of, a final obstacle indicator will appear, marked by the word "bonus". Hold on to your spaceballs - you're about to get an opportunity to score some major points. The giant green core can be taken out several ways. You can shoot at it directly, but without a weapon that's fully powered-up or in overdrive mode, many of the cores will break apart and drift away before detonating, eventually deteriorating into lesser tokens (provided they were greater to begin with, of course). I've seen some people use a bomb to take care of things, but while that does expose all the tokens simultaneously, it obviously uses up a bomb which you should be saving. My suggestion is this: pilot your ship right up next to the giant core, and boost straight through it. You might not collect every single token, and you might increase the power of a weapon you're not using, but you should be able to collect a decent amount of points from it. The higher your score multiplier is at the time, the better. Anything you didn't collect should start to drift towards you, so reverse directions, wait a few seconds, then boost back through whatever remains. >>>9. Shields!!! Contrary to what you might think, the shield should be treated as the greatest token you can get - better than anything else. When you don't already have one, the shield is better than any weapon token or overdrive, better than any string of point tokens... in fact, it's even better than an extra ship token. (**Thanks to Gamefaqs user esb422 for pointing this out**) "WTF", you say? It's true. Where a shield can protect you from a collision and still keep your point multiplier active, an extra ship will reset the multiplier to x1 when it is used. So here's the lesson: if you DON'T have a shield, and you spot an extra ship token, WAIT until the token cycles into a shield and then collect it, since it's better to protect the life you're using and keep the multiplier going. If you collect the shield token while you already have an active shield, it will act as a bomb, destroying everything in the area as soon as it's touched. On the other hand... if you DO have a shield and see the extra life token, grab that extra ship! Also (and this is entirely mental, but it seems to work for me), try not to remind yourself you have a shield, if you can help it - the moment it's used, you will remember. Just go through the efforts to get one, and then forget about it. In my experience, as soon as I remind myself that I can afford to have a collision, I'm much more likely to actually have that collision. You simply can't break focus in this game! In my self-reassurance, I become too comfortable, and let my guard down. I find it best to fight tooth and nail, 100%, non-stop; let the shield be a convenient life jacket when a near-tragedy strikes. Just something to consider! >>>10. Visual Acuity Since most of the obstacles in SSHD do not fire back at you, it is far more important to pay attention to the direction everything travels in. (The exact same principle used in the Atari classic, "Asteroids") After spending some time with the game, your eyes (with training) will start to see everything at once - which obstacles are travelling in which directions, at what speed, and more importantly, which ones are heading straight for your ship. Beginners will inevitably get smoked by the most minor of dangers - usually small, unseen obstacles that sneak up - simply because there is so much happening on-screen at once. Again, I'm going to be an uber-nerd, and suggest a formula to consider. It's another obvious one; completely self-explanatory, but it does need to be stated: Degree of Danger, minus (-) Possibility of Escape = Level of Focus Pretty simple, right? The more danger you appear to be in, the more you need to focus your attention on your ship and its immediate surroundings. When I enter Escape mode after almost being overwhelmed, and boost to a clearer area of the stage, I'm really only guessing, sacrificing a fraction-of-a-second of peripheral vision to make the call. There's no time to be picking and choosing when an ungodly amount of flying debris is threatening your existence. However once your boost is over, you'll be back in Evade mode (provided you don't use any bombs), bringing your attention back to the immediate area surrounding your ship. You're still using peripheral vision to identify threats and tokens, but also placing survival as the priority. ...It's better not to think about it too much. Just relax your eyes, and let them take control. After enough practice, they'll send the messages through your brain to your hands much faster than you can even hope to think about reacting consciously. :) >>>11. Boost School The boost (L2) should be your bread-and-butter! >>Train yourself to use it often, as it has multiple purposes<<: 1. Speed - First of all, the boost gets you places, fast. Since time is a factor in achieveing higher scores, you want to finish each phase as quickly as possible, so use it to help move around. Just make sure you won't need it immediately when you get to where you're going! There is a standard, several-second recharge period before the boost will become active after being used. Fortunately, as you play the game more, you'll grow comfortable with the recharge period, and almost be able to sense when it's finished. That, or just use your peripheral vision to eyeball the meter in the lower-left hand corner of the screen. It will glow blue when the boost has recharged. There's also a tone that sounds once the recharge is complete, so if you have a good ear, use that. 2. Attack - Aside from your main weapon, the boost is a valuable tool for destroying obstacles. Not only are you invulerable to attack during the maneuver, but you'll also incinerate pretty much any obstacle in your path (and damage boss enemies as you pass through them), not to mention causing Massive Damage as you rip through the larger rocks. My favorite way to attack the bomb carrier is to boost straight through its side, release both bombs, then circle back around and pick up the tokens. For static enemies like the turrets that first appear on the 4th planet, you can boost straight through them instead of pouring out the firepower, sometimes catching 2 or 3 in a single boost. Experiment, and come up with your own uses. 3. Token Collection - Probably THE BEST USE for the boost, and the reason is this; the more point tokens you can collect in a single boost, the more points you will receive for them. Each additional token obtained in a single boost is given a larger multiplier (explained below), so it goes without saying, 'the more, the merrier.' You can also use the boost to fly through the green cores that release the tokens. In most cases you'll just release them, but if you hit the green core dead-on, it is possible to obliterate it AND collect the token simultaneously. The only drawback to this is collecting a weapon token in the process, and therefore having no say in which weapon will be powered up (obviously because it never has time to cycle). Even if you're only collecting one point token, USE THE BOOST, because you'll still receive a multiplier for doing so. If you are picking up just one point token, try to take out an obstacle or two in the process. Circle around the token until the trajectory you choose allows you to cause some extra damage... just don't spend too much time lining it up. There are bigger fish to fry. Here are some examples (the score multiplier would be at 3x for these): Single point token: 7,500 points Single point token, collected with boost: 7,500 x 2 = 15,000 points This is where it starts to get exciting. Let's consider picking up 5 point tokens: 5 point tokens without boost: 7,500 x 5 = 37,500 points 5 point tokens, collected in a single boost: (7,500 x 2) + (7,500 x 3) + (7,500 x 4) + (7,500 x 5) + (7,500 x 6) = 15,000 + 22,500 + 30,000 + 37,500 + 45,000 = 150,000 points Should you happen to make it to the 10x point multiplier, these boosts will draw in absolutely monsterous points. Let's say we're lucky enough to collect 6 in a single boost: 6 point tokens without boost: 25,000 x 6 = 150,000 points 6 point tokens, collected in a single boost: (25k x 2) + (25k x 3) + (25k x 4) + (25k x 5) + (25k x 6) + (25k x 7) = 50k + 75K + 100k + 125k + 150k + 175k = 675,000 points Yes, that's right. Over half-a-million in a SINGLE boost - all in less than a second. See where I'm going with this? :) Boosting through point tokens IS ESSENTIAL. If you're picking up point tokens without boosting through them, you had better be out of boost, or saving it for something more important! There are exceptions to the rule, however. There will be moments in SSHD when your ship will be literally surrounded by point tokens - upwards of 15 to 20 of them - and you might have just used your boost, while at the same time being quickly closed in by obstacles on all sides. What should you do? That's one of the great things about SSHD - you're given countless opportunities to capitalize on big point and item bonuses, while at the same time being coerced into making risky maneuvers, usually by the skin of your teeth. >>>12. Boost Maneuvers BOOST-AND-PARK: The boost-and-park (copyrighted, lol...) is normally what you end the Evade mode or begin the Escape mode with. It's technically boosting out of an over-populated area (over-populated meaning there is no room for you), and into an almost over-populated area (which will likely be over-populated in a matter of seconds). As has been mentioned, your ship will be impervious to damage during a boost - even for the fraction-of-a-second after you slow to a halt. Unfortunately, when you don't have much time to look where you're boosting to, you can sometimes put yourself in a dangerous situation, i.e. surrounded by almost as much crap as you were before you boosted! This can also happen when you try using the boost as an offensive device, and end up miscalculating the landing (ending up IN the huge rock, instead of on the other side of its broken remains). To not only counter these errors, but also regain your composure after the boost, it's my suggestion to do the boost-and-park. It's real easy to do, check it out... (first you limp to the side like your leg was broken... j/k, I wonder who will get that...) ...as soon as you stop from your boost, you 'park' (don't go anywhere), take the Gold Melter, and 'lasso' it around you, quickly, creating a circular wall of flame that, if adequately powered up, should protect you from most enemies, as well as pieces of rock or gold. You don't have to be spastic about it - a nice, continual motion should do the trick. If not, then just point very quickly at everything close enough to destroy you... usually, the flame takes care of the rest! Boost-and-parking around ice is trickier, as the Gold Melter doesn't handle ice shrapnel so well. However, it is manageable as long as you continue making small, minute movements (Defense mode) to avoid any shrapnel that isn't taken care of by the Gold Melter. In any case, I'm using the term 'park' loosely here. What it really should be called is the "boost-and-make-tiny-movements-to- avoid-obstacles-as-you-clear-the-area-around-you" technique, but for the sake of over-hyphenating this FAQ (yeah, I know, too late...), we will just stick with 'park'. ;) Even if your boost lands squarely on an obstacle, the fading power from your boost plus quick movement and smart firepower can still save you. While I'm pretty positive the Gold Melter is the best weapon to perform this with, I'm sure it can be managed with the other two using the same guidelines and technique. >>>13. Token Retrieval (Chains) "Follow Me!" All tokens disappear over time (which usually takes a good 10 or 15 seconds from the time they are released from the green cores). Before this happens, they tend to gravitate towards you. In other words, if a token is exposed and your ship is not moving, as long as it's close enough it will find its way to you. There is a neat little trick you can do to organizie multiple point tokens into a line (or something close to it), in order to enable the collection multiplier when you boost through them. Since you can't turn (very well) while boosting, this is important to learn. Simply put, head away from the point tokens, and let them follow you. They will start to merge together, roughly outlining the path your ship has just taken, like the trail of dust from the back of a car on a dirt road. Once you reverse direction, you can boost neatly through them, applying the collection multiplier to most, if not all of them. Just be careful, and take the time to line yourself up well before you boost. On many occassions have I pulled an about- face and boosted too quickly without adjusting my trajectory first, sending me screaming past everything I had just lined up, and circling back around with my head hanging low to collect them at their lowest value before they disappeared. :( Here's an example of what I'm talking about: Legend: X - point token O - ship ^, v - direction the ship travels in Example 1: X X O X X Here, we have the ship surrounded by 4 point tokens. If we boosted now, we would almost certainly only collect a multiplier on one of them. So, we begin to move away, drawing them closer together. X X v v v O X X After a few more seconds of this motion, and the tokens should be relatively lined up, and ready for boost collection. X X X X v v v O That's it! Just turn around, boost up, and get your points on. TIP: After lining up the tokens and turning around, I like to inch myself forward just a little bit before boosting. This way, I can at least make sure I'm going to boost in the right direction, and not off at an angle which isn't good for anybody. >>>14. The Walkthrough: Writing a walkthrough for this game is somewhat akin to writing a walkthrough for the original Asteroids. "Stage 1 - Shoot some asteroids. Avoid the shrapnel by moving around, and then shoot some more asteroids. Watch out for the UFO! Shoot it for points, then move again while shooting more asteroids..." Bleh. Instead of being specific about anything, I'm just going to give you a general idea of what to expect during each phase of every level. Since everyone invariably winds up finding their own favorite way to work through the hazards, I figure a fair warning of what you'll be up against is walkthrough enough. How you react to the dangers, however, will be completely up to you. Stage 1, Phase 1: Right away you get a few asteroids to play with. Have fun, and get to the green cores quickly in order to score some decent tokens. Next come a barrage of mines - kill them quickly, and clear the stage. Hopefully you already have a 2x multiplier, but if not don't sweat it. There's plenty more to destroy. Stage 1, Phase 2: Mines and a bomb carrier are your welcome here. Look for the numbered asteroid and attack it, picking up tokens if you wish. After the bonus is collected, you'll get a few more large asteroids to destroy. Here come the centipedes! Be smart about them, and don't be scared to run around collecting remaining tokens if you like. Stage 1, Phase 3: Medium rocks begin this phase, followed by more mines. You should still have tokens to collect, so keep your eyes peeled. When the smaller rocks start to fall, pay attention to the obstacle indicators, constantly moving to avoid being hit. A few larger rocks and mines constitute the final wave. Stage 1, Phase 4: Again, you'll likely have plenty left to clean up - just in time for more centipedes! Mines will follow, along with some more asteroids. Medium rocks are soon followed by more mines, and again you should have plenty to destroy. (A 5x multiplier is possible at this point, and possibly more) More centipedes, another barrage of rocks, and more mines keep you on your toes to the end. Stage 1, Phase 5: Clear the debris as fast as possible, and get ready for a big obstacle indicator - the first boss! (Saucer) Keep your distance, but dash through it if you like for extra damage. Four weak points (engines) line it's outer rim, so start shooting them. When it starts spinning and shooting back, retreat just a bit and dodge between the shots, taking care of asteriods the whole time. Remember to dash through to the other side of the boss if you end up opposite of the remaining weak points. He is not vulnerable to your attack while he is firing, so be sure to keep your distance and take advantage of the distance between the spreading shots. Stage 2, Phase 1: A new planet! And this time, goldrock - what the Gold Melter was DESIGNED for! Go crazy with it here, being sure to capture the numbered asteroid in the process. Here comes a new enemy - Swarmers. Easily avoided, but large in number. Eliminate, watch out for medium asteroids, and welcome another new addition - Spinners! Enjoy the onslaught, and stay alive. Stage 2, Phase 2: Swarmers welcome you, along with a nice barrage of small and medium asteroids. Keep your eyes open, and boost out of danger. Mines will soon join, and wrap up the phase. Stage 2, Phase 3: More large asteroids for you to try your Gold Melter out on, followed by some spinners and swarmers. Standard stuff at this point. Give priority to spinners over swarmers (as always), and progress as normal. Stage 2, Phase 4: Medium asteroids provide tokens, and soon swarmers join the fight. Close behind are the spinners. Throw in some small and medium asteroids just for fun, and we've got a party! Be smart about your movements here, and collect tokens. The mines signal the final wave of this phase. Stage 2, Phase 5: Cue the second boss! (Crab) Again, clear the debris quickly as you wait for the boss. Make sure you're on the side where the red eye is exposed, attack it directly, and watch out for the shots fired. After pouring enough damage on the weak point, the boss will reverse direction. Boost to the other side, continue to pour damage onto the eye, and STAY INSIDE when the arms close. (If you don't, you will be bombarded with missles) While inside, try staying directly in front of his eye (where there are no laser turrets), and continue to pour the damage on, avoiding the small lasers fired. With luck, you will have won before the boss has a chance to run through two complete attack cycles. Stage 3, Phase 1: New planet, new rocks - the icerocks. This is probably the first good chance to use the Ice Splitter effectively. Power it up fast if it isn't already, and watch for the numbered asteroid. More icerocks will show up, but are taken apart easily with the Splitter. Here come the lurkers, best taken out with the powered-up Ice Splitter, IMO. End the stage quickly. Stage 3, Phase 2: Holy medium-sized asteroids, Stardust Man! Keep your distance, and be ready for more swarmers. Continue to collect tokens (a 7x multiplier is easily attainable by this point, as long as you haven't died... much, if at all), and defeat the remaining swarmers to end it. Stage 3, Phase 3: Here come the mines. Do your thing, and get ready for more medium icerocks too. Lurkers come to play, and signal the end of the phase. Stage 3, Phase 4: Some large asteroids kick things off, so just concentrate on collecting tokens and staying alive. Mines will try to ruin the party, so stay smart. More icerocks and more mines will likely keep you toggling between Ice Splitter and Gold Melter here. Play the evade mode heavily, and let the Gold Melter fly when the goldrocks show up. Swarmers signal the end of the phase. Stage 3, Phase 5: You get to fight the 1st stage boss all over again, except this time - TWO of them at once! Use the same tactics, and keep in mind that one boss can be used as cover against the fired shots from the other. Also, don't forget to boost! Stage 4, Phase 1: Ahhh, turrets. My friend and yours. (Not really) Use the first several waves of them to study and understand them... because later on, you won't have time to. A numbered asteroid is your reward for dealing with them, along with a shower of small asteroids and black centipedes. Your evasion techniques will no doubt be tested here! Keep moving, and watch your back. Large asteroids and spinners will signal the end of the phase. Stage 4, Phase 2: Hooray, more turrets! Oooh, and asteroids. :( Keep safe, and boost to take out whatever turrets you are able. Swamped yet? Here come the swarmers. Clean house until the last of the swarmers are defeated. Stage 4, Phase 3: Welcome to black mine country. Not pretty. Take even more caution than you did with the regular mines, and keep your eyes peeled - they can blend in with the color of the planet (since they're more blue than they are black, IMO). Spinners signal the end of this short, but potentially dangerous phase. Stage 4, Phase 4: goldrocks beg for the use of the Gold Melter, so get busy. Just know that in breaking them apart, you're only making a bigger mess for yourself. :) Here come the turrets, right in the middle of all the mayhem! Mines will show up when you've taken enough turrets out, so don't be worried about getting lonely. Wash, rinse and repeat - except with black mines this time. Yay! How about some more swarmers? You got it. Take them all out to signal this ugly phase. Stage 4, Phase 5: If stage 3-5 was two of the 1st level bosses, would you like to guess what stage 4-5 might be? BZZZZT, time's up. Two 2nd stage bosses would have been the correct answer. So, again, treat each of the duo just as you did their predecessor, obviously taking great care to avoid the increased onslaught of firepower from them. Stage 5, Phase 1: Here we go, the final planet! Icerocks come in fast, so look for the numbered asteroid. Large asteroids continue the rush, with turrets to help things stay lively. Destroy, destroy, destroy!... oh, and stay alive. That's important too. Stage 5, Phase 2: Hello black mines - hopefully you have enough shrapnel left over from the previous phase to keep things fun! A few more icerocks will drop, followed by more goldrock. Black centipedes end the phase. You may now breathe. Stage 5, Phase 3: Black mines and small lavarock are your welcome here. Turrets add a nice touch of coziness. Watch those shots! They'll be coming from every angle. More small lavarock rains down, so watch for obstacle indicators. More black mines signal the end of the phase. Stage 5, Phase 4: Black centipedes AND black mines combine with large icerocks to kick things off. More black mines show up soon enough, with small lavarocks joining the fray. More black mines will keep you busy, and black centipedes too. This is truly the pinnacle of SSHD bad-guy enforcement. How about a few large icerocks to throw you off? Oh, sorry... that shouldn't have been a question, because here they come. More black mines signal the end of the phase. Phew. Stage 5, Phase 5: Welcome to the final boss. (Penguin Star) Nothing special, but there are LOTS of smaller asteroids to contend with during the fight. Attack the first form directly (boosts work well here), and continue to keep your distance as it transforms. Continue to avoid all obstacles while a missle onslaught ensues, until the first form disappears. An identical second form will appear, so just keep up the same recipe - dodge and destroy asteroids, keep pressure on the opponent, and have patience. Before long, this boss will be destroyed. Sadly though, IMHO, this is by far the easiest boss in the game (even with the plethora of asteroids you must contend with during the fight). Congrats, you've beaten SSHD... er, kind of. Now try it again on Hard difficulty!... where everything moves just a little faster, and takes a little more "oomph" to destroy. And, if you happen to beat that... perhaps things will begin to get a little more........... insane? >>>15. FAQs This question was asked in the gamefaqs forums: "Are certain weapons more effective than others versus certain enemies. If so, which ones?" The answer is yes, but if you want an enemy-by-enemy breakdown, I would just play through the game and figure it out as you go. Thing is... OK, maybe the Rock Crusher can beat one certain enemy the fastest, but when there are 100 or so of that enemy surrounding you, you're going to bust out the Gold Melter or use a bomb to get the job done (and stay alive), instead of using a weapon you can only shoot in one direction at a time. It's largely situational. I notice the Ice Cannon can blast through pretty much anything, so I use it when I need a long, direct shot. The Gold Melter is great for defense, or destroying a swarm. Don't think of it so much as "which enemy needs which weapon". There are exceptions, though. Like for the ice asteroids - I'll plow through those with the Ice Splitter until the shrapnel starts to get heavy... then, I switch to the Gold Melter and use boost to clear an area to breathe in. Also, one more thing, it says in the in-game directions that looking at the enemies' color will give you a hint as to what weapon will work best on them. So if you really want to match up the best weapon for each enemy, keep that in mind. >>>16. Miscellaneous Tips Clear the area - Because things happen so fast in SSHD, even the most minor of distractions can cost you a ship; glancing at the score, looking around for
tokens, scratching your nose, etc.  Before you do anything that might last more
than half-a-second, either move somewhere safe... or clear the area around you!
If you're playing with the Gold Melter, this can be done with a quick turn of
the right analog stick.

Use the colors! - Since your eyes won't have much time to scan the entire
playing field for the most valuable tokens (extra ships, shields and bombs),
remember their respective colors and use that knowledge to pick them out in your
peripheral vision.  If something purple catches your eye, clear the area around
you, then glance over to confirm that it's a shield token.  Same goes for the
extra ships and bombs, although you'll likely know exactly when bomb tokens are
present as they do require the destruction of the bomb carrier beforehand.




Thanks to Housemarque for a great game.
Thanks to GameFaqs for posting my FAQ.
Thanks to SplaT for turning me on to SSHD.
Thanks to all the gamers for contributing to the threads.  Knowledge is power!

Peace