Zugya(X68000) - Walkthrough Version 1.0 Copyright August/05/2008 by Apathy000 savage_clown@hotmail.com Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Game Story III. Options IV. Basic Controls / What's on Screen V. The Ship and Its Weapons VI. Strategies / Tips VII. Enemies VIII. Stages XIV. Final Thoughts XV. Copyright =========================================== I. Introduction =========================================== Zugya is a shooter made in 1996 by Sprite for the Japanese X68000. You can freely roam in the ship from an overhead view in a map with wrap-around, meaning if you go off the map on the left side you will go on to the right side of the map. This type of shooter is very similar to portions of Thunder Force II, although where TFII utterly failed Zugya excels. The object of the game is to defeat all the enemies on the map within 99 seconds. The time limit makes things more interesting, but rarely will you ever be pressed for time except in the last couple of levels where you might want to take things a bit slower. The enemies themselves are quite unique. Based around a single vulnerable core exist modules that have different functions. Some modules only fire slow bullets at you, some have a flexible arm that shoots a very fast bullet at you, and some spawn tiny enemies to try and kill you. The most desirable module is one that holds a power-up. In order to get the power-up you have to destroy the module and go over the letter P which is ejected outward before destroying the core of the enemy. If you destroy the core every module dies, but no power-up is ejected from the module with the powerup. =========================================== III. Options =========================================== In the title Screen you get three options, Game Start, Option Mode, and Manual. 1. Game Start - Starts game. a. Normal Game - Play the game with your Stock and Credit settings. b. Score Attack - Only allows 3 lives. 2. Option Mode a. CRT Mode - Allows you to select 15 KHZ or 31 KHz. b. Stock - Choose from 0 to 9 lives per credit. c. Music - Choose from 0 to 9 credits. d. Sound Test - Allows you to listen to all the music tracks, all 4 of them. e. SE Test - You can choose from 32 sound effects. f. Score Save - Allows you to save your score on the RAM or on a (floppy) disk. 3. Manual - From the little Japanese I can understand this manual does not just cover information about Zugya. It seems to also cover info about the company Sprite, what other games they made, and there is a short QA section. The manual is quite thorough, and even includes information about running the game, and what looks like information about installing it on the X68000's Hard Drive. =========================================== IV. Basic Controls / What's on Screen =========================================== 1. Controls A - Over Booster, makes you move much faster. B - Fires weapon Space - Returns you to title screen. Be careful not to press this while in-game! ESC - Pauses game. Help - Press the Help key for the manual. Only exists on the Sharp X68000 keyboard. 2. What's on Screen a. Score - Top left of the screen is your current score. b. Stage - Right below your score, this tells you what stage you are on. c. Time - On the upper right of the screen. This tells you how much time you have left until ships will constantly spawn and attack you. d. Lives - Below the time on the upper right of the screen is a number next to a ship. This is the number of extra lives you have. e. Plasma - Beneath this text is a bunch of speed arrows. These will fill up as you hold down the fire button. When they all become filled in the text "Charge" will appear beside it in a green box. f. Emergency - This will appear on the bottom middle of the screen when ships are spawning in the level to go and try to kill you. g. Map - On the bottom left of the screen is the map. Use this extensively to know your current location relative to the enemies you must kill. The white squares on it are enemies, and the little marker with the text "YOU" under it is...you. =========================================== V. The Ship and Its Weapons =========================================== A. In-Depth Description The weapon system for Zugya becomes may appear complicated, but it is actually simple. At the start there is a basic shot that fires two little shots, but by getting the "P" power-up from a white enemy module with a red triangle on it you can upgrade it. Acquiring a "P" adds another 2 bullets. The power-up does not truly upgrade your basic weapon, what it does is that is adds another wave of bullets you fire with 2 more bullets in it than the previous wave. If you are at max strength, at level 6, you will fire 6 different waves. The first wave is the basic 2 bullets, the second wave has 4 bullets, and so on until you get to the 6th level with 12 bullets, and then the sequence repeats. Of course the sequence repeats very quickly so it is hard to it, but this is what happens. The weapon upgrades have another use as well. They act as a second shield. If you have a weapon greater than the basic level 1 weapon then it will save your life and revert to level 1. A very good reason to have the upgraded weapon besides more firepower. Firing with a higher level weapon also makes your Plasma charge faster. The ship has a regenerating Plasma bar that charges as you hold the fire button. I find this a little clunky since once you hold the fire button you cannot change the direction your ship is facing unless you release the fire button. However, releasing the fire button will decrease your Plasma charge if it is not at full charge. When the Plasma charge reaches max a shield forms around your ship that will save you from one hit, or you can release the fire button and become invincible and can destroy enemies by ramming into them. Once your shield is hit, or you use your invincible attack the Plasma charge reverts to having no charge. You can use your booster at any time during all of this as well. B. Quick reference i. Bullet Levels - upgrade it by moving over the P that is ejected when killing a white enemy module with a red triangle on it. Firing with a higher level weapon makes your Plasma charge faster. level 1 - 2 shots level 2 - 4 shots level 3 - 6 shots level 4 - 8 shots level 5 - 10 shots level 6 - 12 shots ii. Plasma Charge - Keep firing to charge it to max. When it is max you have a shield that protects you from a single hit. You can also release the button to use an invincibility move that you can use to ram enemies. iii. Boost - You can use this to move faster at any time. =========================================== VI. Strategies / Tips =========================================== -Scroll the screen slowly to uncover only a couple of modules at a time. This makes destroying tough enemies easier. -Keep your Plasma charge for its shield when there are lots of tiny ships around. -Make sure to have at least a level 2 weapon so it can take a hit for you. -You can fly over the modules and take no damage, it is only their attacks that can harm you. -Don't stay idle for too long or little ships will spawn and attack you even if there is no module nearby that sends them out. -The floating asteroids do you no harm. -If you take over 99 seconds than little ships will constantly attack you until you finish the round. -Going in the order of the TAB/GET that appears on your map will net you more points per kill. Useful if you are interested in Score Attack. =========================================== VII. Enemies =========================================== The enemies you must destroy are these module-type enemies. The portion you must destroy is a vulnerable core. However you must get past all the other modules attached to it to destroy it. A useful piece of information to know is that only the attacks of the modules can harm you, meaning you can fly over them and take no damage. Here are the types of enemies and their attacks in order of appearance. 1. Core - This is a circle with a red circle around it and a yellow flashing inside. You must destroy this to remove an enemy. 2. Single-Bullet Module - This module sends one bullet at a time after you. The speed they fire them is not very great. 3. Spiral Bullet Module - It sends out 6 bullets that spiral away from it. It is difficult to keep track of this type when there are many other types shooting at you. 4. Single-Bullet String Module - Fires single bullets rapidly at you, looks like the inside part of a revolver that holds the bullets. 5. Power-up Module - This is a white module with a red triangle on it. Destroy this to release a floating letter "P" that will increase the level of your weapon. Note that if you destroy the core of the enemy the module will not release any power-ups. 6. Missile Module - Sends tiny destroyable missiles at you. Looks like a sphere with 6 rectangles inside of it. 7. Bullet Burst Module - Fires out a large bullet that explodes, sending 8 bullets outward from the center. 8. Spiral Moving Bullet Module - The module's center is heavily painted red. Strange module that rarely fires a bullet that moves toward you in spirals. The bullet is fairly slow moving, but it covers a good range. 9. Ship Spawning Module - This will spawn out little ships that are by far the most dangerous enemies in the game. You want to destroy this module or the core out quickly. It is a module with a light green circle surrounding a another black circle inside. Between these two circles are 8 lines equidistant from one another. Inside of the inner black circle is a gray area with a vertical line. Around the black line of the inner circle are two little red markers that rotate across from one another. When an enemy has multiple modules of this type along with two or more Gravity Well Modules the enemy becomes extremely difficult to kill. First Encounter in Stage 5. 10. Gravity Well Module - These modules will always push you away from the enemy. The reasoning is simple. These modules basically prevent you from spamming your awesome invincible move by releasing the fire button when you have a full plasma charge. It forces you to fire away at the module with bullets. When there is only one module of this type pushing you away you can boost in there anyway and destroy it with the invincibility move. But if there are two or more you cannot get very close, even with the booster. Encounter first in Stage 6. 11. Green Homing Laser Module - A tough module that kind of looks like a mask. It fires out a green homing laser that is very persistent. Moving far away should make it lose track of you. Encounter it first on Stage 8. 12. Arm Module - The module has a long flexible arm which will move around, and will occasionally fire a very fast bullet at you. This module has a large amount of health so it is a pain to destroy. First encounter is on stage 10. 13. Laser Turret Module - An interesting module that is in shades of gray and blue and has a turret that can rotate on it. It fires long lasers at you. First encounter on Stage 12. 14. Bomb Module - It resembles a single rectangle is inside a circle. It shoots out a destroyable bomb that destroys an area slightly larger than itself. Easily avoidable. 14. Flying Mini-Ships Module - It looks like a circle with two vertical runways on it. One of the rarest modules in the game. It sends out very small ships that fire some bullets at you. The tiny ships can also ram you to kill you. First encounter on Level 16. 15. Tri Laser Turret Module - Fires three large lasers in your general direction. It is a sphere with a bright greenish white center and dark everywhere else. The three lasers it fires severely restricts your movements. Encounter it first in Stage 18. =========================================== VIII. Stages =========================================== Very few of these stages will take very long to defeat. It is rare that a stage lasts longer than 30-40 seconds to defeat. Since the stages are so short it seems strange to write a lot for each stage. I will write out notable points such as introductions of new modules onto enemies, as well as when the stages become noticeably more difficult. I am also stating how many enemies you must defeat in each stage. 1. Stage 1 Enemy Objectives: 4 In order to defeat the stages you have to defeat all of the enemies. In this stage there are 4 enemies. When an enemy is defeated it will disappear from the map. This early in the game it is rare to see an enemy with more than 8 modules attached. 2. Stage 2 Enemy Objectives: 6 3. Stage 3 Enemy Objectives: 7 4. Stage 4 Enemy Objectives: 8 5. Stage 5 Enemy Objectives: 6 You are introduced to the wonderful Ship Spawning Module, the single most difficult module. You want to make destroying these your top priority whenever you encounter them. The ships they spew out follow you and make a nuisance of themselves even if they do not hit you. 6. Stage 6 Enemy Objectives: 6 The Gravity Well Module's ability is to keep you away from the enemy. When an enemy only has one you can boost in there and take it out with your invincibility attack, the one where you release the fire button when you have full plasma. It is not until over 10 stages later where you will see two on an enemy. 7. Stage 7 Enemy Objectives: 6 8. Stage 8 Enemy Objectives: 7 Green Homing Laser Modules are all over the place on this stage and those after it, but the strange thing about them is that they rarely fire, and they are limited to one shot being on screen. 9. Stage 9 Enemy Objectives: 7 10. Stage 10 Enemy Objectives: 8 The Arm Module has a long flexible arm which will move around, and will occasionally fire a very fast bullet at you. This module has a large amount of health so it is a pain to destroy. You first encounter it on this stage. 11. Stage 11 Enemy Objectives: 5 12. Stage 12 Enemy Objectives: 5 The new module on this stage is the Laser Turret Module, an interesting module that is in shades of gray and blue and has a turret that can rotate on it. It fires long lasers at you. First encounter on Stage 12. 13. Stage 13 Enemy Objectives: 6 14. Stage 14 Enemy Objectives: 6 15. Stage 15 Enemy Objectives: 6 16. Stage 16 Enemy Objectives: 7 Flying Mini-Ships Module make a small entrance at this stage. You very rarely see them. There are probably less than 10 in the game. 17. Stage 17 Enemy Objectives: 8 18. Stage 18 Enemy Objectives: 6 Tri Laser Turret Module is the next new module to be met. It fires three large lasers in your general direction. The module is a sphere with a bright greenish white center and dark everywhere else. The three lasers it fires severely restricts your movements. Encounter it first in Stage 18. 19. Stage 19 Enemy Objectives: 8 20. Stage 20 Enemy Objectives: 8 21. Stage 21 Enemy Objectives: 6 22. Stage 22 Enemy Objectives: 5 23. Stage 23 Enemy Objectives: 6 24. Stage 24 Enemy Objectives: 6 This stage is where you will start to see enemies commonly with 12 modules or more as opposed to the usual 8 or so. 25. Stage 25 Enemy Objectives: 5 26. Stage 26 Enemy Objectives: 5 27. Stage 27 Enemy Objectives: 7 They start to put two Gravity Well Modules on one enemy. This makes it so that you cannot just rush in with the invincible maneuver with the full Plasma charge. You must now take it slow and destroy at least one of the wells before you are able to get in close. 28. Stage 28 Enemy Objectives: 7 29. Stage 29 Enemy Objectives: 8 30. Stage 30 Enemy Objectives: 8 31. Stage 31 Enemy Objectives: 6 32. Stage 32 Enemy Objectives: 5 33. Stage 33 Enemy Objectives: 6 Enemies start being a lot more aggressive. A lot more bullets are finding their way onto the screen. 34. Stage 34 Enemy Objectives: 6 35. Stage 35 Enemy Objectives: 8 36. Stage 36 Enemy Objectives: 6 37. Stage 37 Enemy Objectives: 7 38. Stage 38 Enemy Objectives: 6 39. Stage 39 Enemy Objectives: 6 40. Stage 40 Enemy Objectives: 6 The super large enemies come out at around this level. Now you have to kill up to 18 module enemies. 41. Stage 41 Enemy Objectives: 6 The game kicks it up one more notch. Now they start placing multiple Ship Spawning Modules on one enemy. Those little ships get in the way a lot before and after you kill an enemy. 42. Stage 42 Enemy Objectives: 6 43. Stage 43 Enemy Objectives: 7 44. Stage 44 Enemy Objectives: 6 45. Stage 45 Enemy Objectives: 6 46. Stage 46 Enemy Objectives: 6 These last couple of levels are by far the hardest, because now some enemies will have up to FOUR of the Ship Spawning Modules. Your best bet is to try to kill the enemies using your gun. If you can do that you have a shield so that the ships that are still attacking after the enemy is dead will not be able to kill you quite so easily. 47. Stage 47 Enemy Objectives: 6 48. Stage 48 Enemy Objectives: 6 49. Stage 49 Enemy Objectives: 6 50. Stage 50 Enemy Objectives: 7 For the last level of the game I was expecting it to be punishingly difficult, but it is not that bad. You do have a couple of enemies with 4 Ship Spawning Modules though. =========================================== XIV. Final Thoughts =========================================== I am willing to forgive a heck of a lot as long as the game play is great, and Zugya's game play is excellent. Despite the reusing of graphics and sound, and the fact that the game is quite easy, the game is still very good. It is always interesting to see games that come out late in a system's life since they usually end up being very good games. Zugya is one of these games that came out a bit too late to become well-known, but I firmly believe it would have been had it come out 4-7 years earlier. =========================================== XV. Copyright Aug/05/2009 by Apathy000 aka Michael Zacka This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Sites that have my permission to use this guide are gamefaqs.com.