.o .ooooo. .o .oooo. o888 888' `Y88. .d88 .dP""Y88b 888 888 888 .d'888 ]8P' 888 `Vbood888 .d' 888 .d8P' 888 888' 88ooo888oo .dP' 888 .88P' 888 .oP .o o888o .oP' o888o 8888888888 A non-official FAQ/Walkthrough for NEC PC88, Sharp X1, MSX1, MSX2, and Fujitsu FM7. This document is best viewed with the original display on the internet, or with a word processor using fixed-width font style. Using some other font styles will make the tables/maps displayed incorrectly. Lastly, some legal notice: This document may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any website 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. Ver. 1.00 -- 31/7/2017 Ver. 1.04 -- 9/9/2017 Ver. 1.05 -- 3/5/2018 CONTENTS A. Controls B. Rules C. General Tips D. Game Facts E. Enemies List (PC88) F. Sharp X1 Version G. MSX1 Version H. MSX2 Version I. Fujitsu FM7 Version J. High Scores K. FAQ L. Special Thanks M. Anti Credit In order to find your desired content, you can copy-paste the exact name of the content to your find-box. Example: Find what: e. enemies list (no match case) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. CONTROLS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This game should accept the keyboard compatible with all these computers: NEC PC88, Sharp X1, MSX1, MSX2, and Fujitsu FM7. As far as I know, only MSX1 and MSX2 versions of the game accept the MSX joypad. The good news right now is this game can be paused for all versions. Hoorrayy for that ^__^ NEC PC88: [8],[2],[4],[6] on the right: Move X : Shoot Spacebar : Roll Please don't argue about the name, but as far as I know, the game uses the symbol: R, Roll might be the abbreviation of this R >__> Esc : Pause the game/Resume Sharp X1: Arrow buttons: Move Z : Shoot X : Roll Esc : Pause the game/Resume 1942 for MSX1 and MSX2 platforms have the same control scheme: Arrow buttons: Move Spacebar : Shoot Shift : Roll Stop : Pause Spacebar : Resume There are a few other methods to resume the game: Graph, Shift, etc. Fujitsu FM7: Numpad [8],[2],[4],[6]: Move... or... glide...? X : Shoot Shift : Roll Pause : Pause/Resume -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. RULES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Should be pretty simple.... You are controlling an airplane. You have to survive all 32 stages from enemies' missiles and collision with enemies. You'll automatically lose a life from one of the missiles or colliding with one of the enemies, either it is big or small. If you collide with an enemy, either it is big or small, the enemy also explodes with you and you receives the score. Each time you can shoot down an enemy or collide with the enemy, you will get some scores added. You will start with five lifes, and if all of your lifes are gone, you will get "Game Over", and will be given unlimited chances to continue your game. Unlike the popular NES version, your cursor will be placed on [Continue] option automatically each time you lose all your lifes. But, right now, every time you continue the game, you will be brought back to the start of the stage you lose the lifes. If you lose a life, you'll be brought back to about the exact place you are shot down, but if you are at later part of the stage, you will be brought back to the exact point around half-way of the stage. Next, about the R. Whenever you use your R with whatever key/button you press, you will be invulnerable to any enemies or enemies' attacks. Only FM7 version that allows you to move "vertically" while rolling, the others only allow you to move "horizontally" while rolling. Each time you begin the stage, or lose a life, you'll get three R chances. But, you should know that the move in FM7 version is like "gliding". You only can move the exact up, down, left, or right, and while you are moving, you can't stop, but you only can change the moving direction, and of course, the move is restricted by the screen. So, if you are at the most bottom of the screen, you can stop your "glide" by pressing the [Down] key. I can't believe it, this video game should be just such a simple game, but... I think it takes... quite... many words to explain them in a very detail manner ^__^ The extra lifes are straightforward. When your score reaches 30000, you'll receive an extra life. The next extra lifes are given while your scores are multiples of 80000. Next is the power-ups, which is received after you shoot down all of a specific enemies row that would be mentioned below. See E. Enemies List. Oooops.. before I mention the General Tips, I have to leak some of them that the visibility of this game should become a problem for people's eyes. Thus, I think I can't mention the color any longer, but I have to mention each of them at section D. Walkthrough below. The power-up for each stage is fixed everytime you visit the stage, so that's how I make difference amongst them. The last thing is the statistic when you get "game over" or finish a stage: +Shooting Down: When you finish a stage, the number is from your current life only. When you get [game over], the number is from all your life. +Percentage: I wonder why the percentage is so low when you get [game over], but it is so high when you finish a stage albeit the above number indicates the otherwise. I think, when you get "game over" if you don't finish a stage: Shooting down number total done by you ----------------------------------------- Your total life x Enemy number total in a stage When you get "game over" if you don't finish an area: Shooting down number total done by you ----------------------------------------- Your total life x Enemy number total in an area When you get "game over" if you don't finish the whole game: Shooting down number total done by you ------------------------------------------------------ Your total life x Enemy number total in the whole game When you finish a stage, it's clear: Shooting down number done by your current life ------------------------------------------------------------ Total enemy number in the whole stage or in the second half of the stage +Today S Top: The game record your best percentage number from the start of the game. +R: Your current R. This one is replenished to 3 every time you finish a stage. Each one gives you 1000 pts. +Bonus: 100% = 50000 pts. 95-99% = 20000 pts. 90-94% = 10000 pts. 85-89% = 5000 pts. 80-85% = 4000 pts. 70-79% = 3000 pts. 60-69% = 2000 pts. 50-59% = 1000 pts. 0-49% = 0 pts. The very last ^_^ is the rule that really disadvantages you. Every after the stage ends, the game will pause for a second. From that moment, you can't use your R. If you are very close to the aircraft carrier, you can't move. Dying because of this will take you to the very start of the stage ^_^ My last test shows me that enemy's bullet can't hit you for this case. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. GENERAL TIPS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - I would like to say that this game is very difficult, so I think you have to make sure that you have the controller type that suits you the best for games like this, either it is keyboard or joypad or joystick or the others... Auto Fire is a must. You have to think for some, maybe "illegal" methods to activate it. Except if you play the easy X1 -_^ - The next problem for this game is its visibility. If you have played the NES version, you might be agree with me that it's somewhat too bright. You know that the developer of the NES version and these old computers version is not the same, but Ascii does not really fix that problem, I see that they only fix the problem in Sharp X1 version. MSX2 is fine until the City Area. The only way I find is to fix this is to decrease or change your monitor's [Color] option or "Color correction" option if you play emulated version. "Color correction" option depends on your GFX card. More popular GFX card should provide more things to do. Phew... that's all I know about the hardware. - The other will be... to prepare an energetic day for a long difficult game. You should prepare some time because this game can't be saved (normally). - For the standard or difficult version of the game, you have to try to shoot down all the enemies before some of them (depends on version) go round and round around the screen and fire randomly, that would be troublesome for you. That would make your [Percentage] number go higher as well. - As an additional trick, there is a way to increase your firing rate which works for all the versions, but MSX1 and MSX2. Originally, that trick is: you press [8] or [2] continuously while (auto-)firing. But, that could be dangerous (I find that pressing [8] is usually more effective ^_^), so, if you have analog stick or joystick, that would reduce the risk by A LOT if you alternate the "press" ^_^ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. WALKTHROUGH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The disk for this video game is one floppy disk. You simply insert the disk into the first drive for your computer, either it is NEC PC88, Sharp X1, Fujitsu FM7, MSX1 or MSX2. As a reference, for the old DOS, it would be the Drive A. The game will be very similar to the popular NES version if you have played it as it shares the same title. Of course, but the MSX2 version is more similar to the NES version than the others, and the games for the old Japanese computers resemble each other more. But, this game will be more difficult than the NES version in general. So, if you happen to have all the copies of this game and you are new to the game. I think you had better play X1 first because it's miraculously easier than the others. No, I mean the enemies move slower, so you will be having an easier time, but you still need a great deal of patience unless you play emulated version and find a way to save your progress. ^_^ For me, 1942 (NES) is much more decent of a video game than the game for these computers. If you think that 1942 (NES)'s boring or such, I won't suggest you to play this game for these computers because it will be a lot worse. Even the MSX2 version that seems to be the final of the remake, still feels like it's a step backward. If you have played 1942 for NES and try well enough, you may notice that all the enemies do not fire a single bit of missile (except the big ones) at some particular stages. Now, Ascii have named those stages: Point-Up Stage. The idea is the same. You play as an airplane. You have to survive 32 difficult air combat stages dealing with tons of enemy's airplanes. I divide the stages into "areas". Because, in short, the stages are: -the first 3 stages are the same "area". -1 point-up stage (always located at ocean area) -the next 3 stages are the next, same "area", ends with a "boss". -1 point-up stage (always located at ocean area) -repeating the above until 4 times. That will be all the 32 stages of the game. The area name is pretty self-explanatory, I think. I hope there is no complaint for them. This walkthrough is for NEC PC88 version. Why? PC88 version has the most standard of the difficulty and for the controlling matters. The difficulty will raise along with the game progress. But, technically, the raise will be only slightly: the enemy's types and quantity increases a little bit. The factor that matters more for me, is the visibility of the game when we advance through the lands. Thus, the only thing left to mention is about the power-up in each stage. I hope the name from me have explained their identity enough. You should know now that the missile and ally power-ups do not increase your fire power, but only your fire range. Area 1: Archipelago Last 32: Missile. Last 31: Destroy. Last 30: Ally. All Point-Up stages: I can't find any use of this power-up X_X Getting any power-ups gives you score 1000. Unlike NES version, your ally or allies are still destroyed if they hit the enemy or enemy's missile while you are rolling. The good news is you can hit one of your ally with the big guy for them to explode together, but can't do it for the "enemy leader", because your friend(s) don't help you anymore, I wonder why... maybe because it/they/he(?) looks like enemy's planes... you will have your friend(s) back if you successfully destroy the "enemy leader" without losing a life. If you still have one of your ally, the ally power-up won't add your ally. Area 2: Lake Island I Last 28: Missile. Last 27: 1-up, unknown, 1-up, unknown. Last 26: Ally. Some additional tip for the "boss": I find that have your position at the left side is a little bit safer than the right side, or the center after this big guy is shooting. Area 3: Lake Island II Last 24: Missile. Last 23: R. Last 22: Ally. Area 4: Archipelago Mountain Last 20: 1-up, unknown Last 19: Destroy. Last 18: R, destroy. Area 5: Rural Island I Last 16: Missile. Last 15: 1-up, unknown, 1-up, unknown Last 14: Ally. Area 6: Rural Island II Last 12: Missile. Last 11: Ally. Last 10: Ally. If you see GameFAQs screenshot for NEC PC88, you can see the glitch if you have [Missile] and [Ally power-up] altogether. This is only for PC88 version. Area 7: Mountain Island Last 8: 1-up, unknown. Last 7: Destroy. Last 6: Ally. Area 8: Urban Island Last 4: Missile. Last 3: Destroy. Last 2: Ally. The enemy leader this time will come from behind your direction, and the same, the left side is a little bit safer to win. The final stage is actually just a Point-Up stage, and finishing the final stage will bring you to the game ending. Congraturations! You will get some very many extra points/scores. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. ENEMIES LIST (PC88) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I find no official name for them, so I don't have choices, but to name all of them by myself. All the enemies surprisingly take the same hit to take down whether you have power-ups or not. So, the HP is counted using missile hit. 1. White Plane HP: 1 Score: 50 :: They are everywhere! 2. Green Plane HP: 1 Score: 30 :: They are everywhere! 3. Bonus Plane HP: 1 Score: 100 :: You should destroy all of them in a row to get power-ups. 4. Paper Plane HP: 1 Score: White(200), Green(150) :: They are in the game starting from first Point-Up Stage. They are very similar to the plane resulted from paper folding, in my opinion. The white ones are very annoying because two of them strike at once from left and right at the bottommost part of the screen. These planes are inexistent in NES version. 5. Medium White Plane HP: 8 Score: 1500 :: Each time you hit this plane, you receive score 100. 6. Medium Green Plane HP: 6 Score: 1000 :: When the HP reaches a half, the plane becomes red. Each time you hit this plane, you receive score 100. The other big and medium planes are the same, becomes red after some hits, until remaining HP = 3. 7. Big White Plane HP: 20 Score: 3000, then increase (approximately) by 1000 per area increase. As a site note, Point-Up stage is calculated as the previous area. :: Each time you hit this plane, you receive score 100. 8. Big Green Plane HP: 15 Score: 2000, then increase by 1000 per area increase. As a site note, Point-Up stage is calculated as the previous area. :: Each time you hit this plane, you receive score 100. When these big planes show up, Ascii is a little bit generous to let the game slows down and all the little planes halt shooting. 9. Lone Green Plane HP: 1 Score: 0 :: If you see a singly green plane flying from behind your direction, usually goes straightforward, and in some versions, accelerate its move. Destroy it to reveal a star. Get it for 5000 score. Note: [Destroy] power-up doesn't destroy this plane. 10. Triple Engine White Plane HP: 1 Score: 150 :: They are in the game starting from Stage Last 25. 11. Triple Engine Green Plane HP: 1 Score: 100 :: They are in the game starting from Stage Last 25. 12. Enemy Leader Green Plane HP: 40 Score: 30000 :: Each time you hit this plane, you receive score 100. 13. Enemy Leader White Plane HP: 50 Score: 40000 :: Each time you hit this plane, you receive score 100. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. SHARP X1 VERSION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I can say that this is the "Easy Mode" for this game. My observation says that the main reason which makes this game easy is only one: The enemy planes move slower. Besides, the visibility of this game version is good, you don't need to do any color correction. At the end of all stages, there will be one medium or big plane or bonus planes appears from behind your direction without the interruption of the small enemies. The bad news: When the big plane appears, the small enemies are able to fire. And, lastly, the fire rate of the enemies goes up as the game goes on. So, it's easy, but not very easy. The other differences I have noticed so far: ------------------------------------------- Rapid fire trick (See section C. general tips number: last) does not work. Big White Plane HP: 29 Big Green Plane HP: 22 Medium Green Plane HP: 9 Medium White Plane HP: 11 The lone plane is white. You can see the immediate effect of [1-up] power-up. The alternate of this power-up is [Ally] power-up. Last 27 stage only has three power-ups, omitting the last one. Last 26 power-up = missile. Last 20 power-up = 1-up. Enemy Leader Green Plane HP: 75 This one shoots three rows of three bullets towards you very regularly. They should be pretty easy to avoid, but the enemy's HP is a little bit more, so, you have to be able to "hang in there" longer. Can't become red. The last 18 and so on has slightly different attack pattern. The big guy shoots: 3 3 3 6 bullets regularly. So, you have to estimatet he timing. When the big plane shoots 6 bullets, you have to clear away from the center area. The same with NES and MSX2, area 5 is sandy area. Last 15 power-ups = unknown. Last 11,7,4 power-up = none. At the end of Last 2 stage is also Green Plane with the same HP=75, but score given is 50000 for defeating it. The pattern is the same, but this plane comes from behind you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G. MSX1 VERSION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MSX1 version could be considered to be the most difficult. The main reasons are the speed and the size of enemy's bullet. The color editor is more difficult to do. The enemies will fire more often as the game goes on. The differences I have noticed so far: ------------------------------------- Rapid fire trick (See section C. general tips number: last) does not work. I think there is some trick to get the rapid fire to work: It's not moving while shooting. Medium Green Plane HP: 8 Big Green Plane HP: 20 Medium White Plane HP: 10 Big White Plane HP: 25 You can see the immediate effect of [1-up] power-up. When the big plane appears, the small enemies are still able to fire. Last 27 stage only has three power-ups, omitting the last one. Last 26 power-up = ally, unknown. Enemy Leader Green Plane HP: 55 This one shoots three rows of three bullets towards you very regularly. For this version, you should take the advantage when the plane is going/flying down. You should go above the plane to dodge the plane's bullets. Can't become red. Slightly different formula when counting the "Percentage". The same with NES version, area 5 is sandy area. You hardly can see the "grey" paper plane flying above the sand. >__> Last 4 power-up = 1-up, missile. If you can go this far, I guess you should have some cheating devices ^_^ I have some additional "trick" for you to face difficult situations involving tons of enemies and their bullets. Maybe it's not a very big deal, but you have to know this: It is not to move when doing the roll, so that all their bullets are directed to your position. Once the rolling move is going to end, you should quickly move (horizontally) to a far away position. That way you can pass a little difficult segment of the game... At the end of Last 2 stage is also Green Plane with the same HP=55, but score given is 50000 for defeating it. The pattern is the same, but this plane comes from behind you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- H. MSX2 VERSION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The MSX2 version is like the "final" remake of the game, as the quality of the game goes up. The graphics gets smoother and more suitable to the eyes, the difficulty is compromised. The enemies will fire more often as the game goes on. The differences I have noticed so far: ------------------------------------- Rapid fire trick (See section C. general tips number: last) does not work. I think the trick to get the rapid fire to work is the same: It's not moving while shooting. Medium Green Plane HP: 9 or 11 Score: 1000 or 1500 Big Green Plane HP: 22 or 29 Score: 2000/3000, then increase by 1000 per area increase. Medium White Plane HP: 11 Big White Plane HP: 29 You can see the immediate effect of [1-up] power-up. Last 27 stage only has three power-ups, omitting the last one. Last 26 power-up = ally, unknown. Enemy Leader Green Plane HP: 75 This one will need a different strategy. I only find one strategy that works the best for this big plane. You have to focus your fire to the center part of the big plane, so that the big plane doesn't shoot or doesn't shoot very often. Once the big plane fly very close towards you, use your R, thay way the big plane should fly away, then shoot away until the big plane is very close again, then repeat the process until your Rs are all used up. If your Rs are somehow used up, quick rotation (clockwise) would do, but that will be pretty difficult, and could become easier if you have [Missile] power-up with you because the power-up can enhance your firing rate, and most importantly when you move fast. The same with NES version, area 5 is sandy area. Last 4 power-up = 1-up, missile. At the end of Last 2 stage is also an enemy leader. A White Plane with the same HP=75, but score given is 50000 for defeating it. The pattern is all the same. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. FUJITSU FM7 VERSION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, we arrive at the last version, Fujitsu FM7, which I hardly can play... I'm not sure if the plane is actually gliding continuosly like that, or the plane can move like the other above versions.... You should know by now that you can roll both horizontally and vertically right now. The game starts off easily, but the difficulty increases a lot later because not only enemies' firing rate is increased, but their bullet speed is also increased randomly. You should know if your plane can only move by gliding, the game becomes much more difficult only because of that... The differences I have noticed so far: ------------------------------------- Your shooting rate is fixed. There is no way to increase it.... Well, there is still a way to increase it, but doesn't it look like a common sense....? It is: to be close to your enemy while you are (auto-)firing... Big Green Plane HP: 14 Medium White Plane HP: 7 Even at early stages you can see that some green small planes flying very low at the bottom of the screen, making us think that it's not a very good idea to have our position at the bottom of the screen, but you should know that if our position is at the top, the risk of collision will go up. If you insist on having your position at the bottommost part of the screen, you have to know that by pressing [Numpad 2], your plane will stop gliding (Gliding around can make collision's risk goes higher). And, you have better survival chance if you have [Missile] power-up because your firing range can go wider because of that. Big White Plane HP: 19 Score: 2000, then increase by 1000 per area increase. Last 26 power-up = ally, unknown. Slightly different formula when counting the "Percentage". Enemy Leader Green Plane HP: 39 This one is the easiest. The best news about this is: You can traverse the upmost area (from left to right or from right to left) without any risk of collision with the enemy.... err... the collision risk actually exists... for me though, I will traverse it while avoiding enemy's bullets only. Last 18 power-up = R, unknown. Last 10 power-up = Ally, unknown. Last 4 power-up = 1-up, missile. Last 2 power-up = Ally, unknown. Enemy Leader White Plane HP: 49 This is basically the same with above. But, this one comes from behind with a little bit more HP count. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- J. HIGH SCORES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The high scores for NEC PC88 and Sharp X1 are the same. Basically, you can only input capital letters and numbers (which is done with the NumPad). Inputting the others will usually only display full stop. Backspace is done with [left arrow]. For MSX1, the differences are you can input the numbers with the keyboard's left and can input more symbols instead of the full stop. MSX2 is about the same, I can say that the symbols you could input decrease at a certain degree... For Fujitsu FM7, alphabets only can be inputted by pressing [Shift] altogether with the corresponding letter. After you input all of the spaces (which denotes with full stops) with something, your chance to input your name into the High Scores will be over. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are a few questions... a really few questions at the board. I'd try this one. Q: Can someone please tell me about this game? A: I hope this document will tell you about it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- L. SPECIAL THANKS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. GameFAQs. For posting this document. 2. Ascii. For making the game. If you'd like to tell me about some errors that I've made in this FAQ/Walkthrough or ask any questions, you may mail me at frengky_wu@hotmail.com