Version 1.0 by Polaris Index ----- Disclaimer A.1 Overview A.2 Acknowledgements A.3 How to Play B.1 Equipment B.2 Enemies B.3 Strategies B.4 Bosses B.5 Secrets & Misc. B.6 A.1 Disclaimer -------------- This FAQ has been written by Chad Davidson (aka Polaris) and is current through 6-29-01. It may only be used by GameFAQs without my consent. For all other purposes, you must first contact me at chad_davidson@mail.utexas.edu. You may ONLY use this FAQ for the purposes of improving your skill at Smash TV on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. No other purpose is condoned or allowed. You may not edit, distribute, or take credit for this FAQ. However, if something is incorrect, please inform me directly. All information sent to me about this FAQ must have "FAQ: Smash TV" in the subject line or you may not receive credit for your contribution. Typographical errors will not be changed. By reading, implementing, or opening the information in this FAQ, you acknowledge that you have read this disclaimer and will abide by its rules. A.2 Overview ------------ Smash TV can be a very rewarding and challenging game. The short in-game intro tells you all you need to know about the premise of the game: kill, kill, kill. Your contestant competes for cash and prizes with nothing more than a machine gun and the graces of rocket launchers, mortars, and assorted other goodies. If I digress and start calling this game Population Control, please bear with me. This FAQ is not a walkthrough. There are only 3 levels and they are not confusing. This guide gives strategies and tips that should hone your skills so you can take any path and still win. Granted this is a challenging game, but you have shown the wisdom to seek help and I have great confidence in your skills as a game show contestant. I would say "Good luck," but you don't need it if you're reading this. A.3 Acknowledgements -------------------- -Beam Software wrote this game. There are currently no other acknowledgements. B.1 How to Play --------------- The controls of Smash TV are surprisingly simple but also surprisingly difficult to master. The direction pad moves your character and the A, B, X, Y buttons shoot in the four cardinal directions. B shoots down, A to the right, Y to the left and X shoots up; just as if these buttons were a direction pad for your gun. You can move in 8 directions with the direction pad (combine up with left and the contestant will move up and left, etc.) and also shoot 8 directions (combine A with B to shoot to the bottom right of the screen, etc.). It sounds simple but this is the most difficult part for novices. The best way to learn the buttons is to play easy difficulty. Just stay in a corner and try shooting the 3 directions that enemies can reach you from. This cuts the controls down to only a few buttons. Later I will refer to this strategy as "Corner Turtling." EXAMPLE: If you are in the top left corner, you will only need to shoot down and to the right. So you will only have to use the direction pad and the A and B buttons. You can also shoot in the diagonal of A+B. After each room, try to get in a different corner so you eventually force yourself to use all the buttons. Once you can get to Mutoid Man without using a Continue, you probably know the controls well enough to start playing Normal. So, now you're pretty good. You've beaten Easy and know the controls. You're probably wondering, "Why in the world did this guy say to play on easy? It's just the same as normal and hard except it ends on the first level!" Well, that's true, but didn't you feel like you had accomplished something after you beat the game? And actually, in easy you get a little extra ammo / time for special weapons and on hard you get a little less. It's barely noticeable, but it's there. Anyway, that's the basics on how to play, let's get into a little more complex stuff now. B.2 The Equipment ----------------- Now what kind of violent massacre game doesn't give you lots of extra bonuses to help you kill faster? Certainly, this game has plenty of extras. Let's take a look at them. I will describe the items like this: [Relative usefulness, 1-4, higher is better] [Name] ([Item appearance]) [What it does and an assessment of why it is or is not useful] 1 Shotgun (green grenade on an orange surface) Sprays several short range shells in about a 120 degree arc in front of you. It's the fastest firing weapon in the game, but the limited range makes it very weak. It fires somewhat erratically and will not always cover right next to you, but it will cover in front of you. Use mainly as a boss killer. 3 Three Way Shot (6 white dots on a blue surface) Fires as fast as your regular gun, but shoots 3 shots and they move very quickly. 1 moves like a normal shot, and the other 2 move off at about 30 degree angles. Effective against all crowds and also against tough units if you get close to them. 3 Missile (black and white rocket on a blue surface) Just like your normal gun except when it hits an object it keeps going. It destroys tough units in one hit. Excellent for clearing crowds or eliminating machines. 1 Mortar (yellow ball on a red surface) These only appear in boss rooms because they would be detrimental outside them. It fires grenades in the air and they drop to the ground a ways away from the contestant. These only damage objects where they land; nowhere in between where they were launched and where they land is damaged! This doesn't really help any unless you can't hit the boss without a special weapon. It does as much damage as the rocket launcher but is hard to hit with, except on Mutoid Man. It does, however, ricochet off walls so you can alter its distance a little by shooting at the wall instead of your target. If you finish the level with this weapon I think it turns into a rocket launcher. 3 Barrier (orange circle on a yellow surface) This item grants invulnerability for about 8 seconds. When the barrier turns red, it is about to disappear. Every time you die you get one of these free. Whenever you have one of these, you should usually shoot in the opposite direction of your motion, and walk towards a door. 2 Cutter Blades (yellow thing on blue surface) Rotates around the contestant in a wide circle protecting both him and his rolling ball if he has one. Drawbacks include not being able to wall strafe and not protecting against bullets. It's very safe while it lasts but against metal enemies or Mr. Shrapnels it has greatly reduced utility. 3 Crush (yellow cannon on a red surface) Destroys all enemies, shots, and lasers on the screen. Too bad it doesn't destroy mines. 4 Rolling Ball (blue-gray ball on a green surface) A little orb rotates around the contestant and acts as a secondary gun. If he possesses a special weapon, the orb also uses the weapon and also drains the ammo. It is destroyed on contact with an enemy except against bullets and Mr. Shrapnel explosions, the latter of which it will destroy. Combined with a 3-Way shot its a like a temporary Crush item! 4 Speed Up (white boot on a green surface) Makes the contestant walk about a third to a half faster. Lasts on a duration of about a minute. Probably the best upgrade you can get. 4 1-UP (face with a black hat on a green surface) Adds an extra life! These are worth dying for because when you come back you will have a barrier. 2 Regular gun (not really an item, sorry) I just put this in here so you could compare it with the other weapons. It shoots in a straight line and is pretty basic. You can't hurt Mutoid Man with this. Note that it beats out the shotgun and the mortar. (Really those weapons are better, but only for special tasks. This one is just more all-purpose) B.3 Enemies ----------- NOTE: This is not a complete listing! Enemies will be listed as follows: <[Name]> <[Type]> The types are: for enemies that spawn in large quantities and have either no attack or a short range attack; for enemies that take more than one hit; and for enemies that have ranged attacks such as bullets or lasers, all attackers are assumed to be machines; for enemies that spawn in finite groups and are typically linked together, all caterpillars are assumed to be machines. These are the stock units of Smash TV. The charge at you with a slight variation in direction. NOTE: In level 3, there are some sped up versions of these that move faster than the Purple Cyborgs. Just like the Green Cyborgs except faster. Think of them as though they have an automatic speed upgrade. He will usually circle the walls very slowly. All cutter blades that touch him are destroyed and only do 1 damage. After a time limit he will explode into 8 shrapnel shards. These only appear in the first level. They are occasionally on the top wall of a room and 2 of them are also mounted on Mutoid Man's treads. They are basically immobile tanks that take many more hits (3 missiles). These spawn individually and will shoot several bursts of shots in many different directions. Although it only takes one hit to kill these, there are about 15 tiny red balls that orbit around a quadruple lighter colored ball. Hit the large one in the center to disband all the others but until they explode they can still hurt. Not much of a threat unless they get close to you, and then you had better hope you have a shotgun! EXTREMELY DEADLY! Corner turtling is the only effective strategy against these. They bounce off walls and shoot lasers either up-down, or left-right. The actual kill zone on horizontal lasers is slightly higher than what is dispayed on screen. The first time you hit one of these, it will receive significant negative momentum and a second shot will destroy it. Basically like the cyborgs but they have a circular motion towards you so they are a little harder to hit. They also have a special death animation if you kill them without an explosive weapon. These are green with a black center and usually come in groups of about 8 connected together. Sometimes these will be separated. Missiles are the best weapons against these. The only difference between this one and the standard one is the color scheme is purple and red for the variation and they will never be banded together. These little red robots move in slightly larger circles than the Space Invaders and move slightly faster but spawn much faster. They are the hardest enemies in the game. Barriers and 3-Way Shots help a lot. Just like the Green Cyborg except when he gets close his club has a little larger attack area. Just like the good qualities of the Purple Cyborgs and the Brown Snake Men combined. Still not too good, though. These come from the mouths of statues at the tops of some screens in level 3. They are only slight nuisances and keep you from wall strafing as effectively. These come in groups of four and are purple balls. You can break these up by shooting individual pieces away from the main body. Their momentum is much more changed by your shots too. These can be tricky, but shouldn't be too hard. B.4 Strategies -------------- The heart and soul of this FAQ. I have found basically 3 strategies that work. If you find another one, please post it on the Smasth TV message board at GameFAQS, do not email me. -Corner Turtling- Overview: The easiest strategy to execute. You just stand in a corner and shoot the 3 directions that you can be attacked from just like when you were learning the controls (see B.1). This is probably the safest strategy, but you get the least items. Pros: Easy to use, relatively safe, works in most cases Cons: Can't pick up many items, not flexible at all, harder to dodge bullets, and of course it's less exciting :) -Wall Strafing- Overview: Basically, you go in a circle around the room always shooting towards the center or right in front of you. Whenever you reach a door, you should veer towards the center of the room and as you pass the door, go towards the corner. This is a little hard to explain so let me draw a diagram. ______....______ | | Where ''' ''' room and the square around | ''' ''' | ' ''''''' ' the path is the walls and | ' '''''' ' | ' ' doors of the room > ' ' < ' ' > ' ' < ' ''''''' ' | ' '''''' ' | ''' ''' | ''' ''' | is the path you |______^^^^______| take around the This is a little more difficult to execute than Corner Turtling and is a lot less safe. However, there are only 2 creatures that prevent you from wall strafing and those are snakes and Mr. Shrapnels (NOTE: Mr. Shrapnels are everywhere). This is also the best strategy for switching sides of the room, and especially swapping corners. This is mainly an auxillary tactic that you should use in conjunction with one of the other two strategies. The only reason you should use this one by itself is during the noveau that "I don't have to corner turtle to survive!" One final note: it's important that you never stop moving while using this strategy. You should continuously either be going clockwise or counter-clockwise, depending on which direction you started with. A variation on this strategy which is a tie in to the next strategy is to also consider enemies as "walls." Your path around the room will constantly change as the enemies move around, but the basic principle of circling the room remains. This is a much safer version of wall strafing, but harder to practice because you have to account for how much the enemies will have moved by the time you get to them. The walls dynamically move in relation to you, so you generally move closer and closer to the center of the room with this variation. If you use this strategy and still can get to the walls, it is probably the best strategy you can use. Pros: great backup strategy that usually succeeds when the other two fail, crosses corners and sides very well, picks up several items Cons: very unsafe, harder to execute than corner turtling -The Insane Maniac- Overview: The fun strategy! I honestly think this is how Beam Software meant for you to play the game. Here it is: Run around the room trying to put as much distance as possible between you and the crowd. You really need a lot of skill to play this way, but it is highly effective and gives you the greatest thrill. This is very similar to the variation on wall strafing, minus the circling of the room. This strategy works best on stock enemies, even better than corner turtling because you get all the items you want. Whenever you see an item you want that is in the crowd's path, try to lure the crowd away from it so you can pick it up. An extra goody to throw in this strategy is zig-zagging while shooting one direction (usually perpendicular to your zig-zag) so you can decimate one direction of the enemies leaving the other 3 direction in full force. It sounds bad, but it makes an escape route when you're pinned. The only time this strategy does not work is on buffalo bots. In practice, I have found that usually I will shoot perpendicular to the direction of my motion and will make many quarter cuts. A quarter cut is basically this: if you divide the screen into 4 quadrants like a graph, you move along one axis until you reach another and then you move along that axis. For those of you not mathematically inclined, this is a "cross strafe," which is basically the inverse of a wall strafe. Instead of strafing the wall, you strafe the center of the room; strafing in the shape of a cross. You move out from the wall near where a door is towards the center of the room, then cut across the room moving parallel to that door. This breaks up crowds or allows you to move through the center of them. A lot of times you will tempt fate with this strategy, but after you get used to it, you will find the bugs in the cyborg's and snakemen's attacks where they don't always hit you. If all else fails when trying to implement this strategy, just imagine your character has rabies and play from there. Pros: can get almost every item you want, with the fewest "strategy breakers" Cons: most difficult to play, may seem somewhat suicidal at times -Mix your strategies- Some enemies are weaker against certain strategies, while some combinations of enemies may require you to switch between two strategies. This is a basic list of which strategy usually works well against each enemy, assuming its the only enemy in the room. (* means definitely the best strategy against this enemy) -Corner Turtling- Cyborgs & Snakemen Mr. Shrapnel Tanks * Laser Orbs Space Invaders Buffalo Bots Snakes -Wall Strafing- Cyborgs & Snakemen Orbitters Laser Orbs Space Invaders Standard Caterpillars -Insance Maniac- Cyborgs & Snakemen * Mr. Shrapnel Tanks Orbitters Space Invaders * Standard Caterpillars Snakes * Upgraded Caterpillars B.5 Bosses ---------- Mutoid Man- This is the boss of the first level, and appropriately, he is the easiest. However, without special weapons, all you can do is destroy the turrets on his treads. Basically just pick up all the items that appear and try and shoot him. The safest place is from his back and to a side shooting diagonally downward so his eye lasers can't hit you and he can't ram you either. Whenever you get in front of or beside him, try and manipulate the distance between you and him (ie. zig-zag) so his eye lasers will be more innaccurate. The phases you blow up are right arm, left arm, chest, head, body, then death. There's not too much strategy to this guy, you just have to shoot him. Scarface- This is the hardest boss in the game. He shoots messes of bullets at you and charges with zealous ferver. You have to destroy all his exterior plates, and then get a mortar and blow up his face. Twice. Let me explain it step by step: Phase One: Scarface appears in the lower right corner of the room. Scramble to the opposite corner and CONSTANTLY keep your gun on him. Each shot adds a negative momentum to his speed. However, without the rolling ball or 3-Way Shot, you cannot completely counteract his motion. Wall Strafing works pretty well. When he shoots at you, there is usually a way you can dodge, but not always when he charges. Shotgun and Mortar upgrades give you a barrier when you pick them up, so always get them when you see them. The hardest part is getting the mortar to hit him. You need about 2/3 the screen distance between you and Scarface to hit him because he will charge you during the time between your first shot and when it lands. If you hit him once, you can keep him locked in place in a corner until you run out of ammo or he shoots you. Shooting against the wall to shorten the distance of your mortar shells is another helpful tactic. After about 2 or 3 lives, you should have done enough damage to make him explode. Phase Two: Now he's even harder. He shoots 2 fast shots from his eyes that bounce off the walls and are difficult to dodge. Also, his exterior plates are harder to hit due to a bug in their orientation, but there are only about 7 this time. Basically its the same strategy as above, except now he's much faster and your shots push him back less. Twin Corbas- Two cobra heads will shoot lasers and spinning blades at you in a feeble attempt to kill you. They also have head swing attacks which are much like Scarface's charge except they go in arcs around the rooms instead of straight lines directly at you. Stay at the very bottom of the room towards the center and you should be pretty safe. Whenever one of the heads swings at you, move in the opposite direction and shoot at it to knock it back. Even though you only slow them down by a tiny bit, it's usually enough to save you. When both of them make a headswing or one swings at you and the other shoots a laser, there's not much you can do. If luck is with you, charge the space between the two heads and hopefully neither swinging head will hit you on the back drop. Shotguns are the most effective weapon against this boss, but they are also the least safe, so you should probably only use these when you get a barrier. If you get a shotgun, get directly under or beside one of the heads and unload all your ammo! After dealing significant potions of punishment, they should eventually die. The next two rooms are full of enemies, though, so don't celebrate too much when you win. !Secret Boss! The Evil M.C.- You will meet him in the last room behind the 3rd level. He is exactly like Mutoid Man except with different graphics. See the advice for Mutoid Man if you are having trouble with him. B.6 Secrets & Miscellaneous --------------------------- When you collect the 5 secret "?" items, you will activate turbo mode where the game runs about twice as fast and you get 7 continues with 8 lives each instead of 4 continues with 5 lives each. -Studio (Lv1) Secret Item: In the first room you are given a choice of where to go, go down even though you will miss the bonus room. 2 rooms later, it will tell you the only exit from the room is up. However, you can exit on the right side of the room. When you collect all the prizes and the ? item, exit on the right to go to Mutoid Man. The other two exits put you back in the level. -Mechanical Arena (Lv2) Secret Item: Each time you finish a room, always go down, and if that is not available, then go right. When you reach the bottom right corner, the only exit will seem to be up. Again, go out the right side of the room and when you pick up the ? item, exit on the right again. -Temple (Lv3) Secret Item: Again, make your way to the bottom right corner and exit on the right instead of up. When you pick up the ? item, exit on the right yet again. In case you hadn't noticed, all three secret items were in a false exit on the bottom right corner of the level. -To find the 4th secret item, you need to collect 10 keys, 1 of which you ABSOLUTELY MUST get the room after you kill Cobra Death. This will unlock the Pleasure Dome which is the south exit from the room "You have enough keys!" -You will receive the 5th secret item after you kill the evil M.C. If you got all 5, then you will graduate to Turbo Mode. -Special Trick! If you activate Turbo Mode and then reset the game, you will play at normal speed with all the extra lives of Turbo Mode! -Silly challenge #1: See if you can get to Mutoid Man without pressing the fire button. That's right, all you can attack with is barriers, crushes, and cutter blades! -Silly challenge #2: For an easier challenge, try using only special weapons. That means no plain gun! See how far you can get!