RQ: Super Aleste/Space Megaforce

[TheBigL1]

I finished a run of Super Aleste the other day, but there are some things I haven't figured out about it. First off, does the game keep track of the yellow chips you pick up, even after your weapon is maxed out at level 6? I've noticed situations where I get hit once while at level 6, then my weapon powers up again with just one yellow chip even when it's not brought down to 0.
Second, just how many Blue Landers are there in the whole game? I only ever saw one, maybe two, but I did miss a lot of the destructible blocks that were tucked away in tight areas.
Lastly, at what score intervals does the game give you extra lives? I remember hearing the 'extra life' noise at certain points without having gotten an item, but I didn't keep track of what my score was each time it happened.

[tinotormed]

You should talk about this in the Strategy board.

[Ghegs]

Moved to Strategy, edited thread title a bit.

[tinotormed]

Thanks for the move Ghegs.

First off, does the game keep track of the yellow chips you pick up, even after your weapon is maxed out at level 6? I've noticed situations where I get hit once while at level 6, then my weapon powers up again with just one yellow chip even when it's not brought down to 0.

Nope, I guess it depends randomly by picking up between 1 to 6 chips. Each of them gives you 300 pts. When I was playing this game again, my power level is for example, level 5. I noticed that after picking up 3 chips, it goes up to the 6th. Note that green chips automatically powers up your weapon and it gives you 10k.

Second, just how many Blue Landers are there in the whole game? I only ever saw one, maybe two, but I did miss a lot of the destructible blocks that were tucked away in tight areas.

There are, I think, 3 Blue Landers and 1 Red Lander in the game. They are found on the following stages:

Stage 1: Bomb or use weapon 6 midway where there is a laddering wall there. Pick it up along with the bomb there.

Stage 5: Make sure you have adjusted your ship speed to 3, as it is covered by rocks to the very left with the rocky paths in it so you may want to use bomb or weapon 1 and switching to a side attack by pressing R. Grab it qucikly and hurry up before you get crushed!

Stage 10: It is covered by a pipe wall with the turrets. You have to bomb or use weapon 6 here. Just like stage 5, grab it before your ship gets crushed!

Now about the Red Landers:

Stage 9: The last green bunker before the lane with the 3 green bunkers. You have to BOMB here to grab it!

NOTE: Blue Landers are different from Red Landers. The similarities are they give both extends. The difference is the Red Lander gives you MAX power + Red Extend because there are two different types of extends here:

Blue Extend - brings you back to the nearest checkpoint.

Red Extend - automatically recovers you back into battle.

Lastly, at what score intervals does the game give you extra lives? I remember hearing the 'extra life' noise at certain points without having gotten an item, but I didn't keep track of what my score was each time it happened.

Extends are at the following score blocks:
- 100k
- 200k
- 500k
- every 500k

Well, that's it for now. If you've got any clarifications or corrections, pls. don't hesitate to post.

[sunburstbasser]

Shooting blue Landers turns them into red Landers.

[davyK]

Does anyone know if the Japanese version of this is easier than the PAL edition? I've had the PAL cartridge for over 15 years and only completed it once using continues back in the day. Just plugged in a recently acquired Japanese copy and 1CC'd it on Normal first try (5.6million - no great shakes). Found it easier than I remembered though I had to spam the final boss a bit with lives and bombs - but still a 1CC.

The PAL version has the usual borders and I played it at 50Hz back then ..maybe the frame rate and smaller display area had an impact. Don't know. There are a few presentational differences - different end game sequence and the powerups are labelled differently - but the levels seem to be unaltered apart from my perceived difference in difficulty. Will plug the PAL version in again and give it a shot.

[R79]

I can get to the exploding space ship/debris (bit like Battle Garegga) level without continuing, on the PAL cart, but then it's a nightmare to power back up if you get clipped. If you think how wretched the top and bottom borders are (sadly, on most PAL SNES games), and of course, the way this game is designed as a console 4:3 non-flip vert shooter, then you are sort of pushed up closer to the hazards, plus maybe the speed could be a factor? I am hoping to play this again soon on a massive old school telly, so maybe that will give more room to breathe, and get further. In which region was the game actually called Space Megaforce (yuck)? I think I've got an old copy of Mean Machines where they call it this, but clearly, the version we ended up with mercifully retained the original name at least.

EDIT

[BulletMagnet]

In which region was the game actually called Space Megaforce (yuck)?

Yup, that was us in the USA - thankfully they didn't change the game itself in any important way, though the extra-generic storyline (which I think was also applied in the PAL version) is a bit regrettable.

[Turrican]

In which region was the game actually called Space Megaforce (yuck)?

Yup, that was us in the USA - thankfully they didn't change the game itself in any important way, though the extra-generic storyline (which I think was also applied in the PAL version) is a bit regrettable.

Does anyone think there might be a slight chance that the name Space Megaforce was selected as a nod to Tehkan localized "Megaforce" way back in 1985 (aka Star Force)?