Soukyugurentai FAQ (e)

Soukyugurentai - FAQ -
By David Oldridge 

FINAL UPDATE  (...?)
============
    I have finally unveiled all of the bonuses (with the exception of
possible hidden bonuses outside of the two Option screens), as well as
some additional info, so this may be the last update I do on this game.
Thanks also go to Tom Smith (tosmith@mich.com) for his previously noted
contributions and verifications.
 
    Recently, I've found that this game supports 1.5 languages.  On the
Japanese SegaSaturn, as well as US Saturns with the language switch, every
section in this game excluding the control config screen is in Japanese.
However, I had recently started this game with a PAR plugged in (instead
of the usual SNK RAM cart) and my Saturn in US mode, and found a lot of
English text in this game.  Here's a breakdown of what does and doesn't
change.
- English
  - Attract Mode
  - The "This work is based on fiction" message
  - Pilot select
  - Pre-mission briefing
  - Game demo has "TERRA DIVER" title prominent
  - The how-to-play section, although the display is buggy
- Japanese
  - Title Screen
  - Option screens
- Downsides
  - End-of-mission text fouled up
  - Attract mode sometimes display space as white, not black
  - 1,000,000 points subtracted from high score entry after playing
 
    Second, the bonus options seem to be based on either the length of
time the game is played, or the number of times you start and continue.
Despite the different approaches I and Tom made to playing this game, the
bonuses appeared in the same order.  (Addition of Extended Options, # of
bombs, points for extra ships, # of starting ships, targetting web button
assign and credit select for those who care.)
 
    Also, I made a minor mistake in the Options section that has since
been corrected.  The choice between Mono and Stereo actually should have
been listed as Stereo and Mono.  Other than that and the addition to the
Extended Options section, everything else is the same as last time.
 
    If anyone finds or knows of any related info that's not included here,
please post or e-mail it as a followup to this thread.  Any tips that get
e-mailed to me will be posted, if it's not already, with the appropriate
credit given of course.
 
>From the Main Menu
==================
- The first (default) choice is game start.  This is self-explanatory.
- The second option is practice mode.  This opens up a sub-menu with
  another 5 choices.  See the next section for more info.
- Next up should be no real surprise.  It's the classic OPTIONS MENU.
  This will be explained after GAMEPLAY.
- The final option doesn't show up right away.  But when one of your
  choices is followed by ON or OFF, that's the EXTENDED OPTIONS.  
  Initially, you'll see question marks representing what may eventually
  appear.  
 
PRACTICE MODE
=============
- "Start practice".  This goes for only one round.
- This is followed by pilot (ship & weapons) select, with additional info
  available with the press of the 'A' button, but it's entirely in
  Japanese.  
- Third is round select, with any round you've made it to with any pilot
  selectable.  See previous point regarding additional info.
- Next up is the high score screen, for each round.  The 'A' button gives
  you the date and time each score was reached.
- "Oops, I didn't want to come here!"  Select the last option to exit
  this sub-menu.
  
GAMEPLAY
========
    It's a top-down shooter, so there's not too much to figure out.  You
have a choice of three different pilots, with each one having their own
ship and weapon systems.  Enemy ships can fly in your line of fire or
beneath it, but can usually only attack when they're in your line of
direct fire.  Use the targetting web to knock out the other enemies.
Analog control is supported.
    Under the default control setup, tapping the 'A' button releases a
standard shot.  Certain cannisters appear which can be shot open,
revealing power-ups that accumulate to boost your weapons, or an extra
bomb for your arsenal.  Holding the 'A' button causes a targetting web to
appear, which locks on to enemies in its range and fires when the button
is released.  Each ship has several unique targetting webs, which can be
toggled with the 'C' button.
    Button 'B' releases a bomb.  The type dropped seems to depend on your
targeting web.  If the web is not activated you get a blast that covers a
wide area.  If your web is active but with no enemy locks, you get
fireballs that drop in a spiralling pattern around your ship.  And if your
web does have an enemy lock, it's the same as the last one but with
smaller fireballs homing in on the enemy ships, usually about as powerful
as multiple laser blasts.
    The shoulder buttons can also be used to fire.  And rapid fire can
also be assigned to any button, in the control setup option in the OPTION
MENU.
 
OPTION MENU
===========
- First up is the difficulty select.  Your choices are from 1 to 8, with 1
  being the easiest and 5 being the default (for the arcade) level.
- The next one is control setup.  It's the only part of the game that's in
  English, so I won't bother retyping it.
- Audio select.  Your choices are Stereo and Mono.
- High score viewing, for the arcade game.
- The second last option allows you to hear the music and sound effects
  used in the game.
- Music/Sound Effect balance, in that order.  Slide the bar left to turn
  up the music and right to turn up the sound effects, with the other one
  automatically going down a notch each time.
 
EXTENDED OPTIONS
================
- Extended Control setup.  With this you can also pan and zoom at will,
  shift the screen left or right without going there, Skip which speeds
  through the text display, or steer your targetting web independantly of
  your ship.  You will also get a set of question marks in the middle,
  which eventually will reveal an option to shoot (including rapid fire)
  with one button, and do the web shots _at_the_same_time_ with another.
  With Extended Options set to ON, you can also access these options at
  the standard Control Menu.  Also of note to those who have an analog
  controller, you can assign seperate functions to the seperate control
  pads.
  There are three options to choose from here.  It's not exactly evident
  in the easier modes of play, but this option increases the speed of the
  enemies as well as their rate of fire.  Here is a partial translation of
  the text, with each option of the three translated so the first half is
  in English, and the second half is broken down to their Japanese
  pronounciation.  They are as follows...
  - First Round - E N DO
  - Second Round - E N DO
  - Second Round - SU NO HITO TO
- Number of ships you start off with, from 1 to 8.
- Number of bombs accessible.  You can select from 0 to 7.
- Credits you start with, from 0 to 9 or FREEPLAY mode (represented by
  infinity (sideways 8) sign.)
- Extra ships.  You can select (from pre-determined choices) at what point
  values extra ships can be earned, with the _minimal_ point value
  necessary being every (!?) 2,000,000 points.
- Extra music listening.  Here you can not only listen to the tunes from
  Soukyugurentai, but also from Kingdom GrandPrix and from Battle Garegga.
 
Well that about wraps it up.  Additions to this are welcome, so if you
have any, please either respond to this post with them or e-mail them to
me.