dNb
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.eNNNNNNNNNNNNNo dNNN
dNN" dNNP _oNNNc oNNNNNNP dNNNNNo dNNP dNNNNb dNNNNNNo
`F dNNP dNN"`NN "; 8NN~ dNP "NND dNNP dNV"NNN dNP dNP
dNNP dNF NNN dNN~ dNP .odN~ dNNP dNV dNN dNP dNP .
ONNbedNF "NNNNP dNP "NNNeeNNNP ,NNNNe8"dNNdNP dNP ,ND
""""" dNN' """ """"""""""""""" """" ,dNP .,eNNP
dNF' """""""""""""""
!NNb Semi-official Frequently Asked Questions
"NNb v0.71
"" (Semi-official because the Tyrian author thinks
I'm odd )
As the version number implies, this FAQ is still developing. Some
information may be wrong, and some may be missing. If you find one of
these, please don't jump around and say "How dare I write a FAQ with an
error in it...".. send me the correction, and make the FAQ better,
as well as getting yourself a place in the list of contributors!
Note: PC GAMER, for some reason, decided to put FAQ v0.41 on their
Dec/Jan '95/'96 coverdisk (without talking to me) even though it was long
obsolete by then. Please drop me a note if you want to distribute the
FAQ in non-network form; this isn't for legal reasons, it's just so I can
send you the most up to date version!
Contributors:
Zach Keene (fnlfanatic@aol.com)
Joseph Ball (darco@aol.com)
Eric Chung (achung@ix.netcom.com)
J.D.Collins (jdcollin@ucsd.edu)
Mike Marcelais (mrmarcel@eos.ncsu.edu)
Neal Miller (millen3@rpi.edu)
Christopher Nice (CN3612@aol.com)
Jared Ong (jong@owl.csusm.edu)
Paul Patricio (ppatrici@mail.vt.edu)
Andy Shawaluk (andys@solaria.mil.wi.us)
Andrew Schultz (schultzaj@centum.utulsa.edu)
Vincent "Dr. Wily" Torre (vtorre@skull.castle.siberia.unk)
Adam Williamson (adam@scss.demon.co.uk)
Daniel ("Venom") (venom@highnrg.sbay.org)
Sammael (sammael@zipnet.com)
Jim Youngblood (jry@pinn.net)
James Johnson (jejohnsn@mail.erols.com)
"Conrad" (CompKid486@aol.com)
Doug "Satan is Cheese
Whiz" (!) Martin (dmartin@pomona.edu)
"Mike"/Baoping He (he@saturn.med.nyu.edu)
Unknown (cdtyaggy@aol.com)
"Panx of Dupa" (panx@mcs.com)
Ron Powell (ronp@online1.magnus1.com)
Unknown (ac907@dial.pipex.com)
INTERESTING FACT: At least 3 of the contributors, several of whom have
been helping since the beginning, are in the aol.com domain. So for all
you people who discriminate by ISP...
Maintained by Mark Green (mark@antelope.demon.co.uk)
* NOTE: The above is my personal address. Updates should be sent to
tyrian@antelope.demon.co.uk. Please do NOT always expect
a reply to updates - I am very busy at the moment, but you
will always be credited if your material is used in the FAQ.
For people who wanted updates - I want to look into making a
mailinglist for FAQ updates, but I need to do some research
on that; I'll get back to y'all.
Ascii Logo by Rex Mendoza (rex.mendoza@789.gigo.com)
Thanks to you all (especially for not flaming me when you corrected the
really blatant mistakes ;) ); without your help I'd never have made this!
And thanks especially to Epic, for making this cool game!
NOTE: This FAQ now applies to Tyrian v2.0. Some secrets listed may
not work in v1.0 or v1.1. If you have Shareware release v1.0 or v1.1, you
can probably find an update wherever you found the game. Epic will
upgrade registered v1.1 copies to v2.0 for a nominal fee.
If your registered CD has the words "Manufactured in USA" on it, it's
v1.1. Otherwise, it's v2.0.
The NEW, IMPROVED Index
(To find a topic quickly with a text search, search for the number in
square brackets.)
[1] What is Tyrian?
[2] Where can I get the Shareware version of Tyrian?
[3] How much is in the game?
[4] What's the difference between these play modes?
[5] Sometimes I find the ship constantly moves in one direction. What's
happening?
[6] Are there any other bugs?
[7] What happens when I finish the game?
[8] How do I get the registered version?
[9] What's the best ship configuration to get?
[10] How much are those purple bubbles in Arcade mode worth?
[11] What are these special weapons?
[12] Where are the secret levels?
[13] What are these secret tips?
[14] Ok, I've won on Hard, now what?
[15] How can I quickly power up my weapons?
[16] Help! My ship just turned into a carrot! What's going on!?
[17] Can I use my arcade mode weapons in full game mode? Or vice versa?
[18] Can I do anything with Super Arcade Mode weapons or ships?
[19] What's a twiddle weapon? How do I use them?
[20] How do I play Super Arcade mode?
[21] How do I play Super Tyrian?
[22] Is there any way I can cheat?
[23] What is Destruct, and how do I play that?
[24] Miscellaneous useful stuff.
[25] The "Why the HELL would you want to do THAT!?" awards.
[26] Completely useless trivia.
[27] Rumours.
[1] What is Tyrian?
Tyrian is the latest game from Epic MegaGames; it is a vertically
scrolling Shoot'em'up game with considerably more features than any
other one on the PC. It features a complex exchangable weapon system
allowing up to 300 different combinations of weapons, and several
different forms of play. And it's a darn good game, too. ;)
[2] Where can I get the shareware version of Tyrian?
Most major ftp sites should have a copy by now. It can be found, in
particular, on ftp.uml.edu, or wuarchive.wustl.edu, either in the games
uploads directory, or the Epic MegaGames specific directory.
Users in the UK may prefer to get their copy from ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk or
ftp.demon.co.uk.
[3] How much is in the game?
The shareware version is a 1.3mb zip file. The shareware version of the
game contains 7 standard levels and several more secret levels. All of the
play modes are active.
The registered version is 9mb in total, or 10mb for v2.0, provided either
on multiple disks or on Cd-Rom.
The main differences between v2.0 and v1.1 are as follows:
- SuperTyrian is accessible;
- There are more weapons and ships available;
- Bosses have a visible life bar;
- An indicator is shown to show when special weapons are available;
- "Bubbles" is now the only secret level from Tyrian accessible in the
unregistered version (there's a datacube telling you this; yes, the
cube turns up even in the registered version.. gee, thanks ).
This is because the extra two levels have been added at the end.
- The fourth episode, "The end of Fate" is added; (registered only)
- There is a custom ship editor program included; (registered only)
The map of the levels is as follows:
EPISODE 1 (all secrets found):
----- Link
--S-- Secret link
--A-- Link followed automatically if not in Full Game Mode
--* *-- Overlap - no actual connection
/----S--> Soh Jin /--S-> Asteroid ?--\
| V | ^ V
|----------->+---------> Asteroid 1 ---*|*------> Savara ---\
| ^ | S | ^ |
Tyrian | \A-> Asteroid 2 ---*|*-----/ | V
| |----\ | | | Bonus
|----S--> Bubbles | \--S-> MineMaze----/ |
| /----| V
|----S--> Holes | Mines
| /-----/ |
\----S--> Windy V
Deliani
|
V
Savara V
|
V
Assassin
|
V
** ALE **
^ |
\-/
(15 levels)
Shortest route: Tyrian -> Either asteroid -> Savara -> Bonus -> Mines
-> Deliani (6 levels, 50%)
Longest route: Tyrian -> SohJin, Bubbles, Holes or Windy -> Asteroid 2 ->
MineMaze -> Asteroid ? -> Savara -> Bonus -> Mines -> Deliani
(9 levels, 75%)
EPISODE 2:
/--> Gem War ---> Markers ---/--> Mistakes ----\
S S |
| | V
Torm ----> Gyges ----> Bonus ----> Asteroid City ----> Soh Jin
| |
| A
/--- Botany A <--/ |
Gryphon <---| |
(End) \--- Botany B <------/
EPISODE 3:
/-S--> (not known yet)
|
/-S--> Sawblades ---------\
| V
Gauntlet --> Ixmucane --> Bonus --> Stargate ------------------------>Camanis
| ^ |
\-S--> Asteroid City -----/ |
|
|
V
New Deli <---S--- Savara-Y <---S--- Tyrian-X <---S--- Fleet <---------- Maces
(End) (End if no secret) (Bonus)
EPISODE 4 (An End to Fate)
Surface --> Lava Run --> Core --> Lava Exit --S--> Desertrun --> Harvest
| | |
V------\ \-----------------/ V
Squadron --/ Underdeli
^ (End) |
| V
Nose Drip <- Brainiac <- Eyespy <- Dread-Not <- Savara Iv <- Approach
The items available in the full game are as follows; note that other items
are available in Arcade mode, but some weapons are never available in the
unregistered version. The Availability field indicates from which levels you
may buy the weapon; an X indicates that the weapon may be bought immediately
BEFORE you fly that level. Note: The weapon(s) you possess can ALWAYS be
sold/upgraded, wherever you are.
EPISODE 1 (Escape)
Abbreviations:
TYrian BUbbles HOles SOhjin ASteroid1/2 Asteroid? mineMaZe SAvara BOnus MInes
DEliani WIndy
Ship Availability Cost Armor
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi
Talon x x x x x x x x x x x x 6000 3
Fang x x x x x x x x x 8000 4.5
Silver 8000 3
U-Ship 8000 2.5
Stalker 10000 5
Phoenix x x x 12000 5.5
Maelstrom 15000 6.5
MicroCorp Stalker 20000 8
Stalker-B 25000 9
Stalker-C 50000 9
SuperCarrot 65000 8.5
NortShip Z 65000 10
Front Gun Availability Cost
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi
PulseCannon x x x 500
Vulcan Cannon x x x x x x x x x 600
Protron x x x 600
MultiCannon x x x x x x x x x x x 750
Widget Beam 750
Missile Launcher x x x x 850
Mega Pulse x x 900
Starburst 900
Laser 950
Banana Blast 950
Mega Cannon x 1000
Heavy Missile x x x 1000
Lightning Cannon 1000
Hyper Pulse x 1050
Hot Dog Front 1100
Zica Laser 1100
Rear Gun Availability Cost
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi
Vulcan Cannon x x x x x 500
Protron x x x x x x x 650
MultiCannon x x x x x x x 750
Wild Ball x 800
Starburst x x 900
Rear Mega Pulse x 900
Scatter Wave 900
Sonic Wave x x x x x x x x x x x 950
Heavy Guided Bomb x x 1000
Fireball x x x 1000
Rear Heavy Missile 1000
Guided MicroBomb x 1100
Hot Dog Rear 1100
Banana Blast Rear 1100
Shield Availability Cost Energ
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi
Structural Field x x 100 2
Advanced Field x x x x 250 3
Gencore Low x x x x x x x x x x x 500 4
Gencore High x x x x x x x x x x x x 1000 5
Microcorp LXS A x x x x x x x x x x 2000 6
Microcorp LXS B 4000 7
Microcorp LXS C 5000 9
Microcorp HXS A 12000 10
Microcorp HXS B x 20000 12
Generator Availability Cost Power
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi
MR-9 x x x x x x x x x 500 Lo
MR-12 x x x x x x x x x x x x 2000 Med-Lo
Custom MR-12 x x x x x x x x x x x 5000 Med
MicroFusion x x x x x x x 10000 Med-Hi
Advanced MicroFusion 15000 Hi
Graviton PulseWave 50000 Inf
Sidekick Availability Cost
Ty Bu Ho So As A? Mz Sa Bo Mi De Wi
Mini Missile x x x x 1000
Satellite Marlo 2000
Single Option x x x x 3000
Side Ship 3000
Super Missile x 4000
Microbombs x x 4000
MintoShip 5000
Companion Warfly 5000
Dual Option x x x x x 6000
Post-it Mine x 7000
8-way Microbomb x 7500
Atom Bomb x x x x 8000
FrontBlaster 8000
Plasma Storm x x 8000
Phoenix Device x x x x x x x x 8000
Companion Cherry 8000
Vulcan Option x 10000
Companion Gerund 10000
Protron Indigo 12000
Buster Rocket 12500
FrontBlaster II 14000
Charge Cannon x x 15000
Flamethrower 20000
Wobbley 25000
Charge Laser 30000
Protron Tangerine 30000
Charge Zica 50000
EPISODE 2 (Treachery)
Abbreviations:
TOrm GYges BOnus AStcity MIstakes SOhjin BoTany GRyphon
Ship Availability Cost Armor
To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr
Talon x x x x x x 6000 3
Fang x 8000 4.5
Silver 8000 3
U-Ship 8000 2.5
Stalker 10000 5
Phoenix x x x x x x 12000 5.5
Maelstrom x x x x 15000 6.5
MicroCorp Stalker x x x 20000 8
Stalker-B x 25000 9
Stalker-C 50000 9
SuperCarrot x 65000 8.5
NortShip Z 65000 10
Front Gun Availability Cost
To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr
PulseCannon x x x x x 500
Vulcan Cannon 600
Protron x x 600
MultiCannon x x x x x 750
Widget Beam 750
Missile Launcher x x 850
Mega Pulse x x x x 900
Starburst x 900
Laser 950
Banana Blast 950
Mega Cannon x x x 1000
Heavy Missile x x x 1000
Lightning Cannon 1000
Hyper Pulse x 1050
Hot Dog Front 1100
Zica Laser 1100
Rear Gun Availability Cost
To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr
Vulcan Cannon x x x x 500
Protron x x x 650
MultiCannon x x x x 750
Wild Ball 800
Starburst x x x x 900
Rear Mega Pulse 900
Scatter Wave x x 900
Sonic Wave x x x x x x x 950
Heavy Guided Bomb 1000
Fireball 1000
Rear Heavy Missile 1000
Guided MicroBomb 1100
Hot Dog Rear 1100
Banana Blast Rear 1100
Shield Availability Cost Power
To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr
Structural Field x 100 2
Advanced Field x x x 250 3
Gencore Low x x 500 4
Gencore High x x x x x x x x 1000 5
Microcorp LXS A x x x x x x 2000 6
Microcorp LXS B x x x 4000 7
Microcorp LXS C 5000 9
Microcorp HXS A x x 12000 10
Microcorp HXS B 20000 12
Generator Availability Cost Power
To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr
MR-9 x x x x x x 500 Lo
MR-12 x x x x x x 2000 Med-Lo
Custom MR-12 x x x x x x x 5000 Med
MicroFusion x x 10000 Med-Hi
Advanced MicroFusion x x 15000 Hi
Graviton PulseWave x 50000 Inf
Sidekick Availability Cost
To Gy Bo As Mi So Bt Gr
Mini Missile x x x x 1000
Satellite Marlo 2000
Single Option x x 3000
Side Ship x 3000
Super Missile x x x 4000
Microbombs x 4000
MintoShip 5000
Companion Warfly 5000
Dual Option x x 6000
Post-it Mine 7000
8-way Microbomb 7500
Atom Bomb x x 8000
Plasma Storm x 8000
Phoenix Device x 8000
Companion Cherry 8000
Companion Gerund 10000
Vulcan Option 10000
Protron Indigo 12000
Buster Rocket x 12500
FrontBlaster II 14000
Charge Cannon x x 15000
Flamethrower x x 20000
Wobbley 25000
Charge Laser x x 30000
Protron Tangerine 30000
Charge Zica 50000
EPISODE 3: Mission Suicide
GAuntlet IXmucane BOnus STargate SAwblades CAmanis MAces FLeet TyrianX
SavaraY NewDeli
Ship Availability Cost Armor
Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd
Talon x x x x x x 6000 3
Fang x x x x x 8000 4.5
Silver 8000 3
U-Ship 8000 2.5
Stalker 10000 5
Phoenix x x x x x x x 12000 5.5
Maelstrom x x x x x x 15000 6.5
MicroCorp Stalker x x x x 20000 8
Stalker-B x x x x 25000 9
Stalker-C x 50000 9
SuperCarrot 65000 8.5
NortShip Z 65000 10
Front Gun Availability Cost
Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd
PulseCannon x x x 500
Vulcan Cannon 600
Protron x 600
MultiCannon x x x x x 750
Widget Beam 750
Missile Launcher x 850
Mega Pulse x x x x x x x x 900
Starburst 900
Laser x x 950
Banana Blast 950
Mega Cannon 1000
Heavy Missile x x x x x 1000
Lightning Cannon x x x x 1000
Hyper Pulse 1050
Hot Dog Front 1100
Zica Laser x x x x 1100
Rear Gun Availability Cost
Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd
Vulcan Cannon x 500
Protron x 650
MultiCannon x x x x x x 750
Wild Ball x 800
Starburst x x x x x x x 900
Rear Mega Pulse x x x x 900
Scatter Wave 900
Sonic Wave x x x x x x 950
Heavy Guided Bomb 1000
Fireball x x x 1000
Rear Heavy Missile x x x x 1000
Guided MicroBomb 1100
Hot Dog Rear 1100
Banana Blast Rear 1100
Shield Availability Cost Power
Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd
Structural Field 100 2
Advanced Field x x x 250 3
Gencore Low x x 500 4
Gencore High x x x x x x x 1000 5
Microcorp LXS A x x x x x 2000 6
Microcorp LXS B x x x x x x x x 4000 7
Microcorp LXS C x x x 5000 9
Microcorp HXS A x x x x x x 12000 10
Microcorp HXS B 20000 12
Generator Availability Cost Power
Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd
MR-9 x x x x x x 500 Lo
MR-12 x x x x x x x 2000 Med-Lo
Custom MR-12 x x x x x x x x x x 5000 Med
MicroFusion x x x x x 10000 Med-Hi
Advanced MicroFusion x x x x x 15000 Hi
Graviton PulseWave x 50000 Inf
Sidekick Availability Cost
Ga Ix Bo St Sa Ca Ma Fl Tx Sy Nd
Mini Missile x 1000
Satellite Marlo 2000
Single Option x 3000
Side Ship x 3000
Super Missile x 4000
Microbombs x x x 4000
Mintoship 5000
Companion Warfly 5000
Dual Option x x x x x x 6000
Post-it Mine 7000
8-way Microbomb x x 7500
Atom Bomb x x x x x 8000
Plasma Storm x 8000
Phoenix Device x x x x 8000
Frontblaster 8000
Companion Cherry 8000
Companion Gerund 10000
Vulcan Option x x 10000
Protron Indigo 12000
Buster Rocket 12500
FrontBlaster II 14000
Charge Cannon x 15000
Flamethrower x 20000
Wobbley x 25000
Charge Laser x 30000
Protron Tangerine 30000
Charge Zica x x 50000
The current best-equipped ship available is:
Hull: Prototype Stalker, 50000 from New Deli
Front: Zica Laser, 1100 from Sawblades
Rear: Guided Microbomb, 1100 from Holes
Shld: HXS-B, 20000 from Ep.1 Soh Jin
Gen: Graviton PulseWave, 50000 from Mistakes or New Deli
Kick: Charge Zica, 50000 from Fleet
[4] What's the difference between these play modes?
Tyrian offers a large number of different, selectable, modes of play:
- Arcade Mode
- 2-Player Arcade Mode
- Super Arcade Mode
- Network/Serial Mode
- Full Game Mode
There's another hidden game in there, but more on that later... ;)
Arcade Mode is basically your standard progressive shoot-em-up game.
Killing certain enemies will drop off bubbles; collecting these allows
you to change your weapons around and to upgrade the ones you have.
2-Player Arcade Mode is a cooperative two player game with the arcade
mode rules, but with a new twist. Both players' ships can function
independantly, but if you wish the two ships can join together. If this
happens, one player controls the motion, while the other play controls
a fully rotatable gun that is only available while they are connected.
Super Arcade Mode is a secret mode, discussed later on. It allows you
to play arcade mode with one of several special types of ship, most of
which are not available in any other mode. The bubbles are of different
types, and every one of these ships has a unique set of changable weapons.
Network/Serial Mode is similar to the 2-player Arcade Mode, except
both players are further away. The game can be played over a null-modem
cable, over an IPX network, or over a modem. For network games, an
arena interface is included where players can talk and challenge each
other.
The game also includes a "BBS interface". However, this feature will
be, in practice, no use because Epic have announced they do not intend
to release the host end. Their statement is as follows:
"Despite the demand from sysops and users, Epic MegaGames and Diversions
Entertainment have decided not to release the BBS host program for the
network and modem release of One Must Fall 2097 and Tyrian. With other
projects taking precedence and the arrival of Windows 95 as a viable gaming
platform, the window of opportunity for this product would have closed before
it was ready for release and would have resulted in a delay in the delivery
for the yet unnamed sequel, which will feature play over the Internet. To
see a copy of the press release regarding the cancellation of the OMF/Tyrian
public challenge arena, visit us on the web at http://www.epicgames.com."
*OUCH*. Looks like Bill Gates has struck again, and now the only way
you'll ever play like that is if you're lucky enough to have a direct
non-serial internet link into your PC.. (Why do I foresee a lot of people in
colleges asking for a boss screen to go in the sequel? ;) )
Full Game Mode is the campaign game. In this mode, you collect money
rather than upgrades for killing enemies. This money can be spent on
upgrading and customising your ship at will. In addition, data cubes can
be gotten by killing certain enemies; these will later reveal messages
which reveal more of the plot and possible hints as to later stages.
Also, you will have the option to choose your own path through the levels,
unlike Arcade Mode, where the route is fixed.
[5] Sometimes I find the ship constantly moves in one direction. What's
happening?
This appears to be a bug. A similar symptom can also happen on the
scrolling data viewer. Trying to move in the opposite direction will not
work. To rectify it, when playing on the keyboard, wait for the ship to
reach the extreme point of whichever direction it is moving (the left edge if
it's going left, etc), and then tap the key for that direction. 90% of the
time, this will sort it out.
Be warned: because your ship starts at the bottom, it is possible for
the ship to have this bug active and you to not notice it until you dodge
upwards to avoid that bullet.. and don't move.
Is this bug still in v2.0? Yes. In fact, unbelievably, it's WORSE. On
my keyboard setup, Tyrian v2.0 is completely unplayable with the arrow
keys. Fortunately, it will play better if you use the numeric keypad
instead; but it will still cause an effect similar to the above, only at
random intervals and with no guarantee of escape. I must admit that I am Not
Terribly Impressed that this bug hasn't been fixed after a major revision.
[6] Are there any other bugs?
- The simoultaneous death bug. If you ever die at the exact same time as
a boss in version v1.0, the game will start to scroll endlessly forward along
the level, with neither ship visible. If this ever happens, you must call up
the control screen with Escape, and abort the level. If you don't, the
program will crash nastily when it reaches the end of the level and tries to
scroll off it.
- If you get all the data cubes on Tyrian-X, the game dies at the end of the
level. Confirmed and reproducable in Registered v1.1.
[7] What happens when I finish the game?
If you have the Shareware version, you will be able to start the game over,
possibly choosing a different route and/or finding more secrets. You will
keep all the money and weapons you have earnt so far, meaning you can build
your ship up greatly. When you win the game, you are given a random
"secret tip", and are told one of the passwords for Super Arcade Mode.
When you finish the Registered version, you will move on to the next
episode. When you complete the final episode, you will be rewarded with
a ray-traced closing animation, and then the game will wrap around again
as before.
[8] How do I get the registered version?
Check out the ORDER*.DOC files in the archive for more details on this.
[9] What's the best ship configuration to get?
Entirely up to you! Almost all of them are powerful. The one item that
is truly worth special mention is the Plasma Storm sidekick. It is the
most powerful in the game.. if you can hold the Plasma Storm on a boss
for about a second, it'll probably die just from that!
My personal favourite configuration is:
Front Gun: Multi Cannon
Back Gun: Fireball or Sonic Wave
Left Kick: Plasma Storm (for big stuff)
Right Kick: Phoenix Device (for screens full of weenies)
Paul Patricio says:
"I've always found the Phoenix device useless. I use a Vulcan sidekick.
I also use sonic cannon, because you can kill enemies directly behind you or
directly beside you, while switching modes allows you to clobber anyone in
front of you. Switching modes on the fireball is pretty useless."
Zach Keene:
"Just to add to the best weapon config debate, I personally like to use a
laser, sonic wave (set to front), and a dual shot option on both sides."
Mike Marcelis:
"Just for difference of opinion, I prefer:
Front Gun: Pulse Cannon
Back Gun: Sonic Wave
Kicks: Dual shot or Charge cannon {no ammo!}"
Andrew Schultz:
"Front Gun: Mega Cannon. It's pretty bad if it's not powered up, but
it can dish out the damage. It doesn't have a rapid firing rate and
so doesn't penalize you for using special weapons. It's lack of
spread doesn't clutter up the screen so you can't see anything.
Rear Gun: Banana Blaster. The banana bombs are cool and it helps
make up for the Mega Cannon's lack of spread.
Left&Right Sidekick: Ammoless and powerful (doesn't seem like it if
you continuously fire, but if you let it "charge" up, it is quite
powerful)."
Actually, since reading this, I've become a sonic gun fan.. The fireball
has good coverage at lower levels, but the sonic gun is far better at higher
ones.
[10] How much are those purple bubbles in arcade mode worth?
At the start, your weapon is at level 1. To increase to level 2, you
need one sphere; and from then on, to increase to any level, you will require
double the number of spheres you required to increase to the previous level.
The spheres are not worth any monetary amount.
[11] What are these special weapons?
Special weapons are gained during the arcade mode. To make them available
in the arcade game, you must have reached power level 8 (in practice this is
equivalent to having 8 lives). Mike Marcelais points out that this power
level is in fact equal to the power level of the front gun.
It *IS* possible to gain a special weapon during full game mode, although
lots of weird things happen in full game mode later on.. It normally happens
when you are close to maxing out either your front or rear weapon. One of
the ships that would normally drop you a powerup pod will drop you a special
instead. Note: they do sometimes still drop useless power up pods. (see the
secrets) But if you do get a special in full game mode, you cannot sell it.
(The following list, from Vincent Torre, replaces my own which was
previously here, since Vincent's is far superior)
Soul of Zinglon - (indicated by a picture of a ship with a small
column of white light behind it) - creates a vertical beam of light
that slowly expands out from your ship, then contracts and disappears.
Any enemy in the beam will be damaged. The weapon is activated when
you press the main fire button (i.e. it will not continue to fire if
you just hold the fire button down constantly), and takes a few
seconds to recharge before it can be used again.
[Note: "Zinglon" is the lead programmer's pseudonym]
Repulsor - diverts most enemy shots away from your ship. The weapon
is activated by rapidly pressing the main fire button (the more you
push the fire button, the more effective the repulsor will be in
repelling the shots), and does not need time to recharge.
[ This is very useful when you first hear that dreaded "chung" that tells
you your shield's fallen, and your armor is being hit. Sit somewhere
safe and hit space rapidly and you repulse all their bullets while
recharging your shield! ]
Attractor - (indicated by a picture of a ship with several small
objects heading towards it) - attracts power-up and bonus items
(coins, gems, bonus stage spheres, etc.) towards your ship. The
weapon is activated by rapidly pressing the main fire button, and does
not require any recharging time between uses.
Flare - (indicated by a picture of a ship with a bright red aura
around it) - causes multiple flame explosions all over the screen for
a few seconds. The weapon is activated when you press the main fire
button (as with the other weapons, simply holding down the fire button
will not cause it to re-activate), and requires several seconds to
recharge after each use.
Pearl Wind - (indicated by a picture of a ship with three(?)
pearl-colored spheres being fired from it) - shoots pearl-looking
spheres from your ship. The spheres travel in straight lines, but are
not all fired at the same angle, thus covering a wider arc in front of
your ship. A sphere is fired each time you press the main fire
button. The weapon does not require any time to recharge.
Ice Beam - (indicated by a picure of a ship with a single ice shot
being fired from it) - shoots a ball of ice from the front of your
ship. If an enemy is hit by the ice, it becomes frozen (turns white
and blue), and will not be able to fire. The frozen enemy will not
stop, but will continue to move in whatever direction it was traveling
at at the time it was frozen (due to inertia, according to Epic).
The enemy will unfreeze if hit (I think...), or if left undisturbed
for too long. The weapon seems to work on most of the enemies, with
the exception of some (all?) of the larger stage-end bosses. An ice
ball is fired each time you press the main fire button (as with the
other special weapons metioned above, it won't keep firing if you
just hold down the fire button). The weapon does not require any
time to recharge.
[12] Where are the secret levels?
A secret level is accessed by picking up a glowing orange orb that will
be dropped by a destroyed enemy. If you get an orb, then at the end of
the current level, you will be taken to the secret level instead of the
next in sequence. (Once you have the orb, you cannot choose not to go to
the secret level.)
If, somehow, you reveal more than one orb in any level, you will only be
allowed to take one. You just won't be able to pick up a second.
If you die on a secret level, you will leave that level and continue with
the game (with one exception - Soh Jin). You will still be shown the
destruction level details, etc. (If you don't see them, you're using v1.0.
It's worth upgrading.)
A note about the following, which applies to all the information on
secrets: when I say "a sidekick", I mean "a sidekick that you have to fire
specifically". The single, double and vulcan shot options, and the charge
cannon (and the advanced charge weapons in the registered version), are not
fired individually and hence do not behave as normal sidekicks and can be
used to collect secrets that normally require you not to use a sidekick.
So, without further ado, here is where to find those orbs:
BUBBLES: On Tyrian, you will meet a series of long ships which split up into
three parts as they fly; destroying these by shooting the front of them
reveals three coins. At one point, while encountering these ships, (I
believe it is at their second appearance) there will be a small rocky outcrop
on the VERY maximum right (scroll the screen). Destroying it will reveal a
small blue area; fly over this to access the Secret Level.
Before you warp into this secret level, I *strongly* recommend kitting
out your ship so that it can deliver a LOT of force into an enemy directly
in front of you. A plasma storm will help but may not, alone, be
sufficient, since it has low ammo. Contrary to my previous statement,
it is possible to get a good enough ship right from the start of the game,
but you need to concentrate on forward firing. Adam Williamson recommends
a level 4 sonic wave, level 3/4 multicannon, and mini-missiles.
When you enter the level, you will see why. Large lines of bubble
formations stretch right across the level; the one bubble in the
middle that is a different colour is the vulnerable spot. Shoot there
quickly; it is important that you destroy the lines rapidly, since if
you can't destroy the line fast enough, you'll fly into it.. and it's
strong enough to kill you in one. And since it's a secret level, there's
no second chance.
The good point of all this is: destroying one of those lines will get you
a big score bonus (and some odd bonus items - an Amiga tick? A pint of
beer?). Even better, just beyond the lines lies a huge area of free coins,
just lying there! For this reason, if you get an Attractor later on, a
visit here is highly recommended! Watch out though, and do keep shooting -
there are some hidden bubbles in the layout that will damage you if you hit
them while you're collecting coins. On harder levels, they will also
generate smaller, moving bubbles. But if you destroy the large bubbles,
they'll turn into gems! There are a couple more of those nasty lines before
you leave the level.
WINDY: If you are playing on "Hard" level, or higher, you use the above
method to get to "Bubbles", and you are playing v1.1, you will not go to
"Bubbles"; you'll go to "Windy" instead. Windy has the background of
Tyrian a maze-like map similar to Soh Jin. Certain walls are marked with
dollar signs or other symbols; destroying these will reveal bonuses.
However, there are also mean turrets mounted on some walls!
HOLES: Immediately after the computer voice on Tyrian says "Danger", and the
screen displays "Approaching enemy platforms", a wave of circular ships enters
on the left. Kill the leader, then kill the one at the very back of the wave.
The one at the very back should drop an orb when he dies.
The actual key to this is *not* that only those two ships should be
destroyed, but that you must destroy at least two ships, including the last
one, *in order*. Even one hit with a weapon on an enemy out of sequence
(even if it does not kill said enemy) will disqualify the orb. The above is
just the simplest way of achieving that.
Holes is a long and difficult level. The enemies are similar to those
encountered on Tyrian. Be warned - there are several places where a clone
of the Tyrian boss will pass you, firing considerably more densely than
the original one did!
By the way, on both "Holes" and "Bubbles" you can find a data cube which,
when collected, will contain a message from Steffan of OMF2097. Another
one has been found on "Holes" which seems to be an advert for Jazz..
SOH JIN: If I had a penny for every message I've recieved about how to get
here, I would be a rich man. This method works 100% for me: At the very
start of Tyrian, you are attacked by a wave of U-fighters. Do not destroy
any of these fighters (except for the leader to get your powerup pod - see
the seperate section.)
Later, after you fly through the spikes, you are attacked by several waves
of small ships, followed by a wave of five ships heading across the screen
travelling at different speeds. There will be a second ship behind the one
in the centre. Shoot it to reveal a glowing sphere, and pick it up for the
secret level.
Soh Jin is a maze of walls and turrets. The walls are very dangerous -
flying into one will severely drain your shield. There are no mobile enemies
on the stage, apart from the Help Ship. You'll see odd objects, resembling
keys, lying around on the floor in this stage. Each is worth 500 points!
Also, unusually, you can retry Soh Jin until you get it right.
Even more usefully.. in Arcade Mode, destroying the turrets on Soh
Jin gets you weapon pods. In Full Game mode, check out the upgrade ship
menu right BEFORE you battle at Soh Jin. There are several weapons, and
a powerful (and expensive!) shield, available there that are not available
anywhere else.
SILLY CHALLENGE: There's no award for doing it, but if you fancy a
challenge, try this: Fly through Soh Jin without ever firing a shot. It's
possible, but rather difficult. Your shield will be up a lot of the time,
but if your armour gets low, watch out.. 'cos you'd have to fire to destroy
the help ship!
ASTEROID?: On Asteroid 1, there is a small platform with a face on it.
Destroy this face to reveal the orb.
MINEMAZE: On Asteroid 2, there is a place where there are three faces on a
platform arranged like this: ,', . Destroying the one on the maximum right
will reveal the orb.
THE INTER-SECRET WARP: You can move directly from "MINEMAZE" to "ASTEROID?".
Here's how (info from Vincent Torre): At one point in "MINEMAZE" there
is a stage where five strawberries fly down the screen, down a
small channel. The snag is, this channel is bracketed on the left and
right by one-way magnetic barriers that allow you - indeed, try and force
you - to fly out of the channel, but won't let you into it.
Get the strawberries if you can then head out of the channel, across the
barriers, on the left. Do NOT rejoin the main path of the level - stay on
the left even when the gate/door and the new set of one-way barriers comes
in on your right, and you will fly up a small passage on the left of the main
level. WARNING: Do NOT fly back over to the right! The barriers will
render you unable to fly back left and hence unable to get the secret. You
will meet a series of small ships that swing back and forth at the top of the
screen, dropping missiles as they go. I believe that either the third of
these, or the ship directly after it, holds the orb.
MISTAKES: In Ast. City (episode 2) you will be attacked by ships that fire a
lot of shots in a wide spread. They look like regular enemies except for
their red gun turrets. If you destroy all of these enemies, you will find
the secret level floating on the right side of the screen.
TYRIAN-X, SAVARA-Y, NEW DELI: These secret levels appear automatically
after you finish the third episode on Hard difficulty or higher. I strongly
encourage you to go for this - they are very nice levels; a lot of the
data available on them is very funny, New Deli reveals something you
probably didn't know about the game interface, and the music on the first
bit of Savara-Y is the best in the game (Imho) - it's so good I almost
didn't want to fire over it... ;)
GEM WAR: On the level "Gyges", just before the first wave of claw ships,
there is a small pod. Shoot it. This same pod occours three times during
the level - once just after the speedup has finished, and once later on.
Destroy all three pods to get the orb.
[13] What are these secret tips?
From Jim Youngblood:
Episode 1
~~~~~~~~~
1-1-1: BONUS ROUND - Increase your score in the bonus level by waiting for
enemies to attack you. One of the ships is carrying a 5000-point gem.
1-1-2: TYRIAN - There is a secret to the first U-Ship that attacks you.
(This is the weapon pod.)
1-1-3: ASTEROID LEVELS - The rock faces conceal two bonus levels.
1-2-1: ASTEROID 2 - There is a secret to the first tank in the level.
(Another weapon pod.)
1-2-2: SECRET LEVEL - There is a way to go from one secret level to one other
secret level to maximize your score.
1-2-3: ASTEROID 2 - Several of the tanks on this level are worth more if you
wait a while before destroying them. You can earn extra power-ups this way.
1-3-1: TYRIAN - The rock formations conceal a secret fortune.
1-3-2: IMPOSSIBLE - Type a capital G at the difficulty selection screen.
1-3-3: EPISODE 3 - Play at the hard difficulty level for an extra reward.
(Presumably a plug.)
Episode 2
~~~~~~~~~
2-1-1:Jungle Level - A certain small scout ship is attacked by one of the
dragons. Destroying it at the last second rewards you with a power-up
[rear gun].
("Jungle Level" presumably means Torm.)
(The rest of the 2-x-x hints are the same as in Episode 1.)
Episode 3
~~~~~~~~~
3-1-1: BONUS ROUND - There are 2 sections where a solid row of purple ships
move downward and wait. The first purple ship that comes down each time has
a power-up. Others carry gems.
3-1-2: CAMANIS - In the section where enemies fly straight up behind you,
there is a slow-moving emeny with a power-up. [Front gun]
3-1-3: SECRET LEVEL: SAWBLADES - The spiders, while hard to reach, contain
10000 pts in gems.
3-2-1: ?Secret Levels? - Two secret levels in Episode 3 are in the same
place. (Mull that one over.)
3-2-2: STARGATE - Two of the flying spikes can be destroyed. Each is worth
10000 pts.
3-2-3: EPISODE 3 - Play at the hard difficulty level for an extra reward.
3-3-1: EPISODE 3 - There are three levels you can access with the warp bubbles.
3-3-2: GOD MODE - Type a capital G then shift right bracket. [This is
actually suicide difficulty]
3-3-3: INSANE DETAIL - In the setup program, type a W when you have detail
level selected.
[14] Ok, I've won on Hard, now what?
Try Impossible. When the game asks you to select your difficulty level,
type a capital G (shift-G). A new level, "Impossible", will appear at the
bottom of the list.
If even that's too easy for you, after adding "Impossible" as described
above, type } (shift-]); this will add the level "Suicide". On this mode,
bullets move impossibly fast and even the basic enemies are incredibly tough.
I've tried shift-everything after this and haven't found another one
yet. ;)
In addition, hitting Backspace and the number 1 on the main keyboard at
the same time during the game cycles the game through three speed settings.
These are *not* the same as the Game Speed settings on the menu.
While we're on the subject of extended menu items: there's one in the
SETUP program too! In Setup, move to the "detail level" option and press
shift-W. The detail will change to "Wild", which is the same as Pentium but
with moving shadows on the ground. If you have anything less than a Pentium,
forget it; even with one, it might slow down. Also, if your detail level
is set to Wild, and you decrease it with the left arrow DURING THE GAME,
the detail level changes to "Laptop VGA".
[15] How can I quickly power up my weapons?
Some ships will release special power-up pods that will immediately boost
your weapons by 2 to 5 levels. These are EXTREMELY useful for building up
your ship. Here's where they've been found:
0) There are two free ones on Deliani.
1) At the very beginning of the game, a batch of U-fighters zoom down dead
vertical until they reach the bottom of the screen; then they track back up
again on a diagonal. Without destroying any of them, let them reach the
bottom and move back in the diagonal and then fry the leader with a sidekick.
He will drop a Rear Weapon PowerUp pod! (Note: you may not get the pod if
your sidekick weapon kills any other ship in the wave at the same time as
the leader. Also, killing any other ship apart from the leader scuppers your
chances of going to Soh Jin.)
2) On "Asteroid 2", at the very start of the platforms, you will see a small
tank tracking about on the floor. Let it alone until it turns to fire at you
and then destroy it for a PowerUp pod!
3) On "Minemaze", near the beginning, there is a spot where there is a
magnetic barrier with an isolated blue sphere just below it. After
passing this barrier, keep to the extreme right, and you'll pass through
two gates. Destroying the weak point of the second reveals a PowerUp.
4) Again on "Minemaze", try to remain in the middle when you see five
strawberries go past. Keep in the middle, and blast the gate you
pass through; beyond are two ships, one of which has the Power Up. Note
that this makes it very difficult to get the secret level "Asteroid ?"
5) On "Gyges", very near the start, is a triangle shaped enemy with smaller
ships flying around it in a circle. If you can destroy (or shoot through)
the circle and destroy the triangle, it'll drop you a powerup.
6) On "Sawblades", ever so often, a SuperCarrot will attack you. If you
destroy all the SuperCarrots on the level, the very last one will drop a
special power-up pod that will convert both your front and rear weapons to
HotDogs. You may not want to do this, though, especially if you just
bought the Zica Laser.
7) On "Asteroid City" (Episode 2), destroying a wave of three of the
yellow ships will reveal a small bomb. If you have one of these bombs,
then when you next fire your sidekick weapon, a small missile will be
fired as well that will break into microbombs. An indicator at the
bottom of the screen tracks how many of these bombs you have left.
8) On "Camanis", there are several places where crystal-type ships appear.
Sometimes they will appear in a formation with a large crystal in the
middle, and many small ones nearby which sweep away from it. In this case,
nailing the large crystal will get you a powerup. It may be required that
you do not hit any of the smaller ones in the process.
[16] Help! My ship just turned into a carrot! What's going on!?
1/6 of the time, immediately after you complete the game in any mode, you
will be returned to the start as usual but the layout of your ship will have
changed! If you are in Full Game mode, and you examine the upgrade ship
display, you'll discover your ship has been changed to type "Super Carrot",
and your front and rear weapons have become "Banana Blasts". The Super Carrot
actually has a higher armor level than any other ship available in the game!
Note: If you have the unregistered version, do not sell the Super Carrot.
If you sell the Banana Blasters, you can get them back, but if you sell the
Super Carrot, it's gone for good. Also be warned - if you complete the game
again, there's a chance of the game giving you the Carrot back again. If it
does this, then your weapons will go back to Level 1 Banana blasts EVEN IF
YOU ALREADY HAD BANANA BLASTS AT A HIGHER LEVEL!
The carrot can fire weapons other than Banana Blasts. See "FoodShip Nine"
in the Super Arcade Mode section.
[17] Can I use my arcade mode weapons in full game mode? Or vice versa?
Yes - you can transfer your arcade-mode ship into full-game mode, or vice
versa! This has several advantages; you can bring a weapon into
full-game mode that you can't buy anywhere else, and upgrade it at will,
then take it back to arcade mode. Or you can just start full-game mode with
a slightly better equipped ship.
Ok.. here's how to go from arcade mode to full game. (You can't get
weapons out of Super Arcade mode.. sorry.)
Start a game in arcade mode. Play until you get the weapons you want (a
trip to Soh Jin for lots of weapon pods is a good idea). Finish the level
you got your weapons on. Then start the next level and immediately hit ESC,
and Quit the level. Then, quit your arcade-mode game, and select Load Game
from the main menu, then select "Last Level" at the bottom of the screen (or
you can start a Full Game and use options/load). Suddenly, your weapons,
ship and score appear in Full Game mode! Your ship is listed as a "Stalker",
and has a value of 10000. But be warned.. if you bring stuff into full game
that's not normally available in full game, and you sell it, it's gone for
good.
Going the other way is a little trickier, because there's normally
no way to load a game in Arcade mode. The way to do it is as follows:
1) Select Start New Game.
2) Select 1 Player Arcade.
3) When the episode selection screen comes up, do NOT select an
episode. Press Escape to return to the main menu.
4) Load a game.
This will load that game as an arcade mode game!
[18] Can I do anything with Super Arcade Mode weapons or ships?
You CAN bring Super Arcade Mode ships into the full game, but they won't
be anything special if you do - they will lose their special power and will
only be able to buy normal weapons.
To do this, type the Super Arcade password, hit escape when asked to
choose an episode, then start a Full game, and you'll get the ship. But
most of the Super Arcade mode ships are just versions of standard ones:
Experimental PQZ Microcorp Stalker
StormWind USP Talon
TX Silvercloud Silver Ship
Captured U-Fighter U-Ship
FoodShip Nine SuperCarrot
Ninja Star Gencore Phoenix
Nortship Z Nortship Z
Some of these ships can't normally be gotten in full game mode, so the
game won't have a graphic for the buy/sell screen. If this is the case,
it will substitute a picture of a USP talon. You may also find odd
things appear in the weapon preview display (I've seen a Nortship appear
in the weapon preview display as two enemy ships glued together!)
The Nortship Z does have one notable difference from the other ships.
If you bring it into Full Game, you still get Nortship Dust (but not Astral
Zone).
[19] What's a twiddle weapon? How do I use them?
First of all, if you have v1.0, skip this bit. It won't work for you.
Go and get that upgrade. ;)
Ok, in higher.. you may have, once or twice, found that your ship can fire
a weapon it doesn't even have, or one that doesn't normally exist. If that's
the case, congratulations! - you've just discovered a twiddle weapon.
Twiddle weapons are very similar to special moves in fighting games; if you
execute the appropriate motion using joystick or keyboard, you will get a
powerful effect. Be warned, however - your shield and/or armor will also be
drained.
The official name for twiddle weapons, by the way, is "Street-fighter like
commands"; in the ship editor documentation with v2.0, the author refers
to them as..
"(or 'twiddles', as one person so oddly put it)"
It seems that having a special weapon can interfere with the operation of
twiddle weapons.
Here are the twiddles currently known:
USP Talon
Invincibility Down, Up, Down, Up+Fire
- You are invincible for a second or so.
Missile Spread Right, Left, Down, Up+Fire
- Fires two mini-missiles forward. Armor drain.
USP Fang
Invincibility Down, Up, Down, Up+Fire
Bomb Spread Right, Left, Right, Down+Fire
- Fire high-speed guided bombs. (Look out - this drains your
*ARMOR*. Too many times, and you're into Warning.)
Stalker (arcade mode)
Armor Boost Hold Down, Fire twice
- Your armor level is increased. You can go above the level at which
you start. It is not, however, a permanent increase. This will
drain your shield to a very low level; the higher your shield level
was when you used the twiddle, the more armor you will get.
Energy Barrier Up, , Left, Down,
- Your ship is surrounded by a barrier that lessens damage done to you
by collisions. Getting hit will cause parts of the barrier to go
down instead of damaging you. Bullets seem to be unaffected.
Microbomb Shower , Right, Down, Left,
, Up+Fire
[ This may not be the exact motion but it WILL give you the power
fairly often especially if repeated. If it itself is not the
correct motion, it is certainly some permutation or translation
of these movements.]
- The ship will *FLOOD* the screen with MicroBombs.
*Microcorp* Stalker (yes, it's different)
Energy Barrier Up, , Left, Down,
Repulsor Hold fire, alternate left/right
- Just like the special weapon, except for the shield drain.
Prototype Stalker-C
Bomb Spread Right, Left, Right, Down+Fire
(more bombs than the Fang)
Post-it Sweep Up, Left, , Down, Right, Up
- Five post-it bombs are fired, very quickly, from the front. Armor
drain.
Gencore Phoenix
Ice Spread Down, Up+Fire
- Five ice shots; they behave like the special ice weapon.
Armor Boost Hold Down, Fire twice
Gencore Maelstrom
Armor Boost Hold Down, Fire twice
Super Carrot
Ice Spread Down, Up+Fire
Hot dog feast Up, Down+Fire
- Five hotdog shots fired forwards. Armor drain.
Stalker 21.126 (the modified SuperTyrian ship, and the twiddlers dream)
Armor Boost Hold Down, fire twice
Ice Spread Down, Up+Fire
Hot Dog Feast Up, Down+Fire
Missile Spread Right, Left, Down, Up+Fire
Bomb Spread Right, Left, Right, Down+Fire
Energy Barrier Up, , Left, Down,
Electric Shot X, X+Fire
X can be any direction except down for a
shot in that direction
Repulsor Hold fire, alternate Left/Right
Build sidekicks:
Build Companion Gerund Down, Right, Up+Fire
Build FrontBlaster II Up, Right, Down+Fire
Dragonwing (two-player)
Symbiosis Hold Down, Fire twice
- Drain your shield to increase the other player's armour.
Repulsor Hold fire, alternate Left/Right
Ice Spread Down, Up+Fire
A few notes: Be very careful with the repulsor, since you may activate
it accidentally while firing and dodging. The Armor Boost becomes
incredibly useful when you have a high-energy shield like the HXS-B -
use it as soon as you start when things are quiet and you'll boost your
hull fairly majorly.
[20] How do I play Super Arcade mode?
Super Arcade Mode is a special mode where you will play an unusual ship
with unique weapons. You get a fixed 3 lives; and you have a super weapon
that is always active.
To play Super Arcade Mode, you must type a password at the main menu to
select the ship you want to play. Here is a list of the ships available,
their passwords, and their weapons. As mentioned before, their specials
are available all the time.
Instead of the standard way of upgrading weapons, the weapon pods will
be gold with a colour in the middle. Each colour is a different
weapon and the power of the weapon is determined by the number you've
collected of that colour. You start with Level 1 Red. Some of the ships
available here are clones of other ships that you can play during the normal
game mode. If this is the case, and you have v1.1, then you'll usually find
you can use the twiddles of the ship of which the one you are flying is a
clone.
Ship: Experimental PQZ Password: TECHNO
Special: Soul of Zinglon + Minefield (RECHARGE):
A standard Soul, plus a large number of mines cover the screen.
Red: Hyper Pulse - A fairly standard cannon.
Blue: Zica Laser - A large laser beam, which can shoot several enemies
at once.
Green: Scatter Wave - Shoot to the sides. A tad useless... (Andrew
Schultz suggests this power-up was put there by the
enemy to handicap your ship.. ;) )
Purple:Guided bombs - Just like the ones you can get in full game.
Black: Heavy Missile Launcher
Ship: Stormwind the Elemental Password: STORMWIND
Special: Sandstorm (RECHARGE)
Just like the minefield, but the particles are smaller.
Red: Mega Pulse - Another relatively standard cannon.
Blue: Lightning Cannon - A big energy bolt forward, and a smaller ball
backwards. The ball is fired at an angle from
your ship, and inherits your velocity if you move.
Green: Sonic Wave
Purple:Protron Wave - Shoot blue, whirling balls.
Black: Rear Mega Pulse
Ship: Tx SilverCloud Password: UNKNOWN (yes, we know it's this ;) )
Special: Proton Dispersal (RECHARGE)
A series of mines dropped in a spiral around the ship.
Red: Multicannon - Have a guess (all the reds are basic..)
Blue: Zica Laser - As PQZ
Black: Rear Heavy Missile Launcher - Two missiles fired across each other.
Green: Laser - A constantly fired, TRUE laser, that does major
damage if held on target.
Purple:Vulcan Cannon - Just like in full game.
Ship: Captured U-Fighter Password: ENEMY
Special: Dual Vulcan (RECHARGE)
A very fast series of forward shots. Not enough to destroy a wave. This
ship sucks.
Red: Vulcan Cannon - This is what the game calls it but it's not the
same as the normal one. It only fires at an angle to
the sides. Yeuch. This ship REALLY sucks.
Blue: Mega Cannon - Small blue/white ball shots.
Black: Guided Microbombs
Green: Rear Mega Pulse
Purple:Protron
Ship: Foodship Nine Password: WEIRD
Special: Banana Bomb (RECHARGE)
A large number of bananas are fired from the back of the ship.
Red: Banana Blast - A standard gun, except it fires bananas.
Blue: Orange Juicer - A series of oranges in a helix around your ship.
Black: HotDog Front - Similar to the banana blast, but slower and more
damaging. Fires hot dogs. In buns. With mustard.
Purple:Protron Z - White circular bullets.
Green: Wild Balls - As full game.
Ship: Ninja Star Password: STEALTH
Special: Blade field (RECHARGE)
Just like minefield, but with whirling shurikens.
Red: Starburst - Semi-random angled side fire. Not a good start..
Green: Poison bomb - A standard bomb, but when it hits, it splits.
Blue: Guided Bombs - Similar to standard homing bombs but faster.
Black: Shruiken(sp?) field- Two blades, similar to those in the field.
Purple:Protron wave
Ship: Nort-Ship Z Password: NORTSHIPZ
Special: Nortship Dust (CONSTANT)
As you move left or right with this ship, a blue dust will be released
from the sides. It damages anything it touches.
Special: Astral Zone (RECHARGE)
This is a *Weird* one. It turns the background into a starfield and
fills the screen with Zica lasers. It seems that moving, or firing, while
the zone is actually in effect produces more lasers.
Red: Super Pulse - Similar to the normal cannon, but wider range.
Grey: Spreader - Similar to the U-fighter's "vulcan" cannon.
Green: Spreader B - Fires pearl-windish spheres at 45 degrees. When
they hit, they release a number of damaging dust
particles AND bounce off. (Overrated - quite weak.)
Blue: Orange Juicer - As FoodShip Nine.
Purple:Poison Bomb - As Ninja Star.
[21] How do I play Super Tyrian?
If you have v2.0, you can play Super Tyrian by typing:
ENGAGE
On the title screen. When you do this, Susan will say "Data Acquired",
and the title screen will begin to blur and fade. In Super Tyrian, all
cheats are disabled, and you have a unique ship. Difficulty level, by
default, is set to Lord of the Game; however, you can make it easier
for yourself, and only get Suicide difficulty, if you hold down the Scroll
Lock key while the screen is fading.
However, SuperTyrian does introduce a twist regardless - line of
sight. Only the area in front of your ship will be visible; the rest of
the screen will be faded out. This happens on some levels of v2.0 anyway,
but it happens on all levels in SuperTyrian. It does have the disadvantage
that it slows the game down, but it's still a very cool effect.
[22] Is there any way I can cheat?
Yes, there's four ways. The first way is only for people who really don't
believe in earning your priveleges and such.. Instead of typing TYRIAN to
start the game, type FILE0001 LOOT but do *NOT* hit return. Now hold down
the ALT key on the main keyboard, and type 254 on the numeric keypad.
(A small square should appear on the command line.) Release ALT, and press
RETURN. Start a 1 player full game, and you'll have 1 Million credits!
(Make sure the word LOOT is typed in caps.)
The other way is actually just as much a cheat, but it doesn't use a cheat
code; it uses a loophole in the game itself, so you may feel better using
this. Besides, it lets you have technically infinate money. Kit your ship
out so that you can fire forwards well, and can defend against bullets from
the side, but so that your fire range isn't TOO spread out (level 4
multicannon, level 3 sonic wave works well). Get to the secret level
"ASTEROID?" by whatever route. In this level, you'll notice that there are
turrets that fire unusual things at you - grey bubbles, missiles, etc. At one
point in the level, a turret firing those grey bubbles (LOTS of them!) appears
as a mid-stage boss.
When you get there, move your ship into the corner such that you can
kill the bubbles as he fires them, but such that you are not in fact shooting
him. Every time you kill a bubble, 100 points; and you'll be killing lots
of them. As long as you're defended on the sides, he probably won't be
able to hit you with any; neither you, nor he, will ever die. Weigh down
the fire button and go and have a cuppa, do the crossword, whatever.. and
come back to a massive score. Then, kill the turret normally, finish the
level and go and upgrade your ship rather a lot. ;) (Don't leave it TOO
long, though - an overflow will crash the game.)
The other two ways of cheating are not money cheats, but downright cheats.
During play, hit F2, F3 and F6 together to become immortal. (The string
"Cheaters always prosper" should pop up at the bottom of the screen. Your
shield and armor will still be drained - you'll just be able to play on
with zero armor). There is also a cheat to skip a level, which involves
hitting F2, F6 and F7; however I found that most of the time just hitting
these together doesn't work; however, fiddling around with them will
eventually work.
[23] What is Destruct, and how do I play that?
Destruct is a small, hidden subgame. It is a variant of Scorched Earth,
with more variety, and played in real-time.
To play Destruct, simply type the word "destruct" at the main menu. Press
F1 to view the keys. By default, the computer will play the left hand player,
but you can turn this off and play 2 player by pressing F10. A second press
will return you to 1 player mode.
Destruct offers you five types of game:
5-Card War: Each of the players recieves five randomly selected vehicles.
Destroy all the opponent's vehicles to win!
Traditional: One tank each. He who doesn't die, wins.
Heli Assault: Fly your helicopters in against the computer's (or second
player's) guns.
Heli Defence: The same in reverse.. shoot down the computer's helicopters
before they destroy your guns.
Outgunned: One player gets several jumpers and helicopters.. the other
just gets guns.
The types of vehicle that are available as follows:
Gun: Choose angle with left/right and force with up/down.
There are several types of gun, which fire different types
of ammo.
Helicopter: Arrow keys steer the copter around; it always fires at
45 degrees downwards. If you switch away from the copter
while it's in flight, it will fall out of the sky!
Jumper: While on the ground, it shouts upwards. Press up to make
it jump in the air; while in the air, it fires downwards.
Repulsor: Can't move and can't fire. But if you select it, and hold
down fire, all the opponent's bullets will be pushed away
from it, just like the Repulsor special in the game. It's
kinda fun to make them shoot themselves. ;)
Each vehicle has different weapons. Some are more powerful than
others, but after firing a powerful weapon you will have to wait a while
before you can fire again, whereas weak weapons will have a far shorter
reload time!
[24] Miscellaneous useful stuff.
THE HELP SHIP: Whenever you are low on armor and the alert is sounding,
watch for a little red ship that drops from the top of the screen, pauses in
the middle, then heads up top again. Shooting that ship will drop you an
armor bonus. If you are deep into alert (the alert noise gets faster the
nearer you are to death), the bonus won't be enough to get you out of it,
and you may have to wait for a second Help Ship. Note: The Help Ship does
not fire, and crashing into it does not destroy it or you.
BONUS LEVEL: Do not touch your sidekicks on the bonus level. The awards
are FAR greater for shooting down the layouts with a standard weapon than
for gunning the lot down with specials! Note also that sometimes a
large enemy from the layout will swoop downwards. Destroying that will
generally get you a good bonus - generally at least a small gem.
GAMMA CORRECTION: Just like Doom, Tyrian has Gamma Correction. Press F11
during a game to cycle through the different levels.
SHOT LEADING: On levels where the screen scrolls left and right, you can
guide your shots left or right by steering (you are actually scrolling the
screen under the bullet rather than the bullet itself).
[25] The "why the HELL would you want to do THAT" awards.
#1: Start the game with 'FILE0001 death'. As soon as you start any level,
you die immediately.
#2: Start Tyrian with FILE0001 CONSTANT. You can't buy any weapons, and the
ship uncontrollably flies left and right, constantly firing.
[26] Completely useless trivia.
- "Tyrian" means 'red or purple', or 'a native of Tyre'.
- If you scan the web for "Tyrian" with a loose Lycos(tm) search, you'll
find (amongst other things) a poem called "Ode on the death of a favourite
cat by drowning in a pool of goldfish".
- The computer voice in Tyrian is called Susan.
- The Tyrian logo reads the same when turned upside down. (It does not *look*
exactly the same, though - the y and the a change.)
[27] Rumours.
- There are other cheat codes. F2+F3 + (F4, F5, or F6) generates "Cheaters
always prosper."; F2+F3+F4 twice makes the word "Destruction:" appear
in the bottom box.
- There is another difficulty level, "Insanity", that can be reached
by tweaking the save game file.
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