PrinceWatercress plays Power Strike II (Master System) - Part 3 of 8

This game isn't getting any easier.

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Stage 3

The tower-like mortar shooters at the beginning are prime targets for being lined up with and shot at. As for the gold ships with the white dome-like openings at the front, they are only vulnerable then they open up.

Watch out for cracks forming in the ground! Turrets will pop out of them, and you'll want to take those turrets out as quickly as possible. Launchers that shoot out spiked blue balls will also come out of the cracks, but you can only shoot down the blue balls and not the launchers.

The stone robots with the spinning heads will shoot out an eight-way shots, and the yellow turrets that you'll see near them will be in groups of five or six. You'll definitely want to take out those turrets as you take out the robots, as clearing the area out while make defeating the robots easier.

The blue helicopters near the end can take a beating, but if you can line yourself up with them, they will go down easily.

The boss here has two phases. For the first phase, the boss will move around in a semi-circle. Unless you have Weapon 4, you're going to be doing a lot of moving around to avoid both the boss and its projectiles; otherwise, you can just fire on it from the top of the screen. For the second phase, the boss will be surrounded by satellites and will bounce around the screen. You'll need to anticipate where the boss will go while continuously firing so you can take out the satellites - which will eventually re-spawn - and get an opening to shoot at the boss with. If you have the super shot, this phase is the time to let it loose. Eventually, the boss will go down it's on to Stage 4.

PrinceWatercress plays Power Strike II (Master System) - Part 2 of 8

This stage starts out pretty fast, and you'll need to destroy as much as you can if you want to stand a chance of surviving.

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Stage 2

Take out as many turrets at the start of the stage as you can, as they will make things tougher while you're shooting down all of the aerial enemies just by being numerous enough to overwhelm you. Thankfully, things get a little better when the scrolling slows down.

Make sure you have two Spin Shields at all times, as they will protect you from enemy shots a good amount of the time.

If you have Weapon 4, sometimes your shots will hover in certain spots. Turrets will eventually spawn in those spots, and Weapon 4 will give you a slight advantage against them when they do. All you have to do is make sure that you can shoot down other enemies and keep the screen as clear as possible during that time.

Submarines will pop up a bit later in the stage, but some of the weapons will make quick work of them if they are fully powered up.

When the color of the sea gets brighter, stay away from the bottom of the screen. Enemies will spawn from the bottom of the screen at that point in the stage.

Lining yourself up with the battleships will allow you to destroy all the turrets on one as quickly as possible.

Stay away from the spots where the geysers form, as these geysers will immediately destroy your ship regardless of how well-armed you are. Thankfully, if you die, you only get powered down slightly. You will have to work to get your Spin Shields back, though. Thankfully, the whirlpools near the end don't hurt you.

The gold enemies with the single claw that extends outwards can easily be destroyed if you're lined up with it.

When facing the boss, keep on firing. Stay on the top half of the screen when the boss is at the bottom, and watch where the boss is going while avoiding the numerous projectiles. Thankfully, you can always shoot down the blue projectiles. Don't forget to let go of Button 1 when lined up with the boss to let loose with the Super Shot!

PrinceWatercress plays Power Strike II (Master System) - Part 1 of 8

After playing GG Aleste, I had to play my way through another one of these games, and thankfully, I was able to do just that.

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Note: this version of Power Strike II is its own game, while the Game Gear version is the Western version of GG Aleste 2. 

In the early 1930's....people have lived in poverty since the Great Depression in 1929. Being laid off from their job, a great amount of pilots become the sky pirates to survive...the sea and the sky near Italy have been plundered by them. 

You play as a pothunter who earns his living by shooting down those poor pirates. It's time to start today's work.

When you start the game, you can select one of seven weapon types. You can start with the default weapon (Shell Up, aka Type 0), but you can also start with one of the other six weapon types, as well. 

Shotgun (Type 1) covers a wide angle forward, but the shots will get further apart the more it travels forward and spreads out.

Missile (Type 2) shoots missiles out from the sides. They can be powerful, and they also home in on enemies, but they can leave you wide open forward and behind, especially.

Burner (Type 3) shoots a flame thrower forward, but you have to move around for it to be truly effective. If you get Spin Shields, the first two that you get will become options with flamethrowers, then you'll start getting shields.

Absorption (Type 4) is a homing shot. The tracking isn't perfect, but it can help do damage to multiple opponents at once while you focus on one. However, being lined up with an enemy still does the most damage.

Destroyer (Type 5) shoots forward two missiles from each side, and those missiles shoot out quickly to the front and sides. It has the weakness of spreading out much like the Shotgun.

Napalm (Type 6) brings out two massive explosions. They destroy anything they touch, but the range is limited.

I stick to Absorption throughout my Let's Play.

Continue lets you continue in case you lost all of your lives, assuming you haven't reset the console or turned the power off.

Options lets you play around with the sound test, change the player speed (1 is the slowest, 4 is the fastest), turn the option to pause/unpause the game when you press Button 2 on or off, and Rank lets you switch from five difficulty settings, with 1 being the easiest and 5 being the hardest. I keep P. Speed at 1, keep Trigger Pause off, and play at the default Rank of 2.

Stage 1

The D-Pad lets you fly around in eight directions. Button 1 fires, while Button 2 (which I never mess with), selects special weapons, changes flight speed and pauses the game when Trigger Pause is on.

The yellow tabs with the P on them that are dropped when the grey tabs with the P was shot are Power Pods. You can also get these for shooting down certain groups of enemies. These will increase the strength of your default shot as well as your special weapons.

The robot carrying the numbers gives you special weapons. Different numbers will give you different special weapons, which were mentioned earlier.

The red, blue and yellow crystals are Spin Shields. They not only protect you from enemy fire - which is a good thing, since one hit will cost you a life - but they also have different properties depending ont he color. Red increases your standard gun's power, blue gives you piercing shots, and yellow fans out the standard gun's shot. (If you have the Burner special weapon, the first two Spin Shields you pick up will be Options that also shoot the Burner weapon. Once you get the two Options, you can then pick up and obtain Spin Shields for your own use). They do disappear after taking enough abuse, so pay attention.

For best results when fighting enemies, line yourself up with them and fire. You'll do so much more damage if you use your standard guns along with your special weapon than if you let the special weapon do all of the work. This is especially true of some of the enemies, such as the gold spiked balloons, the turrets, the rocks that come out of the volcanoes that will suddenly sprout out of the ocean, and some of the planes that take more damage to destroy than others.

The bubble with the light blue starburst in it is a screen-clearing bomb that will take out any and all enemies currently on-screen.

You can shoot down the light blue projectiles that are fired by enemies, but you'll need Spin Shields to protect yourself from the red and gold shots. 

The boss here is a giant fish plane. Stay back and to the side to avoid it when it dives, and keep on shooting. Watch out for that red multi-way shot, as you cannot destroy it and only Spin Shields can protect you from it. Thankfully, you can shoot down the massive amount of missiles that it tries to blast you with.

You'll always want to hold down Button 1 at all times so you can be ready to shoot. If you power yourself up enough, you can let go of Button 1 to let out a super shot. It does a lot of damage, but lasts for only a brief instant, and it takes a while for it to charge back up. I usually save it for bosses.

PrinceWatercress plays Dragon Fighter - Part 6 of 6

...and now, the epic conclusion!

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Stage 6

Regardless of which power-up you have, you'll be gray in the end, and you'll be in dragon form the whole time. For this stage, you're in horizontal shmup mode, and you'll be firing projectile straight forward to the right side of the screen.

The bat enemies are simple enough, but the cyan-colored spheres turn into caped men who will fire four diagonal shots. You won't have to wait for them to unroll themselves to attack them; you can still shoot them even when they are in ball form.

You want to keep as few enemies on-screen as possible at all times. The more enemies you have on-screen, the more you're going to have to dodge and the more you're going to be overwhelmed. Also, you'll want to keep an eye on your health at all times and ensure that you take as little damage as possible, as you won't be able to recover health and you'll need as much as you can get for the boss battle at the end.

The brown enemies carried by the hawks will fire lasers at you. They're pretty thin and pretty fast, so position yourself just a bit lower so you can avoid the lasers and still hit them. If they get too close, go around them, as they can't turn around to fly at you or fire at you.

The brown flying enemies will track you vertically, but that is all they can do. If they get too close, just get away from them and let them over/under you.

The bats show up in greater numbers near the end. Take out as many as you can, then stay on the move to avoid the rest.

The boss is Zabbaong himself, and he will have multiple phases. The first weak spot to shoot down is the hand. Watch out for the ring projectiles that come out of Zabbaong, and stay far back enough so you don't get hit by the hand's own projectiles.

When the hand is destroyed, you'll need to shoot down the face when the small green hand is not blocking it. You'll need to avoid the small lasers that fire out of the face as you fire at it in addition to the rings that will keep flying at you, so you'll need to keep moving up and down to avoid the lasers and the rings before firing at the face again.

When the face is destroyed, you'll expose the skull. At this point, the boss will no longer move up and down; instead, it will slowly move towards you while firing multiple small lasers at once, but at least the rings will be gone. You'll need to fly around the boss while avoiding the lasers, and getting the boss to move in such a way that you can't accidentally run into it as you fly around in a circle (square?) around the screen. You'll have to deal with five lasers at once, but if you take too long, it becomes a ten-way shot that becomes harded to avoid.

Once you do enough damage to the skull, Zabbaong will be defeated. You just beat Dragon Fighter!

PrinceWatercress plays Dragon Fighter - Part 5 of 6

I spend more time in this stage than any other, but it's worth it.

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Stage 5

The skeletons popping out of the ground will be your biggest nuisance in this stage, and you'll want to make sure they don't pop up from under you. While they are easy to destroy, they can get annoying.

That is left to the skeletal hands, feet and other parts that you'll see throughout the stage. You'll want to take them out from a distance, especially when you can jump over or run under the stomping feet as they bounce around and the hands will stay back and fire towards you in one of eight directions. Some of the early ones will be more open hands that shoot fireballs every so often, but the later ones will stay in the air and fire in one of eight directions, and you'll have to attack them in some sort of off-center way to get rid of them.

Because of the skeleton part enemies that are scattered across the stage, you'll want to carefully inch forward as you play through this stage. If you see a part of a skeleton, stop what you're doing and fight it before moving forward, as you don't want to get surrounded here.

The flying skulls will fly back and forth along the top of the stage and drop down to spit a fireball at you. Charge attacks will work wonders on these flying monstrosities. Stay on the move to avoid the fireballs, which will stop following you completely after a full loop-around in the air.

If you see a pair of skeleton feet, take out the one on the right first. The one on the right will bounce high while the left one will bounce low, and you can easily jump over the left one.

The boss is a culimination of the skeleton parts that you've been facing with a heart in the center. The boss' heart is the weak point, and it can be really easy to decimate with the dragon if you have the homing shot and know where yo position yourself. The feet will move the boss around while the feet will launch themselves at you. If you go back to human form, be ready to throw charge attacks at the heart while avoiding the feet and the hands. 

There is one more wizard's staff to collect after this, but it will only heal you and will not give you more health. The next stage is the final one...

PrinceWatercress plays Dragon Fighter - Part 4 of 6

Things get a little more interesting - and a little more difficult - as we enter a more mechanical world halfway through the game.

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Stage 4

The tiny robots with the steam coming out of them jump up and down while moving back and forth, and spit out the occasional projectile. Attack it from a distance with charge shots.

You may not get enough energy to fill up the Dragon Meter on this stage, but on the other hand, you might. It depends on how much you luck out and get a dragon head, which will give you extra energy on that meter. I usually don't.

The flying green enemies will spit out spinning projectiles that travel across the ground towards you. Be ready to jump over those things, and hit the flying enemies with charge shots.

The guys riding the spike columns back and forth are vulnerable from behind. Hit them with charge attacks, especially the homing fireball, as it will be your best bet. You'll have to run away from one of them shortly after the start of the stage.

Watch for the blade on the chains that move up and down from the ceiling. You'll need to move past them while they are up to avoid getting him by them.

The platforms above the light blue fires will do one of two things. Sometimes they are stationary and will slowly sink downwards under your weight, causing you to jump on them constantly. Other times, they will move around. Whatever happens, avoid falling into the fire below, and take out enemies with charge attacks.

The "pots" move between the ceiling and the floor and will shoot out five-way shots in-between.

The boss is a mechanical robot of sorts that sends four eyelets after you. The eyelets fly around in 45-degree curves, and you'll need to hit them with charge attacks and sword strikes until they fall to the floor while avoiding any contact damage. They can still damage you even they are down, so you shouldn't touch them after they go down. When you destroy all four, the robot in the center will attract all the eyes to the center, and you'll need to avoid those before attacking the robot while its green eyes is open. When it raises back up with the eyes, the eyes will come back along with the boss, and you'll have to repeat everything you just did to damage the boss again.

If you have enough Dragon Meter energy, you can do damage to the eyes and even do a lot of damage to the robot itself just by getting close enough to the latter. It may not be much, but at least that's one cycle where you won't be taking a lot of damage. Otherwise, be ready to shoot charge attacks and move around a lot.

When you beat the boss, you'll get another wizard's staff and more health, then it's on to Stage 5.

PrinceWatercress plays Dragon Fighter - Part 3 of 6

This is where the game gets just a little bit tougher.

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Stage 3

The pink flying enemies will show up from the sides every so often and will always try to fly into you.

The pink fish will move back and forth, and they will jump up and spit projectiles when you get close enough to them.

There are plenty of floors with waterfalls above them, and these waterfalls will act as conveyor belts that will push you in the direction of the water. Keep that in mind as you move forward through the level.

The pink bouncy enemies will bounce less and less the more you hit them. They go super high at first, but they will soon stay very low to the ground just before death.

At this rate, you'll start seeing the big health pots. The small ones recover two units of health, but the big ones give back eight, so grab one if you see it.

The bubbles that rise up from the bottom of the screen are part of the background; they won't actually hurt you.

The yellow orb enemies will open up and shoot rings around itself when you get close enough. Get rid of the enemy, and you'll get rid of the rings.

The merman soldiers will poke at you with a trident if they get close enough to do it. If they get stuck behind a wall, they will push themselves back with their tridents, then jump forward to clear the wall.

Sometimes enemies will drop a magic ring. The magic ring instantly destroys all on-screen enemies.

The yellow bouncy enemies will turn into a different enemy altogether that sticks to the ceiling and fire at you if you get close enough to them. Hit them from a distance with the charge attack to avoid that. When you start seeing them, watch the top and bottom of the screen for the yellow orb enemies.

The boss is a serpent enemy. Switch to dragon form, and get close to the left side of the center head and fire at it when it stops moving. The ring projectiles from the other snake heads are easy enough to avoid, but the multiple three-way shots after the center head moves back up can be a bit tricky, as the shots home in your current position when fired. Thankfully, it is a lot easier to defeat this boss in dragon form.