Friday, November 10, 2023

PrinceWatercress plays Fortified Zone AGAIN - The Longplay


Since I didn't do it the first time, here's the game in one shot minus commentary. Enjoy!


Stage 1: Field


You start out as Masato, one of two playable characters in the game.

The controls are simple enough. You use the Control Pad to move around, and press A to fire your gun. You can have up to five regular bullets on the screen at any given time. If you find a special weapon, you can fire it with the B button.

The heads-up display is at the bottom and is pretty simple. The gauge on the left is your health, while the gauge on the right shows how much ammo you have left on your current special weapon.

The human enemies are a pushover. Right now, they stay in one spot and shoot bullets in one of four directions much like you do. They will start moving eventually, however.

When you see missiles firing down from the north side of the screen, shoot them down and avoid them when necessary. If you see any first aid kits, pick them up. You'll need them for later. If you're not at full health, they'll refill your health for you. If you are, you'll be able to take it with you and revive your character upon dying. You can carry up to nine at any given time.

Sometimes doors will block your path. Usually, you'll have to kill all the enemies in the really small room that you're in, but you may also have to find a key to unlock it.

The knife guys will come at you when they see you, and - if you let them - will advance faster when lined up with you.

For spike traps, wait for them to come up, then immediately move past them when they sink back down into the floor.

The boxes with the "X" on them contain useful stuff. You'll have to shoot them five times to reveal the contents inside...and the contents can be quite good.

The guys with what look like proton packs on their backs take two shots to kill and sometimes fire a three-way shot. Other times they'll just fire the usual straight shots.

If you press Select, you'll go to the map screen. This lets you change characters, use first aid kits, look at the map to see where you are.

You have two characters. As mentioned earlier, you start out as Masato, but if you select "Change" on the map screen with the B button, you'll switch to Mizuki, who can only shoot two bullets at a time, is a bit quicker than Masato, and jumps with the B button instead of firing special weapons. The jump allows you to jump over spike pits, and Masato cannot cross those in any way.

The icon with the "3" on it with the three cannons is the three-way shot. Watch your ammo in the lower-right corner, because those special weapons don't have infinite ammo.

The icon with "UP" on it increases your maximum health by one unit, and you'll find plenty throughout the game. The health increase goes to the person you pick it up with, so pick who you want it to go to before you pick it up.

The gun with the "S" on it increases the speed of your shots.

The mini-boss here is dead simple, as it stays in place and its bullets are super slow. All you have to do is face it and mash the shoot button to kill it off. Just watch for the missiles, but at least you can shoot those down to destroy them, too. When you destroy it, you'll get a key that you can pick. This will allow you to unlock a specific door in the stage in case killing all the enemies in the room doesn't open it.

Sometimes, more enemies will pop up when you kill enemies in the room. In these cases, you'll have to kill the enemies to move on.

The Jeep mini-boss can be easily destroyed with the regular gun. If you can get it on the north wall and facing west, you can destroy it pretty easily without its three-way shots being able to do anything.

The grenade icons give you grenades for your special weapons.

The gun with the "P" on it changes the appearance of your regular shots and also makes them stronger. You definitely want to pick this up, as everything will do down in fewer shots. Make sure you power up Mizuki's shots for just in case!

Don't forget to pick up the first-aid kits before you face the boss. When you finally face the boss, position yourself southwest of all the turrets and throw grenades at them. You'll destroy the boss without even getting shot at.

Stage 2: Field


Watch out for the spikes. They move at a good pace, but they can be avoided.

The turrets are pretty easy to take out. Just keep the bullets away from your body.

Not long after you start the stage and start heading in a direction other than north, you'll see the Jeep mini-boss again. Once again, just trap it in the upper-right corner and fire away with Masato, then grab the key. Head all the way to the start, being careful not to take a lot of damage (thankfully the turrets leave first aid kits). From there, use the key to unlock the door to the east. You'll come across another Jeep mini-boss that leaves another key. To the east, you'll find some more health increasing power-ups. Grab with the character of your choice, then head north.

The path here is very linear. It's even easier to find your way in Stage 2 than it is in Stage 1.

The men with the machine will fire at you only if they see you. Also, the mines that move down the screen act much like the missiles, but they are faster and can go horizontally, too. Keep an eye on everything happening on the screen.

The guy with the rocket launcher will give you flamethrower ammo. It will definitely help with the boss.

The boss is a giant tank. Stay all the way on the south side of the screen and shoot down the center cannon, then take the side cannons out with the flamethrower to beat the boss in record time.

Stage 3: Cave


The human enemies are now replaced with robotic counterparts...and they take a little more damage to kill. You'll also lose two units of health with every hit, too, so you definitely want to be careful

The layout is a little more maze-like compared to the first two stages. No longer will there be a lot of wide-open rooms, instead, there will be more narrow corridors on more of the screens, which can make fighting enemies a little harder but not insurmountable.

If a room is dark, shoot down the machine that is visible to light the place up.

If you see light where there should be the shadow of a wall, walk into that lit-up area. You'll find stuff you couldn't otherwise reach, such as machines you can shoot at to unlock doors.

The conveyor belts make their debut in this stage. Be sure not to walk up or down on them unless you really have to, as they can push you back fairly quickly. Mizuki moves around on these better than Masato can, as her jump allows her to fight against being pushed back slightly better than her faster walking speed does. The bats just fly around while stopping to shoot four diagonal shots, and go down very easily.

The one-eyed alien is a mini-boss. It will shoot at you with a three-way shot, but it can be taken down very, very easily, especially since you'll probably be powered up at this point.

Watch out for moving walls! If you see one, shoot it!

The robot that looks like it has one eye moves quickly and shoots rockets. Line yourself up with it and take it out. Thankfully, it stops when it sees you, so use that time to get your shots in.

The little machine with what looks like a tiny rotor on it will reverse your controls. Shoot it down to return your movement to normal.

There is a three-way fork after the control-reversing machine. You want to take the left fork first, so you can destroy a machine and turn the lights back on reveal a pit that would have taken some of your health and make getting around impossible had you taken the easy road.

The crab mini-boss not only has a three-way shot, but also shots that will home in on your current position. Being at a distance against it can help.

Since I didn't say it in the video, looking back at this, I do have to say that I love the part with the controls-reversing machine with the narrow floors surrounded by the pits. Reminds me of The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past.

The blobs take a few shots to kill, but they can eat away at your health. The thing that looks like a tiny man with his arms raised up shoots two shots to the sides.

The tiny crab enemies just move back and forth horizontally.

If you see a fake-looking wall that looks like the moving one from earlier, shoot it. You'll open your way up to some secret power-ups, and also open up some stairs.

The boss is a dragon. Stay across from the head and move to the side to avoid the three-way shot, then get to the bottom when it gets towards you and shoot at the head as it retreats. Use the flamethrower as it moves back, then move to the side when it moves forward again.

Stage 4: Fortress


There are robots that will take off three units of health if they touch you at the start. There will also be a fork in the road. You'll want to go right here, and make your way east in the dark area. From there, you'll be able to destroy the machine that is making that area dark.

Go back to the fork and take the left path (center leads to a dead end). Head north, and stand left of center across from the mini-boss so you can destroy the rockets it shoots at you along with it. Watch out for that three-way shot as well. You can also outrun the rockets by moving to the side if you're able to do it. Take the key when you're done. Head back south and take the right fork again. You can now unlock the door.

This leads to a room of conveyor belts and spikes. Destroy the enemies first, and switch to Mizuki so you can jump the spikes at the right side of the room and get out of here as quickly as possible.

Shoot down the robots in the next room, then head east and carefully destroy the turrets as you make your way to the other side of the conveyor belts. Switch to Mizuki again, as you'll need the agility to get past the moving spikes and the floor spikes. Kill the robots in the next room, then go down the stairs and carefully move across the narrow floor as your controls will be reversed. Shoot the control-reversing machine and head south.

Believe it or not, you can head east from the door, though it doesn't look very clear that part of the wall has recessed into the floor unless you look carefully. Go that way, and shoot the machine. This opens the door to another mecha mini-boss.

Once you get the key from that mini-boss, head all the way back to where you got here from and head south past the retracting floor spikes to open the door with the key. Destroy the enemy here to open the staircase leading up. Watch out for the flying mechs, which will shoot at you when lined up with you. From there, head north, and carefully maneuver your way to the controls-reversing machine and destroy it. It will leave another power-up that will increase your health, which you can pick up if you need it. If you have max health and you're definitely hurting for more, you can pick it up with whoever has eight units of health and use it to get all that lost health back.

From there, head out of the room, then head south. The mini-boss here can easily be destroyed when you're lined up with it. Head back north, then destroy the enemies and go back down the stairs. Destroy the robot and open the door to the south with the key. Shoot down the enemies, and watch out for the ever-changing directions on the conveyor belts.

From here, go west and take out all the flying mines...and boy, is there a lot of them. Once they're all destroyed, you'll be able to go up a flight of stairs. Take it, and destroy that robot mini-boss. It will leave a flamethrower. Take it. From there, head west and take out the turrets as you keep heading in that direction. You'll come across two more of those two rocket-launcher robots. Take the left path on the fork, then maneuver your way to the machine that is keeping the next room dark and destroy it. Head back to the fork and take the right path. This allows you to destroy a machine keeping another room dark.

From here, leave the fork and enter the fake wall to the north in the second turret room prior to the fork. Follow the path to the right and you'll be in yet another dark room. Destroy the machine, then head to the first turret room and enter the fake wall to the north there. There is a pit. Unlike other pits, you have to jump into this one in order to go forward.

You'll be in a part of the stage that you couldn't access until now. Take the middle path in the fork to the south, then destroy the machine making the room dark. Take the left path after this, and feel your way to the west, then north as soon as you're able. You won't be able to destroy the machine making the room dark...yet. From there, feel your way right, then south. Now you can destroy that machine. From here, head east, then north. Take the upper path and destroy the box to turn the lights on and get a key.

Head all the way back to where you started and open the door to the east. Destroy the robot and take the stairs up. Destroy the robots, now that you're back in (somewhat) familiar territory. Head north. You'll face another mini-boss. Stay at the bottom of the screen and shoot at it from left of center, otherwise the conveyor belt will make this battle so much harder. Head west and fight the jeep mini-boss. Yep, that mini-boss is back, and it's as easy as ever. We also have a boss rush on our hands.

Next up is that one-eye alien boss, followed by that robot mini-boss that shoots the rockets. After that, a boss. Take out the center cannon first, followed by the side cannons. Try not to get run over too much when taking out the center cannon, and shoot down or outrun any rockets that fly towards you when you're at the sides. After that, shoot at the eye of the robot when it starts blinking. This is where the flamethrower comes in...hope you still have it! Otherwise, you'll have to shoot like crazy.

But it's not over! You have to head all the way back to where you dropped down to when you jumped into the pit. After all this, you can finally head north. The door here will finally be open once you destroy the robot mini-boss one more time.

This is the final boss. Shoot down the cannons in the center, then take out the cannon behind it with the flamethrower. Destroy the cannons at the sides, then shoot at the flashing light. Just position yourself in front of it and just tank all the damage while shooting at it. This thing will be dead long before you are and you'll finally beat the game!

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