It's time for a commentary-free playthrough with the "default" controls of both difficulty switches on B/Novice. Enjoy!
Here's the story, according to Wikipedia:
The Gond has been terrorizing nearby space colonies with its periodic raids of destruction. The time has come to put an end to his reign of terror. The player has been selected to pilot an advanced fighter ship with high offensive capabilities, and must enter the cave inside the asteroid where the Gond makes his home, and safely fly through every zone; the Mountain Zone, Rainbow Zone, Styx Zone, Stripe Zone, Bleak Zone, and the City of Mystery (aka Last Zone) where the Gond is rumored to reside. The player must take the Gond out, and succeed in the mission. If unsuccessful, the colonies will be doomed.
There are four different ways to fire your guns, and it all depends on what settings the left and right difficulty switches are set at. If both are set to B/Novice, all guns firing behind you, in front of you and two the sides fire automatically, and you will not fire any of your guns except for the forward-firing gun if you hold the fire button. If you're not firing, you'll move faster than if you were always firing. As for the joystick, it will always allow you to fly in eight directions regardless of switch settings.
You'll get an extra life at 10,000 points, but it's the only extra life you'll be able to get unless you can somehow reach 50,000 points, which will reward you with another one. Also, you can continue at any time if you run out of lives, but only on the first loop. To continue, press the Fire button when the game asks if you want to continue. From the second loop on, it's all or nothing, and you won't be able to continue when you lose your last life.
You start out in the Mountain Zone. You'll need to avoid flying into the sides and into enemies, and you'll also need to avoid being fired upon. You'll also want to get through each area before you run out of fuel. To keep your fuel topped up, you'll need to constantly shoot down enemies. Flying into the E cans will give you temporary invincibility, and as you have it, you can run straight into enemies and destroy them without consequence until the flashing and invincibility music stops.
The next zone is the Rainbow Zone. You'll be moving downwards while avoiding and shooting down the balloon enemies. The trick to doing this effectively and always giving yourself room is to manage your auto-fire so you can move into place more quickly and fire at the enemies from the side as well as from behind and in front. Giving yourself the extra speed not only gets you points faster, but it also gets you through this section faster.
In the Styx Zone, you'll want to watch out for the lasers from the enemy ships. If you can't line yourself up with a ship, take the time to stay away from it rather than re-correcting yourself. The enemies here are the same as in the Mountain Zone, except in reverse order, and you don't have the E cans. Also, watch the walls, as there is more variation in height with those jagged edges compared to the Mountain Zone.
You'll then enter another Rainbow Zone. This time around you'll be traveling upwards while dealing with the balloons. The tactics that you used in the first zone will be useful here.
Next up is the Striped Zone. If you take the left side when you reach a fork, you'll need to destroy the enemies that move back and forth before they run into you. If you take the right side, you'll need to destroy barriers and force field generators. The worst enemies are the squares that move back and forth, which are indestructible. Thankfully, the E cans come back, and the invincibility you can get from them can help you get through enemies and walls temporarily, just like in the Mountain Zone.
You'll then reach a third Rainbow Zone. Once again, you're fighting off those balloon enemies, and once again, you'll need to be careful as you destroy them all.
After this is the Bleak Zone. The curled-up alien enemies will give you a ton of points if you touch them and dock with them, but you can only do this three times. If you do this a fourth time, you'll get destroyed. Also, watch out for the walls, as they can extend towards the center at points. Halfway through, you'll be dealing with
You'll then face the Gond in the City of Mystery. The longer you wait, the more points you'll get, but watch out for the barriers and the Gond's firepower. I'm never in this screen for long because I hit the Gond as soon as I'm in here.
Once you beat the Gond, you'll enter the second loop. The zones are the same, but they will be in a different order, and some enemies will act differently compared to the first loop, such as the arrow-shaped enemies in the Bleak Zone firing at you.
When you have both the left and right difficulty switches set to A/Expert, the Vanguard's guns fire when you hold the fire button. The guns will fire in the same direction that you move in. If you let go of the fire button, you will stop firing.
When the left difficulty switch is at A/Expert and the right difficulty switch is at B/Novice, the guns fire much like they do with both switches set at A/Expert, except you do not have to move forward to fire forward, as the forward guns fire automatically for as long as you hold the fire button.
When the left difficulty switch is at B/Novice and the right difficulty switch is at A/Expert, the ship fires in the same direction as you move. Pressing and holding the fire button lets you stop firing.
When you have both the left and right difficulty switches set to B/Novice, the Vanguard's guns fire in the direction you move in much like with the left switch at B/Novice and the right switch at A/Expert, but the forward shot is always firing as long as you're not holding the fire button.
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