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

...and now, the final battle.

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Stage 8

When you start the stage, you'll get one more chance to power up your weapons, then you'll face the final boss.

The first phase has the boss travelling from left to right, then diving towards the bottom center of the screen as it loops back in the other direction. You'll want to avoid the red shots and take out the blue shots, but you also want to stay in the corner when it's in the corner so you don't get divebombed. There's still the red shots to figure into the equation, and you'll need to place yourself just right to avoid them and the boss.

You'll then have to take out a bunch of debris before taking on the second phase. Stay to the side and shoot out all the explosive cylinders that get shot out while avoiding the red shots, and when the boss stars spitting out flames, you'll want to avoid the flames while getting as many shots on the boss as you can. For best results, stick to the very bottom while avoiding the flames.

Once you destroy the second phase, you'll beat the game and you'll get a hero's welcome back at the base. You'll also get a different picture of the main protagonist if you go back to the options menu after the credits. You just beat Power Strike II for Sega Master System!

PrinceWatercress plays Power Strike II (Master System) - Part 7 of 8

This game isn't getting any easier.

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Stage 7

You'll have a lot of things to avoid at the beginning of the stage. The more turrets you can destroy, the better. Also, there will be plenty of enemies showing up from the bottom of the screen, especially those blue spiked balls.

The gray dolphin-shaped ships are really easy to take out if your weapons are powerful enough.

When you reach the castle, you'll see the drawbridge raise up and close.

When you start seeing bushes and trees after flying past the castle, turrets will start popping out of the bushes. If you have the Absorption weapon (Weapon 4), your shots will home in on them before they actually pop out.

You'll soon see a gray wall with twelve turrets. The turrets will not be vulnerable until they start firing; once they start shooting, let the super shot loose so you can take out a few and give yourself some breathing room.

After this, you'll start seeing turrets and ship spawners pop out of the ground in groups. Thankfully, Weapon 4 helped out with that.

When you start seeing even more of the castle, you'll also start seeing turrets in the walls. They shoot out the blue projectiles, but thankfully, those blue projectiles can be shot down. 

The boss is a big blue plane. The plane rains missiles down in addition to firing red projectiles out of the turrets. You can shoot the missiles down, and you'll do some damage by shooting down the wings. 

Once the wings are down, the boss will start shooting homing missiles at you. They can be shot down, but they are small and can be a bit hard to see. Once you do enough damage to the ship, it will start repeatedly diving at you from the top of the screen. Watch the top of the screen so you can move in and out and get shots in while you can. It will still shoot red projectiles, so you'll want to stay on the bottom of the screen to watch out for those.

PrinceWatercress plays Power Strike II (Master System) - Part 6 of 8

This is where the game will really start ripping you a new one, thanks to its boss with three phases.

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Stage 6

Be ready to shoot down a lot of turrets in this stage, as the turrets love popping up in groups. 

The balloon mines and the "lobster" enemies that open up their arms can be easily rid of by lining yourself up with them to concentrate your firepower. Same goes for the gold "crab" enemies that are vulnerable when they open up.

You'll have another mid-boss here. The ship will fly around in a circle and shoot red projectiles around the screen, then shoot missiles towards the bottom of the screen when it returns to the top. It then repeats the process.

The small red enemies will come out fast from the top of the screen and they will come out in numbers. Some of them will show up from the bottom of the screen near the end of the stage. As for the volcanic "cones," they will shoot out those little grey ships with the VTOL blades that will come at you.

The boss is a big orange ship. You'll need to shoot down the circle-shaped parts on the sides first. That's easier said then done, as they will keep shooting a red six-way shot as well as the blue homing shots with alarming regularity. You'll then need to take out the guns while also shooting down the bubbles. In case you don't shoot any down, the bubbles will split into red projectiles that come out in a spiral pattern, but you can easily stand between some of the shots if you stay close to the bottom. Let out the super shot whenever you can, as it's going to help. 

Then there's a third phase. This time, the boss will be surrounded by nine satellites that act as shields and also shoot the red and blue projectiles at you. Once again, if you have even a little bit of the super shot recharged, it will still do some good. You may lose a life or two, but at last your special weapon gets powered down only by half if you get hit once, so you'll still have a pretty good chance near the end of the battle, especially when this stage's boss is one of the hardest that the game has to offer.

PrinceWatercress plays Power Strike II (Master System) - Part 5 of 8

The stage is harder than the boss, even if you have the weapon for the job.

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Stage 5

There are a lot of things to shoot in this stage. While there are plenty of turrets, the mine carts are the worst, due to the shots being a little harder to see due to how the colors are and also due to some of them being faster than others.

If you need to switch weapons for any reason, you'll have more than enough opportunities to do so, as there are a lot of weapon pick-ups here.

There is a screen-clearing bomb just before the mini-boss; be sure to use it. As for the mini-boss, you'll want to set off the super shot and focus the firepower on as many of the seven turrets as you can while also clearing out the center of the turrets.

The long, slim ships will always show up in groups of three, and if you line yourself up with them and center your firepower on them, they're easy to take out. You do not want those ships to linger around at the bottom and fire at you The cylinder shaped enemies will only be vulnerable when they open up, but if you're lined up with one and you've got plenty of weapon power, these enemies will go down virtually instantly. At least their projectiles are easy to destroy.

Watch out for the blue spiked balls near the end.

The boss here is easy to take out if you have Weapon 4. With that weapon, you can avoid the boss and its homing shots while continuously firing to take out all of the missiles and the homing shots that get sent at you, and if you use the super shot on the boss, it will go down even faster.

PrinceWatercress plays Power Strike II (Master System) - Part 4 of 8

I found this entry a little easier to write for than I thought I would.

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Stage 4

The big gold ship at the start has satellites that will fly around it, but at least it's quick to take down if you concentrate your firepower on it.

Be ready to use the super shot in case you have a ton of enemies firing at yo at one time.

The two floating columns with the satellites to the side can be destroyed really easily if you line yourself up with them. 

The volcanoes can be stopped if you focus enough firepower on them.

When you get to the hanger, you're at the boss. Shoot down the circle-shaped parts at the sides first, and destroy the blue projectiles that come at you if you can, as they can home in on you after they come out.

When those things are gone, you'll want to avoid or shoot down the blue shots that move down to the bottom, as they turn into three-way shots that travel to the top. You'll also want to keep shooting at the boss throughout the battle as well. If you can keep avoiding all of the red projectiles (having Spin Shields helps) and keep the bottom of the screen clear, you can beat this boss.

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.