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-+-+- B U C K Y O ' H A R E A R C A D E -+-+-
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-+-+- In-depth Walk-through 1.0 -+-+-
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GAME SPOILERS THROUGHOUT
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Table of Contents:
i) Contact Info & Disclaimer
ii) Version History
1) Intro part 1: Quick Plot Summary & Overview of Stages
2) Intro part 2: Player Heroes (Controls & Weapons)
3) The Meat part 1: Complete List of Minor Enemies
a. Storm Toad Troopers
b. Small Enemy Droids
c. Enemy Vehicles & Large Machines
d. Obstacles
e. Other Toads
f. Other Enemy Characters
4) The Meat part 2: In-depth Stage Walk-through (w/ Boss breakdowns)
a. Stage 1: Planet Warren . . . . . Al Negator
b. Stage 2: Planet Punk . . . . . Toad Borg
c. Stage 3: Climate Converter . . . Total Terror Toad
d. Stage 4: Asteroidbelt [sic] . . (large unique spacecraft)
e. Stage 5: Planet Rat . . . . . . Cyborg Spider
f. Stage 6: Mother Ship . . . . . . (a "Void Droid")
g. Stage 7: Toad Star . . . . . . Air Marshall
h. Stage 8: Planet Life Force . . . KOMPLEX-2-Go
5) Miscellany
6) Credits
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i) Contact Info & Disclaimer
-------------------------------
This walk-through is the property of Mike R. H., "Welly"
< welly.rook[[at]]verizon.net >
All rights reserved. 2006.
The only website given permission so far to host this file is:
http://www.gameFAQs.com/
If you are a fan of the Bucky fictional continuity or wish to host
this file for some other reason, send an e-mail to my address below:
< welly.rook[[at]]verizon.net >
(remember to replace the bracketed area with the "@" sign)
... to let me know you are hosting it. I will not deny anyone the
ability to host this file if they mail me, so please do me the
courtesy of letting me know that you wish to post it. Thanks!
If you wish to play this game, and do not own the arcade itself,
check out "MAME", a computer program that runs arcade games, and do
a google search for "ROMs" (the little bits of data that you
download which duplicate the arcade software). Just remember: this
is not quite legal... but nor is it terribly illegal, either.
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ii) Version History
-------------------------------
1. Version 1.0
Began on 2006 Jan 11, forgotten about for about 5 months, then
completed on June 17th. Even though it has been fourteen years
since the release of this game, it is never too late to write a
walk-thru for such an excellent video arcade.
2. (Future version, if any, to address the 4 minor areas I believe
currently lack detailed treatment: pistol upgrades, enemy hit points,
what the other goodies do [besides upgrades and bombs] that come from
Willy's door, and whether or not you gain more bombs or some other
reward after a certain high score.)
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1) Intro part 1: Quick Plot Summary & Overview of Stages
-------------------------------
In a reality named the Aniverse, planets are populated by intelligent
and technologically advanced animals like hares, toads, baboons,
cats, ducks, et. al. A computer called KOMPLEX was built by the
toad race to help simplify their lives. Unfortunately, KOMPLEX
became a military dictator and forced the toads to become an
expansionist colonial empire. Every planet they invade is turned into
a swamp by means of a diabolical "climate converter", and needless
to say, this does great harm to the other species of the Aniverse.
Such is the story behind Bucky O'Hare - captain of a spaceship called
the Righteous Indignation - who flies in the name of freedom & seeks
to put an end to the Toad Menace. It was originally in graphic novel
format, a one-season TV cartoon series, then later spawned the famous
toy line by Hasbro, a Nintendo game by Konami, and the video arcade
game for which this walk-through was faithfully written. (See section
five of this guide ["Miscellany"] for some of my personal rants.)
STAGES: In this arcade game, Bucky's home planet Warren is invaded
by the toads. You free this world (level 1), then liberate the hares
themselves from another planet called Punk (level 2). In the next
stage, you buy time for Willy DuWitt the human boy to disable the
Climate Converter on that same planet. Then, the crew answers a
distress beacon on an asteroid belt (stage 4), followed by the
liberation of another planet, this one called Rat (stage 5). From
there the crew enters a massive toad Mother Ship (stage 6) and
blows it up. Stage 7 brings the crew to the "Toad Star" - which was
supposed to be called "Toad Homeworld" or something - then to the
Planet Life Force (stage 8) where you personally face off with
KOMPLEX, the supreme leader of the toad empire.
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2) Intro part 2: Player Heroes (Controls & Weapons)
-------------------------------
Compared to other shooters and side-scrolling action games,
the controls in this arcade are pretty standard fare:
BUTTON 1 .................. Fire weapon / close-quarters punch
BUTTON 2 .................. Jump
BUTTON 3 .................. BOMB special
BUTTONS 1 + 2 ............. "Gimmick weapon"
BUTTONS 2, then 2 ......... Jump with slowed descent
BUTTONS 2, then 2 + 1 ..... little-known jump-kick
Up to four players can play in the U.S. release of this arcade.
You can choose from Bucky, Deadeye Duck, Jenny, and Blinky.
Bruiser and Willy show up in the cut scenes only, however their
lines are spoken by their actual voice actors.
So far as I can tell, there are no significant differences between
the four play characters besides their appearance (of course) and
the nature of their "gimmick weapons" or so the game calls them.
------ PRIMARY WEAPON ------
Button 1 discharges your laser pistol. When standing very close
to an enemy, your character will punch them instead of shooting.
The punch seems to do the same damage as a pistol blast.
------ PRIMARY WEAPON UPGRADES ------
Every so often, a pistol appears on the screen, having been
delivered by a "door" that must be Willy's hi-tech closet
door. Touch it, and your pistol fire changes appearance and does
more damage. A later update to this walk-through will hopefully
have more information on what each upgrade does to your hit point
power against enemies. But it is not critical information, so, for
now, I will not be fussy.
------ 1 JUMP ... 3 LANDINGS ------
Pressing Button 2 one time makes you jump normally. Pressing it
again, however, while you are still in midair, slows your descent
somehow (perhaps a jet-pack we cannot see? antigravity boots?).
This is useful if you want to command more airspace, or need more
reaction time to avoid landing smack onto an enemy.
There is also a little-known jump-kick attack in this game.
If you are in mid-air, and press buttons 1 and 2 together, your
character will fly downward, foot extended, and strike any
enemies on the landing area. You know you have done this 3rd type
of landing correctly when your character lands much more quickly,
a brief flash of light / energy is seen where you land, and enemies
react to being struck. Be careful, as you can still land on enemy
fire just as with the other two types of landings.
------ "GIMMICK WEAPONS" ------
These seem to be unlimited in supply, and there are no deductions
from your score if you use them. Compare the different ones:
Bucky: he throws an explosive charge in the direction he faces.
When it bursts, it makes a rather large ball of energy that harms
any enemies who are in it or who walk into it. Its primary
disadvantage is that it is only for one area and is immobile.
However, it deals multiple "hits" to anything it touches.
Deadeye: he lets loose a swirling energy blast of 3 connected
balls, which circle with increasing speed about the screen while
moving outward from the point where he threw it down. It covers
more area than the Bucky attack, and hits enemies behind you too.
In fact, in terms of area, it practically covers the whole screen
if & when you deploy it while standing in the center of the screen.
Jenny: she uses her magic and throws a crescent shaped-blast similar
in appearance to Deadeye's, but hers roughly seeks out enemies
like a heat-seeking missile, as opposed to Deadeye's, which follows
a pattern every time. As such, hers is not as broad as Deadeye's,
but is great for hitting more enemies in a more specific area that
Deadeye's may miss.
Blinky: this is the most unique gimmick weapon. Blinky's backpack
shoots over his shoulder a sustained chain (it looks like four
connected balls of glowing energy). Unlike the other gimmick
attacks, Blinky's remains for a long period. You can move around
with it, striking anything within range. The disadvantage is that
it is short-ranged, and you basically need to walk over to your
target for them to be struck by it. This is my favorite, however,
as it delivers numerous blows to the target and remains for
something like 4 or five seconds, even when in midair.
------ THE BOMB ------
Much more effective than the gimmick attacks described above
is the "bomb" that each character can deploy. It is the same for
all four characters; a well animated, screen covering blast that
kills most enemies and destroys most obstacles on the screen.
Anything it does not obliterate outright is left hurting (with
the exception of bosses, who can take tons of hits in this game).
Unlike the gimmick attacks, these come in limited supply. You can
see how many you have by counting the number of pale blue balls
which can be found directly underneath your life bar at the top
of the screen. Unlike real life, your blue balls in this game hurt
your enemies. Hehehh.
You start with two, and regain them after you lose a life. Like
pistol upgrades, you can gain more BOMBS from Willy's door which
opens to deliver goodies. It may be possible that high scores
earn extra BOMBS too, since I have found myself carrying five of
them without recalling having seen 5 doors open. Something to
clarify for a later update, it seems.
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3) The Meat part 1: Complete List of Minor Enemies
-------------------------------
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a. ["STTs"] S T O R M T O A D T R O O P E R S (18 varieties)
These toads are the cannon fodder of this game. I have tracked
down a total of 18 distinct storm toad troopers [STTs]. They
fill every level except stages 4 and the KOMPLEX showdown stage.
They can be divided up into 3 broader categories:
STT version 1: green face & blue clothes .......... (12 types)
STT version 2: red face & violet clothes .......... (3 types)
STT version 3: gold face & very dark clothes ...... (2 types)
The 18th STT is so rare that he makes only a single appearance.
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Storm Toad Troopers version 1: green face & blue clothes
The STT v1 types:
1. v1 Trooper FLEEING ------------------- levels: 1,2,6,7
These troopers run around in fear & will harm you if you
bump into them. They may enter as normally armed soldiers.
2. v1 Trooper RIFLE --------------------- levels: 1,2,5,7
3. v1 Trooper RIFLE [jet-pack] ---------- levels: 1,2,5,7
Basic cannon fodder. The flying ones are harder to hit.
It is easy to dodge their slow-moving projectiles.
4. v1 Trooper KNIFER -------------------- levels: 1,2,5,7
5. v1 Trooper KNIFER [jet-pack] --------- levels: 1,2,5,7
These quickly lunge at you with blades in hand.
6. v1 Trooper BOMBER -------------------- levels: 1,2,7
7. v1 Trooper BOMBER [jet-pack] --------- levels: 5,7
The ground based ones stand in place and periodically toss
large grenades. They are easy to spot but are usually
located in hard-to-shoot places. The fliers are more
difficult to hit, for obvious reasons.
8. v1 Trooper ELECTRO [flight] ---------- level: 3.
9. v1 Trooper ELECTRO [carted] ---------- level: 6.
The flying ones are only found on level 3, the carted ones
on level six. They blast electricity in constant, direct
lines across the screen if given time to aim. The carted
ones on level six can also actually drop grenades.
10. v1 Trooper MACHINE-GUNNER [flight only] - level: 5,6,7
This type of trooper pelts the ground with rapid fire.
Let them accumulate on screen and you are in trouble.
11. v1 Trooper LASER BAZOOKA -------------- levels: 5,7
12. v1 Trooper LASER BAZOOKA [jet-pack] --- levels: 5,7
They will fire speedy laser lines that are relatively
hard to dodge across the screen from cumbersome bazookas.
They appear before level 5 but only if you stop moving;
essentially they are sent in to kill you quickly so another
kid can insert more quarters.
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Storm Toad Troopers version 2: red face & violet clothes
13. v2 Trooper ------------------ Found on levels: 1,2,5,7
14. v2 Trooper [jet-pack] ------- Found on levels: 2,3,5,7
15. v2 Trooper [in-cart] -------- Found on level: 6.
Each v2 Storm Toad Trooper carries a rifle with a bayonet.
They shoot numerous blasts at once and can take 3 hits,
and are thus more dangerous than the green and blue (v1)
troops. Just look for the red highlights on their uniform,
and target them early.
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STTs version 3: bright gold highlights & very dark clothes
16. v3 Trooper ----------------------- Found on levels: 5,7
17. v3 Trooper [jet-pack] ------------ Found on levels: 7
The v3 Storm Toad Troopers, the rarest, differ from v2s
only in color scheme (their bright orange / gold colors
distinguish them), resilience to damage (they take 5 hits),
and one added attack (they can send out an extremely
quick-moving crescent-shaped blast by swinging their
bayonet, which I discovered only by letting them walk
around the screen for an unusually long time).
A land bound one appears briefly on stage 1; you fight
them only on stages 5 and 7, and the jet-pack ones show up
on stage 7. When fighting, remember their extra resilience.
18. And the 18th ...
Storm Toad Trooper UNIQUE [inside combat vehicle]
The final, trooper variant, and 18th, is a unique toad
trooper who appears only once; at the end of the ramp
on Stage 2: Planet Punk, he arrives at the helm of a
large combat vehicle with two regular STTs riding in the
rear seats. He mans a mounted machine gun and spews a large
number of rounds every few seconds; the rounds are staggered
in direction so they are difficult to dodge and usually
require careful jumping to avoid being hit. The large gun
at the "nose" between the eyes of his combat vehicle will
pelt the ground if you try to hide at the bottom of the
screen. Just keep jumping his shots and hitting him, and he
and the vehicle will detonate, & you will not see him again.
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b. S M A L L E N E M Y D R O I D S (2)
Toad-cannon A (immobile, purple)
Found on levels: 1, 2, 4, 7
These stationary turrets begin appearing right on stage 1 and
are littered throughout the game. They are inactive at first
and cannot be harmed until they activate (they rise up on
their single leg and begin firing). Their "heads" will
track you, and they advance from single shots to long streams
of fire as you move through the levels. They also become more
resilient to your fire.
Toad-cannon B (mobile, green)
Found on levels: 4, 5
These walking annoyances may appear in groups of 3 or more, &
are adept at leaping through the air. Thankfully they only
start appearing on level 4, and explode after just one shot.
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c. E N E M Y V E H I C L E S & L A R G E M A C H I N E S
Level 1: green chute (spews trash)
Level 2: combat craft: see Trooper #18, section a.
Level 2,4,5,7: "Double Bubble" space fighters
Level 2: rocket launchers (mounted on curved wall)
Level 3: 8-Turret guns (mounted on climate converter)
Level 3: SUB-BOSS: giant rock-spewing fish
Level 5: ground turret (large, multidirectional)
Level 5: barracks (Troopers come out of these)
Level 5: Large Ship guns (2 pairs, manned by troopers)
Level 5: SUB-BOSS: the Bridge of the Large Ship
Level 5: SUB-BOSS: gear-tossing wheeled vehicle
Level 6: SUB-BOSS: Lava Shark Submarine
Level 7: green ground cannons (3 varieties:
yellow-energy round; seeking rockets;
straight yellow laser beams)
Level 7: wall of turrets (large, purple)
Level 7: SUB-BOSS: Giant KOMPLEX screen face
Level 7: SUB-BOSS: small KOMPLEX screen faces
Level 7: laser cannons (mounted on the side walls)
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d. O B S T A C L E S
Anything that stands in your way that can be blown up (and a few
that cannot) which does not belong in any of the above categories:
Level 1: barrels of explosives
Level 2: flame jets (from pipes)
Level 2 and 8: flaming "axle" debris
Level 3: airborne rocks
Level 3: electricity traps (invincible)
Level 4: asteroids
Level 4: mobile spiked mines
Level 5: flame jets (in-ground)
Level 6: immobile Guardroids
Level 6: mini-shark mines (swims in the lava)
Level 6: empty trooper carts
Level 6: obstacle with directional arrow
Level 6: obstacle with a "fork" shaped structure
Level 6: flame jets (unseen source)
Level 7: flame jets (in-ground)
Level 8: stationary floating mines
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e. O T H E R T O A D S (4)
Some of the toads in this game are not storm troopers. I have
pointed out this seemingly insignificant distinction because it
draws attention to the careful detail put into this arcade.
------ Level 5: Frix and Frax ----------------------
These twin subordinates of Air Marshall make an appearance with
him on the Bridge of the Large Ship. They do not do much besides
react to hits, & flee with their leader in a "double bubble" soon
after you take out that Bridge. They are a nice detail added
to make fans say "hey, I remember those two idiots."
------ Level 5: a toad mechanic --------------------
Like the totally unique storm trooper in level two, this guy
appears only once. Your hero surprises him while he is working
on the GEAR-TOSSER VEHICLE sub-boss, and, most of the time,
he simply flees from you. But upon further investigation,
I have found that if you meander at the bottom of the screen,
he will cautiously advance along the top of the ship with his
wrench extended, and you can actually be harmed by him if you
are careless or curious. (Damn I love details like this!)
------ Level 7: toads trapped in tube --------------
Toward the end of this level, you will find nude,
terrified-looking toads trapped in glass tubes. This seems to
be a look at the brainwashing (or cloning?) process that the
evil KOMPLEX has forced the toads to undergo. When the glass
breaks by itself or after a good deal of hits from you, a
fully clothed v1 storm trooper (with knife) comes out.
------ Level 8: toad technicians -------------------
The final level is the showdown with KOMPLEX. Replacing the
regular soldiers are these guys: very disgruntled-looking toads
in suits and white lab coats who ride floating platforms. The
platforms are large, so even three or four of them can crowd
your airspace in this level. Each will periodically pull out a
pistol and fire several rounds at you, making maneuvering even
more difficult. They take numerous hits but plummet after you
nail them. Besides these and the Level 8 Mines, the only other
enemy you will to face is KOMPLEX himself.
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f. O T H E R E N E M Y C H A R A C T E R S (2)
This category was made just for stock enemies other than troops
who are not even toads, of which there are only two varieties.
------ Level 4: asteroid-aliens (6) --------------
On level 6, special enemies make an appearance. They arrive
as golden boulders with a single eye looking out, then unfold into
humanoid shape. There are only six of them, and they can only try
to roll into or punch you, but are difficult to nail because they
cannot be hurt in boulder form. Hit them in humanoid form 1x and
they will roll up; after they unfold, hit them once more and they
are cooked. After the first pair, four more will appear. Once
these are dead, you have rescued the "Mouse" character.
------ Level 5: Sly Leezard -----------------------
The corrupt iguana from the cartoon series appears on this level.
He teleports onto the scene, and tries to knife you with a
short, color changing blade. Sometimes there are more than one
of him on the screen, leading me to believe that some of his
appearances are holograms. He blocks your hits with the blade and
when doing so, takes an extreme amount of shots for such a minor
enemy. He "phases" out on his own or is knocked away by your
blasts. Thankfully, he only appears on this level, since he
and his holograms are quite annoying during game play.
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4) The Meat part 2: In-depth Stage Walk-through (w/ Boss breakdowns)
-------------------------------
Stage 1: Planet Warren
The Righteous Indignation lands on Warren and drops off the
character you selected. The Air Marshal makes an angered
appearance; by the time he leaves, it is show time. This level
is fairly easy; you will blast past mobs of Storm Toad Troopers
of various categories (see The Meat Part 1, section a.), the
immobile purple cannons, and some minor obstacles. Toad ships
crash in the background of the action; soon you see the loading
door of a troop transport ship, it unloads a few waves, then the
first Boss makes his grand entrance.
------ BOSS: AL NEGATOR ----
--- Attacks: jump with landing kick, roundhouse tail-whip,
ground blast, horizontal weapon fire
Al Negator blows out the door to the transport, and after he
treats you to some lines from his actual voice actor, your first
boss fight begins. His four attacks are listed directly above;
he begins with the first three as far as I can tell, then starts
shooting horizontally across the screen after he has taken a few
hits. The exploding round he shoots at the ground takes up a lot
of space but is predictable and easy to avoid. He is dangerous only
if you let him control the center of the screen; if you let this
happen, he will jump onto you or use his tail as a whip and you
will not have room to maneuver away. He flinches 3 times in a row,
keep firing and keep him on the screen edges and before you know it,
he will fall, defeated. Watch the cinema, then get ready for lev 2.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Stage 2: Planet Punk
On this stage you must rescue the hares from a prison planet;
maneuvering is annoying here because you must advance in a
diagonal, not a horizontal line, and there is limited space.
Watch out for the 2 fleeing troopers, they might slam into you.
As you move down, you will be forced to avoid flame jets that
spew from pipes on the sides of the screen. Shoot the toads
and blow up the 4 or 5 prisons to free those brethren hares.
Right after you finally reach a horizontal path, a large
combat vehicle with enter and unload 2 troops. Use Gimmick
weapons and bombs to blow this thing up (see description of
the 18th Storm Trooper in The Meat Part 1, section a.). Next,
after this, as you advance toward the right, jump to avoid
some very quick moving vertical flame jets. You will then walk
across some oddly shaped platforms with purple turrets, but
only start worrying when the 3 "Double Bubble" fighters try to ram
you. You can send them exploding down but only with numerous hits
and carefully timed jumps. After more troops, you will ride a
diagonally oriented elevator that will conveniently pause in
front of wall mounted rocket launchers. Then, giant, bouncing,
flaming debris starts falling; these look like orange axles,
you can shoot them away but they take a ton of shots. Eventually
you will have to blow up wall rocket launchers while simultaneously
avoiding the debris and the speedy rockets. After this and some
more troops, the elevator will take you to your second boss.
------ BOSS: TOAD BORG ----
--- Attacks: jump with body-slam + landing punch,
arm extend + grab + throttle combo,
close quarters downward punch, extend-o-punch
Toadborg (spelled as two words in this game) will mostly try to
body slam you or walk into you at first. He can be knocked down
three times in a row, and although he can still register hits,
he will not flinch while taking them for another few seconds.
Simply stay away from him and change direction after he has
jumped into the air, hitting him all the while. Eventually he
will break out his annoying attack, what I call the arm extend +
grab + throttle combo. He will extend his robotic arm for great
distances to grab you, and if he does, he will throttle you
and slam you onto the ground when finished. If you have been
grabbed, press all your buttons rapidly to escape with less
damage. He can still hurt you, though, and it is hard to avoid
being grabbed when he extends his arm your first few tries.
Just remember that he almost certainly will grab you if he extends
while you are standing anywhere near him. When defeated, he
collapses and is rescued by a "Double Bubble" toad space fighter
(he is the only boss who returns [as sub-boss, in stage 7]).
Then your character exits to the cheers of the rescued rabbits.
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Stage 3: Climate Converter
Now you must stop the Climate Converter from changing the planet
Punk into a swamp for the toads. This level is fun because you
are flying in a jet-pack for most of it. First, get hit by the
airborne rocks that are dislodged from the Converter hitting the
ground (it is too much effort to avoid it, if you want to try, set
of a BOMB quickly to blast them all or something). As you descend,
you will try to knock electricity-firing troopers out of the air;
some do some impressive evasive maneuvers, but keep shooting away.
Large turrets with eight barrels will come from the background;
they are resilient but destroy them or be faced with dodging their
numerous laser beams. Type 2 Storm Troopers with jet-packs will
harry you as well, and during the descent you will be faced with
stationary balls balls that share electric charges. Stay in the
center and time your descents right, but remember that the last
line of balls has a more active center, so head to the left
to avoid the larger amounts of electricity. The sub-boss here
is a hideous fish shaped robot that takes up the whole left side
of the screen. It sucks rocks into its mouth and spits them out
at you; you can be struck during both operations but not if you
blast the rocks first. This sub-boss is vulnerable only when its
mouth is open. Stay too far to the right and the rocks that it
sucks will hit you, stay too far to the left and the robot will
swallow you for a few seconds, causing a good deal of damage.
Hit its mouth while avoiding getting eaten or struck by rocks,
some of which are gigantic and indestructible, and it will go
crashing down. You now land in the foreground of its wreckage,
and the jet-pack will turn off. Get ready...
------ BOSS: TOTAL TERROR TOAD ----
--- Attacks: single / multiple rapid crushing jumps,
close quarters punch; ax throw; double ax throw
After you finally land and your jet-pack shuts off, Willy DuWitt
jumps off the Righteous Indignation and says he will turn off the
Climate Converter. Simultaneously, the boss of the stage leaps out
of the flaming wreckage of the giant fish sub-boss & uncovers his
face. After the predictable words of introduction, the Terror Toad
will follow you around and throw punches, and occasionally jump,
attempting to crush you. Each jump is preceded by a comic shouting
sound which warns you. After only a handful of hits, he takes out
an ax which he will throw boomerang-style at you. It blocks your
shots if thrown between you and him; it is not "transparent".
Worse, he increases the speed and number of his crushing leaps.
Just keep to the edges of the screen, and do not let him control
the center. After some more hits, he whips out a second ax, and,
between more jumping, will throw them at you in quick succession,
so that both are in the air at the same time. As before, do not get
too close to him, or you will not have enough reaction time when he
throws the axes; it is always best when he is on one side and you
on the other. When he is defeated, he will comically fly "onto
the screen" to the foreground, complete with a comatose expression
and drool pooling from his mouth.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Stage 4: Asteroidbelt [sic]
First: there are no storm toads on this level! Hooray! But,
hopping from asteroid to asteroid, you will find yourself
attacked from the front and the rear by new mobile green
toad cannons. In addition to the now-familiar immobile
purple cannons, you are now expected to deal with a virtual
screenful of enemy fire from all angles. It gets quite crowded
and you are bound to take a rough amount of hits. Then, two,
followed by four asteroid-aliens (see section "f. Other Enemy
Characters" of The Meat part 1, above, for description) enter
and must be defeated. After those six are gone,
you have freed an effete "Mouse" character who will
facilitate your mission on the asteroids by building bridges
of greenery between them as paths for you. It still heats up
however, as quite large and VERY resilient spiked mines flood
the screen, and plummeting meteoroids try to crush your noggin
(interestingly they also can harm enemies). "Double Bubble"
fighter craft try to ram you at one point as well. Just keep
blasting only a few mines away - as it is almost impossible to
destroy them all - just enough to make a path for movement. The
Mouse makes a path using asteroids now, but the green robots
still rush at you. Finally, he leaves, and you board onto a toad
warship, where a few cannons and a "Double Bubble" stand between
you and the new boss.
------ BOSS: (A LARGE FIGHTER CRAFT) ----
--- Attacks: huge laser fire from center and 2 limbs, ramming
This large spacecraft will try to plow you over with 3 beams
of energy, one from each of its two limbs (which can extend
horizontally; jump to avoid), and 1 larger one from its central
chassis. It will then try to ram you, sometimes extending its
two limbs and taking up huge amounts of screen space. Jump over
it as it winds up for a ram, and of course keep firing. Over time
you will disable both limbs, then its central laser, and the poor
bugger will be left with only ramming as an attack. Once defeated,
it satisfyingly falls apart piece by piece, and explodes, leaving
behind the two toad pilots to float away in their little bubbles.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Stage 5: Planet Rat
The effeminate Mouse convinces you to liberate his planet now.
Jump over the flame jets. You will be faced with those green
robots, knife and rifle troopers, version two storm troops, and
two new troopers. The first new trooper variety flies with a
jet-pack and carries a large machine gun, pelting the ground
constantly with bullets, not slow moving laser blasts. The second
is a ground trooper who wields a large yellow bazooka that shoots
a straight, fast beam of energy. Both are hugely dangerous if
left to gather in large groups, as their fire, especially the
rounds from the machine gunners which are invisible, will eat up
your maneuvering space. Several large turrets rise from circles
in the ground, take them on individually because each shoots
fast-moving laser blasts in all directions. Next comes Sly Leezard,
an annoying character who can block your shots (see section
"f. Other Enemy Characters" of The Meat part 1, above, for
description). He will appear often until the end. Soon enough you
will have to fight FLYING laser bazooka troopers and FLYING grenade
throwing troopers, and a barracks from which troopers flood out
like bees from a hive (destroy the barracks as soon as possible to
stem this flow). Eventually you will jump onto a grounded toad ship.
Walking on top of this ship, you will realize this level is
ponderously long. Toads in bubbles operate two giant laser blasters
on the top of this ship; blast each one during the breaks between
their lightning-quick shots, watch the toads inside flee from the
explosions, then avoid the flame jets that pop up underneath the
wreck you made. Now, the actual bridge of the ship, operated by
the Air Marshal himself (with Frix and Frax), rises up and shoots
laser beams and slow-moving yet heat-seeking rockets. Worry about
the rockets, as they take unpredictable paths, and shoot them out
of the air whenever they enter the scene. The bridge explodes after
enough hits, but not until the Air Marshal and his two subordinates
flee (damn!). Good old purple mounted cannons (now spewing more
shots than ever) and a Double Bubble are next. As if the bridge
with the Air Marshal was not enough, you come upon sub-boss #2,
this time the chassis of a large vehicle that rolls gears at you
each time it takes a hit (see the first two entries for e. Other
Toad Enemies in The Meat part 1). The gears can be knocked away
with weapon fire easily; the only real danger this enemy presents
to the cautious player is its sudden ram attacks. Blow up this
silly thing, and then watch the Air Marshal escape in a Double
Bubble. After turrets, another barracks full of various troops,
more Sly Leezard, and your first encounter with type 3 storm toads
(see the bottom of section a. in The Meat part 1), you must
face the next boss.
------ BOSS: CYBORG SPIDER ----
--- Attacks: plasma blobs from abdomen, crushing leaps,
spider web summon, forward rush
Four impish creatures come from the edges of the screen, jump into
a pile, and explode. Somehow a boss emerges, the Cyborg Spider,
who is an enlarged version of the smaller creatures. As far as I
can tell, this character, like the boss from last stage, is new to
the Bucky universe, as he never appeared in the animated series
and I doubt that he was in the comic. He will jump around in
attempts to hit you, open his abdomen and shoot laser blobs, and
summon webs from the air. The laser blobs cannot travel very far
from his body, and so if you keep him on the screen edges, those
will not be source of harm for you. Avoid the glowing residue that
the blobs leave on the ground for a few seconds, as those are
harmful as well. The webs he summons cast shadows on the ground,
and they can be avoided easily, but things get nasty if the webs
linger around for awhile and the Spider starts shooting blobs.
This usually means you have to avoid blobs, their residue, and
the webs at the same time, which makes the spider a difficult
boss to fight at times. He will occasionally point to one side
and you can count on him to suddenly rush in that direction.
He takes an absurd amount of hits to destroy, but you know
he is almost finished when he trails you much too close for
comfort; use BOMBS and gimmick weapons to finish him. If you
can deal with the voice actor who plays "Ro-dent the Old Mouse"
in the next cut scene, then you can deal with anything.
You now leave the Planet Rat and enter a Toad Mother Ship.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Stage 6: Mother Ship
This vehicle-based level finds you flying about inside the
interior of a Toad Mother Ship in your very own Toad Croaker
(which was one of the 3 very rare Bucky toy vehicles). Once your
character is inside, blast through the groups of fleeing troops
and standing "Guardroids" (remember? one of them blown up by Jenny
in the cartoon episode "The Good, the Bad and the Warty"?) and
be weary of the hovering machine gun wielding troops. Then you
come upon the storm toad troops riding carts along tracks. They
are armed with the electricity guns like the fliers in level 3;
knocking into them actually does not hurt! On this level, making
contact with carted troopers actually causes THEM damage. So bump
into them, fire away, and keep moving to make sure they do not
get the few seconds it takes for them to aim their electric guns.
After a taste of those, you will fly over a lava pit, and small
exploding mines will swim past you in the form of little sharks.
Avoid the concussions when they explode on their own. Soon, a
large dorsal fin will reveal the presence of a sub-boss, a larger
shark. It can harm you with the rear-and-front mounted laser on its
fin and also with the wake it makes in the lava. This wake of lava
waves can conveniently be blasted away to avoid flying into it, the
problem is that the wake takes the shots you are intending for the
sub-boss. It will submerge and reemerge one or two times, between
its visits you will need to avoid the small shark mines. After
enough hits, it will speed ahead, only to burst in an awesomely
animated explosion. More carted troopers will shoot electricity and
toss grenades at you, this time with empty troop carts to block
your shots, all while flame jets leap up, and obstacles with
jutting "tuning fork" shaped protuberances or directional arrows
impede your progress. Take your licks, most likely from the flame
jets, then finally you start flying over solid ground.
------ BOSS: A "VOID DROID" ----
--- Attacks: laser beam w/ laser ground "rollers", drill extend,
heat seeking rockets, ramming; giant gear tossing
You may remember this vehicle from the episode "The Good, the Bad,
and the Warty" and others where it was referred to as a "void
droid". It was also boss of the "Yellow Planet" stage in the
NINTENDO game. This arcade incarnation is not too hard to wreck,
although it will take more than a simple douse of water to destroy
it. It will shoot beams onto the ground, which form into cylinder
shaped obstacles that will slowly roll in your direction, launch
several heat-seeking missiles, and intermittently try to ram you
with two small drills extended. This boss is especially rough
since it will crowd your space often, giving you almost no room.
Use your gimmick weapon and BOMBS to strip it of its weapon limbs
and outer hull. Once you succeed at this, what remains is... you
guessed it... the stupid gear-tossing chassis like the one on
level five. It can be rough since the gears it now throws at you
will add up after each shot you make, but keep dodging and firing,
and soon you will reduce it to just a single, bouncing tire.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Stage 7: Toad Star
The mother ship explodes, and you now attack the toads on their
own robotic world. You will first be faced with rifle troopers
and cannons that come up from disguised compartments in the
ground. These green cannon platforms shoot either straight yellow
laser beams, resilient heat-seeking rockets, or those ovals of
energy that spin slowly around. Flying machine gunners and knife
troops will join the fun, then you will be faced with a huge
purple wall loaded with turrets that fire incendiary blasts.
My trick is to go to the far right and bottom, where it does
not seem able to hit you, and shoot until it blasts apart.
Three laser bazooka troops will try to get you next. Soon you
will see a MASSIVE TV screen with the face of KOMPLEX. This
will try to slam into you from the left side of the screen.
Repel it with shots, and it will burst into numerous smaller
KOMPLEX TV screens. These are very tough and will cause a lot
of harm, so just use BOMB attacks on them to clear the screen.
A wall behind you opens and you now advance diagonally up to
the right. Fight off the flying machine gun and rifle troops,
along with new wall cannons on the left that periodically shoot
slow-moving laser beams. Then come flame jets and v2 troops
who guard grenade tossers, and a new enemy: the v3 troopers who
can each eat five shots. It gets hairier from here on, of course.
After the single v3, the two v2s, and the three bombers (all at
once), some fliers come in with knives, bombs, and others with
machine guns, while the wall cannons start shooting many more
beams. Finally you advance horizontally again (in the background
you will see a climate converter under construction). A v3
trooper with v2 troops makes an entrance, followed by flame
jets and a turn on the path. More green cannon platforms,
flying rifle troops, and those small mounted purple cannons
will literally clutter, no... flood, the terrain.
------ SUB-BOSS : TOAD BORG ------
After all that, Toadborg returns, and will try to grab and
throttle you almost immediately. Use the techniques described
in Stage Two, Planet Punk, to take him down. But now there
are 4 jets on the ground that spew electricity, so take that
into account as you maneuver around. It will not be as simple
as the Stage 2 battle, since there is less room and he fights
with more zeal here. Once you do defeat him, he explodes!
Yes, that is right: you actually, finally KILL Toadborg.
Now that one of the chief villains is dead, the toads send
their best after you. A powerful army, including v2 troops, at
least one v3, and flying laser-bazookas, will rush at you next.
Then you descend diagonally, and there will be a conveyor belt
from which "Double Bubble" fighters will try to ram you. There
should be a few more fliers, after that, a door opens and you
advance horizontally again. Here, FLYING v2 and v3 troops will
assault you. Blast them away, take out the green cannon
platforms, and then destroy a second giant, purple turret wall
(the one that shot flame rounds like before). Next, a huge
mob of fleeing troops rushes by; fire away for free points
at these easy marks! Following that are tubes with nude,
frightened toads in them. They burst to reveal knife troopers.
Next comes an army that is so large, I will not bother
describing it except that it contains a huge number of flying
v2 and v3 troopers. Use a BOMB or two.
------ BOSS: Air Marshall ----
--- Attacks: calling in large forces of troops,
rapid heat seeking rockets, out-of-control spins
The Air Marshall now finally stays for a fight. He is assisted
by untold gads and gads of storm troopers of nearly every
single variety, while he circles around in midair in a
personal hovercraft. Every once in awhile he will land to
spew VERY fast moving rockets at you, and it does not seem
possible to shoot them away, so a good deal of jumping around
is in order. While he is hovering, do not jump into him as
this, of course, is harmful. When he lands, get close and
use your trigger finger as quickly as possible to fill him
with holes. He may, depending on how much damage you do
over time, fall out and the vehicle may spin around,
threatening to slap into you. Avoid this and he will get back
into the craft. Take out the knifers before their waves double
up, and get those bazooka troopers before they cover the screen
with that deadly fire. But most importantly, hit the Air
Marshall whenever possible. Soon, the craft explodes, and
apparently (though I am not certain) so does the Air Marshall!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Stage 8: Planet Life Force
This stage begins with a shocker: the Righteous Indignation gets
blown up (except the upper bridge portion which survives). Your
character begins a slow jet-pack-assisted descent, a la stage 3,
where your only obstacles are immobile mines and toad technicians
in lab coats who fire pistol rounds at you. The mines are so
easy to avoid and detonate that I do not even know what kind of
damage would be done if you remained in contact with one;
touching one once simply turns on a blinking countdown. Your only
worries are the lab coat toads. They take up much space, absorb
many hits, and shoot numerous rounds. Just use your acquired
dodging skills, blast them, and enjoy watching them free fall.
------ BOSS: KOMPLEX-2-Go ----
--- Attacks: 1) hordes of heat-seeking land-bound blasts, punch,
crushing leaps, kick. 2) summon huge flaming debris
3) out-of-control spining, spewing small debris
Your descent ends and the jet-pack deactivates. Quickly blow up
any lingering mines, then get ready for KOMPLEX to leap down.
1) Though his face looks different from the cartoon depiction,
KOMPLEX is still huge and a formidable final foe. This monstrous
robot despot will follow you around, trying to crush you with
jumps, and shooting an energy which splits up into parts bound
to the ground that will pursue you as they glide offscreen. The
good news is: it is difficult for your shots to miss KOMPLEX
because of his outrageous bulk. The bad news: those land-bound
energy blasts are difficult to dodge; they are staggered so
simply jumping will only cause you to miss some, not all.
2) After you have hit him enough times, the lower half of the
boss will explode, leaving him with just his body and arms.
Though he cannot shoot those annoying blasts now, he will
instead slam the ground, summoning from above a flood of flaming
debris (the same debris found on the elevator on stage 2). Each
debris object takes a huge amount of hits, and there are more
than a few pieces of this debris, so shooting them is both a total
waste of time and unnecessarily dangerous. You should fake KOMPLEX
out, so that he summons the debris to roll toward the right side
while you jump left... then pummel him until he turns around
and summons debris on the left side. Rinse and repeat.
3) KOMPLEX will explode further, leaving just his pitiful head,
which spins around erratically. You can force him away by hitting
him with weapon fire, but he only moves faster and faster, and
his head is bound to slam you a few times. Worse, his attacks now
consist of shedding hardware. As the head spews hindering detritus,
it will become difficult to hit him, coupled with the speed of his
spinning. Use your BOMBs and just hang in there.
Eventually, all that is left of KOMPLEX - his rambling head -
will burst, and the bridge of the Righteous will rescue your
character. The crew flies away as the toad home world explodes
in the background like the Millennium Falcon fleeing the Death
Star. The ending consists of the planetary life forces returning
to the planets it was stolen from, restoring order to the
Aniverse. The entire series is actually concluded .. congrats!
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5) Miscellany
-------------------------------
RANT on ARCADE :
I love this arcade because its makers took pains to make it faithful
to the cartoon series. Even though you cannot play as Willy or
Bruiser, they were given prominent appearances in the cut-scenes;
each using the very SAME voice actors who played them in the cartoon,
just like each other character. Even the immobile robot props in
Stage 6 were copied carefully from the "Guardroid" [so he was called
in the script] from the episode "The Good, the Bad and the Warty".
RANT on TOY SERIES :
Some losers at the Hasbro toy company made some bad, bad calls
in 1991, and were not happy when stores could not sell the huge
surplus of Air Marshall and Blinky figures. So they infamously
"pulled the plug" on the whole Bucky O'Hare universe. Neal Adams &
others who actually labored over Bucky O'Hare saw this coming.
There are a few photos on the web of unpainted prototype figures
for the unreleased series 2 and 3 Bucky toys. They are Digger (the
engineer on the ship Indefatigable under Commander Dogstar),
Tri-bot (a minor villain from the final episode of the cartoon), and
(take a deep breath)... KOMPLEX, the villain behind the toad empire.
It is quite disturbing to know they made him and others and
because of incompetence and lack of accountability I will never get
to purchase them. Worse, there are COMPLETE toys for those
series as well: Total Terror Toad, Pitstop Pete, Kamikaze Kamo
the duck, Rumble Bee, Slyly Zod, Bucky in a Spacesuit with new
weapons, and, of course, the famous Jenny action figure.
Ah, well. Hasbro can get on its knees. I hope Bucky comes back, but
not as a G movie. I see a dark, compelling movie, and I would like
to direct and help write it. Let me know if you have several million
dollars sitting around, and I will make you a global blockbuster.
Although you cannot see it, I am wearing my serious face right now.
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6) Credits
-------------------------------
I believe I speak for every Bucky fan when I thank Larry Hama for
engendering the Aniverse and its inhabitants.
Thanks also to Neal Adams and all the other men and women who added
many hours of entertainment to my youth years.
Much appreciation for the folks on the Web who host Bucky material.
Without you guys I would not have been able to take this second
look at this furry little corner of the sci-fi world.
This guide was written entirely by me (see section 1 contact info)
but without the folks who made MacMAME I would not have been able to
play the arcade version from the comfort of my own desktop.
And thanks to you for reading, playing, and keeping the Aniverse
alive.
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