Battle Circuit Walk-through and FAQ 1.0 V 1.0 - 2001, August 23th Author: Chris Moon E-Mail: camoon@radiks.net Co-Author: Sane Jake (After a while, I just sat back and let him do the faq!) E-Mail: jreyal@hotmail.com Please contact either of us if you have any questions, comments or corrections. Updates in this version from version 0.50: -Text when you fight the Stage 8 boss -Strategies for fighting the Stage 8 boss from Sane Jake -More game basics (PO meter, one hit wonders) -New BONUS section!!! (gold saucer bonus and time bonus) -Ranking (again from Sane Jake) -More info on levels (Strider Ishmael spots another weird Capcom-ism) -Improved move description for characters (very slight). -Point-Counterpoint debate in regards to the worth of characters. -Region differences. -More proof reading, yay! ************************************************************* OUTLINE: 1. A brief overview A. A brief history of Capcom beat-em-ups B. Legend C. The beat-em-up basics D. Battle Circuit Game System E. Character moves and Upgrades 2. The world of Battle Circuit A. Meet your enemies B. Meet your items C. Meet your money D. Meet your food E. Meet your bonus! 3. Walkthrough A. Intro & Stage 1 B. Stage 2 C. Stage 3 D. Stage 4 E. Stage 5 F. Stage 6 G. Stage 7 H. Stage 8 (secret) I. Game conclusion J. Count-down text 4. Region differences 5. How can I play Battle Circuit? (availability) 6. Future updates 7. Credits 8. Legal ************************************************************* 1. A brief Overview 1.A) A 'brief' history of Capcom beat-em-ups Battle Circuit is hard to appraise as a game without seeing it in the context of the many other beat-em-ups made by Capcom. For fighter fans, it would be like speaking of Capcom vs. SNK without discussing any previous Capcom or SNK fighter. Battle Circuit rests upon the shoulders of a long history of other side scrolling beat-em-ups, which I will list momentarily. But before that, let me briefly explain what a side- scroller is, just in case someone has come to this faq utterly confused in regards to the nature of the game. Side scrolling beat-em-ups, while not invented by Capcom, were popularized by the highly playable Final Fight, indeed, many games have been referred to as Final Fight clones. The formula is nothing short of simplicity itself. Side-scrolling beat-em-ups involved walking along a normally predetermined path from left to right, beating up every opponent which comes your way. These were two button games (attack and jump), but they had their own elegance. From the very beginning, Capcom game each character a chain combo, such that Guy would issue a series of punches and then follow it with a kick that would knock his opponent down. Characters were also equipped with powerful throws, giving each character more versatility than we'd seen in previous games of this type. Where Final Fight differed radically from so many games that proceeded it though was its simulated 3D nature--pushing the controller up made your character move 'deeper' into the picture, thus enemies could approach from many different 'planes'. The only game I can think of that did this before Final Fight was Double Dragon--which while good for its time is not a shadow of what Capcom had accomplished. In this way, unlike other successfully side-scrolling platformers like Strider, beat-em-ups required a completely different strategy, and the whole new problem of being completely swarmed. Capcom foreseeing the problem immediately introduced the 'desperation move' that would get you out of a pinch but at the cost of your health. Another convention (again, not really new but popularized) was being able to pick up bits of food scattered about the game to restore your health and keep on with the fight. At times I think Capcom has been mocking this institution--even in Final Fight you can eat the gum of a cop who has just spit it out. In The Punisher you can find food in the sewer waters and eat it. Funny or not, it wouldn't be a side-scrolling beat-em-up without food power-ups. One more thing you'll find in virtually all of them (yet strangely absent from Battle Circuit) are weapons here and there. From lead pipes to shotguns to spare tires and even furniture, its all been used as weapons in Capcom's never ending pursuit of head-smackin', yet you'll find none in Battle Circuit. Am I disappointed? Yes, but the game does fine without them. Yet, with so many side-scrollers, you'd think it would get terribly stagnant (and certainly the death of the side-scroller suggests that), but between 1990 and Battle Circuit (1997) (which I believe is the last side-scrolling beat-em-up from Capcom) we see some incredible innovation and experimentation. So here is a partial list of side scrollers that might be worth checking out if you also enjoy Battle Circuit: Final Fight: Chain combos and desperation moves. Warriors of Fate: Added rushing attack (down+jump) and super moves (down, up+attack). This is an early favorite of mine, sort of a revamped and much more playable Final Fight with some great humor. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: True dash attacks and dashing jump added, no super move. Captain Commando: Same as C&D, but with special dashing jump attack. I personally believe that the Buckaroo Bonsai movie was based off of this game. King of Dragons: Very early version of the D&D games. No dashing or super attacks. No weapons can be picked up -but- weapons can be upgraded. Very limited blocking introduced. This is a sister game to Magic Sword, but Magic Sword doesn't qualify by my definition above, so I haven't listed it here. Knights of the Round: Same as above but with serious improvement to graphics, gameplay and blocking. IMO KotR is also the most boring beat- em-up ever made. The Punisher AKA Capcom goes balls-to-the-walls: One of the most innovate of the CPS-1 side-scrollers. All-way dashing, special dash attacks, super (down, up+attack) attacks, grab opponents off the ground, items now have 'use meters' instead of just randomly breaking, desperation move, dashing desperation move, special desperation move while grappling -and- grenade stock! Oh, and your character now has a gun. Wow! Dungeons and Dragons 1: Moving on to the CPS2, the first installment of D&D was popular but not as great as it should have been. No special moves, no grabs, and you can't change your weapon! On the other hand, this game introduced inventories in a side scroller (doubling as a spell book), a -good- blocking system, the <Forward+A> move and new team play. Bring that cleric along coz he MIGHT heal you if things get ugly. Alien versus Predator: My vote for best side scroller of all time, though serious competition from D&D 2. FAST game play with crazy combos and a diverse character line up. Introduced charge moves (Kurosawa), weapon clips, personalized weapons, juggling, air-dives. Strangely there is no true dashing, but all the characters have power-dash/slides done with the jump to get around it. An incredibly tight game. Dungeons and Dragons 2: An absolutely incredible side scroller over two hours long!!! Even more characters than D&D 1 with super-moves, rolls, slides, dashing, air-dives (the dwarf) and even more spells! The best feature though was being able to change weapons. The fighter could fight with two weapons if you set it up right, or just buy a giant two handed sword later in the game. Watch me gush! Powered Gear: Sort of an anomaly in the side-scrolling universe, and only recently re-discovered due to emulation. Game play is more natural than the infinitely clunky Cyberbots, but still not as fluid as a good side scroller should be. By fusing the idea of side-scrollers with mechs, we see the first beat-em-up with ammo and interchangeable parts. No 'super' moves (D,U+A) but plenty of <forward+A> moves. A strange game that deserves a few plays, but seems rather forgettable. Battle Circuit: What a pity this never made it over to the states coz it comes in a solid third for me on this big list of beat-em-ups! Some very creative character design and the ability to customize your characters with new moves sets this one apart from all the others. All- way dashing like the Punisher along with grabbing people off the floor. Juggling like Alien vs. Predator is back, and even crazier than before, along with a new power-up system that works a bit like the Grenades in Punisher, but in effect turns BC into a cooperative team-player game, not unlike D&D 2. A fantastic game; reason enough to write this faq. 1.B) Legend: This faq uses the following abbreviations to refer to combinations of button depresses and joystick positions. Joystick positions: F)orward (that is, push the joystick toward your opponent) B)ack (only in throws, pull the stick away from opponent) U)p D)own Buttons: A)ttack J)ump Other special commands: A few moves are done by doing a fireball motion (down, down forward, forward+A), I'll refer to those as FBM or fireball motion. Some moves require that you hold down a button. I'll refer to this as charging. Charging is different than when you 'charge' in a street fighter game since there is typically no 'away' direction in a side scroller. 1.C) The beat-em-up basics: My apologies to those of you who have been playing beat-em-ups since Final Fight, yet there may be someone out there who has never seen one before, so here goes: I've already described the basic flow of games like this, so I won't repeat myself (at least, not much). Your character should cycle through a chain combo if you just keep pressing A next to an opponent. In the olden days, you could cancel out of the cycle by pressing down or away during the combo and throw your opponent. In Warriors of Fate you could sling some people from a pretty good distance doing this, but this is not the case in Battle Circuit. What we do now is tag on more damage by using a super move (d,u+a) which all the characters except for Alien Green has, such that it interrupts the combo before the last hit comes out. The reason for doing this is the last hit of the chain will end the attack and knock down your opponent, but interrupting it with your super will tag on several more hits, even hitting other opponents. Also, realize I'm speaking in generalities. In Battle Circuit, your character has several special moves, so you'll need to experiment with the best combinations. Grabbing is still a crucial technique in Battle Circuit. Move close to your opponent (often its useful to come in from above or below) and you will automatically grab them. Once you have grabbed an opponent, the entire battle system changes. Hitting A will strike your opponent but not release your hold, while hitting A and holding F or B will throw your opponent, typically ending the grab. At this time you may also be able to execute one of your special moves (typically a d,u+A move) such that your attack might look like: A,A,A,D,U+A resulting in three normal hits and whatever your special move would result in. Another commonality is the special throw. In general, most characters that have 'big' throws, execute them by jumping after a grab, then hitting A or D+A. One of Alien Green's first throws is executed this way. There are also a few secrets to jumping attacks that might not be evident to the novice. For starters, your character has two kinds of jumping attacks, one that knocks down and another that is good for starting combos. The first is done by just hitting A in the air, the second however is D+A in the air. The importance of this will be obvious when you're fighting a boss and need to get close to start a combo. Note that you can't do the D+A attack during a dashing jump. Items: You'll find that to stay alive you're going to need to grab every thing you can find while you're busy wringing necks. You'll find money, food or power-ups inside of almost anything that can be broken (including your enemies) so make sure to break all those boxes, park benches, shop display windows, or anything else that looks like it can be broken. Battle Circuit is no exception. Anyway, on to the specifics! 1.D.) Battle Circuit Game System: Battle Circuit has an extremely friendly and flexible game system. Everything I've talked about above you can do here, and a bit more. In Battle Circuit we have characters that can hover, shoot massive beams out of their chest, eat their opponents, etc. It's pretty amazing. But before I get around to explaining each character, here are some things every character can do: Basic moves for all characters: Dash: press twice in any direction, continue to hold the pad or stick in that direction to continue running. Pressing an attack while dashing results in a unique attack. Grapple: All characters can grab enemies by moving very close to them. Once grabbed, you can tap A to keep beating on them, or press a direction+A to throw. You can often use a special move (like Blue's Tornado uppercut during a grapple.) Grabbing downed characters: Like the Punisher, you can grab characters off the floor and throw them. Desperation move: Hit A+J while on the ground. Can be used to escape throws. Can be combined with another player for a super-desperation attack! This requires standing virtually on-top of another character (you will know when this can be done, as electrical charges will shoot between the two characters). Power-up: If you have picked up a BDL (B!), hit A+J in the air to use it. Effect varies per character. If playing with more than one character, power-ups effect everyone in the party, hence, Green's vitality up heals everyone in the group. Another tip about Battle Circuit gameplay: note which move knocks the most coins out of characters and exploit it. All the money you collect will be used to buy upgrades, so pound that money out of your enemies! Making sense of the screen: OK, most of this is very standard, but there are a few things which are new to Battle Circuit so I thought I'd explain them: As usual, you'll find your health bar at the top of the screen (perhaps player 3 & 4 have theirs at the bottom?) and next to that will be some yellow numbers which indicate how much money you have. Purple numbers are your score. When you are striking an opponent, their name, portrait and life bar will appear under yours. In games like Final Fight where you could hit your team-mates, their name, health meter and portrait would appear under your health meter. New to Battle Circuit however is the power-up guage. It looks like half a dial, and is easy to mistake for decoration. It has five segments, and every time you pick up a power-up, an additional section will light up. Note that every time you die, your character should start again with two sections lit. Ranking: Unlike most other side scrollers, Battle Circuit uses a ranking system similar to Strider 2 and Street Fighter 3 Third Strike. Other side scrollers certainly rewarded you based on performance, but now you get a letter grade to go along with it, which seems mostly based on time. I've included rankings provided by Sane Jake at the end of each Stage in the walkthrough part of this FAQ. 1.E.) Character moves and Upgrades Cyber Blue Very standard Capcom fair. A great in-your-face character with a powerful uppercut. Once powered up, he becomes very well balanced, and also hard to distinguish from some of the other characters. SJ: Blue starts out with the best standard attack round and little else until he buys some upgrades. As stated, the most well-rounded character with a decent projectile, enhanced desperation, and hard hitting, wide ranged melee attacks. Personally though... he's my least favorite. I don't know... maybe because he's the default player, or the "Ryu" character... and also apparently being one of the least effective characters against the Master Program. Ending quote: "No problem!" Power-up: Power Up (I.E. he does more damage) Special moves: Tornado (D,U+A): Pretty standard uppercut. Hits multiple times. [Can be upgraded] Burning Knuckles (F+A): Pretty much the same thing as Terry's move. Cyber Blue rushes forward with his fist, knocking all opponents in his way down. If used during a grapple, Blue will drag his opponent with him, slamming him into other baddies. Cyber Blast (Charge A then release): A large bolt of energy explodes from Blue's chest. [Can be upgraded] Desperation Move: Cyber Blue is enclosed in an electric sphere that knocks down all in area. [Can be upgraded] Upgrades: Hyper-Tornado (D,U+A), Cost 50, Description--Big uppercut Burning Heel Kick (Dash+A), Cost 100, Description--dashing flip kick. Can be done at angles to hit multiple opponents. Heat Kick (Dashing jump+A), Cost 200, Description--descending kick that sets enemies ablaze. Giga Crush (A+J), Cost 300, Description--Enhanced desperation move. Vital Gain, Cost 400 Cyber Cannon (hold A to charge, release to fire), Cost 500, Description- -Beam weapon. BDL UNIT, Cost 200, Description--same as B! found in game. Extend, Cost 1000 Yellow Iris/Beast A strange yellow beast-girl, somewhat reminiscent of Felicia, accompanied by a squirrel fox (Fin). This is a nice alternative to playing Cyber Blue. She has all the basic moves but is a bit faster with a more unique feel. While being primarily an in-your-face character, Yellow Iris takes a bit more skill than Blue as her moves are not as strong--work on your combos! Also, it seems worth noting that when you throw a downed opponent, Yellow Iris actually uses her Squirrel Fox to do the job. SJ: I love cat-girls... Anyhow, of all the moves to buy the most important is the Aerial Dance. Meantime, buy the cheap whip move for a bit of spare change. Yellow Iris is probably the most likely to earn lots of cash because her moves hit very rapidly and hence, they release more change. Yellow's other particular strength is that she starts out with the longest-ranged projectile in the game. Ending quote: "I did it!" Power-up: Speed up. Special moves: Whip (F+A) A single whip attack [Can be upgraded] Aerial Dance (D,U+A) Basic multi-hit uppercut. Fin Attack (Charge A, then release) Fin (the squirrel fox) begins to glow. When A is released, Fin streaks across the screen, knocking opponents down for damage. Rushing Attack: Yellow is one of the few characters that warrants a description of her rushing attack. Yellow executes a two hit flip kick, which while not superb in of itself can be performed at angles, hitting multiple opponents. Upgrades Whip rush (F+A), Cost 50, Description--Multi-hit whip attack. Decent damage, plus it knocks a lot of coins out of opponents. This can also be followed by a combo. Triangle shot (Dashing jump+A), Cost 100, Description--about the same as Blue's heat kick, only with a punch. Aerial Dance (D,U+A), Cost 200, Description--vastly improved Aerial Dance. Hits more and shadows connect as well. Mirage Dance, (Grab, FBM+A), Cost 300, Fantastic grappling move. Does good damage and knocks out a lot of coins. Vital Gain, Cost 400 Fin Special, (Charge A and then release), Cost 500, enhanced Fin Attack that can hit several opponents at once. BDL UNIT, Cost 200, Description--same as B! found in game. Extend, Cost 1000 Alien Green A large plant character that specializes in grappling. Lacks an uppercut that may turn some people off. Green has definitely got something going on, and his ability to heal everyone in the group is a big plus. His normal attacks are VERY strong (he can win the bonus round without using any special moves), and some of his grabs can be devastating--not just to that one opponent, but everyone around him. Maybe not as flashy as others, but a solid, well- rounded character. SJ: Alien Green really rocks! You'll most certainly want SOMEONE playing him, for the healing if nothing else. Alien Green has an easier time against Pluto and is helpful in practically every battle. Note that the Alien Twister is not only powerful, but economical, too! If an enemy is weak, finish them with the Twister - the move is worth 10 coins. End quote: S/He blooms. Power-up: Vitality up Special moves: Extended grab (F+A): For anyone who's played Cyberbots or Powered Gear, this is very similar to the giant claw you could use in those games. Basically, Green extends a plant tentacle that can grab an opponent, at which point you can proceed to beat on them. Poison gas (Charge A then release): Green emits some gas that stuns opponents briefly. Good for stopping rushing opponents or getting in for the grab. Grappling moves: Piledriver (J,A): Green jumps in the air, then lands, crushing his enemy beneath him. Big slam (B+A): Green slams his opponent into the ground on either side of him. I seem to get more hits by alternately pushing the stick F and B while tapping A. This is good for damaging other enemies around you. Desperation move: Hard to say EXACTLY what is going on here, but it looks like Green makes the earth around him explode using his root system. The fact 'he' can do it in the air (if escaping from a grab) doesn't make figuring out what's going on here any easier. Upgrades: Alien Twister (Grab, FBM+A), Cost 50, Description--squeeze enemy to death Alien Magic (Grab, full circle motion+A), Cost 100, Description--One of the craziest moves in the game. Green eats his opponent, and spits them out as a spore. Sometimes, when the move kills your enemy, food items pop out! Green Cyclone (FBM+A), Cost 200, Description--Green sends a cyclone across the screen. This can be worked into combos and even used to hit downed characters. Healing Plus, Cost 300, Description--boost to vitality up. Vital Gain, Cost 400 Honey Bee Attack (hold and release A), Cost 500, Description--If you don't charge very long, you get only the poison gas attack, but what you're really looking for is the fully charged attack. Green spits some black goo on an enemy (hard to connect), who is then attacked by a swarm of bees. LOTS of damage! BDL Unit, Cost 200 Extend, Cost 1000 Pink Ostrich A girl riding on the back of a pink ostrich with an eye patch. Not quite sure who the boss is here, but it doesn't seem to matter. Pink immediately differs from the other characters because she has a double jump and can hover. Pink is definitely more of a crowd control character than an in-your-face character. Flying gives her a defensive advantage, but it also makes fighting that much more tedious when you are effective out of the game for a good part of it. Also, most of her moves are pretty weak. SJ: Pink Ostrich may be slower but she IS potent. The Sky Capture is a heavy-powered throw move, and most bosses don't have any defenses against her moves. Her biggest weakness is a significant shortage of cash - few of her moves really shake out the coins except that sky dance of course. The Triple Feather is quite useful, BTW - defensive, excellent for knocking down bosses and getting some breathing space as it's likely to hit and has practically no charge time. Sonic spin does fairly heavy damage with lots of range. End quote: ??? Power-up: Death blow. This apparently allows for critical hits. Special Moves: Rising Ostrich Kick (D,U+A): multi-hit uppercut type move. [Can be upgraded] Levitate (J,J+U): Not an attack in of itself, but critical for sky stomp and sky capture. Sky Stomp (levitate, D+A): One of Pink.O's best moves, but requires a little practice to connect. Hits for a good amount of damage and can hit multiple opponents at once. This can also be comboed into another move or chain. Sky Feather (B,B,A): Pink spins in the air shooting a single pink feather to the ground. A nearly useless move. [Can be upgraded] Burning Arrow (Hold A to charge, release to fire): Pink shoots a burning arrow. Hold longer for a wave effect. [Can be Upgraded] Desperation Move: Pink.O spins, knocking all nearby opponents down. Note, you can still move about while doing this move. Upgrades: Burning Arrow (Hold A to charge, release to fire), Cost 50, Description- -Pink shoots a burning arrow. Hold longer for a wave effect. Sonic Spin (D,U+A), Cost 100, Description--A rising version of Pink's desperation move, but with no cost to your health. Only hits once, but great against multiple attackers. Sky Capture (levitate, D+B), Cost 200, Description--Like the sky stomp but descends at a steeper angle. Low damage, but can hit others. Great against seemingly impossible to hit bosses. Triple Feather (B,B,A), Cost 300, Description--3 way sky feather, and just as useless as the non-upgraded version. Vital Gain, Cost 400 Pinky Ball, (B,D+A), Cost 500, Description--One of the predators had this same move. Pink descends in a ball that hits multiple times for OK damage. BDL UNIT (A+B in air), Cost 200, Description--same as B! found in game. Extend, Cost 1000 Captain Silver Move wise, another clone of Cyber Blue, but with some very strange animation. For my own tastes, Captain Silver seems a bit on the gay side, but I'll let you decide. The Captain's major advantage over others is his ability to freeze his opponents, letting you get in a few extra hits. SJ: I agree... Captain Silver does seem a might light in his loafers when you watch (and it's a pity that you HAVE to watch) his bony animation. Silver's particular strong point is his projectiles, but his combative abilities are still impressive (cool cannon grab!) End quote: All right! Power-up: Defense up. Special moves: Silver rush (dash+A): Captain Silver disappears during his dash but his fist phase in and out, striking multiple times. [Can be upgraded] Silver Arc (FBM+A): A frustrating move because I tend to get it instead of the Slash upper. A weak uppercut-type move that ascends at a 45 degree angle. Only hits once and ends any combo you're doing. Slash upper (D,U+A): a fairly standard multi-hit uppercut Freeze spear (Charge A, then release): A hunk of ice explodes from the Captain's chest, freezing anything in range. Upgrades: Silver Wind (Dash+A), Cost 50, Description--Enhanced version of Silver rush. Slash Stream (D,U+A), Cost 100, Description--Enhanced uppercut. Rolling Crush (In air, D+A), cost 200, Description--Multi-hit air dive. Freeze Laser (Charge A, then release), Cost 300, Description--An ice beam that can freeze multiple opponents at once. Freeze Storm (Charge A, then release), cost 500, Description--A machine- gun like burst of ice particles. Does healthy damage. BDL UNIT (A+B in air), Cost 200, Description--same as B! found in game. Extend, Cost 1000 2. The world of Battle Circuit 2.A.) Meet your enemies: Reptail 1: Green bipedal lizard. Only weapon seems to be a wrench they swing occasionally, can also hit with tongue. Total cannon fodder. Reptail 2: Red version. Maybe a little stronger, but no real threat. Can attack you with its tongue and throw grenades. Rabrada: Large four-armed tough guy, this one is green skinned. Large life-bar. Dorien: Identical to Rabrada, but with blue skin. Arnold: Similiar, but red skinned and without a helmet. I've also noticed that Arnold blinks when he's hit instead of getting knocked back. Hayne: The names just keep getting better! Identical to Rabrada, only purple. This one can transform into an undead version that looks like Arnold (only with gray skin), and also blinks when hit. Gunbuster A: Red samurai looking robot with grenade gun or flame thrower. Medium life-bar. Gunbuster B: Black and gold version, fires laser gun (straight beam or scatter shot.) R.O.B. ver 1.0: Green robot with tiny life bar. Very slow, but can fly. R.O.B. ver 2.0: A yellow robot that can spit out a grenade now and then, and can also fly. R.O.B. ver 3.0: Blue version that's a bit faster and can perform rushes by hovering along the ground. Bike Gal: One hit wonders. Very fast, often contain food. Gunbot A: Little green robot dudes that fire machine guns and also carry knives for close range attacks. Gunbot B: Blue version. Seemingly larger life-bar. Gunbot C: No clue how this differs from version B. I'll be honest, the whole gunbot series pisses me off. They tend to be good at running away and hiding behind the rest of the crowd taking pot shots at you. I can take on a crowd of the four-armed heavies, but these guys get on my nerves. Here is a note from Sane Jake on what I have referred to as 'one hit wonders'. Biker girls only appear as one hit wonders, but some of your normal enemies listed above appear occasionally as one hit wonders. Anyway, here's what Jake has to say: "Occasionally, enemies that only take one hit appear at the far left/right hand sides of the screen, fire a shot or two, and run off. While they often drop food at times, your better bet is to grab them and use the "standing hit" on them. By standing hit, I mean the grab attack move where you just hit attack without pushing any directions, making the character hit them. Normally, you release them on the third hit. However, on these special enemies, you can hit them over and over again, each hit giving you a coin." As this faq gets closer to being a complete walkthrough, I'll probably be noting specially where you can find these 'one hit wonders'. 2.B.) Meet your items: B!: Battle Download Guage Recover--Push A+B while jumping for a quick power-up! M: Money Maker Unit--Turns enemies into coins. Why no weapons??? 2.C.) Meet your money: Copper: 1 Silver: 2 Gold: 5 Bag of coins: 10 Briefcase: 20 Is it possible for the amount of money in Briefcases and Bags to vary? 2.D.) Meet your food: Small recovery-- Slush Noodles Apple (small) Watermelon Pizza (small) Spaghetti Banana Medium-- Hamburger Clab? Honey Peaches Tempura Large--(multi-bite foods) This is the first capcom game I know where food comes in multiple servings, meaning that each character could conceivably have a bite if they choose. Beef: Yup, there is an entire COW all cooked up for you in the game. What's disturbing is that you can eat pieces off of it, such that on my first bite its entire rump disappeared. Even more humorous however is that after you've devoured all the meat, you can then eat its remaining skeleton. Weird. Chicken: three bites. Large apple: three bites. Large Pizza: four bites. 2.E.) Meet your bonus! Golden Saucer bonus: I couldn't figure out where else to put this. Like Magic Sword -AND- Pocket Fighters, there are occasional bonuses (in this case food) for grabs, but you're going to need to hit a little golden saucer that flies across the screen. Once again, here's Sane Jake's take on it... "The yellow ship appears every 250,000 points you score. If you get the points as the result of a boss kill, or during a bonus stage, then he appears in the beginning of the next available stage. If you whack him more than once, he drops a bag of coins per additional hit." Ranking Time Rewards: The faster they die, the better your cash! S: 100,000 pts A: 50,000 pts B: 10,000 pts C: 5,000 pts D: 3,000 pts Health reward: 300 pts x % remaining 3. Walkthrough Note: In documenting the text, I've gotten samples of text from the different characters, most of which is almost identical with some slight yet colorful variations. I've indicated which character I recorded text for, but that does not mean that another character will say precisely the same line. In the text I've referred to each character as Cyber [Blue], [Yellow] Iris, [Green] Alien, [Pink] Ostrich and Captain [Silver]. Please e-mail variants so I can make the text as complete as possible. 3.A.) Game intro and Stage 1: Game Intro: In the year 20xx, a battle for world domination now begins!! Johnny: "With that disk in our hands, the world would be ours." Harry: "That disk must be destroyed." Gang members, bounty hunters and a mysterious scientist are all competing to own the disk!! Who will win the disk and have the last laugh... Dr. Saturn: "It's me! Ge ha ha ha ha!" Stage 1: "Shot down the enemy ship! 60 seconds before explosion!!" Very basic level. Fight a few Reptail (1&2) then take Dr. Saturn out. The room contains two food items, a briefcase, a money maker and a power-up. Blue: "I finally cornered you Dr. Saturn! Surrender now!" Pink: "You can't escape Saturn. Give up and Surrender!" Dr. Saturn: "You've left me no choice. Men, get the invaders!" This is the only time you fight Saturn without his ship. His attacks are pretty limited but can still hurt a lot. His buddy, a small green blob who doesn't have a name as far as I can tell, can turn into a large green arm and hit you. Also Dr. Saturn can cause a cross hair to appear underneath you where lightning will strike shortly. Ranking Boss One: Dr. Saturn (100,000 pts) S: 0'00 - 0'06 A: 0'07 - 0'14 B: 0'15 - 0'29 C: 0'30 - 0'44 D: 0'45+ Blue: "This is Blue. I've found criminal No. 9696X...Dr. Saturn. Prepare my reward, Harry. I'm on my way." Harry: "OK, Blue. Good job!" Harry: "You are always so good, Blue!" CB: "That was a piece of cake, Harry. Next time make it a challenge!" Harry: "Here is your reward, Blue. Various power-ups are available based on your earnings. But remember, you get what you pay for. Choose wisely! Check the COIN guage near the vitality bar for your earnings. There are many different ways to earn money! Use your brain a little. It's not that hard to figure out!" CB: "All right. So what's the next assignment?" Harry: "Get ready, Blue. Next up is criminal No. 5783...You know him as Johnny, head of the 'Delete' gang. He's been hiding out in a disco. Are you interested? CB: "Johnny of the gang 'Delete'? I want him! He's mine!" Upgrade! 3.B.) Stage 2: Fever in the disco! The den of evil! Fight several waves of baddies, most of which are VERY easy. There is one Dorien you'll have to take out (no sweat!), but the other two can be taken out with an M item. After this you'll fight Jonny, another wonderful Capcom spoof on Elvis (see Pocket Fighters for the other one.) Jonny: "Hello baby! Today's guests are bounty hunters. It's showtime!" Jonny has got a pretty decent arsenal. He can sing at you, sending a series of gold notes your way--if they connect I'm afraid you must dance. He can occasionally cause several bursts of fire to explode around him, yet they rarely connect. He also can rush at you with his guitar. Strangely though, his best move seems to be a jumping attack where he hits you his crotch. Ouch! He also has a desperation move that can be pretty annoying. SJ: When Jonny activates his speed power-up, get ready because he's twice as annoying that way. The explosions he causes when he activates this are purely for effect... stage pyrotechnics. I recommend dashing vertically at him and combo during the dash for characters like Blue, Yellow and Silver - grab him otherwise. The Alien Twister is quite effective, but side-to-side smashing is better if his allies still live. Ranking Boss Two: Jonny (150,000 pts) S: 0'00 - 0'39 A: 0'40 - 1'04 B: 1'05 - 1'29 C: 1'30 - 1'59 D: 2'00+ After you beat him, Jonny explodes, appearing as a fatter version of himself. You: What's this disk? What is the Shiva system? Harry: "Yo, bring the disk to me! That disk is..." Dr. Saturn: "The Disk is mine!" Pink: "Dr. Saturn? Why are you here?" Green guy: "It was easy to escape the old man." Saturn: "I'll take the disk. Bye!" Upgrade! 3.C.) Stage 3: Dead heat in the desert! Pink: "Stop Saturn! Give me the disk back!" Saturn: "Fools!! No idiot will wait for you. Take that!!" Fight a wave or two of gunbots (avoid getting shot!) and then confront Saturn. Basically you're fight here is with Saturn in the Black Elephant, a goofy little hovering car he drives. He can use a beam attack (actually projected by his small green buddy), and he can also try to rush or land on you. Watch out for his invincible 'get up' move. Pink: "Ok Saturn, give the disk back or else!" At this point, Barbara, a giant chick with spikey headgear shows up. Seriously intimidating! Barbara: "Bounty hunter scum! You dared fight my Johnny. I'll get you!" Pink: "What...Saturn is getting away! I can't deal with this now!" From here there is a coin collection round that seems just too much like Captain Commando to be coincidence. A few neat things I've found out about it: 1. Although it takes a LOT of shooting, you can blow up Dr. Saturn's vehicle (it skids off to the side) 2. No matter how much you are hit by the mines, you will not die. Afterwards, get ready to fight Barbara. Barbara: "This is the end scum bags! Give it up, your punishment is here!" Barbara is definitely not your easiest fight. She plays an effective game of keep away. She can summon a ring of jellyfish which can shoot at you, or she can send out in waves, but they themselves don't do damage when touched so feel free to bat them out of the way. Barbara can also do chun-li's spinning bird kick which is nothing short of disturbing for a 9 foot tall woman. Also she seems to have one of Psylock's moves (knee rush), and can summon lightning. On top of these, I've seen her use a beam weapon (perhaps only during your second encounter with her) and do a blade-kick. Ouch! SJ: Since Barbara is such a coward, angled rushing attacks, shots or better yet fast, angled special attacks really cause her serious pain. This is where your character's range will come in VERY handy. Ranking Boss Three: Barbara (200,000 pts) S: 0'00 - 0'39 A: 0'40 - 1'04 B: 1'05 - 1'29 C: 1'30 - 1'59 D: 2'00+ Pink: "Saturn has escaped. I must return to the office now." After upgrade Harry: "I have another assignment. Go after Saturn and get the disk." Pink: "Harry, what does the disk do? It was labeled 'Shiva Systems' or something... Harry: "'Shiva Systems' can control all the computers in the world. You could conquer the world with this power. It is not currently operable...But the disk Saturn stole can activate the system. It will be disastrous if the disk is used with evil intent. We must retrieve it and destroy it." Pink: "I'm not picky about the mission if the reward is high but... this one sounds very dangerous." Harry: "We've located the hideout of Saturn. Get there immediately!" 3.D.) Stage 4: Sneak in and foil Dr. Saturn's plans! Fight on two cliff tops with minor waves of enemies, culminating in a fight on the third cliff with B.O.B.--apparently the mother of all R.O.B.'s. Special attacks include a long claw reach, a large beam attack and a very silly looking rush. More humorous than anything else. Green: "Saturn's lab must be in here!" Next you'll go through some levels pretty reminiscent of AvsP. You'll need to navigate some mounted flame throwers and some mines. No biggie. You'll run into several reptail baddies and a couple Rabrada, but that's all. Better still, there's an M unit, so if it gets a bit thick, just wipe 'em out with that. Then get ready for the Octopus! Also, something spotted by Strider Ishmael, and of certain Capcom significance, if you look in the background during this part of the game, you'll note where trays with lizard men molds are being used to make fresh Reptails! I was thinking that the usual Capcom convention (namely, guys in tubes) was sorely missing from Battle Circuit, but why bother to grow 'em in a tube when you can bake 'em on a cookie sheet! This is perhaps one of the funniest things I've seen in ANY video game. Boss Fight: Octopus Mark 2 This can be a rather difficult boss because it is both impossible to grab (bad news for Alien Green) and tends to leave a trail of bombs making it hard to get close to. Also fires waves of missiles (horizontally and vertically) and uses a close up attack where it waves a large mechanical arm. Fortunately, this boss can be stunned. Here is Sane Jake's advice on Battle Circuit: "At the start of the fight, the only bomb that matters is the FIRST bomb he drops -- the one with the counter. DON'T touch it or it will go off... you can touch the other bombs safely. Just hit him and get ready to move in about 4 seconds. The second phase is just nasty. My advice is to use hit and run tactics - like you would with any super-armor type enemy. Get ready if it ever moves quickly as it's going to fire missiles. Abuse your desperation move." Ranking Boss Four: Octpus Mark2 250,000 S: 0'00 - 0'59 A: 1'00 - 1'14 B: 1'15 - 1'39 C: 1'40 - 2'09 D: 2'10+ Saturn: "Noooo! My masterpiece has been mangled!" Green: "Surrender now you insane bastard!" Pink: "Give it up scum face!" Green: "Who the hell are you?" Pink: "Who on earth are you?" Zipang: "So, you bounty hunters took out Johnny... I came to get my disk back from Saturn. You are irrelevant. Oh you found the disk. We can't let these guys go... Capture them now!" After upgrade: Zipang: "I'm taking this disc to Pluto. Get the bounty hunters, Doc." Doc: "Understood, Mr. Zipang." 3.E.) Stage 5: Jungle Battle, escape from the death line! What would a Capcom sidescroller be without a bonus round--in this case, break a piece of glass to escape from being tortured by a spiked wheel. Green: "Where am I? Oh yeah, I was captured by him and...!!" Green: "I managed to escape but...Am I in Delete's prison camp?" Defeat a few waves of Gunbuster A's, Reptail 1's and a Rabrada. While you are fighting, you can bust Saturn out of the hut he's imprisoned in: Saturn: "I won't thank you Blue. My loyal men would have saved me anyway." Green blob (driving the Black Elephant): "Boss, where are you? I'm your rescue party...Oh there you are! You look terrible! Let's get out of here!" Blue: "What?! He was so rude, he owes us...Yes! The Vital Gain Unit! I will increase my vitality with it!" SJ: The VGU increase your vitality bar size. Considerably, if you already purchased a level. If you don't save Saturn, you just get this: Saturn: "Hey, please help me!" Next you'll be fighting some more Reptails, Gunbusters and an Arnold (don't be afraid, he's no harder than the others.) After this, you'll face Dave! Dave: "Damn you! You've escaped!" Dave seems like a rather ordinary guy, but seated in a fast moving cobra chair (yeah, I don't get it either), and also has some sort of claw attached to his arms. The most common attack is simply running over you. He also has a beam weapon, and can pounce on you. Doc: "You defeated Dave? Noooo! You'll get me too!" A quick fight here on some sort of tree-top scaffolding. You'll face a swarm of Reptail's (1&2), but there's an M unit if you tire of it, and you can keep hitting the tree for bananas. There follows a very short scene with mines on either side and rock falls. Very easy to get hurt here, but there is some money for the taking. Green: "Stop sniveling, where did that giant go?" Pink: "Shut up and tell me where the giant is!" Doc: "Noo, they came for me! I have no choice. Men, get them!" Doc&Jennifer: For as wimpy as this Baboon talks (or is it Jennifer talking?), Doc&Jennifer can be a really tough match. One, he uses the same trick as the displacer beast in the D&D games (watch for his red shadow), but worse, his attacks have extremely high priority, and he moves pretty quick to boot! Still, this is such a ridiculous boss, its hard to complain. Some of his moves include the throwing rocks and bombs, a long-reach punch and slide, and he can also piledrive you. Extremely hard to land combos on--watch out!!! SJ: "Heh! This duo is a real joke! They've got a weakness: If you perform a knee-drop on their "downed" bodies, you can then proceed to combo! And yes, you can repeat this. Yellow Iris/Beast RULES this one!" Ranking Boss Five: Doc & Jennifer 300,000 S: 0'00 - 0'59 A: 1'00 - 1'14 B: 1'15 - 1'39 C: 1'40 - 2'09 D: 2'10+ Pink: "A warp gate? The monster escaped...I will follow him!" Blue: "A warp gate? This may lead me to the scumbag!" Upgrade! 3.F.) Stage 6: Chase Zipzang as you go down the river Pink: "This is 'Fujiyama city'?! Delete's headquarters are here!" After some small fights, take on Chris, Betsy and Cathy, three biker chicks dressed in blue, green or red. I'm using 'dressed' rather loosely here, since they apparently decided that wearing a shirt and pants would be too big a hassle. After a series of fights, you'll catch up with Zipzang: Zipzang: "Screw you! You chased me, but now I'll retreat. Get them!" At this point, two samurai in a giant mech suit [Cyber Samurai] will appear and do its best to put an end to your enjoyment. Attacks include duel laser beams, missles, a rushing move that is hard to avoid, a sword attack, and I've seen him block with an umbrella. Note the entire COW laying on the floor. Don't eat it all at once unless you're REALLY hungry. After the fight you catch up with Zipzang again: Pink: "Where is the disk? Turn it over and I'll spare you." Zipzang: "You want to know where the disk is? Over my dead body fools!" Zipzang transforms into Zipzang version 1, which is very weak, and you should be able to defeat without difficulty. Zipzang says something here about fooling you into using up all your power, then transforms into a more powerful version. Lookout! Among his new attacks, you'll notice there are several orange balls rotating about him. These can fire lightning, so if they start tracking you around, watch out. Also, he uses a damaging lance spin that hits everything too close to him, a fireball attack which hits straight ahead for lots of damage, and he can jump on you. His deadliest attack though is a lance thrust--if the whole thing connects, you're dead. Make sure and use your desperation move to get out of it! Oh, anyone notice that Zipzang is riding a two headed slug with horns!!?? SJ: "This twit is a total pain. You're better off landing some combos, and then running out of line (that is, so you are no longer vertically aligned with him) and a fair distance away and wait for him to either try to land on you or miss a rush, allow you more hits. He's hard to grab and breaks it quickly (hurting you) so bruisers like Alien Green are better off juggling him with continued rush attacks." Ranking Boss Six: Zipang 350,000 S: 0'00 - 0'59 A: 1'00 - 1'19 B: 1'20 - 1'59 C: 2'00 - 2'39 D: 2'39+ SJ: There may be inaccuracies... these time limits may change from region to region... After the fight, you'll demand the disk from Zipzang. Zipzang: "Too late, I sent it to Pluto!" Pink: "Pluto? That's the boss of Delete! Where's Pluto?" Zipzang: "He left to activate the Shiva System with the disk. I heard the Shiva System is in the Neo Andes Mountains." Pink: "OK, Pluto is going down!" Upgrade! 3.G.) Stage 7: Showdown! A desperate battle with the Shiva system! A series of pretty easy fights until you catch up (once again) with Barbara and two of her clones (in yellow and black respectively)--so actually you're fighting her, Asura and Sandra. Fortunately their life- bars are shorter and they don't summon those jellyfish. Still, it's one hell of a fight. Oh, they now have a sort of beam weapon, but it has pretty short range. After the fight, discover a secret entrance only to fight Dr. Saturn (who apparently followed you) in his Black Elephant and the Octopus Mark 3. Pink: "What's this? Something underground... Dr. Saturn: "Ooooh, that hurt! Wow, the Shiva Sytem at last!" The little green blob: "Glad I followed these idiots..." Pink: "Dr. Saturn, you just never give up do you?" Dr. Saturn: "I won't go down easily this time!" The only difference between your previous encounters with the Black Elephant and the Octopus in this fight are Saturn's strange new ability to drop a good dozen or so bombs that look just like him. Incidentally, I'd focus on Saturn here as his life bar is MUCH shorter, and there is no reward for beating the Octopus first (which dies the moment you beat Saturn anyway...) SJ: The Octopus gives you additional coins, but isn't worth the effort. Pink: "Saturn is so damn annoying. I hope I've seen the last of him. Got to keep moving..." A short series of battles across moving plates follows, nothing that hard. Then comes your confrontation with Pluto. Pluto: "You interfered with me again, and it ends here! I've already activated the Shiva System. First I'll take you...and then the world!" Pluto is actually a relatively easy boss (perhaps hinting at the super- difficult hidden boss), the only really challenging aspect being his ability to power himself up the same way you can. I've even seen him do Pink's Death Blow. Try to keep on him so he dies before using using too many power-ups. SJ: "Repeatedly use your best combos... but Alien Green and Pink Ostrich RULE this fight. The Alien Twister and Diving Capture decimate this twit... his Armour power-up is worthless against the powerful throw moves!" Ranking Boss Seven: Pluto S: 0'00 - 1'39 A: 1'40 - 1'54 B: 1'55 - 2'19 C: 2'20 - 2'34(?) D: 2'35 + (?) Pink: "It's already begun. What is the human control program? A destructive program is running! Harry, what do we do?" Harry: "No choice! You must destroy the system! System: "Error...Error...Self-destruction activated!!" Pink: "Oh no! We've got to get out of here! 3.H.) Stage 8: Last battle! Stop the master program! You need 3,200,000 points, and you have to get 1,000 coins or 6 upgrades. Blue: "Shiva is already on-line! What is that 'Human Control Program'? Something terrible is happening Harry, what should we do?" Harry: "You've got two options! You can forcibly pull out the disk or fight the Master Program who is materializing. But you'd better be prepared if you fight at all! Blue! What will you do?!" Fight with the Master Program or Pull out the disk? If you chose to pull out the disk, you'll get the same old ending. If you chose to fight the program, be ready for the toughest, cheapest boss you're gonna find this side of a Neo-Geo game. Almost impossible to combo against, and hard as hell to connect with at all. Waves of fire- power and attacks that can kill you in virtually one hit. Master Program: "I am the master program, controller of the Shiva System. Foolish humans! You dare interfere with me...!" Dr. Saturn: "Wait! Shiva System is mine... W...what's this monster?!" The Master Program takes out Saturn with his ice attack. Master Program: "Get outta here!" Harry: "Green! I'll transfer you the data for full power!" Green: "OK, Harry! Nothing's gonna stop me now!" Yellow: "Thanks Harry, I owe you one!" Upgrade! There is a shot of 'The Shiva System' (a sort of inverted pyramid) shooting off into orbit. There's also a goat in the foreground, just in case anyone wanted to know. Master Program: "So you dare to oppose me! Then DIE!! I will now commence the final defense system: Program Genocide." Green: "I'm not being paid for this part, you're lucky...I'm gonna destroy you for free!" Master Program: "Any who oppose me will be exterminated!" Not that this is going to save you from many painful deaths, but here is Sane Jake's strategy guide: ************************** Stage 8: Mr. Cheapo Master Program strategies Probably the best character to use is Yellow Beast -- her Illusion Dance (upgraded) has the best range and hit capacity, since Mr. Cheap likes to stay airborne. Tip One: Watch the shadow When Cheapo leaves the screen, he flies back down vertically. Stay underneath and perform your uppercut move (bad news for Alien Green) to get a few hits in. Tip Two: Ice Breath Believe it or not, when Cheapo's pushing you back he's actually helping you by leaving himself open to hits. You have enough time that once he stops beating his dragon's wings, you can run up to him (ON AN ANGLE) and give him a bit of a beating before he flies away. Tip Three: Ice Charge Run at a diagonal angle while attacking. You'll probably just miss each other, but you're better off NOT trading hits. Tip Five: Fire Breath Cheap, cheap, cheap. Your counter? Desperation move or power-up activation. Both grant you a precious few moments of invulnerability. Move to the extreme upper or lower part of the screen, and hope for the best. This jerk may try the move SEVERAL TIMES IN A ROW if you avoid it the first time. If there's a way to make him knock it off, I've never found it. Tip Six: Block Drop Watch it when he performs a multi-coloured flashing swoop. Dodge the blocks... and if you can, get ready to pound on him with your uppercut when the last block falls as HE'LL be on top, posing. Tip Seven: Tornado Move With a pink, electrifying tornado he moves around the screen just trying to touch you. Counter with a Power-Up activate for invulnerability or a desperation move. Tip Eight: Octopus Pretty vulnerable at this point. Try to get your hits in while you can. Tip Nine: Poser Dance This would be a prime time to either use a desperation move if he's too close... or just blast him at a distance. Tip Ten: Cloud Mode If he does this right after an Ice Dragon push-back, get ready to dodge and it's nearly impossible to knock him out of this fast move. Otherwise, dash in for an uppercut -- he's vulnerable. Character Specific Notes: Alien Green - The dashing uppercut and Honey Bee Attack are your primary weapons since getting throws in will be next to impossible. The Honey Bee Attack will hit even as long as it touches any part of him - regardless if he's flying low on the dragon or posing on the blocks. PUNISH him. Yellow Iris/Captain Silver/Cyber Blue - Uppercut, and early so when he's coming down after an attack you'll get some extra hits in. Pink Ostrich - She's going to have the easiest time thanks to air superiority and her defensive moves. Remain airborne - none of Mr. Cheapo's attacks are designed specifically to counter an aerial assault. Other Notes: Mr. Cheapo's got naked women in his clouds... gaze with unbridled lust at the pixelated cloud-nipples! Well, that oughta do it for now. I've seen cheaper bosses than Master Program, but rarely in a beat'em up. (Not even Ezerhoden is that cheap. At least you can HIT Ezerhoden most of the time!) ************************** RANKING Boss Eight: Master Program (500,000) S: 0'00 - 3'29 A: 3'30 - 3'49 B: 3'50 - 4'19 C: 4'20 - 4'49 D: 4'50+ 3000 Special Bonus (Stage 8 Only) Clear Game Time S: 0'00 - 9'29 1,000,000 pts? A: 9'30 - 10'59 500,000 pts? B: 11'00 - 13'29, 100,000 pts C: 13'30 - 16'59, 50,000 pts D: 17'00 +, 30,000 pts? COIN x 5000 Remaining Lives x 2,000,000 SJ: The ? indicates that the value is an educated guess; I don't know for sure but it would fit the previous patterns. If you beat the Master program, when you finish, you'll ask for twice the reward, and there the ending shot is different, showing the Shiva System blowing up in space. If you pull out the disk, it's the same old ending. No reward for being smart I guess. Lastly, my score for beating the Master Program was 5329407 (yeah, 7 continues, what do you want?), quite a bit better than what you get for the normal ending. Also, in the score ranking screen, The Master Program appears (though he himself is darkened out--like Akuma in SSF2T) in his blue dragon form. Ranking was 'Mega Lord" 3.I.) Game Conclusion: Harry: "Great! You've completed your mission! I'll be waiting for you to come back. Whew, What a game! Hey Pink! I'm glad you made it back so early, but enter from the door next time! Blue: "Don't be so strict, Harry! We almost died!" Didn't Fight Master Program --------------------------- Harry: "Anyway, I'm glad you're all safe! Now that we've saved the human race, how about a vacation to the Carib?" Pink: "That doesn't concern me! I want money and riches! I don't need a vacation Harry. Give me a new mission with bigger rewards!" Fought Master Program (SJ) --------------------- Harry: "By the way, what happened to Shiva Systems?" Male: "It's probably just sand on the beach by now..." Female: "Don't worry, I took care of it..." (Shows the pyramid of Shiva Systems explode) 3.J.) Count-down text: Harry:"What!? Have you been defeated?" After 5 seconds: "OK! I'll give you a big bonus if you continue." "Don't give up! Fight on" "Ohhh noo... It's game over!" I was wondering if this bonus that Harry promises was for real. Sane Jake responds: "Yep! The bonus is for real! In the machine settings, when you continue you (may, depending on settings) get an extra life (like you do in Aliens Vs. Predator). I believe that the Bomb (I know it's an ability boost, but I always call it the Bomb) is also part of said bonus. So in certain settings, you do get a bonus. In certain settings, that is." 4. Region differences This is going to be very brief because I've only just started noting some of the differences. As always, please e-mail me if you find anything to add to this section. The obvious region differences are language: Region 00----Japan: Japanese Region 01------USA: English Region 02-----Asia: English (the universal language of Asia!) Region 03-Hispanic: Hispanic (duh!) Region 04-----Euro: English Region 05---Brazil: Portuguese (?) Interestingly enough, this actually changes some of the end quotes, but only in the Japanese version. Cyber Blue says 'No Ploblem!' (much to my consternation) in all regions, but Captain Silver, Yellow Iris and Pink Ostrich say something different in Japanese than in the other regions. It seems however as long as it isn't Region 00, they will always have the same end quotes. Another difference I noted was the absence of the angry Yakuza guys during the battle with the Cyber Samurai in the non-Japanese regions. Too bad they chose to take this out, coz its quite funny. 5. How can I play Battle Circuit (availability) Battle Circuit is among the Capcom games that were essentially lost to gamers outside of Japan until the era of emulation. Thus, the only way to be able to play this game is either by purchasing the arcade or through emulation. While I am not a proponent of the use of roms when the product can be purchased, the fact that we can now play 'lost' games has helped complete the picture of Capcom's continued innovation in the videogame business. It's also finally allowed us to get our hands on some really incredible games. (Note that Alien versus Predator and the D&D games have NEVER been legally available in the US. Why?) SJ: Really? First I've heard of D&D and A vs. P not being available. There are US romsets for both so I'm pretty sure they were released. CM: Sorry, I am referring to home console versions. **slap!** Nothing more frustrating than -loving- Alien versus Predator in the arcades and NEVER seeing a home release. Before I encourage you to emulate this game, I would also ask that you support Capcom through purchase of their available products. There has been a surge of interest in the emulation of Capcom, most of which can be purchased (often cheaply) for the DC or other systems. Given Capcom's tremendous ability to make games that have stood the test of time (yup, Black Tiger is STILL a great game!), don't just leach their games (lamer.) Support the guys who have been a massive force behind the shape of video games today. Anyway, this is the url to CPS2 shock, the home page for the folks who have single-handedly brought CPS2 emulation to your PC. Hopefully this will give you an idea of what you'll need to emulate Battle Circuit: http://cps2shock.retrogames.com/ 6. Future updates Except for Sane Jake's contributions, there are no real strategies listed here yet. That isn't because I think you're all pros and can do it on your own, but rather that I just haven't had the time to get some really concrete strategies into my head. I figure once some people are reading this, they'll be a lot of suggestions e-mailed my way, and I can start documenting all those crazy ways you find to beat up those poor lizard men. Complete text: Well, it is probably good enough, but perhaps this faq needs the COMPLETE text said by every character. So be it. Also, just what is Pink saying for her end quote? Options: I suppose I could fool around with the game configuration and see what everything does. That could be in an update. Your fan-fiction: Needs to stay on your computer, or better yet, in your own imagination. I don't want to know about it. I don't want to see polaroids of you dressed up as Yellow Iris. Keep all that weird stuff where it belongs, in your own private life. 7. Credits Profound thanks goes to the CPS2 Shock team which broke the CPS2 encryption, saving some of the best games of the 90's from Oblivion. A second round of applause to them for not just dumping the games in a manner that would undermine Capcom. It also follows that I am indebted to the programmers who have worked so hard at making incredible emulators. Final Burn (thanks Dave) and all its variations (thanks to Treblewinner, et al.), Nebula (El Semi), Calice, Kawaks, A.C.E., etc. etc. I also need to thank Strider Ishmael for suggesting a Battle Circuit faq and helping me play-test it. Also, huge kudos to Sane Jake (on Gamefaqs) for his knowledge on this game (which seems to surpass mine), for basically co-writing the faq! And of course, my forever humble gratitude to Dean 'the Deano' Thompson, the man (and legend) who taught me everything there is to know about Capcom side-scrolling goodness. R.I.P. 8. Legal Battle Circuit and all other related names/trademarks are copyright/trademarked Capcom Co., Ltd. This document is copyright Chris Moon 2001 and cannot be reproduced for profit in any form. It can be freely distributed over the internet as long as it is unaltered and is only distributed on free (i.e. non- subscription) sites. If you do choose to post this document on your site, please email me to let me know.