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[71220058272027]
[L2(2)L4(1_1)]
Ghost Pilots
General FAQ
NeoGeo Version 1.0
By: Blueberry Buttface
blueberrybuttface(at)gmail(dot)com
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Table of Contents: Find (Ctrl+F) Keyword
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Section I. Introduction and Overview IAO
Section II. General FAQ GFQ
Section III. Future Updates FUP
Section IV. Legal Information LGL
Section V. Credits CRD
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Section I. Introduction and Overview IAO
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This document is a general guide to the game Ghost Pilots for the NeoGeo. This
guide will not be a walkthrough, since writing a walkthrough for this game
would be rather difficult. Rather, this guide will present the basics of the
game sufficiently so that the player knows what she or he is getting into and
what to basically do to complete the game.
Among the thigs this guide will present are the basic enemies, the bombs, and
other items of interest that the player will encounter. By basic enemies, I
mean truly basic, as there are numerous enemies that differ in only very
limited aspects, and finding such instances would be a waste of time since the
player will notice such things as soon as she or he encounters the enemy. That
is the premise of the guide, so without further ado, on to the FAQ.
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Section II. General FAQ GFQ
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Missions
------
First of all, the player does not get to choose which plane she or he flies,
something that separates this game from other arcade shooters. What the player
does get to choose is the bomb type she or he wishes to have equipped during
the mission. There are three missions, with the last only being accessible
after the player has completed the other two missions. All of the missions
have the same general landscape in the stages, with some of them being
grasslands, others being mountainous, and still others being over the sea or
in the clouds. Each mission consists of multiple stages which usually feature
a change in landscape, and have a boss or mini-boss at the end. Once one of
the first two missions has been completed, the player must play the other, and
then the final mission will be available. At the beginning of each mission, a
bomb selection screen allows the player to equip the destructive aid of her
or his choice.
Bombs
-----
There are four different bombs. There is a standard bomb, which has a standard
circular blast radius that lasts for a few seconds. There is a ring bomb,
which places a protective ring of blasts around the pilot that moves toward
whichever direction the player moves after using it. There is a napalm-like
bomb which engulfs an area in flames. There is an orb bomb, which calls two
companion planes that drop orbs in a square formation, one orb making one
corner of the square, that explode to make an unharmed central area. No matter
which bomb the player chooses, there is one attribute common to them all,
despite having strong destructive power. This is the protection against all
projectiles the enemies may launch at the player. In other words, the player
can stay inside the blast radii of her or his bombs to remain invulnerable
for a short time. The player is equipped with three bombs per life. Please
note that though there are four bombs featured throughout the missions, some
of the bombs are not available until the next mission. The order in which they
are availavle is as follows:
First Mission (whichever of the two the player chooses):
Standard Bomb, Ring Bomb
Second Mission (the other mission of the first choice):
Standard Bomb, Ring Bomb, Napalm Bomb
Final Mission (unlocked by completing the other two):
Standard Bomb, Ring Bomb, Napalm Bomb, Orb Bomb
Enemies
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The enemies of the game involve the three general modes of travel: land, sea,
and air. By land, the enemies are tanks. Tanks come in all shapes and sizes,
the larger being more strong than the smaller, and the different types of
tanks being noted by their color and features. Some tanks take one hit to
destroy, others two. The ones which take two can be neutralized with the
first shot since it more or less destroys the turret of the tank, rendering
it harmless. The larger tanks have different features, such as rapid fire,
flamethrower, and dispersed shots. Other land type enmies include trains
which carry tanks, carriers which carry tanks, and trucks equipped with
single or multiple homing missiles. By sea, there are boats and ships, which
are much more rare than the other enemy types. The ships and boats vary far
less than the tanks and planes, and seem much weaker. One shot is usually
enough to destroy the average ship. By air, the enemies are planes, which are
the most diverse of enemy types. The average planes take one shot, but the
more difficult ones take far more. Planes follow differet patterns. For
instance, there are yellow ones which usually fly from one side of the screen
to the other. There are red planes which follow each other, and destroying
all of the planes in the train will yield a pick up item. The blue planes
follow the player. There are also jets which speed across the screen
attempting to crash into the player. The larger planes fly somewhat slowly
across the screen, and are equipped with much more destructive weapons like
rapid fire and dispersed shots and such. Boss enemies are generally planes
for the most part, and have multiple weapons and parts that become detached
when destroyed.
Pick ups
--------
Pick ups in this game come in four forms. The first is the bomb pick up which
gives the player an extra bomb. The bomb pick up is denoted by a floating B.
The S pick up adds a bullet to the standard two shot fire of the player. The
1up pick up gives the player an extra life. The stars that are left behind
from the more difficult enemies give the players scoring bonuses upon pick up
and at the end of the stage. Each star gives the player a one thousand point
bonus upon pick up, and a one thousand point bonus at the end of the stage.
Strategies
----------
One trick to avoiding enemy fire is to launch a bomb and remain in the blast
radius, since no enemy fire can penetrate it. This works for most of the
bombs, the exception being the orb bomb, since there is a very tiny gap in the
center of the blast radii of the orbs that may result in enemy fire breaking
through the defense.
Ships and boats seem to be the least harmful of the enemies the player
encounters. They have a slow rate of fire, and are easily destroyed with one
or two shots. The player can safely fly overhead and suffer no crash, unlike
if the player does so with a plane. Taking these enemies out first would be
a good idea.
A strategy against tanks is to take out the rotary turret of the tanks which
can have such things destroyed. Doing so would cut down the amount of fire
the player must avoid. This would leave time to remove the larger threats,
such as bigger tanks and enemy planes. One thing to remember is these tanks
do not leave behind any stars, so if the player was to simply ignore such
tanks after destroying their turrets, she or he would only be missing out on
the amount of points that would be given for destroying the tanks fully.
Red planes follow a set pattern, and are easily avoided unless the player
happens to be in their path. As said above, once all of the enemy units in the
red plane formation are destroyed, a pick up item will appear. There are
six red planes in each formation, and one shot per unit is all it takes to
bring one plane down.
Avoiding homing missiles is somewhat tricky. The missiles are launched from
horizontal trucks, as well as some boss enemies, and there are usually four
or five missiles in a group. It takes one shot for each missile to be
destroyed, but this can be difficult due to their spread out formation. Also,
avoiding one of these beauties is very difficult if it manages to get behind
the player. The missiles can go off the screen and return. If the player has
difficulty shooting these out of the sky, she or he can simply avoid them
until they self-destruct.
Blue planes are a very big nuisance, as they fire at the player if they are
ahead, and follow the player once she or he is out of the line of fire. Once
this happens, they follow the same pattern as homing missiles. They can go
off screen and return, it seems. They also only take one shot to destroy.
Unlike missiles, though, blue planes remain until destroyed. Therefore, if
the player is having a rather difficult time destroying these pests, she or he
can simply launch a bomb and catch the enemies in the blast.
Jets are fairly easy to avoid, as they speed straight across the screen.
Simply move to the side and they will not bother the player. There are larger
jets equipped with two thrust engines, meaning they speed across at a much
faster speed than the smaller ones. In these cases, if moving to the side is
not possible or rather difficult, the player can simply use a bomb to remove
this threat.
The larger planes come in mainly from behind, but some may appear from the
front. They move slowly, but usually have a faster bullet speed than the
smaller planes. Furthermore, these planes may be equipped with homing
missiles. The larger planes take multiple shots to bring down, but they are
the primary source of stars for the player. Simply shooting them from behind
while dodging whatever they throw at the player makes short work of these
enemies.
Bosses vary in weaponry and difficulty. Each boss has multiple targets, with
each target having multiple weapons. Bombs are the best weapon to use against
bosses, but due to the lack of such, shots are the main weapon the player will
use. Once all of the weapons in a target have been destroyed, the player moves
on to the next target, and the next set of weapons. Usually, once a target
has been fully destroyed, it will break off from the enemy, or, in the case of
multiple bosses in one boss fight, will crash. using the bomb invulnerability
is ideal, as well as having a strong shot level. Focusing on homing missiles
first is important, as those will probably be the main reason why death
occurs. The second targets should be the spread shots, since they fire more
bullets than the other weapons, thus increasing the chance of being shot down.
On the other hand, destroying either of these before the other has its
benefits. For instance, there would be less bullets flying around while taking
out the homing missiles if the player destroys the spread shots first.
However, destroying the spread shots would be easier without the homing
missiles causing the player to constantly move. Therefore, it is really up to
the player on which weapon to destroy first. After these have been destroyed,
attacking the single shots would be best, and then finally the constant
weapons, such as the flamethrowers some bosses are equipped with.
Respawn Armor
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When the player dies and has a life to continue with, the plane remains
invincible for a very short time, and during this time, any enemy that comes
in contact with the player takes damage. This can be used to remove the weaker
enemies around the player, and can cause a decent amount of damage to the
larger enemies and bosses. It must be said, though, that the respawn armor
does not last long, maybe two or three seconds at maximum. Therefore, it may
not be wise to fly inside an enemy with it, but rather, let the enemy fly into
the plane.
Scoring
-------
Each mission contains stages. After each stage, the points acquired in that
stage are totaled and added to the current score of the player. The score
depends on the stars the player has collected from destroying enemies that
possess them, and on the clear bonus of that stage. The scoring for various
enemies is as follows:
Boss - multiple of 10,000 points
end enemy of stages
Clear Bonus - 20,000 points usually
bonus given after stages
Large Plane - 5,000 points
flies slowly, has stars
Train - 2,000 points
carries tanks
Star - 1,000 points
dropped by some enemies
Truck - 600 points
has homing missiles
Large Tank - 500 points
brown, green
Diver Plane - 300 points
dives down from above
Red Plane - 300 points + 1000 points if all destroyed
flies set pattern
Rotary Tank - 200 points for turret + 200 points for tank
has destructible turret
Small Plane - 200 points
green, yellow, blue, brown
Small Ship - 200 points
has one cannon
Small Tank - 200 points
green for the most part
Homing Missile - 100 points
follows player
Death
-----
After the player has lost all of her or his lives, a continue message pops up
with a timer of about ten seconds. Also, if the player has achieved a high
score, a prompt for the initials of the player appears at the top left corner
of the screen. If the player wishes to continue, all of her or his points are
lost, and the player must continue from the point where she or he died with
a score of zero. The player is given three lives per continue, and unlike
other games, the player can not accumulate lives during a play duration. Of
course, if the player manages to pick up a 1up item, a life is added to her or
his total.
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Section III. Future Updates FUP
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There will likely be few updates for thius guide since I do not find myself
playing this game more than I have already. It is not that I do not like this
game, it is just that I have beaten it and do not find it to have enough
replayability. However, if a reader wishes for more information to be added
to this guide, she or he may contact me. Furthermore, if there are any errors
in this guide, please contact me. Other than these two things, I do not see
any updates coming for this guide.
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Section IV. Legal Information LGL
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This document is restricted to personal, private use only. Any website which
wishes to use this guide must have permission prior to use. The most recent
version of this guide will always be found at GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com).
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Section V. Credits CRD
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CJay - for hosting this document and maintaining GameFAQs
FCB - great community
Sintaku - this is part of his NeoGeo Completion Project
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http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/32748.html
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Requiesce in Pace, Mr. Phillips.
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Copyright © (C) et cetera Jacob Kuiken 2005
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