Thunder Force IV/Wall

This level is easy compared to the last one. Some enemies you will run into are these little hand-things that jump and stick to you. They can't hurt you directly, but they pull you downward and reduce your speed drastically (if you can hold on to these things until they drop off, they are worth 10,000 points apiece). Also, you will run into wall-mounted robots that have infrared lasers like the ../Strite/ mini-boss. The ones on the wall will fire twin energy blasts if they are set off, and the floating cylinders will fire rail gun-like beams downward. Pairs of metal gears will roll along the walls and shoot bullets at you until you manage to blow off their covers.

If you find a string of the metal gears strung across your path, shoot them until they bend back all the way, then move forward quickly so you don't get whacked when the gears snap back into place. There will also be small things on the floors and ceilings that will launch streams of little stingrays at you. If a solitary metal gear comes rolling along, don't get above it for too long or it will form a circle around you and crush you. At a point about halfway through the level a strange thing with lots of fingers will come from behind and try to pull the ceiling down on top of you. You can't kill it, so fly out front of the section it is going to pull down, and then look on top of the lowered section of ceiling to find a 1-up.

The mini-boss is a bunch of medium-sized stingrays that come at you and shoot torpedoes. One of the stingrays will stop and face off with you. After he has received significant damage, he will pull armor to himself from the top and bottom of the screen. At this point you can only harm him when the arms are extended, and when he does extend his arms, stay directly in front of him, as that is the only place he does not fire. The only other thing to be careful of is the streams of mini-stingrays he sends at you, but these are easily destroyed.

When you begin to head upwards, be ready to rapidly switch between Twin Shot/Blade and Back Shot/Rail Gun, because you will run into the wall-mounted things in front and behind you. Ascend the wall, and then out into the open corridor. Select the Blade or some other weapon with a lot of forward firepower, because a whole bunch of little balls will come flying at you from in front. After that, take the top route of the two paths and switch to Rail Gun or Back Shot. Kill all of the little spinning stingrays coming from behind, snatch the 1-up, and go out the top at the end.

Next is this level's boss, Armment Clow, who you'll want to get behind. The cannons on his rear will each fire once in succession, so avoid the lasers and use Rail Gun, Freeway, Hunter, or Back Shot to destroy them. Now the hard part – avoid the bullet spreads and missiles while shooting at the shield covering the orange orb between his claws. When the shield is gone, he will begin to spread his arms, fire a string of homing missiles from each claw, and then make a jab at you with one arm. When his claws start to glow, get between them and blast the orange orb, then back out as soon as the flamethrowers stop to avoid getting crushed by his claws. When one of his arms falls off he will use his remaining arm to fire missiles, and he will begin to use a flamethrower that circles the screen. The only way to avoid this is to circle the boss and stay away from the flame. Keep blasting the orb when you have a chance and eventually he will start to explode. He is not completely dead yet, though, and will follow you around the screen until he dies.