Dragon Spirit/Stage 3

Walkthrough
As soon as the Round Phoenix is defeated, dragonfly-like insects known as Saults will drop down from the top of the screen. They can appear anywhere along the top, and will only ever travel straight down. Simply weaving the dragon back and forth along the bottom of the screen should help you destroy the majority of them. This is an easy start to what is actually a long and challenging stage.

The Saults will continue as the rocky molten surface gives way to a lush forest. Tree branches extend very high off the ground and can actually obscure enemies that are sheltered beneath. Joining the Saults will be a butterfly-like enemy known as Swallowtails. Swallowtails flutter around somewhat randomly for a short period of time, and then they dart in Amul's direction. If you take them out quickly enough, they pose relatively little threat.

The combination of Saults and and Swallowtails will continue as you fly through the tree canopy. Saults will begin to shoot at you while they dive down as well. A red egg will appear along the right side of the screen, and a blue egg will appear near the left side. As you proceed through this level, Saults will essentially fly down the screen nearly non-stop. You will always have to deal with them in addition to the other threats described.

When the canopy stops, you must prepare for a very dangerous enemy. Large Peacocks will appear from the top of the screen. They will arrive at a position near the top and come to a stop. Then they will fan out their tail feathers. If they are allowed to fan their feathers out completely, the shoot a spread of feathers downward that are incredibly difficult to dodge. It is very important to make shooting these Peacocks your highest priority. However, once you shoot them, they explode in a spread of eight feathers, just like the Apterex birds from the first stage. It you feel that you will not be able to shoot one in time and dodge the resulting explosion, your best bet is to fly completely away from them in order to dodge their feathers. A total of four will appear the first time around.

The next enemy you encounter will be ground based enemy called a Geze. They sit inside of pits in the ground, only raising their head just long enough to spit a spread of five projectiles at you. Then they dive back underground for a short period. They are only vulnerable to your bombs when their heads are exposed. Unless you are able to predict where the next hole will appear, they are difficult to destroy before they release one spread of bullets. Fly around this spread and prepare to bomb them the next time they appear. There are four such enemies, and the last one will be flashing. Destroy this one for a random power-up.

Just after the last Geze, a new enemy, the Dorler will appear. They are small ground based plants that are easy to bomb. Their leaves open and close, and they spit projectiles at you whenever they open. There will be a red egg between the second and third Dorler on the left. They are followed by two Geze sitting side-by-side.

At this point, you have been introduced to the majority of the enemies that occupy this stage. For the next minute, you will be subjected to a combination of Saults, Peacocks, Geze, and Dorlers. In all cases, you should try to prioritize the Peacocks, but only when the spread bullets from the Geze don't make that impossible to do. For a while, the holes that the Geze pop out of won't be visible, as they will be present in the darker patches of grass. Due to the overwhelming amount of bullets that can fill the screen in this section, you're actually a little safer near the top of the screen than at the bottom. When the Geze do return to the lighter patches and you can see them, there will be two, followed by a blue egg above the second Geze on the right. A little beyond that, a flashing Peacock will appear.

After the flash Peacock, the enemies will mysteriously vanish. In there place will be special types of plants, known as Rope Woods, that can perpetually grow a single thorny vine that winds all over the screen in an effort to reach you. You can shoot at any position along the vine, and any portion of the vine extending from that position will begin to whither, but the vine will resume growing once you stop firing on it. The plants themselves can actually be destroyed with regular shots, but it takes a tremendous amount of firepower to accomplish this before the plants scroll off the bottom of the screen. If you only have one head and Level 1 fire, it's basically impossible, and you will have to worry about avoiding the vines until the Rope Wood has scrolled off the screen and stops being a threat. You will encounter seven of them, starting on the right and alternating sides of the screen. Before the sixth plant, Dorlers will also appear on the ground. After the seventh, the canopy will resume.

This is the last canopy you will fly through before the boss. A final new enemy appears here: beehives known as Honeycombs. They are naturally surrounded by Bees. The Bees will fly off and attack you, similar to the Swallowtails. Honeycombs can be shot and destroyed, and destroyed Honeycombs will no longer produce any Bees. However, destroyed Honeycombs are still a small threat in that they will continue to block your shots, and they can hurt you if you collide with them, so be careful. You will encounter a total of three Honeycombs, first on the left, then on the right, and the last one is in the middle. A blue egg will appear above the first Honeycomb.

After the canopy ends, there will be a few Dorlers on the ground, and Saults will continue to appear a short while longer. When the enemies stop, four Peacocks will appear, almost in pairs. The final Peacock will be flashing. Then you will advance to the boss.

Boss: Griathrious
The boss of this stage is a gigantic plant with an enormous flower in the center. The flower opens its petals and showers the stage with smaller spiral flowers that fan out from the center and rain down to the bottom of the screen. While the large central flower is impervious to your attack, the smaller flowers are relatively easy to destroy. In order to destroy the boss you must actually bomb the ten seeds on the ground which surround the plant. You can't destroy the seeds with one bomb, you'll actually have to concentrate a good amount of firepower on each of them in order to remove them. All the while you must remain aware of the small flowers filling the screen. Work your way around the plant from one side to the other until all of the seeds are destroyed to advance to the next stage.