Xevious/Gameplay

You control the Solvalou with the joystick. Press fire to fire upwards or bomb to bomb the ground. You must avoid contact with every aerial enemy and every enemy bullet. Fire at aerial enemies, and bomb ground based enemies. The more aggressive you are in the game, the more aggressive the enemies are with you. The Andor Genesis mothership will appear in certain stages. Bomb the core to destroy it before it runs away. Secret Sol towers and Special flags can be revealed by bombing the correct locations.

Controls

 * Joystick: Use the joystick to pilot the Solvalou in any one of eight directions. The Solvalou scrolls forward across the ground automatically, but you can direct the Solvalou virtually everywhere but the very top of the visual screen.
 * Zapper button: The Solvalou has a double shot Zapper gun that destroys nearly every enemy in one shot. You can continue to fire multiple shots on to the screen at one time.
 * Bomb button: As the Solvalou flies over the ground, a reticle appears a short distance in front of the ship. When you tap the bomb button, the reticle brackets disappear and a stationary cross shows where the bomb will land.
 * 1 or 2 Players: Press these buttons to start a one or two player game.

The Solvalou
You pilot the Solvalou, earth's only capable defense against the Xevious army. The Solvalou has two weapon systems, the air-to-air Zapper, and the air-to-ground bombs. It has an unlimited supply of either weapon. According to the Xevi language, "Sol" means the sun and "Valou" (or baru as it is pronounced in Japanese) means bird, so the Solvalou roughly translates to "Sun-bird".
 * Length: 9.81 m
 * Height: 3.52 m
 * Width: 6.73 m
 * Weight: 18,500 kg