Dragon Spirit/Stage 6

Walkthrough
The sixth stage is a very long and challenging stage, and demands top notch playing in order to survive. Although this stage takes place in a frozen wasteland, it is very similar, in many respects, to the first stage. You will fly over terrain that alternates between land and water. You start out over water that is occupied by Aquasaurs that you first encountered in the beginning of the game. They are scattered throughout the water, and shoot a spread of three projectiles at you. Bomb them to get rid of them.

Eventually an aerial enemy will join the fight. This time, it's a new enemy; the rather large white bats. White bats descend down the screen until they line up with you, at which point they begin to retreat. Several waves of them will appear as a land mass takes over the left side of the screen.

Around the time that you see a red egg sitting in the snow, another new enemy will appear. The blue Cyclops enemies appear in groups of six. Originally flying in a tight single file line, they begin to spin out of formation when they get a little closer to Amul, scattering away to one side of the screen or the other.

After several groups of Cyclops have appeared in quick succession, a new ground enemy will appear. The Seals shuffle along the snow, shooting projectiles at you as they plod along. You'll have to bomb them to get rid of them. While the Seals appear, you will continue to encounter Aquasaurs in the water to the right as well.

While more Seals appear below, several Pteranodons will appear in the sky at various intervals. You'll see two kinds; the blue kind that you've encountered before, and a gold variety. There are no differences between their behavior, they both enter the screen from the side and loop around in a circle. But the gold variety tend to flash and provide you with a random power-up orb if you defeat them. While you shouldn't go out of your way to destroy them if it would mean running into a projectile, you should try to prioritize killing them if your path through the air is clear.

Eventually, the land on the left will begin to recede a little and give way to more water. More Aquasaurs will be present, and you will be revisited by another enemy from the first stage: the purple Favos. They will fill the air, so focus on shooting them rather than bombing the water until you've reduced the number of Favos that you need to dodge.

Water will completely take over the screen, but a red egg will be waiting on the left side on the last sliver of land. A new threat appears in the water. Enemies known as Ice Poles pop out of the water. They breath icicles that they fire at you. They are easily destroy by shooting at them with your normal weapon, but they are only vulnerable for a short period of time before they drop back down into the water. Favos enemies will join the Ice Poles when the land begins to reappear on the left, and fly around the screen for a while.

When the land is back, Seals will be waiting on the ground to shoot at you. At this time, you may begin to notice spikes on the far sides of the screen. Like the cavern ceiling in the previous stage, you must avoid touching these spikes throughout their appearance. Two new threats will appear at this point. A face will occasionally pop out of the snow and shoot at you and then blend back in. You can only bomb the face while it is visible. Next will be the large icy spike that will jut out horizontally from the ceiling and try to strike you. Once it is out, it will remain in place unless you shoot it. Even shooting it only causes it to move back very slightly, and since it blocks your shots, you're better off simply flying around it.

Shorty after the spikes appear, you will notice a string of icy crystals laced from one side of the screen to the other. In order to get past these crystals, you must shoot a path through them. You can safely go wherever your shots can go, so in general you're best off simply shooting a straight line through the crystals and moving quickly through them so that you can move around again. You may find a particularly large crystal among the string which, when shot, will provide a random power-up orb for you to collect. However, be careful going after any such orbs; don't be lured into the crystals where you will sustain damage just to collect a power-up.

Once on the other side of the first set of crystals, you will encounter the final new enemy of the stage, the ground beasts known as Bacchus, who shoot at you just like Seals do. Among the Bacchus, you will find several eggs, including a blue egg before the first two Bacchus, and a red egg right around the third. The ceiling will shift to the right, forcing you along with it. Then it will open up again, and a blue egg will be available on the right. A red egg will signal a break in the Bacchus, as more Rock Faces will appear in the ground between crystals. The next Bacchus will appear after you spot a blue egg.

The ceiling will open back up and eventually disappear. A red egg will be waiting among the final set of Bacchus. The land will come to an end, leading to another body of water. At this point, Cyclops will return in the air, and Aquasaurs will take their positions in the water. White Bats appear once you are fully over the water, and Ice Poles will rise up out of the water to give them support. Favos will also appear in the air.

Before the body of water ends, four flashing Pteranadons will appear, each providing you with a random power-up orb if you manage to defeat them before they fly away. Once the land returns, White Bats will fill the sky while Seals shuffle across the snow below. A wave of Favos will attack, before groups of Cyclops take over for them. Three blue Pteranadon, as well as a single flashing yellow Pteranadon will appear before the action stops and you approach the boss.

Boss: Gubira
Gubira is a long snake-like dragon who serpentines through the air in an effort to hit you with his fiery breath. Gubira is an extremely dangerous foes, as he will breath fire continuously as long as he is a certain distance or greater above you. This means if he chases you all the way to one side of the screen, he will almost certain hit you with flames if you don't know how to make him stop shooting at you. The trick is to get very close to him, and force him to stop shooting and rear back. For that reason, you should remain in the top third or top quarter of the screen. Lead Gubira across the screen by just a little bit so that he flies into your breath weapon, and then when you are close to the edge of the screen, get out ahead of him, and fly up to the top. This will force Gubira to stop shooting and climb to the top of the screen. When he is sufficiently close to the edge, quickly double back in the other direction, and resume leading him with your breath weapon until you have to repeat this tactic to get safely below him again. This is not an easy battle to complete. Do your best to maintain this strategy throughout the entire battle to defeat him. If you are successful, Amul will dive down into the water below to begin the next stage.