Life Force/Stage 4

Cell Stage II

 * Stage 4 is the first of two completely original stages designed exclusively for the NES version. This stage continues with the cell theme introduced in the first stage, only it is oriented vertically.  In this stage you will be passing through various organs associated with the circulatory system including the blood stream and lungs.  During the introduction, you will face a series of Beruberumu squads which provide power-ups.  Eventually, you will see the lining of tissue, and large indestructible purple corpuscles will float down screen.  They are followed by red blood cells which drop down the sides of the screen and possess the ability to shoot at you.  Your missiles should be effective against them.  Occasionally, a wayward corpuscle will fly through that can be destroyed.


 * [[Image:Life_Force_stage4_screen2.gif|right]] Once you travel through the first section, the surrounding tissue will change. You will soon be sucked into a fast moving capillary system.  It forces you to make quick adjustments as you attempt to line up with some of the capillary pathways and avoid crashing into the walls.  This section contains one basic enemy, a whitish clear cell that takes a few hits to destroy.  Throughout the system, you will pass free power-ups, some of which are easier to collect than others.  If you are in need of powering up, this can be a good opportunity for you, but it is best to ensure that you have a good degree of speed before you truly attempt to collect them.  At the normal level, you will barely have enough speed to safely make it through the capillaries.


 * The capillary system will deposit you in a lung region which contains many air sacs. If you allow them to occupy the screen long enough, they will erupt and release three spinning cells which bounce around the area and take quite a lot of damage to destroy.  As the screen fills up with these cells, they will absorb the shots that you would otherwise fire at the sacs.  You can destroy these sacs before the erupt, removing the threat of the cells they release.  Lasers are by far the most effective weapon against them.


 * [[Image:Life_Force_stage4_screen4.gif|right]] Once through the lungs, you will return to the original tissue. The thin webbing of tissue seen in the first stage will return and form spontaneously while red blood cells appear as you advance higher into the stage.  At first the webbing will appear in thin strips, and then it will be nearly the height of the screen.  Remain in one place and fire upwards from the bottom of the screen to clear a safe path through the webbing.


 * Next you will encounter small nodules of tissue in the middle of the screen. These nodules will be indestructible until they scroll further down onto the screen.  When low enough, they unleash a webbing of tissue around them.  Once they do this, they become vulnerable to attack.  Don't proactively attempt to destroy them.  Simply allow them to scroll down until they unleash the webbing, and then move directly beneath them to destroy them.  When they stop appearing, you will have a short chance to destroy Beruberumu squads for power ups while some indestructible corpuscles fall from the top.


 * [[Image:Life_Force_stage4_screen6.gif|right]] The final section of this stage incorporates a rather impressive spine and rib cage system. The tips of many of the ribs are actually laser weapons which fire upward at an angle across the screen.  As long as you remain near the bottom of the screen, you are safe from attack.  What you must be on a constant watch for, however, are pairs of rib tips which fall down from the top of the screen.  When they get close to the bottom, they bounce up a little and spontaneously divide into two smaller rib tips, forcing you to ultimately dodge four small tips.  However, you can preemptively cause them to split by shooting at them while they are higher up.  Doing so causes the smaller ribs to veer farther to either side of you as they fall, making it easier to dodge them.  In fact, if you hit them early enough, the smaller pieces may even disappear off the top of the screen and will not return.

Boss: Giga
Naturally, at the top of a spinal column, you would expect to find a skull, and that's exactly what you'll encounter as the boss for stage 4. Giga is a large skull like boss, complete with his own eyeballs, that floats along the top of the screen. When he opens his mouth, he sprays the screen with a series of slow moving projectiles which must be avoided. His weak point is his open mouth. After he sustains enough damage, his eyeballs will begin to freely roam outside of his head, following you all around the screen. It is not necessary to destroy Giga's eyes to defeat him, but it can be helpful. Ultimately, you must shoot him in the open mouth enough times to destroy him.