Warning Forever

Warning Forever is a freeware 2D shoot 'em up written by Hikoza T Ohkubo and released under the name of his software house, Hikware.

The premise of the game is to fight a constant stream of bosses. The gameplay is broken into stages; each stage is a single boss battle. To progress to the next stage, the boss must be completely destroyed within the time limit. The game starts with a default time limit of 180 seconds (which can be changed to the maximum of 999 seconds in Options), with 30 seconds being gained for every boss defeated. 20 seconds are lost every time the player is destroyed.

The main gameplay feature is how the bosses change from stage to stage. Based on how you fight a boss, the next boss will adapt itself to defend against your strategies, and prey on your weaknesses. For example, if you destroy the front part of the boss first, it will increase armor on the front. Likewise, if you are killed by a certain kind of weapon, but still defeat the boss, the next boss will probably have more of that weapon.

The player flies a relatively small green ship. There are no power-ups - the player's only weapon is a very rapid-fire revolving cannon which can fire in any direction, and widen or concentrate its projectile spread.

As is common in manic shooters, the area of the player's ship vulnerable to collisions is much smaller than the ship itself. This enables the ship to squeeze through small gaps.

Boss evolution


There is one initial boss, called the Pure Heart. This can evolve into eight intermediate forms:


 * Muramasa
 * Phoenix
 * Asura
 * Berserker
 * Scorpion
 * Hekatoncheir
 * Big Magnum
 * Hammer Head

There are four final evolutions:


 * The Infinity
 * The Apocalypse
 * The Catastrophe
 * The ISE-ONE

The first three final evolutions come after the nine intermediates, but the ISE-ONE is a direct evolution from the Pure Heart.

Boss parameters
Before each battle a chart pops up showing the strengths of the upcoming boss. There are six categories:


 * Front - Indicates forward strength
 * Rear - Indicates rear strength
 * Defense - Indicates defense
 * Core - Indicates strength of the core (the centre piece; destruction of the core destroys a boss)
 * Search - Indicates boss' ability to track down the player
 * Generator - Indicates quantity and speed of enemy gunfire

Weapons

 * Vulcan - Basic machinegun turrets. Stronger generator increases projectile amount.
 * Laser - Laser cannons that shoot pink beams. Strong generator increases duration of beams.
 * Cannon - Cannons that shoot spread of blue energy-balls. Stronger generator increases amount of shots per spread.
 * Smash - Turrets that shoot shotgun-style projectiles. Stronger generator increases projectiles fired.
 * Needle - Turrets that fire a stream of thin green bolts.
 * Homing Missile - Homing missile launchers. Stronger generator increases homing capacity.

The bosses can also have thrusters with which they charge at the player; mobile arms; wide spreading and multidirectional vulcan guns; and defensive shielding.

Game modes

 * 180 seconds - The normal, time-limited mode.
 * Three ships - No time limit. The player begins with three lives, and gains an extra life for every hundred pieces blasted off a boss.
 * Five minutes attack - The player has a time limit of five minutes to get as far as possible.
 * Sudden death - The player has one life and no time limit.