Phantom Dust/Getting Started

Gameplay in the Scenario mode revolves around going to the surface world to do missions. Regardless of the mission objective, whether it is to find a fellow human lost on the surface, or find a recipe for seafood gumbo, it invariably involves fighting one or more enemies. During the first two chapters, which are meant to serve as a sort of tutorial, you are forced to use premade "arsenals" (a case that holds a set of skills you can use to fight and defend yourself against the enemy) which never run out of skills. After the tutorial is over, though, you are given a real arsenal and you can buy skills to customize it.

At the beginning of a round four skills are randomly assigned to your controller buttons and displayed in your Heads-up display and three more spawn randomly at capsule points in your spawn area. In the few seconds you have before the match starts you can hit the Back button to reshuffle the assigned skills but only once. Skills in capsule form can be picked up by pressing one of the four buttons at which point they will fill an empty button or overwrite whatever skill is assigned to that button. After a short time, around 15 seconds, another skill will spawn in its place randomly from your arsenal. Using your four assigned skills it is your goal to do at least twenty damage to every opponent while they are trying to do the same to you or cause your opponent to use and pick up all of their 30 skills. After all 30 skills are picked up (or destroyed) the player will begin to lose one life every few seconds. Environment plays a big role in getting the advantage over your target. Matches can be won simply by using height and distance.