Gradius II/Stage 1


 * You begin the game in the space pre-stage, where you are attacked by formations of enemy squadrons, along with a few rouge enemy fighters. If you park the Vic Viper in the center of the left side of the screen, both the upper and lower formations that appear from the right side of the screen meet in the middle so you can destroy everything without having to move.  Aim to complete the pre-stage with one Speed Up, one Option, Missiles, and Lasers.
 * In an unusual move, the middle of the first pre-stage has a short section where you must fly through a group of burning orbs. These orbs appear motionless at first, but after they've been on the screen for a while, they begin to fly off in your direction.  Do your best to destroy as many as you can before they start to move, and then dodge the rest as they fly toward you.


 * The pre-stage is complete when you begin to approach a giant burning planetoid almost the height of the screen. You can fly endlessly up or down, so you can easily fly around the planetoid.  The bigger threat is the giant flame dragon that flies out of the mass and hunts you down.  Unlike the arcade version, these dragons do not spit fireballs, and you'll never encounter more than one at a time.
 * These flame dragons snake around space in lazy circles, but always aiming to crash into you. Only the head of the dragons is vulnerable, the rest of their bodies take no damage.  Concentrate your firepower on the heads until they are destroyed.  Alternatively, you can simply dodge them until they float away, but the longer they exist, the more danger they pose.  They tend to appear from the top, bottom, and sides of the burning planet, and a new one won't appear until an existing one is defeated or scrolled out of view.


 * As you proceed, you will encounter some free flying enemies which occupy small pathways between planetoids. Do your best to destroy them or avoid them completely.  A minority of these enemies will be the red variety which drop power-up capsules when destroyed.  Once the power-up capsules are available, wait until the situation is calm enough to collect them so that you don't put yourself in more danger.
 * In addition to the burning planetoids, you will start to encounter smaller green moons. From these moons escape squadrons of fighters which fly vertically up or down until they are even with the Vic Viper, and then fly horizontally in your direction.  You are relatively safe from these fighters when you are lined up directly with the moons they come from.  Otherwise, be prepared to shoot down the fighters when they appear.


 * Once you are all the way through the planetoids, you will fly through a brief section of empty space where you will encounter flocks of burning phoenixes. They fly in sinus waves from right to left, leaving a power up capsule behind if you can destroy them all.  This will lead up to the last portion of the stage, where you must fly through a path of burning planets that eject arcs of fire, just like the third stage in Life Force.  In addition to the birds and the flames, you must also watch out for the appearance of more burning orbs which slowly float to your location.
 * These arcs of flames will appear on both the upper and lower planets, and they can travel both left to right, or right to left. If they fire more than once, they will only fire three times before coming to rest.  You can either attempt to position yourself under the arc, or fly to the opposite side of the screen to avoid them completely.  Typically phoenixes appear beneath the arcs.  These phoenixes grow in size as you shoot them until they explode, leaving a power up capsule behind.

Boss: Phoenix
The first boss that you encounter is the Phoenix. Although this giant fire-bird displays a formidable amount of power, it's actually not particularly strong. It starts off its attack by quickly flying to some location on the screen. Then it shouts and sends seven blue bolts from its beak. These bolts spread out, and if you're far enough away, you don't have to move very far to avoid the center bolt which travels straight ahead. After these bolts are fired, it sends trios of flame at you, but these flames are easily destroyed by your weapons, so fire constantly. Like the flame dragons, the only vulnerable spot on the boss is its head. Concentrate as much firepower on the head as you can to remove the boss as quickly as possible. With several Options and your Laser weapon activated, it's possible to remove this boss before it flies to a third location.