Hector '87/Walkthrough

Stage types
Make no mistake, Hector '87 is an incredibly difficult game to play. It is considered one of the few shooters where having a turbo-fire enabled controller is practically required. In order to survive, you must anticipate the arrival of difficult enemies, and eliminate them before they fill the screen with bullets or simply congest the screen themselves. Arming yourself with the knowledge of what to look for, and how to refuel your shields is one half of the battle; having good reflexes is the other half.

Vertical stages
Vertical stages take place during the odd levels (1, 3, and 5). In these levels your two weapons, the photon cannon and the cluster bombs, work independently of one another to attack air and ground targets respectively. Ground targets must be bombed, and they must typically be hit with several cluster bombs in order to fully destroy them. On occassion, you may find that a target on the ground will explode where there was no visible target. If you hit this target a second time, all other visible ground targets will blow up. Keep an eye out for these secret bomb targets. Another target may look like a simple mound of dirt. After bombing it a few times, it will turn into an open book. Bomb it a few more times to reveal a letter inside, H and E in stage 1, C and T in stage 3, and O and R in stage 5. Each letter occurs twice. You earn 10,000 points for revealing each letter, and you earn a special million point bonus if you find all 12 of them.

Horizontal stages
Horizontal stages take place during the even levels (2, 4, and 6). They have fewer features to hunt for than vertical stages. In addition, the object which provides capsules of energy to restore your shield looks the same in all three stages. These stages are divided into two parts, an outdoor section and an indoor section. Each stage starts with the outdoor section, followed by a much longer indoor section. The game transitions between them as soon as you approach the opening that leads inside. Horizontal stages tend to be a bit harder than vertical stages since enemies appear to move through the screen much faster. Despite the fact that both weapons will work on any target, ground or airborne, they are slightly less effective due to the nature of the perspective.

History 1: Inca Empire
The first history you explore is the Inca Empire, found in the region known today as Peru. Look for the H and E tiles, and bomb the demon heads that you find in the ground to release energy capsules. Destroy the black orbs that rise from the ground before they detonate.

Boss: Iotakyanon
The boss of this history contains eight stationary cannons, four on either side, as well as two oscillating cannons that release a quadruple of energy orbs. The middle cannons fire directly downward so focus on the outside cannons first. When they are eliminated, begin your attack on the middle cannons. In order to destroy them, you must fire on the source of the four energy orbs before they leave the cannon. If you hit them with a bomb, they will shut down. Once the cannons fire, you must wait for them to begin to recharge before you can hope to damage them again. Once all four chutes are disabled, the oscillating cannon will be destroyed. When both oscillating cannons are destroyed, along with the eight outside cannons, the boss is defeated.