GunLord/Gameplay

Game modes
The first screen of the game lets you choose between 2 modes :

Original mode Easiest mode recommended for beginners and get familiar with the game. There are a lot of Extends, no time limit and you can continue endlessly from where you died. Furthermore, on Dreamcast and AES versions you can get an extra Continue by collecting all the Big Diamonds in a stage (it balances the fact that you have only 4 credits on those versions).

Arcade mode Harder Mode for experimented players. The intro cutscene is removed and there is a timer that can be extended by collecting Diamonds and Time Extend items. There is no One Up items anymore, they are replaced by Time Extend items. The only way to get a life is to collect all the Big Diamonds in a stage. At last, if you lose all your lifes and use a Continue, you will respawn at the beginning of the level.

The third line is to change the buttons mapping (joystick or pad for MVS and AES versions, on Dreamcast it is a real option menu to map all the buttons as you like).

HUD
1) Lifes (if it reaches 0 it's Game Over) 2) Score 3) Game mode (Arcade mode only) 4) Health Points (if it goes down to 0 you lose a life) 5) Boss Health Bar 6) Diamonds counter (in green color if all collected) 7) Big Diamonds counter (in green color if all collected) 8) Snake Beam Gauge 9) Credits number (appears only if all Big Diamonds in a stage are collected in Original mode) 10) Super Waves 11) Timer (Arcade mode only)

Controls
Move Shot (autofire if kept pressed, same for Bombs in Wheel mode) Jump (height depends on the pressure length) Snake Beam (360° rotation with the joystick) Super Wave Pause + Wheel mode

Wheel mode


Activation Press down and B on the ground to activate Wheel mode (or when hanging on to a vertical wall). To exit Wheel mode just push the stick up.

Movements The Wheel is always moving really fast and will bounce on every wall if you don't control it. To stay in specific spot you have to alternate left and right really quickly, or you can also stick yourself in a corner by pressing the joystick against the wall. You can still jump with B button.

Protection The wheel gives you an extra protection, so you can pass through shots and some enemies. But you aren't invincible, every hit inflicts damage to your Wheel. If it takes too much damage without having time to regenerate, the protection will nullify and you will lose 1 HP.

Damage The Wheel inflicts damage to every enemies you touch. You can also lay bombs with A button to inflict more damage (the autofire works for bombs too).

Special features In Wheel mode, the regeneration of the Snake Beam gauge is stopped. The timers for Power Shots are also frozen. You can pass through a small amount of destroyable blocks horizontally, spamming jumps can help to move through them. If you are stuck use bombs.

Weapons
Spread Shot The default weapon, a 5 way shot with a low firepower.

Phoenix A shotgun with high firepower. The shots can pass through small enemies and flying platforms.

Bounce Blaster A twin type weapon : if A button is mashed it shots some bouncing orbs, if the button is fully pressed it shots a narrow continuous shot.

Power shot (Wave) A powerful temporary upgrade that shots waves and bouncing orbs. You can't fire it vertically.

Power Shot (Missile) A powerful temporary upgrade. The missiles release bouncing orbs at the impact.

Nuclear Wheel Bombs In Wheel mode, press A to lay a bomb. They have a pretty high area of effect, you can jump and lay bombs in the air for extra height. Note that their power depends on your main weapon, if you have the Phoenix they will be less powerful than with the Spread Shot or the Bounce Blaster.

Snake Beam Press C to use this powerful continuous beam. Use the stick to rotate it at 360°. The initial angle of shot is always 45° up in front of you. This beam can pass through every type of wall/platform and can cancel most of the enemy shots. It uses the purple gauge at the bottom of the screen. It refills slowly automatically when you don't use the beam (except in Wheel mode). If the gauge goes bellow 40%, the length of the beam starts to decrease quickly (until half of its initial size). It doesn't affect the power of the beam, only the size. Even if the gauge is empty you can continue to fire it endlessly.

Super Wave Limited smart bombs, their number is displayed at the bottom right of the screen. Pressing D button release a huge double wave of energy that cancels most of the enemy shots. The damages aren't really high although.

Items
About Power Shots The upgrade effect lasts for 15 seconds, but if you don't shoot the timer is slowed down by 50% and if you are in Wheel mode the timer is frozen. Note that you can't stack 2 Power Shot of the same type, you can do it only if they are different. The second shot will take effect as soon as the first one is finished. However, the timer starts to decrease for the second shot as soon as you pick it up. For example, if you take 2 Power Shots at the same time and fire constantly, the first will last 15 seconds and the second 7.5 (because shooting with the first one is considered as not shooting for the second one so its timer is slowed down to 50%). Be careful to not hang on to any climbing wall/ceiling since it cancels Power Shots.

Stage Elements
About Climbing Walls/Ceilings To leave a wall, press jump. To leave a ceiling press down and jump. Be careful when jumping to hang on to a ceiling, if you keep the jump button pressed too long after touching it you will fall. It's also possible sometimes to grab a climbing wall from behind, in this case you won't be able to move at all, you can only leave it by pressing down. Grabbing a wall/ceiling cancels Power Shots, you can still use your normal weapon with one hand.

About Generators A lot of those flying generators are hidden, to reveal them shoot at them. Shooting at them will also generate items in a specific pattern : 1) Spread Shot 2) Phoenix 3) Bounce Blaster 4) Special Item (optional): Silent Flash / Energy Up / Time Up (Arcade mode only) 5) Phoenix 6) Bounce Blaster 7) Spread Shot 8) Orb (optional) 9) Orb dropped when destroyed (optional) Shooting generators with powerful weapons can destroy them before they dropped all their items. Prefer weak weapons or hit them with your head from below (it doesn't deal any damage). You can still make them reappear by going away a bit, they will continue the drop pattern where they were. Once a generator is empty it won't generate anything anymore, only an Orb can be dropped sometimes when destroyed again. The shot Items will always appear from the opposite side where you hit the generator. They can be used as platform to reach special areas.

Death
If your Health Points reach 0, you will lose a life and respawn at the place where you were standing upright on a solid ground for the last time. Your Health Points will be replenished and your Super Wave stock will be reset to 2. Dying in Arcade mode also gives a time extend.

Stage Results
At the end of every stage, a screen will show a detailed completion rate of the level :


 * Diamonds collected
 * Big Diamonds collected
 * Extends collected: Extends are replaced by Time Extends in Arcade mode. The number required to have a 100% doesn't change even if in some levels there are extra Time Extends.
 * Stage completion percentage
 * Game total completion percentage
 * Actual score
 * Game clear bonus: Only after the last Stage (100.000 points + 5.000 points for every life remaining)
 * Game total play time

When entering the next level, your life will be fully replenished and your Super Wave account will be set to 2 if you have less than 2.

Endings
There is a secret ending cutscene. To see it you have to finish the game with all 54 Big Diamonds collected (1 Credit Clear isn't required). You can skip ending and staff screens by pressing A B and C at the same time.

Ranking
If you get a score high enough, you can register it in the Hiscore Table. Here is the table layout :

Rank | Score | Time | Completion rate | Big Diamonds | Stage | Name

If the score is done in arcade mode, a red "A" letter precedes it.

The line in red color indicates the score you just registered, and green color means game cleared.

The game gives you a code to register your score on a ranking website. Unfortunately the service isn't available anymore.

Tips
Bullet canceling You can cancel most of the bullets with the Snake Beam and your Super Waves, do not hesitate to use them to clean the screen.

Nuclear Wheel Bombs Those bombs are powerful thanks to the autofire and you have an extra protection in Wheel mode. They can be really effective on some flying bosses.

Generators A lot of generators are hidden so shot in every directions to find them. Furthermore the 4th item generated can be useful (Silent Flash, Energy Up or Time Up) so check every generator you find.

Enemy uses

Wheel Secret Paths Some narrow secret paths can only be found in Wheel mode. You can search for them by shooting walls and see if the shots pass through them.