Sky Kid/NES walkthrough

Billboards
There are only two billboards in this version of Sky Kid, and both of them are special billboards in the sense that a bonus or penalty will appear on top if you loop over them.

Target practice
Although the NES version of Sky Kid contains 26 stages (five more than original Sky Kid and one more than Sky Kid Deluxe), three of those stages are bonus target practice stages. On Missions 8, 16, and 24, you will be presented with a series of bull's eye targets suspended in mid-air. Your only objective is to safely fly above the terrain and destroy as many targets as you possibly can. At the end of this mission, you will receive a battle report, and earn a large bonus based on the number of targets you successfully destroyed.

Deadly attack missiles
Unlike the passive attack missiles that only appear in Sky Kid Deluxe for bonus points, the NES version of Sky Kid contains rather aggressive Attack Missiles that are substantially more dangerous. They appear in later missions when you are higher up in the sky. They fly in from the left side of the screen and move swiftly to the right, dipping down slightly before rising back up after they pass the center of the screen. When they get close to your plane (or when they are shot by one of your bullets), they explode much like the explosives from Rapid Cannons and Rapid Boats. You must remember to loop around when they are about to explode if you do not manage to shoot them down before they get close to you.

Volcanoes
Towards the end of Sky Kid, you will encounter volcanoes along the way to your mission targets. These volcanoes always appear in pairs, back to back, and elevated above sea-level. This elevation forces you to deal with the rocks that the volcanoes spew forth. You can not simply rise above the rocks, you must carefully time your progress through the eruptions. Although you can continuously loop your way through the danger, this method does not guarantee your safety. If you get hit, it is nearly impossible to recover in time, but it can be done on rare occasions.

A new target
A new target appears in the NES version of Sky Kid. It is an airborne target just like the Air Successor, and it appears on Missions 13 and 23. Like the Air Successor, it appears on the screen from the left, and fires in four diagonal directions. You are always safe immediately above or below the blimp. To destroy it, you must drop a bomb squarely on its center. A bomb dropped to either side of the center will have no effect. The Blimp can appear more than once in a mission.

The Air Successor
Just like in the arcade version, the Air Successor makes an early arrival to the game in Mission 11. You will see the Air Successor, but be unable to launch any attack on it. Your only opportunity to strike at the Air Successor will be on the very last mission, the 26th of the game. Also like the arcade, you must defeat the Air Successor, or you will end up flying beyond the terrain and running out of fuel. If you successfully bomb the very center of the Air Successor, it will drop to the ground, and you will be treated to the "Happy Ending" where Baron, Max, and both of their girlfriends are tossed in the air by a crowd of fans. Once this ending is finished, you will continue with Mission 27 which is identical to Mission 1.

Special Note: Game Boy difference
The Game Boy version of Sky Kid contained on Namco Gallery Vol. 3 contains one additional feature. Since this is the only version of Sky Kid to lack the ability to play with two players simultaneous, you are given the choice of Red Baron or Blue Max as the pilot of your plane. If you choose Red Baron, the game plays normally, and you have the ability to fire up to three bullets on the screen at one time. However, if you happen to choose Max instead, your firing ability will change in the following ways: This change slightly weakens Max's forward offensive abilities, but greatly improves his ability to attack enemies above or below him.
 * You will only be able to fire two bullets on the screen at one time.
 * If you fly backwards (to the right), you will no longer fire one bullet forward, but rather two bullets; one which flies up and another which drops down. You can fire two such pairs on the screen at one time.