Once you have inserted a coin into the cabinet of Taito Corporation's 1995 fixed shooter arcade game Akkanvader and pressed either Start Button, you will proceed to the character selection screen shown above (the image there is from the US version); you will have ten seconds to select one of the five characters on either side by pushing the joystick left and right then pressing the Firing Button to confirm your choice. The game is divided into thirty-two stages over five worlds, each of which is named differently for both the Japanese and US version - and the penultimate stage of each world is a "Bonus Stage" (which are reminiscent of those of Namco's Galaga as opposed to the "Cattle Mutilations" of Majestic Twelve). The final stage of each world is a "boss" stage where you will have to fight a "Boss Invader" (the second of which will be preceded by a Darius-like warning); once you have fired enough shots at it to defeat it, it will explode, and you will receive a bonus of the current world's number multiplied by 10000. If you run out of lives (as in MJ-12, you will not receive any extras) you will have twenty seconds to insert another coin and continue your game by pressing either Start Button - and unlike with other games which have several different selectable characters, you will again have ten seconds to select one of the five characters on either side, but if you did well with your first coin and want to keep your score, it is advisable to switch to the other side (unless it is getting used by another player). However, if you did not do well with your first coin, it is advisable to switch to a different character on the same side, and see if you do better with them; in a case of doing better on your next coin but not finishing, it is again advisable to switch to the other side to keep your score (if it is, again, not in use).