Beginning a new game[edit]
Before starting a new game (either one player, or two), you must choose between Normal speed and Fast speed. As you would expect, Fast speed is quite a bit faster than Normal speed. Normal speed is recommended for beginners. Fast speed does increase the difficulty of the game, but it also keeps the pace up and keeps the game interesting.
Completing a stage[edit]
Flying Hero is a linear game in which you must complete 32 stages in order. To advance from one stage to the next, you must complete the current stage, which can be done in a number of ways.
- You can clear a stage by eliminating all of the fires burning in a building. If you do this, you will receive bonus points for any occupants that were remaining in the building before the fire was eliminated.
- You can collect all of the people from the windows. Each window has a set number of people waiting to be rescued. If you manage to collect all of the people from the windows before you eliminate all of the fires, the stage will end. A helicopter will appear and suppress the remaining fire, and you will receive a 30,000 point bonus.
- You can end the stage through a number of different items, including the rain cloud summoning horn, catching the helicopter that appears if you collect a radio, or being sent to the interior of a building and locating a key behind one of the doors.
In early stages, fires don't increase intensity too quickly and useful items appear quite frequently. For this reason, it is more common for players to finish stages by eliminating fires or collecting stage-ending items towards the beginning of the game. Later on in the game, fires spread quickly and useful items appear less frequently. For this reason, it becomes more common to end a stage by completely collecting every occupant from their windows.
Fire intensity[edit]
Fires start out at the first intensity. If a fire is left to burn, it increases in intensity, from level one to two, and from level two to three. Once a fire reach the third level of intensity, it may begin to spread to neighboring windows, particularly the one above. If the fire spreads to a window that is occupied, the background of that window will change from black to red, indicating that a fire is burning. Occupants of the window will begin to panic and jump out before the Flying Hero can rescue them. You have the option of trying to collect them with your safety net, but the Flying Hero should always be the higher priority. There is no penalty for missing an occupant that jumps out of a window. You'll still get the 30,000 perfect bonus for collecting everyone, even if you missed a jumping occupant.
Building interior[edit]
If you collect a Matoi, or Japanese fire flag, you will be sent to the interior of a burning building. At this point, you must open various doors in a hallway in search of either a key that lets you advance to the next stage, or a stairwell that will carry you to the next floor. Throughout each hallway you will encounter flames with float through the hall. You can use your hose to extinguish these flames if they are positioned at the right height.
When you begin, you start off with a timer set to 60 seconds. It counts down and if it reaches 0, you lose one life and are forced to redo the previous stage. If you are touched by a flame, some time will be deducted from your timer. Touching too many flames will end your exploration early.
Behind each door, you may find a useful item like a fire coat, a stopwatch, or a 1-up. You may find an occupant which you can rescue for points. You may find the key which lets you advance, or you may find a door that allows you to climb to the next story. You may also find harmful items like sticks of dynamite whose explosions you must avoid, and you may even find large flame monster who are dangerous and difficult to remove.
Bonus stage[edit]
The bonus stage is only accessible if you collect a falling radio. If you do, a helicopter will appear and fly across the top of the screen from right to left. If you manage to bounce the Flying Hero beneath it, he will grab on. The helicopter will suppress the flames and carry the Flying Hero up to the clouds. He will then bounce around the clouds, knocking valuable items down for you to collect for bonus points. He will also very rarely drop a 1-Up tile down for you to collect.
The more bonus stages you visit, the harder they become. By the third bonus stage, the cloud along the bottom will have gaps. If your safety net fire fighters fail to jump over the gaps, they will fall to their doom, and the bonus will end early.