______ _________ ______ ______ ______ _________ | ____| |___ ___| | __ | | ____| | ____| |___ ___| | |____ | | | |__| | | |___ | |___ | | |____ | | | | ___ \ | ___| | ___| | | ____| | | | | | \ \ | |____ | |____ | | |______| |_| |_| \_\ |______| |______| |_| _____ _ _____ _ _ _______ _____ _____ | ___| | | | _ | | | | | |__ __| | ___| | _ | | |___ | | | | |_| | |__| | | | | |___ | |_| | | ___| | | | | __ | __ | | | | ___| | __ \ | | | | | ||_ | | | | | | | | |___ | | \ \ |_| |_| |_____| |_| |_| |_| |_____| |_| \_\ ___ ____ __ ____ / _ \ / __ \ /_ | / __ \ |/ ) | || || | | || || / / || || | | || || / /_ ||__|| | | ||__|| /____| \____/ |_| \____/ "The Final Fight" ______________________________________________________________ Walkthrough v1.4 By Deathspork jtw030283@hotmail.com ______________________________________________________________ New for version 1.4: Went through and gave it an overall edit, both for grammar problems and to add some strategies, and I also added a new section: Expert Tips. This is for those who are good at the game and want to attempt a perfect or near-perfect run. New for version 1.3: Added new tips sent in from Chad Davidson, covering the use of the orb power-up, level 16 and a part in level 18. Thanks a lot, I've been very surprised by input of the readers of this FAQ. New for version 1.2: Added a tip from Pat Zajac (thanks goes to him) plus fixed the ascii art which was messed up last time I updated. New for version 1.1: Additional strategies for the final boss and the sand cave boss have been submitted by a guy named Luis Torres. Thanks a lot! You can find those in thier respective sections of the FAQ. ________ Contents ________ --Intro -Story -Play Mechanics --Walkthrough -In-betweener Levels -PLANET ONE --Level 1 --LV 2 --LV 3 --LV 4 -PLANET TWO --LV 5 --LV 6 --LV 7 --LV 8 -PLANET THREE --LV 9 --LV 10 --LV 11 --LV 12 --LV 13 -PLANET FOUR --LV 14 --LV 15 --LV 16 -PLANET FIVE --LV 17 --LV 18 --LV 19 --Expert Tips --FAQ --Notes --Legal ****************************** ****************************** ** Intro ** ****************************** ****************************** Street Fighter 2010 is widely known as the 'red-headed stepchild' of the series, and was met with a lukewarm reception, to say the least, as it came out around the same time that the mega-hit Street Fighter II was hitting arcades. That's understandable, since this is the farthest thing imaginable from the average Street Fighter game, being a futuristic action side- scroller, but I think it's unfortunate that this game had to be put to such high standards, because the game itself is pretty good. Just don't expect Street Fighter gameplay. Instead, expect one of the biggest and toughest (sometimes frustrating) games to be released on the NES. If you're the type who loves to play a game where you sit and press the same button over and over again as you listen to some hypochondriate named Cloud's emotional problems, stay far away from this game. In fact, be wary of this game if you don't like boss battles, detest slow-down (there's globs of it) or are a Street Fighter enthusiast (you won't like the path they took with the storyline), but if you're reading this FAQ, I would think you've already decided to have a go at the game, so let's begin.. _____ Story _____ You play as Ken, of Street Fighter fame. The year is 2010 (who'd a thought?), and someone has broken into the lab of Ken and his colleague Troy, while Ken was away, killing Troy. What's worse, they stole the "top secret invention" (ooooh) which turns out to be a substance that, in small doses can cure many forms of disease... Of course in large doses it turns ordinary beings into super-powerful evil life-forms. Soon an epidemic breaks out, and a the appearance of these powerful aliens marks the killers path. As Ken, you must collect the energy given off by these beings, and use it to open portals or make the jump to the next planet. But not before undergoing bionic transformation. Geez, is it just me or did developers in the 80's have no faith in humanity at all? Why are the cataclysmic apocolypses always happening in 2010 or 199X, that's not all THAT far off from the late eighties/early 90's. There is some controversy over the fact that the Ken in this game is the same Ken we all know as Ryu's nemesis. The objectors to this fact usually cite that, in the Japanese version of the game, Ken was a man named Kevin who was a part of an intergalactic police force. I think what we have here is just another case of the storyline being changed in the U.S. translation, such a thing is not uncommon. They could have thrown Ken in to act with the Street Fighter fanaticism of the time, if they changed the part about the police force why not that? This quote from the opening scene is enough proof for me: "It's been 25 years since Ken was king of the Street Fighter circuit" So for all intents and purposes this FAQ will assume it is the famous Ken, but you can infer what you want on the issue. ______________ Play Mechanics ______________ The game is basically a fast paced action game with a smidge of martial arts thrown in. The player can jump fairly high, cling to walls, and shoot projectiles that go increasingly farther with each 2 power-ups you collect from capsules. It's not your conventional sidescroller, as it could be argued that the game is almost nothing but boss battles. It plays a little more loose than what you're used to, so the first time player should take a little time, try out all the moves, and get a good feel for the controls. Here's a quick list of the basic moves: MOVE THE HOW-TO ____ __________ Jump 'A' button Shoot 'B' button Cling to Press A when you're touching a wall walls Jump from A and 'away' when stuck to wall wall Backflip Jump from standing position and press 'back' (opposite direction from what you're facing) Curve your Hold 'towards' and fire rapidly, it will curve projectile down a few times then curve up and alternate between the two. OR Hold 'down' and fire rapidly, it will curve up a few times, then up, and alternate between the two. If you have a fully powered-up gun this move will shoot powerful discs of energy that move around you for a short while Shoot down Do a backflip and shoot in midair, useful for when you jump over an enemy Slash kick Only doable with a very rare power-up, perform a backflip and you hurt anything you hit. Not all that useful, a normal shot seems more powerful Overall you'll find the gameplay is very versatile. You can climb up and down walls as well as jump on top of them, shoot up and to both sides and guide your jumps to where you're just out of harms way (provided you have the skill). As stated before, boss battles are the main attraction in this game. A large part of the levels have the boss visible from the start, almost justifying the claim on the back of the box "head-to-head action". No matter how impossibly hard a boss may seem to you, there's always a pattern. You'll find that usually after beating a boss once or twice, you can defeat him with the slightest of ease the next time through. The game is wierd like that (though that may not hold true for some of the later levels). The main idea is to stick with it, when you get frustrated you are usually not too far off from beating the boss. Just move a _little_ bit quicker, add a _few_ more hits and that might do the trick. Then you can start all over again on the next level.. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: A tip emailed to me from Pat Zajac: "When you have enemies like the "seekers" and "drones", instead of taking 2-3 shots to kill them while on the ground I found it was a lot easier to jump in the air and fire one shot that destroys them immediately." thanks Pat, indeed, shooting in mid-air is more powerful :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Another great tip sent in by Chad Davidson: "The use of the orb: Very helpful against hunters and seekers, because they will stupidly kill themselves on your back. Especially useful in level 7 (there is one near the top of the climb on level 6, guarded by a spider), because the vines make it so difficult to stay still; the orb simply kills them on contact. It's also kinda nice if you can have one in the final level for killing those platform guys that give health, although very difficult to keep that long. Most enemies that take more than one blow will be knocked down to 1 health with this" :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ****************************** ****************************** ** Walkthrough ** ****************************** ****************************** For each level I've decided to put up a difficulty factor, from 1-10 IMPORTANT NOTE: The difficulty factor is completely relative, meaning it will be assumed you will have gotten the certain amount of skill required to pass level B from beating level A and all the levels before it. Say, for instance, level 1 and level 19 both recieved a 6 in difficulty, this would NOT imply that both levels have the same amount of challenge, but it would mean that both levels would take about the same amount of time to beat considering the players projected skill level up to that point (I hope someone out there got that). ___________________ In-betweener levels ___________________ About every 2-3 levels you come across what I call an "in- betweener level", these are distinguishable by thier lame backgrounds, annoying music and overall pointlessness. These are a big downside to the game, and are not worth covering individually. The vast majority can be beaten in about 5 seconds, they may be just a few enemies or sometimes nothing at all, just a portal to the "real" level. My only explanation for these is that the bosses son was slacking off on the job back at Capcom, and since no one had the cohones to fire him, they gave him the task of producing these mindless levels to keep him out of thier hair. ********** PLANET ONE ********** This is easily the most diverse planet, and seems to be a post- apocolyptic Earth. The levels are set in torn down urban settings, you can see pinball machines and arcade cabinets in the background of level 2 and neon signs of (what appear to be) nude women in a provocative pose in the ledges of level 1. How'd THAT get past the Nintendo censors!? _______ Level 1 _______ Difficulty: 6 The game pulls no punches from the start, giving you a pretty difficult stage for your first battle. The boss won't show up for a minute, so you'll want to use your time powering up. Head left from the start, pick up a power-up from the first capsule you come across (the top one), climb the pillar and get another powerup on the right edge of the ledge just above that. Now go all the way across the stage on the top platform, and on the very right side will be another, just below that is another. Now you should have your gun powered up to 2, you can make it 2 and a half if you want by getting another one near the center under the top platform. You should notice by now the "seekers" swarming all around. Note thier pattern, as they are a very common enemy throughout the game. They can only move in short spurts, diagonally, horizontally and vertically. You can predict where they are going to move (they always move in the direction putting them closest to you) and shoot them down. After a bit the boss comes down to wreak havoc. He has a definative pattern, he'll move and then stop 2-3 times in a row, then he'll rear back and make a swooping attack while he's invincible. Starting off, get a few hits on him before he begins to move, when you know he is about to fly towards you (or see him moving) jump out of his way, preferably over him, get a few hits, and repeat. After a bit of that, he'll do his invincible swooping move. Jump over him, it's as simple as that. If circumstances don't allow it, you may want to try and drop down a level, both are effective measures, but jumping is more reliable. After that, get even more hits in on him. He will also use his swooping move if you hit him many times in a row, it is best to keep him swooping and avoid his awkward stop-n-go pattern. Keep the pesky seekers away with tips from the above paragraph. After a handful of good shooting sessions on him, he falls to the ground, giving you his energy and opening the portal to level 2, which will appear just left to the middle of the stage. Level 2 is a lot easier with a powered-up gun, so make sure you have it. _______ Level 2 _______ Difficulty: 3 Compared to level 1, this is a piece of cake. The level is *really small*, and the boss is *really slow*, the challenge here coming from his grapple arm, which the guy will use to shoot straight at you, or hook to the ceiling and swing across the room toward you. This is fine and all, but he's just too slow, you can get up next to him and mindlessly blast away at him, even taking all of the hits he won't hit you but 4 times at the most before you prevail (assuming you have a fast finger). The key here: Fast shooting. Also, there may be slowdown, which you can use to your advantage. Sometimes he'll start out the fight by immediately using his grapple arm, and this usually means he'll stay aggressive throughout the fight. Fire as fast as you can and stay just barely in range of him, so you can jump out of the way in case he aims right toward you. If he doesn't use his grapple arm immediately, you should be able to predict when he'll fire, and jump over him when he's about to shoot his arm at you. Maybe 1 out of 5 times he'll anticipate your move and fire up, taking off one point of life. But it really doesn't matter how much finesse you use, just get past him. The game has unlimited continues so it doesn't matter :) _______ Level 3 _______ Difficulty: 7 If you think this is a sign of things to come, don't worry. This is in fact one of the longest levels in the game, and one of the only auto-side-scrolling levels. Starting out, avoid the seekers, shoot them if you have to, and pick up powerups from the last 2 capsules on the first platform. Now you'll have to make some jumps across small odd white platforms, they will break if you stand on them too long so be light on your feet and keep jumping up. Now we get to the inside of a building, destroy the elephant statues with a flurry of hits, climb the wall and keep going. You'll come across another powerup and then there's a tight spot where you've got to make an S turn, and destroy a white platform blocking the way before you get trapped and crushed. Stick to the right side of the screen as this part is approaching, jump up as soon as you can and take out the platform fast. If you DONT make it, there's still a chance, so don't give up. There's a glitch that will let you pass through the right wall as the screen is closing in on you, if you jump *just* at the right time, it's worked for me a few times, less often than not. After that part you can take a small risk for another powerup in the back of the block of 3 capsules. Now you will see 2 rolling enemies, fake them out by dropping to the bottom, getting just close enough to make them start coming towards you, and go back. Climb the wall and you're through with that part. Now you'll be surprised by 2 explosives that come down from the ceiling, wait for the screen to finish scrolling, and hurry past. Now we come to more small platform jumping. Walk off the edge and you'll land on the first platform, to defeat the enemies on the pillars jump up and hit them once, and then deliver the second, fatal blow as you're jumping into them. This ensures you get any life power-ups they were holding. After that, there's powerups in the first 2 capsules of the bottom platform and the last capsule of the top. Now after a couple more white platform jumping, we FINALLY come to the boss. The boss seems tough for the first few times you play him, but relentless button mashing always prevails. As soon as you reach his place, jump on the second pedestal, stick to the very left, facing right. He'll drop down right in front of you. Fire away and don't stop until he raises his arms, then drop down to the floor. Hopefully he'll miss you as he throws a large cube, and watch out for a whole slew of cubes that fall from the cieling. After that, he'll jump down to the ground, then onto the lower platform, then on to the ground again. Hit him every chance you get, and when he finally settles on the ground again blast away at him again, this will get the job done. _______ Level 4 _______ Difficulty: 5 This level is comprised of a large room filled with electricity conductors, a lot of walls and ledges, and a boss that wants to take you out. He'll jump around, and then get to one side of a conductor and make it shoot a wall of electricity in 3 directions. Where you want to try and get to is the opposite side of the conductor before he sets it off. If you can do this just once and hit him while he's standing still, you'll have enough time to kill him. Starting off in the level, climb the first wall to the right and stay right there. This will lure the boss over to you, as he's coming for you jump the nearby conductor to your right, and he should stop on the left side to set it off, giving you your chance. Sometimes he doesn't follow this pattern, in which case you've got to improvise, but he should never get too tough. Avoid as much as possible until you get a clear shot. The portal will open up on the left side of the stage near the top once you're finished. ********** PLANET TWO ********** Going into planet 2, we see a cut scene featuring the first appearance by our villian, with only a mysterious pink eye showing (OOOoooh). Maybe that's what made him do it, his agonizing case of conjuctivitis. Ken and the mysterious pink faced man will square off in a short war of words, then it's on to planet 2, the plant planet. The levels here are mostly set in alien-looking vinelands, but the last level takes a turn and apparently has nothing to do with plants at all. _______ Level 5 _______ Difficulty: 5 The first of many levels where you have a quota of normal enemies to kill. The target here is seekers. There's 2 powerups on the right side of the stage, and there are new plant enemies that pop up at random and come toward you until you kill them. Stay light on your feet, trick the seekers by jumping, and get thier pattern down in your memory. Other than that, there's not much to say about level 5. The portal opens up near the right side of the stage _______ Level 6 _______ Difficulty: 8 Ah, my favorite level for some reason. I don't know why, maybe it's the kickin' music, or just the cool interface. The in- betweener level should have given you 2 fresh powerups before- hand, gearing you up for a pretty tough level. The entire level up until the boss scrolls upward automatically. You'll have to act rather quickly. Starting off, get the powerup in the capsule to your right, and climb the wall, I tend to stick near the right side of the screen for the first half of the level. Climb the vines on the right side, when you come to a part where an enemy is blocking your way and there are 3 capsules on the adjacent vine, fake him out by starting off on the right side of the vine, when he switches over quickly go to the left and climb just over him and switch to the right again to get the powerup in the middle capsule. Not long after that, a new type of enemy makes it's appearance, a strange tulip-looking thing that can only move upward. You'll want to get to a position below these things, and as far away as possible. If you can, wait for two to appear, lure them to one side, then jump over and climb down to safety, When they open up you can land on them and use them as a platform, but that's risky. Some parts of the vine are slick, and will force you down, so be careful. Now after that whole fiasco we come to the tail end of a rocky crevice, climb up, looking out for more vine enemies on the way. You'll see 2 capsules on the right side of the screen, both are housing powerups. Get them quickly if needed. And now, we come to the boss. The boss is a plant monster that has a clear pattern. He'll jump 3 times, then spew off a few rocks at you. After you hit him a few times he'll ball up and fly back and forth in a zig zag pattern until he leaves the screen, then he'll re-emerge. Hit him any way you can, from the side or from below. There's also 2 more powerups here at the boss. If you're fully powered up, this shouldn't be too much trouble, just act quickly and accurately. _______ Level 7 _______ Difficulty: 8 Agh, how I remember how hard this level was for me when I first played. There's a lot of things to look out for in this level, there's a solid wall on the left and right sides, a vine in the middle, platforms that fall out a few seconds after you step on them and a trampoline-type branch, with spikes lining the bottom. Starting out, jump onto the thick part of the 'trampoline' branch. A seeker will come from above, take care of it without stepping out onto the springy section. Just after that, a 'hunter drone' appears, these are your targets for this stage. He'll be coming at you at about shin level, so lure him a little higher by jumping up, and you may be able to hit him on your way down. After that, there's no patternization to the level, you're on your own. Seekers and hunters will swarm you, try and keep the fight concentrated on the thick part of the branch and keep jumping to lure hunters into your aim. Use the entire playing field if needed to avoid enemies, and steer clear of thick concentrations of enemies. Remember that everything disappears when they leave the screen, so if you find yourself in a heap of trouble, drop down all the way, if possible, wiping the slate clean. Kill a handful of hunters and the portal opens up at the top of the screen. _______ Level 8 _______ Difficulty: 7 Now this is a unique level. The cieling is in constant movement, swaying up and down, and attached to it is an eyeball, as well as 6 cavities that release a glob of goo every few seconds that, when in contact with the ground, turns into solid matter. This builds up and creates constantly growing pillars. Along with all of this, you have to put up with more seeker drones. At the start of the level head right, wait in the right side of the screen for the pillars to build up. Take out a seeker or two, then head to the pillar just right of the eyeball. Jump up and hit him a few times, when you see goo about to fall then move out of the way, preferably to the pillar just right of that one, and then back on, and repeat. You can get the seeker going in an endless octagonal path around you which will keep him out of your way, for the most part, but if you cant quite pull that off then just kill them. After 10 or so hits, the eyeball will come out and move around, at this time move to the pillar just to the right of you, and repeat the previous pattern, only you won't be able to hit the eye 100% of the time because he may be out of range. Fire relentlessly and a couple sessions of rapid hits will befell the eyeball boss. ************ PLANET THREE ************ Again we meet up with the myserious pink eye, and exchange threats. He will then challenge you to come to the planet Sanddune. As you can probably infer from the name, this is a desert planet, and that is the constant theme here. _______ Level 9 _______ Difficulty: 8 Level 9 takes place in some kind of underground arena. Along the bottom are constant waves of sand moving to the left, and a sprinkling of capsules serve as the only stable land. Skeletal fish jump up at random, and only the highest capsules are out of thier range. The target here is threefold, first the same boss from level 1, and then 2 of them at the same time. It will be tough and take some practice. At the begining, be aware of the skeletal fish, and get a powerup from the capsule just left of you. Skip the next one, and the capsule after that is the elusive slash kick powerup, and the one after that another powerup. Collect all of these, then head back to the right and wait on the highest capsule (this is the only point that the skeletal fish can't reach), facing left, with your foot hanging off the edge. Standing in this way, the boss should come down right next to you giving you a clear shot from the start. Shoot, and when he swoops jump over him, stay on that capsule until he's dead. Now for the hard part, you must take on 2 more of these at the same time. There is always one of them that you can pull off a few hits on right at the beginning, but after that the battle gets pretty hairy. The sand is a safe spot compared to capsule jumping, when one boss is low enough shoot them from below. In some cases you'll find it useful to use the jump slash powerup. You ARE invincible when performing it, so it can be used to get out of a tight spot. When one boss is gone it gets a lot easier. The portal will open up right in the middle when you're finished. ________ Level 10 ________ Difficulty: 1 After level 9, this should take 2 tries at the most. I beat it on my first try and took one hit, and that's the only hit I can remember taking on this level. From the beginning, hug the walls with rolling enemies on top of them, they'll roll right over you, and that's the end of that. Now climb down the chasm into the sand pit. Get the first powerup by shooting the first capsule from underneath, and from that same point jump onto the sand pillar and climb on top of it. Theres another powerup just above your head. Now jump right in the middle between the 2 pillars and onto the second pillar. From there you're in the clear (I bet the guy who made all the in-betweener levels developed this one also). There's one more powerup at the top of the tall rock wall. Now we come to the boss. Theres one more powerup on the right side (bottom one), but I suggest waiting until after the fight to pick it up. For defeating the boss, make your way to the top of his lair, and stick to the rock wall, I tend to use the right side but either would be fine, I suppose. When he shows up on your left side, shoot him unrelentlessly. When he shows up to the right of you, let go of the wall, turn right in mid-air and get one hit on him. If he continues toward you then you can hit him even more. When he disappears reattach to the wall and repeat. Simple. NOTE: For the in-betweener level that comes up next, jump on top of the enemies to make it to the portal. Do not kill them. ________ Level 11 ________ Difficulty: 9 Wow, our first stage with a difficulty of 9. This is a toughie, but once you get it down it can be quite simple every time you play thereafter. The stage is the exact same as level 9, with the powerups in the same place (powerup to the left of you from the start, a slash kick to the left of that and another powerup past that). The boss here is a small alien skull that rises up on a body of sand, and sends his good buddy out to stop you. His 'buddy' will take a lot of practice getting used to. He's a *little* bit slower than you are, making him the fastest enemy in the entire game. He can move in all directions and will stay right on your tail at all times, plus his long body is hard to jump over. Shoot off a few sections of his body, but try not to finish him off completely, as the boss will just send out another one in perfect condition. Stay moving at ALL TIMES to deal with this guy. The boss himself has a distinct and easy to follow pattern, he'll come toward you until he passes you, do the same thing again, and then rise up for a second. The most effective strategy I've found is to concentrate the fight around the left wall. Head for it right at the beginning of the battle and make sure to destroy the capsule there to get it out of your way. Now jump onto it when the skull is making his first move, jump away during his second move, at the end of which he'll rise up. Get a couple jumping hits in on him each time. It's easy to avoid the centipede if you stick to this pattern (especially after shooting off a few sections), you'll have him moving around in circles. After many agonizing attempts, you should do him in and move on. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I was emailed this tip from Luis Torres" "The Sand Cave worm throwing boss is easy to defeat. 1st, power up with the items in the cave (assuming you are at low power), the boss makes 2 runs back and forth and then rises and shoots a worm. The trick is to stay in the middle of the room (with the moving sand and all), backflip and shoot down into the skull as it passes under you (takes a little timing), after the second pass, you know he's going to rise, so walk away until he's off the screen, wait for a few seconds, and the caterpillar will not be shot. Continue the pattern until he's defeated, it works 95% of the time." :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ________ Level 12 ________ Difficulty: 4 After that last level, this seems like a reward. The level isn't too hard, but it's pretty cool. You are constantly moving down on an endless wave of sand, remember that you'll always land on the same level that you jumped from. You have 6 of those centipede things from the last level, but this time you're not in closed quarters. At the start of the level, the first one comes out to attack you. Simply get a few hits from the side, and when he's closing in on you jump over him. Estimate exactly where he'll be coming back down from, and if you are in the right place shooting up, you'll be able to kill him with no trouble at all. Use this pattern on most of the centipede monsters. As you pass the first rocky cliff on the left side, get the capsule on top of it for a powerup, just before the second centipede is coming from the bottom. After you kill him, there's another powerup on the bottom capsule of that cliff. Now you come to a wide open area. Note the faster streams of sand. Skeletal fish will attack from the bottom as a third centipede attacks, and shortly thereafter a fourth. All I can say is stay light on your feet to avoid skeletal fish attacks. I find that starting off on the very left side of the screen always leaves me with ample time to react. After this we come to a narrow rock chasm, just before the fifth centipede attacks is a capsule to the left with a powerup. The 5th one should be killed by sticking to the left wall, shooting, and jumping over him when he closes in. beating that one will open the portal, but a sixth centipede attacks as you're coming upon it. Don't worry about attacking him. ________ Level 13 ________ Difficulty: 6 Here's yet another unique stage. It's fairly small, you'll see that there's a sand wave covering the top portion of the room with just enough room on the bottom to stand up. There's a second wave pushing across from right to left. The boss will make his entrance riding on a centipede, stick to the left wall at the top and jump over the pair when they close in. Run. The boss will eventually drop from the centipede, at which time you can take out the centipede easily. Don't worry, he's not coming back this time. After you get this done, the boss is a piece of cake, as long as you know exactly what to do. The boss will spin into a tornado, a'la Tazmanian Devil, stop, shoot a slow projectile at you, then repeat in the opposite direction. It can take a while to get the hang of, but to defeat this guy: Jump as far up as you can into the sand wave and travel to the ground in a zig-zag, or 'Z', pattern, to where you land right next to him after he gets done spinning. Get a few hits in on him and then jump back up into the sand, evading his weak attack. Repeat as many times as it takes. This can be especially tough if you don't have your weapon powerups from the last stage, as getting close to him is dangerous. Overall, though, nothing an average gamer couldn't do with a little practice, and if you made it this far I know you can do it. *********** PLANET FOUR *********** Next up is a cut scene that shows Ken looking remarkably like Duke Nukem. He then whines and complains about how his body is starting to hurt and then we move on to planet 4. Planet 4 has to do mainly with aquatic settings, but has a lot of plant life as well. ________ Level 14 ________ Difficulty: 3 Here you have a quota of dorky fat pink guys to kill. Coming from below are a lot of jellyfish you can use as platforms. You wont need to power up, but if you want to do so, there's a powerup in the clump of capsules just above the start, and two more in the lower left side of the area. On the right side is the pod powerup. Just stay on one ledge and shoot all of the pink guys that come around. You should beat it in no time flat. Be careful not to get hit by falling pink dorks on your way to the portal. ________ Level 15 ________ Difficulty: 5 This is the most graphic intensive and cool looking stage in the game. Because of this, it suffers from slowdown, but it's never too much of a hassle. It's an automatic side-scrolling level, and it sways back and forth, making it genuinely unique. At the beginning, kill the first enemy and then get a powerup from the capsule on the above ledge. You'll soon find that these enemies regenerate, but you have an advantage, they often give you life powerups. This is a good level to get some life back on. After that brief skirmish with 2 of those enemies, we get to a hard part. There's a structure with 2 enemies constantly shooting at you, it's hard to cross without getting hit, even for me. It makes it easier if you kill one of them first. After you cross, the screen starts to sway back. Stick to the right side and fight off attacks from the enemies. When it reverses again, you see a tall wall with 2 capsules on the other side. Don't attempt to cross it yet, just wait right there for it to reverse 2 more times. Make sure you cross as the ceiling is moving up and do so quickly. There's a powerup in the bottom capsule on the other side. Now there's just a couple more enemies and then the pathetic boss. The boss will come whirling by either below or above you, stay to the ground. Every 2-3 times he passes you he'll stop and float around. This is when you tear into him relentlessly. He almost never lunges straight at you, always missing you. After only a few sessions of heavy hitting, he'll keel over, float down and explode. Very cool. The in-betweener level after this is actually tough, it's the level 10 boss without a safe wall to cling to. First get a bunch of hits in until he disappears. After this, he'll almost always reappear in the air, so get some jumpings hits in on him, then back off so you have time to avoid his row of pillars (just find an opening and jump in between two of them). If he chases you, you'll have to keep hitting him to make him disappear, either with more jumping shots or upward curved shots. ________ Level 16 ________ Difficulty: 10 W-WHOAH MOMMA! You're in for it, that's all I can say. This level, while not unmasterable, is very hard. I still have a little trouble with it myself. There's so many things to disect about this level. First there's the boss, which is a crustacean which opens and closes every few seconds, and hides his weak spot on the inside. He shoots 2 VERY dangerous projectiles that then each split into 2 and go back in the opposite direction. There's an giant alien/worm/thing that breaks up through the crystalline floor often and in random positions, when he catches you, he drags you down to an underlevel and you must start all over when you get back out. You also got to watch out for the holes he makes. All this is going on as the entire stage is fluctuating up and down. As you can probably imagine, there's massive slowdown unbearable to all but the most stead-fast NES gamers. There's a powerup to your immediate left just as you start the stage, get it before the floor rises too high, there's one on the middle ledge (left), one in the very right side and one hidden in the 4th section of the left pillar. There's 2 more powerups in the underlevel, but they are certainly not worth getting. Now that that's all covered, onto the fight.. Just after you get the first powerup, cling to the left wall, climb up and jump over the boss onto the middle level. This is where you want the fight to be concentrated at. Note that you can only effectively deal damage by hitting the boss *right* at the tip of his innards, from where he shoots his projectiles. Keep him going in an '8' pattern, jumping on the left and right pillars and back to the platform again. When he opens up you can usually get a couple of hits before having to retreat or get hit. Use upward curving shots to tag him from the side. The most effective position is right under him, when he's open. When the floor is rising, make it quick, when it's going down and you have a clear shot, consider yourself lucky and fire unmercifully. A few open shots like that and you could do him in! The alien worm has a minute chance of catching you while you're on the middle platform, but it tends to happen every now and then. If you feel you just need more fire-power, jump down a hole and quickly come back up. All the powerups will be back, of course you'll have to start the fight over though. The key word here: Practice. Don't expect to steamroll through this level. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: This tip has been sent by Chad Davidson, hopefully this will make it a lot easier on you: "There is a trick to killing this clam thing on a new life in just a few seconds! Immediately kick the cases to your left, then quickly jump to the ledge on the right and get the powerup. Go back to the center at the bottom of the screen, aligning yourself under the clam so it is traveling straight down at you. When it opens attack straight up as fast as you can. You should destroy it before it closes, but there's one last step. You usually have to move immediately afterwards or the claw will eat you. You must be very nimble for this to work, but hey, you get infinite tries." ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: *********** PLANET FIVE *********** The next cut-scene depicts Ken wincing in pain, as the mysterious pink face taunts him some more. He then asks Ken to join him, and in return he'll heal his pain. There's no response from Ken, the cut-scene ends and we head for planet 5, which isn't a planet at all but a gigantic space station. Graphically and level-design-wise, this entire 'planet' is a masterpiece. ________ Level 17 ________ Difficulty: 4 Another quota level. Here you have to defeat hunter drones, while dealing with the ever-hated centipedes at the same time. This is the only level in the game in which capsules housing powerups are completely random. There are, however, 2 special powerups that are constantly found in the same place. The slash kick powerup can be found on the left side in the middle of the clump of 3 capsules. The pod powerups makes a final appearance in the bottom of the left hand side. To defeat the hunters, cling to walls, wait for one to come along, jump off and hit it on your way down. That's the most effective way in my experiences. Also jump up and lure them, you know, the usual, you should be able to do it if you made it to this point (although that regenerating centipede doesn't help matters. Knock a few sections off him). ________ Level 18 ________ Difficulty: 5 This level has the same interface as level 3, it's a straight- forward auto-side-scroller. At the beginning they try to throw every enemy in the book at you. When you begin, ignore the powerups to the left as there's no way you can get them. Now pick up one powerup from the second capsule and after that, you're thrown into the thick of things. Namely 2 seekers, 2 hunters and 2 rollers, all on the screen at the same time. Avoid the first seeker who will come down on you from above, jump up to the top platform, jump the roller, drop down and then get onto the next platform. From there there's not too much trouble, I'm not saying you wont get hit but just try to maintain at least 2 and a half points of life throughout the level. You'll see why later. From the point you're at now, you'll see a thick wall with two pillars holding it up. Drop down and hook the left pillar. You'll want to act as quickly as you possibly can without getting too close to the edge of the screen. From there switch over to the right side of the right pillar and jump on top of that platform there. Do not try to hook the side, you will miss, it must be a glitch in the game. Now you need to do a lot of pillar jumping, there will be enemies on every wall, the kind that move down toward you. Move quickly, jump before they reach you, but make sure the screen has scrolled over enough to justify your leap. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: For this next part, refer to these tips sent to me by Chad Davidson "There is a way to dodge the rollies in the corridor, too! When you enter the corridor, notice that you are on a pipe: that means you can jump down. But there's no panel below you- that's suicide isn't it? Wrong. When you flip down, immediately press up (but don't hold it too long) and you will grapple on the ledge, safely below the rollies. Press up again and you will flip back on top of the ledge. You have to do this twice. Note: Don't do this unless you have less than 2 and a half health because it can get you killed if you don't press up at the right time! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: After that, there's a part with a lot of moving platforms over an open space. Luckily, there are capsules scattered across the top to serve as sufficient ground. The quickest and easiest way across the chasm is to wait on the main platform at the beginning of the sequence. 2 moving platforms will come at you just above the height of your head. Ignore them, and then when you see the third approaching at about that same height, make your move. Jump onto that one, and then onto the one right after it, and to the above capsule to make it to safety. Jump one moving platform that will be coming at your shins, and you're in the clear. Shortly thereafter you hear the stage clear music and a portal opens. "What!?" you surely say, "no boss?". Yes I know, it's very unconventional for this game. But then again, this game is pretty unconventional altogether. ================= Level 19 "The Final Fight" ================= Difficulty: 10 This is it, the end-all be-all of battles. No more playing around, everything up to this point was just the pre-test, this is the final exams. This calls for an ASCII map: _______________________ | | | | | | ___|x | | | | | | | | | 1____|_|___|__|__ x | _ C |_| | | |_______________ |_ | __ _()______ | |______________ ||2 _|_ _ | ____|()|___ ____________ | ||_ | |_ _|- | | | A | | || _|___||___ | | |x ___ x| | ||_ | () | | | | __ |_| || _| | | ??? | | __ ()_||___()_____B_|____|___________| |_ _|- 3 |________| --- Key --- A: Level 16 boss B: Level 2 boss C: Level 10 boss x 2 x: Powerup #: Key points for the walkthrough below (): Door ???: ?????????? The level is basically a rat-run of difficult challenges, but while it's hard, it's very patternized. When you beat it a few times you should have little trouble every time thereafter (at least that's been my experience). It's also the only level where the time limit really counts. You'll run out of time if you don't have the level down pat. With the constant challenge and crunching time limit, this will take some practice to over- come. ROOM A: I know what you were thinking when you read in the key that you must fight the level 16 boss again. Don't worry, this time he's about 20X easier, as there are no variables and no slowdown at all. In fact he is probably the easiest part of the level. The room is out of proportion in the above map, it's not quite that big (a little bigger than room C, actually). When you begin, get the left powerup immediately. Now drop down and get 2-3 hits on him as he's coming down and opens up, then go for the right powerup. The rest is improvisation, but he has a simple pattern. Keep him near the ground, shoot from below when he stops in the air to shoot at you (you'll always destroy his projectiles in the process so don't worry) and hit him from the side when he's moving along the bottom while open. His projectiles often give valuable life powerups. There are a couple things to remember in this level, don't try to jump above the screen, though you can't tell, there's a ceiling there, and don't try to shoot upward while under the bottom ledge, its too low and you'll hook it when you don't want to. After that guy the door busts open. Climb up and over to the left and you come to point 1. Make sure to get the powerup here and jump from pillar to pillar, avoiding the hunters that come from the right and top. Make sure you get the powerup, it is imperitive that you get every powerup in the level. Now drop down the ledges at point 2, here you see a couple of the tulip enemies from level 6. It's not really difficult at all though. Go through the door and we meet our good old slow buddy from level 2. My how things change.. ROOM B: Here you have almost no room to work with, and worse yet, the boss is considerably faster and, seemingly, smarter from the slow idiot he was way on back in level 2. Use the same philosophy though, tag him unmercifully with shots as often as you get the chance, jump over him before he shoots his grappling arm at you, and use the walls to your advantage. With some practice (and luck) you'll be able to beat him. When he's gone, the jellyfish enemies start coming up from point 3. Don't go up immediately, you will probably need to gain some life back. Kill the jellyfish, about every 1 in 4 will give you a life powerup. Keep an eye on your timer, however (I usually leave with about 80 seconds to go regardless, you'll need the time). When you're all ready, ride the jellyfish and jump through the top door to room C. ROOM C: The level 10 boss doesn't seem like such a chump this time, and now there's 2 of them to put up with in one fight. However, I've found a very easy way to get past them, simply make your way to the top right wall, and when both of them are off the screen, climb up to the very top (while still remaining on the screen), when the first of them reappears, climb down a few notches and from there you can hit them. They always reappear the same distance from you. Don't let one of them make it over to the right side of you, or it could be trouble. Once one is gone, it becomes a lot easier. After this fight, step through the door and meet your mysterious nemesis. SPOILER WARNING: if you haven't gotten this far into the game and don't want the mystery of the big pink face spoiled for you, don't read any further. ... .. . .. ... .. . .. ... .. . .. ... .. . .. ... .. . Spoiler approaching ... .. . .. ... .. . .. ... .. . .. ... .. . .. ... .. . Go down the corridor and then drop down into the large room. As you land you are greeted by a small munchkin in a lab coat, and you are then treated to a cutscene (with pretty kickin' music!). It is clear from Kens reaction that it is Troy, his old lab partner, thought to be killed (oh come on, like you didn't see that coming a mile away!). Troy reveals that thier invention, the "cyboplasm" will cause pain in all of it's victims. He then tells of how he tested the stuff on Ken and then erased it from his memory. When asked why he did it, Troy gives some lame stereotypical Nintendo response about how being 'evil' somehow makes you the most powerful. He then asks Ken to join him, and of course the answer is no. It's time to take out this Jack Nicholson wannabe. He is disappointingly easy, just try to have at least 1 and a half life bars when you reach him. At the start of the battle, what looks like a bio-mech suit drops down and Troy gets in. The slow cyborg is simple as pie, just remember to shoot and don't stop shooting, except to step back if he's getting too close to you. He will shoot out lasers in all directions, that will hit you 95% of the time, hence needing 1 and a half units of life. You can try and avoid it by jumping far onto the wall, but that may cost you some good shooting time and give him the time needed to get off a second shot. If you've been shooting him without stopping and are properly powered up, his mech suit will go down after he gets one attack off, and phase 2 begins. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I was emailed this tip from Luis Torres "The back 1st 1/2 of the backflip move renders you invinsible, that's how you can avoid the annoying lasers from phase1 of the last boss, it can also help in sticky situations" ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: "Phase 2" is even simpler. He'll rise up and transform to where you see only the big ugly pink face that's been taunting you the entire game and 2 hands that can be used as platforms. Climb the wall and be positioned just to the right of his ugly mug, and, like always, shoot without mercy. He'll send out 2 hunter drones, in which case drop down to his left hand (his left, but right to you) then back onto the wall, shooting the hunters in mid-air in the process. Once on the wall, repeat process. He should get just one attack off in this phase as well, sometimes 2. Now sit back and enjoy the almost-worth it ending, and marvel in the fact that you've beaten this tough game. Congratulations. ... .. . .. ... .. . .. ... .. . .. ... .. . .. ... .. . Spoiler end ****************************** ****************************** ** Expert Tips ** ****************************** ****************************** Over two years ago, when I wrote this FAQ, I was decent at the game and had beaten it a handful of times. Back then it would take hours full of failed attempts to achieve. But, as you might attest to, SF2010 is a game that can't help but grow on you. The controls are so deep that I'm literally still finding new, effective strategies. I don't recall the exact date, but a few months ago today (10/27/02), I did the unimaginable - I beat the game without losing a life. Recently I've been trying to duplicate that (no luck yet, but I can often beat it without continuing). There's certain things I have to keep in mind when I'm going for a perfect game, and I thought I'd share my knowledge to those looking to take thier game up a few notches: •Make note that you get your life refilled at the beginning of every planet. Since you want to do this without losing a life, you should be in the mindset that each planet is one level, and everywhere along the way you should be conserving life. If your strategy is to wail on a boss until he dies, while you're absorbing some hurt, you'll have to figure something else out (unless of course it's the last boss of the planet). •Fully-powered curved shots look cool. They also cause Ken to pause for a short while. Unless you've got some space, and it's a sure hit, level 5 curved shots should be avoided. •Curved shots, in general, can be useful to those who care to master them. Any time you have an enemy just above your head, and you are the right distance away, it's a good time to use it. You can't always rely on curved shots and using them excessively will cause some hits (you'll always have -some- pause) •The slash powerup is something else that can potentially get you out of a bind, but should not be used excessively. With practice, it can work wonders on the flying bosses in level 9. The orb powerup is something I personally never got substantial use out of, and trying to use it has lead to a lot of hits. Simply having it can't hurt, I just don't actively TRY to use it. •Certain stages can be mastered completely, while in others, there will always be some level of improvisation needed. Then there are a couple points in the game that you should look forward to, as chances to regain energy. *Here are the stages that I've not been able to fully master* (you should build raw skill to carry you through them) -Level 2, very difficult to be certain where the boss will strike with his grappling hook. -Level 7, this level is as hard as you make it. Swarms abound if you're not quick to dispatch most of the enemies. -Level 9, becomes deathly hard to avoid taking hits when 2 bosses come down. After you practice everything else, and you're going for a perfect game, this becomes the toughest part. -Level 12, difficulties arise avoiding the 3rd, 4th and 6th sand worms. The 3rd and 4th because of the jumping fish, these can best be avoided by starting that part on the very left side of the screen. If you try to fight the 6th and last sand worm, you run out of time, if you avoid it, you usually get hit on the way to the portal. I find it helps to be on the very right side of the small chasm until he heads toward me. -Level 17, I normally take hits on my way to the right wall, from there I have a pretty good position to elude the enemies and rack up kills *Here are the points where you should stop to build health* -The in-betweener stage after level 11 (the sand skull and centipede), its a bunch of the plants that pop up from the ground and walk toward you. If you wait after the portal opens, and continue to kill them, they usually give you a couple life ups. You'll likely need them on this planet. -Level 15, throughout the whole thing, you should be getting life ups. The level 16 boss is a test of endurance, and it's very important to go into that fight with full health, so make sure you can get all the life you need by killing the regenerating enemies and don't get hit by the boss. -Level 19, after the level 2 boss's reappearance, wait around and strike at the jellyfish. •You get very good chances to heal on planets 4 and 5. Planet 3, then, becomes the toughest (by far) to not lose a life on, followed by 2. You should focus mostly on these planets when attempting to master the game. •Practice avoiding the rollies on level 18, by jumping down, hooking the ledge, then pulling yourself back up after they pass (thanks to Chad Davidson for that tip!). It's tough to learn consistently, and if you fail; automatic death. But it's definately essential to save health for the final fight. Also, practice backflipping on the final boss's first form to avoid his laser attack (thanks to Luis Torres for that one!). ****************************** ****************************** ** FAQ ** ****************************** ****************************** Q. The game keeps snubbing me on powerups, when I get my gun powered up to about 3 1/2. What's happening? A. That happens, and is a major flaw in the game IMO. Sometimes a powerup that should be in a particular capsule just won't be there, or when traveling from one level to another you lose a weapon point (this also happens when you have a full gun and take a hit). Because of these problems, it is VERY hard to get your gun fully powered up. I've only pulled it off a handful of times, let me just say it's not worth it. There's no visible difference between a level 5 and a level 4 weapon, except when you curl your shots the projectiles transform into spinning discs. This is cool looking but not useful. Q. I found a powerup that you failed to mention... A. I'm sure you could, if you looked. While I did a good bit of scouring to find all the powerups when writing this walkthrough, I didn't bust my hump to search each and every capsule when it's unnecessary. Q. I've hit the level 13 boss a billion times and he hasn't died, what's going on? A. You're not hitting him. It's kind of hard to tell with all that sand around. If you don't have your powerups from previous levels it can be tough, you'll have to land _right_ beside him to deal any damage with a standard power weapon. Q. I've tried doing exactly what you said and it's not working. A. In this case, try something new. I told you everything I could about how _I_ got through the game, but every game player is different. You might want to combine my strategy with your own personal playing style. ****************************** ****************************** ** Notes ** ****************************** ****************************** This FAQ was written over a period of 2 days in notepad. Street Fighter 2010 is copyright Capcom U.S.A. Inc. and liscensed by Nintendo. I'd like to thank my friend for giving me this game, my friends friend for giving the game to him, Luis Torres, Pat Zajac and Chad Davidson for sending me thier fantastic and useful tips, Nintendo for making the NES, and everyone that continues to play the NES and keep the good old days alive. Also GameFAQs for hosting my FAQ (as well as anyone else that uses this) and the other FAQ creators at GameFAQs for providing a precedent. ****************************** ****************************** ** Legal ** ****************************** ****************************** This FAQ is copyright 2000-2002 by Deathspork, anyone may use my FAQ for any purpose as long as there is no profit involved and this document remains unchanged. There's no need to email me asking for permission to use my FAQ, just go ahead, although updated versions will appear at GameFAQs.com first. Thank you for using this FAQ. END