Power Strike

[BioForceApe]

Power Strike (Aleste as public release only for SMS) - The story of Aleste deals about the human-made Supercomputer, DIA 51, which has been infected by a hybrid virus and is spreading like wildfire, making it decide to eliminate the human race. When Yuri, Ray's girlfriend, gets injured in DIA's assault, Raymond Waizen has all the reasons in the world to get rid of DIA 51 once and for all in his Aleste fighter.

 

OPERATION DEADLINE - TARGET: NEXT SATURDAY

 

jblenkle -

roadrunner - 159,500

Torr -

LarcenTyler -

zylon - 453,380

skosh -

BillyHW - 260,490

Jess - 777,770

 

HSC Points:

jblenkle - 7

roadrunner - 10

Torr - 2

LarcenTyler - 2

zylon - 8

skosh - 6

BillyHW - 1

Jess - 1

 

Winner (This Round only and im never doing it again) is Jess Ragan!

Edited June 24, 2012 by BioForceApe

[zylon]

If I remember right, this was one of the few times the sequel was better than the first release. This one was/is insanely hard IMO.

[zylon]

Gave it a run this morning and got a PB. 119,320

 

For an insane challenge, only use regular fire.

[roadrunner]

159,100

 

Round 2 is a tough one.

[BillyHW]

Hmmm, my UE rom has "Aleste" on the title screen. And is The Ninja round closed? I posted a much better score last night. I must say the other scores were all pretty lame. It's like the rest of you guys didn't even try to get past the first stage.

[BillyHW]

My first try:

 

 

This game looks really hard and I suck at shooters. It looks good, but there's a ton of slowdown.

 

BTW, this game has enhanced sound for the FM chip. Are any of you listening to the enhanced tracks?

 

http://segaretro.org/FM_Sound_Unit

Edited June 18, 2012 by BillyHW

[BillyHW]

Second try:

 

 

I think I need to read the manual.

[BillyHW]

Manual scan:

 

http://www.smspower.org/Scans/PowerStrike-SMS-AU-Manual?gallerypage=Cover

[zylon]

159,100

 

Round 2 is a tough one.

Indeed it is. I lost my last 2 ships quickly at beginning of that one due to respawning in a cloud of enemies.

[zylon]

Hmmm, my UE rom has "Aleste" on the title screen. And is The Ninja round closed? I posted a much better score last night. I must say the other scores were all pretty lame. It's like the rest of you guys didn't even try to get past the first stage.

I think I gave that one a whole 20 minutes of effort tops. I think I was still using my CX40 stick since it was still on the system from Alien Syndrome.

[roadrunner]

159,100

 

Round 2 is a tough one.

Indeed it is. I lost my last 2 ships quickly at beginning of that one due to respawning in a cloud of enemies.

 

For the first level power up 8 is awesome. I kept using that over and over.

I had 3 lives left going into level 2 but didn't last long.

I got a 15k bonus at the end of level 1

I'm guessing that's for not dying.

[roadrunner]

Hmmm, my UE rom has "Aleste" on the title screen. And is The Ninja round closed? I posted a much better score last night. I must say the other scores were all pretty lame. It's like the rest of you guys didn't even try to get past the first stage.

 

I don't like The Ninja, the more i played it the worst i did.

I had scores around 15k - 16k

[BillyHW]

Hmmm, my UE rom has "Aleste" on the title screen. And is The Ninja round closed? I posted a much better score last night. I must say the other scores were all pretty lame. It's like the rest of you guys didn't even try to get past the first stage.

 

I don't like The Ninja, the more i played it the worst i did.

I had scores around 15k - 16k

 

I guess it had more of a nostalgia factor for me. I played it quite a bit back in the day. It's a decent game if you give it chance.

Edited June 18, 2012 by BillyHW

[roadrunner]

Power Strike rom. There's 3 roms in this folder.

Aleste (JUE) !.zip

[jblenkle]

Power Strike - 29,810

[Jess Ragan]

Ooh, ooh! Can I play?

 

Ah, this is a fine shooter in that Zanac/Gun*Nac/Guardian Legend tradition. Sure wrecks up your hand like nobody's business if you don't have rapid fire, though!

 

Now that I've posted my high score, here's how you can beat it...

 

* This is very similar to Zanac, and the same rules apply. You'll see enemy patterns frequently reused, so learning them is crucial to your survival.

 

* Like Zanac, and, well, every other shooter Compile ever made, some ships will drop P-Chips after you've destroyed them. However, it takes a lot of P-Chips to power up your ship's main weapon, so don't take any unnecessary risks trying to collect them.

 

* You also have a secondary weapon. These are numbered from 1 to 8, with 1 being the default. Unlike the NES Zanac games, all of the weapons but the default run on a timer shown on the bottom right corner of the screen. When time runs out, you'll return to the default weapon, a plasma ball that can be aimed with the joystick. It's better than nothing, but there are much better secondary weapons available... it's in your best interest to hold onto one of those as long as possible.

 

* There's a third, undocumented weapon in this game... slowdown. Milk it for all it's worth. Get an extravagant secondary weapon and fire it along with the main cannon when there's a lot of onscreen activity. The action will slow to a crawl, letting you squeeze through gaps in the enemy's bullet sprays.

 

* In Power Strike, your best offense is a good defense. Pick up 4 or 5 whenever you can... 4 is a shield that blocks all incoming shots and enemies. 5 ups the ante by soaking up bullets AND homing in on enemies. Keep those weapons active as long as you can, refreshing them whenever the opportunity arises!

 

* Power ups are elusive in this game, floating to the top of the screen as soon as they've been freed from the ships and ground installations holding them. Wait until they're very close, then blast 'em and scoop 'em up before they vanish.

 

* If your ship is destroyed, don't lose heart! Yes, you'll lose all the power ups you've collected, but more are just around the corner. When you get that next ship, move quickly to a safe place on the screen, because the invincibility window is very tight. You'll lose ships in rapid sequence if you just sit still.

 

I'll post information about the specific weapons as soon as I've done the proper research on all of them. Hope this helps!

Edited June 19, 2012 by Jess Ragan

[Jess Ragan]

 

The AtariAge gallery feature is a real butthole. Is this Albert's way of telling us to use Photobucket for our pictures from now on?

 

Anyway, that's 581,430. I was doing pretty well until I was digested by those alien lettuce heads.

[Jess Ragan]

I promised a weapon guide, and I delivered!

 

 

POWER STRIKE

Secondary Weapons

 

1: Plasma Ball

The default weapon. Unlike the seven other weapons in the game, this is not bound to a timer and cannot expire. A stream of plasma balls that either fire forward, or in the direction the player holds the joystick. This lets you attack enemies from different angles, but the ship will move toward the enemies as well, making it extremely risky. Your best bet is to upgrade to something else as soon as possible.

 

2: Charge Shot

Holding down the fire button produces a small energy charge. Release the button and the charge travels upward, slicing through all enemies in its path. The charge shot can be used as a shield, and it does heavy damage when released. However, it's relatively small and probably won't offer enough protection in the game's later stages.

 

3: Arrow Beam

Pressing the fire button releases a laser that fires directly forward. The laser does intense damage and can be thickened each time 3 is collected, but it still seems pretty sorry next to its cousin the Blazing Laser.

 

4: Spinning Shield

Press the fire button and a shield rotates around your ship, blocking shots and destroying enemies. However, it's not fast enough to catch everything thrown at you, so caution is advised.

 

5: Boomerang Beam

Press the fire button and a cluster of plasma balls clings to the front of your ship, leaving only to target nearby enemies. It's not an especially exciting weapon, but there's no questioning its effectiveness! Great for muscling your way through the later stages, since the plasma balls intercept most incoming attacks and trigger slowdown when the screen is full of enemy ships.

 

6: Wave Shot

Holding down the fire button creates a stream of waves that can be aimed diagonally by holding the joystick left or right. Absolutely horrible in its standard form, but can be upgraded into a useful weapon if you keep grabbing 6s. Don't even think about it if you can't at least grab two of them at once. Zanac turned all onscreen enemies into 1UPs if you grabbed six consecutive 6s... there's no telling if that works here.

 

7: Holo Shield

Holding the fire button creates a translucent orb in front of your ship. This orb not only soaks up bullets like a sponge, but can be set over enemies and even bosses to deliver continuous damage. Collect several 7s and your ship produces TWO holo shields, doubling your protection. An excellent weapon that suffers from limited range and the fact that it only protects you from the front, not the sides or back.

 

8: Blazing Laser (see what I did there?)

Pressing the button creates a long beam that frantically snakes its way upward, vaporizing all in its path. The ultimate offensive weapon, with a massive range and equally impressive destructive capability.

[Jess Ragan]

Posting another high score, and expressing my continued disgust with the AtariAge gallery system. Posting a picture has gone from a two step to an eight step process. Why? It was so much easier before!

 

 

[zylon]

374,680

 

Just use a small C-clamp over both buttons and keep moving like I do.

[BillyHW]

Third try:

 

 

This game is pretty uninspired so far. Not liking the weapons. Not liking the enemies. Not liking the music. Not liking the bosses. Not liking how long it takes to power up a weapon. And the programmers got carried away with the number of sprites on the screen for an 8-bit game. Maybe it gets better later on, but I'm surprised that this comes from the same people that gave us the awesome Blazing Lazers and Space Megaforce.

 

BTW, where are my HSC points for the last round of The Ninja?

Edited June 20, 2012 by BillyHW

[BillyHW]

208,640. Man, lose your first life, lose your power-ups, and it's all over in a matter of seconds. Bad game design.

 

And hey, check out page 15 of the manual I posted. It warns you not to hit the cartridge with a hammer, and neither should you light it on fire with a match. Har.

Edited June 20, 2012 by BillyHW

[BioForceApe]

Sorry, wasnt here for the few days and was busy with something. Tell ya what, I will get the scores in on Friday.

[Jess Ragan]

Third try:

 

 

This game is pretty uninspired so far. Not liking the weapons. Not liking the enemies. Not liking the music. Not liking the bosses. Not liking how long it takes to power up a weapon. And the programmers got carried away with the number of sprites on the screen for an 8-bit game. Maybe it gets better later on, but I'm surprised that this comes from the same people that gave us the awesome Blazing Lazers and Space Megaforce.

 

Man, you've got to adjust your expectations. Of course the game's not going to be as good as Blazing Lazers or Space Megaforce... they were on much more powerful systems! This is certainly one of the better 8-bit shooters I've played, on par with Zanac if not quite as flashy as its sequel Gun*Nac. Between this and their port of R-Type, I'm really impressed with what Compile could do with the Master System hardware.

 

Now if you want a CRAPPY Compile shooter, try Guardic on the MSX. A precursor to The Guardian Legend for the NES, Guardic is woefully simplistic and filled with idiotic design flaws that must have seemed like a good idea only to its lead developer Pac Fujishima. Imagine if you will a Galaxian knock-off where the enemies madly bounce around the screen and your shots are regularly blocked by barriers strewn across the screen. In the unlikely chance that you finish a stage, you can fly to another, giving you the impression that you can actually make progress in the game. However, that freedom of movement is only an illusion, and you'll be forced to wade through increasingly frustrating levels with increasingly hyperactive enemies until the end of time. The Guardian Legend isn't so much a sequel to Guardic as a complete overhaul, salvaging what worked while throwing away the many, many things that didn't.

[BillyHW]

I don't think my expectations are too high. There are plenty of 8-bit shooters that are better than this.