Galactic Pinball

******************************************************************************* Metroid Mini-Game for Galactic Pinball for Virtual Boy In-Depth FAQ by BHodges Version 1.1 Created 09/28/03 Updated 09/18/08 This document Copyright 2003-2008 by Brian Hodges. This FAQ is not to be posted without explicit permission by me. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. ******************************************************************************* Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Getting the Metroid Mini-Game III. Playing the Metroid Mini-Game A. Basics B. Enemy Attack Patterns IV. Rewards A. Points B. Extra Puck V. Version History VI. Contact Information ******************************************************************************* I. Introduction This is an in-depth FAQ for the Virtual Boy game Galactic Pinball. It focuses on the Metroid mini-game that can be played on the Cosmic table. This FAQ is a supplement to my main Galactic Pinball FAQ, please refer to it if you need more information. ******************************************************************************* II. Getting the Metroid Mini-Game The Metroid mini-game is my favorite part of Galactic Pinball. In the mini-game, you are Samus Aran, a bounty hunter fighting space pirates. You control her ship in a Galaga style battle against the pirates. The Metroid mini-game is located on the Cosmic table. In order to play you must complete the Bumper Clash mission. First you must get your puck into the hole that is underneath the three bumpers at the top right of the screen. You will get a message that says "Bumper Clash". During this time, after a bumper has been hit a certain number of times it will explode. Destroy all three bumpers to make a Metroid icon appear (it looks like a S). Hit the icon with your puck to enter the Metroid mini-game. You will see a message that says "Shooting Bonus". You will then see the puck turn into a ship and there will be a message that says "Let's Go Samus". You will hear a digitized voice saying "Roger Samus". The game then starts. If you don't break all three bumpers in the time limit, don't worry, just hit the puck into the hole and try again (any bumpers you destroyed will stay destroyed). If you are having trouble doing this or even getting the puck in the hole in the first place, you can do this: Hit the four drop targets on the right to extend the lane. Now the lane on the top of the table will get longer and there will be four new drop targets on the right. Hit them to extend the lane again. Now just hit the puck with the right flipper into the lane entrance at the top left of the table, the puck will drop right into the hole and start Bumper Clash. ******************************************************************************* III. Playing the Metroid Mini-Game ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Basics The controls are fairly simple, use the left control pad to move your ship left and right and press A to fire. You can press Start to pause the game. You can have a total of four shots on the screen at once. The enemies can't shoot back, instead they try to fly into you. If you get hit once, your mission is over. Win or lose, once the game is over, your ship will turn back into a puck, and you will resume playing pinball. The three bumpers you destroyed in Bumper Clash will be back, you will have to destroy them like before to play the mini-game again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Enemy Attack Patterns There are a total of 50 enemies in the Metroid mini-game. They all come from of the top of the screen. Some enemies will fly straight down, some will move from side to side and some will even retreat. The most dangerous are the Metroids themselves, they will actually home in on you! With the exception of the Metroids, all enemies will move in exactly the same way every time. I have broken up the enemies into waves, but there really isn't anything to let you know that a new group is coming, this is just how I decided to break them up. Wave 1 Enemies: 3 A single enemy will come down the middle, stop at the middle of the screen, then retreat straight up. A single enemy will then make a U-shaped swoop from right to left, it will be at the center of the screen at the bottom of the U. Now a single enemy will swoop down from left to right in a U-shaped pattern. Wave 2 Enemies: 9 One enemy will charge down the center, followed by one on the right side, then the left, then one down the center, then one on the right, then on the left, then one on the right that will home in on you, then another on the right, moving slightly diagonal to the left, then finally one from the left moving slightly diagonal to the right. Wave 3 Enemies: 18 Two enemies will fly straight down the center followed by two enemies that start out on the left an right sides and swoop down towards the middle. Then one will come from the right side and home in on you. Then one will come down the center followed by two more enemies coming down the sides swooping towards the middle. These are immediately followed by two more enemies on the sides that will come down to about the center, then will retreat. These are followed by two more enemies about halfway between the middle and the sides. Two more will then come down, followed by another two. These two are followed by two more that will try to home in on you. Wave 4 Enemies: 21 Three enemies will come at you from straight down the middle. Then one on the left, followed by one on the right. These are followed by three enemies that will come down to almost the bottom then retreat. Then one will come really fast down the center. Then two will come from the right, one of these will continue straight down, but the other will move diagonal left. Then two will come from the left, one of these will go straight down, but the other will go diagonally to the right. These will be followed by one that will home in on you. These will be followed by two more coming straight down the middle. These are followed by two more, one will swoop down to the middle, while the other swoops nearly to the bottom, then they both retreat. These are followed by two more that do the same. These are followed by one enemy that will home in on you. If you made it this far you will then see a message that says "Mission Complete". Your ship will then turn back into a puck and be thrown back into play. ******************************************************************************* IV. Rewards ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Points You get 5,000 points for every enemy you destroy. There are 50 enemies, so you have a chance to earn a total of 250,000 points. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Extra Puck If you managed to hit every single enemy, you will earn a Perfect and be given an extra puck. ******************************************************************************* V. Version History 1.0 09/28/03 Created FAQ. 1.1 09/18/08 Made minor change to header. Made some formatting changes. ******************************************************************************* VI. Contact Information You can contact me at Bhodges080@aol.com I would appreciate hearing what you thought of this guide and any thoughts you have for improving it. Please let me know if I have missed anything or have made any mistakes. ******************************************************************************* End