FAQ#5
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Galaga FAQ
For Arcade
Written by Kevin E. Merrill "TheNintendoMaster03"
This file is Copyright (C) 2003-2013.
This game is Copyright (C) Namco 1981.
Version: 1.01
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This guide should be viewed only in Notepad for best appearance possible.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/97072.html
My guides use the Ctrl+F4 system so you can skip ahead to any area of the FAQ
you wish. Just insert the five letters in between the <>'s in the Ctrl+F4
system box. I also note to the left of the Ctrl+F4 cuts whether a section is
completed or not yet.
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What's New <WhtNw>
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Very minor editing. Looked up enemy names of the blue and red ships.
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Table of Contents
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------%---------------------------Of FAQ Sections----------Completed-----------
1. What's New--------------------------------------------------------> <WhtNw>
***100%***************************Introduction*************Completed***********
2. Legal Disclaimer--------------------------------------------------> <Legal>
3. Contact Info. and Rules-------------------------------------------> <Cntct>
4. Version History---------------------------------------------------> <Versn>
5. Introduction-------------------------------------------Completed--> <Induc>
6. About the Game-----------------------------------------Completed--> <AGame>
7. Controls-----------------------------------------------Completed--> <Cntrl>
***100%***************************Strategies***************Completed***********
8. Strategies---------------------------------------------Completed--> <Strtg>
9. Challenging Stages-------------------------------------Completed--> <CStge>
***100%***************************Appendices***************Completed***********
10. Scoring------------------------------------------------Completed--> <Scrng>
11. Secrets------------------------------------------------Completed--> <Secrt>
12. Credits-----------------------------------------------------------> <Crdit>
***100%***************************Introduction*************Completed***********
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Legal Disclaimer <Legal>
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This file is copyright Kevin E. Merrill. It should not be reproduced under any
shape or form except for personal or private use. Meaning being rewritten, sold
or placed in magazines and newspapers is not allowed. If you want to host my
guides on your websites just ask. I'm a nice guy. The only sites allowed to
host my FAQs are currently GameFAQs, IGN and Neoseeker.
Failure to comply or if you plagiarize my work is a violation of copyright law.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this file are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders. All rights reserved.
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Contact Info. and Rules <Cntct>
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Please read the FAQ before e-mailing or sending me messages. I've gotten a few
questions that were already answered in my FAQs. If you wish to contact me,
state which FAQ you're talking about and fair warning to all you spammers. All
spammers will be blocked so don't bother wasting your time. Make sure that you
speak proper English in your e-mails/messages please. I want to understand what
you're trying to say and not see a big mess or words that don't make sense. If
you didn't like it tell me how I can improve. I don't mind criticism at all as
long as you don't be nasty about it. Thank you.
E-mail: kevinmrrll519@gmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/KMerrill03
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Version History <Versn>
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Version .50 Submitted 09/05/03: Submitted the FAQ.
Version 1.0 Submitted 11/28/11: Reformatted along with all my other FAQs,
spell checked and allowed Neoseeker to host my FAQs.
Version 1.01 Submitted 01/10/13: Very minor editing. Replaced blue and red
ships with their actual enemy names.
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Introduction <Induc>
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Whoa! Another arcade game FAQ from yours truly? Yep, welcome to my Galaga FAQ.
Of all the 80's classic arcade games that have sucked up my quarters, this one
definitely ate the most. In 2001, two of the greatest and most addictive
classic games of all time, Galaga and Ms. Pac-Man were re-released onto a
single arcade machine to celebrate the 20th anniversary of both games. Thanks
to this machine, I was able to enjoy this wonderful classic as I sadly never
got to play it when I was younger. I quickly became addicted to it and from
that moment on, Galaga became my favorite 80's classic arcade game ever.
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About the Game <AGame>
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In Galaga, you control a space fighter where your goal is to shoot down as many
insects of the evil alien Galagan army you can before you run out of lives in
this classic arcade game from 1981. It's very simple, straightforward and
extremely addictive.
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Controls <Cntrl>
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___
/ \
_____ \___/
/ \ Start
\_____/
| | ___
_| |_ / \
/ | | \ \___/
\_|_|_/ Fire
Joystick: Moves your fighter left and right. (2-Way)
Fire: Self explanatory.
***100%***************************Strategies***************Completed***********
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Strategies <Strtg>
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Below is a map of the complete enemy formation every stage will be like if you
never shot down any from the start:
____________________
| Key |
|--------------------|
|B: Boss Galaga |
|M: Moth Fighters |
|H: Hornet Fighters |
|____________________|
_____________________________________________________________________________
| 1UP HIGH SCORE 2UP |
| 00 20000 00 |
| |
| B B B B |
| M M M M M M M M |
| M M M M M M M M |
| H H H H H H H H H H |
| H H H H H H H H H H |
| |
| |
| |
| _|_ |
| | | |
| _ | | _ |
| _ | | | | | | _ |
| | | | |/ \| | | | |
| | |/ _ ^ _ \| | |
| | / | | \ | |
| |__/ |_______| \__| |
| Remaining Lives | Phase # |
|_____________________________________________________________________________|
First thing on the agenda if you wish to survive long is get a second ship. As
they begin to align themselves at the start of every level shoot every ship you
can, but spare two of the Boss Galagas. The Hornet and Moth fighters only take
one shot to destroy them, while Boss Galagas take two hits. Once the remaining
fighters fall into the alignment as shown above, the fighters will then head
down to attack you.
The first Boss Galaga that flies down will only shoot at you, but when the
second comes down refrain from firing at it as it will attempt to zap you into
its tractor beam. Let him despite that in the end you'll be sacrificing one of
your extra lives.
Allow the Boss Galaga who just captured your ship to fly down to you. If you
shoot your ship captor before it descends from its original position, your
captured fighter becomes your enemy, and by doing so you give away one of your
lives for nothing!
Destroy Boss Galaga to get your captured ship back to form a dual fighter! You
now have twice the firepower! Be careful, though. If you have no lives left and
get sucked into the tractor beam, its game over or if the machine's gracious
enough, you can continue. It all depends on how the machine is configured.
Although Boss Galaga can capture your ship, I've noticed that if you manage to
kill all four all the remaining fighters' fire power will be lessened for a
short period of time. So it's not a great idea to kill them all at the start of
a stage.
Whenever a Hornet Fighter flies down, they won't return to the formation
immediately unlike the Moth Fighters. They'll circle around the area a bit
before doing so. In later levels, the alignment formations change when the
ships appear at the start of stages. Instead of sticking together, sometimes
the ships will split into two groups, one on the left side and one on the right
to attack you.
When you see two ships firing at you at once, wait for the first ship to fire
at you and pay attention to the shots of the first one, not the second. Trying
to dodge the second ship's shots instead will more likely get you killed by the
first ship's ammo.
Eventually, one of the Hornet Fighters will transform into a kamikaze fighter
that will split apart into three ships. Some of the later alterations of the
kamikazes are pretty tough to shoot down all three ships at once to get the
points bonus, especially if you're without a dual fighter. They will also move
a LOT faster, so be on your toes when you see a Hornet Fighter flash.
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Challenging Stages <CStge>
===============================================================================
There are a total of eight challenging stages in the game and after you see the
eighth, they will keep looping around as long as you play. Each is harder than
the last and is recommended you have a dual fighter for these stages as it will
drastically increase your chances of getting the perfect bonus. You reach one
of these stages after you clear three stages. This doesn't apply for the first
challenging stage since it appears after only clearing the first two stages.
This section is written under the assumption you have a dual fighter when the
stage begins and you POUND the fire button the entire time. The level number
you play these at are listed in parentheses.
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Challenging Stage#1 (3)
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Stand in the middle and pound the fire button to take care of all groups. The
only part you might have trouble with is the Boss Galagas in the second group.
Other than that, it's real easy.
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Challenging Stage#2 (7)
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Once again, you will want to stand in the middle for this stage. The only
groups you need to worry about are the second and third groups. Mash the fire
button as soon as they get in range to wipe them out quickly without having to
worry about getting them on their round back.
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Challenging Stage#3 (11)
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Move to the left a bit to take down the first group. These will split apart
and eventually reconnect on the way out, so don't waste anytime killing them.
Stay where you are to quickly take out the Boss Galaga side. Then move to the
right and shoot down the others before they change course to the left a bit.
The next group are the same guys, except that the enemies on both sides are the
same enemies. For the next group, place your ship to the left a little from the
middle spot to take out group four and to the right a little from the middle to
eliminate the final group.
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Challenging Stage#4 (15)
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Stand to the left to await a group that comes down in a wavy pattern. Start
shooting before they appear and finish them off when they come down to you.
This is the easiest way I've found to take them all out before they leave. For
the next group, stand in the middle for another wavy pattern, this time coming
from the left side. Move to the right after they make two circles to wipe the
rest out before leaving. The next group are the same guys, except they come
from the right side. Same strategy except you can kill them a lot faster. The
last two groups are the same ones you dealt with when the stage began. For the
first, stand where you did for the first group. For the second stand to the
right of the middle to complete the stage.
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Challenging Stage#5 (19)
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Move a couple of steps before the left side to ambush the first group. Then
steer just to the left of the middle to pick off the second group that comes
out in a circular wavy pattern. Then head back in the position you began the
stage began at to shoot down the rest. Immediately steer to the right side to
make short work of the next guys. The next group is the same one that the stage
started with, but you need to be positioned to the right of the left side to
take them down. The last group is the previous group, except they go after the
right side. Move a few steps left of the right side to finish it off.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Challenging Stage#6 (23)
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Begin by positioning the ship a few steps left of the far right side to shoot
down the first group. They move like a snake towards you. Then get in the
middle, and you'll have a great chance of hitting the majority of the ships.
Stay in the middle to shoot down the ones that escaped. The next group is the
same guys, except it's much easier to kill all of them before they escape the
midpoint. Next, stand a few steps to the right of the far left side for another
snake-like pattern, and then move back where you started the challenging stage
as it's a re-run of the first group.
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Challenging Stage#7 (27)
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Head to the far right side to pick off the first group. Move left a couple of
steps and wait there to pick off the next group that comes right to you after
they draw a M in space with the formation. The next group is the same
formation, so quickly position the ship a couple of steps to the right of the
far left side. Then move back a couple of steps against the far left side to
pick off the next group, which is a repeat of the first. Then move to the far
right side for the same formation again, except coming from the left.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Challenging Stage#8 (31)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stand a couple of steps to the left to pick apart the left side of the
formation. They will loop around, so quickly take care of the left side. For
the next one, head to the middle to pick off the entire circular formation
group of Boss Galagas. Move a few steps right of the middle to quickly pick off
the next group of enemies from the first one. Then move back to where you
started the challenging stage as it's the first group all over again for this
and the next group as well.
***100%***************************Appendices***************Completed***********
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Scoring <Scrng>
===============================================================================
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Killing Enemies
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Shoot Hornet Fighters when not moving: 50
Shoot Moth Fighters when not moving: 80
Shoot Hornet Fighters when moving: 100
Shoot Moth Fighters when moving: 160
Shoot Boss Galaga when not moving: 200
Shoot Boss Galaga when moving: 400
Shoot Boss Galaga close: 800
Shoot your captured ship: 1,000
Shoot all three Kamikazes: 1,000-3,000
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Earning Extra Lives
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1st Extra Life: 20,000
2nd Extra Life: 70,000
More Extra Lives: Every 70,000 after getting the second.
(You will stop receiving extra lives
after reaching 1,000,000 points.)
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Secrets <Scret>
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Stop Enemies From Firing: To stop enemies from firing at you, in the first
stage kill everyone except the two Hornet Fighters in the bottom left corner.
Allow the Hornet Fighters to dive down and shoot at you while dodging their
shots. After around 15 minutes or so the Hornet Fighters will continue to drop
down, but won't fire. Let them drop down another five or six times then kill
them. After all this, enemies will not shoot at you for the rest of the game.
Change Game Speed on Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga Machine: Is the speed of Galaga on your
Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga machine not to your liking? Then press left, right, left,
right, up, up, up, and fire before picking Galaga. This also works for Ms.
Pac-Man on the anniversary machine as well.
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Credits <Crdit>
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Namco: Re-releasing two great classics Ms.Pac-Man and Galaga into one machine
so you don't have to wait for the other arcade game to be free and
more importantly, getting me hooked on Galaga!
Arcades: The ones that still keep the anniversary machine around. Thanks for
keeping the classics alive!
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