------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well..... it looks like the world needs saving again. We got Superman, we got the Flash, heck, we've even got Dolemite... QUICK!! WAIT!! There's a three-foot tall girl in funny clothing over there! Yeah, we're in buisiness now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Painful Generality on Silhouette Mirage A FAQ by Subatomic Brainfreeze version .10 1.31.00 members.xoom.com/SBFOne ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kao Megura-thieved legal warning [thanks!], in case Gamepro wants this info or something. Unpublished work copyright 2000 Subatomic Brainfreeze This FAQ is for private and personal use only. It can only be reproduced electronically, and if placed on a web page or site, may be altered as long as this disclaimer and the above copyright notice appears in full. This FAQ is not to be used for profitable/promotional purposes; this includes being used by publishers of magazines, guides, books, etc. or being incorporated into magazines, etc. in ANY way. This FAQ was created and is owned by me, Subatomic Brainfreeze All copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged that are not specifically mentioned in this FAQ. Please give credit where it is due. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction A. Basic Play Mechanics i. This is you. a. Movelist/Analysis b. Weapons/Analysis ii. "....these mutations are to be considered dangerous and perverse enemies...." a. Normal enemies and dealing with them. iii. Sho'nuff Shopping B. Walkthrough of sorts i. Stage 1- Shamain ii. Stage 2- Raqia iii. Stage 3- Shehaqim iv. Stage 4- Machonom a.k.a Cute Little Town v. Stage 5- Mathey vi. Stage 6- Zebul vii. Stage 7- Araboth C. Miscellany ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basic Play Mechanics ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shyna Nera Shyna, one meter tall, weighs about 15.8 kg, yeah, she's tiny. And one side of her outfit is red and the other side is blue, and she has wings on her hat, and her hair is both straight -and- curly. Acid trip or potential savior of Earth? Oh come on, how do these people usually turn out in videogames? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- the basics ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You have a life bar and a spirit bar. When you turn in either direction, you switch your attribute [Silhouette-blue/Mirage-red] When enemies the same color hit you, you lose spirit. When enemies of the opposite color hit you, you lose life. Life can be regained by buying it [see Shopping], and spirit can be regained by either draining it [see below] or buying it. Now try and survive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Movelist/Analysis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [note: there's no controller config option] Attack- Square Um, this is what you do the most. Whatever weapon you are carrying, if the enemy is the same attribute as you, attacking it will drain its energy. If the enemy is the opposite attribute, you will damage it, and obvoiusly, repeated shots will kill it. Reflector- Circle [hold] If a same-attribute enemy attacks you from the front while you are holding up the reflector, their shots will be bounced back at them in the form of Normal [Green] energy and damage them. Reflected shots will not damage you. The reflector can be used in midair. Use it when under heavy fire from enemies of the same attribute. The clean way of killing everything in sight. Jump- X You have a triple jump. It can be used after the reflector is used even if you've double-jumped before, but once you jump three times, the only way to stay in the air is using the reflector. Slide- Down + X You can go through enemies with this. You're still vulnerable to fire, though. If you want to get to the other side of the enemy, this is a pretty good way, given you are invincible to enemy fire while you're doing it. Crouch- Double-tap Down, double-tap Up to get up again Gets under enemy bullets. You can also double-tap forward or backwards to do a dashing attack. Grab- Circle [close] Why have 'em all running around like that when you can keep 'em in one place? From here, you can use a rather large number of other moves. By the way... Shyna's -hair- is grabbing these guys. Um... good for her... Mugging your enemies for fun and profit- Circle repeatedly after Grab Beat your enemies severely and take their money. And yes, you're supposed to be the good guy. Anyhow, regular enemies cough up three normal-sized coins [about 10-20 credits] and one small one, worth five or so. Bosses carry around various amounts of cash and most ought to be beaten for everything they're worth. This is probably the most important thing to do in the game. The weapons do not come cheap [especially with the jacked-up prices in the US version] so plan on using this a lot. Not to mention you have to spend money on life, and if you don't buy any, you'll have to use a continue, and the idea here is to beat the game five times within ten continues. So yes, money is very, very important. Get it. Now. The various tosses- direction + Circle after Grab The enemy will go in the direction you toss them. This is good for isolating a single enemy, beating them while uninterrupted by other enemies, taking their money, and killing them. The manual states that the bosses will do interesting things when you throw them on the ground w/ the down button. Haven't tried yet, will find out later. Over the enemy's head- L2/R2 after Grab Fairly useless, considering either directional button will do the exact same thing without taking so long or making you so wide open with a sign between your eyes that says "Hey guys! Try to get the next shot right over here!" That said, it's also just like that move in Streets of Rage 2 where you flipped over the guy's head and then did a special move and yelled "Ratta-tatta-ta!!" Attribute Switch- Triangle If you feel you need to that badly, you can make facing right Silhouette and facing left Mirage, but it wastes a third of your spirit and isn't worth the [short] amount of time it will take to get the energy back. Parasite Bomb- L2 + R2 Big huge circular shot. Looks nice, wastes a whole lot of your energy, doesn't hit everything onscreen at the same time, why bother? Also, if you're grabbed by an enemy, shake the pad left/right to break free. But it's always like that anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weapons Analysis [note: author is heavily inclined towards use of Surosa] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Surosa- A circle for a head and a cone for a body, split Silhouette/Mirage down the middle with a little beak popping from its head. A plain normal bullet that automatically moves in the general direction of your enemies. On increasing levels the amount and size of the bullets increases somewhat, but not by much. About as damaging as you're going to need and is excellent at sapping spirit out of enemies. Regardless of whatever else you're packing, this ought to be your main weapon. It's the only particularly versatile one of the bunch. Most of the other weapons are strictly situational, but Surosa will do whatever you need it to. One could likely use it alone their entire game without any significant problems. However, the other weapons are quite a bit more gratifying. Grattoni- A dragon made out of beam-type energy. It's a known fact in videogames that dragons are not individuals to be, shall we say, messing around with. Make a dragon angry, gamer lore states, and it will bite your friggin' head off. With that in mind, Grattoni is a giant [even at L1] dragon laser beam that homes in on and kills profusely that which stands in front of you. Now, the drawbacks, rather, the huge drawbacks. It drains spirit by the hundreds even for temporary use of it. It's not something you can casually use to wipe out normal enemies, because after even a few drop, you will be left with half of your spirit gone. The other drawback is that draining spirit with it doesn't actually give you spirit. See, Grattoni wastes spirit at the same speed as it drains, so your spirit count will just fluctuate endlessly between 3 numbers [that is 267-269]. During boss fights, you would have to use another weapon to gain spirit, and such a large amount would take a while, which makes this weapon impractical. Rasti- A Grim Reaper, that is your Grim Reaper, not the boss Reaper A gas cloud that damages whatever stands in it for a fairly long period of time. This can be quite useful. The main problem that you have to get around is that it will only cause big damage if the enemy is in the area for a prolonged period of time. And for that, you have... the Grab. If you're right next to the cloud just grab the enemy, turn in that direction and cook until golden brown. Very fast, very effective. Drain energy in the same manner. The problem with this strategy is that it won't work in a large group. To use this in a large group, fire one or two bullets in an area that you can lure them to and watch them walk into the trap. Again, highly effective. The other big problem is that you can only use three clouds at a time. Otherwise, you can fire, but nothing will come out. And since it shoots a set distance, you can't set very precise traps. Otherwise, good, but still very situational. Priday- A yellow thing with sunglasses and hooks for hands. Shoots boomerangs. Go out, come back. Damaging with good range. It hits multiple times on the way there and the way back, so it works well with spirit draining too. It's hurt by the fact that it's slow, but that only matters in a large group. Overall, it's very well balanced. More damaging than Surosa, but not as good with draining and takes a bit more spirit to fire. Envia- A little winged angel-type thing. This is the close-range weapon. Two wings fly out to the top and bottom diagonally, but don't leave an open area in between either. Damages and drains quickly, but still not as quickly as Surosa, so even though it looks pretty cool, it still isn't quite worth it. Angara- An explosive shell. Grenades. They arc up a little bit, then fall on the ground and blow up "real good" as stated by the rabbit who sold you it. Very slow to fire, and have a strange angle that needs to be planned beforehand. Does good damage on both sides, and it has a large blast radius that gets a lot of enemies at once. But it's painfully slow. One bullet at a time, and if you miss that's it until the explosion goes out. The explosion is short when you're hitting something, but that same amount of time gets a lot longer [and a lot more vulnerable] when you're waiting to fire. Were it not for that, this would be as useful as Rasti is, but it's crippled by the firing limit. Cavitas- A duck with blue bug-eyes. A sight, and once you get the enemies in your sight, release the fire button and send a homing missile at them. It's cool, but the problem is that the sight is a middleman. Why am I bothering getting them in a sight when another weapon would already have hit them? It's slow in actually getting to the enemies as well, which means they'll still be in your way for a few seconds after you fire. But if you have a big crowd of enemies in one space, provided they don't move around too much, this will suitably demolish them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "these mutations are to be considered dangerous and perverse enemies...." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Silhouettes [Spectres] are green things with jack-o-lanterns for heads and carrying frying pans and baseball bats. The Mirages [Peepers] are little dolls that carry around handguns. Both these enemies are pretty much the same aside from the fact that they look different and need to be shot with different attribute bullets. Their two main attacks are the straight bullet and the grenade. [btw, the Spectres have those really cool Hobgoblin Pumpkin Bombs] The bullet moves very, very slow and is easily avioded/reflected. The grenades are kinda quick, though, and they're pretty hard to see coming and evade in a big group of enemies. Look out for those. Oooh! Mutations? In a shooter? I wonder what we're gonna do with em, kids? Eh? Eh? Who wants to guess? Yes, Little Jimmy, down in front! "Um... mister, I played Contra once, and they told me to shoot Red Falcon until he examaploded." Exactly, exactly. The end goal is to kill them and get them out of your way. But remember that the most important thing in Silhouette Mirage is to get money. The only way to get items and weapons is to get money, and to do that you must beat up your enemies and take their money. But as you probably noticed it takes some time to grab the enemy, beat up the enemy and toss him/her aside to get the cash. So the main idea here is to isolate one enemy. Here are some examples: KEY:

peepers shyna egads! /

================================================================================================= Most importantly, if you're in a big group like this, drain their spirit. Then the only attacks they can use are close range. Isolating an enemy at this point will make you safe and free to do whatever you like So after that's done, take one enemy and chuck him over to the other side of the screen with your Power Punch. I pity the foo' who think I won't throw you all the way to JUPITER, sucka! / -whoosh-

--------------------------------------

================================================================================================= So now that the enemy is isolated, run off to the side of the screen and appropriately whale on your enemy. If there is an elevated platform, things go even better for you. Once the enemies are drained, you can take one all the way to the top of the stage and be even safer. Example.

=================|w====================== |h |o ======================|o========================== Throw that foo'! \ |s

|h ================================================================================================= Go through the game in this manner and you can [although it's entirely unecessary] mug every single enemy. Remember that this method isn't by any means foolproof, and there's always the risk of getting damaged. But any damage that doesn't kill you can be repaired with the money you'll get. That is, if you're close to a store. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sho'nuff Shopping with the Rabbit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A very gratuitous amount of times over the course of the stage, you will run into a rabbit at a small stand that looks not unlike one of those ice-cream vendors you see out in the street during the summer. Jump [?] in front of him and he'll give you the choice to either buy or sell. These are his prices at the various levels of weapons [btw, for some reason, the game I bought doesn't have L6 weapons in the places everyone says the L6 weapons are so I can't comment on the subject, nor their prices] You'll notice that price doesn't make the weapon =P In all the stages: Mana [that is life, 100 units]: 100 Fatima [1/3 Spirit gauge]: 150 Stage 1: Shamain L1 Surosa: 50 L1 Priday: 250 L1 Angara: 150 L1 Rasti: 100 L1 Grattoni: 300 L1 Envia: 100 L1 Cavitas: 100 Stage 2: Raqia L2 Surosa: 100 L2 Priday: 500 L2 Angara: 250 L2 Rasti: 200 L2 Grattoni: 450 L2 Envia: 200 L2 Cavitas: 200 Stage 3: Shehaqim L3 Surosa: 150 L3 Priday: 650 L3 Angara: 350 L3 Rasti: 400 L3 Grattoni: 600 L3 Envia: 300 L3 Cavitas: 300 Stage 4: Machonom a.k.a Cute Little Town L4 Surosa: 200 L4 Priday: 750 L4 Angara: 450 L4 Rasti: 600 L4 Grattoni: 750 L4 Envia: 400 L4 Cavitas: 400 Stage 5: Mathey [prices and weapons are same from here on in] L5 Surosa: 250 L5 Priday: 850 L5 Angara: 550 L5 Rasti: 800 L5 Grattoni: 900 L5 Envia: 500 L5 Cavitas: 600 Rather important to have Mana. As a matter of fact, if you're missing over 100 HP, and there is a store, buy one regardless. Cool weapons are secondary to basic survival. Remember, we -don't- want to use those continues. And to do that you must always keep at least 200C on you at all times. Of course, with excessive beating of your enemies this won't be a problem. Play the game pinching your pennies and you are more likely to live, although, might I add, excessive cheapness is also bad. One weapon in a long series of boss fights means you -will- run out. Stock up for those times. Also, if you've run through the game before [highly recommended if you're planning on that 5-game-straight run] then you ought to get a good idea of where the stores are and keep them in mind in your money grubbing efforts. If you can get a lot of money [way over 200 for a decent amount of enemies] and you're right next to a store, don't worry -too- much about taking damage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- the rest.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- comes later. Quite a bit later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- version history ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/31/00: version .10: first, very preliminary release. Only Section I finished.