Neverending Boss Battle

Most platform video games worth their salt will feature, at the end of each level or group of levels, a super-hard monster called a 'boss' which you must defeat in order to continue in the game. Neopian examples include the bosses in NeoQuest and NeoQuest II. This game, however, is all boss. Here, you'll face off against the biggest, baddest boss of them all, Dr. Sloth!

How to Play

You control a small spacecraft which moves around the screen in a more-or-less circular fashion. In the middle of the screen is a mildly threatening ship which can blow you to smithereens at any moment. This game, as the title suggests, is a battle of speed and wits which lasts as long as you do. You have three lives and each life can withstand five hits from Sloth's gargantuan ship. Take enough hits and the game is over! Points are awarded for picking up power-ups and firing at Sloth's ship.

Controls

You can choose to control your spacecraft either using the arrow keys or the number pad (if your computer has one). You will usually need to hold down two keys at once for optimum movement and aiming.

• Up - Up arrow key or Num Pad 8
• Down - Down arrow key or Num Pad 2
• Left - Left arrow key or Num Pad 4
• Right - Right arrow key or Num Pad 6

In addition to moving up, down, left and right, you can also strafe left and right. This means the ship itself moves, but its aim does not.

• Strafe left - Z key or Num Pad 7
• Strafe right - C key or Num Pad 9
• Fire! - X key or Spacebar

Power-ups and Weapons

During the game, you'll find that you can occasionally pick up power-ups, which will help you in various ways. Note you can only have and use one power-up at a time - picking up another one means you will lose your existing power-up.

Your Arsenal

Shield

Encases your spacecraft in a little shining bubble, protecting you from Sloth's entire array of weapons - including the main laser (see below) - for a few seconds. Use this time wisely!

Rebounding Bullets

Causes your bullets to act in a manner similar to Korbat's Lab - that is, if your bullets hit a wall they will bounce off and hit Sloth's ship, rather than passing straight through.

Speed Boost

Makes you whizz around the screen significantly faster. This can make steering and aiming more difficult, however, so use at your own risk!

Warp

When hit by a laser or missile, your spacecraft will instantly disappear from the spot it's in and reappear in another. This spot is random, though, and you could end up in more trouble.

Split Fire

Splits your aim temporarily so you get two diagonal firing streams for the price of one. Highly recommended for racking up points, but don't forget to move out of the way!

Faster Bullet Rate

Lets you fire faster for a few seconds with no loss of accuracy.

Sloth's Armaments

Main Laser:

Located on the nose of the ship, this weapon also fires a powerful laser. After a short charging period, this weapon will fire a deadly stream which will cause you to lose a life (and a helpful dialogue box will pop up saying so). So long as you keep the nose pointed away from you, however, this weapon will be inconsequential. Risk Assessment: Low

Laser Turret:

Located slightly behind the middle of the ship, this turret fires a powerful laser capable of blasting away your shielding very quickly. However, this turret takes approximately 3 seconds to charge. So as long as you keep your distance, this turret will not even fully charge. Risk Assessment: Low

Front Guns:

Located slightly port and starboard (left and right) of the bridge, these guns fire volleys of yellow bursts. Yellow bursts travel in straight lines and are fairly easy to avoid. Each yellow burst will remove 20% of your shielding. Risk Assessment: Medium

Side Turrets:

Located to port and starboard, these turrets fire blue bursts randomly. The blue bursts travel in straight lines at (mostly) constant speeds. Each burst will remove 20% of your shielding. Risk Assessment: Medium

Homing Missiles:

Fired two at a time from a launcher underneath Sloth's cruiser, these munitions will chase your ship, even if you are moving. They will, however, self-destruct after a few seconds if you can manage to elude them. Each missile will blast away 20% of your shielding. The are only a few things you can do to counteract these: run away, or have an active Shield or Warp powerup. Risk Assessment: High

Strategy

When you first start, we recommend flying from your starting position at the bottom-left corner at 7 o'clock clockwise into the 3 o'clock safe zone (that is, directly right of Sloth's ship, as shown above). As long as you keep the nose of Sloth's cruiser pointed away from you (more towards 9 o'clock when you are hiding at 3, and more pointed toward 3 o'clock when you are hiding at 9) you'll be sitting pretty. You can also type this cheat code to gain an extra life: foreverandeverandever (one use per game).

This is done by strafing (with the Z and C keys) the opposite direction of where the nose is pointing; strafe towards 6 o'clock when the nose is between 9 and 12, and strafe towards 12 when the nose is between 6 and 9 (these directions are for the 3 o'clock safe zone; reverse them when you're hiding in the 9 o'clock safe zone). When Sloth's pilots do manage to turn the nose around towards you, just fly around until you reach one of the safe zones behind Sloth's ship and resume your barrage.

Lastly, and this should be pretty much a no-brainer, don't run into Sloth's cruiser! Your ship's hull will breach faster than you can say "what is that thing on Sloth's head?".

All that's left to do is go weapons free and rack up the points. Fire when ready!

This game guide was written by: Grog & Torratz