891,700 - mjmjr25 - stage 4 - SAT-J
Finally took down the 3rd boss. This game is crazy - first stage is cake, second stage is incredibly short - so short there are no checkpoints, and then the 3rd stage is basically chaos that turns into a boss-rush midway through. Stage 4 doesn't seem as hard as 3 in my one very limited experience there.
Stage 1: Pretty easy until the boss, for the boss, obviously avoid the red ball, do a full 1-second count in your head, and then move 1/2 an inch forward or backward. When possible, push forward or backward to center your shot on the boss's head, you should be able to take him down after the 6th ball he shoots out if you are getting direct (all 3 lazers combined) shots on his head steadily.
Stage 2: Stage itself is pretty easy, the strategy involves the boss and rather, not "powering up" for the boss. At the set of fins you'll get a yellow power up - don't grab it. After you blow off the tail section, there are a series of 4 powerups, grab all but the yellow. Grabbing the yellow is very powerful, but it takes away your blue seeker missiles. The 2nd boss is brutal if you don't have seekers - you can fight him 3-4 minutes w/o seekers to get a kill and your odds go way down and one death on him, means starting the level over completely w/zero power. Conversely, if you get to him w/seekers, it is just a matter of dodging the forward head rams and going back and forth away from the ball of light.
Stage 3: You'll start stage 3 center of the screen, back up slightly, (so about 10% of the screen is behind you and 90% in front of you) but do not waiver up or down. Stay steady right here and hold your auto-fire shot down. You should not get touched, your seekers will take out the stuff coming at you and your extensions will take out the mounds on top and bottom. Avoid grabbing the powerups, they are either above or below you and you will lose this safe position making the level much tougher. Once you hit the 3 heads, the only tough part here is navigating between them, it feels like you should be able to go lower than you can actually go w/o blowing up, so proceed through there cautiously. The first snake boss, try to center yourself inside as he curves around, you'll get a ton of up-close head shots and take him out faster, but it is tough to find the sweet spot in that circle. End boss, pick one of the 4 turrets to focus on and avoid the center, even though it gives you more time to react, your actually have to maneuver around 4 direct lazers.
Stage 4: Coming soon...