Red Alarm

******************************************************************************* Red Alarm for Virtual Boy FAQ/Walkthrough by BHodges Version 1.4 Created 07/10/02 Updated 09/18/08 This document Copyright 2002-2008 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. Adjusting the Virtual Boy III. Automatic Pause and On Screen Messages IV. Background Story V. Options A. Display B. Button C. Eyes D. Level VI. End of Level and Continuing A. End of Level B. Continuing VII. Ship Description and Controls A. Armament B. Propulsion C. Controls VIII. Power Ups A. Boosters B. Homing Missiles C. Shield D. Bonus Points IX. Stage Walkthroughs A. General Hints B. Stage 1 C. Stage 2 D. Stage 3 E. Stage 4 F. Stage 5 G. Final Stage X. Cheats and Secrets A. Debug Menu B. Stage 1 C. Stage 2 D. Stage 3 E. Stage 4 F. Stage 5 G. Final Stage XI. My Top Scores XII. Game Review XIII. Special Thanks XIV. Version History XV. Contact Information ******************************************************************************* I. Introduction This is a FAQ/walkthrough for the Virtual Boy game Red Alarm. It contains a list of controls, a guide through each of the game's six levels, and the locations of all known secrets. ******************************************************************************* II. Adjusting the Virtual Boy If you have never used a Virtual Boy before, here is how to adjust the screen. On the screen that says 'Virtual Boy' and has squares in the corners, turn the dial on top until you can see all four squares. Then use the sliding bar until the screen is in focus. ******************************************************************************* III. Automatic Pause and On Screen Messages If you have this turned on, the game will automatically pause at the end of of a stage if 15 minutes have passed to remind you to take a break and rest your eyes. During gameplay, you will see pop up advertisement messages that say "T & E soft Presents", "Red Alarm", and "Nintendo Virtual Boy". These are supposed to be there and not a malfunction. When the batteries become low these will change to say "batteries low". ******************************************************************************* IV. Background Story This is the background story from the instruction book: The Red Alarm Story A devastating World War ravaged the Earth for 70 agonizing years beginning at the end of the 20th Century. During the later stages of the war, an automated battle system named "K.O.S." (Killer Operating System) was developed. Central to the "K.O.S." program was a highly sophisticated neural net, which included the compilation of all biotechnology data available. This made the "K.O.S." an extremely efficient and highly adaptable weapon, able to rapidly determine and generate the most effective response to any external threat. It became known simply as KAOS. KAOS turned the tides of war, and the war ended with the establishment of the "Commonwealth of Earth." The new government promised to establish a utopia, and its first move was to order the destruction of all the weapons of war. KAOS was ordered shut down and all other weapon systems destroyed. The world rejoiced and weapons were torn apart at a record pace. What no one realized was that KAOS had become a sentient being, with only one goal: SURVIVAL! It turned off all external signs of operation, and began secretly creating a massive army of weapons and brutal creatures. Without warning, KAOS released its armies on the world to destroy its new found enemy, all of humanity! The only weapon of war remaining was a lone Tech-Wing Fighter!! Your job, should you chose to accept it, is to pilot the Tech-Wing Fighter, enter KAOS and destroy it from within! The fate of humanity is in your able hands!! ALARM CONDITION RED!! THIS IS A RED ALARM!!! ******************************************************************************* V. Options ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Display There are two things you can adjust here: Bright and Depth. Move Bright to the left to decrease the brightness, to the right to increase it. The same goes for Depth. The more you increase the Depth, the more "3Dish" the graphics become, the more you decrease the flatter they become. Move it down if the game bothers your eyes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Button Choose between four different control schemes. I stick with the default when I play and in this FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Eyes Brings up the Virtual Boy adjustment screen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Level Choose difficulty between Easy, Normal, and Hard. The default is Normal and that is what I use in the FAQ. ******************************************************************************* VI. End of Level and Continuing ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. End of Level When you beat a level, you get a stage clear screen that gives you a choice of going on to the next stage or to first view a replay of the current stage. Replay controls Left Control Pad Used to change view angle Up on right control pad Zoom in Down on right control pad Zoom out Left on right control pad View to the left Right on right control pad View to the right A button Fast forward B button Slow motion Press Start and choose End when you are done viewing replay. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Continuing If you are destroyed or run out of fuel, you get the Game Over screen. You can choose to continue, end your game, or watch a replay. You get three continues and you lose any missile upgrades you received in the current stage (you keep any you received in previous stages). Since you lose your missile upgrades you acquired in the current stage, there is no reason to continue if you die in Stage 1. Just go ahead and start a new game. ******************************************************************************* VII. Ship Description and Controls ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Armament Balkan Cannon Your primary weapon. It has unlimited ammo. Cannot be upgraded. Homing Missiles Fire these after locking on to enemy targets. These are also unlimited. You start at level 0 which allows you to fire two missiles at once. These can be upgraded up to level four. Your missile display is in the upper left corner of the screen. Shields They start out at level ten and decrease one level every time you are hit. When they get low, a low shield message will flash on the screen and an alarm will sound. When they reach zero, the next hit you take will destroy your ship. You can refill these, but cannot increase the level above 10. The shield display is in the lower left of the screen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Propulsion Engines Your engines are capable of maintaining five different speeds. The speed display is in the lower right of the screen. B is backwards or reverse. 0 is stop 1 is slow 2 is fast T is turbo You can only go turbo if you have a booster. The booster display is in the upper right of the screen. It starts at zero boosters and you can collect up to four. When you get hit you lose one. No matter how many additional ones you have, the top speed is 60. Fuel The fuel gauge is located at the top of the screen. When it reaches zero your ship is destroyed. It doesn't seem to decrease any faster when you use evasive maneuvers or turbo. A warning message will appear and an alarm will sound when fuel becomes low. Fuel cannot be replenished. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Controls (Note these are for control scheme 1) Note: CP stands for control pad Up on Left CP Descend Down on Left CP Ascend Left on Left CP Go left Right on Right CP Go right All Right CP Press to do evasive maneuver (slide) in that direction R button Fires Balkan cannon. Press again after locking on to fire homing missiles. L button Hold to maneuver faster A button Press to increase speed level B button Press to decrease speed level Note: You only have to hold these two if you want to move backwards or Turbo. Start Pause Select Switch between four camera views ******************************************************************************* VIII. Power Ups There are four different types of power ups you can collect during the game. They appear when you defeat enemies at random. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Boosters Look like three triangles connected together. These allow you to use Turbo speed. You can store up to four at a time. They never run out but will break if you are damaged. You lose one each time you are damaged. If you already have four when you pick up another one, you will get a 3,000 point bonus instead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Homing Missiles These look like two missiles stuck together. You can collect up to four. Each additional upgrade allows you to fire one additional missiles at a time. You will lose any upgrades you received in a stage if you continue. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Shield Pick these up to recharge your shield by two levels. If your shields are at maximum (level 10), then you will get a 3,000 point bonus instead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Bonus Points These look like a 3D asterisk. Not really a power up. Collect these to get a 3,000 point bonus. ******************************************************************************* IX. Stage Walkthroughs Note: These are for Normal difficulty. Every stage except the final one consist of two parts: the actual stage and a Danger Zone. The stage consists of a long, narrow corridor, while the Danger Zone is an open area containing the stage's boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. General Hints - Kill as many enemies as possible, since they might contain power ups. There are a fixed amount of enemies in each stage. So don't be afraid to take time to kill them. - You can turn around to pick up power ups you miss. - Make sure you don't miss getting missile upgrades, they make your life a lot easier. If you aren't making the missile levels I list at the end of each stage, then you should try to kill more enemies. - In Danger Zones, kill the lesser enemies first, then focus on the boss. - Learn to evade using the right CP. - When all else fails use spray and pray tactics. (Just keep pumping R). - If you go a ways without getting attacked, it could be a sign that you got turned around somewhere. Do a 180 and backtrack until you see enemies. - Keep an eye on your fuel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Stage 1 The first stage is of course the easiest. The corridor is mostly a straight line with no turn offs so it is impossible to get lost here. The first wave of enemies to attack are called Battle Mechs. Just blow right through them with your cannon. You will then see some enemies on the ground. These are called Kappers. Use these to practice locking on and firing your missiles. Keep on going. The next type of new enemy you will see look like the old push lawnmowers. Keep going straight. You should pass through a tunnel with Battle Mechs coming out. When you exit this tunnel, you will encounter enemies that hang from the ceiling, some grounded Battle Mechs, and some walking robots that are called Heavy Mechs. Use your missiles on these. Ignore all the people running around. Exit through the tunnel, taking out the Battle Mechs. Travel through the vertical section. Now you will come to what looks like a dead end. The wall reveals itself to be made up of a big face and several smaller ones. The small ones are called RU-17s. Kill these first then focus on the large face. The easiest way to do this is to make sure you are in missile range, then come to a complete stop. Use the right CP to avoid enemy fire and to move into position to use your missiles. Go through the hole when you defeat the face, You will encounter a group of Kappers, then a row of four new enemies. These are Spy Pods. There are a total of five groups of these. After these you will encounter a large number of Battle Mechs. Take care of these and then fly into the hole at the end of the stage. Danger Zone This is the Danger Zone. The boss is the Hork Lander it looks like a large Heavy Mech. Surrounding the boss are a large number of Battle Mechs. Take out the Battle Mechs first. Some of them contain power ups. The Hork Lander will use homing missiles. You can outrun them at speed 2. you can also destroy them with your Balkan cannon. You can easily beat the boss by stopping in front of him and just pumping the R button. Once you beat the boss (or any other one for that matter), you will still fly around for a few seconds before the stage automatically ends. You will be invincible during this time so you don't have to worry about getting hit or running out of fuel. Missiles You should be at level 1 by the end of this stage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Stage 2 This stage takes place inside of a cave. Like Stage 1, it is pretty straight forward. Keep going straight until your way is blocked by a dragon. Defeat him by coming to a stop, then attacking with your missiles while using the right CP to avoid his fire. After you beat him, just keep going straight. Danger Zone The boss here is called Barabary. He looks like a floating head. He is surrounded by Dragon Mechs. These attack with homing missiles, so deal with them first. When the dragons are gone, go after Barabaray. He likes to charge you. Attack him with missiles and use the right CP to evade when he charges. If he gets too close, move away from him and then attack. Ignore the phantom faces he sends after you. An easier way to beat him is to stop as soon as you first see him. Then keep pumping R. When he comes off the wall, backup while continuing to fire. Missiles You should be at level 2 by the end of this stage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Stage 3 This is an underwater stage. This is the first stage where it is possible to get turned around so be careful. Keep going straight until you reach a vertical drop. Come to a stop at the top and look down. Kill any enemies you see, then go down. Keep on going until you reach the Danger Zone. Danger Zone Instead of one boss, there are three here. They look like have only mouths for heads, and are holding two arms above their heads. There is one by itself, the other two are together. They attack with normal shots. They will send what look like seahorses to attack, These can be destroyed with your cannon. There are no minions guarding them. Take out the loner first. He is at the beginning of the DZ. When you get within attack range, start pumping R and backing up. After he is destroyed continue forward until you can see the other two. Attack the one on the left first, using the above strategy. Then go after the one on the right. Missiles You should be at level 3 by the end of this stage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. Stage 4 This stage reminds me of an ancient temple. Keep going straight until you hit a wall, then go left through the waterfall. Go straight until you hit another wall, then go through the waterfall on the left. Go straight until you hit a wall, then go right through the waterfall. Go straight until you hit a wall then go right through the waterfall. Keep going straight until you encounter a floating torso. You must beat him to be able to move on. When you beat him, the wall will open up allowing you to continue. Come to a stop, then turn left or right to track the torso as it circles around you, all the while pumping the R button. You should hold down the L button to help you turn. Be careful not to get turned around here. When he is dead, go straight a little ways and you should encounter a frogman. He attacks with homing missiles. Come to a stop and pump R. There is no need to dodge since your cannon will destroy the missiles. He will flash whenever you damage him. Go through the hole and keep going straight until you reach the Danger Zone. Danger Zone The boss here is a totem pole. There are no minions guarding him. He will split into four sections to attack you. Just concentrate fire on one section at a time and you will be fine. Missiles You should be at level 4 (the max level) by the end of this stage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. Stage 5 This is the last full stage and the toughest. Go straight and be careful to avoid the energy beams. Go right then left. Avoid the two energy beams here. Keep going straight blasting everything in sight. Watch out for the homing missile launchers. After these, you will see several enemies flying away from you that seem to be wearing skis. DON'T KILL THEM! Instead follow them through the maze. After the maze, keep going straight until you reach the Danger Zone. Danger Zone The boss here is the toughest one in the game. It is a giant battle suit. He is guarded by many smaller ones. Take them out first. Go after the boss next. Each attack consists of three parts. First he will attack with homing missiles, throw his shield at you, then charge. The best way to defeat him is to pump R while backing up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G. Final Stage This is it, the final showdown with KAOS himself! KAOS really isn't that difficult to beat. Go forwards a little ways until you see him. Stop when you are in missile range. You should see an energy pod in each of the four corners. These will fire at you. Take them out first. When they are destroyed attack the midsection. Evade left and right using the right CP while pumping R. Once he is destroyed fly through the hole, then the tunnel. That's it, you have won! Now just sit back and watch the ending. ******************************************************************************* X. Secrets and Cheats ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Debug Menu There is a hidden debug menu that you can access the following way: On the title screen, press Select repeatedly, as fast as you can, until you hear an explosion. If the demo starts to run before you hear the explosion, you have to press Start and try again. After you hear the explosion, start a new game. While playing, press L, R, Select and A simultaneously to bring up the debug menu. On the debug menu, you can warp to any stage and hear the background music tracks. Selecting the "Special" option makes you invincible and fully upgrades your Tech Wing to level 4 missiles and boosters. Special thanks go to Parasyte and KRI55E for posting this code on www.vr32.de. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are three types of secrets in Red Alarm: graphics, bowwows, and mirows. The graphics are hidden wireframe images of different things that appear when you shoot certain spots. Bowwows and mirows are hidden tokens that you collect for an extra 5,000 points. They are invisible until you lock on and shot them with a missile. Bowwows look like dog heads and mirows look like cat heads. I wish I could take credit for finding these things all by myself, but of course I had help. My main source of info was the codes section at www.virtual-boy.org. Skeg64 also contributed five of these. I have listed the secrets in the order that they appear. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Stage 1 Bowwow When you first enter the room with the lawnmower guys, lock onto the left corner and shoot a missile. A bowwow will appear. All the graphics in the lawnmower room are inventions of Gumpei Yokoi. Ultra Hand When in the room with the lawnmowers, on the left wall there will be three boxes connected with two lines. Shoot underneath the center box to reveal the Ultra Hand, the first toy Gumpei Yokoi created for Nintendo. Game Boy Shoot the wall on the right directly opposite the Ultra Hand. Virtual Boy Shoot the left side of the wall next to the end of the lawnmower room to reveal a Virtual Boy Virtual Boy Controller Shoot the wall directly opposite the Virtual Boy. House In the room with the little people running around, kill all the enemies, then turnaround. Fly back to the entrance of the room and shoot the lower corner on your right to reveal a miniature house. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Stage 2 Kangaroo Kill the first three enemies, then turn around. You will see a kangaroo with four babies. If you kill the kangaroo, the babies will attack you. You cannot kill the babies. Bowwow The third wave of enemies in this stage consists of four mosquito mechs. After you kill them, shoot along the wall to the right for a bowwow. Mirow After going past the Kappers that are walking up and down, shoot along the right wall to reveal a mirow. Woman After beating the dragon that blocks your way, go through the hole and look down and to your right. You will see a bikini. Shoot it to reveal a woman. Fish On the first waterfall on the left there is something that looks like a bee. This is a fishing lure. Shoot it to reveal a fish trying to swim up the waterfall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Stage 3 Bowwow After the second wave of fish, go above the water and shoot along the top of the right wall to reveal a bowwow. Bowwow Come to a stop after going through the narrow tunnel after the room with the pillars. Look straight up and shoot to reveal a bowwow. Hermit Crab In the room with the floating platforms, on the wall to the right of the next to the last group of platforms, there is a spiral. Shoot it to reveal a hermit crab. Mirow After going through the first waterfall, kill all the enemies first, then turn around. Shoot the bottom-left of the waterfall (under the water) for a mirow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. Stage 4 Fox Faces When exiting the first room, the corridor narrows. Shoot the squares on the wall in this passage. Four of them will reveal fox faces. Flowers When you exit the next room, the corridor gets narrow and the ceiling gets low. Shoot the low corners on the left and right entrance to this passage to reveal flowers. Mirow After you exit the narrow tunnel, stop and turn around and face the tunnel. Above you are two secret tunnels. The one on the left has a mirow at the end. Bowwow The secret tunnel on the right contains a bowwow. Mirow After you go through the fourth waterfall, stop and kill the nearby enemies. Then turn around and face the waterfall, you should look onto a mirow on the wall behind the waterfall. Fox Statues Shoot the lower left and right corners of the wall the frogman is blocking to reveal fox statues. Secret Passage Fly through either fox statue to enter a secret passage that leads to the other statue. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. Stage 5 Bowwow Go past the beam, then turn around and come back. Turn around again and shoot the upper right corner of the wall blocked by the beam. It may take a couple of tries to get it to appear. Bowwow After the steep ramp and before the second electric beam, the is an indentation to your left. Look at the top of it to lock on to a bowow. Mirow In the room with the enemies that breathe fire, kill them all then turn around and shoot the corner of the room entrance that is to your left to reveal a mirow. Man with Flag Shoot the center of the floor of the room with the fire breathing enemies to make a very small man waving a flag appear. Mirow In the room with the missile launchers, shoot along the top of the left wall to make a mirow appear. Bowwow After following the enemies through the maze, you come to a room with battle suits. Shoot along the top of the right wall to find a bowwow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G. Final Stage Woman Stop immediately after the stage begins and shoot to your left. This should reveal a woman that is holding a sign that says "Final". Bowwows and Mirows After going forwards a short distance, turn around and shoot the wall behind you to reveal a circle containing three bowwows and three mirows. Free an alien After you defeat KAOS, go through the hole and shoot the left container hanging from the ceiling. It will break and the alien will drop to the ground and start waving its arms and tail. ******************************************************************************* XI. My Top Scores These are my top scores after beating the game for each difficulty level. Note: Please don't send me emails saying that you have beaten my scores. Easy 610,300 Normal 599,600 Hard 609,600 ******************************************************************************* XII. Game Review This is by far my favorite game for the Virtual Boy and the reason I bought the system. This is definitely the best third party title available for the Virtual Boy. Pros - This is an amazingly fun game. - This is a true 3D game. - Fast paced arcade action. - Excellent music and sound (There is even some digitized voice). - Tons of secrets. - You can customize everything from the display to controls to camera. - You can choose the difficulty level. - The replay feature is pretty cool. - Did I mention this is a really fun game? Cons - No two player mode. (A two player co-op would have been sweet) - The game is way too short. - The game doesn't save high scores. - Wireframe graphics aren't for everyone. - The pop up advertisement messages seem out of place during gameplay. - It would have been better if they showed things like mission objectives or battlefield reports. They will tell you when the batteries are low but by that time you are ignoring the messages completely and will probably miss it. The pros greatly outweigh the cons. This game is a must own for anyone with a Virtual Boy, especially if you love space shooters such as Star Fox. ******************************************************************************* XIII. Special Thanks Thanks to Ferry for his awesome site at www.virtual-boy.org where I found a lot of the secrets above. Special thanks go to Skeg64 for his email letting me know about five additional bonuses not listed in my FAQ. Special thanks go to Parasyte and KRI55E for posting the debug menu code on www.vr32.de. ******************************************************************************* XIV. Version History 1.0 07/10/02 Created FAQ 1.1 07/21/02 Added My High Scores and Version History sections, modified distribution notice. Changed overview section. 1.2 01/30/03 Fixed some grammatical errors. Updated My High Scores. Updated contact info. Added Special Thanks section. Added five items to Secrets section. Modified Stage 1 boss strategy. 1.3 06/26/03 Made some format changes and fixed some typos. Added some more legal stuff to the header. Expanded the Table of Contents and section labels. Added the debug cheat code. 1.4 09/18/08 I forgot to mention the debug cheat in my Special Thanks Section in the previous update. Made some minor format changes. This is probably going to be the last update for this FAQ. ******************************************************************************* XV. 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. Be sure to let me know if I have missed anything. ******************************************************************************* End