One of the two Minigames in Robo's World: The Blulite Rocks is the "shoot-'em-up" arcade style "Air Battle". It is a highscore based minigame where you try to shoot down as many airborne viruses as possible with your drone before you are destroyed.
Stacking Upgrades:
I was never much of a fan of the "fear certain upgrades" idea common to most "SHMUPs". Power-ups are supposed to be there to help you, so why are you trying to avoid them as if they were any other enemy? In Air Battle, your ship will only get more powerful over time through stacking upgrades.
Here's how the upgrades break down:
- When the game starts, you have a simple drone that fires one projectile
- When you get over 40 kills, your drone automatically fires 2x projectiles
- When you get over 100 kills, your drone automatically fires 3x projectiles
These upgrades are automatic and you never loose them, even if your drone is destroyed. There are two other upgrades in the form of Capsules that you need to collect, pictured in the "Collect these" section of the image below:
These upgrades alter the look of your ship and allow you to fire projectiles that shred through enemy viruses. The first upgrade appears at the top of the screen and rolls down towards you, the second appears at the bottom of the screen and rolls upwards. The second upgrade grants you the same enemy shredding projectiles as the first, but also makes your ship spout blue flames that decrease the chance that you'll take damage from colliding with enemies that fly up from the bottom of the screen. You loose these two upgrades upon death, and will have to recollect them after you respawn.
In addition to these upgrades, you can also collect 1Ups to give you extra lives.
Enemy Types:
The four enemy types in Air Battle are:
- Viro-floater: These amorphous blobs have yet to form any means of defending themselves and are only dangerous by their sheer number
- Viro-blaster: These viruses have solidified into a combat-capable form and can fire projectiles
- Viro-sphere: These viruses are capable of firing projectiles in the direction of your drone
- Viro-flier: These viruses have solidified into a form capable of unassisted flight. They fly in the same direction you do, often crashing into you from behind
Achievement Unlocked:
If you get a score of "Over 1500" you'll get an achievement for beating my highscore at the Air Battle mini-game! 1500 viruses is a LOT considering the game counts your score 1:1. And in case you're wondering, my highscore is a little higher than 1500 (how else could I have tested the achievement?) I'll see you on the leaderboards!
And that's EVERYTHING there is to know about the Air Battle Minigame. Preparation is the key to success and all that. See if you have what it takes to earn yourself the Over 1500 achievement and a spot on the Game Center Leaderboards!
