Aero Fighters 2 FAQ

Aero Fighters 2 FAQ

Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings 2 FAQ v. 0.6

By Penguin

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Table of contents:
1. What's Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings?
2. Items
3. Controls & General Information
4. The planes
5. Enemy bullets
6. Stages
7. Misc stuff
8. Update history
9. Final words

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1. What's Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings?

Aero Fighters is a top-down shooting game that started with the Jamma
system and the SNES in 1992. Then it moved to the SNK MVS for it's
sequel, Aero Fighters 2 & 3. I haven't seen Aero Fighters 1, but I have
played both 2 & 3. Both were pretty good games IMHO. Aero Fighters 2 was
published in 1994. Aero Fighters 3 was published in 1995. Sonic Wings is
just the same game with a different name in Japan.

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2. Items

There are 3 sorts of items:
P item - Increases firepower by a level. 2000 points added when
received.
F item - Increases firepower to the highest possible level. (Don't know
about the score yet)
B item - Adds a bomb.
$/Cz. etc. - Can't move, it's just basically extra points. You need to
destroy enemies and various scenaries (duh) to get them.

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3. Controls & General Information

The arcade stick (or directional pad) is used to control the direction
of your plane. Your plane only faces up regardless of whichever
direction you choose.
The A button is normal fire, while the B button is bomb.

You start with 2 bombs and of course, the lowest level of normal fire.
There's no rapid-fire, so you need to tap the A button like crazy.
Note that when the normal shot level reaches its max, it'll go down a
level after a certain period.

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4. The planes

You can choose between 8 planes. When in 2 player mode, you can't choose
the same plane that the other has chosen (or where the other's cursor
lays).

***
F-117 (Robo Keaton)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 2 lines of laser beams
Lvl 2: 2 longer lines of laser beams
Lvl 3: 4 lines of laser beams and a missile-thingy dropping from plane
Lvl 4: 8 lines of laser beams and the missile-thingy drops from plane as
well

Missile-thingies: They are "delayed." So if you shoot, the missile
drops, then after a second or so it turns into a small fireball. Goes
straightward.

Bomb:
Description - An inverted V-shaped laser 'shield' that goes from bottom
of the screen to the top of the screen. Then a few explosions here and
there in the screen.
Usefulness - Good against regular enemies, but for bosses it's so-so.

Good points: All around average, good speed
Bad points: Shots are kinda concentrated at a spot
***
A-10 (Silver)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: A single beam
Lvl 2: 2 beams
Lvl 3: 4 beams and a missile that explodes near the top of screen
Lvl 4: 6 beams and a missile that goes full screen

Missile: It doesn't drop, but it'll explode when it meets an enemy. It's
stronger than a regular shot. Goes straightward.

Bomb:
Description - Flys up, drops two bombs, huge explosion on where the
bombs land.
Usefulness - Quite strong bomb, IMO should be pretty good against
bosses. Don't waste it against normal enemies unless it's absolutely
needed. Invulnerbility when dropping it!!

Good points: Strong bomb, strong shots
Bad points: Bomb a bit concentrated at a certain spot, shots too
concentrated
***
FS-X (Hien)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 1 line of shurikens
Lvl 2: 2 lines of shurikens
Lvl 3: 4 lines of shurikens and 4 '+' shaped shurkiens.
Lvl 4: 6 lines of shurkiens and 8 '+' shaped shurkiens.

+ shaped shurikens: Homing shurikens when there's a target. If there
isn't, It shoots around the plane. The + shaped shurikens don't come
back to the plane.

Bomb:
Description - Blue 'ki' converges at the plane, and a 'ki' beam. Kinda
like the super fireball beams in Capcom VS games. Lasts for around 2-3
seconds. You can shoot normal fire as well.
Usefulness - VERY useful. Best against bosses. Also it 'protects' you.
But it goes wherever the plane goes.

Good points: Great bomb, homing '+' shaped shurikens, pretty quick
Bad points: Concentrated bomb, weak normal shot.
***
F-15 (Mao Mao)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 2 concentrated lines of bullets
Lvl 2: 3 concentrated lines of bullets (can't really tell the difference
huh?)
Lvl 3: 6 lines bisected into 2 parts (V shaped, 3 for each part), lasers
coming out from the side
Lvl 4: 14 (!!) lines divived into 3 parts, one part going straight (8
lines), and the other 2 parts bisect like in Lvl 3. 4 lines of laser
coming out from the sides as well (2 of them are wider)

Laser: It's not the best stuff in the world, but you gotta shoot it
anyhow. Really thin, it's pretty much negligable because the normal shot
would cover it anyway. But it does considerable damage.

Bomb:
Description - Sends out a wave from the plane, which destroys the enemy
bullets (but not delivering damage), then everything (except you (and
your ally)) and the screen will stop for around 4 seconds. You can't use
your bomb in that duration.
Usefulness - DAMN good, especially against bosses that love to move
around like crazy and can't stay (like the 'eyeball'). Basically,
you'll get a 'free shot.' For four seconds! Ain't that lovely! (no, I'm
not sarcastic)

Good points: DAMN good bomb, really wide range of fire, nice speed
Bad points: No bomb damage, er...maybe another victim of the "SNK cute
girl syndrome."
***
F-14 (Cindy & Ellen)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 2 lines of beams
Lvl 2: 4 lines of beams, pretty concentrated
Lvl 3: 6 lines of beams, 2 homing missiles
Lvl 4: 10 lines of beams, 4 homing missiles

Homing missiles: Just regular homing missiles, like Hien's + shaped
shurikens.

Bomb:
Description - 5 huge missiles come from the bottom of the screen and
heads towards the top of the screen. Then lots of small explosions kinda
following the trail of the missiles after they went off-screen
Usefulness - Note that the missiles itself does NO DAMAGE. It nullifies
the incoming bullets though. Anyway, this fills the whole screen, so
it's pretty good against regular enemies.

Good points: Kinda strong shot, good bomb, good speed
Bad points: Very concentrated shot, bomb not as good against bosses
***
YF-23 (Spanky (!!))

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 1 line of shot
Lvl 2: 1 line of thicker shot
Lvl 3: 2 lines of shots from Lvl 2, 2 bomb thingies
Lvl 4: 2 wider lines of thicker shots (not the ones in Lvl 2), 4 bomb
thingies

Bomb thingies: Weird little bombs float out from your plane when you
shoot. If the max bomb thingies are on screen (2 for Lvl 3, 4 for Lvl
4), they won't come out. Unless it reaches an enemy, it'll wander off
screen. You can kinda control where the bomb thingy goes by going at the
specific direction.

Bomb:
Description - Some 'ki' converges at the plane, and two waves spreads
out from the plane horizontally, and it covers the screen vertically as
well.
Usefulness - Great for regular enemies, but not so great for bosses. (Am
I doing some kind of phone commercial here?) Not a bad bomb.

Good points: Nice bomb, damaging shots
Bad points: Very concentrated shots until Lvl 4, bomb not very well
against bosses, a dolphin named "Spanky" driving a plane? WTF?
***
Rafale (Steve)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 2 lines of beam
Lvl 2: 4 concentrated lines of beam
Lvl 3: 6 lines of beam, 2 missiles
Lvl 4: 10 lines of beam, 2 missiles

Missiles: They are just diverted missiles. Isn't homing I think.

Bomb:
Description - Flys up, drops a bomb that creates some huge black
circular 'void' for around 2 seconds
Usefulness - It's not that great against a bunch of enemies...because
it's only aimed at a certain part of the screen. But against bosses,
this isn't a bad bomb.

Good points: Nice speed, pretty damaging shots
Bad points: Concentrated shots, bomb doesn't work well against normal
enemies, missiles aren't really special, and why this guy looks like a
girl?
***
FRS.2 (Bobby)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 1 line of shot
Lvl 2: 2 lines of shot
Lvl 3: 3 diverted lines of shot (V shaped, but one line bisects the V)
and 2 small missiles in each shot
Lvl 4: Like Lvl 3, but it's 2 lines diverted into 3 directions, 2
missiles.

Missiles: You can't shoot the missiles when the other 2 are still on-
screen, or destroyed. Pretty damaging I say...try getting near the enemy
(esp. boss) when possible and shoot as many times as possible. The
missiles will keep coming.

Bomb:
Description - Flys up, drops 2 bombs that spread fire in a V shape.
Usefulness - Since it's V shaped, it can miss certain enemies as well as
bosses 'weak spot.' Take care when you use it. Otherwise, it's a damn
strong bomb.

Good points: Damaging shots when the missiles are with it (Lvl 3, 4),
destructive bomb
Bad points: Bomb may miss, shot too wide when far, a baby driving a
plane?
***

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5. Enemy bullets:

Enemy bullets are usually one of these 3:
I. Small bullets - Most common and the hardest to evade due to their
size. Can't be destroyed except for certain 'special' shots and bomb.
II. Big bullets - 2nd most common IMO, it's not easy to evade as well.
Can't be destroyed except for certain 'special' shots and bomb.
III. Disc bullets - This one's easy. Shoot at these bullets and they'll
disappear. And you can get points for that as well.

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6. Stages

I pretty much forgot the number of stages in this game. The game is 10
stages long. If you beat the 10th stage, you will see the ending, but
then you'll start with stage 11, which is actually stage 1. It's much
harder, and the patelletes are swapped. I never went past stage 11
though.
The stages after the 1st stage are random, then after stages 2-9 you go
to stage 10. At stage 10, if all your planes die (i.e. you need to
insert a coin) you'll RESTART THE STAGE. So if you're fighting the
eyeball guy (final boss), and all your planes die, you'll have to start
from the very beginning of the stage. Umm...yeah, that's bad stuff, I
know.

The Atlantic and the Himalayas are the bonus stages, you get to shoot
incoming planes and all of them has the P goodie. For the Himalayas
stage there may be an F goodie. The Atlantic stage is stage 3, and the
Himalayas stage is 7.

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7. Misc stuff

There are various pretty funny stuff in stages. Take the 1st stage as an
example. The first thing you notice is the Chinese character at the
start of the stage. It means 'big.' Don't know any special relations to
the game though. Then you get to see a big humanoid print on the ground.
You can destroy the building where the green spaceship comes out - then
see two people in it arguing. Further up, you can see "Heroin Magic."
Hope it's not a typo. Then you can see a poster of Mao Mao. Then 2
'tower missiles' will charge towards you. Of course, there's this 'Tokyo
tower' that shoots disc bullets and falls off a building.

You can also get goodies by shooting at random stuff as well. In the USA
stage you can shoot at the Statue of Liberty to get a P goodie, then you
can shoot various famous New York buildings for $. You can also shoot at
a ferris wheel, and it'll roll away horizontally while giving out a B
goodie. Don't stop shooting at it, you can destroy it for a P goodie.

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8. Update history

v 0.1: Wrote the FAQ

v 0.2: Minor corrections to various spots in the FAQ, added the 'Update
history' section

v 0.3: More minor changes (mainly on the .txt file problem with lines),
added a legal disclaimer

v 0.4: A few minor changes, and changing the version of this FAQ (I
forgot to change it in 0.3, damn me)

v 0.5: Added more stuff to What's Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings. Thanks to
ScruffyDeluxe for pointing out that Aero Fighters 1 appeared in the SNES
as well.

v 0.6: Added a few corrections. Thanks to Togemon for pointing out
that the Himalayas stage is stage 7, and there are a total of 10 stages
per 'cycle.' Few minor changes as well.
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9. Final words

Whew! Finally I'm done with this. There are a few things that I'm still
unsure/don't know:
I. More 'hidden' goodies (P, B goodies in various stages?)
II. Whatever I didn't put in this FAQ but it's in the game

Feel free to e-mail me at penguin_wong@hotmail.com if you got any
problems with this FAQ.

***LEGAL DISCLAIMER***
All this is written by Penguin himself. Anyone cannot post or edit this
FAQ without the consent of myself. If you were to post it, please give
credit to me after asking for my permission. If you were to rip this FAQ
and put it under your name, you have violated the laws and will be
reported. This document is for private & personal use only and cannot be
distributed/reprinted/edited for commercial purposes.
Any further questions can be e-mailed to penguin_wong@hotmail.com.

Aero Fighters 2 and all it's characters are of VideoSystem.
MVS is made by SNK of Japan.
***END OF DISCLAIMER***

Thanks to:

SNK - Makes great fighting games (KOF...*drools*) as well as having
various shooters for Neo-Geo and the MVS as well.
VideoSystem (that's what I see in the intro) - For making this game.
Friends & family - For supporting me
Me - For writing it myself. Now for some celebration. *drinks Sprite*
j/k
You - For even taking time to read this damn thing. And FINISHING IT!!
Now that's a feat. =P

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