PHELIOS (Walkthrough)
PHELIOS
This walkthru is based upon play in the ADVANCED mode, with notes for the NOVICE mode in brackets [].
For the sake of uniformity, I will be referring to different modes of fire by different names. When you continue pushing the button rapidly to shoot as fast as you can, I will call this Rapid-fire. When you hold the button down to energize the sword before you fire, I will call this a Power Shot. If you energize the sword completely, I will call it a Maxi Shot.
When you select a mode, and the title screen for Chapter 1 appears, press the buttons on the control pad in the order C, A, B, A, C, A, B, A. This will give you nine continues instead of only three.
CHAPTER I: Devil in Delos
Shoot the golden owls to pick up two Speed Ups plus an Option satellite. The Shillef butterflies can be killed with any kind of shot, but you will need Power Shots for the skeletons. After the second group of skeletons, shoot a golden owl for another Option satellite. Now you will face several groups of Shillef and Skeletons. Take them out quickly so they can't fire back. As you leave your castle, you will meet mounted Dark Knights, with more Shillef. Kill the Knights with Power Shots, and dodge their return fire [they do not shoot in the Novice Mode].
As you kill the last Knight, you will begin to speed up and fly across the sky. A message to shoot the head of Ladon will briefly appear. Shoot the golden owls to pick up two Speed Ups and a Beam. The Beam has a wide sweep range, but it is only slightly more powerful than rapid-fire. Your sword cannot be energized when you have the Beam, so only shoot as much as needed to kill the Shillef and the long red dragons. Shoot another owl for Homing Bullets, which will help kill all the Shillef by homing in on them. The red dragons can only be killed by firing at their heads and necks; a Maxi Shot or several hits with the Beam will do the job. When a dragon fires, it will shoot three fireballs; it is usually easier to dodge between the nearest two than around all three.
(Boss: Medusa)
If you still have the Beam, dodge the guards' fire rather than wasting the Beam on them. Otherwise, use the Maxi Shot to kill them. Kill the owls to get two more Speed Ups. Do not shoot at Medusa until *after* she opens her eyes. If you have the Beam, fire at the moving head in short bursts, and dodge the beams from her eyes. Also watch for other beams that come from behind. If you don't have the Beam, fire at the head with Maxi Shots. The body is immune, so focus on the head as it moves around and shoot it until it explodes.
CHAPTER II: Death Dungeon
Take out the green ghosts, using Maxi Shots. They shoot at angles, so you won't need to dodge the bullets. Now learn the pattern in which the blue men appear and take them all out with a Maxi Shot. When guards come out on the platforms, dodge or shoot them. Keep killing the guards and blue men, and when you encounter wall guns and more ghosts, dodge carefully and use Maxi Shots to destroy them all. After you smash the second gun emplacement, shoot the golden owls to pick up two Speed Ups and an Option. Kill all the birds with rapid fire.
(Sub-Boss: Emmuza)
Do not shoot the crystals until after they start to move around the circle. You can shoot from either the center of the circle, or from the lower left corner of the screen. Each method has its advantages and drawbacks: firing from the center of the circle gives you more mobility but subjects you to the crossfire from all the crystals; shooting from the corner subjects you to less fire but you have less room to dodge. Use your Maxi Shots to wipe out all of the crystals. The stained glass in the circle will shatter when you destroy the last crystal, and you will descend into the lower caverns.
Pick up the Speed Ups and the Across bullets. The Across bullets ricochet off the walls to help kill the green heads and red worms that fire streams of bullets at you. Be careful not to hit a wall because it means automatic death regardless of how much energy you have left.
When you reach the brick walls, shoot through them with Maxi Shots, but be sure to dodge the fragments. When the tunnel straightens out again, destroy the large red birds with Power Shots.
(Boss: Graiae)
When you enter the temple, destroy or dodge the red creatures, then shoot the golden owls. You will not be able to hurt the three Graiae until after they begin shooting. The Graiae shoot deadly rays from their hands [twice as many rays as they shoot in Novice Mode]. Shoot the hands with your Maxi Shots, dodging between the rays. Try to destroy them as fast as you can to reduce and eliminate their firepower. Just around the time you take out the last hand, the heads will float off the bodies and move around. The heads can be destroyed with Maxi Shots, but try not to do this unless cornered, since they will regenerate. Dodge the heads and their bullets [the heads do not shoot in Novice Mode]. Save your shots for the crystal eye in back of the middle Graiae. Shoot it with Maxi Shots; if you have Option satellites, try to line them up when you fire, if you have time. Shoot the heads when you have to; shoot the eye the rest of the time. When the eye is smashed, the three Graiae will crumble to dust.
CHAPTER III: Blue Perboleos
As you begin this world, your Option satellites, if you have any, will all pull in closer to you, which reduces the width of your range. When the red dragons appear, shoot them with Maxi Shots or dodge them. Beware the Green heads that will try to nail you from behind; stay close to the top of the screen and move back if a green head tries to move behind you.
You will speed up again and begin to race through a narrow, twisting metal structure. Hitting any of the walls will kill you automatically. Use your Maxi Shots to kill all of the Griffon Knights. Then they will start to come from behind. Stay close to the walls; when you must turn, move as close as you can to the wall. Most of the time the Knights will overshoot as they do the turns and slam into a wall. This requires lots of practice to get down so don't worry if you lose a lot of guys in this stage. When you near the temple of the Siren, you will have a short breather.
(Boss: Siren)
Your Option satellites will return to normal distance. Shoot the skeletons and wait for the Siren to change into a large bird-like creature, then open fire with Maxi Shots. Try to remain centered underneath her as you shoot. If the feathers or skeletons' thrown axes get too close, shoot them. Dodge any firerays the Siren shoots. She is very tough so be careful and keep at it until you destroy her. [In Novice Mode, the Siren's firepower is cut in half, but she will still be a strong opponent.]
CHAPTER IV: Fire Devildom
Get the Speed Ups and Option. Destroy the Fire Birds with rapid-fire. Grab the Homing Bullets and watch for the first Himaira dragon. All Himaira you meet require two Maxi Shots to kill. Green heads will begin to attack with the Himaira. Your Homing bullets will kill many of them but some will evade the bullets so shoot with rapid-fire when killing heads. Use your vertical as well as your horizontal mobility.
The Homing Bullets will stop when the Green heads stop and the Fire Birds return. Grab the Life gift from the golden owl that appears with the last Himaira. Mixed in with the next group of Fire Birds will be Fire Bees. The Bees can turn to track you and attack from behind, like Green heads. Their pattern is three bees from the right, three from the left, and three from the right again, always appearing one at a time. Use rapid-fire to kill all of the Bees and Birds.
When you get two more Speed Ups and an Option, you will start to meet big ugly heads on poles. Be very careful because Green heads will attack while you fight the heads on the poles. The heads on the poles require two Maxi Shots to be killed, but you may have to kill the green heads first. After the first two heads on poles, groups of skeletons will join in the attack, making maneuvering tricky. It takes a lot of practice; keep at it.
(Boss: Antaeus)
After getting the two Speeds Ups and the Option, center yourself and line up your Option satellites. Fire Maxi Shots when the fiery hands intersect. Repeat as Antaeus descends. When the message to shoot his head appears on the screen, get ready to evade all of the lava balls he releases. Shoot the hands when you have to and watch for openings in the lava. When an opening appears, maneuver right under Antaeus and fire a Maxi Shot at his head. If you have time, line up one or both of your Option satellites so all of the shots will strike his head. Then move to the side, but be careful that you don't hit the fiery 'walls.' Try not to use too much rapid-fire to destroy the fiery hands because it frequently seems to increase the number of lava balls that Antaeus releases. Fire and move constantly. Antaeus has immense staying power so be careful and show no mercy.
[In Novice Mode, the game ends after you destroy Antaeus. Typhon will dare you to try Advanced Mode if you want to rescue Artemis.]
CHAPTER V: Icebound Soul
Use rapid fire to shoot the green and red birds. These birds are tricky; it will take a little while to learn the pattern of their attack. Try to shoot as many as you can; they can shoot to the side and even backward.
When you start crossing ice platforms and bridges, a message not to touch Giga and Mega appears. Giga and Mega are small little creatures that rush sideways along the platforms, firing javelins. Shoot them with Maxi Shots before they jump off the platform and run to the bottom of the screen. Giga and Mega can shoot backward so try to get them on the platforms.
Huge black studded balls roll toward you. They take one Maxi Shot to kill. Learning patterns is necessary if you want to survive in Icebound Soul.
More green and red birds join in just before finishing this part. The going gets woolly with all the birds, balls and the Gigas and Megas.
Get the Speed Ups and Option from the golden owls. The balls will begin to move faster, and more Gigas and Megas attack. Some of the balls will now be red instead of black; these red balls are invulnerable to your shots, but if they touch another ball (black or red), they explode in eight different directions. Sometimes, when a red and a black ball are about to collide, it is a good idea to shoot the black one so the red one won't explode. But be careful because sometimes, if you do this, the red ball will then collide with another red ball, causing them both to explode.
As you near the temple, the Gigas and Megas will disappear and you must now dodge waves of very fast black balls (you won't have enough time to shoot many of them), and shoot more birds. Don't drop your guard until entering the temple.
(Boss: Scylla)
A wave of red balls will fall at you; it will take a few times before you learn where to dodge between them. As you approach Scylla, ready Maxi Shots for the small brown heads that circle around the large crystal imprisoning Scylla. As the ring of brown crystal heads begins to expand, try to shoot several of them so that you can slip between the opening. Now line up your shots and fire at the central crystal with Maxi Shots. If any of the icicle stalactites fall at you, dodge them. The ring of brown crystal heads will then contract; if you couldn't make an opening to dodge through, you will get trashed. Shoot some more of the brown crystals to make more room to slip through. Shoot at Scylla again, until the ring contracts, then slip back outside it and shoot more of the brown crystals. By the third time you begin firing at Scylla, you should be able to destroy her.
If your score is 200,000 or higher at this point, the wall covering Artemis in the intermission scene will fall, exposing all of her body. No, dirty old man, she won't be naked.. (ha)
CHAPTER VI: Watchdog in Hell
Use rapid-fire to kill the fire bats. They move in a tricky pattern, often shooting at an angle
Four waves of strange-looking, brown creatures (the Water-Tarantulas) will attack from under the river. Keep an eye out for their silhouettes on the water surface so you can be ready to open fire when they emerge.
Now comes a very difficult stage. You will encounter the earth demons. They resemble small blue gorillas, pelting you with huge boulders. They require a Maxi Shot to kill, but if you stay at the bottom of the screen, they can intercept your shot with a rock. You should memorize as much of this world as you can, and stay close to the top of the screen so you can zap all the Earth Demons just as they come on the screen.
Fire Bats will eventually join in the attack after you shoot a second group of golden owls; keep a cool head and continue shooting and dodging.
(Boss: Cerberus)
Cerberus's three heads can shoot out a long distance toward you on the long necks. The body moves back and forth as the heads shoot out one at a time; when the body is near the top of the screen, the heads cannot reach you. This makes Cerberus fairly easy until you destroy one of the heads. When a head is destroyed, it releases a big fireball that moves slowly around the screen, shooting small fireballs. You cannot destroy the fireballs so dodge them. When you destroy the last head, the body will begin to shoot lasers, and the fireballs briefly turn into green eyeballs. A Maxi Shot will take out the fireballs when they turn into eyeballs. Destroy all of them and the body will explode.
In the intermission, Artemis will say that you must find the light sword, Phelios. You will now be entering the last world. Can you handle it?
CHAPTER VII- The Light Sword
Use rapid-fire to shoot an opening in the walls of tiny green rocks. If you hit any of the rocks, it is automatic death. Watch out for the blue hands; when shot (use Power Shots on them), they release several fast red hands.
Try not to shoot all the rocks right now; just enough to break openings in the walls they form. If you have the chance to shoot more rocks, go ahead, but always be ready to slip through an opening.
Always shoot the large gold spheres, using a Maxi Shot. Seven of them will release fragments of the Light Sword. When you collect a piece, the letter appears on the top right part of the screen. There are no sub-stages here: if you are killed, you lose any Light Sword pieces collected and must start over at the beginning.
Grab the Across bullets when you meet the golden owl carrying it, but be on guard since they will often destroy a blue hand (releasing the red hands) at inopportune times.
Waves of blue hands will impede your efforts to collect the Light Sword's last four pieces. Stay close, but not too close, to the top of the screen. If you get all seven pieces, the word PHELIOS, now complete, will flash on the screen slowly. Better yet, once you have Phelios- if you are killed, the sword will remain with you, even though you must restart the stage.
Phelios will not appear, at first, to be very impressive. The power of the sword is revealed when you use a Maxi Shot. Instead of the normal Maxi Shot you have used before, Phelios emits a blast of energy, as wide as the Beam from Devil in Delos, and four Beams deep. This pink-and-blue colored beam will destroy practically everything in its path, until it disappears off the top of the screen. (NOTE: For the sake of uniformity, I will refer to this beam as a Phelios Blast.)
Once you have Phelios, try to learn a pattern for shooting- learn how long it takes to energize the sword up to maximum, so you can release a steady volley of Phelios Blasts. Nothing can survive the Blast, except the glass walls. Learning such a timing pattern is vital when you fight with Typhon.
Also, if you are killed after getting the Light Sword, shoot the golden owl with the Across Bullets if it gets in your way, but do NOT take the Across Bullets. You will not need them since the Phelios Blast is so powerful.
It's a fairly long trip until you get to the temple of Typhon, but once you get Phelios, it's a little easier.
The Showdown: You vs. TYPHON
Even though you won't need them, grab the two Options as well as the Speed Ups. As you get closer to Typhon, be ready to fire. Evil monks will appear one at a time; try to be prepared to fire a Phelios Blast at the monks as they appear. They will always appear in the same order: above on the left, then the right; on Typhon's shoulder, left, then right; on his wings, left, then right; and just below his wings, left, then right.
When you destroy the last evil monk, Typhon will begin to fight, shooting streams of bullets while flying about you. Stay centered under him and fire at his stomach, using Phelios Blasts. The Blasts will destroy most, if not all, of his bullets. Try to watch the sword's energy meter out of one eye, to help you hold your fire until you are ready to shoot a Phelios Blast. Rapid-fire and Power Shots will be of no use here.
The Blasts will push Typhon up toward the top of the screen, blocking his descent attempts. When he folds his wings around him, and changes color, get in a shot or two to push him up further. When his wings unfold again, move to just off-center while firing. Typhon will release several very fast lasers, usually off at an angle, but sometimes straight down. Staying just off-center should allow you to be out of the line of fire. If Typhon is not too close to you, angled lasers will never come near you; this is a good reason to try and push him as close to the top as you can.
Each time Typhon renews his descent, he will succeed in getting a little closer. Eventually, he will get close enough that you will not be able to fire Phelios Blasts quickly enough to destroy all his bullets. As soon as you think this happens, move around as you shoot, so you can evade any of the bullets that get too close.
Typhon can take a tremendous amount of punishment before going down; this showdown will last several minutes. Keep shooting, keep dodging, and be prepared to lose many men before you learn all the patterns necessary for beating him. Typhon will provide you with a thrilling and pulse-pounding fight, making victory all the sweeter when you conquer him.
Unfortunately, the closing sequences were mostly inadequate. Parts of it were plain silly. The closing credits scene, however, was nicely done, and the music was pleasant. I expected to see more in the closing sequences but the game as a whole made up for this inadequacy.
After the credits stop, the game mode select screen appears again; you can now select an Expert Mode that's more fast and furious than ever. Try this mode...if you dare!
PHELIOS is produced by Namco Hometek, Inc. Licensed for Sega of America.
