Roadblasters FAQ Version 1.0 By chessjerk (John Kearsley IV) Created - August 13, 2006 Questions? Comments? Contact me: chessjerk@msn.com =============================================================== Welcome to my Roadblasters FAQ. Tired of your regular old shoot-em-up games? Well, this game may pique your interest. =============================================================== Table of Contents: =============================================================== I. The Object of the Game II. Controls III. Special Weapons IV. The Enemy V. List of Levels VI. Strategies VII. Credits/Disclaimer VIII. Version History =============================================================== I. The Object of the Game =============================================================== The object of the game is to drive your car down a winding road, fending off other cars, turrets, motorcycles, even various obstacles in the road to reach the finish line before your fuel runs out. On each level you are given a certain amount of fuel, you must make it last throughout that stage. Approximately halfway through each stage you will receive a fuel bonus. If you run out of fuel at any time your car will begin to slow down. If it comes to a complete stop before reaching an area midpoint or the finish line, it's game over. The bottom of the screen details the car's current status, including: your current score multiplier, a mine detector, your reserve and main tank fuel gauges, your speed, your current score, and a special weapon indicator. If at any time you come in contact with an enemy or get shot by a turret, your car will explode and a new one will be set up in the middle of the road. At the end of each stage, you receive bonus points and additions to your reserve tank based on your current multiplier, up to a maximum of 10,000 points. The multiplier increases by one every time you shoot an enemy will your regular gun, up to a maximum of 10x. If you ever shoot your gun and miss, the multiplier goes down by one. Your multiplier will not change as a result of firing the special weapon UZ Cannon, neither hits nor misses will change your multiplier. All points you earn are multiplied by the current multiplier (e.g., if you shoot an orange car with a 1x multiplier, the multiplier goes up to 2x and you earn 2x50 or 100 points). =============================================================== II. Controls =============================================================== Up - Accelerator Down - Brakes Left/Right - Turns car left/right B - Fire special weapons (see Special Weapons section) A - Fire guns Select - No use Start - Pause the game =============================================================== III. Special Weapons and Other Items =============================================================== Every so often, you will see a plane fly overhead and drop an apparatus at you. Drive you car underneath it to catch it and equip it to your car. If you crash, you lose whatever special weapon you had. If you reach the finish line with an unused portion of a special weapon, it carries over to the next area. If you catch a new weapon while you currently have an unused weapon, the unused weapon is lost and replaced by the new one. There are four different weapons: 1. UZ Cannon - Rapid fire gun, doesn't affect multiplier, lasts a while 2. Nitro Inject - Very high speed for a short time, 3 uses 3. Cruise Missile - Destroy everything on screen, 3 uses 4. Electro Shield - Makes you invincible for about 5 seconds, 3 uses Also, you may occasionally see green globes on the road; these increase your fuel by a small amount. Destroyed orange cars may leave orange globes behind; these restore more fuel than the green ones, and are essential on levels when you are short on fuel to begin with (See the "Sensors detect fuel globes" explanation in the List of Levels section). =============================================================== IV. The Enemy =============================================================== Here is a list of the enemies who will try and stop you (point value in parentheses): Orange Cars (50) - The most common enemy you'll see, and the easiest to deal with. Shoot them once to destroy them. Blue Cars (100) - These cars cannot be shot at normally, you have to use a special weapon to get rid of them. However, like the orange car, it doesn't shoot at you, it simply gets in your way. Motorcycles (100) - Similar to orange cars, they are destroyed with one shot but are much smaller and harder to hit than the orange cars. Rat Jeeps (50) - These tricky rascals sneak up from behind you and try to ram you into a crash. Sometimes you will receive a warning at the beginning of the stage that they are coming, sometimes not. Be on your toes for them in the later stages. Turrets (200) - These are the stationary guns on the side of the road and will fire a steady pattern of bullets at you. They are easier to shoot on turns since they will be in front of you, on straight-aways their shots are easily avoided by simply driving straight at maximum speed. Mine (none) - Next to your reserve tank indicator you see a box that sometimes flashes along with an audible warning. When it flashes, it means that mines are on the road nearby. Sometimes they can be very difficult to see, causing you to crash if you hit one. Toxic Spill (none) - These black puddles in the road cause your car to do a 360 degree spin at your current speed, often causing you to crash directly into oncoming traffic. Avoid them if possible. Boulders (none) - Don't drive on the shoulder unless you need to drive around an enemy. You'll slow down dramatically, and if a boulder is nearby, you'll probably crash into it. One level is odd in that the first thing you encounter is a boulder in the middle of the road (!). Keep alert for it. =============================================================== V. List of Levels =============================================================== Each section of areas can be divided into levels, as follows: Bubble City - 1 to 3 Forest Section - 4 to 10 Desert Region - 11 to 14 Ground Zero - 15 to 18 Crystal Palace - 19 to 22 Weapons Factory - 23 to 26 Power Plant - 27 to 30 Science Complex - 31 to 34 Molten Zone - 35 to 38 Ground Zero - 39 to 42 Bubble City - 43 to 46 Sunset Strip - 47 to 50 Here's a list of each area's message displayed before the area begins, any weapons that you can acquire in that area, and any other important notes to consider. The first four messages you see are simply general tips for playing the game. If you see "Sensors detect fuel globes" you will start the area with a low fuel gauge, however, the orange cars in that level drop orange globes much more often, you need to pick them up to survive. If you see "Rat Jeep wave, Watch for cross traffic" you will encounter Rat Jeeps in that area (See Rat Jeep in The Enemy section). Sometimes you will not get the warning for the Rat Jeeps, this happens in the first area of a new section, since you don't receive the pre-area message in that case. 1. None - no weapons 2. "Shoot opponents for score" - UZ Cannon 3. "Shooting accuracy increases multiplier" - no weapons 4. "Reserve fuel awarded based on score" - Nitro Inject 5. "Catch special weapon to increase performance" - UZ Cannon 6. "Sensors detect fuel globes" - no weapons 7. None - Cruise Missile, UZ Cannon 8. None - UZ Cannon 9. None - no weapons 10. "Sensors detect fuel globes" - no weapons 11. None - Cruise Missile 12. "Rat jeep wave, Watch for cross traffic" - UZ Cannon 13. None - Electro Shield 14. "Sensors detect fuel globes" - no weapons 15. None - Nitro Inject, UZ Cannon 16. "Rat jeep wave, Watch for cross traffic" - UZ Cannon 17. "Rat jeep wave, Watch for cross traffic" - Cruise Missile 18. "Sensors detect fuel globes" - UZ Cannon 19. None - Nitro Inject 20. None - Electro Shield 21. None - Two Nitro Injects 22. "Sensors detect fuel globes" - This area is different from the other low fuel areas since none of the orange cars drop fuel globes, there are other green ones that you better grab. 23. None - UZ Cannon and Electro Shield 24. None - Nitro Inject and UZ Cannon 25. None - Nitro Inject 26. "Sensors detect fuel globes" - Cruise Missile 27. None - Nitro Inject 28. None - Electro Shield 29. "Rat jeep wave, Watch for cross traffic" - UZ Cannon 30. "Sensors detect fuel globes" - Two Nitro Injects 31. None - Electro Shield (watch for Rat jeeps) 32. "Rat jeep wave, Watch for cross traffic" - UZ Cannon 33. "Rat jeep wave, Watch for cross traffic" - Two UZ Cannons 34. "Sensors detect fuel globes" - Two Electro Shields 35. None - Nitro Inject (watch for Rat jeeps) Also, in this area, the first enemy you encounter will be a boulder sitting smack dab in the middle of the road. Be alert and swerve around it. 36. "Rat jeep wave, Watch for cross traffic" - UZ Cannon 37. None - UZ Cannon, Nitro Inject 38. "Sensors detect fuel globes" - Cruise Missile 39. None - Electro Shield (watch for Rat jeeps) 40. "Rat jeep wave, Watch for cross traffic" - Cruise Missile 41. "Rat jeep wave, Watch for cross traffic" - Electro Shield, UZ Cannon 42. None (should be "Sensors detect fuel globes") - Electro Shield 43. None - UZ Cannon (enemies consist of orange cars only) 44. None - Electro Shield (enemies consist of blue cars only) 45. None - Nitro Inject (enemies consist of motorcycles only) 46. "Rat jeep wave, Watch for cross traffic" - UZ Cannon (enemies consist of Rat Jeeps only) 47. None - UZ Cannon (enemies consist of turrets only) 48. None - Electro Shield (no enemies, only mines) 49. None (should be "Sensors detect fuel globes") - Nitro Inject (you start will next to no fuel in the main tank) 50. "Final Rally, Tanks Full, One Chance" - UZ Cannon, Cruise Missile, Nitro Inject, you'll face pretty much everything you've seen in the game and you'll have two full tanks of fuel to do it on, just keep shooting and collect as many fuel globes as you can since you'll likely crash many times. Good luck! At the beginning of the game, you may choose to start at area 1, 4 or 11. Wherever you choose to start, you will keep going until you clear area 14, at which time you will again receive the choice of next going to area 15, 19, or 23. Every time you complete a 4 area level, you will receive this option, except if you decide to tackle Ground Zero, since there are only 2 levels after that, you must go through Bubble City to get to Sunset Strip. This allows for a very quick completion of the game since you can skip ahead and not attempt every area. =============================================================== VI. Strategies =============================================================== - It is important to master the art of shooting the cars as they come to you. At first the shooting can be very awkward when driving at full speed due to the curves of the road or the enemy switching lanes. Use the first few areas to hone your skills while the enemies are still easy. - Keep your multiplier at or near the maximum of 10 at all times. It can be very easy to have a bad run where you crash multiple times and are forced to consume some of your reserve tank. With a constantly high multiplier, your reserve tank will be filled after every area, thus allowing you to retain that cushion in case you reach a tough area. - Don't hold on to the special weapons. Use them up when you get them, since (1) you lose them if you crash, which happens a lot in later areas, and (2) you can't carry more then one, and later areas will sometimes have multiple weapons in one area, so don't be shy about using them quickly. - Don't make a habit of going after the turrets. If you encounter them on a sharp turn and they are directly in front of you, great, take them out while you turn. But on a straightaway, it is much simpler to just drive straight through at maximum speed and their shots will likely miss you. - Similar to the turrets, don't go after other tough to hit enemies, such as motorcycles, especially if they are swerving from side to side, making them damn near impossible to hit. It is much more prudent to watch their movements and when they swerve to one side, you swerve to the other and pass them by. - You will know when the end of a particular area is coming up, since the finish line of every area is preceded by a straight stretch of road with 3 or 4 boulders on each side of the road. If you notice this stretch coming and you're low on fuel, simply floor the accelerator and race to the finish line. =============================================================== VII. Credits and Disclaimer =============================================================== This FAQ is copyright 2006 by John Kearsley IV. This FAQ may be distributed freely as long as it is not altered and I am credited for its existence. Thanks go to everyone else involved with the NES FAQ Completion Project, of which I am proud to be a part. Also, thanks go to GameFAQs.com and CJayC for hosting a great site. Keep up the good work! =============================================================== VIII. Version History =============================================================== Version 1.0 - Original FAQ submitted