Switchblade II CHEAT MODE: On the title screen type in 'LEVEL' followed by the level number you want to jump to and then press the fire button. Type in 'CHROME' to go to a sub level game like Venus The Fly Trap. And here are all the level codes to that hidden game: 01: N/A 05: CLOUD 09: PAPER 13: APPLE 17: AUDIO 02: TRUTH 06: MOUSE 10: EARTH 14: JUICE 18: LOGIC 03: JELLY 07: HUMAN 11: SPACE 15: CHESS 19: TITLE 04: STORY 08: FLOOR 12: GENAM 16: WORLD 20: VENUS Also try entering CHEAT as a level code! THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS GUIDE TO: SWITCHBLADE 2 LEVEL ONE --------- Intro: This leader-section will allow you to get a feel for the control of Hiro and learn about the hit-points neaded to kill some of the early monsters. The little armoured walkers are best dealt with by stabbing them with a knife, since you won't be powered-up enough to crouch down and shoot them rapidy enough. The armoured bugs which fire rockets take three hits with the sword and fire laser blasts, whereas the insectoid bugs only take one hit with the sword to kill. Undergroud: It's here where the player comes into contact with the flying brains which shoot deadly diagnol lasers. It's best to kill three first, since they're a real pain in the arse. Further learning is necessary on this level, although it's pretty minimal. Always have a go at flashing the walls with your knife, since there mabe hiden rooms which you can't find even by the usual tell-tale cracks in the walls. Exploration and experimentation is vital if the end of the level is to found, let alone the secret rooms. Electric beams must be taken out with the sword, since you simply can't kneel down far enough. It's the level that the player also encounters the big punching robots, which, true to their name, are big and punch. The only policy with these guys is to attack him with the sword, as they'll run up towards you. Spikes emerge from the floor when you expect them least. Don't worry about this, but once you've gained a moment's invincibility after a hit, make sure you use it to get past the obstacle. LEVEL TWO --------- Here the player leaves the unpleasant and claustrophobic underground levels for the clean open spaces of overland. The aim here is to work up the screen as rapidy as possible, exploring the secret rooms and collecting power-ups. Little tanks trundle along the tops of the platforms. These track your movements too and fire in a direction, which will generally accurately predict your position by the time they have travelled the distance. Here we find ourselves in a less maze-like, more straightforward arcadey situation, and the player must adopt the style accordingly, being far more free and easy with his fire. Obviously this means that the quest for ammunition must be more intense. Use the little stone platform to reach the higher levels, but beware when you're jumping that you don't bounce to high because you can burn your head on fires on the levels above. Care must also be taken when dealing with the cannon which fire in three (count`em) directions. Stand in front of the fire zone (ie; somewhere where you don't get hit) wait until the gun has fired and then jump up and shoot it in the eye `till it explodes. Hooray! This level is especialy evil when it comes to luring players to their deaths with the promise of exciting power-ups. Whenever it looks as if there's nowhere left to go, make a leap into space and the chances are you'll find a platform floating in space. Make your way up to the platform and you'll be able to avoid the flight patterns of the spaceships and pick them off. LEVEL THREE ----------- Ever onward and upward. Leaving behind the earthy platforms of level two, the player finds himself up in the mountain ranges in a level which looks surprisingly like Strider. Again, we have more platforms in the air and continued attacks from punching robots. The particular problem here is that because the whole level is on a slope, it's tricky to avoid the advances of the aliens since they slide up behind the player and do him in. Crouching down in the best policy when coming of the bottom of a slope, but it's vital the player doesn't run down the sections too swiftly. Planes will strafe the player with bombing runs. It's imperitive that you don't get stuck in the situation of lanes bombing you down a hill onto oncoming enermies. Use the airborne platforms to travel around, as making any serious sort of headway on the ground is pretty tough. LEVEL FOUR ---------- It may all be desperately pretty but the caverns are a dangerous place for all the toughet Switchblades. The parachuting bombs are particular annoying, since it's so difficult to tell when they're going to detonate. As well as the usual problems, players must face spikes in the walls which are only to easy to walk into in the hurry to pick up a power-up. Indeed, power-up problems are a bit of a motif for this level. The rooms which can be accessed through the little doors are always absolutely full of floating brains or tanks, and the player stands a good chance of getting his energy severely sapped simply by entering the room. For the most part it's a waste of time, since the amount of energy gained is far outweighed by that lost just getting in and out. However, in the top right area of the level there's a room with no aliens in it and an extra life in the right-hand side. Now this is worth going for. The end of this stage pits the player against a big green swirling dragon. This guy is pretty easy to kill by simply keeping a reasonable distance between Hiro and the dragon and blasting away like there's no tomrrow when the dragon is on the bottom of his swirling pattern, nearest the ground. LEVEL FIVE ---------- The rainy docks are so realistic it's quite depressing. But there isn't much time to feel glum, since the most demanding drain on the players energy are the huge rockets which launch out of the water without any warning. Again, these are pretty harmless, but they will cause all manner of problems if they scare the player into standing still and staying on a platform for too long, because it's here that that the planes will make their strafing runs. If the player ends up down in between the wooden platforms, then it's curtains. LEVEL SIX --------- And not it's onto the final 'leg'. This rather cosmic level is actually fantastically easy and needs only a bit of jumping around in order to reach the end-of-level bad guy. He, all brown face and spitting deadly Clorets, moves left and right on the screen, dropping two plasma bolts from his side-mounted laser portals. Also he pauses when firing the green bombs. Finally he drops down and tries to kill Hiro. The best policy here is to simply high-jump up and down and continuing to fire, running away at the appropriate moment. Hooray! Typed by _/aybee! End.