The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love For Sony Playstation Developed by Big West Ltd., Bandai Visual Ltd. This document Copyright 1999 Alan Cheng (south_neon@hotmail.com) Version 3.0 All Rights Reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Foreword (with Web sites hosting my FAQ) 2. Introduction 3. Legal Disclaimer 4. Version History 5. Interface 5.1 Load 5.2 Difficulty 5.3 Key Config 5.4 Weapon Select 5.5 Exit 6. Playing Screen 7. Main Characters 8. Game Start/Walkthrough 8.1 Phase 01: 8.2 Phase 02: Titan 8.3 Phase 03: In the Macross 8.4 Phase 04: Asteroids Belt 8.5 Phase 05: Assault Enemyship 8.6 Phase 06: Saturn 8.7 Phase 07: Big Escape 8.8 Phase 08: Ocean 8.9 Phase 09: Ruins 8.10 Phase 10: Last War 8.11 Final Phase: Do You Remember Love 9. Ending 10. Secrets/Option Plus 10.1 Finished Easy Mode 10.2 Finished Normal Mode 10.3 Finished Hard Mode 10.4 Extra in Hard Mode 11. Hints 12. GameShark Codes/DexDrive Game Save 13. Credits 1. FOREWORD Finally a classic anime is being integrated into the Sony Playstation and named as “The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love”. This 1982 anime had been of great hit around the globe, and although this game is currently available in Japan, it is possible it will hit the America sooner or later. Either way, I just can’t forget all those exciting shooting moments, no matter it is inside the anime itself or in the game, especially Macross signature homing missile trails. This game, as mentioned, is developed on Sony Playstation platform, although it was originally released on Sega Saturn also in Japan. Because of the high replay value and the great love story(ies) lying inside the anime, huge fans (such as ME!) of course will buy it at any cost. Millions of thanks to those who post my FAQ to their Web sites. My FAQ can now be found in the following locations: - GameFAQs.com: http://www.gamefaqs.com - Cheat Code Central: http://www.cheatcc.com - Xcheater: http://www.xcheater.com - About.com Guide to Video Game Strategies: http://www.vgstrategies.about.com 2. INTRODUCTION This game is a 2 CD version, jam-packed with tons of FMVs (Full Motion Videos) and still pictures from the movie version of Macross (it is also named “Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love”). Because of all those videos and pictures, the game is not super long but you can still understand how the story progresses. After all, it’s an anime and all you need is to see the videos and listen to how every character expresses their feelings. Then you will get the whole picture without even understanding what they are talking about (Note: In case you don’t know, I don’t understand what they are talking about either :Þ). Because the anime is such a long time ago product, I’m sorry but I forgot the names of the characters totally. Therefore, general understanding of each character is required. Preferably, better had watched this anime 17 years ago, or you will be in great trouble understanding what they are doing, who falls in love with whom, etc etc. However, I’ll still try my best to make the characters as distinctive as possible so that you know whom I’m referring to. And if you know the names of the characters (no matter in Japanese or English), please don’t hesitate emailing me =) **Update** After doing some research, I finally have found the names of the main characters. Credits will be followed. For those who also know the names of the machines, please notify me. Thanks in advance. 3. LEGAL DISCLAIMER As usual, no one enjoys writing a so-called legal disclaimer, as this is somewhat useless and tedious. However, in order to protect all the people’s documents, this is still required, so here you go. This document, in whole or in part of, is the property of Alan Cheng. No one should ever attempt to use this document to make money, or I’ll get you for sure! This is used to guide gamers on how to beat the game only. If you happen wanted to print a copy for yourself or your friends, go ahead. But if you want to put it on your web site, please notify me through email (south_neon@hotmail.com), no matter it is part of or the whole document. All the names related to the game and the game console belongs to the property of the respective companies. All rights reserved. Thank you for your co- operation. Blah blah blah. NOTE: If you want to print out this FAQ, please set your margin to 1 inch for all the four margins, with 10 pt font and Courier New type font. This will make up a total of 28 pages. 4. VERSION HISTORY Version 3.0 - Another major update (and probably the final one) (July 28, 99)- Changed technical names for enemies - Edited the “Weapon Select” section for Machine Gun option - Changed the name for bomb to “Smart Bomb” - Edited the “Playing Screen” section for SDF - Corrected relationship of Lynn Minmei and Linn Kaifun - Changed some characters’ names and Zentradi to be consistent - Added more new entries in Credits section Version 2.1 – Added link to my DexDrive save of this game (June 24, 99)- Added a new entry in Credits section - Rearranged the order of version history (from newest to oldest) Version 2.0 – Major updates. Revised the whole story (including the FMVs (June 22, 99) and still pictures in every phase) thanks to Fiefo!. Millions of thanks :) – Added the webmasters who helped me posted my FAQ in their Web sites. See the Credits section for the list. - Web sites hosting my FAQ are also listed in Foreword section. Version 1.1 – I have done enough research to find the characters’ names. No (June 16, 99) more singer, captain, main character, etc. - Changed name for Robot to Battroid. Version 1.0 - This is the beginning of this strategy guide. Future (no date) amendments will be posted (if any). 5. INTERFACE Personally I think the interface is quite self-explanatory, but in order to produce a complete strategy guide, I don’t mind repeating what is on the game manual again. Before you really start the game, hop in the first CD into Playstation. Prepare yourself a memory card with one free block and plug the memory card in. Then start the game as usual. Once started, there will be a girl saying about the background information of the Macross story. It has text accompanied also, but both are in Japanese. You can press start to skip it, or you can wait until the “Now Loading” screen appears. You will then see the starting screen with Fortress Macross in the background. It prompts you to “Press Start Button”. Do so, and you will be given two options. The first one, “Start”, is to start a new game. The second one is “Option”, where you can set different things for the game. Let’s begin with the “Option” option (eh... somewhat redundant). - 5.1 Load The first option in “Option” mode is loading a pre-saved game. Because you can save your progress after finishing a stage every time, you can load the data afterwards if you can’t finish the whole game in a day (though it won’t take long to complete the whole game actually). Press the Circle button and you will have the screen to load data. You can save up to 3 separate files in a memory card. After choosing the one you desired using the D-pad, press the Circle button again. Choose “Yes” if this is the file you want, or choose “No” to choose another one. Press Circle button to confirm. - 5.2 Difficulty The second option is setting the difficulty for the game. You can set among Easy, Normal, or Hard mode. I started out playing Normal, though it’s already hard enough. The Hard one is really hard: Super fast enemies, super fast missiles, and super crazy bosses. But you are not any faster or more powerful. It all depends on your skills to play Hard. Still, the game levels among the three are the same, so if you can remember anyone of them, you can get it through quick easily without continuing (hopefully). - 5.3 Key Config The third one is configuring the command keys. Notice that ALL the commands are in Japanese, so for those who don’t understand Japanese, you may have to experience which button is which. To solve the problem, I’ll list all the buttons here. Please note that these are the default configuration set by the developers, so edit it at your own risk. X-button: Normal Machine Gun. Press and hold this button to have a continuing stream of bullets. However, one strange aspect is that if you are in different modes, you can tap this button quickly to unload all the bullets. However, I don’t find any difference for unload all of the bullets or simply holding the button. Strange design. More will be explained later. Square-button: Another important button to learn. This is the most signature weapon in Macross, in which we usually say it is the Homing Missiles (and let’s use it this way, shall we?). If you see enemies on the screen, quickly press and hold the Square-button. It will automatically lock on the enemies. Once the homing-missile bar is full, release the button and the missiles will bomb the enemies away. However, don’t press it if there’s no enemies on the screen, as it won’t lock onto the enemies if they suddenly appear. Circle-button: Invincible weapon (sort of), or simply Bomb. If you press on it, you will be surrounded by lots of bombs, and those enemies (and bullets) around you will be destroyed. However, you are only assigned to four bombs in every stage, so use this button sparingly. In addition, those boss’ lasers can still hit you if you use bomb. Just use it if you want to get out of trouble or if you are going die. Triangle-button: A funny yet somewhat useful feature, it will make your Fighter and Gerwalk spin. Use this when people shoot at you and you don’t have time to make any sharp movement to avoid the bullets. However, this move is not totally invincible, as you will still get hit by boss’ arsenals. Also, you can’t use this in Battroid mode. It has absolutely no functionality on it. Remember that if you are moving with your D-pad, you cannot spin your machine at all. You have to stay still to spin. L1/R1-button: L1 and R1 buttons are used to transform your machine into Fighter, Gerwalk, or Battroid mode. L1-button works from Fighter?Gerwalk?Battroid, while R- button works from Battroid?Gerwalk?Fighter. Change form to get out of trouble. More will be explained later. L2/R2-button: Not used by default. If you are using the default button layout, the best method to play is to press the X-button with the lower section of your right thumb at all time (don’t even let off!), while using the upper section of the right thumb to press and release the Square-button. Use the left and right index fingers to work on the shoulder buttons. Use the right index finger also for the Triangle- and Circle-buttons, though it is quite difficult to operate this way. It will also make your thumb sore after a few stages. In order to solve this problem, I have used the Edit function to change the button layout so that it can accommodate my needs easily. Here are my recommendations: X-button: Still the machine gun. Square-button: Invincible bomb. You’ll seldom use it so don’t really bother. Circle-button: Still the invincible bomb. Triangle-button: Still the spin button. L1-button: Transform from Fighter?Gerwalk?Battroid. L2-button: Transform from Battroid?Gerwalk?Fighter. R1-button: Homing missiles. R2-button: Spinning button. The method to hold the controller is like this: Still use your right thumb to press the X-button at all time. Use the right index fighter to press the R1- button whenever you see enemies, and use your right middle finger to press the R2-button if you are in danger. Transform (i.e. press the L1/L2 button) using your left index and middle fingers. That will make your “life” super easier. - 5.4 Weapon Select The “Weapon Select” screen lets you configure how each weapon will work. Because there are three kinds of weapons (machine gun, homing missiles, smart bombs), you can set each of them with two settings. The top panel is for the machine gun. The first option shoots straight ahead. The second option aims at the enemy, particularly at the boss. When you are in Gerwalk mode, your machine will point backward to shoot it if you move to the boss' back. The second option shoots straight in the stage until you face the boss. Press Down to move down the item. The second row is for setting the homing missiles. The first option is to set it the way when there are many enemies on the screen, press the homing missile button will lock onto all the enemies. Once released, the missiles will fly separately. The second option is that if there are several enemies on the screen, it will lock onto one particular enemy. This one is particularly useful for the boss-heavy stage, as you can destroy a particular part of the boss first prior to moving to other parts. The third row is for setting the smart bomb. It is a highly explosive missile that dodge intercepting gunfire and missiles. The first option is to make it the way in which the bombs are mainly to generate a shield-like area to protect your machine. The second option is more aggressive. It will attack the enemies ahead, but leaving your machine vulnerable. The first option is preferable though. - 5.5 Exit This will exit the “Option” screen and take you back to the “Start”/“Option” screen. 6. PLAYING SCREEN Before we start our flight, let’s examine the screen in detail. Because it is a side-scrolling game that scrolls from left to right (or down to top when you are in Phase 03: In the Macross), it is quite simple to look at the environment without confusion. There is one main bar on the top which complies of all the important legends there. The three most left-hand symbols indicate which mode you are currently at. The top one is the Fighter mode (“F”), the middle one is Gerwalk mode (“G”), and the bottom one is Battroid mode (“B”). Sometimes you will be forced to use a particular mode and if you attempt to switch, the game will change it back for you. The top bar near the left labelled “Shield” is your shield level. It starts out in blue, and if you get hit, it will change colour. It will change from blue, to green, to orange, and to red, in which red is the dangerous level. Watch this bar frequently, or you will die suddenly without notice. The four small neon-green buttons under the shield bar and labelled “B” is the number of bombs you are carrying. You start out with four bombs. If you have used up all, you will be in great trouble if you want to get out of danger. Use it wisely. There is also something called “SDF” under the “Shield” bar with accompanying number beside it. The number will drop from 100 to 0 from time to time. Someone emailed me and tell me about what “SDF” actually means (see “Credits” section). It is used to measure the accuracy of your shooting. If you let an enemy or an enemy craft passes by, the “SDF” bar will go down by 2 points. For those who don’t know, “SDF” is the short-form of “Super Dimension Fortress”. Hmm... Anything related to the Macross itself, or just coincidence? The light green bar on the top right is your machine gun level. If you just depress the button without tapping it, it will not drop in level. However, if you tap the button and hold it, it will drain the meter quickly. Specially, if you are in Fighter mode, it will almost be impossible to drain the meter, no mater how hard you tap the button (you still can deplete it though). If you are in Gerwalk mode, after tapping the button thrice and hold at the third tap, it will be depleted immediately, but will refill itself once it’s all gone. When you are in Robot mode, tapping the button twice and hold at the second time will drain the meter. The green bar with arrows pointing left, just under the machine gun level and labelled “Missile” is the homing missiles level. Once you start pressing the homing missile button, the bar will turn red. You can release it anytime or until it is full. When it is full, it will give out the maximum number of missiles (duh!). You will never use up the homing missiles. Remember, enemies come from any direction, and I mean it. They can come from in front of you, behind of you, above you, below you, from the background, or even into the screen! So don’t just stay at the back of the screen, or you will die in a not-so-heroic way. Main strategy: Move a lot. Don’t stop. 7. MAIN CHARACTERS Hikaru Ichijyo: Macross hero of all time. Macross main protagonist. Quite cool though. He falls in love with both Lynn Minmei and Misa Hayase. Lynn Minmei: One and only female idol/singer in Macross. Young and beautiful, and every male likes her. She falls in love with Hikaru at first sight. By the way, is there any idol and/or singer there?? Misa Hayase: One of the on-board controllers in Macross. Her “boyfriend” Riber Frurink died during a civil war on Earth when Misa was just 12 years old. She has devoted her heart to the job on Macross until she meets Hikaru. Bruno J. Global: Captain of Macross. Always wears his captain cap and has a pipe in his mouth. He won’t let emotional things affect his thoughts. Roy Fokker: Another fighter in Macross. He operates the very well-known Valkyrie with skeleton symbols on it. Fiancé of Claudia LeSalle. Claudia LeSalle: Another controller in Macross, she works closely with Captain Global. She is in the same level as Misa. Fiancé of Roy Fokker. Maximillian Jenius: A fighter in Macross who wears glasses. His Valkyrie is blue in colour. He is also one of the most handsome guy in the anime. Millia Fallyna Jenius: Obviously she shares the same last name as Maximillian, and that means she will marry Maximillian later on when she gets captured (and diminished to human size). She has a red Valkyrie in the TV series, which makes a perfect match as that of Maximillian’s. Linn Kaifun: Minmei’s cousin. Nothing special with him in the game except he kisses Minmei once (Eew! They are brother and sister!). For those who don’t know, Minmei and Kaifun are both Chinese, and therefore their first names should be “Minmei” and “Kaifun”, not “Lynn” and “Linn”. Hayao Kakizaki: Hikaru’s best friend on board beside Roy, he is also a Valkyrie operator. A fat boy who does not have a good ending (sigh...). 8. GAMESTART/WALKTHROUGH So enough of what I said, right? Ready to get started? So why don’t we just press the “Start” button and begin our adventure! Because this game is full of FMVs and still pictures accompanied with woman’s voice in the background, I’ll indicate when such things will happen and give a bring explanation of the story as the game progresses. I’ll also try to write this walkthrough in a story style so that it is easy to follow along and still make the story understandable. However, please note that those FMV and still picture descriptions are spoilers because they are straight from the movie version. So read them at your own risk. Start your engine! Millions of thanks go to Fiefo! for his story and ALL the descriptions for FMVs and still pictures. Because his story is way better than the one I originally wrote, I have now adopted his story and changed a little bit wherever appropriate. *Update* Thanks Tino Pascual for his correct terms on enemies. All the names (probably) will be changed and adopted to his writing in subsequent sections. ====== Legend ====== : Indicates where still picture scenes take place. : Indicates where FMV takes place. : Indicates when the level starts. : Indicates the boss fight and strategies to defeat it. - 8.1 Phase 01: The narrator explains that a giant ship crashed into earth in 1999, and all of man's efforts have been poured into the rebuilding of the ship (The Super Dimension Fortress Macross). After 10 years, the maiden flight of the Macross is today. Press “Start” if you get bored of her, or if you have gone through it at the beginning. The Prometheus air carrier nears Macross Island. Hikaru Ichijyo and the others fly out to participate in flight manoeuvres for the celebration after some adjustments and testing of their Valkyries, but, suddenly, red lasers from space strike and destroy the Prometheus! The level starts in a city on Earth where it has been destroyed almost totally by enemies. At first there are several green battleships in the background which do not fire. Use homing missile to lock-on and destroy them. After a while, a couple of those two-leg Battle Pods drop down in the background, and then some more on the same layer as your Valkyries. Don’t use the Battroid mode in here; if you do, you will not be able to jump out of trouble when enemies come from behind. Use Fighter to remain in the air, or press Up on D-pad constantly if you are using Gerwalk. This level is pretty easy as long as you stay in the upper 1/3 portion of the screen. Whenever you see enemies, hold the homing missile button and release once a while. Of course don’t forget about the machine gun button too; hold it at all time will make this level easier. Just before the boss comes to you, there will be two 2-leg Battle Pods jumping from behind. They jump pretty high, so try to stay in the top right corner to avoid them. When they appear, use the homing missiles to get rid of them. When the city gets destroyed and the screen shines white, the boss will approach you. This is the first time you will encounter a boss. Because those enemies usually travel in battleships, this boss is of no exception. The boss will start on the right of the screen, emitting some small red missiles to you. Watch carefully, as the missiles are aiming towards you. Try to keep the distance, and you can easily dodge in between the missiles. After the missiles are dodging. The boss will suddenly dodge to the left of the screen, but remain in the middle part. Go up to avoid the dodging, and keep using the homing missiles as your machine gun is of no use to it right now. If the head has been destroyed, the battleship will use missiles in the lower part of its body that goes to three directions. Because they are separated quite widely, you can go between them. Because this is the first boss, it is quite easy to defeat it. Just try to use Gerwalk for most of the time and use the combination of homing missiles and machine gun. The Macross cannot sustain another bombardment of the lasers. The ship then prepares for FOLD Operations (sort of like hyperspace) and calling of the fighters to be in their "FOLD influence" (part of the surrounding that gets teleported with the ship). *This does not appear in the game, but happens in the Macross storyline* Due to miscalculations, the ship, which was to be on the other side of the moon is now in orbit around Pluto! Worse, the civilian city in Macross Island is FOLDED with them as well. The Macross crew has no choice but to take the civilians with them, and build an inner city within the ship. Thus, the long trip home begins... - 8.2 Phase 02: Titan The woman voice comes up again, saying that Macross has been travelling for some time now, and has reached Titan, but not without some encounters with their alien opponents, the Zentraede. Here you go! The theme music of Macross and the logo! Everyone should have recognised that. Misa Hayase is in the bridge, sending commands that a strike of aliens is closing in on them, gives orders to scramble fighters. Meanwhile, The winner of the Miss Macross Pageant, Lynn Minmei holds a concert... The Air Raid siren sounds, interrupting the concert. The transformation sequence will start in 5 minutes... This phase starts out in space with every Valkyrie dressed in armour. The Valkyries, lead by Skull Leader, Roy Fokker, launches a barrage of missiles at the opponent. Once finished tracking, they will all fire the missiles (also automatically) and now you can move the D-pad up or down to control the directions in order to eliminate more enemies if aimed correctly. However, the default location is fine, as you will have to fight them anyway thereafter. Hayao Kakizaki is overjoyed by the direct hit, but Roy orders him to regain composure because the battle is just starting... When this process is done, all the Valkyries will change to Gerwalk mode and start moving backward. The two-leg Battle Pods will approach towards you, and now you will be able to control the machine again. Try to shoot them as fast as you can, or they will hit you when they pass over. Before you see the planet Titan, some heavily armoured two-leg Battle Pods will attack you. They move in and out of the screen, so don’t get too up close and personal. When you have finished dealing with the Pods, there will be a refill ship helping you out if you get hit during the fight. The ship will usually provide you with 5 to 6 energy capsules, enough for you to refill your shield to full strength. Remember to take ALL the capsules and don’t leave a single one behind for later use, as they will disappear after several bounces. Right after you’ve taken the capsules, you will see some battleships and two- leg Pods. They are of no big deal, as you can destroy them with either machine gun or homing missiles or both. Then you will arrive the space ruins where pieces of defeated Pods lie. You will eventually run into some ruins in which you think it will do no harm to you, but you are wrong. To ensure you don’t go into any of them, use homing missiles from time to time; it can destroy the pieces totally. Surprisingly, another refill ship will come and give you more capsules. Although you may not be damaged from last time, take all of them. Leaving any behind does no good or harm to you. As the music dies down, the boss will come to you and the music will change to a tenser one. This boss is also a battleship in green, but it is much tougher than the first one. After all, it will be of no challenge if it stays in the same level, right? The boss comes from the left side of the screen, so try to stay to the right first. As usual, Gerwalk is preferred. The boss will first fire some small missiles, so go in between the missiles first. After several shots, the ship will move into the background. You will be looking at the back of your Valkyrie. Because the boss still fires small missiles, try to circle the screen in either clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. The missiles will simply follow the path you’ve taken. It will then move to the right of the screen, but this time it will release large red laser balls on the screen. The balls will go to the left side of the screen, so try to go to the top right corner to give yourself more room to dodge. Once there are three balls there, the first one released will explode, producing three smaller laser balls. They are quite fast, especially when all three large ones explode one after one. When done with the laser balls, it will send out a thick red laser beam from its mouth. Because the ship now moves slowly, simply go up or down to make it follows you. The final attack the boss has is the long-range missiles. It will produce 4 to 5 at the same time, but luckily they are not homing. You can use your own homing missiles to destroy them, or simply dodge in between. When the long-range missiles are used, the boss will repeat the whole pattern. After the fighting, Hikaru notices that some of the Zentraede are boarding Macross. Disregarding Misa's orders to hold his position, Hikaru chases after the aliens into Macross... - 8.3 Phase 03: In the Macross Even though Macross has a heavy armour and protective shield (though not used for most of the time as it consumes much energy), enemies start attacking it and go into it. Minmei and Linn Kaifun try desperately to evade the giant aliens. The Zentraede are about to capture them when they are shocked! "Man And WoMan - ToGetHer... This Is Not Possible... WoMan is Enemy of Man...". When Minmei and Kaifun are nearly out of danger, the transformation of the Macross begins, causing the two of them to be separated! The level starts where the enemies destroy part of Macross and start sneaking in. Hikaru follows, and once you have control of him, you will have to fight those two-leg Battle Pods. Again, Gerwalk is your best choice in here. (Indeed, I never use Battroid mode other than in the very last stage, so don’t bother using it unless you want some real challenge.) When you reach the road inside Macross, some heavily armoured two-leg Battle Pods will be greeting you with some missiles from their head gun. They will be in a 45- degree angle, aiming from bottom right corner to the top left corner. Simply lower your machine to their level, or go right above them. Then use your homing missile on them. After those Pods, some gigantic human-cloned genetically enhanced enemies in Battle Suits (I’ll them “Giants” thereafter) will be flying around. Because most of them are in the background, use homing missiles. When all of them are cleared, the whole Macross will be shaking vigorously because it is going to transform! Another popular music from Macross. It is the music when Macross transforms from battleship mode to robot mode. The physics is very great, but I really wonder if all the things inside are dropped dead after the transformation. The Macross completes the transformation. Hikaru notices Minmei about to be captured by the Zentraede soldier and intervenes... Once you gain control of the Valkyrie again, you will be in the bottom-up position in which you have to travel UP to fight. However, because there is still gravity generated inside Macross, you will be sticking to the ground (the left side), which maybe quite confusing to control. Some Giants will attack you in front, and there is also one behind you, so better watch out. Suddenly everything falls back, and after some glass shattering sound, some cars and trash falls towards you. There is no boss fight in this phase. And after some FMVs and still pictures, the level ends. Minmei is falling and screaming with the trash to the bottom of Macross. Hikaru sees her falling and pilots the Valkyrie to chase Minmei, who is flying due to the lack of artificial gravity. He manages to catch her with the robot’s hand very lightly, but loses control because of too much speed. They crash into a cargo hold. Hikaru and Minmei meet face-to-face. Hikaru is stunned. He didn't know that the girl he saved was the Idol Singer Lynn Minmei! Because the radio is out, and there is no way to open the cargo hold doors, the two of them live for a while there... *This is what happens in the movie* Hikaru asks if Minmei loves the guy that she kissed in the movie that she was in. She explains that it’s just acting. Hikaru doesn't believe it. The tabloids say that she and the actor have a relationship. Besides, the kiss they did onscreen was too real looking. Minmei says that she must be a good actress! Hikaru asks her to prove that it’s just acting... Minmei comes closer and asks if Hikaru loves her. Hikaru is shocked and doesn't reply. Minmei turns and says that she now realises that, even though she loves him, he won't love her back. Hikaru admits that he has been in love with her for a long time. They kiss. (of course it is Macross signature kiss: mouth to mouth). Just then, the cargo hold opens, and the paparazzi snap photos of the sight. Rumours fly out; "They could’ve escaped anytime, why didn't they?" "Did they use the battle to cover up their steamy relationship?" "The pilot's radio was really destroyed? Or was he just saying that to be close to Minmei?" - 8.4 Phase 04: Asteroids Belt Even though the invasion fails somehow, the enemies do capture some information during the time people escape from them. Britai, the commander of a squad of Zentraede soldiers and Exedore, his adviser look at the "stunning" (for them. They have been at war with the Meltrandi, a woman species, for ages now) sight of Man and WoMan ToGetHer. They must capture samples to try to explain this... This is another short phase after the previous one. Your Valkyrie is still armoured as of Phase 03, with Macross floating in the background. Some two- leg Pods will approach you, so destroy them using homing missiles and machine gun to avoid further trouble. When you arrive the asteroids belt, you will see many asteroids floating behind and in front of the screen. But some of the very big ones are lighter in colour, meaning that you can destroy them. To locate them more easily, use your homing missiles. They can be broken down from very large piece to smaller ones to yet smaller ones before they get diminished to safe pieces. During the process you destroy the asteroids, those two-leg Pods (both normal and heavily armoured one) will attack you. The skill here is to avoid the asteroids and destroy the Pods. It is almost impossible to destroy both the asteroids and the Pods at the same time, so get rid of the real dangerous ones first. A refill ship will drop off some capsules for you to refill your shield, followed by several big Giants. The Giants at this phase are easier to fight against, but still be cautious. Believe it or not, a few seconds later, another refill ship will give you more capsules. Hmm... What a waste of human resource and energy! Be prepared for the boss fight after the ship has gone. This boss has far more different variations in attacking, so better be prepared to use the smart bomb(s) if you think the attacks are just too dense. Again, it is a battleship fight, and it comes from the background on the left side of the screen. At first it just emits some small red missiles. You don’t even have to dodge; just circle around the ship and attack and you’ll be fine. It will eventually move to the right side and attack with red missiles. At the same time, it also sends out some red lasers, so watch for the gaps and dodge. Once done with the laser, it will go back to the background again and attack with those small missiles. It seems it is going to repeat the pattern, but not so fast. It will go to the right side, but this time with 6 red lasers coming from the centre which forms a fan shape. Stay on the left and look for the space. Then some big red laser balls will come from the ship, but because of their slow movements, you can simply move in between. To catch you in a surprise, the ship will suddenly dodge to the left side of the screen. Go either up or down, as it is going to move back to the right. A combination of red missiles and lasers will charge towards you, so simply follow the same procedures above to avoid. It will then attack you with some long trail bullets that look like homing missiles but they are actually not. But since they are closely packed, use the bomb to get out of trouble. Somehow it gets quite crazy after those attacks, and it will give out whatever it has to confuse you. It is difficult to tell which follows which, so try to remain some distance. When it is heavily damaged, it will try to trace you around. Once you see it dodge towards you, move up and run clockwise. When it is finally destroyed, you will see a huge ship in the background. Reports of a large Zentraede Battle Cruiser reach the fighters. The Macross recalls all of them to prepare for the "Dadaleus Manoeuvre" After the boss fight, a CG Gallery shows that the Zentraede battleship draws closer to the Macross. Though short, it’s astounding to see the ship in computer graphics. - 8.5 Phase 05: Assault Enemyship The Valkyries are outfitted with battle armour. The Macross performs the "Dadaleus Manoeuvre", which involves all of the PINPOINT Barriers in front of the right "arm" of the Macross an punching a hole into the enemy ship. The hand then opens up from inside, releasing all of the mechs directly into the hull of the enemy ship! (This is one of the most popular moves in the anime series!) Now it’s about time to revenge. Once Macross hand is inside the enemy’s battleship (or enemyship as the game calls it), robots will drop off for an assault. You will now be in full armour, the armour that is the most powerful ever seen in Macross. You will take minimal damages, while your arsenals have improved a little bit also. However, during this phase, you can only use Battroid mode and not the other two (because the armour is just built for Battroid mode only). Still, you can float as freely as you are in other modes, so don’t worry about it. Many brown Giants will attack you throughout this phase. They have some simple yet confusing attacks, so don’t just think they are of the same. Also, those enemies who used to operate the Giants will use handgun (!) to attack you. They are fast, they come from different directions (but stay on the ground), so stay high and use homing. After the green plant-like tunnel, you will be under the attack of two spaceships with sharp long nose. They move up and down, and they send out red lasers. Indeed, they are the helpers of the boss, but they will give you a showdown before you can see the boss. You will then see the boss with some spikes at the front. It is actually the core of the whole enemyship. Your mission is to destroy this core (and hopefully the two spaceships) before it draws you in and takes you out. One thing to take note of is that the spikes are invincible; you can’t just use your machine gun and aim the centre of the core. When the core comes out from time to time, it will try to suck you in, so remember to frequently pull yourself back (i.e. left) to avoid the suction. It also has some small missiles coming from the centre of the core, so watch the missiles and the lasers from the spaceships. Remember, the most powerful weapon to deal with the core is homing missiles only (and of course the bombs). Use your machine to destroy the spaceships. Once destroyed, Misa tells Hikaru to get the hell out of there! The ship is going to blow! Hikaru strips out of the armour and high-tails it back to the Macross. Meanwhile, all the ground robots from Macross will give you a hundred missiles to destroy the ship, and this ends the level. The Valkyries have done their job and the enemy ship blows up! It is indeed in CG Gallery format and is quite stunning. However, nothing much special. **Disc Change** Okay, it’s about time to make the one and only disc change process. Before you can change your disc, you have a chance to save your progress. Save as usual, and a yellow screen with Hikaru’s Valkyrie in the background prompts you the instructions to change the disc. Because I don’t understand Japanese, I had tried several methods to make it happen. The method that works properly is to turn off your Playstation after seeing the yellow screen, change to disc B, start your Playstation again, and it will load the game itself. But you still have to go to “Load” option to load the data up because it doesn’t have the auto-load function. - 8.6 Phase 06: Saturn After the long fight (a disc length), Macross seems to be quite safe and quiet now, and Minmei sneaks out to see Hikaru in disguise. They have a date. They go to a big window overlooking Saturn's rings. Minmei would like to go there, just once... In a training Valkyrie, Hikaru takes Minmei to see the rings of Saturn. Minmei sings, and they both remember their date together. This is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Misa and Kaifun, telling them it's too dangerous to be joyriding! Minmei apologises and Hikaru is willing to take full responsibility. Just then, the enemy forces appear! This is one of the most difficult level to encounter, as all your weapons on the training use Valkyrie are locked: No machine gun, no homing missiles, no bombs, even no Battroid mode. Whenever you see enemies, you can only use the D-pad to avoid. Many Battle Pods will start surrounding your Valkyrie, but they will not attack you for the time being. Still, don’t ever try to touch the Giants as they still take damage from you. Suddenly, they fire at you, and you have to avoid them, or you will not survive until the end of this phase. At the very last moment, Roy comes to assist you, and a FMV starts. ...But he's drunk! Hikaru says it’s too dangerous to be flying now, but Roy yells back, "Stupid! You would be dead without me now! Besides, I'm still okay..." Back to the battlefield, Roy deals out the all Pods with his machine gun. But because he is drunk, he can only be “the man behind you”. What a shame! Remember to watch out those asteroids on Saturn, as they can damage your Valkyrie and you cannot fight back. Just notice those brighter colour rocks and you should see them. In addition, the enemies will try to attack you, so avoid both asteroids and enemies. Misa and Kaifun are captured along with Hikaru and Minmei because the training Valkyrie is as weak as a baby is. Roy flies into the ship to try to rescue them, but is captured in the process. The humans are taken to see Britai, Exedore and Dolza, the high commander of the Zentraede fleet. The aliens demand to know why Man and WoMan do not Fight? Roy tells them that Man and Woman shouldn't fight; they must be together... hug and kiss each other... "KISS? WHAT IS THIS KISS? YOU MUST SHOW US!" No one wants to demonstrate, so Dolza grabs Minmei and will crush her if they do not demonstrate what kissing is. Kaifun, being the cousin of Minmei, agrees. Kaifun tells Minmei to kiss him or else they are to die. Kaifun kisses Minmei (YUCK! That's your cousin!) The Zentraede are shocked! But this works perfectly. All the enemies sweat again. They are so frightened about what Kaifun did to Minmei. Now it is the perfect time to run. - 8.7 Phase 07: Big Escape Minmei and Kaifun are contained separately from Hikaru, Misa and Roy. The Meltrandi attack, accidentally releasing Hikaru's group. They make their way to their Valkyries, but the Zentraede catch up before Hikaru and Misa can board their ship. Roy orders them to kiss each other! Hikaru says “sorry” first, then kisses Misa, who slaps him afterwards. The Zentraede soldiers are shocked at the sight, giving the two time to ride the Valkyrie. On the way out, Roy gives his Valkyrie’s machine gun to Hikaru in order to get out. The homing missile and bomb are still locked, so don’t bother press these two buttons. You can still interchange between Fighter and Gerwalk, but Gerwalk is always a better choice here. During the scrolling, the enemies will attack you from the ground. Their handguns are still as powerful as before, so watch closely of where they are firing to avoid. Don’t even bother lowering your Valkyrie and shoot them; you cannot avoid those from behind. Simply stay in the air and make your way out. Some green and purple Giants will also attack you, so use your machine gun to take them out. After some killing, the camera will shift to the right very fast. The Meltradi forces, lead my Millia Fallyna Jenius, storm the ship. One of the Meltrandi is shot down, and Misa realises that the Male Zentraede are at war with the Female Meltrandi. No wonder they are scared at the sight of Man and Woman working together! The camera will then shift back to you, and you will be taken towards her automatically. She won’t attack you (directly), but you will still take some damage upon contacting her. She will help you shoot down the enemies for you and act as a shield, but still try to avoid the enemies’ missiles. When all the enemies are being taken down, Millia will charge towards you constantly. Although she won’t stay for long, it’s still dangerous to stay close to her, so keep a distance. When she’s done, she will shoot the top of the battleship and escape. At this exact same moment, Roy arrives and kills an enemy pod, but the Zentraede soldier inside charges at Roy. Roy groans in pain. Roy's Valkyrie is badly damaged. The Zentraede peels off the cockpit. Roy defiantly shoots the soldier at the back and his Valkyrie explodes. Both Misa and Hikaru exclaim as Roy’s Valkyrie explodes. Hikaru wants to save Roy, but Misa says it's too late! A more important issue to address is to rescue Minmei and Kaifun, so they travel further down (right). The background changes to purple suddenly, much like inside a human body. More green and purple Giants will attack you, so use your machine gun to shoot them. You will see a huge bulge, and your Valkyrie will break through the bulge and looks inside where Misa and Hikaru sense Minmei is. When Misa and Hikaru peep inside the bulge, they found Minmei and Kaifun being kept inside a capsule. They both are screaming for help, but the ship is going into a FOLD! The Valkyrie is ripped apart and is sent into a different part of the FOLD, warping them somewhere else. They fly to a planet and see the ocean. They fly and reach... the Prometheus (the carrier at the beginning of the game)! Hikaru and Misa realise that the almost destroyed planet is actually the Earth... The Zentraede have bombarded the Earth so heavily that there is no one left alive. Trying to find survivors, Hikaru and Misa fly all over the world, in vain. They come up to some ruins that have never been seen before. They find a huge control panel, but human sized. They try to reach the Macross, but instead they open up a separate program. They computer tells them that aliens creator the Zentraede and Meltrandi as their soldier, but realised their mistake and went to Earth, so that they can create a race where Man and Woman can work together and produce life. Unlike the alien, who need cloning techniques to reproduce, the aliens have no knowledge of culture, not even singing, being brought up for fighting only. The computer raises up the entire city, revealing that the city was hidden so that the aliens would not be able to find it. Misa searches the ruins and finds a plaque with alien writings. She keeps it for later study. Misa breaks down, fearing that there is no hope. If they can reduce the Earth to rubble, how can they stand up to them? Hikaru comforts them, and, for the first time, they look into each other’s eyes deeply. They kiss finally (without slapping him again). - 8.8 Phase 08: Ocean Macross and the whole crew finally locate Misa and Hikaru, and they can get back to Macross safely. They report to Captain Global what had happened to them during this period, including the death of Roy. Claudia finally gets the news of Roy’s death, and she asks how Roy died. Hikaru and Misa explain that he died as a hero. She tries very hard from crying. It proves that she is really a tough girl. While still on planet Saturn, Captain Global sends out Hikaru, Maximillian, and Hayao Kakizaki to investigate further. Hikaru, Maximillian and Kakizaki fly out to meet the enemy. Max says that it should be easy, they are just women after all. Hikaru tells him that they are as good as the Male Zentraede. Kakizaki jokes around that he's just saying that to be good to Misa, and is shot down. It is just too dangerous to stay close to each other, so Hikaru and Maximillian separate. Throughout the mission, this level is filled with green and purple Giants. They have much more powerful arsenals and different attacks, so try to stay calm before you shoot. If possible, avoid most of the direct fights and use the homing instead, as you need to fly in between the missiles. Another note is that don’t ever touch the ocean when you are in Fighter mode, or you will suffer some damages. Because this level is quite tough, the refill ship will come shortly afterwards. A powerful green Giant will follow, and it even emits green laser. To dodge, go to the lower right corner; it can’t attack you from there. Because you cannot destroy the Giant right now, you have to follow it into the old battleship Misa and Hikaru went earlier. On the deck of the battleship, the green Battle Giant will attack you again. Because this Giant has homing missiles (finally!), use your own homing missiles to counter attack and destroy the enemy’s ones. Don’t wait until the meter charges to full, or it will be too late to counter attack. Another refill ship will arrive after the green Giant is destroyed, and you will start rising to fight the boss after the ship is gone. Ha! Guess what. You have to fight against Maximillian’s soon-to-be-wife Millia. Don’t underestimate her, as she is as wise as the top pilot – Maximillian - in Macross is. Originally she will send out some green missiles to attack. Those missiles are fast, so watch closely. She also has homing missiles (just like the green Giant), so again use your own homing missiles to counter attack. She is much much harder in Hard mode and she will fly around the screen, so don’t panic or you will screw things up. If she gets just too close to you, use the bomb to take some damage on her. Not long after, our hero Maximillian will arrive and assist you. He will fight back for you instead. Eventually the going-to-be husband and wife will fight out, followed by an FMV. This FMV shows that Maximillian and Millia fight each other in turn. Both machines get hit, but they just won’t give up. Husband and wife should not run into any quarrel, agree? - 8.9 Phase 09: Ruins After fighting Maximillian and failing to take any advantage on him, Millia returns to the base and reports to the leader (also a female). The leader of the Meltrandi orders to shoot at the Macross. The Macross is hit at the main guns, causing it to land on a ruin. The battle starts again. Because of the unfavourable attack, all the Valkyries have to fight their way in the ruins. As with the ocean, don’t ever try touching the ground when you are in Fighter mode; it really hurts. You will be facing some Giants’ attack, so take them down with your homing missiles and machine gun. Interestingly, you will see Maximillian fights against Millia in the background (and vice versa). You cannot lock-on Millia (or her battle-suited giant), as this is one of the husband-wife quarrels. You will eventually get a message telling you that a refill ship will be coming shortly to give you some shield refill. However, just before the ship approaches, there will be two human Giants jumping very high to attack you. If you’ve taken too much damage previously and cannot afford taking more, go to top right corner of the screen to avoid them. They do jump really high. When you are in front of Macross (which now sits on the background), there will be a very powerful human Giants firing homing missiles toward you. But this is not the end of the story. Three weaker Giants will accompany the stronger one, so try hard to use homing and destroy the three Giants first. You will then move up to fight in the sky. On the way up, there will be a human Giant on either side of the screen. They will just fire small missiles so they are quite easy to dodge. However, because you are travelling upward, you will not notice that easily. Try to stay in the lower middle part of the screen so you won’t go into anyone of them. A refill ship will come shortly, so take all the capsules as you must have been damaged heavily somehow (except in Easy mode). This boss is the toughest boss in this game, I think. It is so unpredictable and so damn easy to get destroyed (I mean your Valkyrie). Indeed, it is a huge cross-like battleship in purple, with the top bar closed until after several attacks. The boss starts out from the right side. Its first attack is some missiles from its head. Beware, as they are pretty fast. Remember to go in between the missiles to avoid them. A safer method is to go to the bottom of the ship (the bottom right) so the missiles won’t bother you. After those missiles are more missiles. It will first move its “wing” and release some green missiles, while its tail gives out some missiles patterned in fan shape. This time the missiles come out pretty slow, so you can dodge them easily. The missiles from the wing take this strategy: First points downward, then the middle, then upward. When it is tired of those missiles, the tail part will fall out. It will then emit three to four beams of laser, with missiles coming down from its body. To avoid the laser touching you when it is descending, tempt it by moving your Valkyrie until you reach the top. When you see three (or four) green dots concentrating on his tail, start press down on the D-pad until you reach the bottom. You can avoid the lasers easily. After the lasers, it will move to the background. This is the hardest part to fight (and avoid), and if you can’t make it, well, it’s perfectly okay, as it also took me twice to find the way to destroy it. The top bar will now be extended, and it forms just like a cross. It will fire three laser beams toward you, one from its left wing, one from its right wing, and one from centre. Here’s what you should do. When it moves to the background, immediately go to the bottom left corner. When you see and hear the lasers coming, immediately go to the bottom right. The lasers will miss you on the way you are moving. Next the lasers will come out again, but this time you have to take your way back to lower left corner. They will miss you once more. It will shoot you the third time, so use the same strategy. For the fourth time, the lasers will be quite mixed up, as the three won’t go to the same place again. So try to circle the battleship to take less damage (since it’s difficult to avoid). When the lasers are done, it will repeat the whole process, so beat the hell out of it. After the battleship explodes, you will see the huge main base at the background. A song is heard. It's Minmei, humming! The Meltrandi's fighting ability is diminished and is forced to retreat. And this is where many still pictures and FMVs take place, so be patient if you want to understand the whole story. After fighting in the sky for a long time, Millia finally gets defeated by Maximillian. She is seriously injured and landed on the ground. Max looks at Millia for the first time, exclaiming that she is beautiful. Millia repeats the same words... Meanwhile, Macross is in its full throttle and flies towards the enemy’s base. Time for the last showdown. Captain Global says that a peace treaty between the Zentraede and Humans have been reached. In fact, the humans at the head table are actually miniaturised Zentraede! From the information Misa and Hikaru gathered during the trip on Saturn, the enemies seem to be distracted when the song is sang. The Zentraede have an instrumental of a song, but need lyrics for it to be truly effective against the Meltrandi. Minmei is released to help in the writing of the lyrics. Minmei sees Hikaru and Misa after so long and is overjoyed... "Why doesn't Hikaru feel the same way? ", she wonders... (NOTE: I really have no idea of how Minmei got rescued, as it is not presented in this game.) Misa is looking at the plaque from the ruins and is translating the words. She then realises that these are the lyrics to the song! Minmei is in Hikaru's quarters and hugs him from behind. "I don't care what happened between you and that woman back there. I'm just happy we're together again..." Misa walks in at that instant and sees the two of them together, and she is so shocked by what she saw! - 8.10 Phase 10: Last War *I'll do this in script form now from the movie* Misa: What... what is this? Hikaru: Misa! Misa: (shows a piece of paper) Do you know what this is? These are the lyrics to the song! This is from the plaque we both found in the ruins. I came here so that you can be the first to know... Hikaru: Wait! It's not what you think! Don't misunderstand... Minmei: "Misunderstand?" "It's not what you think?" ... You can't say that! You can't do this to me! (runs out) Hikaru: Minmei! (starts to run out but stops) Misa: Go ahead! Chase after her. You've just been reunited, after all... You need her... Hikaru: You're wrong! After all we've been through... we've been to a destroyed earth and back. And, now I finally realises that... it's you I need. While the scene takes place, the Macross crew is preparing for the fight. However, Hikaru desperately looks for Minmei. She is the only one who the Zentraede want to hear the song from. Hikaru finds her by the large bay window. Minmei is happy that Hikaru came for her, but this is not true. Hikaru hands her the lyrics for her to sing. Minmei doesn't want to. Why should she sing the song that another woman had found? Hikaru says that he is disappointed in her... being too selfish and not thinking of Roy, Kakizaki and the others who have died in the war. The ground Hikaru and Minmei are standing changes into space, with fierce battles fighting in the background. Minmei apologises that she had been too selfish up to this point. She had only been singing for herself. Now, she sings for the entire human race (what's left of it anyway). Minmei sings the song (title: Do you remember Love?) in a stage in front of the Macross. Britai and Exedore feel something inside that feels good. Is this the power of culture? They side with the humans, pledging that culture will never be stolen from them again! This phase starts in space with Minmei’s singing in the background. Besides, you will now control the Valkyrie with the most powerful weapons ever. However, this means that the enemies are also tougher than before. In addition, your smart bombs will be disabled for the time being, so all you can use right now is machine gun and homing missiles. Try to stay alive for a while. During the space battle, you will encounter some green and brown Giants. There are also some battleships attacking you in the background, so take them down with your homing missiles. Now Claudia will equip the “RB” smart bomb for you so that you can have even more powerful arsenal. This bomb is crazy; the whole screen will simply be exploding, and all the enemies (except the Boss) will die instantly. But don’t be too happy with your new smart bomb, as there will be two Giants from behind and at the front after you are equipped. Stay in the centre to reduce damage, while you can look at them easily. A refill ship will drop by pretty soon in order to fill up your shield back again. You will meet some more enemies afterwards, but don’t worry. Another refill ship will come shortly. Dolza has expected this turn of events (i.e. his followers turning on him) and sends a jamming satellite to stop Minmei from singing. Another CG graphics shows the enemy’s base. The camera zooms inside the base very fast, and you can see the core of the base, which is actually the satellite. Now it’s the objective in this phase. After the first preview of the core, you will have to fight for a while more. You will then be instructed to go inside the base with all other Valkyries. Once inside the enemy’s base, a large brown battleship will greet you promptly. It will not attack you immediately, but after a while it will produce some small lasers from its mouth. Later it will emit some red trail missiles to you. Don’t worry, they are not the homing one. Simply dodge in between to avoid. This one can be easily defeated. Next you will meet some more Giants. They are somewhat more powerful inside the enemy’s base. Watch out for the missiles and you will be fine. Then another brown battleship will arrive, but this time it is not that easy. Before any of its attack, it will dodge towards the left, so try to move upwards when you see it. All its other attacks are exactly the same as the first one. Now it’s time to fight to the core (or fight the core?). As you saw in the CG movie, it is a spinning core that seems to be quite crazy. You will find it to be very ridiculous afterwards also. Right after you see the front part of the core, it will start shooting out two small lasers in front of you. Don’t think that you can simply move up or down to avoid them; they can trace you! They will simply drop down above you (or below you depending on your position) if you move down (or up). You have to lure the lasers by moving down first, and when you see them coming right above you, move forward to dodge. However, don’t get too close to the core, as it can still inflict damage on you. When you are done with this move, moving backward a little bit (make sure all the lasers are gone off-screen first!) so that you can prepare yourself for another shot. It will continue to fire two lasers for a couple more times, then it will send out three lasers. The third one (i.e. the last one) comes out a little bit late and close to the core itself, so you have to position yourself so that you can get hit by the lasers on the back, while your head is not going into the core itself. The core will eventually open after the laser attacks. The centre will rotate for a while, then many small missiles will come out from the centre. Don’t worry; although there are numerous of them, they are pretty slow and you can see them coming. Just try to move in between them. Even this attack in Hard mode is easy to avoid. When the core closes again, it will shoot out some red lasers at the top of it. The lasers are separated quite apart, so stay at the bottom of the screen first. When you see the area right above you is clear, quickly move up until you hit the top of the screen. The lasers will now be harmless to you. When you pass the middle of the laser pod, it will stop firing. Now the strange thing happens. Remember that it is the core of the battleship? It can now move OUT of the battleship and into the background! But don’t bother how the battleship is going to function. It is not a big deal anymore. When it stays still in the background, it will shoot some large blue laser balls toward you. Try to circle the ship around the screen so the blue laser balls will just be right behind you and will never hit you. Now the core opens up again, but this time it is shooting two red thick lasers, one from left and one from right. Does this sound familiar to you? Of course yes, as you have fought a similar boss in the last phase. However, you can easily dodge the lasers pretty easily. Just circle the core again, and the lasers will never be a danger. You don’t even have to watch closely of where the lasers will go. Before it goes back to its original position and repeat the whole process, it will fire some blue laser balls at you. Just use the same strategy above to avoid. Destroy it at your own will. Also, use bombs if you can’t get out of those slow missiles when it is at the right. - 8.11 Final Phase: Do You Remember Love Think this is the end of the game? Not so fast. The main boss is still not defeated, and of course you have to kick its butts first before you can fall in love with the girls(!). Another FMV will be coming up also. All the other Valkyries are being outfitted for the final assault. At the mean time, Misa asks Minmei to start singing again. Minmei says she will, and silently says Hikaru's name... Now the final showdown comes, and Macross and the whole crew go towards their final battleground. Macross simply go inside the battleship with half of its body stick into it, and all the pilots fly into it. As in the last phase, Minmei is still singing, and Misa tells all the pilots to destroy as much as they can within one song duration. This level is pretty crazy, as there are many Giants attacking you at the same time, with some more battleships that are difficult to destroy. Some of the Giants will shoot out 3-way missiles, some with a big laser gun that move up and down, or a combination of the two. Remember not to stay too close to the left border, as some Giants will jump down in a sudden. You will then fly into the inner core of the battleship. Two Giants are already here and wait for you. They will fire homing missiles and normal missiles to you. Aim for a particular one first, and then take own the other one. Just try to stay alive for a while as you can’t kill any one of them, and Millia will come and assist you with her original red Giant machine. She is now one of the Macross member. Maximillian will come after the two Giants are killed, and surprisingly he is also operating the same machine as Millia does, but this time it is blue in colour. He job is to drop down some energy capsules for you, as you should have been damaged severely. You will then be surrounded by four Giants in all the four corners. They will fire missiles toward the centre, and it is very difficult to dodge. So be prepared to take some damages. If you are in real danger and running out of shield, use your very powerful “RB” smart bomb. However, use only one as you have to save some of the following battles. To make this stage harder, there will be two flocks of three purple Giants coming from behind, the top, and down below you. You can move to the top right corner to avoid. Don’t just move back immediately because the second flock will be coming very soon. Now you have to face some final battles before you meet the boss. There will be many drill-like battleships that release red laser balls. Amazingly, those red laser balls are homing in nature. They can trace you very close. Try to dodge at the very last moment, and try to stay at the left border to give you more room. One of the characteristics of the laser balls is that if you pass the middle of the ball, it will stop completely and won’t move anymore. So you can use this method if you are not too close to the ships. If you hit a battleship continually, it will be pushed back. So try hard to aim the ships, not the laser balls. Another variation of those ships is that some of them will send out red lasers. They are not difficult to see and avoid, but if combined with the laser balls, life will be difficult. If you think you really can’t dodge those attacks, use your “RB” smart bombs. This is where it becomes most useful. However, try your best first, or you can get through these battles easily as there are many of those battleships there. And they also appear in a group of two too! Ready to fight the final boss Dolza? Now here’s the chance. As the background changes, you will be moved up involuntarily and change forms continuously. You can only shoot during this period, and you can’t control your movement. When you finally see Dolza, you will be changed to Battroid mode. Indeed, this is the most useful mode in here, as this boss is not difficult to beat after all. You will see the boss watching TV with Minmei singing on the screen. Go for its head, as this is the only weak point of the boss. You should have used up your “RB” smart bombs by now, but you won’t need the bombs anyway. Just give him all your machine gun bullets and homing missiles. Be warned, as there will be many laser balls coming from anywhere of the screen. They are not from the boss body, but just from the borders. Good news is that they travel in straight line, but the bad news is they are very fast. Another good news is only one laser ball will appear on the screen at a time, just before the last one disappears. Moving left or right is fair enough, as you have to break the glass mask the boss is wearing. For some tighter situations, simply add slight movements of up and down to avoid the laser balls. Remember, it is SUPER EASY to beat this boss. He will only duck sit in there and watch at Minmei before he dies. Now sit back and enjoy the ending! 9. ENDING WARNING: This ending section is a spoiler. It tells you how the story ends up, though it is already quite predictable. Still, if you want to enjoy those great FMV ending, don’t watch this section in advance. A note of the ending is that you can’t skip it or reset your Playstation console with the software reset method (i.e. hold “Start” and “Select” for three seconds). But it is worth watching it, as you have invested so much time on this game to beat it totally. Here you go! Enjoy. Now you have defeated the main support of the enemy’s base, it starts to explode in the space. Some lightning effects are added, but don’t expect any fancy pixelated graphics going around this time. It does take a while to explode totally. After the destruction, Hikaru finishes his mission. Hikaru reports that his mission has been accomplished and he's heading home. Misa is happy to hear his voice. Misa looks at Minmei. Minmei smiles at Misa, obviously happy for her. Misa smiles back. Claudia asks Misa where that song came from. Misa explains that it was a popular song a long time ago, before the Zentraede and Meltradi split apart and fought with each other... and, it had to be a love song. In order to cover up her sadness and unhappiness, Minmei continues her singing career. She still holds a concert in New Macross City but she has to give the paparazzi some good explanations of Hikaru dumping her. She has nothing much to say but to remain silence. She knows one day she will find someone who loves her deeply. Now the credits will start rolling, with Minmei singing one of Macross songs in the background. Nothing much special after the credits, except... (refer to the following section: 10. Secret/Option Plus below for further details). 10. SECRET/OPTION PLUS Of course if you have beaten a game and it does not reward you with something, you will say that why you need to play the game so hard for receiving nothing back except looking at the credits, right? Here’s what you can expect to get. - 10.1: Finished Easy Mode If you have finished the game in Easy mode, you actually have received the biggest reward in the game. You will get the “Phase Select”, in which you can play a particular phase instead. You will also get the “Muteki”, which means “Invincible” in Japanese. That should help you get through the remaining two modes easily. But if you really use this mode to beat the other modes, you are really cheap and cannot be declared as a real pilot. Yes, I’m talking to YOU. - 10.2: Finished Normal Mode If you have finished the game in Normal mode, you will be able to watch a particular set of movie in the phase of your choice through “Movie Select”. You can also view the pictures of that phase through “Picture Select”. A good way to see the movies and pictures without playing through the game. - 10.3: Finished Hard Mode If you have finished the game in Hard mode, congratulations! You did a really great job, provided you didn’t use the “Muteki” mode to help you out. So what will you get exactly? Well, you will have the “View Mode” in which you will see the whole game’s still pictures and movies together, but you don’t have to play the game. You will also have the “Game Only Mode” in which you will be able to play the game only without taking such a long time to view those still pictures and movies. But this may also make your fingers go sore too because you can’t rest in between (but you can always pause the game, right?). - 10.4 Extra in Hard Mode Actually there is one more secret in Hard mode but you may have not noticed that if you are not cautious. When you have beaten the game in Hard mode, and during the scrolling credits, look at the lower left corner. What do you see? Yes! Minmei is dancing and dressed in Chinese clothes, only that she is a deformed one! So cute ^_^ Though it doesn’t make any difference, it still proves that you are so great to have such reward. Good job! 11. HINTS Here is a little section that can help you get through “The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love” (and actually other shooting games) easily. This is just my personal tip. Individual adjustments apply if needed. - Don’t ever stay still: Staying still in any shooting games is the deadliest way to die easy. Move a lot and keep on shooting. - Circle a lot: Although computer AI is becoming more intelligent compared to those 10 years ago, they still have one big problem of chasing the player behind. The best way to get around of this is the circle the opponents. You can be sure you can get out of trouble 90% of the time. The missiles (and the enemies) will almost always follow you in a circle. Just make sure to make as large a circle on the screen with the D-pad as possible. - Stay calm: Another great tips when playing shooting games. Stay extremely calm, and don’t let the environment scare you to death. As long as you remain calm, you can have a clearer mind to get out of trouble. - Watch your Valkyrie: What? What’s the use of watching your own Valkyrie? Well, if you think this is useless, think twice. All you have to do is to keep a close eye on your Valkyrie, not on your opponents. If you watch your Valkyrie, you will be able to dodge any attack when something is near you. Don’t bother the opponents; you will shoot them during the flight. - Machine gun: As I said before, hold your machine gun button all the time. Don’t ever try to let go. Although it just travels in straight line, it is still the most powerful weapon after the limited bombs. - Use Gerwalk: Gerwalk so far is the best mode you should use. Though you don’t have the great flying ability as in Fighter mode, nor can you actually walk on the ground like in Battroid mode, you do get the combination of both! Trust me, use Gerwalk to finish the game 95% of the time (except at the very last phase). If you have any other great shooting tips, please feel free to email me. I’ll give you a credit for that :) 12. GAMESHARK CODES/DEXDRIVE GAME SAVE A strategy guide cannot be said to be completed if not all details are put inside. Therefore, I have included GameShark codes as well as DexDrive game save address in this strategy guide to make it more complete. Thanks to Game Shark Code Creator Club for the codes, and thanks to InterAct DexDrive Dexchange web site for posting my game save. Of course thanks to Dickens for saving my memory block with his DexDrive, or it will not be made possible. I don’t have a Game Shark or Action Reply Pro so I don’t know if the codes are working or not, but I believe they will work. So give it a try if you have time. Cheers! First Disc: Infinite Bomb D00A4060 0001 800A4060 0004 Infinite Shield 800A4612 0065 800AA8D6 0065 SDF 800A0B64 0064 Open Option Plus 800FE188 0001 800FE18A 0001 Second Disc: Infinite Bomb D00ACC60 0001 800ACC60 0004 Infinite Shield 800AD392 0065 800B34DE 0065 SDF 800A97A4 0064 Open Option Plus 800F7BF8 0001 800F7BFA 0001 For the DexDrive game save, because I can’t post one with this FAQ, you can instead visit DexDrive Dexchange Web site (http://www.dexdrive.com/) for it. It includes all three save records in one memory block in all modes of difficulties (i.e. Easy, Normal, Hard), all in the Final Phase: Do You Remember Love. In addition, all Option Pluses are unlocked, and you can take advantage of the Option Pluses with my game save. The exact link to download the game save directly is: http://www.dexdrive.com/dex_gme_files/jpn_gme/jpn_macross_love.gme Hope you’ll like it :) 13. CREDITS A FAQ/strategy guide cannot be completed successfully without many people’s contributions. Here’s a list of people I would like to take the chance to thank them, from the bottom of my heart. You guys really help me out. Thanks! - First of all, I would like to thank Bandai for producing such a great game. You guys have been with me since my childhood. And thanks for bringing all those video games and toys to my memory. You guys are simply great! - A huge “thank you” goes to Fiefo de la Cruz (fiefo@hotmail.com). Without his great contribution on the whole story (including all the FMVs and still pictures), this game will not be complete at all. If you have any question regarding this game/movie, feel free to write an email to Fiefo. - Thank GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com/) and Webmaster Jeff “CJayC” Veasey for helping me post this strategy guide. Your site is awesome! Keep up the good work. - Thanks to http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/6560/ for the names of the main characters. Without your Spanish site, I won’t be able to find the names myself. - Thanks to Dickens (bubuju@hotmail.com) for saving the DexDrive save for me before I get one myself (hopefully soon). Thanks for the trouble. - Also thanks to Game Shark Creator Club (http://www.cmgsccc.com/) for posting and providing GameShark codes online. Hope this can help gamers out there. - Thanks to InterAct DexDrive Dexchange Web site (http://www.dexdrive.com) for posting my DexDrive save up there. You can find my game save at http://www.dexdrive.com/dex_gme_files/jpn_gme/jpn_macross_love.gme - Finally thanks to my previous employer who laid me off after the co-op work term. Because of you, I have a month long holiday to enjoy this great game and beat all three modes within a week. - Some more thanks go to Cheat Code Central (http://www.cheatcc.com/), Xcheater (http://www.xcheater.com/), and About.com Guide to Video Game Strategies (http://www.vgstrategies.about.com) for posting my FAQ in your Web sites. - Thanks to “Superman” Tino Pascual (tino@capscorp.com.ph) for your corrections on various names for the characters and enemies, as well as giving me some explanations on Machine Gun. - Thanks to Fabio J. T. Chino (chino@icmc.sc.usp.br) for your correct relationships of Minmei and Kaifun, and the positions for Misa and Claudia. Also thanks for some of the correct Japanese spellings of the characters’ names. - Last but not least, thanks to Jeffrey T. Jhee (j-jhee@nwu.edu) for your explanation on the “SDF” bar. Also thanks for giving me the Web site for future reference. Of course, thanks everyone who reads my FAQ. Hope I will hear from you guys soon, giving me some great suggestions on this strategy guide. Thanks a lot! See you in the near future.