Xevious

Game Details:

Before *Xevious*, most shooting games featured a plain black space background. It was the first to present colorful, scrolling landscapes with a sense of depth. The game's lore is surprisingly deep, detailing a war between humanity and an ancient civilization known as the 'GAMP'.

The game is highly praised by players for its unique balance. It abandoned the screen-filling bullet patterns popular at the time, instead adopting a hidden 'dynamic difficulty' mechanism: the system intelligently spawns tougher enemies based on the player's kill efficiency and survival time. Furthermore, the hidden 'Sol Tower' pillars and 'Special Flag' bonuses pioneered the concept of discovering secrets in games, a design that greatly enhanced the sense of exploration and replay value.

Game Guide:

• Dual-Threat Attack Rhythm: The core skill is to simultaneously handle flying enemies at the top of the screen and ground targets below. The long-range but narrow Zapper is mainly for clearing aerial threats, while the Blaster bombs require you to predict your flight path, dropping them when a ground target is centered in the diamond-shaped reticle in front of your ship.
• Prioritize Destroying Anti-Air Turrets: Many players are taken out by the scattered shots from ground-based defenses. In the lulls between waves of air attacks, prioritize locating and destroying the stationary targets with round turrets, as this will significantly reduce the pressure on you in the air.
• Find the Hidden 'Sol Towers': Some areas on the map may appear empty, but continuously dropping bombs on them can reveal hidden pillars. Each destroyed pillar is worth 2,000 points. A classic Tower location is on the right side of the forest area in the first stage.
• Dealing with the Andor Genesis Mothership: This is a famous boss in shooter history. Due to its enormous size and armored shell, regular zapper shots are ineffective. You must time it right and accurately drop a bomb into the 'core' at the center of the mothership. Once the core is destroyed, the mothership will immediately retreat.
• The Indestructible Plates: The game features rotating grey metal plates that cannot be destroyed. They can only be bypassed with precise maneuvering. Do not waste your ammo trying to shoot them.