Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings 2 FAQ v. 0.1

By Penguin

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1. What's Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings?

Aero Fighters is a top-down shooting game that started with the Jamma 
system. (forgot which year) Then it moved to the
SNK MVS for it's sequel, Aero Fighters 2 & 3. I haven't seen Aero 
Fighters 1, but I have played both 2 & 3.
Both were pretty good games IMO.
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2. Items

There are 3 sorts of items:
P item - Increases firepower by a level. 2000 points added when 
received.
F item - Increases firepower to the highest possible level. (Don't know 
yet)
B item - Adds a bomb.
$/Cz. etc. - Can't move, it's just basically extra points. You need to 
destroy enemies (duh) to get these.

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3. Controls & General Information

The arcade stick (or directional pad) is used to control the direction 
of your plane. Your plane only faces up 
regardless of whichever direction you choose.
The A button is normal fire, while the B button is bomb.

You start with 2 bombs and of course, the lowest level of normal fire.
There's no rapid-fire, so you need to tap the A button like crazy.
Note that when the normal shot level reaches its max, it'll go down a 
level after a certain period.

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4. The planes

You can choose between 8 planes. When in 2 player mode, you can't choose 
the same plane that the other 
has chosen (or where the other's cursor lays).

***
F-117 (Robo Keaton)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 2 lines of laser beams
Lvl 2: 2 longer lines of laser beams
Lvl 3: 4 lines of laser beams and a missile-thingy dropping from plane
Lvl 4: 8 lines of laser beams and the missile-thingy drops from plane as 
well

Missile-thingies: They are "delayed." So if you shoot, the missile 
drops, then after a second or so it turns into 
a small fireball. Goes straightward.

Bomb:
Description - An inverted V-shaped laser 'shield' that goes from bottom 
of the screen to the top of the screen.
Then a few explosions here and there in the screen.
Usefulness - Good against regular enemies, but for bosses it's so-so.

Good points: All around average, good speed
Bad points: Shots are kinda concentrated at a spot
***
A-10 (Silver)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: A single beam
Lvl 2: 2 beams
Lvl 3: 4 beams and a missile that explodes near the top of screen
Lvl 4: 6 beams and a missile that goes full screen

Missile: It doesn't drop, but it'll explode when it meets an enemy. It's 
stronger than a regular shot. Goes straightward.

Bomb:
Description -  Flys up, drops two bombs, huge explosion on where the 
bombs land.
Usefulness - Quite strong bomb, IMO should be pretty good against 
bosses. Don't waste it against normal enemies 
unless it's absolutely needed. Invulnerbility when dropping it!!

Good points: Strong bomb, strong shots
Bad points: Bomb a bit concentrated at a certain spot, shots too 
concentrated
***
FS-X (Hien)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 1 line of shurikens
Lvl 2: 2 lines of shurikens
Lvl 3: 4 lines of shurikens and 4 '+' shaped shurkiens.
Lvl 4: 6 lines of shurkiens and 8 '+' shaped shurkiens.

+ shaped shurikens: Homing shurikens when there's a target. If there 
isn't, It shoots around the plane.
The + shaped shurikens don't come back to the plane.

Bomb:
Description - Blue 'ki' converges at the plane, and a 'ki' beam. Kinda 
like the super fireball beams in Capcom VS games.
Lasts for around 2-3 seconds. You can shoot normal fire as well.
Usefulness - VERY useful. Best against bosses. Also it 'protects' you. 
But it goes wherever the plane goes.

Good points: Great bomb, homing '+' shaped shurikens, pretty quick
Bad points: Concentrated bomb, weak normal shot.
***
F-15 (Mao Mao)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 2 concentrated lines of bullets
Lvl 2: 3 concentrated lines of bullets (can't really tell the difference 
huh?)
Lvl 3: 6 lines bisected into 2 parts (V shaped, 3 for each part), lasers 
coming out from the side
Lvl 4: 14 (!!) lines divived into 3 parts, one part going straight (8 
lines), and the other 2 parts bisect like in Lvl 3.
4 lines of laser coming out from the sides as well (2 of them are wider)

Laser: It's not the best stuff in the world, but you gotta shoot it 
anyhow. Really thin, it's pretty much negligable
because the normal shot would cover it anyway. But it does considerable 
damage.

Bomb:
Description - Sends out a wave from the plane, which destroys the enemy 
bullets (but not delivering damage),
then everything (except you (and your ally)) and the screen will stop 
for around 4 seconds. You can't use your
bomb in that duration.
Usefulness - DAMN good, especially against bosses that love to move 
around like crazy and can't 
stay (like the 'eyeball'). Basically, you'll get a 'free shot.' For four 
seconds! Ain't that lovely! (no, I'm not sarcastic)

Good points: DAMN good bomb, really wide range of fire, nice speed
Bad points: No bomb damage, er...maybe another victim of the "SNK cute 
girl syndrome."
***
F-14  (Cindy & Ellen)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 2 lines of beams
Lvl 2: 4 lines of beams, pretty concentrated
Lvl 3: 6 lines of beams, 2 homing missiles
Lvl 4: 10 lines of beams, 4 homing missiles

Homing missiles: Just regular homing missiles, like Hien's + shaped 
shurikens.

Bomb:
Description - 5 huge missiles come from the bottom of the screen and 
heads towards the top of the screen. 
Then lots of small explosions kinda following the trail of the missiles 
after they went off-screen
Usefulness - Note that the missiles itself does NO DAMAGE. It nullifies 
the incoming bullets though. 
Anyway, this fills the whole screen, so it's pretty good against regular 
enemies.

Good points: Kinda strong shot, good bomb, good speed
Bad points: Very concentrated shot, bomb not as good against bosses
***
YF-23 (Spanky (!!))

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 1 line of shot
Lvl 2: 1 line of thicker shot
Lvl 3: 2 lines of shots from Lvl 2, 2 bomb thingies
Lvl 4: 2 wider lines of thicker shots (not the ones in Lvl 2), 4 bomb 
thingies

Bomb thingies: Weird little bombs float out from your plane when you 
shoot. If the max bomb thingies are 
on screen (2 for Lvl 3, 4 for Lvl 4), they won't come out. Unless it 
reaches an enemy, it'll wander off screen. 
You can kinda control where the bomb thingy goes by going at the 
specific direction.

Bomb:
Description - Some 'ki' converges at the plane, and two waves spreads 
out from the plane horizontally, and it 
covers the screen vertically as well.
Usefulness - Great for regular enemies, but not so great for bosses. (Am 
I doing some kind of phone commercial here?) 
Not a bad bomb.

Good points: Nice bomb, damaging shots
Bad points: Very concentrated shots until Lvl 4, bomb not very well 
against bosses, a dolphin named "Spanky" driving a plane? WTF?
***
Rafale (Steve)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 2 lines of beam
Lvl 2: 4 concentrated lines of beam
Lvl 3: 6 lines of beam, 2 missiles
Lvl 4: 10 lines of beam, 2 missiles

Missiles: They are just diverted missiles. Isn't homing I think.

Bomb:
Description - Flys up, drops a bomb that creates some huge black 
circular 'void' for around 2 seconds
Usefulness - It's not that great against a bunch of enemies...because 
it's only aimed at a certain part of the screen. 
But against bosses, this isn't a bad bomb.

Good points: Nice speed, pretty damaging shots
Bad points: Concentrated shots, bomb doesn't work well against normal 
enemies, missiles aren't really special, 
and why this guy looks like a girl?
***
FRS.2 (Bobby)

Normal Shot:
Lvl 1: 1 line of shot
Lvl 2: 2 lines of shot
Lvl 3: 3 diverted lines of shot (V shaped, but one line bisects the V) 
and 2 small missiles in each shot
Lvl 4: Like Lvl 3, but it's 2 lines diverted into 3 directions, 2 
missiles.

Missiles: You can't shoot the missiles when the other 2 are still on-
screen, or destroyed. Pretty damaging I say...
try getting near the enemy (esp. boss) when possible and shoot as many 
times as possible. The missiles will keep coming.

Bomb:
Description - Flys up, drops 2 bombs that spread fire in a V shape.
Usefulness - Since it's V shaped, it can miss certain enemies as well as 
bosses 'weak spot.' Take care when you use it.
Otherwise, it's a damn strong bomb.

Good points: Damaging shots when the missiles are with it (Lvl 3, 4), 
destructive bomb
Bad points: Bomb may miss, shot too wide when far
***
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5. Enemy bullets:

Enemy bullets are usually one of these 3:
I. Small bullets - Most common and the hardest to evade due to their 
size. Can't be destroyed except for
certain 'special' shots and bomb.
II. Big bullets - 2nd most common IMO, it's not easy to evade as well. 
Can't be destroyed except for certain
'special' shots and bomb.
III. Disc bullets - This one's easy. Shoot at these bullets and they'll 
disappear. And you can get points for that as well.
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6. Stages

I pretty much forgot the number of stages in this game. If I reckon, 
it's 12 stages long. If you beat the 12th stage, 
you will see the ending, but then you'll start with stage 13, which is 
actually stage 1. It's much harder, and the 
patelletes are swapped. I never went past stage 13 though.
The stages after the 1st stage are random, then after stages 2-11 you go 
to stage 12. At stage 12, if all your 
planes die (i.e. you need to insert a coin) you'll RESTART THE STAGE. So 
if you're fighting the eyeball guy (final boss),
and all your planes die, you'll have to start from the very beginning of 
the stage. Umm...yeah, that's bad stuff, I know.

The Atlantic and the Himalayas are the bonus stages, you get to shoot 
incoming planes and all of them has the P goodie.
For the Himalayas stage there may be an F goodie. The Atlantic stage is 
stage 3, but I forgot which stage is the 
Himalayas stage is.

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7. Misc stuff

There are various pretty funny stuff in stages. Take the 1st stage as an 
example. The first thing you notice is the
Chinese character at the start of the stage. It means 'big.' Don't know 
any special relations to the game though. 
Then you get to see a big humanoid print on the ground. You can destroy 
the building where the green spaceship 
comes out - then see two people in it arguing. Further up, you can see 
"Heroin Magic." Hope it's not a typo. 
Then you can see a poster of Mao Mao. Then 2 'tower missiles' will 
charge towards you. Of course, there's this 
'Tokyo tower' that shoots disc bullets and falls off a building.

You can also get goodies by shooting at random stuff as well. In the USA 
stage you can shoot at the Statue of Liberty
to get a P goodie, then you can shoot various famous New York buildings 
for $. You can also shoot at a ferris wheel,
 and it'll roll away horizontally while giving out a B goodie. Don't 
stop shooting at it, you can destroy it for a P goodie.

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8. Final words

Whew! Finally I'm done with this. There are a few things that I'm still 
unsure/don't know:
I. Which stage is the Himalayas stage
II. More 'hidden' goodies (P, B goodies in various stages?)
III. Whatever I didn't put in this FAQ but it's in the game

Feel free to e-mail me at penguin_wong@hotmail.com if you got any 
problems with this FAQ.

Thanks to:

SNK - Makes great fighting games (KOF...*drools*) as well as having 
various shooters for Neo-Geo and the MVS as well.
VideoSystem (that's what I see in the intro) - For making this game.
Friends & family - For supporting me
Me - For writing it myself. Now for some celebration. *drinks Sprite* 
j/k
You - For even taking time to read this damn thing. And FINISHING IT!! 
Now that's a feat.
