ACA NeoGeo Alpha Mission II Trophy Guide & Road Map

ACA NeoGeo Alpha Mission II
ACA NeoGeo Alpha Mission II Trophy Guide

Overview:

Estimated trophy difficulty: 3/10 (Personal Opinion) (Trophy Difficulty Rating)
Offline trophies: 4 (1, 2, 1)
Online trophies: 2 (1, 1)
Approximate amount of time to 100%: 30-60 Mins (Personal opinion) (Estimated Time to 100%)
Minimum number of playthroughs: 1 Original Mode + 1 HI Score Mode (Neither of these are full playthroughs)
Number of missable trophies: None
Glitched trophies: None
Does difficulty affect trophies?: No
Do trophies stack?: No
Do cheat codes disable trophies?: No cheats available.

Introduction:

Alpha Mission 2 (ASO II: Last Guardian in Japan) is a vertically scrolling shooter originally released by SNK in 1991 for the NeoGeo console and also as an arcade machine.

The game can, in my opinion, be a little tricky in parts and you will die a lot. Luckily for Original Mode you can set the game to 99 lives, you will more than likely need half of them to get the score required for the trophy list which consists of breaking the high score and uploading your results to the online leaderboard.

You will also need to set a high score in "HI SCORE MODE" and upload it to the online leader board, this can be a little harder as the option to modify the game is taken away.

Walkthrough:

Step 1: Play the game and achieve a score of 300,000+

From the game's title screen, choose to play an original mode game. Here you need to achieve a score of at least 300,000 and upload it to the online leaderboard to unlock all 5 score related trophies for this game mode.

See Score 300,000 Points for tips on how to adjust game settings to make this a lot easier.

On completion of this step you will have:

Record score
Mark high score
Score 100,000 points
Score 200,000 points
Score 300,000 points

Step 2: Play HI Score mode and achieve a score of at least 150,000

The second and last step is to play the game on HI Score Mode, you will need a score of at least 150,000 to be able to post to the online rankings. In HI Score Mode, the save game function and ability to adjust difficulty and players lives etc. are disabled so you need to play the game unaided. After a little practice this can be achieved around the start of Area 3. I have included a few playing tips and a video of a Hi Score run through under HI SCORE Player.

On completion of this step you will have:

HI SCORE Player

[PST Would Like To Thank the game nerd for this Roadmap]

Record score

The score has been posted to the online rankings.
(Online)

For this trophy you will have to beat the high score of 300,000 in Original Mode then upload your score to the online leader board. Simply choose to upload your score when prompted by the white pop up box after the GAME OVER screen.
Mark high score

High score has been updated.
After reaching a score of at least 300,000 whilst playing a Standard Mode game and ending your game, you would have broken the default high score and be awarded this trophy.

If going for Score 300,000 points, then this will unlock naturally.
Score 100,000 points

The score won 100,000 points
See Score 300,000 points
Score 200,000 points

The score won 200,000 points
See Score 300,000 points
Score 300,000 points

The score won 300,000 points
For this trophy you will have to reach a score of 300,000 points while playing Original Mode. You do have the ability to alter the difficulty and the amount of lives you start with to 99, you will need a lot of them as the game seems to take great pride in killing you regularly.

To lower the difficulty of the game, press the after selecting a Original Mode game to bring up the Options Menu. Select "Game Settings". Set the difficulty to LEVEL 1 and number of players to 99, this gives you 99 lives. You might also want to adjust the TIME SETTINGS to 10 as this will give you more time at the end of levels to select your Armor options for the next level, there will be quite a few options to scroll through at the end of each level so the more time you give yourself the better.

Now you have set the game to the optimal setting to give yourself the best chance to get the score needed in one play through. Having 99 lives means you can just enjoy playing the game without worrying too much about how many times you die.

You will bring up a score of 100,000 around the start of Area 2, 200,000 around the end of Area 2 and 300,000 towards the start of Area 4.

Use this play through to get used to the game, how the power up and armor system works, and the selection screen at the end of each area.

I have included some gameplay tips under HI SCORE Player and below is a playthrough of Original Mode to 300,000 points:
HI SCORE Player

The score has been posted to the online rankings in the "HI SCORE MODE".
(Online)

Note: While playing Hi Score Mode, you can't pause the game as pressing the will bring up an options menu but you will lose all progress on the current play through and will have to start again.

For this trophy you will have to play the game in HI Score Mode. In this version of the game save games, 2 player and the option to alter difficulty and player lives has been removed.

The score you need to beat is 150,000, this can be a little tricky, depending on your skill with these type of game it may take a few or it may take a few more, attempts to get the score required . Below are some game tips:

*A TYPE - At the start of the game you are given the option for A TYPE or B TYPE controls, pick A TYPE as B TYPE means you will have separate buttons for missiles and lasers. A TYPE will fire both at the same time which is a lot easier as there is enemies in the air and on the ground.

*Power up System - is very important, the table below shows what each icon means:

- S, L and M are your friends. Shooting slow falling diamond shaped boxes will spawn these power ups. At the very start of Area 1 these are the only things that will appear on your screen giving you a chance to upgrade before you get started.

- You can "juggle" the power ups in the sir by shooting them and doing this will change what the power up is.

- You will want an even spread of missiles, laser and speed to make the ship competitive, don't just focus on lasers, you will need missiles too.

- Avoid the backwards S, L and the upside down M (or W) as these will power down the ship.

- G is gold. You need gold to purchase Armor Upgrades at the end of each area. Pick these up when ever you can.

- E will replenish some of your energy when you have an armor upgrade active.

*Armor - Armor is a series of special weapons that can be collected and activated by pressing . They can also be purchased at the end of each area.

- A full list of Armor upgrades can be found in the games digital manual, under the options menu by pressing .

- You will start the game with one default armor special weapon, LASER. Additional armor weapons can be added by collecting 3 of the same icon that appear on screen so collect 3 SHIELDS and SHIELDS will be added to your special weapons. For example: You collect 2 SHIELDS then 1 BLACKHOLE, the 2 SHIELDS will be null and void and the collection would have reset to 1 for the BLACKHOLE so it is best to pick one upgrade and only collect that.

- Save using your Armor special weapons until the boss fights at the end of level 1 and level 2. These are the hardest points of the game on your way to 150k points.

*SHIELDS - These are the best Armor upgrade to collect, they will protect you. Remember to collect the E icons as this will replenish some of your shield energy.

- At the end of Area 2 use your gold to purchase SHIELDS armor upgrade, then use it not too long into Area 3. You should be close to 150k points at this stage.

Below is a video showing HI SCORE MODE played to 150,000: