Free the Skies!
On a hill overlooking the Mediterranean, a young man lies in the grass. He looks up at the
fiery red and gold sky as dawn breaks over the sea. A light breeze rustles through the olive
trees. The sound of a propeller engine breaks the silence. He listens as it's joined by a
second engine, this one a high-powered custom job.
Two planes appear on the horizon. A cargo plane appears, followed by a small turboprop. The
young man whips out his binoculars and looks for the insignia. The cargo plane is a standard
B-17, no match for the flyer on his tail. The turboprop dives from 3 o'clock, coming at the
cargo plane with the sun behind him, and opens up on it with his high caliber weapons. The
left flap looks pretty badly damaged. Another run and the cargo plane is done for.
The young man runs towards a small hangar in the hillside. He's seen the turboprop before. He
remembers two years ago. A copilot on a commercial plane. A sky pirate concerned only with
looting another victim. The crash. The destruction. Months in the hospital recovering – he
was one of the lucky ones. Now, it's time to put an end to the pirates. He's decided it's
time to fight back and stop the villains once and for all. The sky is free – no-one will
hold it for ransom any more!
Take Control!
Directional Button (D-Button)
- Chooses options/Selects choices.
- Moves your Falcon Flyer.
Button 1
Button 2
- Selects special weapon.
- Changes flight speed.
- Pauses the game when the TRG.Pause option is selected (See page 14 on how to set options).
Once you turn on your Master System/Master System II, the Power Strike II Story screen
and the Title screens will appear. Press Button 1 or 2 to see the main menu, or wait to see
the high scores and a game demo. To leave the high scores screen or the demo, press Button 1
or to return to the story screen.
The Main Menu
Move the selection arrow to the option you wish to select by pressing the D-Button up or
down.
- This is the game's current high score. You must get a score higher than 100,000 to be listed here.
- This shows the number and the name of the special weapon currently being displayed on the right side of the screen. Change the displayed weapon by pressing the D-Button left or right until the weapon you want to see is displayed. You start the game with the weapon that is currently displayed. See pages 18 - 20 for an explanation of the different types of weapons available.
- Select Game Start to start your adventures from the beginning of the game. Press Button 1 or 2 to start the game.
- Continue allows you to begin the game from the beginning of the last round you were in. Press Button 1 or 2 to start the game.
Note: Resetting the game resets the Continue Round to Round 1.
- Select Option to see the game options available. Press Button 1 or 2 to see the options available.
Preflight Options
The System Select screen has a number of options to choose from. Place the selection arrow
next to the option you want to change with the D-Button.
- Exit: Press Button 1 or 2 to return to the main menu.
- Sound: Listen to the music and sound effects used in Power Strike II! Press the D-Button left or right to see the choices, and press Button 1 to hear the music/sound effect. Pressing Button 2 stops the music/sound effect.
- P. Speed (Player Speed): Change the Falcon Flyer's speed with this option. 1 is the slowest and 4 is the fastest. Press the D-Button left or right to change the setting.
- TRG.Pause: This option allows you to pause the game when you press Button 2. Press the D-Button left or right to turn the TRG.Pause function on or off.
- Rank: Choose from five difficulty levels. Rank 1 is the easiest, and Rank 5 is the most challenging. Press the D-Button left or right to change the setting.
Screen Signals
- Current Score
- Falcon Flyer
- Item Holder
- Current Special Weapon
- Special Weapon Strength
- Falcons Left
Weapons and Items
You start the game with standard bullets, fired from your nose gun. Holding Button 1 down
allows you to fire continuously, and when you're in a jam, let go of Button 1 for a super
burst that will knock your enemies out of the sky! As you blast your way through the enemy
defenses, item holders will appear on screen. Shoot them to release the weapon or item
(indicated by a number) they're carrying and fly over the number to acquire it. You can
also find weapons and items on occasion when you shoot down enemy aircraft. Here is a
description of the weapons you'll come across:
- 0 (Shell Up): This weapon increases your nose guns' firing power.
- 1 (Shot Gun): This weapon gives you a wide-range blast in front of you.
- 2 (Missile): Launches missiles in front of you.
- 3 (Burner): A long-range flame thrower is attached to the nose of the Falcon Flyer.
- 4 (Absorption): Blasts from your jet home in on enemies and wreak major havoc!
- 5 (Destroyer): Rapid-fire missiles shoot out to the front and sides of your jet.
- 6 (Napalm): A massive explosion destroys enemies in every direction!
Other Items
- P-Pods (Power Pods): These items appear in various places in the game. Shoot enemy planes to find them, or shoot the item holder carrying a 7 to receive a shower of P-Pods! Collect P-Pods to increase your special weapon strength. A 0 means you haven't acquired a special weapon yet. A 1 is minimum strength. 5 will make even the pirates' top fliers cringe in terror!
- Super Blast: Fly over this item and watch as all the enemies on the screen disappear in fiery explosions!
- 1-Ups: Collect these mini-Falcon Flyers for extra Lives!
Note: The maximum number of Lives you can have is 9.
- Spin Shields: Collect these items for protection from enemy fire as well as to increase your nose guns' firing power. You can collect a maximum of three Spin Shields. Spin Shields appear either from the top of the screen, when you hit enemy planes, or carried by item holders. The Spin Shields will flash red blue and yellow. Red increases your nose guns' firing power, blue makes your bullets blast through more than one enemy, and yellow makes your bullets fan out in front of the Falcon Flyer to hit more enemies.
Note: If you use the Burner special weapon, any Spin Shields you already have become secondary burners, but you can still collect more shields for protection.
Game Over/Continue
Should the enemy be able to clip your wings, the Continue screen will appear. If you think
you're ready to take another crack at the pirates, select Continue, or if you need a
breather, select Game Over. Selecting Game Over brings you back to the Story
Screen, and selecting Continue starts you off at the beginning of the stage you were
last in.
Hints
- At the beginning of the game, try to collect as many of the same kind of special weapons at a time as you can in order to build up your special weapon strength.
- Take the fight to your enemies. If you don't get them as they appear on screen, you'll find the skies around your plane becoming thick with enemy craft very quickly.
- Knock out the ground artillery as soon as possible. The enemy aircraft are dangerous, but the ground weapons are almost always stationary, which means easier to hit.
See the main page for Power Strike II