Hey lack! It was definitely because I was the only runner years ago and that's the category I played. The difficulty really doesn't make the game "harder" per se, it just makes the AI more annoying since it will attack you more often even with a troop deficit, which just wastes time. Since the two conquests are vastly different, they should be different categories (as well as doing them back to back in one playthrough as a third category). There should also be different categories for the World Conquest alone, since there are four different countries you can play as.

AFAIK, the ending is only visually different depending on which country you are when you beat the game. The difficulty does not impact the ending at all.

Agreed, this is long overdue.

Category created!

I would think that's fine, although I'm not familiar with the Genesis Everdrive Pro. Does it play as if it was on SMS?

The lack of co-op categories is just sad. :(

So, when I first started running the game, I focused first on the minimum items needed to beat the game. The 5 floppies and the red card are obvious. The level ups aren't strictly required, but there are so many along the path that you will invariably get the maximum level 8 no matter what, it's just a matter of when. The number of blue cards can vary depending on how many times you want to use up blue cards to stop barriers, laser guns, etc. I get just 4 normally, since I need 1 to access the computer for door opening, and 3 are used for warps around the maze to save time. Again, since there are so many cards scattered around, you can't go wrong early in learning the game by picking up as many cards as you want.

As far as the route, the first required step is to go left at the start of the maze to get the gun powerup. There is no way around this that I'm aware of, since it is the only early gun powerup, and to progress further there are some level 2 canisters blocking your path. You can also go right at the start of the maze and two rooms in you get a scope item to show you the alarm sensors. I don't get it since I know when they all are, but again, good to pickup when you are learning.

The rest of the route through the light blue section is straight-forward. The red section has a large lower section that can be skipped since it contains no required items. On the route, you should already be level 8 at this point, so no real reason to even visit the lower levels of the red section. The end of the red section going to the 2nd floppy has many damage barriers. You can save up and use some blue cards to prevent excessive damage.

The dark blue section is incredibly convoluted due to the path needed to get the two floppies and open up the path to the end while simultaneously not visiting any unnecessary rooms (dead ends, paths to Champ, etc.). I think my path is quickest, but it's tough to explain in text format without going on quite a wall of text.

For the final boss, you can shoot it multiple times each time it opens its mouth, although the timing can be tricky. The fireballs it shoots alternate between high shots and low shots, so dodge accordingly. Additionally, if you think you need more time to exit after the boss is dead, you can go back to the main computer, enter the explosion cancel code (9999), then reenter the base explosion code (8888) to get a full 300 seconds for just the escape.

General tips on movement:

1. Try to fire the gun while in the air, otherwise JJ stops moving to shoot the gun. Again, not strictly required, just a general small time save per shot where possible.
2. Jumping over mines is tricky, since you have to jump from a certain distance from the mines, and also you can't do a full jump, otherwise you will slam your head on the ceiling.
3. The guards are not all the same, some only shoot while standing, some may shoot either standing or kneeling, some may rush at you while simultaneously shooting. In general, always lay down to shoot the guards, to avoid their shots and prevent knockback if a kneeling guard shoots you.

Hope this helps!

Hi petaQ, I'm sure I can whip something up for you, is there anything in particular you are looking for (routing choices, combat tips, etc.)?

For the codes, some of them are mirror images of numbers (for instance, the "M" is two "1"s back to back, the heart is two "2"s back to back, etc). The eighth code is a sideways 8, and the last code is just a zero.