Sub Terrania FAQ/Walkthrough
An Adventure Shooter game for the Sega Genesis
By Bryan Backas (dmhawkmoon)
email: bryanbackas@yahoo.com
Version 1.00


CONTENTS

I. What's new?
II. Introduction
III. Frequently asked questions
IV. How to play
V. Walkthrough
VI. Legal Stuff


I. WHAT'S NEW?

The entire guide was written in one sitting, basically. In the future, I may add a high
scores list if there is a demand for it. Based on any questions I recieve, I may also add
a few thins to the frequently asked questions section.


II. INTRODUCTION

This is a complete guide for Sub Terrania on the Sega Genesis. I wrote this guide because
I feel that some parts of the game are confusing, and may especially be irritating for 
people who don't like trial and error. Figuring out what to do can be part of the fun of
the game; it can also be really trying at times, when you get a game over on mission 8 and
had no idea what you were supposed to have done. Don't worry, you've come to the right place.
All your questions will be answered if you follow my guide.

If you are an expert on this game, and think you have a better method of doing something,
by all means you are welcome to email me.


III. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q:  What is this game?
A: I would describe it as an adventure shooting game.  On each mission you are placed
in a cavernous level and you must explore it and complete the mission objectives. Usually
you collect sub parts, rescue people, and kill a boss. You are free to roam the level as
long as you don't run out of fuel or get blown up.  If either of these happens, you explode
and you restart at the beginning.  If you die, everything you accomplished in the level
remains accomplished, so it's not a disaster.

Q: What system is it for?
A: The Sega Genesis, as stated at the top of the guide. (Yeah, don't you feel stupid now?)

Q: How can you get so far in this game? It's impossible!
A: The thing about a game like this is that you're supposed to replay it over and over
and learn what to do in each area. That's where the replay comes in. If you could do it
in one sitting, it would be a very short game! Some of it is trial and error, but once
you know what to do it's all skill from there. This guide will help those of you who hate
trial and error so you can complete the game quicker. Remember, there's no way anyone
could get through this in one shot, so don't feel bad when you get completely obliterated
on stage 1 your first time. Also, don't feel bad if you have to set the difficulty down.
It may be a good idea even for advanced gamers to set it at EASY the first few times. It's
just not possible to get through some parts without knowing what to do first. You'll die
a lot figuring things out before you finally advance.

Q: Can you give me a ROM of this game?
A: No, I won't help you with anything to do with ROMs or emulators, especially since I don't
use them myself.


IV. HOW TO PLAY

Controls:
Left: Turn left
Right: Turn Right
Back: Back Thrustors
A: Change weapons
B: Forward thrusters
C: Shoot
Start: Pause
 
Weapon types:
Red - Shoots pretty straight out the front, is affected by gravity.
Green - Seems to hit a larger range than red, also shoot out of the front by homes in on
targets to an extent.
Blue - Shoots ahed AND directly to the side. Good for sitting in one place and taking out
things to the side of you. Using blue can save on fuel. It has a lot less firepower on low
levels, though.
As you increase your weapon's level, you will find that all the weapons are pretty similar
on high levels. I think the red one is the strongest, but they're all pretty similar. Just
stick with one color. When you get to a weapon power up, hover over it til it turns the
color you want. Do NOT get anywhere near it until it's the color you want. All you have
to do is touch the capsule to collect it.

Shield:
You can see your shield by looking at the little ship icons above your score. The icon
farthest to thr right represents the ship you're using. As you take damage, it turns red.
When it's completely red, your shield is gone and you will blow up. Your shield recharges
slowly over time, which is mildly helpful except that your fuel decreases with time, too.

Fuel:
Your fuel meter decreases constantly. Using your thrusters makes it decrease rapidly, just
sitting there makes it decrease slowly, but don't waste any time if you can help it because
it IS decreasing. Don't sit there and take a break without pausing the game. The only time
you can stop worrying about fuel is after you've collected the nuclear crystal on mission 9.
A word of caution - do not shoot the fuel tanks. They will explode if you do.

Landing your ship:
Land your ship by facing straight up and letting gravity carry you down onto a flat surface.
Landing on a jagged surface does not work. Landing on power ups is how you collect them. 
Also, you land on the starting pad to complete the mission once you've accomplished all the
objectives.

Basic flying concepts:
Controlling your ship is very hard for the most part because you are always falling. The
basic idea is that if something is above you, face it and forward thrust up to hover around.
If something is below you, face down and back thrust to hold your ground. If something is to
the side of you, either get under or below it, or fall past it while shooting. Once you get
good at the game, you might be able to perform evasive maneuvers,  but just remember these
simple things I stated here. I think a lot of gamers probably forget how important the back
thrusters are.
Also important is that you should always let gravity take you down if you can. Don't waste
fuel thrusting downwards when there's no need to. Impatience will only get you killed and
you'll end up having to start all over again.

Rails:
To ride the rails, you have to rest your ship on one of the circles at either end. Once
attached, use the D-pad to ride back and forth. Once on the rail, the only ways to get
off are to get to one end and hit your thrusters, or to get hit by something. 

Movable platforms:
On the first two missions you will encounter platforms that move when you shoot them. The
main things you need to remember about these is to keep your distance when you shoot them
so that they don't move into you, and that they will destroy any items they hit. On the
first mission, for example, the extra life and one of the fuel tankers will be destroyed
if you don't collect them before moving the platforms.

Difficulty:
There are three difficulty levels - easy, normal, and hard. The difference between these
lies in how much fuel you consume, how strong the gravity pulls you, how many hits
your ship takes, and how many points you get. Also, on easy mode you will not lose any
weapon power if you die, wheras it will decrease by 1 on easy or hard.

Scoring:
You get points for killing things in the level, and then you are given a bonus at the
end based on your performance. The bonus is based on how many things you killed, how
many ships you had at the end of the mission, how quickly you completed the mission,
and the number of POWs saved. Also, you get half as many points on easy, and twice as many
on hard. That works out to four times as many points on hard mode compared to easy!


V. WALKTHROUGH

Here is my complete walkthrough, mission by mission. This walkthrough will not help you
battle every enemy or anything like that. It will tell you where things are located and 
tell you what to do, but it's not always going to tell you to go and kill this enemy or 
that enemy. By all means, take out as many enemies as you would like! If something's in
your way, blast it to bits. Also, on some of the later missions I may not have explored 
everywhere and there may be some items I did not mention. The item list is just telling
you the items I have found. If it's on the list, it's definitely in the level, but there
may be hidden items. If you find something I missed let me know. 


MISSION 1

Objectives:
Collect a SUB unit
Rescue the miners

Items:
2 fuel
1 extra life
10 missiles

Begin by heading off to the right and up. You can fly over the robot guard if you don't
want to risk it. (If you die at this point, though, you might want to just reset!) Under
the turret are the miners you need to rescue. Land your ship and pick them up, then head
back to the start. Go down to the right of the stating platform and collect the extra life.
Hover up and hit the platform to move it. Down under it at the bottom you'll find a fuel
tank and some missiles. Go back to the beginning again and head left this time. Move the
platform out of the way by shooting it (take the fuel first if you want it) and follow the
path around. Shoot another platform, and go up to collect the SUB unit. All the mission
objectives are now complete, so go back to the starting platform and land there to finish
the mission.


MISSION 2

Objectives:
Destroy the giant monster
Collect a SUB unit
Rescue the miners

Items:
20 missiles
1 extra life
Weapon upgrade
3 fuel
1 energy

The best idea for this mission is to head along the outside first and collect the power
ups. Of course, watch out for the enemies and such. On the far left is a 1-UP behind a
wall. You can blow up the wall with your gun. There is another wall you can shoot down on
the right side of the stage as well with some missiles guarded by a robot. The upper right
part of the stage is where the energy is. Save it for when you need it. Once you've powered
up, fill up your fuel and take on the boss. Use your missiles to take him out quickly What
you need to do to destroy him is blow up the faces on either side and the tail at the
bottom. Then, hit him a little more and he'll fall to the center and stop moving. That means
you've defeated him.  Once he's taken care of the top left part of the screen opens up and
you can collect the miners and the SUB piece and finish the mission.


MISSION 3

Objectives:
Destroy the alien housing
Collect a SUB unit
Rescue the miners

Items:
Fuel 3
Energy 2
10 missiles

This mission can be confusing your first time. The first thing you should do is head
straight down and pick up the deflector, a little grey bar on a purple chain. Don't get
the fuel yet! Carry the deflector around to where the laser is, switch to it with the A
button, and push C to drop it onto the truck. The truck then carries it over and deflects
the laser away so you can go down to the right without being killed. Go down there (where
the laser used to shoot)and land. The platform lowers and the barrier below goes away.
Head down there. Keep going and you'll find a V shaped deflector, energy, and fuel. Pick up
the deflector, and get this fuel and energy too! You won't be coming back here! On your way
out, pick up some more missiles and fuel since you're now done with this area. Take the V
deflector all the way back over to the where the truck is. Line yourself right above the 
truck and fly up. The laser will shoot out and deflect off the V. What you want to do is
deflect it off the left side of the V and into the barrier which is offscreen. Once you're
in the right place the laser should keep shooting out and just adjust your altitude and it
should blow up the wall. If it's not working you're probably sitting too low. Once the wall
is blown up, get some fuel in here if you need to, and hover upsidedown (using your back
thrusters) to shoot downwards and destroy all the "housing". Make sure to blow everything
up! Once it's all gone (every last grey bit!) grab the next deflector and go hover with
it over the truck like you did before. The laser will reflect back and destry the weapon!
No more laser! In here is the SUB unit and the miners. Collect them, and head to the start.
That's it! The hardest part about this once you know what to do is not running out of fuel.


MISSION 4

Objectives:
Destroy the THING
Collect a SUB module
Rescue the combat squad

Items:
10 missiles
Extra life
3 fuel
Weapon power up

First, head around, grab a weapon power up, and destroy the THING. It's easy to defeat, a
few missiles do the trick. The combat squad is in the lower right now. Work your way up and
around and then down the passage. Watch out for dripping acid and be careful no to shoot the
squad! They will die if you hit them! To beat the enemy go right over it and shoot on mega
shot directly at it! Now that you've saved them the only thing left is to find the SUB.
Well normally that would be a lot of trial and error, but I'm going to tell you exactly
where the items are hidden! There is an extra life if you blow up the area right under 
where the first fuel tank is. There are missiles next to the two robot guards in the upper
right. The SUB is in the lower left section of the debris. You can see it through the pile,
actually. After you have secured this, you're done. NOTE: If you are running low on fuel
and have used the two obvious sources, there is a third fuel tank on the way top right where
the acid drips from.


MISSION 5

Objectives:
Destroy the power plant
Rescue the workers
Destroy the alien
Collect a SUB module

Items:
Anti-shield fire

Sit where to start and shoot straight up to take out the ships. Head to the upper right
corner of the map now and grab the anti-shield fire. To get to this corner, you will have
to first drop under where the fuel tank is and then head up. This weapon will allow you to
destroy the power plant in the lower right. It takes out the shields so you can blow it
up. Once it's gone, grab the spiked ball. Fly straight up to collect the fuel tank that
you probably need by now. You will need to use a lot of your thruster to move with this
thing! There are 9 POWs to rescue. You can easily find them first thing by heading down
all the way to the bottom (5)and then back up along the left wall (4). The lower left
section contains the alien and the lower right is the power plant.


MISSION 6

Objectives:
Destroy the robot
Collect a SUB module
Save the survived miners

Items:
2 weapon power ups
1 Extra life
2 fuel
1 energy

The two rails lead to weapon upgrades. Get whichever weapon you're using up to level 3 with
these. The second little pit over also has POWs in it, so you have to go down there 
regardless. Blast through the walls and head downundert the area where the bugs are flying
around. Get the extra life, fuel, and miners located down here. Now go back up and take
out the wall. Head down and you'll come to the giant robot. The best way to take care of the
giant robot I find is to sit sideways on the rock to the right of him and blast nonstop.
You'll take a little damage but it's the easiest way to conserve fuel and to avoid hitting
the miners below him. If you try to hover over him and shoot down, you might hit the miners.
Through the wall on the left is fuel and energy. Get these if you need to. Once the robot is
taken care of, pick up the miners and go to the left through the wall for the last SUB unit.
If you were efficient you should still have enough fuel left to get back to the start and
win the mission.


MISSION 7

Objectives:
Get to the end of the level

Items:
10 missiles
Anti pressure
Tube bombs
2 fuel

What you need to do is simply complete the level. Easier said than done, especially if this
is your first visit to this mission. You'll notice that the gravity is pulling you down
really hard here. Start off by falling down and to the left. Take the left passage in the
water. In the water, the gravity pulls you the opposite direction! Head around to the left
and back up. Blast your way up through the ledges and monsters, and all the way over here to
the right is the anti pressure weapon. You can use it an unlimited number of times and it
lets you fall DOWN through the water. Continue right (hopefully you have enough fuel) and
blast the red thingies. They will fall and expose a water area. Down there is some fuel
(phew)and the pipe bombs. The pipe bombs are used on the green pipe back at the beginning
of the level down the right water path. Head back, and use the anti pressure unit to let
you fall through the water to save fuel. Keep switching back and forth between that and
your gun to destroy things in your way. You can pick up more fuel using the pressure item
by dropping onto the fuel capsule underwater on your way back. It's right under the place
with ledges and spiders, in the water. Ok, so once you get to where the pipe is, drop a bomb
right onto it. It will blow up and drain the water, allowing you to go left and complete the
mission.


MISSION 8

Objectives:
Get to the end of the level

Items:
Weapon power up
Mirror lazer
10 missiles
2 Fuel

Very tough level to get through unless you know exactly what to do. From the start, head
down and bear left. Once in the water, don't bother with the anti pressure device, you have
to use your thrusters anyway to go right. Go right, and take the third path up to grab
the mirror laser. Now head back down and go around to the first pathway up, the one you
passed before but didn't go into. You should come to a laser beam and a hopping enemy.
Quickly take out the hopper and go in to the left for some much needed fuel. Now head up
and destroy the laser generator. Go left and destroy the next laser generator. Down beneath
you now is the beginning of the mission. You don't want to go there, it's just that if you
die now you can head straight up to get back to where you finished off. Now, head all the
way to the left and fall down. You will come to the water again, but now it's purple! That
means it's acidic. You have an acid meter, and basically if it gets too high you'll explode.
Stay away from the walls and thrust and blast your way to the right! Go as fast as possible!
Make sure to blow up everything in your path! When you reach the other side, grab the fuel.
Now switch to the mirror lazer. It shoots straight up. Hover under the red protrusion on the
right side of the wall and shoot lasers into the bottom of it. After a lot of shots the
mirror lazer is used up. A quick triangle of lasers is now overheating the system. Blow
up the right wall with your blasers and exit the level.


MISSION 9

Objectives:
Complete the level

Items:
2 Gate Keys
Nuclear Crystal
Extra life
Weapon power up
1 fuel
1 energy recharge

Start out by heading left and down into the water. Use the pressure device to help you
fall and conserve fuel. Blast the enemies and pick up the nuclear crystal. With the
nuclear crystal, you now have unlimited fuel! Now take the right path and grab the extra
life. Head back to the beginning and go right. Keep going right and then down into the
water when you have to. There is a key in an item capsule you will see behind the wall.
You can go down and to the left for an energy refill and a weapon power up. Otherwise,
loop around down to the right and back up to grab the key. This opens a gate that you can't
see yet. Head out of here and down. You will now be on some winding paths that lead to the
left and then down. Blast everything in your path. You can just use thrusters here now
because of the nuclear crystal. Just try not to hit the walls, expecially don't land on
them! Often in this area if you rest on a wall you will just get stuck in a corner and
explode instantly. Work your way down and start heading back to the right. When you get
all the way to the bottom right corner you will be able to go up and grab another key.
This opens the gate you could see to the left. Go down and around and loop up. Head left
past the crab and you will eventually reach Svin's Cave if you keep going.


SVIN'S CAVE

Objective:
Defeat the final boss, Svin

Items:
None.

You still have unlimited fuel, so you can just concentrate on the attack. If you die, you
will restart where you left off. Having a level 3 or 4 weapon is almost a must if you want 
to stand a good chance. Surprisingly, missiles aren't really too effective here. Just go 
with your regular gun and pound his head. MEGA attacks will just do massive damage to Svin.
In case you didn't notice it, he has a green life bar where the acid meter was on mission 8.
The best strategy is to keep moving around and swing around for a MEGA shot every now and
then. Eventually a pink worm will come out when you take out the big guy. Use the same
technique on him, or you can go behind him to the left side of the screen and hover there
while blasting him. That way you'll bypass all his shots and all of your shots will land
direct hits. Once the worm is dead, you've completed the game. Congratulations. Sit back
and enjoy the ending.


VI. LEGAL STUFF

This guide is copyright 2002 by Bryan Backas. It may be posted on any website
as long as it is in its FULL TEXT. If you butcher it into your own guide that's
plagiarism, and if you sell it that's against the law.

The newest version of this guide can always be found at: www.gamefaqs.com