Winning at Raystorm for the PS1 in the 13 ship mode. Created by Frank Johnson
(Dangime),

I'm mainly an RPGer I'll admit, but one old habit I have is playing an old
playstation game called Raystorm. Below are my hints for succeeding at this
space-ship shooter.
The game Raystorm in its self is short. With 8 levels it takes about a half
hour to complete, but the challenge involved can get more and more complex as
your progress. If you are new to the game here is my suggestions, play the
arcade mode, its easier, and play the R-Gray 1 on automatic mode. This ship
configuration has serveral advantages for the new player. First it spreads out
its standard blasts, making it easier to shoot enemies and missiles without
getting in the way as much. Its "lock-on lasers" are instant gratification,
meaning, if you lock on to 4 targets, 4 lasers will immediately target the
enemies and hit them. Automatic mode just is easier, you don't have to hit a
seperate button to fire your lockon lasers, as long as your are firing your
standard guns the lock on lasers will fire. Keep working with this settting and
try to beat the game. I believe beating the game on arcade mode will open up
stage select mode option, so you can play which level you would like and have
your score recorded.
If you've gotten to the point you just rip through arcade mode, try going to
extra mode. Its essentially the same except there are different enemy patterns,
more enemies, and bosses have more deadly attack patterns. This also means more
scoring opertunities. Once you have beaten this a new option will open up,
called "13 ship mode". This is where the true challenge begins.
In 13 ship mode you are given only 13 lives to complete the game, rather than
the normal 6 credits, with 5 ships each credit. Not only are you given only 13
ships, but you get 3 of each type of ship, R-gray 1 auto, R-gray 1 manual,
R-gray 2 manual, and R-gray 2 auto, plus 1 proto-type ship that just sucks, its
an early R-gray 1, with no special attack, and if you lock all its lasers on
one target, it will not produce the special affect. This means you have to be
good with both ship types, and have to put up with manual control for at least
part of the trip. Here are some fundamentals you should understand before even
trying to undertake 13 ship mode. You should have learned all these skills just
playing the normal game, but let's double check.
#1. Your only defense is a good offense. You die in one hit. The only way to
protect yourself is to kill your enemy before they can get to a point where
they can shoot at you. This usually means using your lock on lasers before they
get to your plane of attack, or constantly blasting your standard guns to wipe
out everything in front of you.
#2 Your only defense is a good offense, again. Your special attack is the only
thing that can save you from an enemy attack. Not only does this blast cause
huge damage, but it also protects your ship for a short time, enough to save
your life if you are quick on the trigger. This is absolutely vital when you
only have 13 ships, espically on bosses whom are usually hardest to dodge. Save
your special attacks for bosses whenever possible.
#3 Don't screw around with bosses. Each boss has an area or areas that once
destroyed will kill the whole boss. There are alot of other targetable areas,
but hitting them will only reduce the boss's firepower, not their actual
remaining hits. More than likely you will lose ships targetting these secondary
targets when its not needed. Go for the kill, I will tell you any exceptions to
this rule.
#4 Survival is the key. Don't worry about score in 13 life mode, it won't even
record it. If an enemy is akward to kill, let it fly by if its attack doesn't
endanger you. If linking a combo (targeting alot of enemies with lock on lasers
before firing) puts you in danger, don't do it. Just hold the button down and
fry them all as fast as you can, you only need to link combo with lock lasers
when you are playing for score.
OK now, how to win at 13 ship mode on extra mode. First, pace yourself. Unlike
the normal mode that won't let you play through the whole game on easy, you can
on 13 ship mode. Set all the levels to the easiest mode on the options screen.
Each time you play through increase the difficulty untill it gets up to normal.
I learned this after beating my head in for hours trying to beat it on normal,
I instantly won on the easiest setting. The ending isn't that great, it tells
you you aren't playing to your potental, but you do unlock the kills statics
option. There may be more options to unlock if I can ever manage to beat it on
normal. I am still working through the process.
Setup the ship order the way you like it. I go with R-gray 1 autos first, then
R-gray 2 autos. Each time you lose a set of 3, you lose all your power ups.
This is why its important to get through most of the levels on the first set,
getting dumped in a hard level with no powerups is the easiest way to die.
First level is a breeze. Slaughter the enemies, they are mainly in easily
targeted links, hardly any will get to shoot at you, and there are no
signifigant kill zones to watch for. The boss is a large tank. On approach to
the tank, try to lock all your lasers on one of the leg missile turrets. This
is just a target of opportunity, since at this stage it can't shoot back. Once
you are right up on the tank, you will want to target the laser cutter turrets,
its the small turret up front that makes that big laser wall. There's one on
each side and its just in the way, kill it quickly. Afterwards start hitting
the main gun turret, this is the boss's kill point. The tank may run and use
its other laser turret, if so blow it up too, then proceed to hit the main gun
turret. The main turret fires 2 types of blasts, first blue ones which can be
destroyed by shooting, so just keep pounding it with both guns and lock on
lasers. Then large red blasts, these are so slow and easy to dodge, just get by
and keep smashing. The only thing to watch for is the missiles, they are almost
constantly being launched at weird angles at you, you can blow them up easily
enough if they are in front of you, just don't dodge into one from the side.
The main turret should go really quickly if you attack in the manner I suggest.
Level 2, its a little more dangerous at the start. First there are the yellow
boat ship things. These are mainly a ramming threat. Kill them all as well as
you can. Then there are the large water snake things, watch out. Kill the
missiles they shoot as well as all the segments of the snake. If you don't, it
will shoot a fireball at you for every segment left. Killing the whole snake
can be dangerous sometimes so if you get all the segments you might want to
just let it go. Next comes various threats, fighters launching missiles,
airships with serveral hits, submarines that shoot missiles. All must be
targeted before they can attack en mass, or you will be in trouble. You will
then come up on a platform, at the start its mainly an easy combo, then you
will come across yellow laser turrets, the worst kind, very fast blasts. Kill
them and the smaller enemies around. Then you will see a large airplane below
you, its the boss. If you can you can shoot at it with lock on lasers now,
often times I can get 2 full locks in on it with an R-gray 1. (targetting all
available lasers on the same target before shooting will signifigantly increase
the damage done, you will see the results, but its dangerous.) The kill point
for this boss in the very middle of the plane, so target there. The boss will
take off and you will have to face it, but you will get more chances to shoot
at it with lock on lasers before it even get to you, take the opportunity. Once
it lines up with you, back off as far as you can and stay in the center, it
will shoot 2 large beams at you from the top guns, dodge! After this it will
begin to shoot off a random spray of shots everywhere. Its pretty hard to dodge
some times, if you need to use your special attack to save yourself from
damage. Afterwards the ship will come above you, get close to it where you can
lock on your lasers, and stay in the center. It will fire its jets killing
everything not in the middile, while dropping mines at you in the middle. The
trick is not to be greedy, once it thrusts forward, dont follow it, target the
mines so they don't linger and hit you when you need to dodge later. Afterward
it will shoot a quick set of blasts at you, but it is pretty easy to dodge,
then the pattern repeats, usually I get it at this point though.
Level 3, first real threatening level. The beginning isn't too hard, but you
will come up to a platform a robot will attack you, firing 3 blasts at once,
while on the ground many tanks and gun turrets will open up at the same time,
this is the first real kill zone. Its important to target enemies and reduce
the ammount of fire at you, or it will reach a point where you just can't
dodge. This is an important idea in all shooter style games. Once there's a
certain number of enemies and blasts on the screen, you get forced into a
corner and your dodging opportunities equal 0. Once you get by the boss will
appear. This ones annoying too. After flying by you it will drop mines, target
them with lock on lasers before they get to you if you can, or they will block
your dodging ability when it attacks. The attacks can come in any order, but it
usually opens with an attack where it shoots lasers in serverl directions, this
is dodgable but takes practice. After each move it will fly back, sometimes it
will shoot yellow lock on lasers at you. To dodge these, sit tight in the
middile of the screen, then dodge once they are all about to train in on you.
If you try to dodge eariler they will adjust and hit you, or you will dodge
some, but in the process lock yourself into a corner so you cant dodge the
rest. After this it will release mines again. Kill them. Other attacks include
the big laser, it will start shooting a wall of blasts trying to keep you in
the middile, but then it will powerup the main gun so you must get through that
pattern and safety behind the point where the big gun is pointing. This is
usually when I use my special blast to avoid this attack. Keep hitting the
middle of the boss. The boss has a number of other attacks, it can also drops
mines and shoot the tracking lasers while right up on you, where its alot
harder to dodge. When its about to die, it usually goes spastic and shoots alot
of small spread shots, you just have to dodge, the boss doesnt have alot of
hits, so you can usually avoid it's harder to dodge attacks near the end of its
run.
Level 4. Ah the space fleet. There are alot of available targets, but
concenrate on what's shooting at you. Some of the capital ships in the
background will shoot spreads of large lasers, they are hard to dodge, if you
can target the bridge of the ship with 3 lasers it will blow up, sometimes you
can do this before it has a chance to shoot. Theres not alot of help I can give
on the level, the boss is a large ship. It will make serveral passes on you
before you can actually kill it. The bridge is the kill point, as it passes try
to train your lasers on it. Watch out for the missiles, and large laser
batteries. If you take shots at the bridge at every pass on it, you wont need
to stay on the last part of the boss long. It will attack with the lasers as
well a 3 energy pods, and small ships. Hit the bridge fast and kill it.
Level 5. First really hard level. The whole level is a threat. First the
asteroid feild, blast your way through the fighters, then a large ship will
appear, line up on the bow to dodge the laser barrage. Fight through the
shipyard, to the biggest freaking kill zone in the world. Fighters, gun
turrets, and tanks will open up on you. You might consider using your special
attack here. If you manage to fight through there you'll enter a tunnel, small
pods will attack you with blue lasers in many directions. If you don't kill
some too many will get on the screen to dodge. Then long streams of small ships
with robots will attack you, dont let the small ships get up on you or they
will shoot lots of blasts. Then the boss. This one has many interesting
attacks. Your default position should lined up right on the middile of it, in
your lock on box. Wait to see what kind of attack it will launch, then respond.
If it uses its large side mounted lasers to surround you, just stay there and
hit him staying the middile. If it shoots a spread it may be needed to move and
dodge. If it shoots blue lasers, backup as far as you can while staying exactly
linned up in the middle. It can shoot purple blasts in a circle, just dont get
caught in the center. It can also use yellow tracknig lasers, but the worst
moves by far are the the combo side mount lasers and yellow lasers or the large
spread. If you see these moves use the special attack, a successful dodge is
hard to get. After each attack it will fly in the background and shoot weird
blasts, move in a circle to dodge them. Continue untill dead.
Level 6. If you get caught here with low power up prepare to die. This level is
full of hard multi hit enemies, compounded with fast fighters with spread
attacks. Only lots of quick firepower can help you. You must fly by the seat of
your pants to get through this level, only practice can help. The boss is awful
also. Its a huge convertable fighter, with 2 escourts. It will shoot large
spreads, small targeted spreads, machine guns spreads (ala robot) big gun
blasts, small blue lasers in a spread, and a wide yellow laser spread. All
while the escourts shoot missiles and lasers. This is probably the sole boss
that keeps me from beating 13 lives mode on normal, I just lose too much to
beat the last stage without losing. You have to anticipate each attack and
prepare for it, before the enemy launches it, which leaves to narrow a time you
damage the enemy, which gives it more chances to shoot at you, which just
increases the danger you're in since its hard to dodge and dodge and dodge and
not ever get caught!
Level 7 - Difficult. The beginning of this stage runs like a huge kill zone
with few places to catch your breath. Tanks on the ground will be the main
threat throught the stage. They will shoot you up regularly. That will be
combined with fighters, helicopters, ground based laser batteries that shoot
tracking lasers, missiles, and these bastard tanks that shoot alternating
blasts of slow and fast shots while being very durable. Near the middile of the
level things will calm down after you go down a pipe futher and the threats
will be more air based for awhile. Then at the end things speed up. A heavy jet
will shoot spreads at you while jets attack. The heavy jet is replaced by a new
one as soon as you kill it, and if you can't kill the heavy jet before you must
dodge its first spread, its unlikely you will be able to dodge the 2nd. That's
why powerups are so important. If you manage to make it you will be given full
powerups from the targets leading up to the boss. The target is a large
reactor. It will shoot combination spreads, with are relatively easy to dodge
compared to some, then helicopters and ground turrets will shoot at you,
including 4 tracking lasers. Finally small blue lazer probes, and 2 large
explosive missiles are fired. This is usually when I special attack. Use all
your time wisely to target the reactor. Its unlikely you can survive a full
cycle of attacks often without a special attack. It will take serveral rounds
to kill it. Once you do you head on to the final boss. First target the corners
of the sheild protecting the center. You should be able to kill one before the
battle ever starts. Then 2 escourts appear shooting lasers and missiles.
Continue to attack the sheild corners while attacking the escourts as a
secondary. If you kill 2 generators the ship will start to move and the
escourts should leave. Once moving the thing will open showing many targets. It
will fire yellow bricks that will have spinning laser blades. Target the
middile of these to live. Your target on the station should be the 4 boxes
around the center of the station. Kill these to progress to the next form.
After the bricks, 4 lasers will target you continuously. You must fly in a
circle to avoid them. Then the big attack a wave of 4 tracking lasers, 4
tracking cluster bombs, and 4 more tracking lasers. It will take a multipart
dodge to make it through. Once to the final stage target the blue laser cannons
around the main gun that sticks out. Only use your special attack while the pod
is open, if you can manage that. Once all the laser guns are dead you win.

This walkthrough was created by Frank Johnson (Dangime). Any questions about
the walkthrough can be directed to dangime7@hotmail.com . This FAQ is also
available on my website at http://home.houston.rr.com/dangime/. This FAQ is
granted to the public domain on the condition that its contents remain unedited
in its entirity, including this section which contains the proper credits to
the author, his email address and the link to his website. Use, distribution,
or reproduction of this work under any other condition will be considered a
violation of copyrights.