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1. Lightning Rod
Description: Complete the game with the Lightning.
Gamerscore Worth: 6G
How to Earn: The Lighting is easily the most well rounded plane in the game. It has a decent amount of Health, Speed, Power (how much damage it deals with its main weapon), and Missile strength (Missile in single player, or Joint Strike in Co-op).

This achievement simply requires finishing the game and is probably gotten the easiest in Single Player on the Penguin Difficulty. It can also be done online with a decent co-op partner but only the host gets the achievement.

2. Mosquito Wing
Description: Complete the game with the Mosquito.
Gamerscore Worth: 7G
How to Earn:
The Mosquito has the highest amount of Health and Power of the three aircraft. To offset that, the Mosquito is also the slowest in terms of Speed, and packs the least amount of punch in terms of Missile strength. Don't let that fool you though, the Mosquito is arguably the best plane in the game and makes the Padlocked achievement quite a bit easier to obtain.

Again, this achievement is probably the easiest in Single Player on the Penguin Difficulty. Although it can also be done online with a decent co-op partner. Keep in mind that unless you are hosting the match, you won't get this achievement.

3. Shinden Striker
Description: Complete the game with the Shinden.
Gamerscore Worth: 7G
How to Earn:
The Shinden is by far the fastest plane in the game but is also the weakest in terms of Health and Power. Taking a single pink bullet can take away a good chunk of the Shinden's Health Bar. This plane manuvers really well and is great for grabbing medals and powerups but is really tough to beat the bosses with due to the low Power of its main weapon. An offset to this is that is posseses the strongest Missile/Joint Strike strength in the game.

I'd actually recommend not trying to get this achievement in co-op mode unless you have a really strong partner. Co-op is quite a bit more challenging and the Shinden takes a beating as a result. Again, only the host will get this achievement at the end of the game.

4. Wingman
Description: Complete 3 levels of the game while playing Co-Op.
Gamerscore Worth: 15G
How to Earn: Very easily obtained on Penguin Difficulty even if you match up randomly with someone online. Gaining this achievement requires that you and your partner be able to beat Poseidon at the end of Level 3.

5. Concerted Combat
Description: Destroy 30 enemies using a Joint Strike.
Gamerscore Worth: 10G
How to Earn:
Also really easily obtained even if you are playing with randoms on Xbox Live. Capcom ups the ante in terms of difficulty on co-op, so there are several spots throughout the game where killing 30 or more enemies is possible.

As far as the type of joint strike is concerned, the Clash Blast is probably your best bet. Since the Side Shot and Chain Lightning fire between the two planes, using these Joint Strike attacks require that you either circle the 30 planes or that they fly between you. The Clash Blast can be used independently of the other plane and can cover a good portion of the screen.

The Clash Blast functions very similarly to that of the Big Bomb but requires that you press and hold B to fire it. If you tap B a small burst will fire on the cross-hairs. If you hold B longer the cross-hairs get much bigger and can cover most of the playing field. Hold B until you max out the size and let it go. In a busy area you should get this achievement very quickly.

6. Sharpshooter
Description: Get a 90% or better accuracy rating.
Gamerscore Worth: 10G
How to Earn: Very easily obtained on the first level in either Single Player or co-op. I'm fairly certain this refers to the amount of enemies killed versus shots fired/shots hit as the description implies. If you are having trouble with this achievement consider grabbing two of the Speeder power ups to cover more ground.

7. Blitz
Description: Complete the game on the Wing King difficulty setting.
Gamerscore Worth: 10G
How to Earn: Probably the hardest achievement in the game. As the description states this must be done on the hardest difficulty. The rest of the achievements can be knocked out on Penguin but for this one, you are going to have to up the difficulty. If you haven't played it, Wing King drops your lives down to 1, versus 9 for Penguin, 5 for Slick Steve, and 3 for Dragon Fly.

This achievement is much easier if you are able to get at least an A Rating on all of the bosses. If you can manage an S Rating without dying, even better. Gaining a higher rating means higher points, and will result in Extra Lives at every 500,000 points.

In addition to Extra Lives gained through points, there are also 1Ups throughout the game. The first one is roughly about half way through Level 2 shortly before the Clocktower. This one seems to spawn depending on the amount of tanks and planes that you shoot in this section. If you kill enough of both, a single plane will spawn as red amongst the wave that crosses from right to left.

The second one is in Level 3 just before Poseidon and can be grabbed by killing a series of Red Planes that swoop in from the right side.

The third is right in the beginning of Level 5. A wide V of planes will dip down the top center and quickly swoop back up again. If you are quick enough you should be able to grab all of these.

Between the 1 Ups and Extra Lives for every 500,000 points, this is a very doable achievement.

8. Fangs Out
Description: Defeat all of the bosses with an A rating in one play-through.
Gamerscore Worth: 10G
How to Earn: Seems really challenging when you first play the game, but is actually really easy to do once you identify the Dead Zones for each of the bosses. The Dead Zones are basically areas for each of the bosses that you can hit their weakspot but they can't hit you. In essence you fly right to the Dead Zone and hammer away on the Fire Button. I'll discuss these Dead Zones in the next section but be warned, once you learn about them, much of the challenge associated with the bosses goes out the window. They die really quickly and more often than not you come out pretty much unscathed. So--avoid reading the Boss S Ratings Cutoff section (See "Padlocked" achievement description) if you are new to the game and don't want the boss strategy spoiled.

As far as Co-op versus Single Player for this achievement and "Padlocked", it seems like the bosses are harder to kill on Co-op.

9. Padlocked
Description: Defeat all of the bosses with an S rating in one play-through.
Gamerscore Worth: 25G
How to Earn:
First off, there are two things to keep in mind when going for time on each of the bosses. By and large--you don't have to kill every part of the boss as the introduction screen tends to indicate. Each boss has a "weak spot" of sorts and attacking it full force will lead to a hasty death. With the exception of Posioden, you do not have time to kill everything (with Posioden you have to kill everything except for the smaller turrets in the third section).

Secondly, for each of the bosses you should try to come in with Full Health or very close to it. Having Full Health basically helps you keep your Double Weapon Powerup longer. If you realize that you are low on Health and there are no Health Power ups coming, I recommend allowing yourself to die when you see a Weapon Powerup on the screen. This will allow you to regain your Double Weapon status and "replenish" your health while you are at it. (I know it sounds odd that I would recommend killing yourself but getting more ammo on target for more time brings the bosses down a lot faster).

Third, save your Missiles toward the end of the level so that you have a full compliment of 8. Try to use the Big Bombs to keep yourself from taking damage if absolutely necessary. I say this because the Big Bombs quickly loose their usefullness once you find that the boss can't hurt you in it's Dead Zone. Strangly enough they even seem to take more time than the damage that they deal out. For certain bosses like Bodan, you may not have time to fire any of your Big Bombs to reach the S Rating cutoff.

Forth, come into the boss fights with Double Weapons. Any of the Double Weapons will do, so use whatever you are comfortable with. Most players seem to prefer the Double Laser so definitely give them a shot. As far as my personal best times are concerned, I did best with the 6-Shot (two 4-Shot upgrades.) The Double Laser "felt" and "looked" like it was doing more damage but seemed to take longer on the bosses for some reason.

Fifth, choose a plane that works best for you. For most people it seems like the Mosquito is the way to go. It has the highest amount of Health--meaning that you will keep your Double Weapon longer (or may not die at all), and it has the highest amount of Power--meaning that your Main Weapon will do more damage. It is the slowest of the three planes but if you work the Dead Zones that I discuss in the next section, you won't have to dodge as much as you might imagine.

Ok so lets talk about the bosses.

Bodan. S Rating Cutoff: 0-13 seconds.
Strangely enough Bodan is the hardest boss to get an S Rating on. His S Rating cutoff is so tight that you really don't have time to do much of anything aside from hammer A and B if you hope to finish him off in 13 seconds. Ok so, lets talk about the Dead Zone that I mentioned earlier. Bodan's Dead Zone is towards his nose right above the large turret that fires the large indestructible heat seeking shells. If you fire while above this turret you'll notice that Bodan's fuselage lights up. This is his "weak spot" and is really the only spot that you have to "kill". The other sections do not have to be killed and quite frankly you really don't have time to do so.

As soon as you can control your ship again fly straight to the tip of the tail and start hammering on your main weapon. Once Bodan starts flashing (he seems to be invulnerable for a sec) double up with your thumb and hammer A and B until all of your Missiles are gone. If you position yourself correctly the missiles will heat seek straight to the center fuselage but will take out the two tail gunner turrets on the way. Taking out these turrets makes it a bit easier to dodge bullets later on.

Next just focus on hammering A and strafe up and down to avoid the sets of 3 big yellow balls from the wing tips. If you can avoid dying you should hit your time with several seconds to spare. Once he dies, you can crash into the nose of Epsilon if you want to check your time. If you feel confident, proceed on with grabbing the medals but keep in mind this might be time consuming if you continue to miss your time by a second or two.

If you don't hit your time, restart the game. Fortunately this is the toughest boss so if you can nab the S Rating on Bodan (after restarting a couple times if need be) you should be good from there on out.

Dagmor. S Rating Cutoff: 0-26 seconds.
Alright so Dagmor's Dead Zone is basically right dead center of his main turret. From here you can hammer away on and for the most part not get hurt. The only thing that you'll have to watch out for is the little turrets that will fire inward at you. The time is tight but not nearly as tight as Bodan so feel free to fire 2-3 of your Big Bombs to take out the small turrets.

With the smaller turrets gone, there isn't much that is going to touch you here in the center. Hammer away on A as usual. Once he starts flashing double up on A and B until your Missiles are gone. Once they are used up continue in as usual. If you die--it's not a huge issue (if you are on Penguin you'll have plenty of lives so don't panic). If you die grab your Weapon Power-up, double up on A and B again and by now he should be pretty much finished.

Poseidon. S Rating Cutoff: 0-1 minute 11 seconds.
Poseidon is a little bit different than the rest of the bosses because you have to kill just about everything. (I say just about everything because the boss won't advance unless the first two sections are completely dead. You can skip the mini turrets in section three however). There are still 2 Dead Zones but -just- hanging out in them (as you did with the other bosses) isn't going to completely finish him off.

The first section is a series of two smaller turrets and two larger turrets. I basically start on one side and work my way to the other (usually right to left). I'll throw in a few Missiles to speed it up but try to save at least 4 of them for section two. There is a mini Dead Zone of sorts above the larger turrets here, but watch the other turret if you are hanging out above one of these, it may swing around and shoot you.

Section two is basically two small turrets, two rocket launchers, and a turret on the bridge of the ship. Use up the rest of your Missiles here and try and knock out the little turrets quickly. The rocket launchers aren't that big of a threat so knock them out next and then proceed to the turret on the bridge. Right above this turret is the first Dead Zone. If you sit right above it, you can hammer away on A and the turret (for the most part) shouldn't really hit you. This is one Dead Zone where Double Lasers seems to hit more of the weak-spot than the other weapons. If you are using the other weapons (I personally use the 6-Shot) you are going to need to slide down a hair farther to get bullets on target. Hopefully Poseidon still won't be able to reach you.

Section three is basically one really big turret and four smaller turrets. Since you have quite a bit more time here, fire off any Big Bombs if you got them to finish off the smaller turrets. If you don't finish off the smaller turrets, its not a huge issue, once you make it to this section, Poseidon will die even if you just focus on the main turret.

Once some or all of the mini turrets are dead (if you choose to kill them), proceed to the next Dead Zone--right above the mini turret on top of the really big turret. The really big turret obviously can't hit you here, the smaller one will pepper you from time to time depending on the movement of the ship but if you adjust accordingly you should be able to sit right above this turret without taking much damage. If you manage your resources well this should be an easy S Rating boss.

Dagmor Sigma. S Rating Cutoff 0-1 minute 2 seconds.
Dagmor Sigma is really almost identical to Dagmor in terms of strategy. Fly right to the Dead Zone above the turret Hammer A until it flashes and double up on A and B. Sigma has a couple more stages (rockets, fire, bullet rain etc.) so don't give up if he seems to take longer that his predecessor. You may die here but it's ok. Grab your Power up and proceed in as before. If you can maintain your Double Weapon long enough you should be able to finish him off well within the cutoff range.

Bodan Epsilon. 0-1 minute 5 seconds.
I'm kind of embarrassed to say it but Bodan Epsilon probably has the biggest Dead Zone of all the bosses. His Dead Zone is similar to Bodan's in that it is right between the three turrets on his nose. If you position the nose of your plane right at the tip of the barrel on the center turret, much of Epsilon's attacks won't be able to hit you. This center turret will fire, but it will fire at a later stage so keep that in mind. If it does fire you can position yourself a little farther towards Epsilon's nose to avoid taking damage.

The strategy is the same, hammer A until he flashes and double up on A and B. The only thing that you are going to want to do different here is "ride the crease" between the weak spot in the center of the fuselage and the two turret side panels on either side. It is possible to beat him with just riding the center but he seems to fall faster if you ride the crease and take out the two side panels while also damaging the center section. Most of Epsilon's attacks won't be able to reach you and as I mentioned previously you will never look at any of these bosses the same again.

10. Tiger
Description: Collect 30 medals.
Gamerscore Worth: 30G
How to Earn:
This is another fairly easy achievement. The easiest place to obtain this is probably at the end of Level 1 when Bodan Epsilon chases you. For once I actually recommend using the Shinden due to its maneuverability. If you hover just off the nose of Epsilon and react quickly, strafing left of right you should be able to grab this fairly easily. If you are having trouble, the Aircraft Carrier in Level 3 is another good candidate for getting over 30.

11. Shooter
Description: Complete the game with over 200,000 points.
Gamerscore Worth: 30G
How to Earn: This achievement says "Complete the game with over 200,000 points" and seriously there isn't much more to it than that. Even if you totally bomb the boss times you should still net close to 1,000,000 points by the end of the game. I'm actually surprised they didn't increase this threshold because I'm not even sure its possible to beat the game with less than 200,000. :-/ As far as Single Player or Co-op is concerned for this achievement, it seems as if only the host gets this achievement at the end of the game if you are playing online. So either grab this in Single Player or host your own Xbox Live Co-op match.

12. Combat Ace
Description: Complete the game with over 2,000,000 points.
Gamerscore Worth: 40G
How to Earn:
This sounds really high at first until you start getting better times on the bosses. Better boss times and higher ratings equal higher bonus points at the end of the level. To get this achievement you have to be able to get at least an A Rating on all of the bosses. Getting an A Rating will net you close to 2,000,000 points by the end, getting an S Rating will net you somewhere over 3,000,000 points. Grabbing lots of power ups, medals, and working the multiplier will get you over 4,000,000 points. Again, as far as Single Player or Co-op is concerned for this achievement, it seems as if only the host gets this achievement at the end of the game if you are playing online. So either grab this in Single Player or host your own Xbox Live Co-op match.