I actually don't use the weapon upgrade. I'm the outlier

Same. 

What does defense do? I just try not to get hit at all, since the energy alarm is constantly blaring anyway, I'm usually in a one hit scenario.

It makes you lose less energy when getting hit.

Ok,that's what I thought. Thank you. and the "pow", what does that do?  What about when you hit the "pow" until it turns into that scuba tank looking icon? 

POW refills energy. Shoot it a few more times and it turns into a weapons upgrade. Then keep shooting it and it turns into a bigger energy refill.


 

^ ok, cool. Thank you.

Anybody else get the two lil buddies flying with them? That was fun. How did I lose them?

I'm truly impressed with all of these stellar scores. I've topped my latest (waiting to update), but only by about 10,000 measly points, and I haven't been able to beat the third level boss yet. And it's hard for me to do many attempts with my hand cramping up so bad. All you iron fists are this week's heroes.

Yes I got them too and I think they go away after sustaining too much damage.  Just my theory.  I did have them for several stages I believe though.

 

Updated score 471,800.

Which is ironically the same number of game over screens Richardhead has in trying to beat my previous score.

Yeah, those are really helpful if you can hold on to them for multiple stages. I think you lose them after getting hit a few times.

Ya, I had them through three or four stages. Must have got hit. 
 

863,400

I've made it past stage 8 a couple of times now, and stage 9 isn't any easier.

The difficulty becomes extreme by stage 8 and doesn't seem to let up. By that point I'm using lightning just to survive enemy onslaughts during the stage itself.

After updating my score, I decided to keep playing and ended up getting to stage 22 (there are 24 total) before I called it a day. I've beaten this before, but the last three mission are ridiculously tough. Has anyone else tried playing through the rest of the game?

Not true buttwipe! I've been working 13 hour days in Wyoming. You're lucky I'm away from my NES and have to play on my PSP. I'll get a few runs in tonight to kick your ass! And remember.... Next time pull out !
 

I thought about doing this on my next attempt (which might be later today).  I'll have to let you know how I fare!

 

Good luck! If you make it to the final mission (24), don't give up because there's no password for that level. I'm not sure if there's a bug in the password system or what, but the last password you get is for mission 23, so you'll have to play through it all over again in order to get another shot at the final stage.

 

I want to properly contribute so badly, as this is one of my all time favorite NES games(it was the first game my brother and I owned when we got the NES in '89). I'm in the middle of a big move, and all my proper gaming stuff is boxed up, waiting for my new game room/man cave to be painted. I can just use an emulator on my work PC, but it's just not the same.

Regardless, I'll go for at least participation during a lunch break today or tomorrow. Damn I can't wait to get my games unpacked!

938,400

I'm breaking my own rule about just doing one try.  I got some time to put in another attempt much better than before!

Yuh-huh!

No, but I probably will inevitably.  Gotta check it off my list

 

I might try to complete it after the contest is over. Honestly this is one of the most engaging vertical shmups that I've played in awhile. It has more strategy and depth than usual for this kind of game.

 

I've beat it for the yearly "Can NA beat every NES game" thread a few times. It's a real mofo with no turbo. The trick isn't to press the fire button as fast as you can, but to just keep up a continuous rate. As long as bullets are constantly being shot from your plane, you can just worry about dodging incoming enemies/bullets. The Shotgun upgraded twice is a MUST.

Another wrinkle added to this storyline

 

I got a run in before the basketball games started and I might have actually had a shot at a million point score if it wasn't for that plane at the end of mission 9. I had 940k going into the fight and I got hit by one of its spread bullets right at the exact same time that I shot it down.