But the Gummy missions are fun! :P

Tons of! But Hunter-X is a royal bitch and going through the Highways gets old, trying to kill that ONE STUPID SPEEDER...

Completing (S rank) all the missions isn't hard, except for the 3rd one on Dreadnought. Collecting all the items, on the other hand . . .

Yeah, S rank is easy with a properly built Gummi, but the items are a PAIN. Particularly the Highways.

Really? I actually had more problems with the Island ones.

The Highway ones I went through half a dozen times, trying to kill the Reaper's Wheel quick enough to get the item-carrying Speeder to generate. What annoyed me more than anything is how arbitrary its generation seemed to be.

Hmm, maybe I should consider digging up Ogre Battle.

I think I just got lucky once, I'm fairly sure I have 100% items on the Highway ones. Have you tried using a laser-heavy setup? My main problem with the wheel enemies is that it's not always immediately obvious which bit of them you're supposed to be attacking until you get a lockon.

OB's a good game.

I built a laser ship, but it always gives me trouble. I prefer all-cannons when I can get away with it.

Yeah, I was rereading about it and now I'm all enthused. I remember I kept the SNES one out of a Blockbuster for two weeks straight, trying to beat it...

Ah? I usually use a auto-laser (I'm forgetting which those were, Comet maybe?), Gravity, Thunder setup with a lot of glowsticks to boost power. I find the lasers to be handy because you don't need to be in front of the stuff you're trying to hit.

PS version's better, though in both the graphics are a bit dated.

Mostly it was the targeting for normal lasers, since the Ultima had the six-lock-on ability, but for some reason it couldn't fire.

I never needed to be in front of anything to hit it with my cannons, the way I had mine set up. Blizzagas, Gravigas, and Teeny Ships set to rotating Active Formation. Wiped out everything.

~takes notes~

Pfft, you want to know the secret of Gummi ship construction? They're few and easy:

1. Power. Power is your god. Get as much power on that sucker as you can.

2. If you're using cannons, Graviga and the Gummis in that line. Slap on a couple Blizzagas for wide coverage. No Gummi really does more damage than any other, on a shot-by-shot basis, because that's dictated by power.

3. Abilities: Draw and Medal Converter. If using a laser ship, Cost Converters. If a cannon ship, Active Formation and Formation Switch.

3. Again, if using cannons, Teeny ships with cannons, maybe an autofire laser, *Impact Gummis!!*, and the rotating formation, set to Active. These things will circle huge swaths around you, decimating all they blast or touch. Teeny Gummis also become sickly powerful and aggressive when in hyper mode.

I actually didn't find Ultima to be as good as putting a couple of the auto ones on, since Ultima cost a lot. What I meant about not having to be in front of things is that during the 3rd set of missions lasers will hit things behind you if you don't have quite enough time to turn around.

Also found Draw etc to be kind of redundant, and Medal Converter's only particularly relevant when going for like S+5. Laser/Cannon boosts! :P

And I'd sacrifice some Power in the basic construction (cockpit etc) for speed. Stuff like the Big Bridge is good but it makes you move like molasses. The glowsticks are good for it though.

I suggest Draw because it really helps in not having to chase down points and medals all across the screen. Since I tend to use cannons my basic strategy involves whipping across the screen with dashes to blow the holy heck out of everything there. The disadvantage of this combination dodge-attack is that one tends to be far away from the points and medals when they reach collection range. I use Medal Converter to get to hyper mode faster, because hyper mode makes pretty much any Gummi mission a breeze, particularly with Teeny Ships along.

I usually put a boost on, but considering how much power the ships usually have, more than one is a bit of overkill. Almost everything that won't go down that quick is a huge stage thing you can ram with an Impact Gummi, or better yet, a Teeny Ship with an Impact Gummi.

Definitely agree on the Cockpit thing; mathematically the bubble-dome one is the most efficient (power gained per speed lost), and while speed isn't *all* that necessary, you can stick so many neon items on the thing that there's no reason to sacrifice it.

As I found out while poking at the game at a friend's house, your (US version) controller setup, with X being Fire and Circle being Dodge, is much more conductive to bunny hopping than mine, which does it the other way around. I tend to value speed more because it's harder for me to be continuously dodging while firing.

I haven't actually used the Impact Gummies that much, probably something I'll look into later. The Active Formation Teeny ships (especially if it's Active + circle formation) make such a huge difference when you get them though.

Yeah, I can imagine that DOES work a lot better for me than for you. I can see why you'd stick more maneuverability on. Though really, a few wing gummis provides enough for my purposes. Mathematically all wings and all Aeros are equal.

Impace Gummis are most useful on Teeny Ships, where they can waste huge numbers of things just by crashing into them. Still, I always put one or two on the front of my ship if I can (aesthetics is a cruel mistress), since really huge things will go down pretty much in one hit from them. They're not always useful, but cheap bang for the buck.