XOP Black Ultra (c) Christopher Emirzian

E-mail : udderdude000@hotmail.com
Web    : http://rydia.net/udder/prog/xopblack/

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Main Menu

Arcade/EX    : Switches between Arcade and EX courses.
Game Start   : Starts a new game.
Score Attack : Brings up the Score Attack screen.
Extras       : Brings up the Extras screen.
Options      : Brings up the Options screen.
Scores       : Brings up the highscore listings.
Credits      : Shows the XOP Black cast and crew.
Quit         : Quits XOP Black

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Controlling XOP Black

XOP Black will set the first joystick it finds as your control by default.
If it doesn't find a joystick, it will use the keyboard.
Even if the joystick is being used, the keyboard controls will still be useable.

Keyboard controls

Arrow Keys=Up, Down, Left, Right
Z=Fire 1
X=Fire 2
C=Fire 3
V=Fire 4

ESC=Return to Main Menu
Screen Shot=F12

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Playing XOP Black

Fire 1=Shoot

Fires your primary weapon.  Tap for wide shot, hold for straight shot.
If there are any enemies behind you, this will fire a small backshot.

Fire 2=Reflect shield

The reflect shield creates a shockwave that reflects enemy bullets, making them move in
the opposide direction and harm enemies.  You get 3 uses of this per life.

Fire 3=Auto-fire

Auto-fires your primary weapon.  You will always get wide shot using this.
Tap for single large shot, useful for picking off single enemies.

Fire 4=Speed Boost

You will move faster while this button is held down.

DAL: 

When you destroy some enemies, they'll drop DAL coins for you to grab.
For every DAL you grab, the amount of points you get from them increases.
You can see the DAL combo in the upper right corner of the status bar.

Proximity Bonus:

If you destroy an enemy close to you, you will get more points for killing them.
The higher your DAL combo is, the more points you'll get from the proximity bonus.

Rapid Kill Bonus:

Destroying many enemies quickly in rapid succession will give more points.

Completing a level:

Once you defeat the stage boss, you will go to the end level screen.
Here, you'll get bonuses based on stage performance.

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Score Attack

In Score Attack mode, you can play any level in XOP Black with 5 lives.
There is one highscore for each level.

BOSS is the Boss Attack mode, where you fight all the bosses in a row.
Your DAL combo will not reset after defeating a boss.

TLB is the True Last Boss Attack mode, where you fight the two True Last Bosses, and one
special True Last Boss after.  Good luck!

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Game Modes

XOP Black has several alternate game modes.

In Original mode, Scrape bullets to build up your overdrive meter, then press Fire 1+Fire 4 to activate it.
  While in overdrive mode, you'll get 2x the DAL coins from any enemies you kill.

In Maniac mode, all enemy shots are 1.5x faster.
  There are less enemy shots in total.

In Massacre mode, there are twice as many enemies, but you get 2x the firepower.
  Any large single enemy or boss/midboss will fire at you with more intensity.
  Scoring is chaining based.  Chain timer goes down slower on higher skill levels.

In Cancel mode, all shots an enemy has fired will be turned into DAL coins when it is destroyed.
  If an enemy is destroyed while it does not have a certian amount of shots it's fired
  on the screen, it will get really angry and explode in revenge bullets.  Beware!
  Reflected shots instantly turn into purple DAL coins.

In Rank mode, the higher your DAL counter gets, the angrier the enemies get.
  With a DAL counter of 1500, enemies fire 1.5x as much.  At 2500, they fire 2.5x as much!
  When reflect shield hits shots in this mode, they drain your DAL counter and give you 10x points.
  Use a reflect shield when your DAL counter is over a certian amount, and you'll keep your reflect shield.
  Use a reflect shield when your DAL counter is maxed out at 2500, and you'll get a ton of points!
  DAL coins have half the attraction radius.
  Shots that hit enemies when you are close to them turn into DAL coins!
  When you die, you will release a wave of revenge bullets that turn into DAL when they hit enemies!

In Doom mode, all enemies fire 15% more rapidly and enemy shots move 15% faster at all times.
  When your DAL counter reaches a certian amount, it will reset to 0 and you will get a reflect shield.
  You can only have a max of one reflect shield in this mode.
  Reflect shields in this mode don't damage enemies unless they are large enemies.
  Reflected shots instantly turn into DAL coins and give 2000 points each.
  DAL coins have 2x the attraction radius.
  You get slightly increased firepower.
  Shots that hit enemies turn into DAL coins!

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Extras

The Extras menu allows you to play and record demos, and change various game options.

Record a Demo: Allows you to record a demo.
Record a Score Attack Demo: Allows you to record a score attack demo.
Play a Demo: Allows you to play back a demo

Simulate Lag: Turns simulated lag on and off.  Simulated lag slows the game down when there are
a lot of objects on the screen at once.  Turning this off makes the game much more challenging!

Show Music Info: Turns music info on and off.  When on, every time a new track plays,
you can see the title and artist at the bottom of the screen.

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Options

Sound       : Controls sound volume.  When set to 0, sound is disabled.

Music       : Controls music volume.  When set to 0, music is disabled.

Control     : Lets you set the control to joystick or keyboard.

Skill       : Chooses default skill level.

Game Mode   : Chooses default game mode.

Ship Speed  : Chooses default ship speed.

Auto Overdrive  : Changes auto overdrive setting.  When on, overdrive will activate
                  as soon as it reaches 100%.

Explosions  : Chooses amount of explosions and shrapnel generated by destroying enemies.
              You can reduce the amount of shrapnel generated, or turn up the explosions
              to ridiculous amounts!

Screen Res  : Allows you to change the screen resolution.

Scanlines   : Turns scanlines off or on.

Configure Controls : Lets you set keyboard/joystick buttons.
Test Resolution : Tests the currently selected screen resoltion.
Save Options : Saves the options you've set.  These are reloaded every time you start XOP Black.
Load Options : Loads the options from disk.
Set Default Options : Sets the options to the XOP Black defaults.

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Configure Control

This screen lets you change your button and direction input.

Set Default : Sets default keyboard/joystick configuration.
Set X-Arcade Defaults : Sets default configuration for X-Arcade sticks.
Change Speed Boost To Focus/Change Focus To Speed Boost: Switches Speed Boost to Focus.
Focus slows your ship down when you hold it.  This is more similar to other shooters
which have a button that slows your ship down instead of speeding it up.

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Increasing your survival rate

XOP Black is a challenging game, but there are ways to become better and more skilled!
Don't let those enemies get away with clobbering you, toast em all!

Use a gamepad: Even if it's a cheap pad with 4 buttons, it will still be better than
using your keyboard.

Ship's hit area: Your ship's hit area is very tiny, taking up a 2x2 pixel area in the
center of your ship.  Use this to your advantage - let bullets travel right through you, 
squeeze through narrow gaps in bullet patterns, but never let them touch the center!

Use the right weapon: Use wide shot when attacking groups of smaller enemies to 
kill more of them quickly.  Use straight shot when attacking bosses
and larger enemies to kill them faster.

Reaction time: Alot of the skill of the game is to be able to react quickly to incoming
fire.  Think up your strategies quickly, or you'll be toast before long!

Skill levels: If you are initally discouraged by XOP Black's difficulty, try playing on some of 
the easier skill levels and work your way up.

Never give up: It can take alot of practice to get good at a game like XOP Black .. if at first
you don't succeed, try try again ;)

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Increasing your score

There are several ways to get a better score in XOP Black :)

Grab more DAL: The more you grab, the higher your DAL combo will be.
When a large enemy dies, all the enemy shots on the screen will turn into DAL.
Use this to your advantage!

Kill enemies closer: You get a bonus for killing enemies that are closer to you.  This also
makes it easier to grab DAL.

Kill enemies in groups: You get a bonus for killing enemies in very rapid succession.
Blow them all away at the same time!

Shoot larger enemies/bosses up close: The closer you are to a large enemy while shooting at it
the more points you'll get.

Avoid Reflect Shielding: Every time you use a reflect shield, your DAL combo is cut in half.  Ouch!
Only use it if you are in trouble.

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Command Line Options

-nosound
  Disables sound.

-nomusic
  Disables music.

-nojoy
  Disables joystick detection.

-res X
  Sets screen resolution, replace X with 0,1,2 or 3

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History

XOP Black Revision 2 Changes

- Added EX1 level.
- Added Insane difficulty.
- Enemies can no longer collide with the player.
- Extra life bonus now scales with skill level.
- Two extra life bonuses added.

XOP Black Revision 3 Changes

- Added EX2 level.
- Extra life bonus added for completing level 4 on wave 1.
- Increased difficulty of later levels on lower skill levels.
- Added individual highscore tables for Extra game modes.
- Score attack lives reduced to 10.

XOP Black Revision 4 Changes

- Added EX3 level.
- Added 4 portals located in each of the 4 main levels.
- Flying into them sends you to a bonus area for 10 seconds.
- Decreased difficulty of hard skill mode.

XOP Black Revision 5/6 Changes

- Added EX4 level.
- Extra reflect shield awarded at end of each level.
- Score attack lives reduced to 5.
- Tweaked miniboss/boss shot patterns.
- Enemies fire slower, instead of removing bullets, on lower skill levels.

XOP Black Revision 7 Changes

- Added EX0 level.
- Added EX course, selectable from Main Menu.
- New Extra game mode - Cancel.
- Better Maniac/Sludge mode bullet generation.
- Major changes to most boss/miniboss shot patterns.
- Increased range of proximity bonus.
- Increased proximity bonus by 4x.
- Added Overdrive meter.
- Second loop removed from skill Insane.
- Reflect shield now turns enemy shots into purple DAL coins on skill Insane.
- Purple DAL coins give current DAL counter x2.
- Dying cuts DAL counter in half on skill Insane.
- Two extra reflect shields when clearing a level on skill Insane.
- One extra reflect shield per extend on skill Insane.
- Combo and Proximity bonus removed from skill Insane.
- 200m clear bonus for skill Insane.

XOP Black Revision 8 Changes

- Shots firing shots are now more aggressive on lower skill levels.
- Insane skill now available for EX course.
- Four extra r.shields when clearing an EX course level on skill Insane.
- Two extra reflect shields per extend on EX course, skill Insane.
- Enemies take increased damage from reflect shields on skill Insane.
- Extends set to 20m and 40m for skill Insane.
- Added secret boss for Arcade/EX course on skill Insane.
- Added TLB for EX course.
- Added TLB Rush to Score Attack.
- Added Rank extra game mode.
- Massacre mode RS invun enemies now shoot more.
- All levels now start with DAL counter based on skill level.
- Boss rush starts with DAL counter of 5000.
- Added enemies before miniboss in EX0.
- Removed some enemies from levels 2/3.
- All bosses now have timeouts.
- Extra modes no longer have overdrive meter.
- Overdrive meter charges faster.
- Overdrive meter resets on new level start.
- Overdrive meter no longer resets when dying.
- Tweaked miniboss/boss shot patterns.
- End level/game bonuses now scale with skill level.
- Removed accuracy bonus.
- Dying reduces DAL combo to 1/4 value instead of 0.
- Max object count increased from 2000 to 4000.

XOP Black Ultra Changes

- Added intro.
- Continues removed.
- Redesigned Demo record/play menu.
- Added automatic demo recording.  Not saved if player pauses.
- Added mode select to option select screen.
- Added display for skill/mode/course to score attack and highscore.
- End game bonus now appears on tally screen instead of intermission screen.
- Base extend value increased to 5m, 10m.
- Added extend for completing stage 3 on either course.
- Removed sludge mode, easiest skill, Frame Rate setting.
- Added ship speed option to Options menu.
- Added Focus option to Configure Control menu.
- Added Music Info option to Extras menu.
- Moved Extra Game modes to Options menu.
- Removed hitbox from Extras menu.  Hitbox is now always displayed.
- Renamed skill levels.  Insane skill is now Master skill.
- Master skill no longer has bullet count increase, instead all enemies fire 40% more rapidly.
- Reflect shields awarded for level clear removed on Master skill.
- Reflected bullets no longer turn into DAL on Master skill.
- Added proximity bonus, rapid kill bonus to Master skill.
- Beginner skill now has autobomb.
- Added Doom mode.
- Cancel mode now always turns refleced shots into DAL.
- Changed player ship sprite to better resemble end game art.
- Increased size of player shots.  Damage unchanged.
- Removed 2nd loop from arcade course.
- Arcade course is now 1st loop difficulty with firing rate increase.
- Shooting larger enemies up close now gives more points.
- Speed boost changed to percentage based effect.
- DAL coins created when a large enemy is killed now have 2x the attraction radius.
- Slightly increased attract radius of all DAL coins.
- Many enemies drop more DAL coins than before.
- Most larger enemies take more damage.
- All minibosses now self destruct.
- Minibosses and enemies that self destruct no longer create DAL coins.
- Larger enemies are less spread out.
- Miniboss shot patterns changed/added and each miniboss has 4 shot patterns.
- Boss shot patterns changed/added and each boss has average of 6 shot patterns.
- Added new background art to all levels.
- Added new enemy types to all levels.
- Added new level to Arcade course.
- Addex EX0 level to EX course, level extended in length with more enemies.
- Levels renamed.  Arcade course new level is level 4, previous level 4 is now level 5.
- Levels renamed.  Level EX0 is now level EX4, previous level EX4 is now level EX5.
- Special TLB removed from Master skill and turned into a miniboss in EX5.
- Added more boss music.
- Color pallete optimized.

XOP Black Ultra Online Highscore Changes

- Cancel mode simulated lag reduced by 10 FPS.
- Stage background brightness reduced.
- Added online highscores for specific difficulty/mode/set combinations.

01 - Advanced Original Set 1
02 - Advanced Original Set 2
03 - Expert Maniac Set 1
04 - Expert Maniac Set 2
05 - Advanced Massacre Set 1
06 - Advanced Massacre Set 2
07 - Expert Cancel Set 1
08 - Expert Cancel Set 2
09 - Master Rank Set 1
10 - Master Rank Set 2
11 - Expert Doom Set 1
12 - Expert Doom Set 2

- Added ability to save Extra settings.
- Added Smooth option.
- Added no borders mode to Extras menu.
- Added ability to browse highscore tables by using directional inputs.
- Removed Beginner skill.
- Expert skill now 10% more rapid enemy firing rate.
- Master skill now 5% less rapid enemy firing rate.
