Ave Fenix (Laguna, Spanish bootleg of Phoenix)

First, familiarize yourself with Ave Fenix’s simple core controls: use the 2-way joystick to move your ship horizontally left or right across the bottom of the screen, and the single fire button to launch laser shots upward at incoming enemies. You only have one shot on screen at a time, so timing your shots carefully is far more effective than spamming the fire button. For the first two stages, which feature small, fast-moving alien bird enemies, stick to the far left or right edge of the screen 70% of the time, only moving to the center when a wave of diving enemies is heading directly for your edge position. These small birds fire scattered, slow-moving projectiles, so you can easily dodge them by moving 1-2 positions left or right right after you see a shot launch. Save your movement for avoiding incoming fire instead of chasing enemies, as enemies will cycle across the screen on their own if you wait. In stages 3 and 4, you will face larger phoenix enemies that can split into two smaller, faster creatures when hit once. Never shoot a phoenix when it is directly above you, as the split creatures will dive straight down at your position almost instantly, giving you almost no time to dodge. Instead, aim for phoenixes that are positioned toward the left or right third of the screen, so when they split, their dive path will miss your default edge position. For the final mothership boss fight, focus first on shooting out the 4 outer shield segments on the left and right of the ship before targeting the center core. The mothership fires large, slow-moving energy blasts every 3 seconds, so time your shots to fire right after a blast is launched, then move slightly to avoid the next one. One unique quirk of the Laguna Ave Fenix bootleg is that you earn an extra life every 8,000 points, instead of the original Phoenix’s 10,000 point threshold, so prioritize hitting every enemy you can safely reach to stack extra lives before the boss fight.