Extermination (Japan)

Extermination (Japan) uses a simple, intuitive 2-way joystick and two-button control scheme that is easy to learn but hard to master: the joystick moves your starfighter across the screen, the first button fires your main weapon, and the second triggers a limited-use screen-clearing bomb that erases all on-screen enemies and projectiles instantly. To maximize your chances of beating all 8 stages, first prioritize collecting red modular weapon upgrades dropped by defeated medium-sized alien ships whenever possible: each upgrade stacks to boost your fire rate, shot spread, and damage output, and you only lose one stack per hit, so you never have to restart your build from scratch after a single mistake. For regular open stages, we recommend holding at least 3 stacks of the spread shot upgrade, as it lets you clear swarms of fast-moving small alien drones without needing to perfectly line up your shots. Switch to the concentrated laser upgrade, dropped by rare gold enemy ships that spawn once per stage, for all boss fights to deal maximum damage to their large hitboxes as quickly as possible. During all stages, keep your ship positioned in the lower third of the screen to give yourself maximum reaction time for incoming enemy projectiles and unexpected environmental hazards like falling debris that appears in stages 3 and 4. Every boss cycles through 3 core attack patterns: a wide spread shot barrage, a volley of homing missiles, and a full-screen charge attack. Dodge spread barrages by sticking to the far left or right edge of the screen, weave between homing missiles by making small, controlled movements, and move to the exact center of the screen to avoid charge attacks entirely. To earn a top spot on the high-score leaderboard, destroy every destructible environmental object you see: alien turrets and supply crates drop 500 to 2000 bonus points each, and collecting 10 rare gold coins hidden in crates across all stages unlocks a secret 10,000 point bonus at the end