Hints

First of all, if at first you're not having much success with Kobo Deluxe, don't feel bad about it! You're in good company. Kobo Deluxe is not a casual game! It is a hardcore retro style shooter - and a fast and unforgiving one at that.

Remember, everyone starts out losing countless ships - even the aces on the highscore list! You will need to try different strategies, and you will need to practice long and hard.

Below are some hints and strategies that may be of some help to all of you frustrated aspiring Kobo pilots out there.

Objectives

• Destroy all fortresses on a stage to complete the stage.
• Survive for as long as possible!

General

• Use the keyboard, or better, a serious digital joystick. Arcade control panels should work pretty well, but they're rather expensive, unless you buy separate joysticks and buttons and build your own control panel
• When controlling with the keyboard, use the arrows or the NumPad to control direction. Remember that there are diagonals! (Two directional keys at once, or 1/3/7/9 when using the NumPad.) Fire is on all CTRL and SHIFT keys.
• A fortress is destroyed by shooting it's core. (The yellow/purple ball in the middle.) No need to shoot all the blue nodes first, if you can get right at the core! Note that it's possible (required even, on a few maps) to navigate into bases.
• Shoot everything that moves! And everything that shoots back! And... Just shoot everything, ok? :-) Everything that blows up counts to your score, and at certain intervals, you get extra ships. (Yes, you'll need them.)
• Don't look too hard at individual enemies and stuff. Try to "just see" the whole screen. Some enemies and bullets move faster than you, so you can't escape by going the other way. You have to be prepared to dodge things from any direction at any time.
• When there's too massive resistance, try a more defensive approach! Many fortresses pump out large numbers of dangerous enemies when you get close, so just mowing them down may not work. Use the traditional hit'n'run strategy, at least for starters.

Enemies

• Just as tough as they look, they fire all sorts of stuff in all directions. They tend to show up if you hang around too long. If you don't like fighting these, get the job done quickly so you can advance to the next stage before they show up!
• Those @£$!#% bombs that float around and explode in your face... Knowing that they can't see very far diagonally might give you an edge, though! Try to take advantage of that by moving diagonally. This is easier if you fight the bombs in open areas where you can maneuver freely.
• These may appear relatively harmless at first, but after a while, they speed up and start circling and firing at your ship. Get out before the rings of bullets lock you in! Don't let too many of these ships fly around. Take a moment to hunt some down before you go back to attacking the bases.
• You will see various types of homing missiles. Some are fast, whereas others are quick at turning. Fortunately for you, it's pretty much either-or; none of them are both fast and nimble.
• Don't mistake these for missiles! These are fighters, and they can fire bullets in any direction. They might seem relatively harmless, but a bunch of them can put you in nasty cross-fire situation.
• Although these don't really do anything but float around, they can be very dangerous, as they're more or less indestructible. Your ship will be destroyed instantly if you fly into them!