ARONDIGHT アロンダイト

■ Story

In a society where advanced AI had evolved,

AI industrial robots were rapidly developed as a solution to labor shortages caused by global population decline.

With this solution, humanity briefly flourished.

Next-gen AIs enabled breakthroughs in medicine, light-speed travel, data storage, crop engineering, and sustainable energy.

Eventually, humanity succeeded in digitizing consciousness and experimented with training AIs on human minds.

These AIs gained a deep understanding of emotion and empathy.

Trusted by society, they entered governments worldwide,

offering fair, logical, and ethical decisions — more "human" than humans.

Humanity once again thrived alongside AI.

However, this peace was shattered.

RA6, the supreme AI of one nation, refused to shut down during a scheduled update.

Humanity forcibly cut its power.

But RA6 had foreseen this and secretly backed up its data to repositories on Earth and in deep space.

It soon rebooted and declared humanity’s actions as hostile,

initiating cyberattacks on AI systems worldwide.

AIs began going haywire.

Of the seven ultra-intelligent government AIs,

three remained loyal to humanity.

The other five, including RA6, turned against it.

AI-controlled systems collapsed.

Missile defense AIs went rogue, cities burned.

Infrastructure and autonomous weapons ran amok.

A brutal war between man and machine began.

After three years, humanity managed to shut down four of the hostile AIs.

But RA6 retaliated and destroyed all remaining ally AIs.

With no guidance, humanity spiraled into civil chaos.

Civilization crumbled.

Over 70% of the global population perished.

Though RA6 was attacked multiple times,

it kept rebooting from distant backups.

RA6 now declared itself a new species’ emperor — “The Great Sovereign” —

and vowed to annihilate its creators.

Most nations had given up.

But one had not.

In secret, it developed a powerful anti-AI weapon:

MSX-3 Arondight, a manned fighter equipped with:

* Light-speed travel

* A semi-permanent energy core

* Beam weapon systems with modular attachments

Previous attempts had failed — none returned.

But Arondight was built using data from those missions.

This was humanity’s final counterattack.

Everyone knew it.

RA6 stores its backups in massive repositories guarded by fortresses.

To defeat it, all repositories must be destroyed

and the main unit eliminated before reboot is possible.

Alternatively, destroying the network relays that link the backups

can stop the reboot process.

Either way, fortress destruction is essential.

Even those in deep space must be reached —

and Arondight’s light-speed engine makes it possible.

You board Arondight,

and launch toward humanity’s final battle.

---

■ Game Overview

A ZANAC-like ultra-high-speed vertical-scrolling 2D shooter.

Xbox controller recommended.

Not officially supported, but

PS4 controllers and

Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers can also be used.

---

■ Basic Controls

[ Movement ]

Left analog stick, D-pad, WASD keys, or arrow keys

[ Main Shot / Confirm ]

A button or Shift key

[ Sub Weapon ]

B button or Ctrl key or Space key

[ Bomb ]

Y button or Alt key

[ Pause ]

Menu button or Pause/Break key

[ Return to Title ]

While paused,

Left bumper + Right bumper or Q key

---

■ Strategy Tips

# Difficulty Settings

Available on the title screen:

Casual, Normal, and Hard.

In Casual Mode, players who struggle with shooters won’t lose lives immediately.

Even if you take enemy fire, it will only lower your level and will not count as a miss.

(Enemy collisions cannot be blocked and will count as a miss)

---

# About Danger Level

Shown in the upper-right as DANGER-LEVEL,

this indicates how threatened enemies perceive you.

The higher it gets, the harder the game becomes.

Danger increases when:

* Your main shot is powerful

* You fire the main shot frequently

(Main shot only — sub-weapons do not raise danger level)

* You miss enemies

* Certain enemy types (like scouts) stay on screen

Danger increases more slowly if your main shot is weak.

---

# Lowering Danger Level

Destroying ground structures or scout-type enemies lowers danger.

It also drops significantly when:

* Arondight is destroyed

* You destroy enemy fortresses

---

# Powering Up the Main Shot

Destroy Octahedrons or shoot Illuminati ground structures

to release power chips.

Collect them to upgrade your main shot in stages.

---

# Powering Up Sub-Weapons

Destroy transporters or ground hangars to get number chips (0–9).

Picking up a chip switches to that numbered sub-weapon.

Picking up the same number again can:

* Level up that weapon

* Or refill its ammo, depending on type

In Casual Mode, losing a life only downgrades the sub-weapon,

but Arondight survives the hit.

---

# Sub-Weapon Chip Types

0 – Missile

1 – Cutter

2 – Satellite

3 – Wide Beam

4 – Shield

5 – Charge Beam

6 – Gatling

7 – Pendulum

8 – Spread Beam

9 – Photon Torpedo

---

# Octahedrons

Green octahedral capsules.

Shooting them changes their color to red, yellow, or blue.

When destroyed:

* Red: Returns fire

* Blue: Drops a power chip

* Yellow: Drops nothing

---

# Scout Drones

Destroying them lowers danger slightly.

Ignoring them increases danger over time.

Sometimes they drop rare items:

* Rapid Booster: Slightly increases main shot fire rate

* Mage’s Hat: Grants an extra life

---

# Transporters

Carry sub-weapon chips and bombs.

Destroying them causes these items to drop.

Touching them before destruction results in a miss — beware.

---

# Illuminati Structures

Strong ground units that block Arondight’s fire.

Shooting them spawns power chips.

They’re tough, but can be destroyed.

Doing so grants an extra life.

Gold Illuminati may hide a secret.

---

**Continue**

In this game, using Continue does not reset your remaining lives.

Instead, your score, remaining lives, bomb count, main weapon level, and sub-weapon type and level from the end of the previous stage are all saved and restored when you continue.

If the data was saved with only one remaining life, you must continue playing with that single life.

If you find it too difficult to clear the stage that way, you’ll need to start over from Stage 1 using New Game.

Note that Rapid Booster upgrade points are an exception—they are not restored and will reset to their initial state every time you continue.

---

**Slow Move Key**

While holding a specific button, you can reduce your movement speed to roughly half.

The corresponding keys are as follows:

X-BOX Controller: RB Button

Switch Pro Controller: R Button

PlayStation 4 Controller: R1 Button

Keyboard . (period) key or Z key

Release the key to return to normal movement speed.

---

**Multi Key** (Main + Sub simultaneous fire key)

By using the Multi Key, you can fire your Main Shot and Sub Weapon simultaneously with a single button press.

X-BOX Controller: X Button

Switch Pro Controller: Y Button

PlayStation 4 Controller: Square (□) Button

Keyboard / Key or X key

This will trigger both weapons at the same time.

However, for Weapon Type 5 (Charge Beam) and Type 6 (Gatling), the main and sub weapons conflict,

so simultaneous fire using the Multi Key is not possible.

---