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- Naju Data Dump -
Fan-made lore and random junk on The Guardian Legend's many parts

WARNING: Data corrupted. Attempting restoration of files...
Text file size is very large - long infodump should be expected.
(in other words, wall of text up ahead)

Naju Surface Defense Grid

Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!

That's exactly how many sirens you get before getting face to face with the boss. You've bypassed everything that threatened you so far - asteroids, fighters, asteroids that spawn in a circle out of thin air, circle things that never seem to die, and turrets - and you're itching for a challenge. The boss of today: the defense grid. Hi there... okay, you're creeping us out, that's too many mechanical eyes staring at us today.

Although no points will be given to originality for this thing (oh come on, turrets? Every shmup has those), it certainly is a good start for the game, especially when it comes to the feel of the bosses. Naju's surface defense grid is a cluster of eleven [11] large turrets and four [4] small turrets. Each of them starts off spitting out one or two energy shards once every fourth opening with each one having its own blinking point. Although for all intents and purposes one can dodge these things pretty easily, it's either it will wear you down or you're inexperienced, so eventually you'll be in trouble...

...unless one actually bothers to shoot the bullets. This is the first point when it comes to The Guardian Legend's bosses, and maybe the whole game as well: you can destroy the bullets, one way or another. This turns the fight from a stream-fest to a shoot-fest where it's kind of like just fighting spawners spitting out infinite glowing things and dodging the occasional stray that manages to get through. Of course, even with that, at some point you're going to end up damaged, and one can only take so much punishment from the stage - which, mind you, is quite intense for a first stage - and the boss with only eight [8] hearts to spare, and with each shot taking away half a heart...

...wait, what are those glowing explosion-like things doing? Yep, that's the second point: anything that can be destroyed can spawn power-ups. It's random: sometimes you get a blue chip, sometimes a red chip, sometimes a heart, sometimes a tank-thing (which brings you from almost dead to full and has a new sound with it, as you find out later). So not only can you destroy the enemy's shots, you can also get stuff from them and the turrets that die. That's a definite change of pace from the usual shmup - it's already starting to look like someone put an RPG in a shooter here.

Anyways, destroy the turrets, and you find out that as the turrets explode one by one, the rest start firing faster to compensate.. Unfortunately for them, though, that's the best they can do - they can't regain the wide angle of attack that they had -  and eventually there will be a lone turret pathetically firing one or two bullets at you every opening. While you can destroy it and move on, it's a bit more interesting, though tedious, to sit in the right spot, leave something on the B button, and watch as every single last shot gets eaten up - oh, and each bullet is worth score.

Speaking of score, you probably got a refill along with a +1 to maximum health as you hit 30,000 points. Okay, now combine that with the farm you just made out of the lone turret, and do the math. No, not really: the intervals increase each time a milestone is reached, so eventually it gets a bit boring. Besides, the powerups still exist, and since the NES doesn't delete stacking powerups and does have an object limit, you're gonna have to collect something sooner or later when the turret decides to stop spitting.

Eventually, though, that last turret ends up dead, the screen flashes, a nice ditty plays and you move on. Hoo-hah, Corridor 0 complete!

Fun fact: I died twice to it the first time I played the game. Guess sometimes even wimpy bosses best you, yeah?

Oh, and this is the only time those turret sprites will appear in the game, ever. Enjoy them while they last: you won't see them ever again. Especially the larger ones: their corner-opening scheme is a nice change of pace. Plus, they kind of resemble the Protoss Photon Cannon (Starcraft reference, ho!).

Just sampling my write-ups for... pretty much everything in the game. I'll be making more if you approve.

Hmm, okay then.

Would you be interested in a (rather long) infodump? Because that's exactly what I intend to do.

EDIT: Just finished the entire game again today. 2,147,320 score, died 8 times (once due to stupid errors in exploring Area 1 after finishing Corridor 11, three times with that stupid bouncing leech in Area 3, two times with Blue Optomon in Corridor 3, and one more time with yet another leech, this time in Area 4).

Hah, while before I had trouble with Fleepa and absolutely feared that Blue Optomon, now I'm just dancing past the former and just having a bit of stubbornness from the latter.

EDIT mk 2: Did I say Blue Optomon? I meant Green Optomon, gah! It's the one with the slow and fast lasers and that's in the jungle! Oopsie.

Yeah, watched a good chunk of it.
So far, it's still in need of a lot of work on... pretty much everything, actually.

Like, say, taking advantage of the widescreen format.
Or improving the music remix.
Or even completing the sprite remaking.

The trench eyes going in curved lines is neat, though.
So is Fleepa's new style of attack - I like that, spicing up bosses.

Overall, it just feels like the game was redone in widescreen.

Anyways, I think this might deserve a topic of its own.

Hmm.
So that's why, haha.
They're having trouble on "visit Blue Lander two lefts from the corridor room four times"?
But then again, Japanese versus Russian, so understandable overall.

Also, there's a lot of stuff that hasn't been discussed yet - but I guess most of those are just other stuff answered by other guides already. Gonna write stuff, though.

Oh wow he's trying to remake it? Good luck to him 

No... not really. To be honest, it only took me two weeks at most to explore both the original game and TGL mode.

Glad to see someone else here, though.
Oddly enough, I don't hear much in the way of people having trouble with Blue Optomon, though that was for me the most nightmare-inducing of them (yes, Red Grimgrin included). Is it because it's only hard for its early-game slaughtering?

[It]

No! Not yet! The one chance... the optimizer... use... it.

Slammed full tilt into Naju at an unspecified time in 2014.
Unconscious for months.

Awakened only sometime in August 2014, Sol Standard Calendar.
Interface used: Jnes.

Destroyed Naju and escaped It over the course of about six to eight two-hour sessions.
Discovered Guardian haven on the fifth awakening cycle.

Found haven in state of disarray.
Primary objective: restore to functional form.

Transmission decrypted.

"Well, it's a mess that I see over here... might need to fix that up.
Anyways, greetings to all of you fellow Guardians.
Name's Req4boxes, but you can call me Req if you so wish.
I've gone by many names: Xterminion, [][][][], Eliokian...
If you recognize one of them, good for you.

I came here mostly because I've been properly conquered by The Guardian Legend.
Thing just became the second game I've fully played using an emulator - and yes, that includes TGL mode.

Proof: I had a score of 2,235,030 at the end, a maximum of 6000 chips, and I once tried to Seeker It before resorting to doing the in-your-face again with the Saber Laser. And yes, there is an exact spot wherein It cannot claw you or hit you with its hideous visage, only with Its projectiles.

I fear Blue Optomon, Red Grimgrin, and the first... skull (Eyegore?). Blue Optomon because he has the slow and fast seaweed lasers, and I didn't have Fireball then. Red Grimgrin because seriously that thing takes forever to die and never lets up. Eyegore the First because skulls hurt more than front lasers or nails for some stupid reason.

Anyways, I'm here for whatever you have... which might not be all that much, judging from now. But then again, who knows.

There's always change on the horizon. See you around, Guardians."