You know, I have a gut-feeling that people will actually struggle when they are at 'Mission 3: Spaces of Evil'. So here are a few hints and tips to, hopefully, survive that mission.
- Shoot everything you see on sight, except the spiked barriers (they cannot be destroyed). So shoot the rocks, enemy spaceships and the missiles that come towards you. They will rack up your points so you'll earn a 1up faster (the missiles from the boss himself cannot be destroyed during the fight).
- Try to keep shooting all the time. Some things come flying towards you FAST!
- Some enemies will leave behind a health power-up. Don't pick them up if you don't need them yet! They won't disappear, so you can save them for later on during the mission.
- Try to stay in the middle-left of the screen. This way, you may have more reaction-time to avoid the spiked barriers. You never know where the hole in the spiked barrier is. Sometimes it's at the top of the barrier...but it can also be at the very bottom of the barrier. So when you stay in the middle-left of the screen, you'll have more time to get to the top or bottom of the screen. And when the hole appears in the middle of the barrier, then you're pretty much already there.
- When fighting the boss, KEEP MOVING while shooting! And when you reach his second phase, make sure that he is in front of you and then move down the screen while shooting him. This way, you can avoid his missiles. Remember, you cannot destroy his missiles. When you've reached the bottom of the screen, then go up the screen while shooting him and avoiding his missiles. And then you move down again. You get the idea.
I myself use these tactics and I may die once or twice during the mission (but that's probably also because I tested the mission so many times

). So yeah, you'll get better at it, eventually
