The first thing I've noticed is that you want to maximize your path through the game. Each stage has a certain score you're trying to achieve to earn a medal. Based on that, I'd try to avoid these ones:
Fortuna - If you're lucky, maybe you can max out at 70 or 80 points here? If you score 50 and keep your men alive, you'll earn that medal. There are four enemies in this stage worth 11 points each, as long as you take them out quickly.
Solar - I think you only need 100 points to medal. The thing is, flying too low keeps lowering your shield gauge (from the heat, not even enemy fire or crashing into solid objects). Most of the targets are just rocks, or areas where you need bombs for maximum damage.
Sector Z? - I could be wrong, but it's a stage I usually skip. You seem to be in "all-range mode" the whole time, but it's a very small area, and it seems like all you can shoot down are some missiles. Probably 100 points gets you a medal?
Ideally, you'd be able to visit ALL of these stages:
Meteo - If you take a special "warp" and skip the boss, you end up in this yellow-green area with plenty of bombs (one whole line where you can "somersault" [I'd say backflip] through about five of them). You need 200 for a medal, but I've pushed the score up to at least 255.
Zoness - It's on the hard path, and you need 250 points for a medal. Even if you don't medal, you'll probably finish with a score in the 200 range.
Sector 6 - I'm pretty sure that's what it's called. You need an amazing 300 points here to even earn a medal. My max score was going to be 344, but I'll probably get to that story in a bit.
"Backdoor" Venom - There are two ways to approach the final planet. This one bypasses most of the shooting and just presents you with four team members to shoot down (up to 51 points EACH), and a multi-stage boss, who can be worth Hit + 5, Hit + 5, and Hit + 10 (23 points). I'm pretty sure that level is capped at 227 points. If you try the direct approach ("easy" path), I've only scored in the 120 - 150 point range. Scoring 200 or more earns a medal, so I don't even know if you can earn the medal with the direct approach.
I did say it would be nice if you could visit ALL of those places in one run, right? The problem seems to be, you can only get to Meteo by taking the easy path (or qualifying for the hard path and manually switching). It might not be possible to play Zoness unless you're on the hard path. After I clear Meteo, it doesn't give me a choice (straight to Katina). Then, from Katina, I've only seen a choice of Solar or Sector X (with Sector X offering the best scoring potential).
These have been my two best scoring paths (medal points in parentheses):
Corneria (150) - Meteo (200) - Katina (150) - Sector X (150) - Macbeth (150) - Sector 6 (300) - "Backdoor" Venom (200) Total hits for seven medals: 1,300
Otherwise, I just take the hardest path, with one deviation:
Corneria (150) - Sector Y (150) - Aquas (150) - Zoness (250) - Macbeth (150) - Sector 6 (300) - "Backdoor" Venom (200) Total hits for seven medals: 1,350
I forget which path set my current record of 1,404. What I do remember is how my 1,391 run ended. I was at 333 points in Sector 6, having to face the boss. Since I didn't wear him down fast enough, the bonus dropped to Hit + 5 (instead of 11 points). Then, I went to Venom, and I must've been off my game, because I shot down two guys pretty fast, but the other ones took a while and weren't worth 51. I got 167 on that stage, instead of the 227. If you add in those 65 points to the other 1,391, I could've been at 1,456.
Even when I do set those high scores, I'm kind of OCD and wish I could finish the final boss without any broken wings. You actually have to fly in, defeat him, and then fly out again. I've even died a bunch of times at the part where you fly out of the chamber.
I think what's neat about this game is how they don't just make it "point and shoot." You probably could use a turbo controller (I have two generic ones for N64), but it might not help. There's a strategy where you're trying to get "Hit + _" bonuses, and that means "charged shots" (holding the A button) and locking on. The best scores I've seen on YouTube don't lock on most of the time. There's even a difference between where you lock on to maximize your score. You want to hit close to the middle of any ships that are flying in a close formation.
For me, high scores seem to be a little about bombs. In Corneria alone, I haven't really kept track of how many extra bombs you can earn, but it has to be at least four:
When you fly into the city, there's a bomb behind two closed doors.
You can keep flying through a bunch of the arches and make a bomb appear right near the checkpoint.
When you save Falco, there's a bomb near the satellite dishes.
Do a "somersault" through the first arch in the watery part, and get the bomb that appears from flying through the arch.
An enemy near the waterfall leaves a bomb.
You kind of get the idea, right?
The best stages for using bombs have to be Meteo (mostly the warp area) and Sector X. In the special part of Meteo, as I may have mentioned, there are sections where you basically bomb away and can replenish with a backflip, or bombs that keep spawning from you clearing the area of asteroids.
Sector X seems hard to medal unless you bomb the swarming guys at the beginning, and at least the "space mines" section.
I forgot to mention it, but Sector 6 also has a huge minefield. Once I'm finished bombing that three times, my score is around 90 or even 100.
On the hard path, Zoness is kind of the "Meteo" for that set of stages. The boss keeps shooting large green balls that explode to reveal a bomb. Plus, you'll keep bombing him as part of the attack pattern, revealing even more bombs. I'm usually leaving that stage with eight or nine bombs.
For whatever reason, Macbeth is the most tedious stage for me. I can usually medal almost every time by entering with a few bombs, or forfeiting a life to start fresh with three bombs. You can skip that boss (which seems to be the simplest way to medal, because of the 51 point bonus). If you do fight that boss, he's pretty annoying. I wonder if part of the boredom in that stage is also being in the tank, which doesn't seem to carry over any twin lasers that you had as a pilot, or an ability to upgrade the firepower. In the only submarine stage of the game, you either start with your laser upgrade, or you can get better lasers by powering up.
So, anyway, I'm not sure if that answers my title question. A score of 1,404 is like averaging almost 201 hits per stage. Considering how the average medal needs 150 hits, that's keeping it at that level or higher. I think I remember having 700 through four stages. Then probably 153 on Macbeth. Then, it would've been 551 points to end the game. When I first started playing this game again, I think the high score was 1,331, and 1,080 was enough to make the top 10. Not anymore! I have eight of the best scores (probably the entire top 5 and top 7). My brother Nick is still holding on with the other two. I think the 1,404 included SIX medals. I just missed a medal on Katina with 145.
I kind of wish they tracked high scores PER STAGE to compare those and see what would happen if you added the best ones together. Technically, you could reach Sector 6 with a kind of mediocre score and then go crazy for about 340 or 350, but I don't know now, with the scores that have dropped off the board. On Corneria, I think I max out in the 160s. Meteo should be 255. Sector Y, I'm just happy with 150. I can't tell how to run up the score on that stage. Aquas was 160 as I recall. A really good player on YouTube (we're talking 700 hits in Sector 6) scored 180 in Aquas, where there are no charged shots giving ridiculous bonuses. I know I've earned a medal in the normal Zoness (maybe not expert mode yet). Sector X can get up around 170 or 180. Macbeth, I think 166 is my personal best.
Pretty much, I wonder if I can ever get to 1,500. That would be pretty neat.
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