SD GUNDAM: POWER FORMATION PUZZLE
System: Super Famicom
Developer/Publisher: Bandai (1996)
FAQ by Kelvin Koh
(25th September 1998)
Updated:
9th October - Major Revision
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Basics
3. Gameplay
4. Organizations
5. Tips/Notes
=====================================================================
1. INTRODUCTION
=====================================================================
SD Gundam: Power Formation Puzzle is a rare and little-known puzzle
game that is based on the SD Gundam series.
Power Formation introduces new gameplay elements that cannot be
found in your conventional puzzle game. To make things even more
attractive, Bandai has included a fairly large number of Mobile Suits
from the various Gundam series, starting from the first Gundam series
all the way up to Gundam W. Most of your favorite good/bad-guy MS are
here, so you are going to be pleasantly surprised!
Despite being over 2 years old now, Power Formation managed to grasp
my attention and kept me glued to the screen for hours! I feel that it
is quite an addictive game. Gundam fans will find the game very
interesting. ^_^
=====================================================================
2. BASICS
=====================================================================
[GAME OBJECTIVES]
The aim of the game is actually very different from other puzzle
games. (I did not know how to play when I first started!)
I will briefly introduce the game here; more will be explained later
below.
Near the top of the screen, you will see a small transport ship that
releases colored Blocks into your playing area.
Each player has his own war ship (which is can be seen in center of
his playing area) and the objective of the game is to see who destroys
his opponent's ship first.
In order to attack your opponent's ship, you will have to produce
Mobile Suits (MS) by piling up your Blocks as high as you can.
Depending on the number of complete lines you have formed, you can
choose when you want to produce your MS, and send them to attack your
opponent's ship. (The aim here is directly the opposite to that of
other puzzle games. Normally, you would have to prevent your playing
area from being completely covered by Blocks, but in this game, you are
competing against your opponent to see who can pile his Blocks higher!)
Besides this, you can also collect special P-Blocks which will also
enable you to perform certain special/assist moves, such as attacking
or repairing.
[BASIC CONTROLS]
{D-PAD} - Move your Blocks (press DOWN to speed up its fall.)
{Y BUTTON} - Attack 1
Produce a Mobile Suit (using the current number of lines you have made),
and send it to attack your opponent's ship.
{B BUTTON}- Stock
Produce a Mobile Suit (using the current number of lines you have
made), and keep it for use later. You can stock up to a maximum of 5
Mobile Suits.
{X BUTTON} - Attack 2
Send out the Mobile Suit that you have stocked to attack your
opponent's ship.
[TERMS]
There are only a few terms you have to know when reading this FAQ.
{LINES/ROWS}
- These refer to horizontal lines.
{COLUMNS}
- These refer to vertical lines.
=====================================================================
3. GAMEPLAY
=====================================================================
This section deals with how the game is played. The explanation can
be quite long and confusing, so it helps if you have tried the game
yourself first to get a good idea of how it is played.
[BUILD UP YOUR LINES]
As mentioned earlier, the objective of the game is to pile up as
many Blocks as you can; NOT destroy them!
That little transport ship at the top of screen will release colored
Blocks for you. The Blocks come in 4 colors: Blue, Red, Green, and
Yellow.
Placing 4 or more Blocks of the same color together (in any
arrangement) will cause these Blocks to be eliminated.
Placing 4 Blocks of completely different colors together (in any
arrangement) will also cause them to be eliminated.
When these Blocks are eliminated, any used P-Block touching them will
also be eliminated, leaving you more vulnerable.
After your Blocks disappear, your pile would be lowered, and your ship
will lose a bit of energy, so you wouldn't want that to happen!
If you try to place a Block on a column that has 8 Blocks already
(maximum), this column will 'sink', and the bottom-most Block will be
replaced by the one above it.
Your objective will be to form many horizontal lines (rows) as you
can to produce your MS. Therefore, you have to avoid accidentally
matching your Blocks together, and causing them to disappear!
Piling up those Blocks can be very difficult, so be careful or all
your hard work will go down the drain!
(You would want to keep an eye on what the next few Blocks are by
observing that little window in the middle of the screen.)
[HOW TO PRODUCE MS]
Once you have formed a certain number of lines, you would want to
produce your MS. The weakest MS will cost you only 1 line, whereas the
most powerful one costs 8 lines, so try to go as high as you can!
For this FAQ, I will refer to the cost of the MS as their 'levels'.
What I mean is that:
A Mobile Suit that costs 1 line to produce will be called a Level 1 MS.
A Mobile Suit that costs 8 lines to produce will be called a Level 8
MS. Etc...
When you want to produce your MS, you can press the Y BUTTON. This
will immediately use up the number of lines you currently have, and
produce a Mobile Suit, which will be sent to attack your opponent's
ship.
Pressing the B BUTTON will also produce a Mobile Suit, but instead
of immediately attacking your opponent, your Mobile Suit will be
stocked for future use, until you press the X BUTTON to send it out.
(You can only send out 1 MS at a time.)
You may stock up to a maximum of 5 Mobile Suits at any time.
*Note:
When the playing field is full, a Level 8 MS will be automatically
put in stock, or sent to fight if your stock is already full.
[HOW TO ATTACK/DEFEND USING MS]
When you send one Mobile Suit to attack your opponent, the Fight
Window will appear at the top. He will start moving forward, and when
he reaches the center of the Fight Window, he will attack your
opponent's ship and inflict damage on it. After doing so, your MS will
be 'used up'.
The energy level for each ship is shown in the center of the screen,
and once it reaches zero, the ship gets destroyed and the player loses.
(Each ship starts with 4 rows of energy.)
When one player sends out his Mobile Suit, the other player can
defend his own ship by sending out a Mobile Suit of his own. This can
be done by pressing the X BUTTON to send out his own Mobile Suit (if he
has some on stock), or pressing the Y BUTTON to produce one
immediately.
Both player's Mobile Suit will start fighting and the victor will
proceed towards the center of the Fight Window, and will attack his
opponent's ship if he reaches there.
You can keep sending out your Mobile Suits one after another when
the previous one is destroyed (whether to fight or defend) as long as you
can produce them or already have them on stock.
Mobile Suits that are higher in 'level'(i.e. Require more lines to
produce) can inflict more damage and absorb more hits than weaker ones.
For example, if a Level 7 MS is hit by a Level 4 MS, followed by a
Level 2 one, its Level goes to 1.
Another thing to note is that, even with the Fight Window on, the
game still carries on normally in the playing area, so try not to be
distracted and concentrate on forming your lines!
*Note that a Mobile Suit's attack is reduced when he receives damage,
and this lowers the damage he inflicts on the opposition's ship.
[HOW TO USE P-BLOCK ATTACKS]
As you play, you would occasionally see some P-Blocks being dropped.
P-Blocks are 'neutral' as they cannot be eliminated by combining with
any other colored Blocks. (However, they can be eliminated after they
have been used up.)
Connecting 4 or more P-Blocks together will allow you to perform a
special attack.
There are up to 6 different attacks to perform. You can actually
determine which one you want to perform by the arrangement of your
colored Blocks and P-Blocks.
Here is an explanation:
The game's playing area consists of a maximum of 9 horizontal rows
and 6 vertical columns. (But here, we will concentrate on the 6
vertical columns.)
| |
|___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ |
1 2 3 4 5 6
The above diagram represents the 6 vertical columns on your playing
area. Each one is numbered to represent a specific attack, which can be
activated by arranging your Blocks together.
--------[EXAMPLE 1] SIMPLE EXPLANATION (USING P-BLOCKS ONLY)----------
For example, if you would like to use Attack Number 4, an easy way
to it would be to arrange your P-Blocks in such a way that the last
P-Block will be placed in column 4 (which corresponds to Attack Number
4.)
For example, I first arrange 3 P-Blocks as shown.
| |
| |
| P |
| P P |
|___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ |
1 2 3 4 5 6
Now, I just need to put another P-Block in column 4 to complete the
connection (shown below):
| |
| P |
| P P P |
|___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ |
1 2 3 4 5 6
Since my activation Block was placed in column 4, Attack Number 4 will
be activated.
--[EXAMPLE 2] ADVANCED EXPLANATION (USING P-BLOCKS with COLORED BLOCKS)--
In actual fact, the attack is determined by the column in which the last
activation Block was placed. This does not have to be a P-Block, as
long as it is the one that triggers the connection.
For example, I have the following arrangement:
Y = Yellow Block
| P |
| P |
| P P Y Y Y |
|___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ |
1 2 3 4 5 6
In order to connect the P-Blocks together, I have to eliminate the
Yellow Block obstructing it.
If I place another Yellow Block in column 6...
| P |
| P |
| P P Y Y Y Y |
|___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ |
1 2 3 4 5 6
The 4 Yellow Blocks will be eliminated, and the P-Blocks will now
be connected like this:
| |
| P |
| P P P |
|___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ |
1 2 3 4 5 6
Since it was the Yellow Blocked which triggered off the connection,
the attack used would be Attack Number 6. (the column in which the Yellow
Block was placed)
*Another point of interest:
The more P-Blocks you use for your connection, the more powerful the
attack.
[SPECIAL ATTACKS LIST]
Here are some of the special attacks and what their effects are.
There are 10 altogether, but each organization has only up to 6 of
them.
Inflicts damage on your opponent's ship. Also destroys some of
his Blocks.
Creates a barrier around your ship. No damage is taken from
your opponent's next attack.
Adds rows of used P-Blocks on the bottom of your playing field.
Number of rows you get depend on the number of P-Blocks used.
4 P-blocks gives 1 row
5 P-blocks gives 2 rows
6 P-blocks gives 3 rows, etc...
Regains some energy.
Your ship will fire missiles into your opponent's ship
hangar and destroy one of the MS that he has on stock!
Destroys your opponent's Transport Ship; he will not be
able to receive any Blocks for a period of time.
Drop similar-colored Blocks on your opponent's side to disrupt
his progress.
'Blinds' your opponent temporarily. Disables him from seeing
the color of his incoming Blocks.
Sends out a huge MS that will self-destruct. This inflicts
damage on your opponent's ship, and also causes ALL on-screen Blocks to
disappear. (including your own!)
Launches mines into your opponent's playing area; destroys some
of his Blocks.
=====================================================================
4. ORGANIZATIONS
=====================================================================
Here, I have listed each of the 10 teams and their respective MS and
special attacks.
Mobile Suits of the same 'level' are equal in strength, so there are
no such things as a 'better' team. (For example, Zion's level 8
Gelgoog-S is as equally as strong as OZ's level 8 Epyon.) The only real
differences between the teams are their Special Attacks.
Furthermore, it must be noted that the same MS at different levels
has different strengths. (For example, the Zion Dukedom can produce the
Zaku II using either 1 or 2 lines, but the level 2 one would be more
powerful.)
Story Mode Progression:
Titans -> Zion -> Zion-Aqua -> Axis -> Neo Zion -> Crossbone Vanguard/Zanscare
-> OZ -> Last Stage
If you did not lose a single stage, you will face the Gundam team
for the last stage.
If you only lost stage 1, you will face the Gundam W team.
(G Gundam Team: unknown)
Key:
The numbers in brackets represent the 'level' of each MS, i.e. the
number of lines needed to produce that MS. Examples: (1), (2), (3), up
to (8)
The numbers followed by a dot represent the Column Number where you
have to place your P-Block to perform that particular Special Attack.
Examples: 1. 2., up to 6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNDAM TEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MS LIST:
(1) Gundam
(2) NT-1 Alex
(3) Gundam Mk II
(4) Z Gundam
(5) ZZ Gundam
(6) Nu Gundam
(7) V Gundam
(8) Gundam F91
SPECIAL ATTACKS:
1. Attack
2. Shield
3. Block
4. Block
5. Repair
6. Attack
---------------------------------------------------------------------
G GUNDAM TEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MS LIST:
(1) Gundam Rose
(2) Gundam Maxter
(3) Bolt Gundam
(4) Dragon Gundam
(5) Shining Gundam
(6) Nobel Gundam
(7) Master Gundam
(8) God Gundam
SPECIAL ATTACKS:
1. Attack
2. Repair
3. Fall
4. Flash
5. Repair
6. D-Dash
---------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNDAM W TEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MS LIST:
(1) Gundam Sandrock
(2) Gundam Sandrock
(3) Shen Long Gundam
(4) Shen Long Gundam
(5) Gundam Heavyarms
(6) Gundam Deathscythe
(7) Wing Gundam
(8) Wing Gundam Zero
SPECIAL ATTACKS:
1. Attack
2. Repair
3. MS Attack
4. Shield
5. Repair
6. Attack
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ZION DUKEDOM
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MS LIST:
(1) Zaku II
(2) Zaku II
(3) Gouf
(4) Gouf
(5) Dom
(6) Dom
(7) Gelgoog
(8) Gelgoog S (Char Custom)
SPECIAL ATTACKS:
1. Attack
2. Repair
3. Mine
4. Fall
5. Repair
6. D-Dash
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ZION (AQUA)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MS LIST:
(1) Gog
(2) Gog
(3) Gog
(4) AcGuy
(5) AcGuy
(6) Zugock
(7) Zugock
(8) Zugock S (Char Custom)
SPECIAL ATTACKS:
1. Attack
2. Repair
3. Mine
4. Attack
5. Repair
6. Mine
---------------------------------------------------------------------
TITANS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MS LIST:
(1) Hizack
(2) Hizack
(3) Galbaldy Beta
(4) Marasai
(5) Bound Doc
(6) Gabtheley
(7) Pallas Athene
(8) Messala
SPECIAL ATTACKS:
1. Attack
2. Shield
3. D-Dash
4. Repair
5. Shield
6. Attack
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AXIS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MS LIST:
(1) Gaza C
(2) Gaza C
(3) R Jarja
(4) R Jarja
(5) Bawoo
(6) Zaku III
(7) Qubeley Mk II (Black)
(8) Qubeley Mk II (Red)
SPECIAL ATTACKS:
1. Attack
2. Shield
3. TP Attack
4. MS Attack
5. Flash
6. Attack
---------------------------------------------------------------------
NEO ZION
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MS LIST:
(1) Zaku II
(2) Zaku II
(3) Geara Doga
(4) Geara Doga
(5) Geara Doga (Commander Type)
(6) Jagd Doga (Gyunei Custom)
(7) Jagd Doga (Quess Custom)
(8) Sazabi
SPECIAL ATTACK
1. Attack
2. Repair
3. Mine
4. D-Dash
5. Block
6. Attack
---------------------------------------------------------------------
CROSSBONE VANGUARD/ZANSCARE
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MS LIST:
(1) Denan Zon
(2) Denan Zon
(3) Berga Dalas
(4) Dahgi Iris
(5) Zoloat
(6) Gedlav
(7) Gengaozo
(8) Vigna Ghina
SPECIAL ATTACKS:
1. Attack
2. Repair
3. TP Attack
4. Fall
5. Repair
6. Attack
---------------------------------------------------------------------
OZ
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MS LIST:
(1) Leo
(2) Leo
(3) Tragos
(4) Aries
(5) Mercurius
(6) Vayeate
(7) TallGeese
(8) Gundam Epyon
SPECIAL ATTACKS:
1. Attack
2. Flash
3. MS Attack
4. Flash
5. MS Attack
6. Attack
=====================================================================
5. TIPS/NOTES
=====================================================================
1) The best way to attack your opponent is to try stocking up as many
MS as you can first before launching an all-out attack on them.
2) Some of the low-level MS do a very insignificant amount of damage on
your opponent's ship, so it is advised to save up your lines for
producing those MS which are of level 4 and above.
However, this does not mean that low-level MS are useless! Because they
can be produced very quickly, they can be used for defending your ship
against your opponent's MS attacks. It is even possible to defeat high
level MS using many low-level ones. ^_^
3) Besides using the P-Blocks for your special attacks, it is sometimes
advisable to place some of them at strategic positions. Since P-Blocks
are 'neutral' and cannot be matched with any colored Blocks, you can
use several of them to 'seal' off portions of your playing field so
that you don't accidentally match your colored Blocks together and
destroy all your hard work!
This can be done by stacking up your P-Blocks in the middle columns
of the playing field.
4) Be patient when you have just started playing the game. It may
actually seem quite frustrating at first when you see your Blocks come
crashing all the way down, but once you get over this, you will begin to
find the game more enjoyable and challenging. My advice is to go for the
level 2 to 5 Mobile Suits when you are just starting.
5) Try stacking up columns using only 3 unique colors instead of 4 to
avoid accidental explosions.
6) When the Blocks in the 'next block' window shows a colored Block,
followed by a P-Block, wait for your opponent to drop his Block first
before dropping yours immediately so that you can snatch the P-Block.
7) When you are starting out, and have trouble building up your Blocks,
let the CPU help you by highlighting 'Okosama Mode' in the Options Screen,
and selecting 'Tsuyoi' (Strong). However, don't rely on it too much, as
it may ruin your grand attack schemes, especially when you want to build
higher-level MS. You can switch to manual any time by pressing the D-Pad,
deciding the placement of the current Block.
8) I think that a balanced team should have about two level 2-3 Mobile
Suits, two level 4-6 MS, and one level 7-8 MS. (Stock them all up.)
7 or 8 lines will take a very, very long time to build up, so you may
want to spend all that time building some more mid-level MS.
9) Once when I was using the Gundam Team, I wanted to produce a Gundam
using 1 line, but when I pressed the button, I got the GP01-Fb instead!
I also had a friend who got the GP01-Fb when he had 3 lines (but this time,
the GP01-Fb's shield was down). This appears to be random. Does anyone
know how it works? ^_^;
=====================================================================
THE END
=====================================================================
Thanks for reading! ^_^
If anyone has any comments, information, or if you have found a
mistake, please feel free to e-mail me. Also, if you intend to
post my FAQ on your site, please inform me first.
This FAQ was written by Kelvin Koh.
E-mail: kelkwl@mbox4.singnet.com.sg
Come visit my FAQ page at
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Battlefield/2517/
for a collection of all my FAQs.
Credits:
Thanks to
- "Kamiru Bidan" (GundamGod@aol.com) for being such a nice penpal. ^_^
Thanks for recommending the game to me, and also sending me the ROM.
- Jacob Poon (jacob.poon@utoronto.ca) for pointing out most of my
mistakes and correcting them. He also provided lots of information
about the game which I have ommitted. (Too many to list. ^_^')
A big thanks to him. ^_^
FAQ Copyright 1998 by Kelvin Koh. All rights reserved.
(
geocities.com/timessquare/battlefield) (
geocities.com/timessquare)