AA Mine

AA Mines are invulnerable enemy obstacles that attract themselves toward the player's Plane should it approaches within a certain distance, dealing damage on contact. They are exclusive to Stage 9.

AA Mine
Description
Stage Appearance	Stage 9
Type	Invulnerable
Tracking	No
Statistics
Damage	(With max Health upgrades) All difficulties: 16%
Penetrate Energy Shield	No
Reward
Score Reward	N/A
Star Reward	N/A

Appearance

AA Mines appear as small floating spiky black orbs, resembling real-life naval mines. They periodically flash with red glows. A red (sometimes fading) circle around the mine indicates its activation radius.

Behavior

AA Mines activate if the Plane enters and remains in the marked radius, gravitating toward it similar to how Magnet attracts items. Its attracting power is inversely correlated to the distance from the Plane. The Mines return to being stationary if the Plane escapes their radius. The Mines are not activated by decoys placed by the Holo Granny Technician. On collision with the Plane, the Mines explode, dealing low damage (not affected by Difficulty levels) unless there is an active Energy Shield.

AA Mines interacting with the Plane.

Once appeared, AA Mines cannot be destroyed; they have no health and are invulnerable to firepower, plus unlike projectiles they cannot be destroyed by Mega Bombs and Iron Clad's Main Weapon Supercharge ability. As such, they are not part of the enemy type required for destruction, and do not break active Chain Bonus once they leave the screen.

Strategy

• Normally, the player should avoid the radius of the AA Mines. There may be small gaps between them for the Plane to fly through.
• The player can move the AA Mines by bringing the Plane into the activation radius then very quickly dragging it away. This can be helpful if the player need to rescue survivors or collecting items within a Mine's radius.
• A field of AA Mines can be cleared by activating an Energy Shield and allowing the Mines to hit the Plane, which would self-destruct in the process.

Trivia

• There are two Bosses that use AA Mines:
  • During the third phase of the Armored Dock Platform fight, AA Mines constantly appear from the top and move along with the screen. These Mines have a larger radius than the normal one.
  • One of the three Core Drones during the Omega Boss fight deploys AA Mines that have a smaller radius than normal.
• On Normal Difficulty, the Operator has a quote that calls the AA Mine field "silly", probably because they are somehow floating instead of buried in the ground or in the ocean.