Drone Fighters are aircraft enemies that discharge two types of projectiles toward the bottom of the screen: a stream of dual blue lasers and pink projectiles that spread out as a cone.
Appearance[]
A Drone Fighter's main body has a round black core with rotating rings of blue light, which is housed within a gray frame. On each side and attached to the frame is a small wing, with electric thrusters on each wing leaving behind a trail of light blue rings. The Drone Fighter occasionally tilts from side to side.
Once disarmed, the Drone Fighter's core is engulfed in flame and thick black smoke.
Behavior[]
General[]
Drone Fighters have two movement types as described below.
- Appears from the top edge of the screen and the scrolling screen makes it shift slowly downward, eventually leaving the screen at the bottom.
- Quickly ascends from below the Stage terrain, alternating between straight dashes at random angles and stationary periods. This is the movement type/flight pattern seen in Stage B2. Contrastingly, the Drones do not retreat off screen.
Drone Fighters are another instance of double-obliteration enemies, i.e. the first one destroys and disarms the laser weapon, while the second one fully destroys the aircraft. Since the blue-projectile cannon is integrated, the second obliteration destroys that cannon along with the rest of the Drone.
A disarmed Drone Fighter remains active and will break active Chain Bonuses if it leaves off-screen. When damaged, a red health bar appears above it and displays the remaining health, and disappears after a few moments.
Drone Fighters can occasionally bear a yellow glow, meaning they would drop Weapon Upgrade items on destruction, which raise the fire rate of the Plane's Main Cannon. Drone Fighters cannot be collided with; the Plane simply flies past them.
Armament[]
Drone Fighters discharge attacks toward the bottom of the screen instead of directly at the player's Plane. Therefore, they cannot be distracted by decoys placed by the Holo Granny Technician.
Drone Fighters fire two different projectiles, fired independently of each other:
- Six pairs of blue thin laser projectiles (12 in total) in each wave. Each projectile travels at high speed and deals light damage on contact. This weapon is destroyed on the first obliteration.
- Four waves of four spreading pink projectiles before reloading, similar to the second variation of a type I Heavy Gunship. Each projectile travels slowly and deal twice as much damage as the laser projectiles. This weapon is destroyed along with the aircraft itself.
The Stage B2 variations fire only the blue laser projectiles, and releases five instead of six pairs of the projectiles. The double-obliteration features is still present, and here the cannon is not integrated meaning the Drone becomes harmless upon the first obliteration.
These projectiles only damage the Plane (and phase through other enemies) and cannot be dissipated by its projectiles or Laser power-ups. However, it can be absorbed by Energy Shields, destroyed by Mega Bombs and Iron Clad's Main Weapon Supercharge shockwaves, and slowed by Slo Mo Chan's ability.
Strategy[]
- Study their appearing locations and promptly unleash Main Weapon Supercharge burst to destroy them quickly. Allowing them to accumulate in high number or be aided by other defenses will quickly fill the screen with their spreading projectiles.
- Memorize the firing frequency of the laser weapon to dodge them in time, as they travel fast and can destroy the Plane if most of the stream hits.
Trivia[]
Drone Fighters with the second flight pattern can phases through the terrain as they ascend. This can be observed on Stage B1, where the first Drone Fighter literally phases through the metal walkway below.