After Level 7, Kurt Hectic heads to Emperor Zizzy Ballooba’s palace, while Max zaps his way into the city on Swizzle Firma for some hardcore fighting and his own showdown with Shwang. When Max arrives, he finds two Coneheads discussing the Ultimate Doomsday Device. Clearly this is something Max needs to get rid of in a hurry. Just a press of a button, and this weapon can destroy Earth. That’s your mission in Level 8.
New Weapons/Items: Atomic Jetpack, Guided Rockets, Rayguns
Level 8 Strategy Contents:
Area 1: Swizzle Firma City Street
Area 2: The “Armed” Door
Area 3: The Jumbotron
Area 4: Bad-Ass Enemies
Area 5: Three Mile Island Climb
Area 6: Sparksville
Area 7: Shwang and Max Meet Again
Area 1: Swizzle Firma City Street
Head straight down the street toward the area with the bluish purple wall at the far end. You don’t have to fight the Coneheads lurking nearby; just move toward the wall.
As you proceed down this street you’re bombarded by Manta Rays, and some Bottrocks drop in. Again, you don’t have to fight these mocking idiots. Just stay mobile and keep dodging their fire.
A Little Nookie
Along the street you’re traveling, there’s a nook in the wall where some power-ups are waiting for you. These goodies will regenerate after a while, so you can simply wait around the nook and keep collecting weapons (Gatling Gun, Shotgun, Magnum, and Uzi’s) if you want.
The nook is also a good defensive location from which to attack—you can zap the enemies as they follow you in. Just sit by your power-ups and take out anything that ventures near. So take a break if you want it. Hang around until your arsenal is completely full, then head out to do battle.
Look for the red unhappy face to find the power-up stash.
From your nook you can kill anything that follows you in. Meanwhile, wait for weapons and power-ups to regenerate.
Turn left out of the nook, and then take the first right turn, jumping and dodging all the while to avoid enemy fire.
Proceed down this dark city street and take the first left.
These bluish crates stacked against the left-hand wall are “shootable,” so have at ’em until they disappear and grant you access into the area behind.
More blue crates! Zap these as well and then proceed to this grating. Shoot it and hop on through.
A number of valuable power-ups are available along the way in this city-street area, so be sure to pick them up if you have any free weapon slots or if you need Health. Stock up while you can, because you won’t be coming back.
When the grating breaks away, it reveals a large room guarded by two Bifs. For cover, use the grating exit or the pillars in front of you and mow these lumbering giants down.
Unfortunately, you’ll have to keep killing a steady stream of Bifs. The good news is you have an excellent stock of weapons at this point. Jump down from the grating and grab the Shotguns regenerating in the space right behind you.
Once the Bifs are out of commission, you can move into this exit where you’ll find a checkpoint. Travel on down this corridor.
After you pick up a Car Battery, you’ll come to this circular door guarded by four “arms” that will fire on you. As if that wasn’t enough, the Sentry Guns in this area will shoot at you as well.
Don’t fire directly at the front of the door or you’ll take some huge damage! Always attack the “arms,” coming at them from the side, rather than risking a head-on attack.
Run to one side of the door and attack those two “arms” and any visible Sentry Guns. Attacking from the side lets you escape the attacks of the arms. They only fire straight ahead, so you’re safer off to the side.
Move to the other side of the door and take out the other two arms and any Sentry Guns that remain. The door will open for you.
Facing you are two Bottrocks, and you’ll need to eliminate them. But if you have your Shotguns armed, you can wipe out both of these menaces with two shot each.
Fire at the pillars in this room to reveal girders. Good thing Max has so many legs: Climb to the top of one of the girders. Be prepared to fight spawning Bottrocks as you go.
On the roof, fire at this big cylinder. It’s your last obstacle—once it’s destroyed, you can get outta here!
Max Maneuver 3.1: Juggling Weapons
It can be a real challenge to juggle Max’s weaponry because you have to collect each weapon and then activate it individually. However, with a little practice you’ll get it. On a PC, you can configure the controls yourself; on Dreamcast, these two functions (moving Max and arming weapons) are on opposite sides of the controller, making it easier to do both at the same time.
Sometimes it’s better to waste the ammunition of weaker weapons you own to make space for more powerful weapons that are available to you. For example, if you have a full roster of weapons including Magnums, but there are Gatling Guns you could pick up if you had the space, it’s best to fire your remaining Magnum ammo and pick up the Gatling Guns.
Leave this room by heading down the hallway. The Bottrocks will continue spawning into the room behind you, but don’t worry about them.
Now for something a little different… You enter a big room with a set of huge screens in the middle. Head for the circular path around the screen.
Follow the pathway around and pick up the Gatling Guns lying there.
Several Birdbrains attack you as you navigate the pathway around the screens; just ignore them. If you kill them, they’ll regenerate indefinitely, making it impossible for you to finish the job. Don’t waste your ammo!
Eventually you’ll come to this red-trimmed floating platform. Jump on and ride it over to the big screen in the middle of the room.
Jump down onto this blue ledge under the screen, pause, and then start walking to your left.
When you see a blue platform float near, hop on.
Ride the blue platform as it glides upward. You’ll see three brackets holding the screen in place: one blue, one red, and one green. Shoot each of these supports, from your excellent vantage point on the blue floating platform.
When you’ve hit all three supports, the screen descends into the ground. Jump down (even though you’ll take some damage) into the hole it creates.
Pick up one or both of the Car Batteries near the screen’s “crater,” if you need them.
Just because there are Car Batteries around the hole in the floor doesn’t mean you have to pick them up. If your Health is in good shape, there’s no need to risk injury just to pick up a few points.
Look down into the crater and spot the large pipe extending out into the hole. Aim carefully, and leap down to the pipe. Make this jump carefully ‘cause if you miss, you’re dead.
On the pipe, carefully walk out onto one of the two antennae extending from the end.
From here you can jump into the pipe and proceed to the next area. Max, you awesome mongrel!
As you proceed down this corridor, arm your best weapons (preferably Gatling Guns) for the coming battle with some big and bruising adversaries.
First, you’ll come face to face with some Bottrocks, but they’re the least of your problems. Shoot the Bottrocks and the Generator, but keep moving—the real threat is the fire from those awesome fighter ships.
Mobility is important here. To take out the three fighter ships before they hurt you, be sure to keep jumping and moving side-to-side.
The enemy fighter ships are intimidating because they “flash” brightly and give the impression that they’re doing serious damage. Keep cool, though. As long as you stay mobile, you should be able to avoid their attacks. Keep your focus and make sure you destroy the ships—if you don’t, they’ll drop more Bottrocks into the fracas.
Once you’ve busted the last fighter ship, another flies in. Kill the Bottrocks coming out of it and then jump into the ship via this ramp.
When you’re inside, press this big red button and watch what happens.
Now run into the area that has just blown open, and pick up the Atomic Jetpack that lies within. A new toy!
Look up from where you grabbed the Atomic Jetpack—you’re now in a spectacular cavernous room with what looks like a cooling tower from a nuclear reactor.
Max Maneuver 3.2: Using the Atomic Jetpack Efficiently
The Atomic Jetpack is like a regular Jetpack except that it recharges itself and therefore doesn’t need a Refueler. The only caveat to this convenience is that the Atomic Jetpack can only recharge itself when it’s not in use, so you cannot deploy it indefinitely. When used properly, however, the Atomic Jetpack is a highly effective tool.
For example, in this area (Three Mile Island Climb), resting on the I-beams that extend from the big central tower will offer just enough of a break from using the Atomic Jetpack to allow it to recharge. It’ll recover enough to jet you over to the next I-beam for another break. Of course, mastering this technique will take some time, but you can’t get around it. You have to learn to jet in order to get through Area 5 successfully.
You can also use the Atomic Jetpack in short bursts. It will recharge a little in between each burst, thus considerably extending your range. This technique is best used after you’ve already established upward momentum.
Straight in front and above you there’s a small, lighted outcropping. Use your Atomic Jetpack to fly up there, where you’ll find a crucial Guided Rockets power-up. Excellent!
Fly to the right and up to the next accessible outcropping. You’ll need most of one fully charged Atomic Jetpack to make it.
The next area you’re bound for is off in the same direction. Look for this small vent spewing green gas, and land on top of it.
Use the Guided Missiles to take out any Spheres of Death that nag you as you make your way up this room. These powerful weapons have a long range and will fly out and seek the enemy until they hit.
On the next pair of outcroppings you land on, you’ll find Rayguns.
Continue to move around this central structure in this manner. Climb the structure slowly, jumping from outcropping to outcropping. In some cases, like this one, your destination is straight above you.
Eventually you’ll come to these long, thin “spindle”structures. Stand on the ends of them just long enough to refuel your Jetpack, but don’t linger because they break away after a few seconds. (See Max Maneuver 3.2.)
Continue jumping from spindle to spindle, stopping only for a few second on each. This is a tough, time-consuming process. You’ll need practice to get good at it.
Each spindle must be collapsed before you can exit this room, so be sure you stay long enough to see each spindle fall away beneath you. Don’t be impatient—this is about a 30-minute process even for experienced MDK 2 players.
As you approach the top, use these green sliding panels to recharge your Jetpack. The panels slide continually in and out and you have only a moment or two to stand and recharge. But remarkably, it’s just enough.
This collection of pipes is your ticket out of Area 5. Hidden in here is a passageway.
The passageway out of this area is right in here—don’t blink or you’ll miss it!
Follow this long hallway, and you’ll eventually come to some Health and life power-ups, and to Area 6, the Hall of Sparks.
This hall has a collection of pillars hanging from the ceiling and sticking up from the floor, connected by sparks. Your goal is to shoot the hanging part and then land on the bottom part to refuel your Atomic Jetpack.
Let’s get started. Fly into the room and blow up the first pillar, then land on this pad to refuel.
Some of the pillars will have power-ups on them (such as this Raygun). You have no choice but to pick them up because of the smallness of the area you must land on.
Several wicked Birdbrains are guarding this area, but for the most part you can simply avoid them—although you’ll probably take a hit or two.
At the end of the room is another hallway. Jetpack in and prepare for your showdown with Shwang.
What’s this? Shwang is in a chair, with a cast on his foot and a sling supporting his arm! The battles he’s been fighting against Kurt and Max have begun to take a toll on this big bad boss.
You have four minutes to disarm the deadly Ultimate Doomsday Device, so grab any power-ups you can get your hands on and get ready to rumble.
Max Maneuver 3.3: Defeating Shwang with the Tool-Weapons
There are massive tools cached in the sides of this room that you can activate and use as weapons. To put them to work, you have to jump on a red button pad. The pads turn green and release one of the tool-weapons, which will do damage to Shwang if he’s beside it. His Health bar will descend nicely.
For example, one of these tools is a big circular blade that whirls out and lays some serious hurt on Shwang. Ultimately you’ll want to lure Shwang into chasing right behind you as you fly around the room from pad to pad, releasing new tool-weapons as you go.
And by all means, don’t neglect your regular weapons! Use them in this battle with Shwang along with the impressive new tool-weapons. Every little bit helps.
Fly up until you see one of the red pads. Lure Shwang over near the tools in the side of the wall, and land on the pad.
As you can see, the tools aren’t your everyday garden-variety weapons. Shwang suffers some serious damage when he gets hit. (See Max Maneuver 3.3.)
Bring it on! Keep enticing Shwang to follow you and keep landing on those pads.
Between the powerful tool-weapons and your arsenal of standard stuff, Shwang is dead meat yet again! Be sure to hold on tight when the Ultimate Doomsday Device goes off!
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