Guardians

Each star is protected by one of seven guardians, and learning how to defend yourself from these is the key to survival. Each guardian has ‘servants’ and the patterns and habits of these must also be learned.

Guardians can only be “sent to Pandaemonium” (killed) during the day cycle – shooting them has no effect during the night cycle.

The guardian type for the level is stored in $4B2, and is read in from the level data from offset +0x0

0000 – The Devil

The Devil’s servants are the hardest to deal with. You can avoid them by running away, but this is time (and energy) consuming. To shoot them, retreat to a safe distance, wait for them to come into your line of fire and shoot them.

The colour palette is modified for this guardian.
The guardian function at 2A858 references a memory table at 36514-365AB (length 0x98 or 152 bytes) for this guardian.

0001 – Rotating blades

Only appears within the Sagittarius constellation, and presumably was meant to be a secret, but since it’s value is 0x1, it appears in the second viewing of the demo, if you just leave the title screen running!
It’s pattern is predictable, but it is so fast, it is almost impossible to avoid. The eight mini-blades it constantly fires add to the difficulty.

The guardian function at 2A858 references a memory table at 365AC-36643 (length 0x98 or 152 bytes) for this guardian.

0002 – The Hand

The Hand produces spinning silver stars which require swift action to avoid. If you leave them alone, they split into two – and they can do this twice. During the game, the hand is just shown as the sprite with the outstretched fingers, with the eye sprite overlayed on top of it. During the game over screen, all five frames of the hand sprite are used as it rises from the grave to wave you goodbye.

The guardian function at 2A858 references a memory table at 36644-366DB (length 0x98 or 152 bytes) for this guardian.

0003 – The Hydra

The Hydra moves in a simple circular pattern, firing six servants at a time – two from each of its heads. The servants need to be shot twice to be destroyed. If they are not too close, it’s best to leave them alone, as they soon disappear.

The guardian function at 2A858 references a memory table at 366DE-36773 (length 0x98 or 152 bytes) for this guardian.

0004 – The Spider

The Spider’s servants move in a circular motion towards you and also have to be hit twice to be killed. They don’t pose too much of a problem, so it’s often best to leave them alone, but on later levels they start to home in on you.

The guardian function at 2A858 references a memory table at 36774-3680B (length 0x98 or 152 bytes) for this guardian.

0005 – The Firefly

This guardian flies in a predictable spiral pattern, but it’s servants aren’t quite as simple. They fly out three times in diagonals, but horizontally and vertically on the fourth. Once you master that pattern, it’s easy to work out where the next wave of servants will be going and be ready to avoid them.

The guardian function at 2A858 references a memory table at 3680C-368A3 (length 0x98 or 152 bytes) for this guardian.

0006 – The Maggot

May seem to be the hardest guardian to deal with, as it always appears on the left hand side of the screen in line with you. During the day cycle, move into the centre of the screen and shoot as it will be directly in the line of fire.

The guardian function at 2A858 references a memory table at 368A4-3693B (length 0x98 or 152 bytes) for this guardian.

Guardian Memory Address Tables

Guardian	Start Addr	End Addr	Length
0000 Devil	0x36514	0x365AB	0x98 (152)
0001 Blades	0x365AC	0x36643	0x98 (152)
0002 Hand	0x36644	0x366DB	0x98 (152)
0003 Hydra	0x366DC	0x36773	0x98 (152)
0004 Spider	0x36774	0x3680B	0x98 (152)
0005 Firefly	0x3680C	0x368A3	0x98 (152)
0006 Maggot	0x368A4	0x3693B	0x98 (152)