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Captain Square is a mini game in The Mechanical Heart chapter. The player is first introduced to this game when visiting the Recreation Room of the Cogito Ergo Sum. The game can be accessed from an arcade cabinet and it's a great opportunity for those who play this chapter first to understand the the way the battle system works.

Gameplay[]

Take flight and save the universe with Captain Square! The Universe's greatest hero is on his way to stop evil throughout the galaxy in the name of justice!

Like with every other battle, you fight on a grid-like formation. You do not level up in the game. Instead, you advance to the next stage. There are nine stages in total, each one representing one of the nine planets of the solar system (as of 1994). If you get knocked down, you get a game over. It can be rather easy to lose your first time playing, so be careful. You won't get a game over, Kirk will simply laugh at you, and then give you a tip on how to win.

If you get the Memory Card from Kirk's room, you will retain your progress if you get a game over and resume from the last stage you've played.

At one point near the end of the chapter, you'll be unable to play the minigame as after Darthe tells you to go look for something to access OD-10 with, examining the arcade machine will give him an idea and patch OD-10 into it, overwriting the game.

Strategies[]

Stage
Strategy
Screenshot 92
Mercury - Clickarock (x4)

There are four Clickarocks. They're pretty easy. Just use a few shots of Pion Bomb or two attacks from your Tachyon Sword. Spacephage and Plasma Spark can work well as well. Their only attacks are Threaten and Stab.

Screenshot 93
Venus - Headbert (x6)

Six Headberts await and despite their silly and cute appearance, they can be a pain if you're not careful. Plasma Ball can take them out at a distance. They can absorb Lightning Tile to replenish HP. Their Heading attacks can cancel your charged attacks, which is annoying. Do not stand near them since they can explode, creating a Fire Tiles.

Screenshot 94
Earth - Waterspout (x4) & Firewhirl (x1)

The field is overrun with two types of flames: the blue flames are Waterspout, and the singular red flame is Firewhirl.

First of all, do not target the Waterspouts first. If you kill the Waterspouts, that aggros the Firewhirl and leaves you at the mercy of it's Petriflare. As the name suggests, it petrifies the player, ending their game instantly. Instead, lure the Waterspouts closer to the Firewhirl. When they're close to you, they'll attempt to use their Aqua Flare attack to turn the field into Water Tiles which will douse the Firewhirl. After that, the Waterspouts are easy pickings. Feel free to use any attack at your disposal and they'll go down with no trouble.

Screenshot 95
Mars - Teil Broodmother (x1) & Teil Pup (x6)

Teil Broodmother and her Teil Pup children are certainly not happy that you set foot on their planet. This battle might take a very long time at first. However, there is a catch. Teil Broodmother heals her children and herself whenever she gets attacked with the technique Love Sacrifice. This counterattack move also damages her more than she can heal. Moves that hit multiple enemies like Pion Bomb are not optimal here, as the Happy Tails can also use the healing counterattack Restoration, negating any damage you may have done to them. Focus your attacks on the Mother Tail, making sure to use attacks that will deal more damage to her than she can heal back. Your strongest sword attack should do the trick. They can attack you with Teil Whip while your move charges, but that move is a complete non-threat. Once you take out Mother Tail, the other enemies will overpowered.

Screenshot 96
Jupiter - Cosmotroller (x6)

These guys are also a non-threat, an easy stage before Saturn. The main thing to take note of here is that these enemies have only one attack which is Pulsar Walk. This attack turns any two rows of tiles that they're standing on into Electric Tiles. Since they absorb HP from Electric field tiles as well, they have a guaranteed heal. Just spam Pion Bomb until they fall, and Plasma Charge to heal yourself if necessary.


Screenshot 97
Saturn - Gemparapet (x3)

It's here where the stages start getting difficult. The Gemparapets have two attacks: Silicon Resin and SI02 which is a counter. Both attacks can quickly and very easily kill you if you're in their range so it's not advised to charge into them and attack, that'll just get you killed. Instead, there's a trick to take them out with little trouble. Watch the range of their attacks, you'll notice there's one blind spot in which they cannot target you. Since the Gemparapets don't move, they won't be able to hurt you. Target the enemy in the bottom-right corner first, making sure to stand in that one particular tile, and hit them with Plasma Ball until they die. Repeat the same strategy with the other two, healing if necessary. Taking one at a time is the key here.

Screenshot 98
Uranus - El Mirage (X1) & Pymli (x14)

This is not a fun battle. It can be really easy or extremely hard. The Electric Mirage replicates itself, creating more Pimuris to worry about. They cast Shock Massage, causing the field to become an electric field, healing themselves. You can see that the Pymlis look exactly like Electric field tiles. You can see which one is a tile and which one is not by seeing if they are facing the right direction: the lighter side of the sprite will be to the right and the darker one to the left. Stand at the bottom of the screen and buff your stats with a Plasma Charge. After a while, the El Mirage reveals itself and it will look like some kind of robotic frog. Use Supernova here to turn the floor into a Fire field, that is the creature's weakness. Watch out for its Ion Head. It hurts. If your HP is low, Plasma Charge yourself. After it dies, so do the fake Electric field Pymlis due to a overpowered.

Screenshot 75
Neptune - LaLa (x1) & LaLu (x14)

Meet LaLa and its kin, the LaLus. These stars want your blood. Cute as they may be, they are deadly. Make sure to remember which one is LaLa and which ones are LaLus when the battle starts and names are displayed. Don't bother attacking the LaLus and go straight for LaLa. Two attacks from the Tachyon Sword will destroy LaLa. LaLa has two hit points, but its high defense make it so that it only takes 1 damage per hit. When it dies, the LaLus follow with a Break Down.

Screenshot 99
Pluto - Polka-Dot Q (x3), Polka-Dot R (x3), Polka-Dot Z (x3) & Polka-Dot X (x3)

The Final Stage! You will find yourself against a horde of different Polka-Dots. They have all the same attacks but with varying stats with Q being the weakest. Polka-Dot X has it's Exploding attack on its first attack slot, meaning that if you get near them they will just blow up and leave you with a game over, keep your distance with them. Plasma Spark and Spacephage work wonders here but be careful about your positioning since they all can cancel your attacks with Heading.

After you win, sit back and view the credits!

Credits[]

Live_A_Live_-_Captain_Square_-_Ending

Live A Live - Captain Square - Ending

Captain Square´s ending credits

Trivia[]

  • If you lose at this game and Kirk is present, he will berate you. If you win, he will express amusement.
  • If you don't format Kirk's memory card for this game, you will always end up on Pluto's stage.
  • The Captain Square Logo resembles the Gradius logo, only the wings are upside down.
  • The sound at the credits when Captain Square teleports away is the sound effect that the Epoch makes from Chrono Trigger.
  • In the remake, the in-game notes mention that the game was first released on September 2nd, 1994, which is also the release date for the original Live A Live. However, the credits still reads "Presented by Arumat Soft 2099".
  • The music remains unremastered in the remake.
  • Arumat Soft, the in-game devs of Captain Square, is an anagram of Yumi Tamura's surname.
The Distant Future: The Mechanical Heart
Characters
CubeCaptain SquareYoshiyuki KatoKirk WellsRachel KleinHuey TrumbullCorporal DartheHor BishopThe BehemothOD-10
Locations
Cogito Ergo Sum
Enemies
Captain Square (Clickarock • Headbert • Waterspout • Firewhirl • Teil Pup • Teil Broodmother • Cosmotroller • Gemparapet • Pymli • El Mirage • Lalu • Lala • Polka-Dot Q • Polka-Dot R • Polka-Dot X • Polka-Dot Z) • Stabilizer
Music
Unseen SyndromeCaptain SquareCaptain of the Stars
Transcripts
2022 (English)
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