Master's Guide - Guide for The House of the Dead 2

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*                           HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2                               *
*                             MASTER'S GUIDE                                  *
*               v1.6                            September 8, 2000             *
*                              BY: SloDeth                                    *

Table of Contents
0. Introduction(read this first!)
   What is HOTD2?
   What is this guide?
   Can I use this guide?

1. Version History

2. Preparing to Play
   1. Light Gun
   2. Good TV
   3. Comfortable Place
   4. Reload
   5. Holding the Gun
   6. VMU
   7. Start the Game

3. Training Mode
   Missions 1-10

4. Boss Mode
   Bosses 1-6

5. Original Mode
   List of Items

6. Scoring High
   Point Values
   Setting Up
   General Advice
   Level Advice

7. MY High Scores

8. Contact Info
   E-mail address
   ICQ #
   Web Page
   Copyright Info

0. Introduction
What is HOTD2?
House of the Dead 2 was a popular arcade game made by Sega, sequel to the great
House of the Dead 1.  It was converted onto the Dreamcast to become the first
Dreamcast game to use the light gun controller.

What is this guide?
Welcome!  This is a guide for House of the Dead 2 for the Dreamcast.  I have
written this guide to help the good players get even better, and perfect their
game.  READ:  THIS GUIDE IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS.  In this guide, I'm assuming you
have some basic knowledge of this game, and you have at least beaten the game
once.  Any difficulty level, any number of lives, but at least through the
whole game!  There are other guides out there to help you with that.  My guide
will help you to advance from an average player to an expert.  With that said,
enjoy the guide!

One more thing:  my E-Mail address is [email protected], and I would be happy
to answer any questions, discuss any topics, and accept any praise/criticism.
Please include HOTD2 in the Subject line, and I will reply quickly.  Read the
Contact Info section at the bottom of the guide first.

Can I use this guide on my website?
It depends.  Here's how it is:


 almost every case.

 be clear that it is my original work.


If I grant you permission by E-mail, you should give me an E-mail address which
 I can inform you about updates to the guide.

If I grant you permission by E-mail, you should give me a hyperlink to the web
 site on which you post the guide.

Can I send you E-mail?
Yes, but PLEASE read the Contact Info section at the bottom of the guide!

1. Version History
v1.6   8/30/00   Inspiration made me play through the game a few more times, and
                 I found the G Costume!  I now have all the items.
                 Fixed some formatting problems.

v1.5   6/28/00   Updated guide to conform with my new FAQ format.
                 Added new Contact Info.

v1.1   6/16/00   Added my High Scores.

v1.0   6/14/00   First version.  Complete as far as I know, I don't turn in
                 half-completed work.

2. Preparing to Play

1.  Buy a light gun!  This game is next to impossible with the regular
controller.  Make sure the light gun you purchase has auto reload and auto
fire.  You will be shooting so much, this is nearly a necessity for the health
of your finger.  I use a MadCatz gun, and my only complaint is that the auto
fire is slower than I can shoot.  Still, it doesn't wear out my finger so I
still use it.

* NOTE *  I recommend buying two light guns.  After all, this game is much,
much more fun with another person.  If you have no friends, just think: guns
akimbo.  Aww yeah.

2.  Use the TV with a big screen.  If the screen is too small, you will have
trouble making accurate shots.  This isn't a big deal, but every bit counts.

3.  Be comfortable.  Sitting in a chair(or on a stool, you will lean forward)
is a good idea.

4.  Know the two ways to reload.  The basic way is shooting off screen.  The
best way to do this would be to shoot off in the direction that is closest, but
I usually shoot off the bottom of the screen.  The other way to reload is to
put your finger in front of the end of the barrel.  The gun will not see the
screen, so it will think you are aiming off screen.  This is quicker than
shooting off screen and it lets you maintain your aim at the screen.  The only
problem with it is that some people can't get used to it(like me).  Of course,
you need not do either of these if your gun has auto reload.

5.  Learn how to hold the gun properly.  You've probably seen many people in
the arcades hold the gun in many different ways, but the absolute best grip is
to have your dominant hand on the gun, the dominant hand's index finger on the
trigger, and your other hand on the barrel of the gun.  Using two hands reduces
fatigue and increases accuracy.

6.  Make sure there's a VMU in the gun.  You don't want to do all that work for
nothing, do you?  Don't use a Jump Pack, it makes it more real but it only
makes it harder.

7.  Start the game up.  Here we go!

3. Training Mode

Completing Training Mode will not only improve your skills, but also when you
complete it, the Boss Mode will open up completely.  Each mission must be
completed five times, increasing in difficulty each time.  The stars will turn
red when you have done this.

REWARDS: beating the first nine missions once: access to tenth mission
         beating all missions on each difficulty level:full access to Boss Mode

Mission One: Rescue all civilians!  Pretty basic.

Mission Two: Destroy all enemies within thirty shots!  Just go for head shots,
and be patient.  To kill the monsters with the blades and masks, wait until
they jump at you.  You can shoot them in the chest before they claw you.

Mission Three:  Destroy all barrels in the time limit!  Make sure you destroy
the barrels completely because it will take a few shots.  Quick shooting is
important here, and the auto fire may not be fast enough.

Mission Four:  Get the golden frog with one shot!  Frustrating, but simple.
Put the gun against the screen, take a shot, and hope for the best.  The time
limit decreases as you continue, so you must spend less time lining up your

Mission Five:  Kill Kuarl using rapid fire!  The auto fire is fast enough for
each difficulty level.

Mission Six:  Shoot all enemies that appear!  There's a good variety of enemies
along with three or so civilians.  Go for head shots as usual.  Be careful
since some enemies will lunge forward if they aren't killed.

Mission Seven:  Kill the monsters in the distance!  Accuracy is important here.
Make sure you kill each zombie completely, but don't slow down.

Mission Eight:  Kill all enemies clinging to the car!  This is the most
difficult mission IMHO.  Practice is the best advice I can give you.  Memorize
the path of each car(ten in all), and do your best to ANTICIPATE where the
zombies will be.  ANTICIPATE!  Don't just shoot at where the zombie is
currently.  ANTICIPATION is key(just say it to yourself before you play and
think about it while you play).

Mission Nine:  Find the enemy hiding among the civilians!  This is the most
fun mission IMHO, much like a mission from the Police Trainer.  Quick reflexes
are important here, especially in the higher difficulty levels.  Each enemy
dies from only one shot, so take the shot and move on to the next enemy.

Mission Ten:  Keep the coin in the air!  Shoot the coin, and it flies up.  You
must keep it up for fifty seconds in the end, so be prepared.  My strategy for
this is to try to keep it as high as possible and use auto fire.

4. Boss Mode

If you completed the game and completed all the missions in Training Mode, each
boss will be available to fight.  These have been covered in other guides, so I
will write advice for SPEED.

* NOTE * This is written for people trying to reach NUMBER ONE on the high
score list.  It may be pointless, but can you say bragging rights?  Otherwise,
Boss Mode would be too easy.

Go for accuracy on this one.  ANTICIPATE where the bat will be and take the
shot.  For the second attack(after Kuarl falls), hit auto fire and shoot at him
(while he sits in the middle of the screen).  You may be able to get a free
cheap shot.  When he flies toward you, ANTICIPATE where he will be and take the
shot.  It is very difficult to beat this boss under forty seconds, so try to
get cheap shots whenever you can.
* NOTE * Judgment is the only boss that can be defeated quicker on the first
difficulty level.  The other bosses are defeated quicker on the last difficulty
level because they attack quicker, but Judgment just moves slower.

Turn on auto fire and blast his heart.  I aim slightly to the left of where I
think his heart is since he moves around so much.  For the second attack, aim
at his heart again, shooting fish if they get too close.  Since you have five
life torches, you can ignore the fishes if you're an expert.  For the third
attack, aim at his heart again until he jumps.  While he's in the air, aim high
on the screen and hope for the best.
*Heirophant A is on the bridge and Hierophant B is by the shore.

Boss Three:  TOWER
As the heads prepare to attack, give them a quick shot to the head.  As they
recover from the shot, THEY ARE VULNERABLE TO ANOTHER ATTACK for a short amount
of time.  Take advantage of this!  It is the key to a quick defeat.  For the
second attack, just aim at his head.
*Tower A is on sand and Tower B is in water.

Boss Four:  STRENGTH
This is my least favorite boss.  Aim at his head and leave auto fire on all the
time.  Try not to hit his chainsaw too much.  Did you notice his chainsaw says
"" on it?  Very cool.
*There is little difference between A and B.  I think B stays closer to you and
is easier to defeat because of this.

Boss Five:  MAGICIAN
His first attack is to throw two fireballs at you.  Shooting these fireballs is
the first priority, then shoot his left thigh(it is the largest target).  The
second attack is four fireballs, except you can shoot his left thigh to make
him stop the attack.  In the third attack, he moves to the left or right
thrice.  If he comes from the left, try shooting his left thigh.  If he comes
from the right, go for the right leg.  For the final attack, shoot him in the
air.  After you hit him once, try not to move so your aim doesn't change.  If
you still have plenty of life, you can ignore the fireballs.  Otherwise, they
should be high priority.

Boss Six:  EMPEROR
For the first attack, concentrate your aim on his heart.  Hit the metal balls
as they become a threat.  For the second attack, STILL CONCENTRATE ON HIS
HEART.  He remains vulnerable for some of the attacks, such as Judgment and
Hierophant.  For the other attacks, shoot whatever is needed: Hierophant in the
heart, Tower in the mouth, and Strength in the head.  For the third attack,
shoot the heart in the middle.

Follow all the advice above.  Just try to live through it all; it really sucks
to lose to the Emperor after spending so much time on the earlier bosses.  You
can always come back later to get a low time.

When you finish Boss Mode(all red stars), you can select Free Play as your
number of continues.  This is the best extra you will get in the game!

5. Original Mode

The first goal here is to get all the items(easier said than done).  It is
difficult to give advice here through words, so here are a few overall tips:

1.  Shoot EVERYTHING.  Barrels, buckets, boxes, car doors, pretty much anything
that can be shot may contain a powerup.

2.  Don't worry about dying.  You still keep the items you gain if you die.
The most important thing now is to get items AT ANY COST.

3.  Explore every path.  You get to other paths by rescuing or killing various
civilians(and shooting or not shooting that key in The Second Chapter).  Other
guides will explain the various paths better than I can.

4.  Once you get a good supply of items, use them to your advantage.  Use
Death Bullets(BULLET BLOW) when you can so you can concentrate on items instead
of enemies.  Use Life+ and Credit+ if you need them, but save the 
Credit+Infinity because they are more rare.

Here's a list of the items:

Bullet Powerups:  Power Up 1.2 - bullet power multiplied by 1.2(20% stronger)
                  Power Up 1.5 - bullet power multiplied by 1.5(50% stronger)
                  Power Up 2.0 - bullet power multiplied by 2.0(100% stronger)
                  Bullet Blow  - all monsters killed in ONE SHOT!

Life Up:  Life +2 - two more life torches
	    Life +5 - five more torches

Credit Up:  Credit +2 - two more credits
            Credit +5 - five more credits
            Credit +10 - ten more credits
            Credit +Infinity - infinite credits

Chamber Up:  Chamber +2 - two more bullets in the chamber
             Chamber +4 - four more bullets in the chamber
             Chamber +8 - eight more bullets in the chamber
             Chamber +Infinity - no more reloading

Costumes:  Bruno Costume
           Civilian Costume
           Amy Costume
           Harry Costume
           Goldman Costume
           Rogan Costume
           G Costume

Guns:  Machine Gun - six bullets shot at one time, one ammo
       Shotgun - wider shot, two ammo
       Grenade Launcher - disappointing, three ammo
       Custom Air Gun - ping pong balls for ammo, twelve ammo
       Toy Gun - zapping sound, six ammo

Other:  Double Score - doubles your score
        Life 1/4 - monsters have 25% their life(not as good as Bullet Blow)
        First Aid Kit - Life Up in each barrel
        Primitive Meat - civilians have large hands and heads
        Rotten Meat - monsters have huge heads
        Bass Lure - lure shot out by gun
        UFO?? - UFO appears in the sky occasionally


Here are some unique locations that many people don't find the first time:

-Chapter One: Save the first lady and her boyfriend/husband, but shoot the
bucket in the well before you save the man.  You will get a chance to look in
the bucket and get the powerup.  One of the doors on the left near the end can
be opened.

-Chapter Two: Save the man in the car at the beginning.  When you go down the
passageway and you get attacked by two masked zombies, kill them and shoot the
DOOR at the end of the passageway.  Several bullets will open the door.  A man
inside gives you an item.  On one path, you can save a man on a boat.  If you
do this quickly, you will get a nice item.  If you go on another path, you have
the opportunity to save a couple.  If you can save them both, the man gives you
a nice item.

-Chapter Three: If you came from the bridge, you can save a man on a boat.  Do
it quickly, and a gun will show up on the back of the boat.  Also, near this
man is a door(directly to his right) that you can blast open.  On the other
path, there is a door on the right that can be shot open, right after you save
the man who opens the gate.  You only have a narrow shot at it though, and
sometimes it is impossible to shoot it open.  At the ending passage, there is a
box on the stairs(on the right).  Shoot the box from the side and you will take
a glance at it on your way over.  There will be a powerup.

-Chapter Four: Shoot locked doors open!  On one path, you save a man while a
zombie pulls him down.  Shoot the grate behind him.  On the other path, you
walk over a short stairway to the open air.  If you shoot the stairs, there is
an item under them.  When the stairs go down and you walk up, save the man to
the right quickly and he will give you an item.

-Chapter Five: Shoot car doors open!  There are usually Double Scores in the
cars.  Also, right before the Hierophant, there is a powerup in the center of
the road sometimes.  Shoot down the middle and hope for the best.

-Chapter Six: In the room with the computers and chemistry sets, there is a
crate which is very difficult to shoot in the corner.  You can hit pause on and
off quickly(slo-mo) to get some good shots in, but it isn't worth it.  It
usually has a Credit+Infinity.  Right before the Emperor, shoot the last door
on the left in the last hallway.  A man will give you the Rogan Costume.
Unfortunately, you can't get this if you entered the secret room(from saving 
each civilian).

* NOTE *  The items found in most locations is completely random, so if you
can't find a certain item, keep looking!  It is bound to come up eventually.


beating a level w/o being shot=1000pt
beating a level=500pt
head shot on zombie=200pt
body shot on zombie=10pt
not saving a civilian=-100pt
barrel, box, lantern, etc. shot=10pt
bonus goodies shot(coins, frogs...)=100-1000pt
being shot=-100pt
using a continue=1pt(so you can tell how many continues were used by looking at
the last digit of the score)

Getting over 80,000 points in Original Mode is simple if you use a Double
Score.  If you can't beat it easily, use the following advice for Arcade Mode.

Getting over 80,000 points in Arcade Mode is certainly the biggest challenge in
this game.  Even this guide will not make it simple.  However, going about it
in the wrong way is truly impossible.  For example, are you trying to beat it
on Very Easy difficulty, saving each civilian as you go?  Well then, you're
in's what you need to do:

1.  At the Press Start screen, enter the Show Score code.  To do this, press
the D-pad Left, Left, Right, Right, Right, Left, Right, and press start.  Your
score is now displayed on the screen while you play.  That's LLRRRLRstart.

2.  Go to Options.  Change the difficulty to Very Hard, the number of continues
to Free Play(or nine, if you don't have Free Play).  Very Hard will make the
enemies take more shots, and more shots=more points.  You can change the number
of lives to one, but this will only raise your score by four points for every
five continues/hits.  Leave it at five.

3.  Start the game.

4.  Here's the secret: play a two-player game!  This will make many more
monsters appear!  If you have two light guns, plug the other one in the second
slot and hit Start for it in the game.  However, if you have only one gun, you
will need to unplug it, put it in the second controller slot, hit start, and
switch it back.  This isn't a big deal, so don't worry about needing a second
light gun.
* NOTE * If you keep the second player alive, you can use it as "human armor"
because it occasionally takes hits for you.  This will save one hundred points
per hit.

5.  General advice:
-Go for head shots.  They are worth twenty times as many points as body shots.
-Shoot everything you can.  Almost anything is worth another ten points.
-Don't save the civilians.  If you do, you can get to the bonus room at the
 end, but it isn't worth it.  If you let them die, you go on the harder, more
 enemy-populated areas.
-Kill enemies(mostly the basic zombies) that you can see in the distance, but
 you never get clese to them.  For example, in the very first scene of the
 very first level, after you kill the two or three enemies in front of you,
 there are four enemies in the background.  THEY CAN BE KILLED.

6.  Advice for individual levels:

Chapter One:  Save the first civilian, but let the next one die.  Don't shoot
the bat thing against Judgment; shoot only Kuarl.  Every shot is worth ten
points, and it adds up quickly.  Don't worry about getting hit, and don't worry
about hitting the bat accidently.  Just fire away.

Chapter Two:  Don't save the man in the car at the beginning.  The inside path
has more enemies.  The second attack of the boss Hierophant gives a great
opportunity to gain points-kill all three waves of fish.  Fish are worth eighty
points each.

Chapter Five:  Follow the previous boss techniques.  Also, it has been said
that Magician's fireballs are worth points, but this is WRONG.  You CANNOT get
infinite points this way.

If you have gained 80,000 points by the end of the game, congrats!  It is truly
a difficult feat.  If you haven't, keep practicing.  If you play it enough, you
end up memorizing everything that happens in the game, taking away any element
of surprise.  It only gets easier.  Good luck.

7. MY High Scores
Here they are...

Arcade Mode-82535
Original Mode-204664(Machine Gun and Double Score)
Hierophant A-53s10
Hierophant B-27s86
Tower A-51s20
Tower B-52s56
Strength A-48s58
Strength B-42s76
Fight All-7m43s46

8. Closing
E-mail:    [email protected]
ICQ UIN:   15025844
Web Page:

E-mail Rules:
Include the name of the game or guide in the subject.
   praise, criticism, requests...
   you ask politely.
   anything like that.

ICQ Rules:

What you can find at my web page:
-More info on me(in case you care)!
-Links to all of my guides!
-The most recent versions of my guides!
-HTML versions of my guides!
-Feedback forms, surveys, and some other crap!
it if you write to me first.  I'm very willing to give out this guide, given
that it is not changed in any way.

Or, as they say, This document Copyright 2000 by Martin Silbiger.
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