Pink stars are also revealed by collecting orange stars, which double as fuel for your little rocket.

Later levels require quite a bit of preplanning and study… as you often have to traverse certain paths multiple times in the correct order to reach your destination.

(It starts in Japanese, but you can set the game to English in the main menu.)

You have a limited number of cuts available on each tricky level, many of which are exceeedingly difficult to pass. New levels released periodically.

Shoot them with your guns (spacebar) manuever close to them (WASD) and drag their broken spaceship parts onto your ship (mouse)! Be careful to keep your engines spaced equally behind you, or you’ll end up flying in circles… A pay version of the game, called Captain Successor, allows you to network with other players.

Can you find all 27 coins?

There’s almost no Japanese text, and such as is present is not required to finish the game. Be prepared for many slow cutscenes. Hint: the doll colors match those in the diary.

Blast anything that moves as you progress through the station’s rooms. Purchase upgrades to your weapons, armor, and special abilities. Hint: shoot crates for loot!

Unlock new towers and upgrade old ones as you advance through wave after wave of bloons…

As you gain more skill points, you can increase the powers of your various gems and spells, making the battle north across the monster-filled wasteland just slightly less brutal.