"I'm glad you asked, Gus." says the Namcoator. "The twelfth challenge is the Bosconian challenge. You will be undertaking this challenge."
"Got it! But what am I doing?" questions Gus.
"You'll be shooting aliens, a little bit like in the Galaxian challenge, but Bosconian offers a different take on the formula. You will see what that is shortly enough." The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Gus dematerialises.
Once more, we cut to deep space. Once more, there is a lone starfighter. This one looks similar to the Galaga fighter, but it has a more simplified profile with no blue sections, and an additional gun mounted on its exterior pointing backwards. Gus rematerialises inside the cockpit and takes a look around. "This looks pretty similar to the ship I used in the Galaxian challenge." he comments.
"I guess you could say that…" The Namcoator replies over the intercom, "but this ship is a little bit more advanced. Have a seat at the controls and I will tell you more." Gus walks over and climbs into the pilots' seat, strapping himself in. He takes a look at the controls. The steering lever for this ship seems to have more room to move. There is also a rectangular electronic display to the left of the steering lever.
"So this thing steers similarly to the Galaxian ship, yes?"
"It steers similarly, but you've got a lot more control over this thing than the Galaxip. It can move in eight directions, rather than just left and right!"
"Okay then. Can I try piloting this thing?" Gus requests.
"Alright then. Let me know when you've got the hang of it!" the Namcoator states.
Gus turns his attention to the steering lever. He pulls it to the left and the ship's side thrusters flare to life, turning it around. After getting to grips with this he tries piloting the ship forward, which works quite well. Next he presses the button to fire and a white energy blast shot out of the gun's turret, flying off into the distance.
"Works like a charm!" Gus declares.
"Oh, yeah!" the Namcoator quickly adds. "This ship has two guns, so you can fire both forward and backward!"
"Sweet!" says Gus.
After a couple of minutes practicing steering and firing the gun, Gus has mastered the ship's ins and outs. "Okay, I've got the hang of this! When's the challenge starting?"
"It will start soon," the Namcoator replies, "but first I need to tell you what exactly you will be doing. I want you to pay attention to the display for now, it'll show what I'm talking about."
"Of course!" says Gus.
"Let us begin with the explanation. This region of space has eight enemy bases, and your goal in the Bosconian challenge is to find all eight and destroy them!"
An enemy base shows up on the screen. It has the appearance of a green pipe-like structure, with six cannon orbs surrounding a central core.
"I see… They have weaknesses, right?"
"They do. To destroy a base, you have to destroy the six cannons on the outside, or you take a clean shot at the central core."
"Of course, just destroying the bases would be pretty easy. There has to be some other obstacle, right?"
"There are indeed. There will be a number of enemy missiles that will try and fly toward you. They are a bit faster than you, but your rear gun should make sure that won't be an issue."
"Got it. Anything else?"
The Namcoator's explanation has been quite long-winded and filled with things such as missiles, spy ships, colour conditions and alerts. Gus is not sure how he has been able to understand all of this explanation, but somehow he has. Now the blonde boy believes he is ready.
"Call me ready for the challenge." he proclaims.
"Very well." says the Namcoator. "The Bosconian challenge shall now commence!"
The Bosconian start jingle plays.
GUS WILDE - READY!
Gus took a look at his display. It currently showed three bases. "This should be easy." he thought.
The first base happens to be just in front of him, making his job fairly easy. Carefully lining himself up with the base's core. Gus takes a shot at it. The shot flies into the core, causing it to overload and explode, destroying the base. "Nice!" he mutters.
The second base is close by. A quick trip over and a shot to the core is enough to take care of it. The third base is a little further away, so Gus duly begins piloting the ship towards it, using its gun to clear out any asteroids or Cosmo-Mines in his path. Another shot later, and the third base is destroyed.
"Round clear. That was easy." Gus thinks.
"That's the first round clear!" the Namcoator announces. "Allow me to transport you to the second round!"
"ALARM! ALARM!"
"SPY SHIP SIGHTED!"
"BATTLE STATIONS!"
Jackie has become used to hearing these phrases throughout the course of the challenge. Gus has proven himself to be master at this challenge, zipping through space and plowing through the enemy bases. She turns to the Namcoator.
"I must admit, this looks quite a bit more fun than Galaga is." she admits.
"I share your opinion." says the Namcoator. "It's too bad Bosconian never gained a large following outside of Japan. A good number of Bosconian cabinets were converted into Galaga cabinets because of that, which is kind of a shame because I find Bosconian an underrated gem."
"Yeah, a shame. Only problem is that those audio cues can get annoying. Plus, is it saying 'Alert! Alert!' or 'Align! Align!'?"
"Neither, actually. It's 'Alarm! Alarm!'. This was one of the first game to have audio voice clips like this, so it doesn't surprise that they're… not of the best quality."
"Oh well." Jackie then turns back to the screen and cheers Gus on.
A massive explosion covers Gus's field of vision as the final enemy base's core overloads and explodes, sending pieces of metal in all directions, but with skillful dodging Gus is able to avoid all of them.
"There! That's the fifteenth round complete! I've cleared this challenge!" Gus proclaims.
"Indeed. The Bosconian challenge is indeed clear, player. Let's get you your trophy."
The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Gus dematerialises, leaving the ship's cockpit empty.
Gus rematerialises in the monitor room, where the Namcoator has the Bosconian trophy presented, showing one of the enemy bases. Gus takes it and begins admiring it.
"Can I say that that was my favourite space experience by far?" Gus asks.
"You can say that." the Namcoator permits. Gus walks over to the trophy shelf and puts up the Bosconian trophy.
Jackie stretches. "We're almost done, right?"
The Namcoator nods. "Yes. Only three challenges remain."
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's begin the next challenge!"