Blazing Lazers Cheat Codes & Secrets

Stage Select

Blazing Lazers has no password system — it’s a pure arcade-style game with nine areas played from start to finish. However, a stage select code lets you begin at any area.

Stage Select Code:

At the title screen (do not press Run yet), hold Select and simultaneously press Up or Down on the d-pad to cycle through the nine available starting areas. The area number will increment on screen. Once your desired area is displayed, press Run to begin the game from that point.

Input	Effect	Notes
Hold Select + Up/Down at title screen	Cycle starting area (1–9)	Release Select before pressing Run
Press Run after selecting area	Begin game at chosen area	Score starts at 0 regardless

Note: Starting on a later area does not grant the weapon upgrades you would have accumulated in earlier stages — you begin with your default loadout. Area 6 onward is significantly harder without leveled weapons.

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Extra Continues

By default, Blazing Lazers gives you a limited credit pool. There is a documented trick to increase the number of continues available before starting a run.

Input	Effect	Platform
Hold I + II + Up at title screen, press Run	Begin with additional continues	TurboGrafx-16

Hold all three inputs simultaneously before the title screen animation completes, then press Run while still holding them. The game will not display a confirmation — simply proceed and you will notice extra credits available when your lives run out.

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Weapon System Deep Cuts

Blazing Lazers features eight distinct weapon types, each upgradeable through multiple levels by collecting repeated power-up capsules of the same color. Understanding the hidden behavior of the weapon system is as important as any cheat code.

Weapon Type	Color	Best Used In	Max Level
Cyclone Laser	Blue	Open areas, wide spread needed	7
Photon Torpedo	Red	Concentrated boss damage	7
Lightning	Yellow	Enemies approaching from sides	7
Snake Laser	Green	Curved enemy formations	7
Homing Missiles	Purple	Dense mid-stage encounters	7
Neutron Bomb	Orange	Area 5–7 boss phases	7
Blast Bomb	White	Clearing bullet clusters	7
Energy Blade	Cyan	Close-range specialists	7

Weapon Preservation: When you die, you lose all weapon levels but retain the weapon type. Immediately grab any same-color capsule before enemies overwhelm your weakened ship to partially restore your power before the next wave.

Special Weapon Stacking: Your secondary special weapon (the screen-clearing bomb) charges independently of your primary. In later areas, resist using it on weak waves — save the charge for Area 8 and Area 9 boss phases where the damage output is critical.

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Beneficial Glitches and Exploits

Enemy Spawn Suppression

Blazing Lazers, developed by Compile, shares engine lineage with Zanac and Gun-Nac. Like those titles, enemy spawn rates and density are partially dynamic — the game’s internal difficulty meter responds to how aggressively you fire. Holding down the fire button continuously throughout a stage escalates the spawn rate. In particularly brutal sections of Areas 7–9, brief pauses in firing (~0.5 seconds) can reduce the density of the next incoming wave. This is especially useful during the multi-boss gauntlet that closes Area 8.

Power-Up Camping

Power-up capsules in Blazing Lazers do not despawn — they scroll off the top of the screen and disappear, but they do not vanish on a timer while on screen. In several fixed sections, particularly the mid-Area 4 corridor, enemies drop capsules faster than a player can collect them without repositioning. Hovering near the bottom of the screen and letting capsules stack while you clear enemies before collecting in bulk is a legitimate technique to level-jump your weapon faster than intended.

Score Multiplier via Specific Weapon Use

Certain enemy types in Areas 5 and 6 yield bonus point values when destroyed by the Photon Torpedo (red weapon) at maximum level. This is not a glitch per se, but an undocumented scoring mechanic that experienced players exploit for high-score runs. Maintaining red weapon at level 7 through Area 5’s mid-boss corridor can yield roughly 30–40% more points than other weapons against that specific enemy class.

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Sound Test

A sound test mode is accessible without modifying gameplay:

Input	Effect
Hold II + Select at title screen, press Run	Access sound test menu

Use Up and Down to cycle through BGM tracks and sound effects. Press I to play the selected sound. Press Run to exit back to the title screen. This mode is useful for emulator users who want to identify the soundtrack or confirm their audio emulation is correct.

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Developer Easter Eggs

Blazing Lazers was developed by Compile, a studio known for embedding hidden content in their shooters throughout the late 1980s. The following have been documented by the TurboGrafx preservation community:

Gunhed Film Tie-In Text: The Japanese release (titled Gunhed) is based on the 1989 Toho film of the same name. In the Japanese version, the attract mode includes scrolling text referencing the film’s setting. The North American Blazing Lazers release removes this text, but the unused string data remains in the ROM. Players using a ROM editor or memory viewer can find the original Japanese film credits embedded in the cartridge data.

Compile Staff Hidden Reference: A static string referencing Compile’s internal development team designation exists in the ROM data at a fixed offset. It is not displayed during normal gameplay but is visible via ROM inspection — consistent with Compile’s habit of signing their code in titles like Zanac and Aleste.

Area 9 Final Message: Upon defeating the Area 9 final boss and viewing the ending, the game displays a brief staff message before looping. The Japanese version includes an additional line from the development team not present in the US localization. Completing the game on the hardest effective difficulty (reaching Area 9 without using the stage select) triggers the full ending sequence.

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Quick Reference

Code / Technique	Input	Effect
Stage Select	Hold Select + Up/Down at title, press Run	Choose starting area 1–9
Extra Continues	Hold I + II + Up at title, press Run	Additional credits
Sound Test	Hold II + Select at title, press Run	Browse BGM and SFX
Spawn Suppression	Brief fire pauses in Areas 7–9	Reduce enemy wave density
Weapon Preservation	Grab same-color capsule immediately after death	Partial weapon level restore
Score Exploit	Maintain red weapon Level 7 through Area 5 corridor	~30–40% bonus points on key enemies

All inputs assume the standard TurboGrafx-16 controller: D-pad, I (right face button), II (left face button), Select, and Run. These codes function identically on a PC Engine with the original Japanese ROM.