SpaceXp Guide: How to Beat All 20 Bosses and Clear 20 Stages
SpaceXp is a free 3D space shooter that runs in your browser. You fly the Dispatcher ship up a field of enemies and must beat 20 stages, each ending with a giant boss. This guide covers the controls, the enemies, the upgrades, how each boss fights and how to get a high score.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Touch and mouse |
|---|---|---|
| Move | Arrow keys or W A S D | Drag with your finger or mouse |
| Fire | Space or Z (or hold) | Fires while your finger is down |
| Pause | P or Esc | – |
| Mute | M | – |
Hold fire while you move – the guns only stop when you let go of the button or the touch.
Lives and weapon upgrades
- You start with 3 lives. A green H pickup gives +1 life, up to 5.
- A cyan W pickup raises your weapon from level 1 to level 3: two guns at level 2, and three guns with side shots at level 3.
- Getting hit costs one life, drops your weapon back to level 1 and gives you 2 seconds of invulnerability – use them to get back into position.
The enemies
| Enemy | How it behaves | How to beat it |
|---|---|---|
| Scout (green) | Weaves from side to side and fires single shots | Shoot it down before it reaches your row |
| Gunner (purple) | Slows down in the middle of the screen and fires three-shot bursts | Keep moving so the bursts miss |
| Kamikaze (red) | Waits, then dives straight at your ship | Shoot it early, or move aside as it dives |
| Sweep fighter | Crosses the screen from one side and shoots | Stay in the middle of the field |
| Rock | Drifts down slowly and spins | Shoot it, or fly around it – hitting it hurts you |
Enemies come in waves: lines, V shapes, pairs of gunners and rock fields. The waves get denser on later stages.
The 20 bosses
Each stage has about 45 seconds of waves and then its boss arrives. The boss has more health on each later stage, and every boss uses one of five attack patterns in turn:
| Pattern | What it does | How to survive |
|---|---|---|
| 1 – spiral | Fires arms of bullets that turn around the boss | Keep moving through the gaps between the arms |
| 2 – aimed bursts | Fires a fan of bullets aimed at your ship | Move sideways just as the burst leaves |
| 3 – rings | Fires a full ring of bullets in all directions | Stay in a gap of the ring, or hold the middle until it passes |
| 4 – wall | Sends a wall of bullets across the screen with one gap | Find the gap early and go straight through it |
| 5 – twin shots and scouts | Fires pairs of bullets and, every 6 seconds, calls two scouts | Shoot the scouts first, then the boss |
Bosses get angrier as their health drops: below two-thirds of its health the boss fires faster, and below one-third it fires even more bullets. Stay at the bottom of the screen and move to the side to dodge, then move in close to shoot when there is a gap.
Stages and unlocks
- Clear a stage to unlock the next one.
- Pick any unlocked stage on the title screen with the numbered buttons.
- Your best score and unlocked stages are saved in your browser, so you can come back later.
The stages are named MOON ORBIT, ASTEROID BELT, RED NEBULA, IRON RING, DEEP SPACE, through to STARGATE, OMEGA FIELD and SINGULARITY on stage 20.
How the score works
| Event | Points |
|---|---|
| Scout | 100 |
| Gunner or sweep fighter | 250 |
| Kamikaze | 150 |
| Rock | 60 |
| Pickup | 50 |
| Boss | 5,000 × stage number |
Bosses on the later stages are worth much more, so a full run to stage 20 gives the biggest score. Your best score is kept on this browser.