Story Mode is one of the game modes available in Xeno Fighters R. This mode has stage branching and cutscenes to help tell the story.
This game mode and Path Mode incorporate a scoring system in which bonus scores are calculated based on the length of a bonus chain and awarded after the chain breaks.
Stage branching[]
Story Mode stage branching (as of v0.300)
The player's gameplay choices affect which stage they go to next. This also affects the story. EX Warps are special stage branching conditions that are triggered by finding and destroying all Micluses and collecting a special EX Medal in certain stages. EX Warps override normal victory and failure conditions and send the player to an EX stage.
Regular stages[]
|
Stage |
Victory condition | Fail condition | EX Warp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 (1942 Midway Islands) | Defeat Techno-Ayako.
Go to Stage 2. |
N/A | N/A |
| Stage 2 (2035 American Midwest) | Cripple the escort craft accompanying Silver Banshee before it escapes.
Go to Stage 3-B. |
The escort craft escapes.
Go to Stage 3-A. |
N/A |
| Stage 3-A (1995 Chechnya) |
Do not let Jasper Gigas destroy any ATHENA buildings. Go to Stage 4-B. |
Jasper Gigas destroys at least one ATHENA building. Go to Stage 4-A. |
N/A |
| Stage 3-B (1974 Vietnam) |
Cripple the escort craft accompanying Jade Hydra before it escapes. Go to Stage 4-B. |
The escort craft escapes. Go to Stage 4-A. |
Go to Stage EX-1. |
| Stage 4-A (2035 Iceland) |
Destroy Orion Arrow before time runs out. Go to Stage 5-A. |
Fail to destroy Orion Arrow in time.
Go to Stage 5-C. |
N/A |
| Stage 4-B (2035 Portugal) | Destroy all 16 stratofortress bombers in the Stymphalian Birds squadron.
Go to Stage 5-B. |
Fail to destroy all 16 stratofortress bombers in the Stymphalian Birds squadron.
Go to Stage 5-A. |
Go to Stage EX-2. |
| Stage 5-A (2003 Afghanistan) |
Destroy all three Staubteufel war machines. Go to Stage 6-B. |
Fail this stage's objective. Go to Stage 6-A. |
N/A |
| Stage 5-B (1991 Persian Gulf) |
Successfully escort at least five F-117 support fighters. Go to Stage 6-B. |
Fail this stage's objective. Go to Stage 6-A. |
Go to Stage EX-3. |
| Stage 5-C (End of Days) |
Destroy Copper Caoineag before it escapes. GAME ENDS HERE. |
Copper Caoineag escapes. GAME ENDS HERE. |
N/A |
| Stage 6-A (1915 France) |
Clear the stage. Go to Stage F-A |
N/A | N/A |
| Stage 6-B (Dimensional Abyss) |
Clear the stage. See "Final stage determination" below. |
N/A | N/A |
Completing Stage 5-C ends the game early with the worst ending. Any Story Mode run that ends at 5-C allows for the shortest stage order possible: only 5 stages.
EX stages[]
| Stage | Victory condition | Fail condition | EX Warp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage EX-1 (Gemini Canyon) |
Clear the stage. Go to Stage 5-B. |
N/A | Go to Stage EX-2. |
| Stage EX-2 (Forest of Naju) |
Clear the stage. Go to Stage 6-B. |
N/A | Go to Stage EX-3. |
| Stage EX-3 (Parobee Fusion) |
N/A |
Fail to find all Micluses and collect the EX Medal.
|
Go to Stage EX-4. |
| Stage EX-4 ('98 D R E A M S) |
Clear the stage without finding the EX medal. Go to Stage F-A. |
N/A |
Go to Stage EX-5. |
| Stage EX-5 (Lair of the Leviathan) |
Completely destroy Vahrstor with a 100% destruction rate. Go to Stage EX-6. |
Get less than 100% destruction rate on Vahrstor, or let Vahrstor escape. Go to Stage F-B. |
N/A |
| Stage EX-6 (San Diego) |
Clear the stage. Go to Stage F-C. |
N/A | N/A |
The first three EX stages take the player to a regular stage or a determined final stage upon clearing them. The only way to travel from one EX-stage to the next until Stage EX-4 is by EX Warps.
Stages EX-4, EX-5, and EX-6 serve as alternate ways to reach the Final stages. While going to these EX stages will make your Story Mode run longer, it is the optimal scoring path to go through these three highly difficult EX stages. There is also a risk if you fail the objectives in EX-4 and EX-5 to get dropped into an undesired Final stage. Failing to find all 13 Micluses in EX-4 will drop you to F-A. Failing to 100% destroy Vahrstor in EX-5 will drop you to F-B. Once you reach Stage EX-6, just clear the stage and you are guaranteed to go to Stage F-C.
Final stage determination[]
The final stage on a given run in Story Mode is determined by the stage order after completing Stage 6-B:
- If a given stage order is any combination of "A" stages and "B" stages, the final stage will be Stage F-B (Temporal Spaceport). Completing Stage F-B ends the game with the good ending.
- If a given stage order is 3-B, 4-B, and 5-B, the final stage will be Stage F-C (BRES Colony). Completing Stage F-C ends the game with the best ending.
- Note that you cannot exploit the B stage checks by dropping out of an early EX stage back to the regular stages. For example, a Story Mode run of
1 > 2 > 3-B > EX-1 > EX-2 > 6-Bwill result in Stage F-B being that run's final stage, instead of F-C. - The only ways to reach Stage F-C in Story Mode are:
- Clear 6-B after clearing 3-B, 4-B, and 5-B beforehand
- Clear Stage EX-6.
Endings[]
These are the endings in the game so far:
- ALL-1: The worst ending. Gotten by clearing Stage 5-C (End of Days)
- ALL-2: The bittersweet ending. Gotten by clearing Stage F-A (Asteroid Belt)
- ALL-3: The good ending. Gotten by clearing Stage F-B (Temporal Spaceport)
- ALL-4: The best ending. Gotten by clearing Stage F-C (BRES Colony)
- ALL-X: The "lost" ending. Gotten by failing to get the EX Warp from Stage EX-3 (Parobee Fusion)
Development history[]
Story Mode began as the only game mode in Xeno Fighters EX. In 2011's Xeno Fighters R, it was known as "Arcade Mode". Story branching was introduced in this version of the game.
| Game mechanics | ||
| Game modes | Story Mode ● Path Mode ● Conquest Mode ● Boss Rush | |
| Core gameplay | SP Ability (Xeno Overdrive) ● Miclus ● Fairy ● Slave ● Fighter weapon modes ● Combo system and scoring bonuses ● Medal system ● Rank system and difficulty levels | |
| Lore | BRES ● ATHENA ● The Keto | |
| Game information | Game development history ● Public release history | |