Versus · Shooter New PREMIUM

Nova Strike

A neon space shooter built for one thumb. Drag to fly, your ship fires on its own. Thread bullet patterns, chain kills up to ×4, evolve your guns and topple three giant bosses, then survive endless Overdrive.

Difficulty

Touch: drag anywhere to fly · hold the bomb button or double-tap for a Nova Bomb. Desktop: mouse or WASD / arrows (Shift = precise) · Space bomb · P pause

Cinder BeltHydra Dreadnought
Ion VeilIon Mantis
Nova CoreThe Nova Core
OverdriveEndless loop

Only the core counts: the glowing dot in your ship is the hitbox. Let bullets skim past for Graze points
Keep the chain alive: kill again within about 2 s to grow the multiplier up to ×4
Evolve your guns: power cores upgrade you from Spread to Twin Laser, Homing and the Nova Beam

About Nova Strike

Nova Strike is a vertical-scrolling space shooter built for one thumb. Your ship fires on its own while you weave through enemy formations and bullet patterns across three sectors, each ending in a multi-phase boss.

How to play

Drag anywhere to fly; your ship stays ahead of your thumb so it is never hidden. Only the glowing core of the ship can be hit.
Collect power cores to evolve your gun from Twin Blaster to Spread, Twin Laser, Homing and Nova Beam, and choose one of three upgrades after each boss.
Keep killing to grow your chain multiplier, graze bullets for bonus points and hold the bomb button to clear the screen in an emergency.

Controls

Drag to move on touch screens and hold the bomb button or double-tap for a Nova Bomb. On desktop, steer with the mouse or WASD and arrow keys (Shift for precision) and press Space to bomb.

Good to know

Premium game (part of Streaky Premium). Plays in any modern browser on phone, tablet or computer. Sign in to put your scores on the Nova Strike leaderboard.

More about Nova Strike

Nova Strike is a game about reading patterns instead of racing them. Your ship fires automatically and only its small glowing core can be hit, so the real skill is threading through gaps in bullet patterns with small, controlled movements. Learning which enemies fire in lines, which sweep across the screen and which dive at you lets you plan a route one step ahead.

A run moves through three sectors: Cinder Belt, Ion Veil and Nova Core. Each one fills with swooping and diving ships, turrets, sweepers, mine layers and large carriers, and ends in a boss fight against the Hydra Dreadnought, the Ion Mantis and The Nova Core. After each boss you pick an upgrade. Beat all three and the game loops into Overdrive, which keeps going and keeps getting faster until you run out of ships.

Scoring and progress

Kills build a chain: the multiplier starts at ×1 and grows by 0.05 per kill, up to ×4 at 60 kills. It resets if the chain timer, about 2.2 seconds by default, runs out. Grazing bullets also scores and charges bombs. Easy has 3 ships and scores ×0.4, Medium has 2 ships and scores ×1, and Hard has 1 ship and scores ×1.5. Grades run from D to S, with S starting at 120,000 points.

Common questions

What happens to my gun when I get hit?
You lose one weapon level, down to a minimum of 1, and you lose a ship. The Power Surge upgrade removes the weapon-level loss.

What are the colored letters that drop from large ships?
They are timed power-ups. S gives a shield, D gives drones, R gives rapid fire and M gives a magnet that pulls pickups to you.

Does the game end after the third boss?
No. After the third sector the game continues in Overdrive, which loops and gets harder until you lose all of your ships.

Tips and strategy

Stay near the bottom half of the screen where you have more room to dodge, and move in small steps. The hitbox is only the glowing core, so you can pass through bullet art that is not touching it.
Graze on purpose when the pattern is slow. Close passes score points and charge Nova Bombs, but do not chase them in a dense pattern.
Keep your chain going. Between waves, line up the next ship so you do not leave a gap longer than the chain timer, and consider Chain Keeper when you get an upgrade.
Getting hit costs a weapon level unless you take Power Surge, so a hit hurts twice. Collect power cores quickly after a hit to rebuild your gun.
Hold Nova Bombs for bosses and for walls of bullets. Easy starts with 3 bombs and the others with 2, and Nova Cell upgrades add bomb slots.
Pick upgrades that match your weakness. Hull Plating and Aegis help if you keep dying, while Overclock and Heavy Rounds help shorten boss fights.

More advice in the Streaky guides.

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