Equipment

Tyrian specials and twiddles

Specials are extra weapons. Most ships fire theirs with a twiddle: a short sequence of moves, some with Fire held, that the game recognises while you play. Shops never sell specials: they come with your ship, with special ships and modes, or are picked up during levels.

Twiddles by ship

How the game reads a twiddle:

Each frame it looks at the way your ship moved, Up, Down, Left or Right, and whether Fire is held: Fire+Up means moving up while holding Fire. Diagonal moves are ignored, and so is standing still with Fire held.
Release means standing still without Fire. It never breaks a twiddle in progress.
Holding a step for several frames is fine. Moving in another direction starts the twiddle over.
Only the ship's movement counts, so twiddles work with the keyboard, a gamepad or the mouse.

Ship	Keys, in order	Special	Cost
USP Talon Light Fighter	`Down`, `Up`, `Down`, `Fire+Up`	Invulnerability	all the shield (at least 4)
USP Talon Light Fighter	`Right`, `Left`, `Down`, `Fire+Up`	Atom Bomb	2 armor
SuperCarrot	`Up`, `Fire+Down`	Hot Dog	1 armor
SuperCarrot	`Down`, `Fire+Up`	Ice Blast	4 shield
Gencore Phoenix	`Down`, `Fire+Up`	Ice Blast	4 shield
Gencore Phoenix	`Fire+Down`, `Down`, `Fire+Down`	Repair Player 1	all the shield (at least 4)
Gencore Maelstrom	`Fire+Down`, `Fire+Left`, `Fire+Up`, `Fire+Right`, `Fire+Down`, `Fire+Left`, `Fire+Up`	Protron Dispersal	30 shield never fires
Gencore Maelstrom	`Fire+Down`, `Down`, `Fire+Down`	Repair Player 1	all the shield (at least 4)
MicroCorp Stalker	`Fire+Left`, `Fire+Right`	Repulsor	1 shield
MicroCorp Stalker	`Up`, `Fire+Left`, `Fire+Down`	Protron Field	half the shield
MicroCorp Stalker-B	`Fire+Left`, `Fire+Right`	Repulsor	1 shield
MicroCorp Stalker-B	`Fire+Right`, `Fire+Down`, `Fire+Left`, `Up`	Minefield	4 armor
Prototype Stalker-C	`Left`, `Fire+Down`, `Fire+Right`, `Fire+Up`	Post-It Blast	5 armor
	`Left`, `Right`, `Fire+Down`	Seeker Bombs	3 armor
	`Fire+Down`, `Down`, `Fire+Down`	Repair Player 1	all the shield (at least 4)
Stalker	`Fire+Down`, `Down`, `Fire+Down`	Repair Player 1	all the shield (at least 4)
	`Up`, `Fire+Left`, `Fire+Down`	Protron Field	half the shield
	`Fire+Right`, `Fire+Down`, `Fire+Left`, `Up`	Minefield	4 armor
USP Fang Light Fighter	`Down`, `Up`, `Down`, `Fire+Up`	Invulnerability	all the shield (at least 4)
USP Fang Light Fighter	`Left`, `Right`, `Fire+Down`	Seeker Bombs	3 armor
U-Ship	`Fire+Left`, `Fire+Right`	Repulsor	1 shield
	`Up`, `Fire+Left`	Lightning UP+LEFT	free
	`Up`, `Fire+Right`	Lightning UP+RIGHT	free
Silver Ship	`Right`, `Left`, `Down`, `Fire+Up`	Atom Bomb	2 armor
	`Up`, `Down`, `Fire+Left`, `Fire+Right`	Missile Pod	80 shield never fires
	`Left`, `Right`, `Left`, `Fire+Down`	Repair Player 1	all the shield (at least 4)
Nort Ship	`Left`, `Right`, `Fire+Down`	Seeker Bombs	3 armor
	`Up`, `Fire+Left`, `Fire+Down`	Protron Field	half the shield
	`Left`, `Fire+Down`, `Fire+Right`, `Fire+Up`	Post-It Blast	5 armor
Storm	`Down`, `Up`, `Down`, `Fire+Up`	Invulnerability	all the shield (at least 4)
Player 2 (two-player games)	`Fire+Down`, `Down`, `Fire+Down`	Repair Player 1	all the shield (at least 4)
	`Down`, `Fire+Up`	Ice Blast	4 shield
	`Fire+Left`, `Fire+Right`	Repulsor	1 shield

No twiddles: The Stalker 21.126, Red Dragon, Gencore II, PeteZoomer, Rum Bottle. In two-player games player 2 uses the three twiddles of the last rows, whatever the ship.

What a twiddle costs

Free: nothing.
N shield: your shield must hold at least N points, which are spent.
All the shield: your shield must hold at least 4 points, and empties.
Half the shield: always fires and halves your shield.
N armor: your armor must stay above N, so a twiddle never destroys your ship.

Your shield holds at most 28 points (twice the strength of the MicroCorp HXS Class C), so Protron Dispersal (30 shield) and Missile Pod (80 shield) can never fire.

Super Tyrian twiddles

In Super Tyrian (the ENGAGE code) and in the three bonus games of the campaign, every ship has these 21 twiddles instead. In the Galaga-style bonus games your shield stays at zero, so the twiddles paid with shield cannot fire there.

Keys, in order	Special	Cost
`Release`, `Fire+Up`	Lightning UP	free
`Up`, `Fire+Left`	Lightning UP+LEFT	free
`Up`, `Fire+Right`	Lightning UP+RIGHT	free
`Release`, `Fire+Left`	Lightning LEFT	free
`Release`, `Fire+Right`	Lightning RIGHT	free
`Right`, `Down`, `Left`, `Fire+Up`	MicroSol Option	free
`Left`, `Up`, `Down`, `Fire+Right`	MicroSol Option2	free
`Down`, `Right`, `Fire+Up`	MicroSol Option3	free
`Left`, `Right`, `Down`, `Fire+Right`	MicroSol Option4	free
`Up`, `Right`, `Fire+Down`	MicroSol Option5	free
`Fire+Left`, `Fire+Right`	Repulsor	1 shield
`Up`, `Fire+Left`, `Fire+Down`	Protron Field	half the shield
`Fire+Down`, `Down`, `Fire+Down`	Repair Player 1	all the shield (at least 4)
`Up`, `Left`, `Fire+Down`	Invulnerability	all the shield (at least 4)
`Up`, `Fire+Down`	Hot Dog	1 armor
`Down`, `Fire+Up`	Ice Blast	4 shield
`Fire+Down`, `Fire+Left`, `Fire+Up`, `Fire+Right`, `Fire+Down`, `Fire+Left`, `Fire+Up`	Protron Dispersal	30 shield never fires
`Left`, `Right`, `Fire+Down`	Seeker Bombs	3 armor
`Fire+Right`, `Fire+Down`, `Fire+Left`, `Up`	Minefield	4 armor
`Right`, `Left`, `Down`, `Fire+Up`	Atom Bomb	2 armor
`Up`, `Right`, `Left`, `Right`, `Fire+Left`	MicroSol Option6	free