I managed to clear level 10 without using the conversion bombs at all. Excavated the entire central area and created a giant bank of reactors to support 14 blasters, 6 launchers, 8 ore rigs and 2 makers, then leapfrogged my way down each of the big creeper holes. Building all that infrastructure was incredibly relaxing.
This game is not fun. Which is very sad, because it ought to be. Instead, unresponsive and awkward controls just make it a grind. I mean, Z to jump up and S/down arrow to jump down?? OK, I can still work with that, except that the game lags even on the low quality setting. Not even going to go into the badges.
I like this series, but why on earth is bounce so arbitrary in this instalment? Some levels it shoots the Dibbles from one end of the map to the other, other levels there seems to be an invisible wall stopping it halfway across the map no matter where I bounce them from or to.
Tip for the medium badge: ZAC fighters are immune to infection. Bump up your range, upgrade the assimilator and go do something else while your base cleans up.
"You are now a "Master dragon slayer Ring specialist Sorcerer delux!!!" and dragons all over the known universe are no longer a threat to you! Dragon victims and their families salute you!" Well, that was kind of anticlimactic.
The lag is horrendous. There's some kind of memory leak going on that slows everything down when the car is used and when there are too many things on screen. Game breaker for a bullet hell.
The companions were a fun mechanic at first - until their terrible AI got in the way. In later stages, they died so quickly even with regen on that I invariably ended up kiting half the enemies by myself. The targeting is pretty strange too, because I've been standing right on top of an enemy and yet been unable to hit it because I was apparently facing the wrong way. It's a nice game, but these two flaws are rotten for a fighting game.
Despite the slippery controls, the checkpoints were very thoughtfully placed and I really appreciate that. Just the right mix of difficulty and save ease to prevent total frustration.
Now I remember why I stopped playing this game a few years back despite rating it very highly. It has a big memory leak and doesn't save properly, which is insanely irritating when the memory leak forces a refresh to prevent the browser from crashing.
Opened a random chest, found something called a Booster which enables First Strike. Cool, I thought, and equipped it on the slowest character in the party. Who happened to be a fully levelled Elementalist with all the area attacks. Two minutes later I was giggling hysterically as every single encounter ended within one bar of the battle theme.
A tip for getting the hard badge: boss arrival is triggered by killing a certain number of mooks. I abused this to get my ship fully upgraded before reaching the final boss. (1) At max level, buy the first two ship upgrades. Get loot/magnet 4, speed 4 and loot/magnet 3. You want to minimize killing mooks so that you can collect as many treasure chests as possible before the boss arrives. You can kill the first boss with basic weapon and easily survive stage 2 with speed 4. (2) Don't upgrade till the second boss arrives. By then you should have enough money to upgrade your ship again and buy flag 4. With good evasion skills this will get you past the second boss. (3) Keep farming chests, don't upgrade till the final boss arrives. You should now have enough money to upgrade your ship fully and buy literally any stats you like.
I reached the last boss with one life left, defeated him easily and then got blown up by a stray bullet. Seconds later, I was awarded the medal for defeating the last boss without taking any damage...
 "Creeper World 2: Academy"){kind=icon}
 "300 miles to Pigsland"){kind=icon}
 "Dibbles: Pro Pack"){kind=icon}
 "oO"){kind=icon}
 "Enigmata: Stellar War"){kind=icon}
 "Papa's Pizzeria"){kind=icon}
 "Ring Pass Not"){kind=icon}
 "Battalion Commander"){kind=icon}
 "Mighty Knight"){kind=icon}
 "Frantic 2"){kind=icon}
 "Dangerous adventure"){kind=icon}
 "Pursuit of hat 2"){kind=icon}
 "Astrox"){kind=icon}
 "Exit Path"){kind=icon}
 "The End"){kind=icon}
 "New York Shark"){kind=icon}
 "Crystal Story II"){kind=icon}
 "Frantic Frigates"){kind=icon}
 "Battalion Commander 2"){kind=icon}