Rules

The Sun and the Black Hole
Shooting at the sun will damage it. You can see how damaged the sun is by the size of the ox icon that appears over the sun when you shoot it; the larger the icon is, the more damage has been done to the sun. When not being shot, the sun heals damage at a rate that varies based on the level.

When the sun is sufficiently damaged, it transforms into the black hole. This triggers the following:
 * All enemies on the screen are destoryed.
 * "Hyper Scoring" is activated; the x9 multiplier cap is removed.
 * Your multiplier is immediately raised to x25, minus 2 for each Sheepie collected so far (regardless of the reason why the Sheepie was collected and regardless of having lost any multiplier you got for those Sheepies in the meantime).
 * While the black hole is open, your score multiplier will be cut in half only when you Sheepie Save, not when you die.
 * If you have not yet obtained all Ship Types available to you, a new Ship will be dropped. If you have obtained them all (even if you have lost some in the meantime), a score bonus is awarded.

Sheepie Save
Whenever you die ("Oh dear!"), the "Sheepie Save subgame" begins. Your ship will spin out of control downwards towards the bottom of the screen, and you will lose vertical control of it (as a result, a glowing crosshair will appear to act as your mouse pointer). However, you retain horizontal control. If your ship falls completely off the bottom of the screen, then the ship and a life are both lost ("Oops, loser!").

If you can steer the dying ship into a Sheepie, you immediately come back to life, with no life loss ("Sheepie, I love you!"). You still recieve weapon power-ups for collecting the Sheepie, but you do not recieve an increase to your multiplier. In fact, your score multiplier will be cut in half.

If your dying ship crashes into any enemies, it will be bounced back up (cash register sound), which can help you remain on screen while you wait for a sheepie to appear. The ship can be bounced upwards by contact with snakes, snowflakes, dropships, or bullets fired by the Sun/Black hole. It is not bounced by contact with the Sun/Black hole itself, nor zappers, nor flowers.

Sheepie that are below your ship on the screen during the Sheepie Save phase will turn around and head back up when they reach the bottom, giving you a chance to collect them. However, the penalty for missing a Sheepie is still in force even during Sheepie Save, meaning that if you really mess up, you might not just lose a life, but your entire multiplier too.