I'll
start off with these two very basic definitions:
Tap- lightly press a button without holding it down
Hold- press and keep a button down
You need to know those definitions. Also, the A button is the grapple button. B is the shoot button. Select is used in the game to pause. Start is used to access your special item. More on this later, but generally, A means accept, and B means cancel. To get health, either run and pick up the bullets foes leave behind or grab the bullets with your bionic arm. To get your first health point, you need 5 bullets. Then you need 15. Then 30, then 60, then 100, then 150, then 220, then 300. Yeah, 300 bullets. Whoa. It helps that you get 10 bonus bullets each time you beat most action/normal areas, like this one (but not neutral areas, like this one.) Additionally, after most action levels, you get another gun or an item.
This brings us to the next point: what do you mean by "beating" a level? This, in regular/action areas, just means you beat the boss. Whatever you do to get there, if you beat the boss, you've "beaten" the level. However, you need to follow a course to get to the boss, of course. For example, you need to bring the right communicators in a few levels to beat the level. IF A COMMUNICATION ROOM SAYS "GA GA GA...", YOU'VE BROUGHT THE WRONG COMMUNICATOR. You can't really beat a neutral area.
Additionally, don't get worried if you get hit a few times in this game. Whenever you return to the map after beating or exiting a level, your health is recharged. For example, suppose you gather 100 bullets. That gives you 5 health points. But suppose that, before you end the level, you are hit three times, so that you have only two health points. Next level, you get 5 health points again! REMEMBER THIS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU TURN OUT TO BE A PARANOID SAVER. What's that? You'll find out soon enough, here.