DoDonPachi (All Variations) (360)

[weakboson]

I don't know much about arrange B. Having your score build cumulatively never appealed to me, though it does look like some cool bullet patterns are possible. 360 mode is very difficult to score well in so if you're looking to get a good score then be prepared to put some time into learning the game. But if you're just getting into then you can get a feel for the stages and how hypers work by playing strong style for survival. The autobomb makes a 1CC much easier than you might think. It's still best to use them strategically, though, as they lasts longer and do more damage if let off manually. Hypers can be used as a fail safe too since you are invincible for a second or two after activating them. They will also allow you to cancel bullets, though your ability to do this effectively reduces the more you use them.

Scoring system is covered in detail here: http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=704.0

Novice mode is pretty good in this game if you want to get a feel for the scoring system.

[Sel Feena]

New personal best in Arrange A (normal route). Still miles behind you two!

[Misery]

I don't know much about arrange B. Having your score build cumulatively never appealed to me, though it does look like some cool bullet patterns are possible. 360 mode is very difficult to score well in so if you're looking to get a good score then be prepared to put some time into learning the game. But if you're just getting into then you can get a feel for the stages and how hypers work by playing strong style for survival. The autobomb makes a 1CC much easier than you might think. It's still best to use them strategically, though, as they lasts longer and do more damage if let off manually. Hypers can be used as a fail safe too since you are invincible for a second or two after activating them. They will also allow you to cancel bullets, though your ability to do this effectively reduces the more you use them.

Scoring system is covered in detail here: http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=704.0

Novice mode is pretty good in this game if you want to get a feel for the scoring system.

I like Arrange B well enough.... it's an interesting concept.

The score doesnt so much build cumulatively, as the difficulty and rank build instead. The higher they go though, the more points you are capable of earning.

The mode ends up being pretty much a pure test of skill: Just how much chaos can you handle? How crazy can the patterns get before you are brought down?

Considering the very low difficulty (survival-wise) of the other modes in this particular release, Arrange B was a very nice surprise in that it provided a strong challenge where the others werent.

[Misery]

Ah, it took me awhile to figure out exactly what you meant by "cumulatively", haha.

I think you might be thinking of the "total score" counter, which adds up all of the scores for the 5 stages.

That one isnt the number that actually matters, though. It's each individual stage score that matters... that's what the leaderboards use, there is one for each stage.

Beyond that, the scoring doesnt do anything bizarre or work in any wierd way. Though, the game does display the top score for a stage in BIG HUGE NUMBERS during gameplay for... oh I have no idea why. The number UNDER that one is your current score. Always starts at 0 like any other mode.

Actually, I know PART of why. When your current score surpasses the top score, the game shifts into green mode, regardless of bees. Normally you have to grab a flashing bee while in hyper in order to switch to green mode.

Interesting thing about this mode though, is that while you cannot run out of lives, there are very definite penalties for dying. It knocks your current score down, AND knocks both the red rank and blue rank down. It can be difficult to recover from this.

Anyway, its really a very interesting mode, there isnt anything else quite like it in any of Cave's games. It really ended up being the big highlight of this particular release for alot of players. The learning curve is high though, since it's complicated and unusual.

[weakboson]

Hmm, sounds like there might be more to like about Arrange B than I thought. Might put some time into it once I'm done with Sexy Pardoius. Could you explain a bit more about the mechanics? I seem to remember there being all sorts of stuff flying about and changing colours.

[AmidstStorm]

I didn't notice this thread going on. It made me smile. I need to play some more of this myself. I have only really put time into novice mode and haven't managed to beat the final boss. Guess I suck.

So can I play black label and submit scores for that too? I have all 3 releases.

[Sel Feena]

^ Can just about 1CC Novice Mode, if I really concentrate! Tell me what mode your score's for and I'll add them mate. See if I can edit the thread title.

[Misery]

Hmm, sounds like there might be more to like about Arrange B than I thought. Might put some time into it once I'm done with Sexy Pardoius. Could you explain a bit more about the mechanics? I seem to remember there being all sorts of stuff flying about and changing colours.

I can try to explain, yes.

There IS a guide for the game, see, on the shmup forums..... but it's inaccurate, as it was written for the original form of this mode. The mode recieved some heavy changes with a patch a couple of months or so after the game had released, due to some rather massive imbalances.


Anyway.

Ok, Arrange B.

A video of it that I just posted: http://youtu.be/kpwjGfTXX2w

This shows just how nutty the rank/difficulty can get, as well as various scoring techniques, uses of bombs, and the boss going absolutely insane. Definitely one of my better runs.

First, to start, obviously this mode is stage-based, not involving a run through the entire game. You'll select a stage before you start. After selecting a stage though, you'll come to a little menu with 3 other options, Bomb, Hyper, and Laser. Turning these on... they're yellow when on... alters things a bit. Having the bomb option on means your bombs are stronger, more like a proper bomb instead of like an auto-bomb, but the 2 meters take longer to fill. Hyper option will give you a bit of invincibility after activating a hyper, but the hyper will last shorter. With this option turned off, there is no invincibility during hyper, so keep that in mind. And Laser will make your beam attack stronger, but your ship a little slower. Which ones you want depend on your playstyle and the stage. For the level 5 video there I have Laser and Hyper active, but not bomb.

On the right side of the screen, below your score displays, there are two numbers, a blue one and a red one. These are the rank counters, and the entire mode pretty much revolves around them. The blue counter increases the speed of enemy attacks. The red counter increases the density. These counters rise depending on which "mode" you are in, and they drop if you should take a hit. Your score also drops if you take a hit. These drops appear to be percentages. You can really hurt your score bad by getting hit, so try your best not to.

There are 4 different "modes" in this. "Clear" mode is the one you start in. There's nothing too special about it, and enemy patterns will tend to resemble what they normally are in the main game, though with the rank counters having some effect on them. You start in this mode, and will also enter it if you either die, or grab a flashing bee without hyper.

"Red" mode is entered by grabbing a red bee. In this mode enemy attacks are slow, but tend to be pretty dense, often having a high amount of really tiny bullets. As long as you are in red mode, the red rank counter will rise at a decent speed.

"Blue" mode is entered by grabbing a green bee. In this mode, enemy attacks closely resemble the types of attacks fount in Futari's Original mode, fast bullets, but very low density. As long as you're in this one, the blue counter will rise.

"Green" mode is a bit different. There are two ways to enter green mode. 1. by having your current score surpass your top score, and 2. by grabbing a flashing bee while using a hyper. In green mode, BOTH counters rise at a good rate.... but green mode is also always the most difficult. It's actual effects on enemies varies, depending on the stage and the individual enemies, and also depending on the current level of the 2 rank counters. Green is where you can usually get the really, REALLY dense bullet patterns. You'll notice that there's a new type of bullet that appears only in this mode, which looks like a little pink spinning blade... expect to see ALOT of these, usually in big, thick groups/walls. Green mode is generally where you can get the most points.

You might also notice numbers that appear above every enemy. You dont need to pay too much attention to them... they basically indicate how much rank the enemy is being given, as well as how much health it has, and point values. The numbers wont make too much sense just by looking at them, so just ignore them. But as a rule, for scoring, the higher the better.... which means that you want the two rank counters to be as high as they can go. Enemy health levels DO in fact rise as the rank counters increase. It never goes TOO high though, unlike BEFORE the patch, where it'd go so high that even basic foes were nigh-invincible. Glad they fixed that.

Killing enemies isnt your only source of points though. The other is those shiny metallic looking things that you see. Grabbing these is one of your main goals here. The amount they are worth, again, changes based on the two rank counters. There are two ways of getting these to appear:

1, killing enemies in rapid succession will cause a barely-visible meter on the sides of the screen to fill.... seriously, this meter is hard to really watch, and you might not even NOTICE it when playing, but it's there. A thin vertical line. When it's high enough, defeated enemies will start to drop piles of the silver items to grab.

And 2, cancelling bullets will turn them into the items.

Now, these items, normally, are a bit different from items often found in Cave's games. In most of their games, you have this huge radius around your ship, and if they are within this huge area, they'll just get pulled in. In THIS mode, the radius is very small, you have to be pretty much right next to them in order to grab them. Using a bomb though will pull all items towards you, as well as starting a hyper.

Bombs are interesting here. There is no penalty for using a bomb. Unlike in most Cave titles, bombs are tools to be used, not things to be avoided. Depending on the situation, they can really help in terms of scoring, but you have to know how to use them. It takes some experimenting.

Oh, I suppose I should explain HOW you get bombs. At the top of the screen is 2 meters, that look just like the usual Hyper meter in the other game modes. The right meter will not begin to fill until the left one is already full. These 2 meters are used for both bombs AND hypers. When one or both is full, you can use it for either of them. Tap the "bomb/hyper" button for a bomb, and hold it down for a moment to activate a hyper. Either one will always drain exactly one of the two meters. These meters fill in 2 ways. 1, destroying enemies, as well as using your beam on them, and 2, by grabbing the "star" icons dropped by ground foes. This means that these stars actually become very important in this mode.... pay attention to them. The large stars are the best and give you a large chunk of meter. If you use a bomb, you not only pull in all silver items onscreen, but ALSO all of the stars currently onscreen. This will not work with auto-bombs though.

As for the Hypers, they're MOSTLY the same as in other game modes, with one important difference: You can only cancel PINK bullets. It will do absolutely nothing to BLUE bullets. Pink bullets are cancelled into those silver items; obviously, the more pink stuff there is on the screen, the more silvery things you can get by using a Hyper. Your actual beam does not cancel anything, but your shot does. Hyper does not last very long, and only has invincibility if you chose that option before starting. It is very important overall though, definitely.

Part of the challenge of this mode is learning when to use bombs, and when to use hypers, and when to conserve them, as well as learning good ways to refill the meters without dying. It takes some experimenting. Generally though, massive amounts of pink bullets onscreen will be the best time to use hypers.

And then you need to do all of this while raising the ranks, switching modes as needed, and NOT DYING.

Often, the key to high scores is to do a few runs that are entirely to build up rank; runs where you do the entire stage in either red or blue mode to raise those.... and then after this, attempting a full-green run where you're after nothing but points.


Overall, this is probably my favorite of the arrange modes in Cave's games. It's just such a blast, and there's so many different approaches to each area, and the challenge never wavers, but only gets harder and harder as you get more and more skilled.



Any questions, if I missed anything, do feel free to ask!

[AmidstStorm]

Had a look at my Black Label and Daifukkatsu 1.5 JAP scoreboards at my past high scores. Not a game I have played that much sadly. Concentrated mainly on BL Novice and only recently picked up 1.5 about the same time as I got the PAL version. Haven't checked my PAL scoreboards as the PAL 360 isn't set up at the mo. Here's a start and something for me to aim for now: I remember getting to the Area 5 Boss on BL Novice without dying, beating him thinking i'd 1CC'd it, and then had to fight some other dude and he sucked me dry. My BL Novice high score was the last time I played that game.

Black Label - AmidstStorm - AMS - 656,691,333 - Area 3 - Type B - 360


Black Label Novice - AmidstStorm - AMS - 13,420,910,145 - Area 5 Boss - Type B - 360


Black Label Arrange - AmidstStorm - AMS - 5,426,033,093 - Area 2 - Type H - 360


DF 1.5 Novice - AmidstStorm - AMS - 4,682,712,178 - Area 5 Boss - 360


DF 1.5 360 - AmidstStorm - AMS - 137,928,054 - Area 3 - 360

[Misery]

Had a look at my Black Label and Daifukkatsu 1.5 JAP scoreboards at my past high scores. Not a game I have played that much sadly. Concentrated mainly on BL Novice and only recently picked up 1.5 about the same time as I got the PAL version. Haven't checked my PAL scoreboards as the PAL 360 isn't set up at the mo. Here's a start and something for me to aim for now:

I personally think it's better to start with 1.5, rather than Black Label. Black Label is.... well, it's just plain harder. Even with "bomb" type, which is basically the game's "easy" mode (as in, the patterns and stages are easier), it's harder than 1.5. Power type is harder yet, using 2nd loop patterns, and "strong", well.... Strong gives you the warning thing, like Mushi Ultra does. For good reason.

Anyway, 1.5 is a great way to learn the stages in general. Really, once you find a good way to deal with the "laser hell" section in 5, 1.5 is actually a pretty easy 1cc.

Either way though, good luck to you with that


and agh, I'd looooooove to post Ketsupachi mode scores myself, but I CANT FIND THE BLASTED DISC. Bah. I think I have videos of that mode up at least, but still. I really gotta figure out where the little snot ran off to. That mode is just super.

[AmidstStorm]

I only played Black Label more because that was the one I picked up first. The PAL and JAP releases of 1.5 i bought both in December 2011 and have probably only played a few credits on each. I'm into Ketsui at the moment, so can't really give any other Cave game any time for now sadly. Playing Sexy Parodius has been hard enough to pull me away. I'll try and throw in a few credits here and there. We should start a new Mushihimesama highscore thread. There is one but I don't think it was intended to have someone update it with scores. We should definitely get a few set up. i think i did, deathsmiles, deathsmiles IIX, fast striker and a few others. We should keep it similar layout etc. in all high score threads. I'm going to do a Ketsui one as soon as this AvsG challenge ends on the 14th and can announce my high score.

[Misery]

I only played Black Label more because that was the one I picked up first. The PAL and JAP releases of 1.5 i bought both in December 2011 and have probably only played a few credits on each. I'm into Ketsui at the moment, so can't really give any other Cave game any time for now sadly. Playing Sexy Parodius has been hard enough to pull me away. I'll try and throw in a few credits here and there. We should start a new Mushihimesama highscore thread. There is one but I don't think it was intended to have someone update it with scores. We should definitely get a few set up. i think i did, deathsmiles, deathsmiles IIX, fast striker and a few others. We should keep it similar layout etc. in all high score threads. I'm going to do a Ketsui one as soon as this AvsG challenge ends on the 14th and can announce my high score.

I was goin pretty hard at Ketsui myself for awhile there as well. I swear, that game gets frustrating more than the others though, for no good reason.

Though at least some of it is that accursed demon boat. I've always totally loathed that thing.

I'll put up 1.5 and Arrange A scores here myself soon enough, though, for tonight, enough shmups, now my arm hurts like hell from the blasted controller and it's stupid.... controller.

[Sel Feena]

Rankings updated. Haven't touched Arrange B, and have to say from Misery's walkthrough, it looks a bit too deep for me! Still trying (and failing) to get a better score on Arrange A. I chicken out on the bosses and hide behind Boost Mode's Hyper.

I only played Black Label more because that was the one I picked up first. The PAL and JAP releases of 1.5 i bought both in December 2011 and have probably only played a few credits on each. I'm into Ketsui at the moment, so can't really give any other Cave game any time for now sadly. Playing Sexy Parodius has been hard enough to pull me away. I'll try and throw in a few credits here and there. We should start a new Mushihimesama highscore thread. There is one but I don't think it was intended to have someone update it with scores. We should definitely get a few set up. i think i did, deathsmiles, deathsmiles IIX, fast striker and a few others. We should keep it similar layout etc. in all high score threads. I'm going to do a Ketsui one as soon as this AvsG challenge ends on the 14th and can announce my high score.

Should be getting hold of Muchi Muchi Pork & Pink Sweets and Bullet Soul soon, so would be up for it, if only so I can get tips from you guys!

[AmidstStorm]

I love futari as it was my first 360 import but I still can't clear the game on original mode. Bullet soul I don't think I played more than a few credits of that, an I picked it up on release. I was more drawn towards eschatos at the time.

That's what this league we're doing started as. A few of the 360 import thread regulars playing 360 shooters. It was going to be a chance to get some dedicated play into some of the games. Happy what it's turned into though all the same. Just hope we get some more submissions. Be nice to have at least 10 players each game.

I think once we've finished a game in the league, I'll transfer the scores to a seperate thread incase anyone still wants to submit and better their scores in the future.

[Sel Feena]

It's early days yet, there were certainly plenty of people seemed interested in the thread. Obviously I can only play the region-free stuff, but that's still quite a lot. Backed out of getting Futari, bit the bullet (hah!) and plumped for Muchi Muchi & Pink Sweets Ltd Edition instead. Figure since the first Mushi's getting a HD tart-up, I'll get that in instead.