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As I've done w/ the past few Cave shmups, I'm working on a FAQ now for Mushihimesama. I'd like to go over some of the scoring techniques and gameplay modes, was hoping some ppl here might chime in.

I hope this isn't too basic a guide. Specifically I'd like to get more info on scoring and how the counter works in Maniac/Ultra/Arrange modes.

Mode Pickups
Unlike other Cave games, you have only one ship to fly Reko through, but there are 3 different mode power-ups which affect you. Similar to their other titles however is the importance of speed and shot attributes. I've always had better luck with faster ships, so I steer clear of W-Mode entirely.

(Mode - Color - Ship Speed - Shot Width)
M-Mode (green)-----Medium----Medium
W-Mode (red)--------Slow-------Wide
S-Mode (blue)-------Fast-------Narrow

You will have the option to switch modes while playing, however it's important to choose your preference at the start of the game.

Each Mode and Option Icon that floats on the screen will be accompanied by a timer bar. After several seconds, the timer will run out thereby changing the kind of icon it is. In this case, the icon will cycle through all 3 kinds of modes. If by default you choose S-Mode, you can change to the other 2 whenever you pick up an icon, by allowing it to change colors. Upon dying though, your character will revert back to the default mode you chose before starting. For this reason, it is good to choose your mode carefully, and not rely on swapping power-ups. Unless of course you are a truly skilled player who rarely dies, that is!


Option Pickups
Options are helper ships that form next to your character. You can hold up to 4 of these in Arcade Mode, 6 in Arrange. These options will follow Reko as you navigate through the game and come in 2 forms, Trace and Formation.

Much like the Mode Icons listed above, these have a timer on them and will change attributes if you wait long enough. If you currently have Trace Options, you can switch to Formation by allowing the icon enough time to switch over. Beside each Options detail below is a description of what each icon looks like.

By holding down the fire button, your options will form around you to produce a more centralized, stronger attack. While in rapid-fire mode (either tapping the X button or holding down R1), they will return to your sides. How they act while firing in this manner is described below.


Trace Option (ship with small circles near it)
Each option you receive in this form will have a smaller ship follow you completely. These ships will be your shadow, if you move, they move, if you stop, they stop, if you go around in circles, they too will go around in circles.

This option is good as you can position yourself under an enemy and move slightly out of the way of the bullets while allowing the option ship to shoot where you were before.


Formation Option (ship with arrows pointing up to its left and right)
In formation your options will align themselves next to you, spread out. Your option ships will form to your left and right. This allows for a much wider range of firing and is good to clear out enemies across the screen.

Once again, you can change options when an icon appears. Be wary though! After dying, your option icons float around. These will disappear if you don't collect them immediately though. If you're in one mode and want to switch, now is not the time! Pick them up before they disappear and wait for the next power-up icon to appear before switching.


Normal Mode
This is pretty straightforward. It seems like enemies give generic numbers of 'Gems'. Unlike ESP Galuda, where defeating an enemy higher up on screen yielded more gold ingots, or the other modes in the game, I *believe* each enemy gives a set number.

Defeating specific larger enemies will clear the screen of bullets and change enemy bullets into gems. Strategy here suggests to wait to defeat said enemy until the screen has as many bullets as possible. The classic Risk vs. Reward theory holds true. This is somewhat similar to the scoring system in Progear.

So, high scoring seems to rely on

a) No Miss (don't die)
b) Kill everything and collect leftover gems
c) Defeat larger enemies while many bullets are on screen

You receive bonus points at the end of the level for picking up the 4 different types of gems.

I do not see that you are rewarded for not using bombs.

It seems kind of basic, but I don't think I'm missing anything major.


Maniac/Ultra Mode
These modes feature a Hit Counter in the upper left-hand portion of the screen. Very loosely similar to the system in DoDon Pachi, this counter goes up when you are killing or keeping your shots on enemies. Once you pause from firing and hitting your foes, this counter decreases. Using a bomb will also cause your counter to go down for a set amount of time.

In addition, each enemy has a number beside them as they appear on the screen. Each moment you fail to destroy them, the number decreases in red until it ultimately reaches zero.

The purpose here is to defeat all enemies as quickly as possible in order to yield the most gems. The longer you wait, the fewer gems you are rewarded for killing each enemy. If the counter drops to zero, you will receive 1 gem only. Larger enemies offer hundreds or even thousands of gems.

In this way I can truly liken this to the DDP games. With the numbers going down, keeping a proper strategy and order to your run is important.

By failing to continue a 'combo' your counter will go down. By failing to destroy enemies in a timely fashion will reduce their booty. Therefore one should have a specific order to increase the counter consistently, as well as defeating enemies quickly. I use the term 'combo' very loosely here.


Arrange Mode
The changes present in the Maniac/Ultra modes return here, with a counter as well as the gem reduction feature.

Differences to the system itself include:

a) Start with 6 options (max 4 in Arcade)
b) Switch between Modes (M/W/S) by pressing Square
c) Reko throws bombs if hit


Here, Reko will automatically throw a bomb if you are hit. With 3 bombs and 3 lives, you've essentially got 9 lives to start with. Getting bomb pick-ups is essentially the same as 1-Ups. The added benefit is that you can have this auto life saver and still get the No Miss bonus at the end of a level.

Scoring
I need more information on this and how the counter works in the Maniac/Ultra/Arrange modes.

Based on the gems you collect, you gain points. The counter is present in M/U/A modes, not in Original.

There are 2 different types of gems, coming in large and small sizes. These give points when you collect them and also at the end of the level. The scoring goes as follows:

100 - Diamond (small)
1000 - Diamond (large)
825 - Hexagon (small)
2000 - Hexagon (large)


Etc.
My latest FAQ can be found here and I will be updating it to reflect any changes or discoveries.

Once again, I hope this isn't too basic a guide, but I thought it provided a fair overview.

Any thoughts?

Thanks so much slateman. I should have the game by the end of the day, so if I can add anything I'll be sure to come help out. You've given me a great little intro to the game now, and I know that Maniac is definitely where I'm going to start.

Word

Sorry to hijack your ST, slateman

This is a digest of everything I know and have discussed at Click's forum regarding Mushi. I'm attempting to archive and summarise the whole of the strategy that is contained in that monster thread, so this little mini-FAQ will get bigger as I progress and add more detailed information, such as in-depth analysis of how the hardware-assisted autofire circuits are meant to work, their application and so on. For now, please make do with this quick and basic guide.

And I was going to make the ST, but you beat me to it C'est la vie.

Thaks to Click, BER, DEL, RAM and everyone else involved in said discussion.

-----------------------------------------------------------

> CONTROLS <

Basic Controls:

• A Button - Shot
  The standard A button activates Reko's main shot and the lasers on any extra Options that Reko has, and her main Shot is determined by what Power you selected before you started, or have recently changed to. As in all Cave games, holding down A will slow Reko to half her speed. You also get the benefit of having her hitbox highlighted by a glowing orb, and Options will be brought closer to Reko (thanks zakk), but unlike most other Cave games, you do not switch to a secondary weapon when holding down A.
  
• B BUTTON - Bomb
  By pressing B, you will launch a Bomb which clears the screen of bullets, and does damage to anything caught in the Bomb's explosion. I believe that you have limited control over the direction the Bomb flies in when fired, by moving left or right when you fire the Bomb.
  
• C BUTTON - Fullauto
  C is your customary autofire button. In essence, the C button is a simple way of rapidly tapping A, and by holding C down, you get rapidfire Shot and lasers but without the half-speed movement. Holding C will also let you trail your Options, or kep them in formation, depending on what Option power is currently active (thanks again zakk). Like all Cave games before it, tapping C will fire a single burst of Shot, good for precision damage.

Combinations:

• BUTTON A+ - Rapid Shot
  and
  BUTTON C+ - Rapid Fullauto
  These terms will be used to describe the hardware-assisted autofire settings that appear on some Japanese cabs, and now as available control configurations in the PS2 port of Mushi.
  
  In short, A+ works in the same manner as rapidly tapping A, while C+ the same for C. The difference being in that they operate so fast, that they cause Reko to fire a single burst of Shot without her Option lasers firing, the same as tapping A and C simultaneously.
  
  According to Japanese player RAM, only the C+ button is required to bank child counters.
  
• HOLD A AND C
  or
  HOLD A+ AND C - Powerful Attack
  By holding down A and C you create in essence a "doubled" Shot, which is far more powerful than your regular Shot. Great for dealing fast damage, but crap on your chain.
  
  Both button combinations work well, but RAM states that the A+ button used in conjunction with C is the strongest possible combination:
  
  
  RAM wrote:
  If you press A rapidlly while pressing C, you get little higher counter and close high power range shot get even more powerfull. I think this is a kind of bug. But if you play ultra then A+ is essential because it's power increase is about 1.5 multiply. Can't ignore at all.
  
  
• TAP A AND C SIMULTANEOUSLY - Counter Banking
  This is an advanced technique for scoring that will be discussed in the relevant section. In short, by tapping A and C simultaneously, you cause Reko to fire a single burst of Shot but without her Options' lasers firing. What this does is it causes any child counters on the enemy you're attacking to be added to it's parent counter, greatly increasing your chaining multiplier.
  
  Any time Reko fires in this manner, child counters will be banked. Tapping A and C together works best for non-hardware autofire assisted setups, but for hardware-assisted setups, all you require is the C+ button.

-----------------------------------------------------------

> SCORING SYSTEM <

like in all Cave games, chaining is an essential part of scoring. In Mushi, the chain isn't made up of linked kills (a-la Dodonpachi) or time-controlled bursts of destruction (a-la Ketsui or Espgaluda), but rather by constant attack. Whenever you hit something with an attack that isn't a bomb - either your main Shot, or Option lasers - you start to increase a general counter that lasts the length of the stage, or when it's fully depleted (back to zero). This counter is termed:

The Parent Counter:
This is the main chain counter in the game. As stated before, it is increased by sustaining fire on enemies, and wil start to decrease (quite rapidly) if you stop attacking things with your shot.

• PARENT COUNTER AS A MULTIPLIER
  The parent counter acts as a large, general multiplier that affects everything that gives you points. All point-giving objects in the game are influenced by the formula:
  
  (base point value) x (parent counter) = (points given)
  
  Say for example, you destroyed a large enemy that had a base value of 50pts, with a parent counter of 125,000:
  
  50 x 125,000 = 6,250,000pts
  
  Usually, the base value of the enemies are low, because with the parent counter able to reach in excess of 600,000 in some stages, you;d be reaching Takumi-style scores if not limited properly
  
  Gems are also affected by this multiplier equation, and it is from gems that a large bulk of your in-stage points will come from.
  
• KEEPING THE PARENT COUNTER UP
  To keep your parent counter at an increasing rate, it is essential to know that your counter will only continue to increase if you are dealing damage to something on screen. The very second you stop damaging something with your Shot or Option lasers, or if you die, or when you use a bomb, your counter will start to decrease.
  
  Edit by zakk (thanks!):
  Some enemies freeze the parent counter temporarily upon death. It may even happen on every enemy, but I notice it on item-carriers and larger enemies during the stage. It gives you a split second to position for the next enemy.
  
  This is the reason why Mushi's scoring system is classed as "chaining", as you have to be continually linking together enemies to keep your counter going.
  
  There are methods of doing this:
  
  
  • You can leave enemies on screen and time when you kill them to sustain you chain, like in Dodonpachi. This requires the building of a good chain route.
  • You can limit how much damage you do to an enemy, by either using controlled bursts of fire, or by using the weakest part of your Shot - for W-Power users, this will be the very edge of the spread.
  There is another expert method of increasing your chain counter, and it is related to:

The Child Counter:
You may have noticed that on some large enemies, you not only get one large number - the parent counter - by also a few smaller numbers above it. These are child counters and just as using Reko's main Shot increases the parent counter, using the Option's lasers raises the child counters. But what are they good for?

• EFFECTS ON THE PARENT COUNTER
  The residual effect on the parent counter is that, the higher the child counters, the faster the rate the parent counter tends to increase. This is an incentive to learn patterns for mid and end-of-stage bosses in order to maximise your child counters.

Counter Banking 101
The main effect the child counters have on the parent counter is related to counter banking...

• THE "FIRST HITS" THEORY:
  During a discussion on theories for Mushi's scoring system, BER theorised:
  
  
  BER wrote:
  Suppose you are battling a mid-boss. If you use no auto-fire hacks and you simply hold down the A button so that your shots maintain contact with the enemy, then your first shot will add, say, 200 to your shooting counter and, say, 10 for every frame (or about 600 for every second) your shots maintain contact with the enemy. Once you lose contact for, say, four frames, then the counter decreases rapidly, but once you regain contact, then your first hit will add 200 again.
  
  But if you can somehow regain contact the frame after you lost contact with the enemy, then you can increase your counter by 200 for every five frames (or about 2,400 for every second). You can achieve this with auto-fire hacks. Even if your counter drops a little each time you lose contact with the enemy, getting a little less than 2,400 per second is better than 600 per second.
  
  
  We can assume that the parent counter will jump in value whenever the parent counter itself changes from the RED (decreasing) to WHITE (increasing), and the child counters themselves are RED. This is to allow you to recover some of your lost counter value if you manage to miss your attacks, therefore enabling you to continue with a good chain: the "first hits" theory. However, players can exploit this by using a special autofire setup which creates a rapid "flickering" of the parent counter, allowing you to jump the value of the parent counter quickly.
  
  A more detailed theory by BER:
  
  
  BER wrote:
  Suppose you are battling a stage mid-boss. You will notice two types of counters: the bigger one which we will call the parent counter and the smaller ones which we will call the child counters (one counter for each child beetle you have). The sum of these counters is what we will call your overall counter, which is displayed in the upper-left corner (for the 1p side, anyway). You can make your overall counter skyrocket by battling any enemy that displays the child counters.
  
  To increase your overall counter, you must do two things: (1) build up your child counters and (2) shoot the boss without applying your lasers. To build up your child counters, simply fire your weapons at the mid-boss. Once your child counters are large enough and your mid-boss is about to change forms or be destroyed, you can now shoot the boss without applying the lasers. What happens is that when the child counters are red, each shot will add the values of those child counters into the parent counter.
  
  
• AUTOFIRE BASICS:
  Regular autofire - either by holding down A or C - allows you to fire in a continuous stream with little to no gaps in your firing pattern. However, this does not help you in counter banking, as you want the parent counter to go RED for a split second before returning to WHITE. As stated in the Controls section, you can create a counter banking effect by TAPPING A AND C SIMLUTANEOUSLY, which forces Reko to fire a single burst from her main Shot without her lasers firing as well. However, by using hardware autofire, you can recreate this Main Shot Only effect on a single button, removing the problem of timing your button presses.
  
• FREQUENCIES:
  To use another game with simulated autofire circuits - Raiden DX - as an example, if I were to set one fire button with a rate of 15, I would get a very even stream of bullets with small, regularly spaced gaps inbetween, while using a higher number such as 30 would create very fast bursts of fire with large gaps inbetween.
  
  in Mushi, this "large gaps in the stream" type of autofire setting is very important to achieving this counter banking trick correctly. In essence, what you want the autofire setting to do is fire a very fast burst of Shot, then a split second pause, then another fast burst of Shot.
  
  What happens in-game is:
  - the parent counter goes RED briefly (when there is a gap in the Shot stream)
  - then returns to WHITE (when the first part of the Shot connects, banking the child counters)
  - then stays WHITE for a split-second (increasing the parent counter/sustaining it's present value)
  - then the cycle repeats.
  
  In effect, this is to keep the parent counter sustained at it's present value before the next counter bank. It's a very complex theory, but it does work in practice.
  
  However, one thing that needs to be noted is that the choice of autofire frequency is determined by your range from your target. According to RAM:
  
  
  RAM wrote:
  I use 20 and 10 for C+. Not for A+.
  Actually I use another rapid which is 12 for A+.
  
  I use 20 as mid range and 10 as 0 range banking.
  As you know when you bank the counter you want red counter to be as short frame as possible.
  
  
  You need a frequency setting that is slow and regular for close-to-pointblank range, and a faster, staggered setting for longer distances. However, please take note that in the PS2 port of Mushi, the values are reversed - 1 is the fastest RAPID setting while 20 is the slowest (thanks to zakk for the observation).
  
• COUNTER BANKING FORMULA
  As stated before in the Controls section, by making Reko fire with just her main Shot and not her lasers, you force child counters to be added to the parent counter. They are governed by the formula:
  
  (sum of all child counters) + (current parent counter value) = (new parent counter value)
  
  For example, say you have an enemy with three child counters, along with the customary parent counter. Say the parent counter was at 15,600 and each of the child counters displayed 800. The formula would be:
  
  (800x3) + 15,600 = 18,000
  
  That's a pretty big increase! And if you banked again a split-second after:
  
  (800x3) + 18,000 = 20,400
  
  As you can see, getting the hang of the banking method is the best way to increase your parent counter, as you get a massive rate of increase than you would by just attacking things with your Shot. This is what the hardware-assisted autofire settings can enable you to do, without risking wrist injuries in the process.
  
  The only problem is that since you are not actively attacking anything with your Option's lasers, the child counters will start to decrease rapidly. However, with hardware autofire, it somewhat negates this point.

Thanks, slateman. Now I have a handy guide once I get my copy. An old school basic scoring system indeed. Not complaining though, I already have too many other complicated scoring systems I am way behind on learning. Plus, I always liked simple medal snatching.

One thing I'm not really getting is boss counters. Is it worth it to milk bosses? I seem to build up obscene numbers on them using the auto-rapid trick but the score bonus doesn't seem to be significant enough to warrant the effort.

Icarus: a few things to mention, mostly minor nits.

In the section detailing the different buttons, you may want to mention that holding A moves the options 'closer' to you, whereas holding C lets them still trail/remain in formation.

Some enemies freeze the parent counter temporarily upon death. It may even happen on every enemy, but I notice it on item-carriers and larger enemies during the stage. It gives you a split second to position for the next enemy.

Cheers for the guides slate & icarus

With midbosses, it's very essential to get the hang of child counter banking, as you can carry a massive multiplier through the second half of the stage if done correctly (experts reckon over 600,000 is possible at the end of stage 3, and around 200,000 after all the midbosses in st2, 4 and 5).

With end of stage bosses, it's not as necessary. All you need to do is keep the child counters flying so the rate the parent counter increases at is accellerated. The trick to scoring high against bosses is timing exactly when you destroy each form of the boss - or when you cause all the bullets on screen to convert to gems.

@zakk: thanks for the additions/corrections.

NOTE: I'm still in the process of summarising all the information I have. A more in-depth analysis of the scoring system vis-a-vis counter banking, the effects of autofire frequencies and such will be coming soon.

Icarus: So in other words, to maximize scores against a boss, I have to hold full-auto and just sit down at the bottom of the screen and last as long as I can? (or Rapid-Shot, even.) Sounds harsh, but doable (on Arrange mode for me, anyway).

That way works just as well.

If you are looking to score the most points off a stage boss, then you beat the boss in one life, without using bombs, without "breaking" your chain (in essence, without missing a single shot) with each boss form being destroyed exactly when the screen is flooded with bullets.

Against midbosses and large enemies (such as the "trees" in st2), you use A and C to build up your child counters to a high enough value, then you switch to A+ or C+ (depending on distance from the midboss - will be explained in depth soon) to start banking those counters.

For example, experts reckon a good chain to have when the st2 midboss runs away (into the cave) is around 120,000. At least 70,000 is achievable for intermediate players.

This scoring system is harsh, yes. Did you think Cave would make a scoring system (or a game) that wasn't?

Yes! I'm averaging around 100,000 right now so I guess I'm on the right track.

I have three questions to which I didn't receive satisfactory answers in click-stick's BBS:

1. Does the PS2 port's RAPID SHOT button work as well as having an additional A button with an auto-fire hack in the arcade?
2. Can you make the RAPID FULL AUTO button fire a repeating 11000... sequence? (That is, if you hold down this button, will it produce an on signal for two frames, then an off signal for three frames, and repeat until the button's depressed?) A Guest member at click-stick's BBS named ram hypothesized that this will produce the fastest "banking" rate.
3. Can you assign two RAPID FULL AUTO buttons each with a different firing sequence? From ram's research, you need the 11000... sequence for banking at point-blank range and 100100... sequence for banking anywhere else.

I'm particularly curious about the first question, because I want to be able to destroy bosses as quickly as I saw them destroyed in the Ultra mode replays that I have.

I think what makes answering your question a bit difficult, BER, is that it's very difficult to "see" how the software emulations of the arcade autofire hacks work without having some sort of debug screen, or a way to send out the rapidfire input to a file that displays the input as a form of binary.

You could possibly use a 60fps replay, and scan through frame by frame to see if it does the same job. Once my copy arrives (it gets shipped when Twinkle Star Sprites PS2 is released, I ordered both together) I can test out the replay theory to see if it works.

Well BER, how about forget about the sofeware emulated auto fire and actually using the real thing, i.e. hardware auto fire built in with some joystick controller in playing this game.


By the way, I think If you use hardware auto fire on the system built in auto fire button, you would got the 11000... sequence.

Well, I wanted to know the mechanics of the PS2 port's rapid fire settings before I invest in building my own hardware. I guess the port doesn't do what I asked in questions 2 and 3, but I want to confirm.


Do you know of such a system? I've heard that creating the 11000... sequence is difficult, so some players resort to using these two repeating sequences:

• n frames on, n frames off (like 111000... if n is 3)
• 1 frame on, n frames off (like 100... if n is 2)

I guess these are easier to create, but I don't know why.

(By the way, I don't think we're covering the basics anymore. Hehehe...)

What are the pros and cons of the three firing modes? Is it safe to say that since S-Mode kills big enemies faster then M and W Mode, it's also the worst one to score the big points with?

Icarus, sorry I beat you to the punch, don't feel bad for hijacking! I feel together we covered much, even if my input was bare bones.

Now, you've mentioned that you will get to a lot of this stuff eventually, so perhaps I should just wait, but I was toying w/ the controls this weekend and also testing this whole banking thing....and I'm a bit lost.

In the options menu you have the ability to change Rapid Shot and Rapid Full Auto settings from 0 to 20. You can assign buttons to Rapid Shot, Rapid Full Auto and Full Auto.

You did a great job Icarus, but I'm still pretty lost on how these all work. Anything w/ specific counters are hard to pay attention to, as so much is going on. I end up squinting to see the child counter and then dying!

Sorry to be redundant, but could someone clarify? Tks.

Give me a sec, the rest of the FAQ vis-a-vis autofire and it's application is written up and on my Powerbook. Just need to add it to the FAQ

EDIT: Information on autofire frequencies, and a more detailed explanation and theory on counter banking is now available. The miniFAQ is now 80% complete, with a few more bits of info and corrections to add.

Oh, guys I have just discover something that is deserved to be mentioned here.

I was playing with the default setting, never bother with the rapid fire option. As a silly cat as I am, I hold down the Full Auto button while hitting the shot button repeatedly. What the point in doing so, I am already holding the Full Auto button what the point of spending my energy in tapping the Shot button repeatedly? Well that what a silly cat would do.

Anyway, the result is I can keep the options close to my ship while moving around at full speed. After playing with this a while I discover that the firepower is actually greater then holding down both the Shot and Full Auto buttons.

I can proof this using the Stage 2's Mid-Boss (Original Mode).

(1) Kill the Mid-Boss with X-Power and 2 Options while holding down both Shot and Full Auto.

Result : THREE big bugs would show up (before reaching the cave where the Mid-Boss would escape) after the Mid-Boss is killed.

(2) Kill the Mid-Boss with X-Power and 2 Options while holding down Full Auto and keep hitting Shot.

Result : The Mid-Boss was being killed so fast that FOUR big bugs would show up (before reaching the cave where the Mid-Boss would escape) after the Mid-Boss is killed.

I then tried holding down both Rapid Shot and Full Auto, but it does not behave the same. May be I have to tune the firing frequency a bit.

Please set the RAPID SHOT setting to 2, and see what happens. I guess this is the best setting after I sort of read through this:

http://game10.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/gamestg/1122138395/153-161

Quick question. Is there any kind of no-bomb bonus in this game? What effect does bomb use have on score?

Original mode, nothing.
Any other mode will definitely start dropping the parent counter like a fly, should you use bombs.

I have a question concerning a subtlety in the scoring system for Original mode. Obviously the idea is to kill all bad guys and pick up all gold, as has been covered already.

Now, I know for a fact I do this flawlessly on the first stage but I note my score is always fluctuating, sometimes by up to 10,000pts. What causes this discrepancy? I know it's not coming from the boss, since I destroy it in the same manner every time.

A simple example to demonstrate such a fluctuation is to destroy the first 3 enemies and check your score. I find this fluctuates frequently, and I'm really interested in finding out why.

Maybe it has something to do with the "shot type" you're using? In some shmups you get points for each shot that hits an enemy, and obviously weaker weapons will get you more points since more shots need to hit something before it croaks...maybe Mushi is like this?

I don't own the game (yet) though, so it's just an idea outta nowhere.

This discrepancy I'm talking about occurs when using the same weapon throughout, although you are right - the wider (weaker) shot types earn you more points.

BulletMagnet is right here, this effect can easy notice in when you firing at those Stage 2's flowers, or Stage 3 bug's head when it is not starting to receive damage. I suspect this scores is awarded according to the total time the shots connected, not the amount of damage delivered.

But on the other hand, you got more Kohaku (the yellow store, Kohaku means Amber in Japanese) if you distroyed the enemy quicker, scores from the extra Kohaku should be able to offset the scores gain for shooting at the enemy longer. Since I have saw good player playing for scores in the arcade and they used fly close to the top of the screen to kill the comming enemy as fast as possible.


To BulletMagnet:
Wow, BulletMagnet you have changed you avatar, I do like your "Appli and her hat" one more than the "Parodius" one.

Believe it or not, you're not the first one here to tell me that...heck, I might just have to bring Needle back to my av before someone here kills me or something, heh heh.

I'm guessing it's from shooting enemies as they enter the screen. Enemies are invincible when they just enter the top of the screen, but you can shoot them for points without doing any damage. Just like you can get a larger chain by shooting enemies as they enter the screen in the other modes.

excuse me if this is a really stupid question.

i just got this game and it weirds me out how i can go through bullets. so do i die when a bullet touches me for a specific amount of time? when i try going through too many bullets? when im not moving and a bullet hits me? of course overall i try to avoid all bullets, and with the leniency of the bullets i feel i can dodge everything but every so often that one bullet kills me automatically.