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In the annals of shooting game history, there are a handful of games that transcend the normal genre boundaries, and achieve legendary status outside the niche community. Radiant Silvergun is well known for being an expensive Sega Saturn game, as well as for its complex control scheme. Cave shooters are well known for their difficulty, even outside of the core shmup fan base. And a large percentage of the Touhou fandom doesn't even play the STG's, but are only interested in the characters and lore. But few shooting games are as infamous as Raizing's Battle Garegga. Few games have evoked the passion in the community this game has, and few games have revealed themselves to have as many layers of complexity, while remaining approachable. Battle Garegga is still so highly lauded, nearly a quarter century after its original release.Debuting in arcades in February, 1996, Battle Garegga was helmed by famed shmup programmer Shinobu Yagawa, who had previously cut his teeth on the Famicom, with the impressive shooter Recca. After joining Raizing, he developed Garegga, alongside programmers Yasunari Watanabe and Yūichi Ochiai. The game was well received among shooting game fans, and quickly became a favorite for players. The game's infamous rank system has become legendary in shmup circles, because of how everything you do in the game affects your rank, which in turn, affects the difficulty. Whereas in most games, you don't want to ever lose a life, Garegga often requires you to sacrifice one periodically, in a strategic fashion, to keep the game's rank under control. This is just one of the many layers the game has to offer, which is why it has become a popular title for scoring.
Starting in January 2021, the RF Generation Shmup Club will begin our 2nd annual, year-long scoring competition! January's game of the month will be Battle Garegga, and that will remain the overall scoring competition game for the entire year. All available versions of the game will be viable for scoring, including the arcade original (via PCB, MAME, Retroarch, etc.), the Sega Saturn version, and the more recent port from the M2 ShotTriggers team, Battle Garegga REv.2016. We'll get details together as to the different scoring categories, but competition will be available for multiple iterations and skill levels. Currently, the game is available digitally on both the PlayStation Network and the Microsoft Xbox Live online store for Xbox One. A physical PS4 version was released in Asian regions, and is still available through some online retailers, though the North American release was only available through Limited Run Games, and is sold out, though it can still be purchased on the secondary market. If you're a savvy collector, or feeling expensive, there's always the highly lauded Sega Saturn version. And for those who prefer playing on PC, emulation will be an acceptable means of participation. And of course, if you own or have access to a PCB or cabinet, we'd love to have your input and see some score submissions!
Scoring categories will be forthcoming, as will a Google Doc with the leaderboard. Also, the primary post for the competition, and for updates, will be on the RF Generation page for the competition:
http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/index.php?topic=19456.0
