Rolling Gunner / Over Power [Mebius - PC/Switch]

[EmperorIng]

Great score! I don't know what the requirement is for TLB in Over Power mode. I wonder if you still need a rank of 15 or higher. Good to see some more action on the game.

Please try to post updates using my format in the OP, so I don't have to reorganize and format them, thanks.

[petezilla]

Hey, got this score a little while back:
ORIGINAL
Petezilla 1,052,871,710 All RF Switch https://twitter.com/petezilla87/status/ ... 73027?s=20

[Goompaolo9500]

CASUAL
Goompaolo9500 - 128,502,780 - TBOSS - RX - Switch
So close to the very last phase of the TLB. I find Casual Mode easier than Original Mode, Original is kinda like Maniac Mode of Mushihimesama.

ORIGINAL
Goompaolo9500 - 50,904,570 - 3 BOSS - RX - Switch
Original Mode is so tough, I almost completed half of the game.

By the way, long time no see! Hope you are all safe at home playing shmups.

[EmperorIng]

Updated for both scores! Thanks for not being shy about your progress Goompaolo. Original is indeed tough. Maybe too hard IMO! I've only been able to make it to stage 4 myself. Let alone even worry about the ridiculous TLB requirements.

Casual, despite its name, is still a pretty tough clear with an enjoyable difficulty curve. A TRUE ALL in Casual is a great goal. I think a more apt comparison would be Casual is Mania and Original is Ultra!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Please remove my old OverPower Expert score and replace it with this lower one. I went and cleared it again on Version 2.10, the one that patched out all the unintentional slowdown in the original and OverPower game modes (which caused the game to grind to a halt on the original release and become way too easy). Expert is still a relatively easy 1CC because of the sheer cancelling you can do, but because there's minimal slowdown and revenge bullets are WAY faster than in the other difficulties (with Rank going as high as 50 vs being capped at 20 in Original difficulty), triggering the TLB is quite difficult. You have to beat the final boss at rank 30 or higher to trigger the TLB in OverPower Expert, and when you kill the second phase all the turrets explode into clouds of bullets that can easily hit you and botch the attempt by lowering your rank.

It's also very important to play OverPower with a twin stick controller, not just because you can wiggle the right stick to block shots, but also because your gunpod simply isn't as responsive about locking into place if you use an arcade stick compared to the normal game mode.

Beating the TLB is relatively trivial compared to actually triggering it in OverPower though, so if you're good enough to beat the final boss at Rank 30+ then you're pretty well guaranteed to have the resources left needed to take down the TLB too.

OverPower plays a lot better with the 2.10 patch, but it's still way to bullet cancel heavy for me. Almost all of the difficulty in Expert comes from the revenge bullets being fired at you when you score kills, rather than the enemy patterns, which isn't all that fun for me. Difficulties Original and below are also all very easy clears and more about the scoring rather than survival difficulty.

Over Power, Expert Mode (Over Power ver 2.10)
BareKnuckleRoo & 5,683,630,400 & TRUE ALL & RA & PC
(I recorded and edited in the opening and ending which aren't normally shown when playing back a replay)

[EmperorIng]

It's good to know that the mode is now not a complete and total waste.

[BEAMLORD]

Hi. I don't post much around here, in fact this is my first post. I am a lurker. But I hope I can post my high score, which is not only my first 1cc of this awesome game, but also my first 1cc in any arcade style STG. Here goes:

CASUAL
BEAMLORD - 182,165,490 - TRUE ALL - RA - SWITCH - https://www.dropbox.com/s/6d99dihyi6age ... 4.jpg?dl=0

I nearly gave up on this run, after some foolish errors in stage 3, resulting in a few cheap autobombs. All my resources were spent by the time of the TLB final attack, so I literally just scraped through. Have only dipped my toe into Normal mode, maybe I should look more closely at it now.

[EmperorIng]

I completely missed this. Good job, especially as your first-ever 1cc! That must have been quite the rush Casual is a tough clear and I had plenty of clutch moments myself. Like you I used up just about all my bombs and lives surviving that final boss attack.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Congrats on the clear! Rolling Gunner is probably the shmup I'd recommend most as an ideal beginner game for getting into the genre, especially a CAVE-style bullet hell shmup. It's mechanically more complex and dynamic than something like Touhou for scoring too, with a lot of freedom in how the player uses their resources. Casual's no slouch to clear though, and even though it's an easier mode it's roughly equivalent to Normal difficulty in a lot of indie shmups (roughly equivalent to a Touhou game on Hard?). The default difficulty in Rolling Gunner, Original, is as hard or harder to 1CC than a lot of arcade games. You get a lot of resources if you can use them well, but you're also relentlessly under attack from all sides of the screen, and bullet speeds can be quick. A normal ending 1CC of Original I'd argue is tougher than Dodonpachi or Deathsmiles (and a True ending 1cc is significantly harder due to the requirements and sheer difficulty of the TLB).

I've added picture links to most if not all the runs for my scores.

[BEAMLORD]

Thanks guys. It was certainly a rush getting the clear, and will be one I will always remember. It's only in the last 2 years where I've started to enjoy shmups much more, and take them much more seriously in learning to score and get as far as I can on a credit. Feel like I've earned a stripe with this being my first, and it's given me a lot of confidence.

Gotta say I am a long way from a clear on Original mode, can get to about stage 3 at the moment. My reaction-bombing needs serious work! I did grind quite hard in the run-up to my Casual clear, so taking a little break from this one to play some Danmaku Unlimited 3, where I feel I am making good progress.

I remain hopeful for Overpower coming to the Switch (I have no PC)!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

One trick for stretching your resources during bosses is rapid recharging, which you can use any time you have a bomb and you're sitting on a Power-Up that's ready to activate. With a Power-Up ready to go, use it to cancel bullets when you're about to be hit, and then the next time you're about to be hit (or if the timer is about to run out), quickly mash the bomb button so you rapidly activate Overmode -> Bomb. What happens is you cancel bullets into big medals with the Overmode activation but then immediately cancel the Overmode and go back to normal state with the bomb, and all those medals you collect instantly get you another Power-Up ready to go, which can again be used for score or simply to cancel bullets. It's a very helpful technique on the true last boss, who normally is troublesome to recover your Power-Up meter against due to having a bomb shield.

[BEAMLORD]

I think I see you deploying that technique during the TLB battle in your Original replay, right? I had noticed whilst playing that sometimes my power gauge would refill quickly, but was unsure how I was triggering this. So activate level 1 power-up, activate level 2 to bullet cancel, and immediately bomb to refill level 1 again. Great tip

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Yeah, that technique was really important to clearing the TLB. It vastly upped my success rate when facing the TLB on Original. Even still, I needed to reach the TLB with a ton of resources remaining to have a good shot at the clear (at least 3 lives 0 bombs left ideally).

Everyone playing this for score needs to watch this ASAP because this player is of a godlike caliber. They're pushing for 7 billion on original and are getting the first score extend in Stage 1, second before the Stage 2 boss thanks to advanced milking techniques: https://www.twitch.tv/thatsserious / https://www.twitch.tv/videos/784349210

me: I should actually upload scores to fill out the Overpower board, guess I'll play the other modes
also me: oh, I actually have clears I just never uploaded

OVERPOWER NOVICE
BareKnuckleRoo & 9,734,375,990 & TRUE ALL & RA & PC

OVERPOWER CASUAL
BareKnuckleRoo & 6,046,186,910 & TRUE ALL & RA & PC

OVERPOWER ORIGINAL
BareKnuckleRoo & 10,913,210,450 & TRUE ALL & RA & PC

OVERPOWER EXPERT
BareKnuckleRoo & 5,683,630,400 & TRUE ALL & RA & PC

RA is the best ship for Overpower as far as I'm concerned. The massive shield the gunpod gets is simply too good at blocking stuff, and the mode's far more about deflecting bullets than it is rapidly moving around and dodging. The RS is the worst in Overpower; its high speed power bullets are not actually as useful as RA's slower moving bullets, or the RA's huge shield size when in Power Up mode.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

The score's atrocious, but it's a start. First time clearing Expert. Woulda had 2 bombs left in stock if not for a really silly autobomb at the last possible second.

Rolling Gunner - Expert
BareKnuckleRoo & 992,898,550 & ALL & RS & PC

[CStarFlare]

Woah, great job on the Expert clear!

Now add the tlb

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I feel like I'm a long way off from the TLB clear... but I guess I thought that about the Original clear before. I'd like to go back and clear Original with a better score too. There's several attacks that I find really brutal in Expert, namely the stage 4 boss's 2nd phase opener, the stage 5 boss's last attack, and basically everything the final boss uses aside from a couple of the middle patterns.

The downward rush past the laser emitters is also pretty tricky, that section's always dicey for me.

[EmperorIng]

I've barely touched Expert myself, with Original being an already hefty challenge. But congrats on the clear of Expert mode and wading through that insane difficulty. I would think that it might be slightly 'easier' to trigger the TLB with all the extra shit thrown at you but perhaps not?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Expert's certainly rough, but if you deliberately rank control it (i.e. be a huge coward and never aim to score like me in the clear ) I'd say it's still a good deal less tricky than something like a DOJ 2-ALL, Mushi Ultra, etc. When you run out of bombs you'll eventually have to use your hypers to cancel stuff and I found even when I wasn't going for score I was pretty well guaranteed to get both score extends. You have a lot of resources to work with and it's just a matter of managing them well. The last stage is quite rough though. I suspect you're right that triggering the TLB via rank is probably easier in Expert; you seem to rapidly increase in Rank much faster than Original due to all the extra bullets being cancelled into medals. I think the TLB is still Rank 15/16 or above? Will have to test it.

I suspect that like Original, to even have a fighting chance at a TLB clear I need to get a run that no-misses or 1 miss at most to the final boss, preferably with a few bombs going into the final boss. Basically, beat the final boss with at bare minimum 3 extra lives, or 2 extra + 3 bombs.

There might be some neat tricks to attacks I've yet to discover that will make it easier. I know I stumbled on an honest-to-goodness safespot during the S5 midboss's last attack that only exists on Expert (sit at the far left edge of screen, anywhere from center height to just above center). Will write up more detailed info in the Strategy section with screenshots when I get a chance to put some info together.

The RS I'm pretty sure I've settled on as the go-to ship for the standard version of Rolling Gunner. The RX and RA are certainly not bad and usable, but I find having as much speed as possible when using the focus shot is too useful to pass up for wide dodging and misdirecting attacks without having to use your weaker rapid shot.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Some updated scores, mostly due to as aggressive scoring as possible and minimizing silly autobombs. If anyone wants the replay files for them (or a Youtube upload, I'm most happy about the Original True All currently but I think my Casual and Novice scores are optimized enough I'd be happy with tossing them on Youtube, though it is possible to push them higher) let me know.

Rolling Gunner v.2.10 - Novice
BareKnuckleRoo & 256,345,710 & TRUE ALL & RS & PC

Rolling Gunner v.2.10 - Casual
BareKnuckleRoo & 267,100,280 & TRUE ALL & RS & PC

Rolling Gunner v.2.10 - Original
BareKnuckleRoo & 2,232,755,370 & 6 TBOSS & RS & PC

Extremely annoyed about the Original score, was tempted to not submit it. I miscounted how many resources I had left and proceeded to bomb/suicide on final boss to try and avoid the TLB when I didn't have the resources to lower the rank enough, purely a screwup on my part when I shoulda just gone for it and tried to finish off the TLB with low resources instead of literally NO resources. And I did this live on stream to make this extra embarrassing. FML.

I also have a 1.23 bil score on Expert I don't feel like submitting cause I'd rather have the ALL clear on the board at present. I could score way more on Expert if I actually played more aggressively instead of RANK CONTROL ALL DAY, EVERYDAY I'm sure but I really would like to get the TRUE ALL first...

[EmperorIng]

I don't have the time to update the thread just at this moment but I am bumping it and will add this score now that Over Power is released on the eshop. Updates soon!

Rolling Gunner Over Power Original

EmperorIng & 8,203,839,930 & TRUE ALL & RA & Switch & link

Pretty big score on this, but there's so much room for improvement given that I do not have the "double hyper > instant refill" timing down on Over Power.

I did get a tiny new pb in Original and made it to the stage 4 boss when I finally decided to stop giving a shit about its asinine rank management TLB requirement bs. I'll post that later too.

[SPM]

I just got the game, expect me to post some scores sooner than later. At least I hope so

I'm really enjoying it so far! This game feels awesome, so much fun! And looks way better while playing than it does when watching a video/screenshot.

Played on Original two runs, that both ended at stage 3 (seems to be the first wall ) and then gave novice mode a try and got a true all first try. Maybe too novice?

Anyway, I guess next I'll try Casual mode.

I haven't got the DLC yet though. I'm not too sure about it. I like the twin-stick control idea, but not so much the OP bullet cancelling (it's too much)

[EmperorIng]

Novice is pretty easy. Casual despite the name, has a fair amount of bite to it, so it will take you some time to clear. It's a fine mode.
Over Power is pretty easy (as easy as Novice, maybe a little harder), so the real challenge you find there will be in scoring. I TRUE ALL'd it my first try. It can be relaxing to play something that doesn't demand as much of you as Original mode does.

I look forward to seeing your scores! Don't feel ashamed to post your Novice ALL on here too; the more the merrier

[SPM]

I'll post them once I've played a week at least (to have something less volatile).

Btw, have you ever had any problem on Switch with the game not recording your score? (and not asking to save the replay either?) It's happened to me twice already, once in casual and once in original.

I know on original I had lowered the background brightness some points to see the difference, but I'm quite sure I didn't touch anything when it happened on casual.

Hmm...

[BareKnuckleRoo]

It appears to be a known bug on the Switch version:

viewtopic.php?p=1398062#p1398062

I don't think it affects the PC version but I usually restart to menu after runs anyways since I'm in the habit. There's several other games that offer a "quick restart" option that will not record your score to the leaderboard if you use it, so I just recommend doing a full restart every time.

and then gave novice mode a try and got a true all first try. Maybe too novice?

Novice mode is basically meant for players who've never played a shmup before, so like an absolute beginner. Casual should give you an enjoyable challenge without feeling too hardcore, arcade-difficulty.

[SPM]

Ok that helps! No quick restart option for me then (I don't know why they do it though).

I was going to wait at least a week to post anything but I've played it more than expected these 3 days. I must say I'm blown away. What a gem!

NOVICE
SPM - 196,432,080 - TRUE ALL - RX - Switch - Link

CASUAL
SPM - 134,355,080 - TBOSS - RX - Switch - Link

ORIGINAL
SPM - 87,383,510 - 4 - RX - Switch - Link

EXPERT
SPM - 97,207,480 - 3 MBOSS - RX - Switch - Link

I've been messing around with the 4 modes. I'm not going to bother with expert for now hehe. But that casual true all should be close, I'm not going to be able to play for some days though.

Is there any strategy with the TLB last phase? (other than "brute force")

Btw, I think rank may help in some situations. It speeds up bullets, yes, but that also means that they're less concentrated. It seems that enemies fire them at the same rate, they just move faster, so there are more space to move around between them. But you've got to move fast hehe!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

The TLB's last phase consists of 3 different attacks chosen at random that the four orbs floating around the gem use:

• Green fires a spread of balls that are not aimed directly at you. The gap in the spread of patterns is aimed where you are and it'll only hit you as a result of moving around to evade other attacks. As long as you don't move, these won't hit you.

• Pink fires a line of aimed bullets directly at you, forcing you to tap dodge to evade.

• Blue fires randomly aimed bullets in your general direction.

The trick is to hide at the back of the screen, and only tap dodge up or down if you're about to be hit, focusing mostly on the blue or pink bullets. If you have to make a wide dodge to avoid these that puts you near any green bullets, be prepared to bomb or Power Up for safety, and use the quick recharge technique when you Power Up (bomb immediately after using Power Up if you have bombs remaining).

[SPM]

Thanks

I've had an unexpected free hour and couldn't think of doing anything but trying that. I may be addicted hahaha

Anyway, casual done (although I could come back for scoring or just some fun, the difficulty is great - But I do think some patterns are more interesting on Original)

CASUAL
SPM - 198,148,130 - TRUE ALL - RX - Switch - Link

[SPM]

It is a fact: I'm addicted to this game hahaha! look at my avatar...

Whenever I'm getting the chance, I boot it up

And made some progress on Original (your tips have been really valuable)

ORIGINAL
SPM - 276,359,790 - 5 MBOSS - RX - Switch - Link

The game has gone up to my top3. Not higher since I feel there are some samey parts in the game that could've been done better, making each stage stand out more, and visually it has its weaknesses as well, budget-related probably. But the overall package is fantastic. I just love the rolling gun!

Don't feel ashamed to post your Novice ALL on here too; the more the merrier

Btw, I must confess I did a second run on novice to try to reach your score hehe the first one was too low

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Congrats on the Casual clear!

@EmperorIng: I got around to uploading the Expert All clear onto Youtube, updated the link on the original post with the YT link instead of the Twitch link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOVS-PhR-BA

[EmperorIng]

Pulled a despy and let my thread sit for too long; I learned my mistake and will try to avoid all this work in the future

SPM, speaking of extra work, the forum's table function doesn't like Twitter image links; please just post the link to the tweet itself and I will include it on your scores.

Great to see you so motivated, enough to knock out my dinky scores!