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I got about 93M at the end of 1-2, 140M at the end of 1-3, and like 280 or 300M at the end of 1-4, with optimal chaining. If you break the 1-4 chain once somewhere, then you can get around 230M at the end of 1-4 I think. Also you could get more out of 1-3 if you learned that special trick to chain the whole stage that we're not yet sure it works in white label.

So that's about 45M out of Stage 3, and 150M out of Stage 4 for me.

Ah, thanks for the breakdown, PROM. As I suspected, it's far more profitable to learn Stage 4 (and more practical; 3 is way easier) than to spend any time in 3. Especially because 3 is a nightmare of...stuff. Dunno, just don't like 3. I'll learn it as I play runs, I guess. Also helps that 4 is my favorite stage of any game ever.

By the way, when are you gonna 2-loop this game ^_~

I'm not playing anymore, I had a terrible success rate with B-E when I was doing runs. Because of that, it bores me quickly too. Maybe I'll pick it up again and switch to A-E sometime, but I doubt I'll have time.

omg, your avatar comes from some cowboy run and gun sort of game, I loved playing it as a kid!! ><

Play Death Label.

And that game would be Sunset Riders. You might have played it in the arcades, on the SNES, or the Megadrive. (The character's name is Cormano.)

I hate death label !

Oh yeah that's it, I played it on the mega drive. Haha, good memories.

today I received my first extra life near the end of stage 2!

I know it's nothing compared to some of you but for some one who sucks at the game like me it's a big deal. I feel really accomplished and that my countless attempts and deaths achieved something.

keep with it man once you start getting extends, and tearing your way through stage 2 with a full chain, it's great fun

So to anyone who can chain the diagonal platforms in stage 4, what's your strat? I've seen Clover-TAC fail at it, and HFD which is obviously good but I'd be interested to hear some other methods, esp. hyper distributions to make it doable for a regular player lol

Also, just out of curiosity, am I the only player here who doesn't really use practice mode?

until recently no

for the diagonal platforms:

lasering the large wall before it, making sure to have 1 hyper in stock. continue lasering all the way to the left, and chain into an enemy, tap C, laser the power-up carrier, and tap C over to the right. continue tapping C killing enemies as slow as possible. when the two larger craft appear over at the left, laser one, then the other, then laser the hidden bee, activate hyper, hold C button down. with any luck you'll chain into the small enemies on the first platform appearing. laser it, laser the two enemies coming onto the screen at the right, loop round the bullets and sweep over to the left holding laser. tap C to kill the turrets that are in your face. another diagonal platform is coming onto the screen, slowly kill all the turrets on it by tapping C. laser the platform. sweep over to the right and tap C to kill the turrets on the platform entering the screen on the right. laser it. move left and laser the craft coming onto the screen. edge right whilst still holding laser and kill the other craft. now hold C, kill the 3rd craft, and loop round to kill the next platform coming onto the screen on the right in the same fashion you've been killing the other ones. around here the hyper will wear off. laser enemy craft coming onto the screen on the left, collect the falling hyper icon. laser another craft, and hold C whilst circling the last platform that is appearing from the right. move left and laser the hidden bee. activate hyper (as late as poss). laser the craft coming onto the screen on the right. hesitate for a second whilst holding laser before edging right to kill the other craft. kill the 3rd, then hold C to destroy the platform coming from the left. continue holding C and kill some more. then hold laser, move to the right. kill the ships and hold laser against the wall. do an anti-clockwise circle around the last few ships killing them with your aura. switch to C shot to kill the last platform, then hold A on the first large ship after the wall has gone. move right and laser another ship. move to the middle and laser another. hyper wears off, but this part is easy to chain.

if you have made a mistake somehwhere, or not chained the start very well, you may not get the 2nd hyper you (meaning I) need to chain through this section, as your hyper gauge wont fill quick enough. if you hyper at the start of the level, once it's worn off, if you generate another hyper before the wall preceding the diagonal platforms, make sure to grab it and activate. otherwise if you straight chain the rest of the opening section, there's a good chance you will end up with two hypers for the diagonal section, and you definitely wont generate another hyper during the middle of the diagonal platforms.

p.s. hope that made sense i typed that from memory, so hopefully that's right. would be a lot easier just to show you, but i have no means of recording

p.p.s HFD's technique is incredibly sick. first time i saw it on the website's trailer video my jaw dropped. then i kicked myself thinking it was obviously the 2nd loop, how the hell could someone chain one of the trickiest sections of the game with no hypers. then i bought the dvd......

If you want to get the possibility of a full chain of the level, including the canon, you'll need to have between 1/2 and 5/6 hyper bar when starting the level, + 1 hyper already activated with 90% time left. If you got any of that wrong, it's still possible to get a full chain by either missing a bee on purpose or grabbing one at a slightly different time (like at 98% hyper bar, or during an hyper, or grab one before/after an hyper instead of during...).

This particular level and section needs careful, well learned hyper management because you really need the hypers to be ready exactly when you want, not before and not after! Unless you learn the HFD techniques.

Yeah I've never actually got that second hyper where I want it, and that was the bit I never managed to successfully chain. Ideally I'd like to be able to do that link without a hyper, but HFD uses a tactic I'm not sure I understand - it seems like he holds his combo by hitting the last (right moving) platform with the rear of his aura. Of course he may just be relying on the impeccable timing.
I tried chaining the big cannon yesterday. Surprisingly easy, got it on my second try

Really ?? I think it took me 40 or 50 attempts before I got it right once. Are you playing at the right speed ?!

that's like the toughest section to chain in the whole game ...

yeah, I'm playing on an actual PS2, normal difficulty. Rank would have been pretty low since I'd died a couple times previously. Maybe I got lucky with the shells, haven't really played it since. Are you tapping A on the right bit, maybe that makes the difference?

Edit: yeah I got lucky that time, I haven't been able to replicate it

I watched the HFD vid again and his combo meter definitely pauses from holding just the aura over that platform. Not sure what's going on there.

Yes I tap A, and even when you do EVERYTHING the combo meter almost depletes, it's very tight! Unless you're super lucky with the shells, then it isn't so tight anymore.

yeah, you need six shells to do it with any kind of confidence - and even then your timing needs to be pretty fucking good

I never counted the shells, but I think I'm confident when I get about half of them.

just to confirm, you do get an extra life when you complete a stage on the second loop with a no-miss (provided you have less than 4 spare lives already) - same as white label

damn all this 2-2/2-3 talk.

...and here i was so proud of my training mode non-scoring accomplishment of 1-3 1-miss http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3fp1jSCrNA

Well, I had a nice, huge, uplifting post typed out, but Chrome sucks or something. So it's gone. So you get NOTHING.

bummer

I know, and I feel really bad about it. If you're ever in the shmups chat, or you have steam, or you uh...stuff, or have xfire or something, let me know, hit me up, we'll talk a bit. I'm just too frustrated tonight to do anything more than once that requires any effort.

uh, are you sure ? I don't remember this happening when I played at stunfest, I think I had 2 spare lives when I left loop 1 and made it to 2-4 without getting extend, so I had to have cleared at least 2 stages without dieing. But maybe my memory fails or we failed to notice I did get extra lives.

pretty sure dude. you can bomb, but you need to no-miss the stage. buy yourself a black label pcb and try for yourself

Sure, I'll pick one up tomorrow at the supermarket!

Pick me up some milk, too.

If I give ya two bucks, can you get me some ramen? I forgot after work.

I hope my contradicting experience has nothing to to with bugs (which Xbox 360's DOJ BLEX is apparently known for), but I definitely did not receive any extends in 2-1 or 2-2 of Black Label. I no-missed each, but I also bombed in each, and during the entirety of each, I had two reserves (not including the ship I was using).

I would like to report that recently when I played Black Label, I reached the second round with no reserves, and then after I no-missed stage 2-1, I received one extend at the end of the stage.