ST: Giga Wing Generations (Yoku shin Giga Wing)

For posting and requesting strategic gameplay tips on shmups!
Post Reply
Randorama
Posts: 3503
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:25 pm

ST: Giga Wing Generations (Yoku shin Giga Wing)

Post by Randorama »

ACKNOLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Rob for the insightful discussions on this underrated title and for the overall feedback. much of this guide is a result of this fruitful interaction :wink:
Also thanks to Zach Mc Keene for explaining how to call those insanely high scores (i.e. what's a kei) :lol:



INDEX OF CONTENTS
0.0 INTRODUCTION: THE MEDALLION RISES AGAIN?
0.1. SOME NOTES ON THE PS2 PORT
1.0 BASIC MECHANICS
1.1 MAIN SHOT
1.1.1 SHOT AND SHOT MEDAL
1.2 BOMB
1.3. REFLECT FORCE
1.3.1 REFLECT FORCE AND REFLECT MEDALS
1.4 THE PLANES
1.4.1 HAWK
1.4.2 ROBIN
1.4.3 GROUSE
1.4.4 EAGLE
2.0 ADVANCED MECHANICS
2.1 SCORING TECNIQUES
2.1.1 SHOT MEDALS AND HOW TO TRIGGER THEM
2.1.2 REFLECT MEDALS AND THE OPTIMAL REFLECTION METHOD
2.1.3 OTHER SOURCES FOR MEDALS
2.1.4 POINT BLANKING OR: HOW TO REFLECT PROPERLY
2..2 RANK AND DYNAMIC ENEMY SEQUENCE
2.2.1 RANK
2.2.2 DES (Dynamic Enemy Sequence)
2.3 EOS BONUS
2.4 LEVELS GUIDE
2.4.1 STAGE 1
2.4.2 STAGE 2
2.4.3 STAGE 3
2.4.4 STAGE 4
2.4.5 STAGE 5
2.4.6 STAGE 6
3.0 TIPS, TRICKS AND ODDITITIES

0.0 INTRODUCTION: THE MEDALLION RISES AGAIN?

Giga Wing Generations (Yoku Shin Giga Wing) is the third chapter of the Giga Wing saga by Takumi. It also the third collaboration between Taito and Takumi, after Kyukyoku Tiger II and Night Raid.If this is not enough, it's the first shmup on the new Taito hardware "Type-X", a PC-like hardware for arcades.

This title, for a number of reasons, must be considered as a "Gaiden" title, or a sort of extra version: basically there's no plot and, in many aspects, it's just focused on the game itself: gone are the characters designed by Kao Tome and any reference to the battle between the Medallion and humankind.What can be figured out by the stage settings, though, is that the battle is taken to the medallion's netherworld, as the lovecraftian backgrounds of stages 5 and 6 imply.
The change of publisher/supervisor, also, marks a certain change of gaming style: while the first two Giga Wings were relatively slower in pace and relied more in reflecting medals after letting the screen fill with bullets, this title has a quite faster pace and a more aggressive approach, shared in common with other titles supervised by Taito in the latest years.

This more or less everything you need to know about the game itself.What about the port?

0.1 SOME NOTES ABOUT THE PS2 PORT

The PS2 port has been published in late March of 2005 and, unlike the arcade version, lacks a Tate mode.This means that the original game was produced in tate orientation (vertical screen), whereas the the PS2 port has two modes: "arcade" (you leave your tv in horizontal position and the screen is vertically oriented, with big lateral screen-fillers) or the "original" mode (yoko mode, i.e. horizontal resolution with vertical scrolling, like the precedent titles,with small side-fillers to properly fill the screen). It is debatable on why Takumi didn't put the "complete Tate option, of course: at any case, the original mode is highly suggested, as the level design has been clearly thought with yoko mode in mind. Most of the enemies will come from the side, like the two other giga wings, and there's no chance for unseen enemies to snipe at you.

Another aspect is the frame rate: the game runs at 30 FPS instead of the canonic 60.Why is it so? I don't really know, but this is not a real issue after a few plays, as it is easy to get accustomed to the different frame rate.The only issues can be on some specific attacks: namely, the first attack by the third boss and some sections of the fifth stage.This because of collision detection: it may happen that the missing frame (as you get 30 FPS instead of 60: one frame appears, one doesn't) will be the one triggering the contact between bullet and plane's hitbox.However, this is not a big problem, as most of the time the said missing frame will mark the overlapping of the bullet object with the plane (i.e. non-damaging part of the bullet with the part of the plane "sprite" which isn't hitbox).In short, with some more practice, you won't get splatted by this small issue.

Of course, this is not a "defense" of the way Takumi has ported their game, but it must be said that the minor issues related to display can be easily overcomed.

Let's proceed with the ST, then.

1.0 BASIC MECHANICS

Giga Wing Generations, like most shmups, has the normal shot, autofire, and bomb buttons.Holding down the normal shot will trigger the Reflect Force, the characteristic mechanic of the series.What is important, in this title, is to learn how and when to shoot, as we'll see in the following sections.

1.1 MAIN SHOT

The main shot is, of course, what you shoot when normally tapping or holding down the auto-fire button.It can be powered-up three times by taking the "P" icons, obviously. One important thing you should know about the main shot is that, if you hold down the auto-fire button, you will keep shooting:if you hold down auto-fire and the normal shot button, you will keep shooting and trigger the reflect force, something that doesn't happen if you just use the normal button.This will come in handy when playing: why?

1.1.1 MAIN SHOT AND SHOT MEDALS

Shot Medals (from now on, SMs) are an interesting novel element, introduced first in the arrange mode of Mars Matrix. When you shoot an enemy with a specific part of your main attack (please refer to planes section, 1.4 ), the "hit" frames will trigger small medals, the SMs.These medals are worth, multiplier-wise, always the amount of of the highest reflect medals: for instance, if your reflected medal value is +15 and you destroy an enemy, getting 4 SMs, they will be worth +15 multiplier points each.This means that, if you haven't reflected any bullets and thus haven't collected any reflect force medals, the SMs will be worth 0 expperience points. More on this in the 2.1 section.

1.2 BOMB

As many other titles, GWG has a useful smart bomb. In this case, the Smart bomb is pretty powerful and lasts quite a bit: not only that, but all bullets will be turned into SMs by using a bomb, partially reducing the loss of medals sources triggered by the bombs' usage.There are two extra bombs awarded at stages 3 and 4, and you start with 2 bombs per life.Final note: ince the bomb is triggered, everything on screen will be affected.

1.3 REFLECT FORCE

The reflect force is the characteristic feature of the Giga Wing Series. It basically works in this way: if you hold down your shot button, you will fill the bar in the lower corner of your player side (left for 1p, right for 2p).Then, you will trigger a shield, spherical in form, which reflect all incoming bullets in the direction of provenience, damaging all hit enemies.Those bullets, upon contact with the enemy, will turn into medals, which once collected, will increase the multiplier.How?What is the multiplier?

The multiplier, which appears below your lives and bombs (upper corner), multiplies (obviously) all of your scored points. If you have a multiplier of 1M, for instance, every single point is multiplied by 1M: so, instead of getting 100 points for a pop-corn enemy, you will get 100*1M= 100M points!

About medals:every medal collected in this way (reflection) is worth a +3 to your multiplier chain.This means that, if you reflect 5 medals, the first one is worth +3, the second one +6...the fifth one +15. The formula is:

3(n(n+1)/2

With n being the number of medals reflected.

This is the main source of your multiplier: in case you wonder, if you die, the value will reset.There are other sources for medals, which will be covered in section 2.1, of course.Let's have a look at the planes, now.

1.4. PLANES

GWG, in its choice of planes, is closer to the first Giga Wing. There are four planes, which are more or less like the four planes in the first titles, except for some minor tweaks in the secondary attacks and the bombs: an important thing to know, only the primary (or the secondary) attack of the planes triggers the SMs. Let's see how they work.

1.4.1 HAWK

The heir of the Raijin (but also of the Kingfisher from GW2), it is your typical wide-shot plane. Electric blue in colour, it has a primary central stream (which triggers the SMs) and four streams of wide-shots, which cover 45° on both sides. A good all-around plane with a moderate-to-fast speed, its bomb is an electric discharge, with consistent damage.It's the second best scorer in the game.

1.4.2 ROBIN

Robin is the typical "full frontal attack" plane of the bunch. It plays more like the Sparrow in GW2 than the Carmine in GW1, with twirling pods and thus lateral streams. This is the secondary attack, which doesn't trigger any SMs, since your primary attack (the central stream) does. Orange-shaded, it is the fastest plane and its bomb is a frontal vulcanon. The best scorer in the game, being the fastest in a fast-paced engine.

1.4.3 GROUSE

Green in appearance, the Grouse is somewhat slow (but not so much) and resembles the widerstand in its attack: it shoots exploding mines at roughly 30° on its sides, without the ability to move pods like the Widerstand. Its main shot (the frontal stream, primary attack) triggers the SMs, while the mines are useless in this regard. Its bomb is the Medallion (!) appearing and creating a sort of devastating black hole. The third top scorer, only slightly worse than the Hawk, but it requires more practice to get used to.

1.4.4 EAGLE

For the hardcore players! Purple in colour, the Eagle plays like the Porchka in GW1.Slow as molasses, it has a frontal primary shot and a secondary shot consisting in homing missiles, which also trigger the SMs.Its bomb is also a sort of devastating explosion, probably the most powerful among the four.The worst scorer, given its slow speed.

Final note on all planes: the hitbox is located at the plane's cockpit, and it is roughly circular in shape.Also, only bullets can hit the planes, like other Takumi titles collisions between vehicles are non-lethal.
Once we know the basics, we can switch to the advanced tecniques of the game.

2.0 ADVANCED MECHANICS

I will cover, in this section, all issues regarding scoring aspects, difficulty and other useful knowledge in the pursuit of a good score.In this regard, it must be said that GWG is about speed: what you should do, most of the time, is find the right place for a reflection, point-blank the shooting enemies, and shoot to land the fatal damage.The other two Giga Wings had less focus on the point-blank aspect (still important, in order to collect medals), but it wasn't as fundamental as in this title.Let's see why.

2.1 SCORING TECNIQUES

The way to properly score in this game is focused on the various types of medals and how to obtain them: all mechanics are strongly related one to the other and, as a final result, the proper scoring method is surprisingly coherent, even if there are 4 main sub-methods to apply. why?

2.1.1 SHOT MEDALS AND HOW TO TRIGGER THEM

As we have said, SMs are obtained by shooting with the primary or secondary attack and hitting enemies. The amount of SMs obtained by shooting an enemy is fixed and based on the amount of hit points: this means that reflecting bullets and partially damaging an enemy will, in turn, lower the possible amount of SMs obtainable.However, this process can be partially avoided by reflecting the bullets at point-blank distance, starting to shoot as soon as the main bulk of the bullets hits back the enemy. This is means that, usually, the best approach is having an enemy shoot, closing in to reflect its attacks, and starting to shoot while the bullets have just begun to damage the enemy. Since the value of SMs is given by the value of the reflect medals, it is always better to reflect first and shoot immediately after.

An example: i can reflect 100 bullets against an enemy, doing 3(n+1)n)/2=15.150 exp points in medals.If i can manage to shoot the enemy at the last part of the reflection, the remaining damage will be dealt by the main shot: let's say that the bullets will do 70% of the damage, and there will be only 3 SMs left for the remaining shot-based damage. If triggered right after the reflection, it means getting 15.150*3=45.450 more exp. points. Not bad, uh?

However, the contribution of SMs, most of the time, is not that big, and really important only on stages 4 and 5. As a general rule, their "weight" on the final multiplier is somewhere around 30% of the total, more or less.What's important to build, after all, is the Reflect medals value.

2.1.2 REFLECT MEDALS AND THE OPTIMAL REFLECT METHOD

Reflect medals (from now on: RMs) are the main source for your multiplier.The important difference with the other Giga Wings, as we said, is the approach to reflection: most of the time, the attacks must be reflected as close as possible, as they tend to spread a lot: in this way, most of reflected medals will be collected by overlapping the plane with the source of the attack, avoiding the process of "medal dissipation" typical of the other two titles.The counter-proof of the validity of this method is given by the point-blank score, which will be covered in section 2.1.4. Let's see the remaining sources for medals, first.

2.1.3 OTHER SOURCES FOR MEDALS

Unlike the first two giga wings, all enemies (instead of just the aerial ones) will release medals when destroyed. Pop-corn planes and tanks will release +10 medals (i.e. they will add 10 points to your medal value and multiplier), bigger pop-corn enemies +20 ones, various big tanks and planes +50 ones, and most of enemies on stages 4 and 5 +100 ones. also, some bigger carriers or mid-bosses will convert bullets into SMs, once destroyed (example: the cannon at the beginning of the barge section of stage 4).

This is important to know, as many sections are more about point-blanking enemies and taking the released medals than reflecting bullets, something completely new in the series.Finally, let's see the last facet of the scoring system. Before we proceed further, some notes on medals value: during the game and much like GW2, you will obtain a bonus for getting medals, which is:

MEDAL VALUES:

+0 = multiplier * 10 * medal number
+3 = multiplier * 10 * medal number * 3

This important discovery is entirely by Rob,thanks to him!
Let's finally see Point-blanking, then.

2.1.4 POINT-BLANKING OR: HOW TO REFLECT PROPERLY

The final piece of the puzzle is point-blanking enemies or, destroying them as close as possible. This will grant a value which can be as high as 1M and as low as 10 points. All enemies' value in points is based on this aspect and, more importantly, this value is actually an indicationof how good your approach is. As we said, reflections must be close-ranged, for the aforementioned issues.Also, when shooting to get medals, it's easy to collect the released medals by shooting an enemy before it shoots at you.

This is mirrored by the value given by every kill: if you're doing the proper tecnique, you will probably get to close-range on most of the enemies, and thus you will get a lot of 1M bonuses. In this regard, this value is far more important to keep track of the validity of your approach than anything, as the contribution to your score is usually trascurable (and beside that, most of the time you will still get a good value).

Once we've covered all the facets of the score system, it must be said that the approached can be reduced to one general method: have enemies shoot a bit, point-blank them with the reflect force, shoot to take them definitely, collecting the 1M bonus.This strong coherence and cohesion between the various mechanics is what makes the game well-designed, from a score-based point of view.

Let's other aspects of the game, however.

2.2.2. RANK AND DYNAMIC ENEMY SEQUENCE

As most modern games, GWG features an increase of difficulty based on perfomance and a DES (Dynamic Enemy Sequence), which is the possibility to have more or less enemies on screen, depending on speed of destruction.

2.2.1 RANK

Rank, in this game, is somewhat of a minor element: all it will affect is an increase of speed in the attacks, which is not particularly taxing (but dying, of course, will reset the rank), and is based on survival time. It also lowers the "safe area" for point-blanking, as enemies will not shoot at you if you're below that distance. This aspect becomes trascurable by Stage 4, at any case.

2.2.2 DES (Dynamic Enemy Sequence)

DES is, to put it in simple terms, the possibility to trigger extra enemies in some areas, in case the default sequence of enemies is quickly disposed of. In this specific title, the amount of extra enemies can be pretty high: also, triggering them is always rewarding, but often it implies a more careful approach to the specific sub-section. I will cover the extra enemies in the levels section, and add some notes on how to deal with them.As a general note, though, it is always better to trigger extra enemies, for scoring purposes: in many sections, this will imply to sacrifice some RMs on an enemy in order to trigger the extra ones and have a reflect chance on them.

Said this, let's finally see how the EOS (End Of Stage) bonus works.

2.3 EOS (End Of Stage) BONUS

The EOS is probably the most important source of points after boss battles. This because the game will award you with some consistent bonuses if you can meet some conditions. The EOS is awarded at the end of every stage and works in this way:

REMAINING TIME: seconds remaining after the boss*10M*multiplier
DESTRUCTION RATE: Percentage of destroyed enemies*1M*multiplier
BOMBS: Number of bombs in stock*10M*multiplier

As you can guess, the most important factor is time. This is mirrored by the optimal approach on last three bosses: the best thing to do on those phases is to reflect their most bullet-heavy patterns (so you can get points and medals) and also collect a huge time bonus: for instance, on the fourth boss, you can get to half a billion (50 seconds*10M) for time alone!

The Destruction rate bonus is also important and, if you can destroy all enemies on screen, you can get a nice "Perfect bonus" title.However, it is uninfluent to the sake of scoring purposes, as it will give you 100M and no other extra points, not so different from a 97% (97M), and it may imply a few lost occasions for reflecting.

Finally, the bombs: relatively small bonus, so don't worry about using them in cases of dire need, you will also get SMs for cancelled bullets.If you can, though, only use them in the spots i will propose in the stage guide.

Said this, let's see how the levels work.

2.4 LEVELS GUIDE

In this section, i will briefly cover the tecniques i prefer for scoring purposes. Please bear in mind that my best perfomances are on Hawk, while Rob is the ace Robin player.However, these tecniques are more or less the same, except for a few minor tweaks. At any case, they're thought for Robin...i will simply provide a list of points in which a reflection is to be expected, by don't consider them as the absolute truth.I will put between parenthes the expected value of your medals, after every reflection, and mutliplier/time bonus/destruction bonus/bombs value at the title.

2.4.1 STAGE 1 (100M exp; time out;97%-100%;2 bombs).

This stage plays like the early Giga Wings, in many aspects. Let's see what to do:

1. The first important reflection is on the blue planes on the right, point-blank them of course (but reflect on Power-up cargos too),again on the ones of the left(3,8k)
2.Stay on the left, when the kyte-plane from the right appears, reflect its attacks on the pop-corn enemies.(6,5k)
3.Centre, bottom field, close in at the beginning of the second attack to collect medals, go in the upper-left corner (8,5k).
4.Reflect from upper-left to the tank, point-blank it. (9,5k).
5.Destroy stuff and point-blank as soon as you have a reflection.(10,5k).
6.Again, tank before it disappears and helicopter.(11k)
7.Blue planes, bottom centre, then again on the helicopter.(12,5k).
8.Central tower ass soon as it appears, end of the reflection on the turrets.(14k)
9. One on the first row of kyte-planes, second on second row (15,5k)
10. stay in the middle of the shooting turrets, reflect and destroy them at once, a spring of medals will be revealed.(18k).
11.On the planes, as you like.(19k).

-BOSS-

1.As soon as the boss shoots the blue streams. (20k)
2. Point-blank on the right (the circular spread), then on the left.(21,5k)
3.The central circular spread, go to the bottom to reflect the other blue streams.(23k).
4.Point-balnk the right attack, dodge the left one, reflect again and let the boss time-out while shooting. (24-25k).

2.4.2. STAGE 2 (100M; Time out-2 seconds;94-97%;2 bombs).

Some important extra enemies and a lot of SMs and general medals to collect:

1. First power-up carrier, then left to right on same level of kyte-plane and the other enemies. (1,5k).
2 Take down quickly the amphibian vehicle to trigger the kite-plane. Second power- up carrier to second amphibian, one reflection on triggered kyte-plane on the left, Refill and point-blank the tank and kyte.(3,5k after the other enemies).
3.Reflect on tanks and amphibian, then reflect on kyte-plane and big tank.Keep the kyte-plane on the right and keep reflecting its attacks without damaging it, trigger the planes from the lower left angle.Reflect twice on the kyte-plane (6,5k).
4.Destroy everything in sight and reflect when you have the blue planes in formation on screen, so you can also collect their +50 medals.Destroy the sub-marine too (9k).
5.Again the formations, once the one on the left is completely on the screen, start reflecting as a kyte-plane will appear, use the formations for shield.Again on the second cycle, take the kyte-plane down (12k).
6.Let the planes shooting a lot of bullet spam unfold their wings (worth 12 +50 medals), in this pace: 2-1-2-1, and this implies that the first one must stay on screen until the second one appears and starts unfolding its wings.You should do a progression like this: 15k-17k-20k-22k-25k.

- BOSS -

1.Reflect early on before it starts shooting, so you'll reflect the very beginning of the green attack (as soon as the background is all snow)(25,5k).
2On one side, the blue shots twice (27k).
3. Dodge a bit, when the blue circular attack starts, point-blank, blow the two guns and it will flip over (28k).
4.Early bullets (28,5k) Then the wide streams (30k) Then a final reflection up to 31k.

2.4.3 STAGE 3 (60M; 27 seconds; 100%; 3 bombs).

Speed-based stage!

1.On the carrier, be ready when the train dives in.(300)
2. Shoot at the lowest train section, reflect going from left to right (take down the planes).(2,2k)
3.From right corner, reflect against the train and take down immediately the planes on the left after reflection, then reflect back from left to right on the other sequence, destroy the remaining parts of the train. (5k)
4. Shoot the carrier, start shooting the tower on the left, point-blank it and quickly take it down, completing the reflection on the right one (shoot for destruction).(6k)
5.Point blank quickly the enemy for the extra bomb, trigger the two extra carriers tap to the right, take down the one which has appeared first and then the other, shoot at the same time (destruction will turn bullets into SMs).(8k)
6. Reflect on spawning barges and be ready with a shield on the left of the other big plane, reflect as soon as the hydrovolants dive in.(9,5k)
7.Reflect as soon as the hydrovolants and the carrier start spamming, then shoot the train, and reflect again to destroy the locomotive.Reflect again on the last hydrovolants.(12,5k)
8.Point-blank the floating isle and the plane, refill for the second floating isle, point-blank the purple spread.(14,5k)
8.Reflect on the turrets.starting from upper right to lower right (moving counter-clockwise) and then stay on the crystal to absorb the spring of +100 medals.Reflect and destroy the crystal is out of the screen (19k).

- BOSS -

1. Reflect the last part of the first green spam.Be careful, this is the tricky attack with the "flickery death" effect.(19,5k)
2.Don't move unless the pink streams can hit you, reflect at the the one from the right and the blue spread on the left.Reflect and shoot as quickly as you can.(20,5k)
3.Triggering quickly the second form, Reflect the first attack and then reflect twice the second attack (without shooting the first time), by following the blue streams in order to have room for dodging on the pink aimed shots.Before it is completely destroyed, shoot its feet for SMs.(22k)

2.4.4 STAGE 4 (200M; 51 seconds; 94%; 2 bombs)

Superb design for this stage, a lot of extra enemies and walls of bullets to reflect.

1.Reflect from left to right on the first diving angel and the spamming angel (the diving angel is the one that quickly zaps down). (900).
2.On the right, refill and use the spamming angel's attack to clear to the left (2,4k).
3.On the left, same operation, then destroy the extra diver, and repeat from right to left, destroying all divers (6,5k).
4. Point-blank the central cannon by being slightly below it, collect all medals and take down the diver (8,5k).
5.Left to right on divers, also shoot the first row of cannons, the refill and use the spammer (9,5k) for reflection, again destroy the cannons and use the spammer, take down the diver on the right (11k).
6. Shoot the first mid-boss, then move on the left and shoot the pseudo-cars on the left before they appear (else they will point-blank you), and reflect again on the boss, continuiing to destroy the cars and the first diver (12,5k).
7.When the second diver and the cannon angel on the left appears, point-blank the former and quickly collect the reflect stuff from the left, then replace yourself on the lower right part (while shooting, don't let the continuing flow of extra divers spam bullets!), reflect again on the right cannon angel.two 1,5k reflections, so 15,5k.
8.Left cannon angel to right one, from this point on reflect and shoot everything down as quick as you can: once the two turrets appear on the screen, be ready with a shield. (17k).
9.Reflect the blue needles on the left turret and take it down by shooting, slowly put yourself on the lower centre section, you should have a stream of purple needles (from the right turret) and two spammers for a reflection (18,5k).
10.Two divers: destroy them, then reflect on the central third diver and the two spammers (20k).
11. The mid-boss is tricky: stay on one side and reflect three times, so the bullets will first hit the turrets and then the mid-boss.Stay clear off the centre or the bullet-spam will be unnavigable.(23,5k).
12.Take down the mid-boss at the beginning of the third reflection, collect the +500 Eagle-like item, and place yourself on the right: reflect once when you have two spammers on screen, going from right to left, and then again from left to right for the final row of spammers, staying a bit below the spammers to reflect more bullets. (27k)

- BOSS -

1.Reflect the spiralling attack on the right and then the remaining green ones from the left, then reflect again the remaining spiralling attacks (28,5k).
2. Reflect the various spams, point-blanking the pink central bullets, an then reflect the remaining spirals: after that, point-blank the circular spread and take down the first form (29,5k and then 31k).
3. Point blank the spiralling attack while shooting, bomb once the reflection is over, then reflect again and shoot half the reflection, the boss should go down (33k).

2.4.5 STAGE 5 (250M; 27 seconds; 94%; 2 bombs)

1. Let the three small barges appear, then reflect right to left (1,2k).
2. Shoot down the small barge on the left, then reflect on the pods on the right (2,5k).
3. Go on the left, have the streaming pods and the carrier (and the small barge) spam, reflect and keep shooting (you will get another small barge, point-blank it!), and carefully take down all remaining streaming pods (3,7k).
4. Take down the pods on the left and other eventual streaming pods, then replace yourself on the right: take down the small barge with one reflection and prepare again for the next streaming pods and barges (5k,6k and then 7k).
5.Take down the streaming pods and the small barge on the right, refill for the central pods and then quickly take them down along the streaming pods (that won't shoot).Take down the next two small barges and go on the right (8k, 9,5k and 10,5k). Destroy the small barge and the carrier by milking them a bit (12k).
6.Go on the left tower and start reflecting with both towers shooting bullets, shooting to take it down.Same on right tower.Don't shoot once the crystal appears, go on the lower tower and shoot it moderately, being careful to also tap and avoid the green spam.Reflect on the left one, moving back on the lower one to destroy it.Don't shoot from this point on, else the crystal will get enraged.Reflect again on the right tower and the upper one, being careful to always tap and avoid shooting when not reflecting (15k, about 600 per reflection).
7.Destroy the big barges with one reflection, go on the left and don't shoot until you can reflect: the small pods release suicide bullets if destroyed.On this reflection, go back to right, doing right-left (16,5k).
8.Again, left to right and take down the small barges popping up, then get ready for the final right to left (18k).
9.Tricky part: Let the raising pods appear and stay focused on the centre, then reflect and shoot them down quickly, staying on the central column (this will create a safe zone). Shoot them down to avoid too many bullets, and stop shooting once the shield is almost ready: they will spam, so you can reflect back an shoot.This process can be repeated roughly 5 times and, if done well, it's worth each 1k (final: 23k).

- BOSS -

1. Start from the upper left corner, go down and point-blank the boss as soon as it shoots the second red ring of bullets.Move back to the left and quickly move on the right, so the green bullets spam will cover another zone.Be careful, you need to be around the right lower corner to have an easily discernable pattern (25k).
2.Reflect again (27k) and refill, on this attack it's easy to discern the holes, then reflect again (28k) and shoot: keep shooting and take the boss down with the green slow attacks (29k).
3.On the second form, shoot and reflect once the second ring of green bullets is shot (stay bottom-centre), to point-blank: bomb when you're cornered, refill and reflect again when you have the last spiralling attacks (30k).
4.Bottom centre, the blue streams won't hit you: point-blank and reflect the green spreads, so the second row of blue streams will also be reflected.Then, point-blank the spiralling attack twice, and wait for it to finish.(31k then 32,5k).
5.Finally, point-blank the whiplash attack and shoot down the boss (34k).

2.4.6 STAGE 6 (trascurable; 43 seconds; n/a; 2-0 bombs).

You can access this stage only if you can clear the first 5 on one credit.Speed kill! Reflect as soon as you can and shoot, you can use bombs to speed up the process. Once you get the spiralling attacks, be careful to point blank it every reflection, the boss is worth 1M only (no destruction rate).

3.0 TIPS, TRICKS AND ODDITIES.

A few comments on the game: as i said, the key aspect is being quick and point-blanking enemies while reflecting all of their bullets.In this regard, the game is closer to other Taito-published titles like Psyvariar 2 and Shikigami no Shiro 2.
Medals, compared to the early titles, have become quite smaller, and bullet patterns more chaotic (so you're forced to point-blank, in order not to miss medals).
The spring trick at stage 1 is nice to perform, but be careful to stay extactly on the spring, else the medals will...evaporate!
The kyte-planes and some other enemies pay a small homage to Taito's Gun Frontier, the first steampunk shmup ever, in design. The last stage has clear references to lovecraftian mythos, with cthulhu-like creatures before the last boss' refuge in the background.
As said, this is the third title with Taito, after three titles with Capcom, and apparently the first in a number of "chapter three" shmups (Raiden 3, Shikigami no Shiro 3).
The official score with Robin is about 3.200 kei.What's a kei? A kei is 10 elevated to 16, or a 1 followed by 16 zeroes. In practice, you know you're getting good scores once you have at least four red digits.The other planes score roughly half of the score.
Finally, the scores are so big because, well, Giga Wing had trillions, Giga Wing had quadrillions (i.e. squared trillions), and thus GWG has quintillions (quintillions elevated to three).
Yes, the crystal on stage 5 can be destroyed, and it influences the destruction rate, but it's a bit pointless to do so!
Last edited by Randorama on Sat Aug 20, 2005 7:47 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
User avatar
Rob
Posts: 8075
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:58 am

Re: ST: Giga Wing Generations (Yoku shin Giga Wing)

Post by Rob »

Excellent.
Randorama wrote:This is the secondary attack, which also triggers SMs: the main central stream is the primary attack and doesn't trigger anything, of course.
Got the attacks switched. It's harder to notice since they're both closely packed, but if you sweep or focus on the outer cylinders, you won't get any SMs.
REMAINING TIME: seconds remaining after the boss*10M*multiplier
DESTRUCTION RATE: Percentage of destroyed enemies*1M*multiplier
BOMBS: Number of bombs in stock*1M*multiplier
Bombs are *10m, so they're worth the same amount as seconds.
Randorama
Posts: 3503
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:25 pm

Post by Randorama »

Edited both entries, thanks for the heads up!
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
User avatar
Kiken
Posts: 3954
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 11:08 pm
Contact:

Post by Kiken »

Rando, you might wish to clarify that there is no miss with enemies, only that bullets can hit the player (I didn't see it in your guide.. maybe I missed it). I know there was confusion on this before, even though this has been a Takumi staple since Mars Matrix.
Randorama
Posts: 3503
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:25 pm

Post by Randorama »

Thanks for pointing out that Kiken, i've added a few lines just before section 2.0 :wink:
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
Randorama
Posts: 3503
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:25 pm

Post by Randorama »

Updated third stage guide, as i found out a secret source of medals.Now, i wonder what else we're missing...
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
User avatar
BulletMagnet
Posts: 13888
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:05 am
Location: Wherever.
Contact:

Post by BulletMagnet »

Forgive me if I've missed these if they're in the ST already (I don't think they're there), but I'll ask anyways, just to be sure...

1) Is there a known 1-up anywhere in the game?

2) One of the big enemies near the end of (I think) stage 4 will sometimes drop a really big medal when it's defeated...how do you make it do that, and how much is the thing worth, exactly?
User avatar
Rob
Posts: 8075
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:58 am

Post by Rob »

BulletMagnet wrote: 1) Is there a known 1-up anywhere in the game?

2) One of the big enemies near the end of (I think) stage 4 will sometimes drop a really big medal when it's defeated...how do you make it do that, and how much is the thing worth, exactly?
1- No. 2- Does it ever not appear? I think you just have to destroy ithat enemy and it's worth 500.
User avatar
BulletMagnet
Posts: 13888
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:05 am
Location: Wherever.
Contact:

Post by BulletMagnet »

Hmmm...maybe when I thought it didn't appear I was just right on top of the thing when it released the medal and collected it really quickly. In any event I'll keep my eyes peeled from now on...honestly though, most people on the ST forum manage to find ways to do stuff correctly...wouldn't it be a hoot if I managed to find a way to screw up that no one had discoevered before? :mrgreen:
Randorama
Posts: 3503
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:25 pm

Post by Randorama »

If you can avoid to trigger it, you'd be my hero, i have to admit :oops:

At any case, if you can get splatted by the only remaining bullet on screen and lose the said bonus, we'd be in two :cry:
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
User avatar
BulletMagnet
Posts: 13888
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:05 am
Location: Wherever.
Contact:

Post by BulletMagnet »

Randorama wrote:If you can avoid to trigger it, you'd be my hero, i have to admit :oops:
I'll do my best to not let you down, Chief! :mrgreen:
User avatar
Starfighter
Posts: 185
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 7:15 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: ST: Giga Wing Generations (Yoku shin Giga Wing)

Post by Starfighter »

There's a little bit of story:
PS2 manual wrote:The story begins in a time of chaos, in the midst of the Medallion Wars, said to have been caused by the greed of several Gods. Within the conflict, a nation that had acquired an ancient power declared itself an empire, and, with an army conjured up from the ruins of the kingdom, suddenly, and without warning, launched an all-out attack on the federal government. However, unbeknownst to the enemy, the government itself dug up four fighter jets from the ruins of the kingdom, and programmed them to destroy the enemy's power supply that gave them the energy to control their army. The mission was a success, and helped to greatly decrease the Empire's power. To follow up, the government launched an attack to capture the train transporting top secret materials for the enemy. However, the enemy, having acquired an all-powerful set of medallions, retaliated with excessive force...
User avatar
Despatche
Posts: 4196
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:05 pm

Re: ST: Giga Wing Generations (Yoku shin Giga Wing)

Post by Despatche »

Not sure about lore exactly, but Generations has some songs that have the GW1 regular last boss theme (when you actually fight the Medallion) in them. Namely Generations stage 1, stage 4, and stage 5 (which is a remix of stage 1). Well, it's really more the bit at the start of stage 4, and the other stages just seem to sound like it, but whatever.
Rage Pro, Rage Fury, Rage MAXX!
Post Reply