Having not uploaded anything to the SHMUPS community in more than a year, I decided now would be a good time to get back into the full extent of the jam with Taito's merciless classics... Routes up until now have been relatively painless until the bane of my guiltiest pleasures blocked my way with his chubbiness smiting me ever since I started flying the Silver Hawk...
Glutton has given me grief as far back as I can remember, and several years of experience later, I'm
still stumped as to how to defeat the Piranha without either timing out or outright feeding it out of sheer frustration of trying to hit it while dodging its four shot spread missiles.
I have figured out a reliable way of surviving the waves of exploding guppies by lining myself up horizontally with the homing fish and pulling back to get enough room to pass through the gap safely... However, this makes it difficult to actually take down Glutton without running out the timer and being killed by the regenerating cubes... Therefore, I ask you before I become obsessed with this hungry enemy..
Is there an effective way to dodge Glutton's pattern WITHOUT angering the impatient shapes? I'd be grateful for a few tips to prevent an uncomfortably long waifu relationship with fatty....
Are you playing original Darius, or Darius Extra? If not, you should be playing Extra. It's the better version, and the only one people really play.
Original Version, Japan. Extra seemed too easy with slower bullet speeds, so I went with the version most considered to be harder. I am playing for survival, not to stay on Fossil for ages milking points.
Yeah, don't power up to laser shot until beating the boss
I figured as much... Thanks for your advice, Sm! I knew I could count on you for help seeing you're such a huge fan of the series. Still, it would make for some impressive bragging rights if I did it without the decent weapon. ^^
Are you playing original Darius, or Darius Extra? If not, you should be playing Extra. It's the better version, and the only one people really play.
Original Version, Japan. Extra seemed too easy with slower bullet speeds, so I went with the version most considered to be harder. I am playing for survival, not to stay on Fossil for ages milking points.
Extra is the only version people play in Japan. It's widely considered the best version of the game. I see no reason to torture yourself with the original version.
I've actually done it with the laser in Vanilla so I can give you a rundown, but like trap15 says, seriously just play Extra.
Anyhow as Smraedis says, it can be point blanked to death almost instantly if you don't power up, but in my case my goal for vanilla was a Z' clear. The layout of stages was such that I had to have the wave shot to survive stage P and if I didn't power up to laser before Fatty that became impossible. Therefor, after hours of hellish practice I came up with an effective strategy, but I'll go ahead and warn you, the execution barrier is really high, you won't be able to just do it after knowing what to do, you will need to actually practice it.
Anyhow, the fact is that with the laser in Vanilla the fight is broken; it's a major endurance test. So, go ahead and accept you will have to deal with the time out cubes. The main key to dealing with them is honestly to just not focus on them too much, don' attempt to shoot them down, just let your missiles do the job for you. For the most part if you don't let them get you from behind you'll be alright.
Second thing you'll have to understand about the fight is that you will almost certainly lose your shield because the shield hitbox is bigger than the normal one. Just don't worry about it. Don't let a hit to the shield scare you into thinking you made a mistake.
So, for Fatty himself, the key is to keep up a very slow tap on the fire button to keep your shot rate consistent across the screen length at all times. You should never actively shoot at Fatty himself, but keeping up a slow steady barrage it will happen naturally. Instead, divert ALL of your attention to the small fish he shoots at you.
The key to it, is that you don't actually have to shoot them to cause them to self destruct early, you simply have to get close. So, you don't want them to detonate at the last second since there is no space to dodge. Instead the strategy is to constantly fly forward straight at the fish, back up to create a gap when they suicide spread, and then actively fly straight forward through the gap to close in on the next one. Never ever let him push you back towards the wall. You need to constantly aggressively move forward into his shots. Losing ground will lead to your death.
So the basic version is, forget the cubes just make sure they aren't behind you, forget about actively shooting fatty and just keep a slow pulse on shot, and rhythmically rush forward to force the small fish to suicide then back to open a gap, then forward, back, forward, back... The whole thing lasts between 3 and 4 minutes on G; It's pretty intense.
The exact same strategy can be used in Extra with the laser, but there his health is drastically lowered and he will almost certainly die before the time out cubes ever show up.
Good luck with it. Extra is for sure more fair and the better game, but I'm damn proud of my Vanilla Z' clear.
Anyhow, the fact is that with the laser in Vanilla the fight is broken; it's a major endurance test. So, go ahead and accept you will have to deal with the time out cubes. The main key to dealing with them is honestly to just not focus on them too much, don' attempt to shoot them down, just let your missiles do the job for you. For the most part if you don't let them get you from behind you'll be alright.
THANK YOU! I knew the biggest fan with access to all the machines around his homeland would be able to pull a miracle with the least likely setup. I haven't been using my Missiles at all, I've been trying to shoot the cubes before lining myself up with Glutton's offspring, preferably not giving that cute nipper a kiss in the process.
I'll have to override my savestate, as I've been practicing without a shield. That would make for one hell of a show if I can accomplish this feat without taking any shield hits at all....
I never knew you didn't have to SHOOT the miniature fish! That changes everything, I kept concentrating fire on those instead of hitting Glutton himself. Thanks for all your advice, I'll do my best.
It doesn't hurt to get there with a shield, but I can't imagine doing it without taking shield damage. The way my strategy works you usually have to rush through gaps that are too small for the shield, so you'll just end up shedding it.
There is actually another part to the strategy that can make things easier but its dangerous:
If you get to him with a mostly undamaged shield that you've stacked through the first few stages, you can actually use it to aggressively point blank Fatty with missiles right as the fight starts. If you ride his mouth you can get off a ton of damage while your shield just absorbs the initial volley of fish. But you have to back off immediately after you take the hit because a second volley will break the shield and kill you. If you aren't afraid to take the risk and execute it correctly it can cut the fight time in half.
Kickass, I'm glad there was a thread on this exact topic.
I've been switching between Darius (world) and Extra, trying to figure out why exactly this fight is easier in Extra. I definitely clear Extra Glutton more regularly, but the exact reason escapes me.
Regarding strategy, I've had some success hugging the left wall, making sure to horizontally line up with the fish missiles (fishiles), and focusing on shooting them. I find it easier to shoot them down than to play the middle of the screen by triggering them by proximity, backing away, and then pushing back forward.
Two days ago I had a stint of play and decided to keep the missiles for Glutton.
Managed to get through on my first attempt (after some quick training), and two things certainly helped: (1) having a golden shield and (2) targetting the exploding fish instead of his mouth. As he moves about he'll eventually get the necessary amount of shots in his face and die, the exploding little fish are much more important.
