GD: The Great Ragtime Show reverse engineered rank

[ProjectAKo]

I'm gonna share what I learned about this game for future generations. I was unable to find any useful info on this game anywhere on the internet, and that includes extensive searching of Japanese sites.



Lightning Attack
This is obviously one of the most important parts of the game. The attack is very strong and destroys all enemy bullets in a huge area. To do the lightning attack, just mash or autofire the shot button very fast.

The problem is, the lightning attack starts malfunctioning after awhile. Despite what little info on the internet says, the lightning attack does not overheat from shooting. It just stops working because Rank eventually gets too high.

- When you start the game (on normal), rank starts at the value 0x8 (eight)
- Every 0x160 (352) frames, the rank goes up by 1
- Once the rank reaches 0x3A (58) or so, the lightning attack will start malfunctioning a lot.
- Shooting does not cause the rank to rise faster. Nothing does.
- Rank just goes up until it hits the maximum of about 0x3E, and there's no way to halt it.
- On the second loop, the rank is set to 0x20 (32) and it becomes impossible to lower it anymore.
- If you choose to side with the time travelling scientists at the end of the game, rank is automatically forced to max. But it should be maxed by then anyway. Only affects credit feeding runs.

You can lower the rank a very limited amount. The only ways I've found to lower rank are

- Get hit while in your plane (NOT any other vehicle). Lower rank by about 4 points.
- Get hit again and lose your plane (NOT any other vehicle). Lower rank by about 4 points.
- Die. Lower rank by about 6 points.
- Continue. Lower rank by about 8 points.
- Can't be lowered in the second loop.

What this all means is

- Basically, you're on a time limit and you can only use the lightning attack for the first two stages. You still need to actually learn the game if you want a 1cc.
- In the second loop, you can barely use the lightning attack. Rank is nearly maxed after the opening stage.
- You should always lose your plane before ending the stage (first loop only). You get it back full health on the next stage anyway.
- Don't go to the Transporter stage first. All that time you spend on foot is a waste when you could be using your lightning.
- You should probably go to Merry World first since you can farm moneybags with lightning.
- On the Transporter stage, don't bother losing your plane. You spend so much time inside the ship, rank will be maxed anyway by the end.
- It might be possible to die as the stage is ending without losing a life. You can do it on the second loop stage 1, but it's pointless there. Not sure if there are other opportunities for that.
- You can die a bunch of times during the ending to erase rank but it doesn't matter since it gets set to 0x20 in the second loop.

[Shepardus]

Thanks for the info, I can find hardly anything about this game other than basic mechanics that were already obvious the first time I played the game. I didn't even know there's a second loop - are there any conditions to meet for that?

Also do you have any idea what the gauges and dials at the bottom of the screen are for? The "SP" one redlines when you're using the lightning attack, and the "RPM" dial and "gear" indicator seem to also be connected to the lightning attack somehow. Same with the "balance" gauge in the center except that one is shared between both players and they push against each other, so if player 2 uses the lightning attack it'll be pushed towards the blue side, and if player 1 uses the lightning attack it'll be pushed towards the red side (I think only one player can be using the lightning attack at a time). Besides that I don't know anything about what they indicate, including whether they have any relevance to gameplay.

[ProjectAKo]

To get the second loop you need to fight the last boss, so don't take his deal to become his pilot.

I got no idea about the dials, they seem just about useless. The only one that seems to matter is the SP gauge which indicates the lightning attack when it's maxed. Oh yeah one thing I forgot to mention is, if you use 30hz autofire, you can continue to use the lightning attack mostly regularly, it's just that during lag it'll start messing up a lot more. If you go any lower than 30hz, the lightning will basically not work hardly at all at max rank.

So that's what the balance is for! I never actually tested 2 player. Speaking of 2 player, I read on a japanese site that in 2 player mode if you choose certain dialogue options, one player can control the last boss and his fight his buddy in the cesna.

[Shepardus]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no real reason not to use the lightning all the time while it's still available to you, is there?

[Ako]

no

also the rank management turns out to be pointless. you rank up way too fast and there's no way to keep it down

[Gemant]

I miss this topic. I played this game in 2010. I remember a problem to active the Lightning Attack in some part of the game but I remember it was occasional because too sprite on the screen. Maybe with lower autofire frequency was possible active this attack

[Ako]

Yeah. Seems you can keep the lightning active forever with 30hz, regardless of rank. When the game lags... maybe 20hz or 15hz can keep it active.

[Shepardus]

Does the lightning shot do less damage than a powered-up normal shot? It seems to struggle to destroy very durable enemies, but I haven't tried to see if normal shot fares any better since MAMEPlus doesn't support multiple autofire frequencies.

[Ako]

No, the lightning is broken. It does good damage (or possibly max damage), destroys bullets, and hits all around... really ruins the game honestly.

[STGAlmond]

I have played this game quite a few times, but only ever as a mild amusement. I'm glad to have confirmation of how the lightning works and why it is so hard to do sometimes. It seems worth playing to see it and the idea, but it always seemed not worth playing thoroughly.