RQ: Deathsmiles stage select and rank strategies

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Creamy Goodness
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RQ: Deathsmiles stage select and rank strategies

Post by Creamy Goodness »

In the near future I plan on tackling Deathsmiles and wanted to get some input around stage select order. From what I gather there are two sets of 3 stages that you can do in any order then some optional stages. Wanted to get some tips on what order to take the stages in.

Also, trying to get an idea of what the rank levels are like. I hear this game can be pretty easy, but i don't want to go rank 3 through the whole game and turn it into loli-Ketsui.
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Sumez
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Re: RQ: Deathsmiles stage select and rank strategies

Post by Sumez »

Rank 3 is pretty easy on all the six first stages. IMO the only reason to pick lower is to avoid the suicide bullets on the final stage. Pick two stages to play on Rank 2 to avoid that. My go-to are probably the forest and swamp, but anything works.

The EX stage is a lot of fun, but also difficult and will also result in suicide bullets. So it's really all a question about how hard you want the game to be, but the suicide bullets is what causes the biggest jump.
Creamy Goodness
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Re: RQ: Deathsmiles stage select and rank strategies

Post by Creamy Goodness »

Thank you. Not really a fan of suicide bullets so would definitely like to avoid that.
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To Far Away Times
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Re: RQ: Deathsmiles stage select and rank strategies

Post by To Far Away Times »

I haven't played this game in ages, but I uploaded a replay of my 1CC of it waaaay back from 2010 :shock: . This was my survival route, and I think this is the easiest way through it if you stick to arcade rules (2 level 1's, 2 level 2's and 2 level 3's). Some stages have life cakes or bombs if you play them in certain difficulties or in certain orders, I can't remember exactly how it goes now.

Most importantly, whatever you do, don't bomb on Jitterbug, the second to last boss. I fucked up in this run and bombed on reaction even though I knew better. If you don't bomb he will give you a 2 life cake when he dies. Assuming you die once or twice on Jitterbug you'll be on a full bomb stock, plus the two free lives you get, meaning you'll have a minimum of 9 bombs and 2 hits to just blast away the final boss without having to dodge much of anything.
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Sumez
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Re: RQ: Deathsmiles stage select and rank strategies

Post by Sumez »

Yeah, the final boss isn't too bad since it's mostly all memo stuff, but no-bombing Jitterbug essentially gives you enough resources to just bombspam through the entire thing instead.
Just lock on to Jitterbug when the fight starts and don't let go while you dodge the mostly really easy patterns. Even if you do take a hit, you'll still get the bonus as long as you haven't bombed.

I played DS for a live event knowing it was the one Cave game I'd be 100% sure to 1CC on demand, and had probably my worst run of all time, getting hit over and over on the easy stages. And even then I still made it through the game in one piece thanks to that trick XD
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: RQ: Deathsmiles stage select and rank strategies

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Yeah, learning to reach Jitterbug with enough lives to safely no-bomb through him really helps with getting the 1CC. Basically, get to him with a full power up meter ready to go, and that should go a long way towards nabbing the clear.

If your life stock is maxed out and you have bombs to spare getting the cake doesn't matter so much then you could just bomb him I suppose.
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