What are the basic mechanics of this game? I think this guide summarizes all the basics decently: http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=704.0
What fighter should I use? B-STRONG or C-STRONG. I've used both to clear the first loop, and neither have a clear advantage over the other. B-STRONG is a little faster than C-STRONG, and its speed is handy for collecting hard-to-reach hidden bee items and dodging bullets in general. But in the later stages, if you swing the option shots too far off the left or right edges of the screen, more bullets will build up from the enemies that go untouched, and you'll have a tough time escaping. And I still find B-STRONG a little slow anyway. As for C-STRONG, the wide and fixed trajectories of the option shots will kill out of reach enemies, so it's good enough for the first loop. But if you want to take it to the second loop where the bullets are faster, it may be more difficult to improvise with the ship's slow speed. Try B-STRONG first, and if you get hit too much by out-of-reach enemies, switch to C-STRONG.
What videos are useful for developing easy survival strategies? I used these:
- http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7843130
- http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7843312
- http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7843390
Pay particular attention to the following: when to use the hyper weapon, which enemies clear bullets once they're defeated, and how long to stay in point-blank range against tough opponents. Learning to close in on mid-bosses and bosses is particularly important. By using the laser's aura to attack these enemies, you can take out huge chunks of health and avoid seeing some nasty patterns that you would see if you keep them alive for too long.
When should I use the hyper weapon? These are based on the videos above:
Stage 1:
- Right away on the mid-boss
- Right away on the mid-boss
- Boss's first form, second attack: let the pink needles swirl around for a bit before using the hyper
- When the 1st and 2nd bee items are almost off the screen
- Mid-boss?
- 1up saucer
- First wide winged fighter when you leave the ground for the first time
- End of mid-boss or bonus enemies afterward
- Boss's first form after it releases all of its rockets
- Lasers from the right
- Lasers from the left
- Bonus enemies after the first mid-boss
- The third-ish ring of bits that contract into a tight circle
- Escaping from the last ring of bits (the hyper will carry over to the second mid-boss)
- The huge Daioujou cannon near the end of the stage
- Anytime for the boss for emergency evasion (best on the first form)
For stage 3's regular mid-boss, I'm not sure whether it's a good idea to use the hyper weapon here. All though the mid-boss has some crazy bullet patterns, it's tough to rebuild the hyper meter for the 1up saucer afterwards. And if you kill the 1up saucer with an autobomb, you won't get your 1up. I think it's better to deal with the mid-boss and save up your hyper for the 1up saucer. If you're fighting the URA (hidden) mid-boss instead, you will be able to rebuild the hyper meter for the 1up saucer with all the enemy lasers flying about, so go ahead and use the hyper weapon here.
Should I use the bomb manually? Yes! It has a longer invincibility window and more attack power than the autobomb. These come in handy for the mid-bosses, bosses, and maybe the rings of bits at stage 5. But everywhere else, these advantages don't come into play, so you can prepare for some autobombing. Here's where I often used the manual bomb:
- Stage 3 boss, 2nd form x 1: After the fourth wide arc of pink bullets. Admittedly, I never used a manual bomb here, but I often ended up using an autobomb anyway with the six little maids and long blue arcs everywhere.
- Stage 3 boss, 3rd form x 1: I rarely managed to kill the boss before the spam of blue bullets appeared, so I simply finished it off with a bomb here.
- Stage 5 mid-boss #1 x 2: I could never get a hyper ready here, so I try to dodge everything. Then I start seeing autobombs go off everywhere...
- Stage 5 mid-boss #2 x 2: Same reasoning as mid-boss #1. The first attack of both the regular and URA (hidden) mid-bosses are difficult, but the rest are easy.
- Stage 5 boss x 7 (and one death): It's always sad to see the autobombs go off here. The first form takes three bombs and a hyper weapon to clear, the second form will probably take two bombs, and the third form will certainly take two bombs.
- End of stage 2: 1 used, 1 regained (Lives x 4, Bombs x 3). If you made one mistake in the first two stages, it's okay! You can regain a bomb just before the second boss.
- Beginning of stage 3 boss: 1 used, 1 regained (Lx4, Bx3). Again, if you made one mistake in stage 3, you can regain the bomb before the boss. If you didn't, don't be an idiot like me and collect the bomb item at the end anyway. Although I never tried it, I think the bomb item will float around for a long time, so you can use a bomb on the second form and collect the bomb item to restock.
- End of stage 3 boss: 2 used (Lx4, Bx1). These are for the two manual bombs used here.
- End of stage 4: 3 used, 1 regained (Lx3, Bx4). I've done a few silly mistakes here. The boss should be easy, though.
- Before the rings of bits in stage 5: 3 used (Lx3, Bx1). Two for manual bombs and one for any silly mistake.
- After the rings of bits in stage 5: 13 used (Lx1, Bx4). It's way too tough to go through the rings of bits on improvisation alone. Prepare to see fireworks everywhere. If you end up releasing two autobombs in quick succession, next time you can use a manual bomb to buy some time and get better positioning.
- End of stage 5 mid-boss #2: 2 used (Lx1, Bx2). Two manual bombs here.
- Beginning of stage 5 boss: 3 used, 2 regained (Lx1, Bx1). Silly mistakes happen again, particularly with the wide stealthy-ish fighter that appears before the first battery of laser beams.
- Stage 5 boss: 8 used (Lx0, Bx0). Seven manual bombs and one life here.
As for the bee items, study the videos above and refer to the pictures on this web site: http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Kni ... tiura.html.
I hope this guide will get you pretty far with some improvisation and some rudimentary memorization. But you'll need more practice to get farther into whatever second loop you choose.