Mini techniquepost! Better illustration of Taromaru chain lightning effect, compared to the two I linked previously:
I forgot victims catch fire too - that's \m/etal! Not only are they left twisted Francis Bacon-esque figures of agony... they're probably smelling like bacon, as well!
As shown above, the game's seemingly-overwhelming zako wisps are superbly conductive! If you're not smashing through 'em with aggressive use of the shield (despite what a certain shitty review has to say about
"projectiles everywhere wahhh," it nullifies literally every attack in the game, erases bullets/zako on contact,
and gives you a free jump extend, at the cost of resetting your charge)... you should be hitting 'em with chains or blowing them away en masse with slaves, aka BOMBA. Rather like Alien Soldier, trying to conventionally shoot/hack through the skittery zako will cause frustration, while leaving you open to bigger enemies. Artfully spam the advanced mechanics instead, ala using Counterforce and followup Phoenix Force to obliterate Xi Tiger's revenge bullet-spewing Galaga flies (who'll repel if not corner a typical shoot/dodge approach).
Similarly, if you're being overrun during large-scale ninja skirmishes, you're probably not bombing enough. Use the floaty jumps, lack of collision damage and generous enemy startups (audio-cued, even! note the would-be backstabbing kunoichi in the first GIF) to dodge and weave while readying a max possession shot, make a new friend, then nuke the crowd. Mix up with outright killshots to put the mass in massacre!
Slaves aren't hard to make, nor are they particularly great help on their own - detonate aggressively. However, possessing a straggler, then letting 'em tag along to the next scene before issuing
THE LAST COMMAND is a sound tactic! You are already bombed!
Ignoring the
outright incompetence seen elsewhere, I suspect newbies think of these mechanics as peripheral, or reserved for finesse play. IMO, you're best off getting your hands dirty with 'em early on. Just like AS, Taro is a game of eccentricities nonetheless geared for high-performance, high-yield carnage. Doesn't matter if you make a mess initially - technique will improve with experience just like in any other videogame. Or indeed life in general! The magic of videogames is nobody gets horribly maimed IRL, despite the whinings that action games tend to provoke from scrubbier corners!
Another of the game's idiosyncrasies I always stress, in a more cautionary sense: don't sweat the targeting reticule. Some commentary would have you think this is Wild Guns... outside of certain boss encounters, where you're given specific parts/projectiles to target, this approach will only tangle you up. Think of the attack as a short-ranged "taser" effect. Get reasonably near what you're aiming at before firing, and don't worry about stuff that's too far away to threaten you. Chain lightning / BOMBA will sort 'em out!
How'd I get onto Taromaru again - oh yeah, lightning weapons! I'm still trying to think up some more, but it's just Taromaru and Alisia Dragoon for now. I never got around to trying it myself, but AD's predecessor Thexder apparently uses a similar "tracking lightning" weapon system. I heard the FC port wasn't too amazing, and it's AFAIK otherwise PC-only, so I never really pursued it. Sounds cool though.