Giga Wing - 1CCing the game reflectless (CLEARED)

For posting and requesting strategic gameplay tips on shmups!
Post Reply
User avatar
BareKnuckleRoo
Posts: 6162
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
Location: Southern Ontario

Giga Wing - 1CCing the game reflectless (CLEARED)

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

I've had the goal of beating Giga Wing without EVER using the Reflect Barrier that I've worked on as a pet project on and off for a few years. Haven't seen this done elsewhere, and I'm getting very close to the 1CC, so for anyone else interested in tackling this, here's basically what I've been doing.

The first thing is deciding on a shot type. I experimented with all of them except Sinnosuke (he sucks; he's the slowest and his spread shot's pretty pathetic):

• Isha's shots are nice and concentrated for hitting enemy weak points, but she's a tad slow.

• Ruby's shots are powerful, and her bomb's great, and she's quick, but she has by far the hardest Stage 3 of any solo character. The lava stage at max rank has brutal midboss and stage bosses. They're doable, but difficult to do reliably. She also has NO spread, which is a major issue in Stage 5.

• Stuck has the second fastest move speed, massive damage and spread due to how the bomb explosions pierce and hit multiple targets, and is generally the best all-around character for damage and ease of use. He tears up bosses very quickly, and his only downside is his bomb doesn't seem as effective against bosses as the others.

Stuck ended up being the one to go with. His spread shot and ability to pierce multiple targets with the grenades he fires means his damage output is massive any time he's hitting multiple targets with the grenades. Stages 1 to 3 are more or less trivial to learn to clear without bombing, and the Stage 3 boss can actually be timed out easily without triggering its harder attacks by destroying one of its wings, then simply dodging the wimpy aimed shots it fires until it runs away. You can also kill it without too much trouble as once the medallion's exposed it doesn't have much health, but it's riskier.

Stage 4 poses no real threat - the midboss is trivial, and the stage is easy to manage with Stuck's damage output. There's only 2 challenges in Stage 4 that all characters have to deal:

• The giant tank with the massive health that appears late in the stage, which can't be killed without reflecting or bombing as you simply can't damage it fast enough. The way to deal with it is actually to fly around above it, which makes it easier, but it's also possible to cross over in front of it by misdirecting its shots to create a gap. Basically keep dodging it until it goes offscreen.

• The stage boss. It's multisegmented and its main body is quite small. It's easier if you blow off one of its arms, which Stuck can do without much trouble, and it has several relatively trivial attacks that let you sit in front of it and fire away, but it's also got a few nasty attacks and tricks, such as the arms it can use to GRAB YOU and pull you in which will kill you when a) you hit a bullet or b) when you touch its body (you can escape the grab attack by bombing).

Once you can get to Stage 5 without bombing (or using maybe one bomb on Stage 4), you're at the part where the run starts for real. Stage 5 was designed to be done with reflect force so there are multiple enemies that can flood the screen with shots in such a way that there's no way to crossover if you hit the edge of the screen. Positioning yourself so you can deal with each enemy as it appears is crucial. The two major annoyances are the tanks on the ground that fire aimed shots at you, which need to be deal with quickly. In the first section of the level, I usually plan for two bombs. It's possible but extremely risky to do with only one bomb.

When you get to the first huge pyramid, you start encountering the giant golden sperm enemies (seriously they look like sperm). Stuck's wideshot can actually kill them in a few hits, but they fire fixed blue spreads forward you have to manuever through while tap dodging to avoid the literal wall of red bullets they fire. They only stop firing the red bullets when they're about 2/3rds of the way down the screen, so to deal with them requires rapidly running from side to side, attacking them as soon as they spawn on screen.

The midboss is doable, but mechanically difficult. You have to dodge through two fairly quick, dense clouds, and after that what it uses isn't too bad.

After the midboss, there's a nasty set of tanks followed by the return of the sperm enemies. I usually start at the right, go left to destroy the tanks, and then when the first gold sperm shows up, SLOWLY tap dodge right, taking as much time as possible. The goal isn't to kill all the sperm that appear; they spawn too quickly here to manage. You want to waste as much time as possible before throwing a bomb at the last second. When you bomb, run to the right edge of the screen, and then slowly start tap dodging left. By the time you hit the left side of the screen, the last gold sperm will appear on the right. It can be ignored by moving up the left side of the screen - you'll be under the bridge that appears by the time it runs off. I can actually do this section with 1 bomb now pretty reliably, but probably plan for 2 bombs.

The stage 5 boss is obnoxious - it has tons of health, flies erratically (it gets knocked around each time a gunpod is blown off a wing), and will basically murder you if you expose the medallion. Its attacks are too brutal to safely deal with, and killing it would require multiple bombs. The way I found works is to get in front of it, quickly blow off the tail, then attack the heck out of the right side wing while evading it. Once the right wing is blown off, WITHOUT DAMAGING THE CENTER, destroy 1 or 2 of the left wing's gunpods. With one wing gone and the other wing mostly damaged, as long as the medallion isn't exposed in the center, it resorts to using fairly easily dodged attacks and can be timed out.

Stage 6 is lengthy, but the boss is super predictable. The only difficult attack I can't beat at all even with practice is the second-hardest attack in the game, when it's a weird little cube thing and it glows orange, firing a spray of blue circles along with shootable orange bullets. The shootable bullets are so dense that they are almost guaranteed to smack Stuck. It takes two bombs here to safely get through this phase, bare minimum, and if you damage it enough it'll die right before it uses this attack for a second time. Basically, to get through Stage 6 without dying, you have to make sure you have two bombs stocked by the time you get to the cube form. It's technically possible to get through that attack without bombing, but it's ridiculously hard and fast, so dumping two bombs on it makes it a lot less frustrating. If you only have one bomb in stock, you'll just have to pray (it seems to be a bit easier to lure it to one side of the screen, bomb, and then tap dodge from the edge of the screen away from it...).

Stage 7 is the TLB. The medallion is actually quite easy. Dodge right, and when you see the green bullets, cross over and dodge left. It fires a wide spread of green orbs that aren't tough to get through, then get in front of it and pound away as it starts to launch mini-medallions. As soon as it's done firing the little blue bullets, you can get in its face and pointblank it as Stuck with your guns and one grenade launcher. Dies nice and quick.

The black plane is an asshole - it's tiny, extremely dangerous, and has TONS of health. Several attacks are also very, very fast, with its only "easy" one being its second phase where it fills the screen with bullets that aren't super dense and can be squeezed through. Its very last attack is the hardest in the game to avoid: a set of two super, super dense spreads which are nearly impossible to dodge, followed by a quick sniper stream aimed at you. Basically, bomb it, and stay in front as long as possible, praying you can damage it enough before it manages to kill you.

I haven't actually managed a clear in a full run yet, but messing around with savestates shows it's quite possible to do, and I've got videos from practice showing ST5 starting with a full 6 bombs up to the TLB clear (don't do what I did on the ST5 boss, it's best to leave the last two guns on the left wing if you're timing it out):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcdPyh44YtU
Last edited by BareKnuckleRoo on Mon Oct 01, 2018 8:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Dumple
Posts: 124
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:42 pm
Location: San Diego

Re: Giga Wing - 1CCing the game reflectless

Post by Dumple »

This is really impressive - I was ecstatic just to beat the TLB at all, let alone doing it without the reflect force! It barely even seems like Giga Wing without the game saying "OTAY" every few seconds.
User avatar
davyK
Posts: 657
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:48 pm
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Re: Giga Wing - 1CCing the game reflectless

Post by davyK »

Yikes. :shock:


I'm still trying to 1CC this game any way!!!!
User avatar
BareKnuckleRoo
Posts: 6162
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
Location: Southern Ontario

Re: Giga Wing - 1CCing the game reflectless

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

After a couple years of working on this off and on, a ton of practice and discovering some new strategies on the TLB (I had to spend hours learning how to dodge the black ship's second attack), I finally managed to do this! A no reflect 1CC of the game thanks to discovering a way to dodge and TIME OUT the TLB:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cfTre4bfZA

Timing out the TLB means you don't have to necessarily have the resources left to deal with the final phase, so it may actually be 1CCable with the other characters. Ruby and Isha can definitely do this, I assume Sinnosuke too, though he's the slowest and may have the most trouble dodging here. For reference, here is an Isha run - the player goes into Stage 6 with 0 lives, 0 bombs and pulls off some absolutely crazy dodges on Stage 7 before dying right before the clear. Absolutely heartbreaking.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4261345 (part 1)
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4261746 (part 2)
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4261838 (part 3)
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4261984 (part 4)
User avatar
davyK
Posts: 657
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:48 pm
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Re: Giga Wing - 1CCing the game reflectless (CLEARED)

Post by davyK »

Wow

Congrats on that.

Didn't realise you could timeout the TLB.
User avatar
TallMan
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2017 5:31 pm

Re: Giga Wing - 1CCing the game reflectless (CLEARED)

Post by TallMan »

Amazing run BKR !
User avatar
BareKnuckleRoo
Posts: 6162
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
Location: Southern Ontario

Re: Giga Wing - 1CCing the game reflectless (CLEARED)

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Thanks!

I just realized I should update this with the link to the STGWeekly episode of Giga Wing that featured this run:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaEnwdluRuo

edit: and here it is cleared with Ruby, this time with the TLB killed for real (no timeout to skip the final ultra-hard attack):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Lhp0j8zdo

Various stuff I've learned since clearing this with a true TLB kill with Ruby:

• Stuck's the weakest character in the game if only his green bullets are hitting. They fire in a continuous stream, but Sinnosuke's is actually stronger and gets better kill times on the TLB, despite Sinnosuke's looking weaker due to firing in small bursts with gaps in between. Under normal circumstances, it's more than sufficient for dealing with everything in the game and he gets massive damage potential during reflects by getting in close to hit with it + cannonballs, but in a no-reflect run the relatively tiny TLB is basically the worst opponent Stuck could ask for.

• Sinnosuke's damage is better than I gave him credit for. I still think he's the worst in the game, but that's mostly due to him being the slowest. At close range if you can get him hitting with his main shot + spreads he's quite powerful, but his low speed means you'll have trouble reliably getting in and out of close range during reflects to maximize damage.

• Isha's... OK. An easy to understand and use beginner character, but her missiles are probably the worst secondary shot in the game since their damage isn't great and due to their position behind her can't be effectively boosted by getting in close during reflect. I'd still say Stuck is a better character for beginners though as his cannonballs absolutely crush stages and bosses alike once you know to keep his gunpods facing as far forward as possible at all times.

• Ruby's damage output isn't quite as high as Stuck's in when facing large crowds or multisegmented bosses due to how Stuck's piercing cannonball blasts can do tons of damage, but Ruby's still very strong, and when you add reflecting in to the mix she's a straight shot character that at will can use a multidirectional attack to return fire at enemies. She's also way easier to score with than Stuck I suspect; I have a lot of trouble trying to score in Stages with Stuck because of how his gunpods control. Stuck can simply stick his gunpods behind himself but that really nerfs his damage, whereas Ruby gets all the frontal damage and scoring control without awkward gunpod movement if you stop firing.

• Ruby's fire streams are wide enough to hit with all three on the otherwise tiny TLB. This was an alarming discovery I hadn't noticed before and means she has by far the easiest TLB fight of any character (Isha can also hit with all her shots, but Ruby's shots seem to be a good deal stronger than Isha's).
Post Reply