Thought I would refer to this quote here since it's more on topic. If you want you can get to the needed power level on Zone C by the time you reach King Fossil. Then you can disregard the red medal at the beginning of Zone D and still have the white balls. You need to get every red powerup along the way. I'm surprised how long it took me to develop the pattern to consistently get every powerup and medal at the end of Zone C. Some of those enemy spawns can feel so random. That last red enemy has a tendency to run away if you're don't have a good position.
I was refering to what I call the quick capture of the third captain that can be done on zones D and E. I'm thinking you might refer to zone F since you've mentionned King Fossile ? On zone F it can't be done because it has ceiling. Actually I've never seen anyone other than M.Knight (and me) use that technique but it's definitely a cool trick, I'm sure somebody in Japan must have discovered it too :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cyyhu7tVW8
A bit risky on zone D because of that red power up but on zone E it's 100% consistent. Also depending on how high is the rank it's sometimes not doable, and if you don't have white bullets just forget about it
On zone D I just do the capture with the large big wave, it's risky but I've gotten use to it. I still fail to do it from time to time but overall I've gotten much more consistent over the years. The reason why I'm picking every single power up is that I want to be fully powered with the little options for the Neon Light Illusion J fight and to do that you need to pick every single one one of them.
As far as that minor audio glitch I've only noticed it at King Fossil, but I've played that boss so many mlre times than others.
Ok, then I'll pay attention and come back to you
I'm still a little confused about this section even though I at least understand where the bomb is coming from.
I'm still too, the other night I spent 45 minutes with savestates just on this level. What I found was that a second, or even half a second difference can mean ennemies might spwan or not. So far (might be wrong ?) this is the only section of the game where ennemies don't appear specifically because you use a bomb, and they don't get destroyed either since I got no point out of them, it is indeed one of the most intriguing (and beautifull btw) section of the game. What I can say is that the best for points is to use the bomb as soon as the big fish appear on screen : that way you can get 12-15 (4x3 + only 1-3 that appear from the ones that come flying in all directions) fish but be aware that you'll not get the bomb.
Actually while writing found this :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRg_2xC ... e=youtu.be
Completely different strat with rapidfire, the guy (WR record on that route by the way) destroys every single one of them but notice the bomb doesn't appear either, impossible to do without rapid since you lack the firepower to do so but I'll definetely try to delay my bomb a bit like he does to see what comes.
Also after seing that video I understand what you're saying about bombing the beginning of zone J cuz of the extra ennemies rank brings.
It does seem that enemies can get destroyed off screen to the top or bottom in this game. A good example is that first gold screen clearing medal on Zone A. If you get it at the wrong time it will mean the enemy that carries a blue shield will be destroyed before it enters the screen and you miss the shield pickup.
Yes, in Darius Gaiden ennemies can be destroyed while they're off the screen but only for a little while (unlike Sôkyûgurentai for say). It also works for the left and right sides of the screen, for instance when picking the gold medal at the wrong time in zone F you'll miss out the bomb coming from the left
One area I need to work on is avoiding killing enemies with captains. So do enemies killed by captains never yield points? It seems that the wave bonus does count even if the last enemy is killed by a captain.
This is also something I need to work on, I do it on first and second stages (more consistently on the first than the second one) but later on it makes you take a lot of unecessary risks. And no, even if the wave bonus appears on screen (and probably raises rank too) all the points go to the captain, I've found out about that very recently. On valuable waves this can make a difference.
Another random question is are there any differences with the 2P blue ship? I in know about the difference in G Darius but what about in Gaiden?
Except the fact that you're playing a woman, that the ship is blue, that some endings are different, and that you start stage one at the bottom of the screen, there is absolutely no difference (unlike other Darius games)