R2R-ST: Shinrei Jusatsushin Taromaru (Saturn)

[Lander]

Psychic Assassin Taromaru
Extravagantly long intro GIF

♫ NOW PLAYING (LOOP) - FLAMES OF GODDESS ♫

Shinrei Jusatsushin Taromaru
Genre		2D Combat Platformer
Platform		Sega Saturn
Developer		Time Warner Interactive Japan
Publisher		Time Warner Interactive Japan
Released	JP	1997
	US	N/A
	EU	N/A

Join psychic bounty hunters Taro and Enkai on a seamless battle through necrofeudal japan. Hired to rescue a stolen princess, they must face down hordes of ninja, powerful demons, and 17 ghoulish yokai bosses to see their quest through.

Think on your feet as you confront overwhelming odds armed with equally overwhelming psychic combat techniques. This is neither hack'n'slash nor run'n'gun; it's a wholly unique kind of CQC ESP.

◉ 10 Second Sell

Taromaru is a methodical defense-oriented game, expressed in a language of herding and zoning, punctuated with decisive, explosive strikes:


◉ Thread Thesis

The goal is a thorough enumeration - demonstrating SJT for what it is, and laying its underlying design bare for all to appreciate.

My hope is to highlight the game for genre fans who have yet to play it, reveal interesting new facets to those who have, and serve as reasonably definitive reference material for individuals looking to learn it.

[Lander]

◉ Opening

◉ Index

◉ Background

◉ Interface

◉ Strategy

◉ Characters

◉ Actions

◉ Pickups

◉ Enemies

◉ Walkthrough

◉ Closing

◉ [Skip to discussion]​

[Lander]

◉ For SaturnShiro Custom

SJT can be thought of as an inverted successor to legendary Treasure R2RKMF work Alien Soldier:

Let's Go!

It's similar in its boss-heavy structure, technical aptitude, and richness of mechanics, but is largely opposed - though not detrimentally - in its gameplay design principles.

Where Alien Soldier is fast and reactive, Taromaru is slow and proactive:

Attract

The similarities can be attributed in part to Treasure designer Hiroshi Iuchi, who worked on aspects of the game's art design. Given the nature of the end product, it's fair to assume that his influence radiated well beyond the art department, infusing it with some of that signature Treasure magic.

◉ Development, Release and Legacy

Sounds good, right? Well, it's largely forgotten and misunderstood.
Originally intended for arcades, Taromaru ended up securing a last minute release for the home market instead:

Cover Art

This production run was Japan-exclusive, with only ~5K copies printed due to releasing at the close of Time Warner Interactive's business. To salt the wound, it was further buried by a measly 20/40 score from Famitsu.

These days, the game is presumably stuck in license hell, with little groundswell and no word on the possibility of a rerelease. It exists at the periphery of the gaming noosphere, with scattered discussion on various forums, but few seem to have gone to the effort of understanding it.

Unfortunately, mainstream informational sources such as Wikipedia and HG101 are heavy on misinformation, adding friction to the process of discovering the game's deeper secrets.

Somewhat more recently, it saw coverage in Shmup Junkie's Run and Gun video. While more informed than the average, this still missed out on various key elements, ultimately giving the game a lower-than-warranted evaluation.

◉ Why you ought to play it

Such a good game going underrated and borderline forgotten is criminal, as it's the definition of a hidden gem: Its exterior may appear stilted and slightly clunky at first blush, but inside lies a tight, top-tier action game with impressive technical chops and excellent pacing.

Its nihon aesthetic is well-executed, being possessed of an 80s-ish anime vibe; OTT enough to nail cool heroic action, but with sufficient restraint to remain qualified as a respectable portrayal of the myth and folklore.

Its game design is highly considered, with many layers and secrets revealing themselves with continued play, and characters distinct enough to provide two separate experiences.

And the difficulty curve is comprehensive, with a sweet-spot baseline and default credit count for new players, plus Ranking Mode for codified no-miss play after the first clear.

◉ Bonus

○ Taromaru Manual, Pages 24-25

Thanks to the combined efforts of BIL and Jonny2x4, we have the following scan of the manual's afterword and bonus manga panels:


And the afterword's rather charming translation into english:

● Such A Thing Also Happened

My parents are powerful. Or rather, it's more accurate to write that "My parents who lived in the country for many years are powerful."

Similarly, as a one of the former country bumpkins that have populated Tokyo, everyday I like to put the airs of a cosmopolitan who cries for no reason when he reminisce of his old home, however...

On a certain day in June, my parents came to Tokyo to visit me. Because I said I was tired, we ordered a simple takeout dinner. After the dinner, my dad suddenly asked me something.

Dad	So what kind of work have you been doing all this time?
Me	Drawing.
Dad	On a computer?
Me	That's right.
Mom	By computer, you mean like a word processor?
Dad	Are you stupid? A word processor is something you use to write postcards. A computer is like a giant calculator.
Mom	Oh, so they're big calculators? As always, you know everything.
Me	...
Mom	Now that you said that, I heard that the Sakai's (not a real name) daughter, Aki (not her real name), is also working as a designer in Tokyo. Seems like you got some competition.
Me	Something like that...
Mom	What do you mean something like that? Aki-chan is an ugly girl who always talking nonsense. She's the kind of person who would steal ideas from other people. Don't show this Taromaru thing to her.
Mom	[Continues to badmouth Aki-chan (not her real name) endlessly]
Dad	sigh I'm all worn-out. I'm going to bed soon.
Mom	Well then, as soon as you go to your company tomorrow, go make a word processor. Sleep well.
Me	...

A Japanese game created by the children of typical Japanese parents like mine. While medieval Europe and the near future are good settings, ancient Japan is fine too, so please enjoy the game to your heart's content.

- Project Leader Michio Okano

[Lander]

◉ Options Menu

○ PENDING: Annotated image

◉ Heads Up Display

The in-game UI is relatively simple, and is structured like so:

• Portrait in top left
• Health bar right of portrait
• Charge bar below health bar
• Lives below portrait
• Upper-middle number is score / kills
• Lower-middle number is thrall's health
• Timer in place of P2 UI during Ranking Mode

○ PENDING: Annotated image

[Lander]

◉ Student's Rule: Proceed at a stately pace

SJT plays like a deep action platformer, but is paced like a belt scroller, with deliberate movement and gate sections that precede a GO> GO> GO> marker.

Fundamentally:

• Abuse thrall bombing heavily; enemies are free.
• Learn the pickup locations, as they provide recovery anchors to plan around
• Economize your button mashing; it is a tool, but one to employ judiciously. Charge is the primary weapon, and more optimal whenever sufficient margin is available.
• Learn to recognize unwinnable situations that require you to drop charge and defend; airborne enemy contact is the most frequent. Sometimes you just have to back down, and still score damage anyway.

◉ Master's Exception: Know when to Rush That Shit Down

Certain ACT sequences can have their enemies herded into a single screen and wiped en masse.

Slide and dash jump to the next gate section, then turn and fight - this can pay off quickly and stylishly with a pre-stocked thrall bomb, or result in a swift and messy death if you get overwhelmed trying to fish for one.

◉ Ranking Mode

Ranking Mode, as the name would suggest, is the game's competitive play offering.

Worried that the infinitely-farmable Fire Wheel 1UPs break the game? Well, they do. But fret not! Because there are no lives in Ranking Mode. It's one life bar for the duration on a timer.

Here, two new goals manifest; the NO-MISS survival clear, and speed.
The latter incentivizes a new playstyle: Pushing the scroll boundary to the right at all times, gank-bombing every gate section, and employing optimal boss strategies throughout. A speedrun, if you will.

[Lander]

◉ Taromaru

Profile
	Taro... Arrives
Lock Range	Half Screen
Crouching Hitbox	Low
Evade	Slide
Charge	Chain Lightning

A fast and maneuverable close-range ninja, capable of dealing high damage to multiple targets.

Taro's slide has a fast startup, and a low hitbox.

Taro's special charge is Chain Lightning.

One chain lightning holds a certain amount of damage; this damage is spent per hit up to a maximum, after which it will jump if any is left over. For instance, it won't one-hit red ninjas, but can be used to wipe many zako at once.

As Taro, it's more optimal to hit strong enemies with repeated Lv1 charges - this also applies to certain bosses immune to the multi-hit effect.

Critically, you should avoid mashing out additional hits after launching a chain lightning, as this will cancel the effect. A design wrinkle that inadvertently hides the system from new players!

◉ Enkai

Profile
	Enkai Arrives!
Lock Range	Full Screen
Crouching Hitbox	Tall
Evade	Dash
Charge	Lightning Bolt

A slower, long-ranged monk with situational mobility. Capable of dealing extreme damage to a single target.

Enkai's evade is a sideways dash, with slow startup and a tall hitbox.

This is less safe than Taro's slide, but can be performed repeatedly in midair, allowing the player to hover by repeatedly airdashing against the side of the screen.
This property allows Enkai to charge for free against certain bosses.

Enkai's special charge is the high-damage Lightning Bolt.

[Lander]

◉ Mobility

Walk
Input	Left / Right
Charge	Allowed
Cancels	Anything

Move slowly to the left or right. Useful for cautious play and baiting out wave spawns.

Run
Input	Double tap Left / Right and hold
Charge	Disabled
Cancels	Running Jump
	Crouch
	Defend

Move swiftly to the left or right. Relatively unsafe.

Jump
Input	C
Charge	Allowed
Cancels	Attack
	Defend
	Evade

Leap into the air. Continue holding the input for additional height.

Running Jump
Input	While Running, C
Charge	Disabled
Cancels	None

Leap sideways at running speed. Highly unsafe, but situationally useful for herding enemies into a zone boundary.

Crouch
Input	Down
Charge	Allowed
Cancels	Evade

Lower your hitbox and become harder to hit.

Evade
Input	While Crouching, C
Charge	Allowed

Quickly reposition by half a screen width. See the Characters section for details.

◉ Offense

Aiming Reticle

The targeting glyph that moves relative to your character, it automatically locks onto enemies and is used for aiming attacks.
A circle will be displayed around the glyph when locked onto an enemy.

The glyph takes time to move. No attacks may be made during this time, so be sure of your target when firing.

My limited range makes it harder to manage large enemy groups, but simplifies manual retargeting.
As the glyph moves at a fixed speed, my extended range means longer acquisition times for distant targets.

The glyph can be cycled through valid targets with L / R. However, the order is often implicit, so it can be more efficient to reset targeting using a quick away-toward movement instead.

Attack
Input	A
Damage	1-10

Discharge a damaging blue lightning bolt at the targeted enemy. If no enemy is targeted, the animation will play, but no attack will come out.

This may be rapid fired, but take note that any presses while the reticle is moving are wasted.
For example, against flurries of one-hit zako, a slower rhythm is preferred to give the reticle time to reacquire.

Charged Attack
1 (0 Loops)	Empty Bar
5 (N Loops)	Full Red Bar
10 (6 Loops)	Full Yellow Bar
	Flashing Monochrome Bar

Attack can be charged, and - unlike the breakpoint mechanics of most charge shots - scales its damage from 1 through 8 linear to charge time.
Making contact with an enemy while airborne will cancel an in-progress charge.

The audiovisual feedback for charging tops out later than the internal numbers - everything after 6 loops (flashing character, flashing bar, increasing pitch) is purely cosmetic.
The character-specific Special Attack is triggered at a charge of 5 loops or above.

My Chain Lightning will jump between enemies.
The destructive force of my Lightning Bolt speaks for itself.

Hypnosis
Input	B
Power	1-9

Discharge an orange hypnosis bolt at the targeted enemy. If no enemy is targeted, the animation will play, but no bolt will come out.
This can be rapid fired, but is very weak compared to Attack; all hypnotizable enemies require 10 hits in order to succumb.

Hypnosis acts as a separate health meter - damage dealt to health has no bearing on hypnosis, and vice versa. Thus, mixing attack types is of no benefit.

Once hypnotized, an enemy will begin to follow you and automatically target other enemies.
Hypnotized enemies begin with 100 points of health, and will change their behaviour as it depletes - see the Enemies section for details.

Thrall positioning can be controlled by jumping; beyond a certain vertical distance, the thrall will cancel their current action and leap toward you.

The player may only have one thrall at a time. Attempting to hypnotize again with a thrall present will act as if there is no targeted enemy.

Charged Hypnosis
1 (0 Loops)	Empty Bar
5 (N Loops)	Full Red Bar
9 (6 Loops)	Full Yellow Bar
	Flashing Monochrome Bar

Similar to Attack, Hypnosis can be charged. It behaves the same in terms of power scaling, but with a slightly smaller range that's 1 shy of the 10 point requirement.

Charge Switch
Input	A+B Held, Release A / B

Attack and Hypnosis can be freely switched between while charging, allowing for a quick option-select in enemy-diverse encounters.

Discharge Cancel
Input	While Discharging, Left / Right

The standing discharge animation can cancelled immediately back to neutral by tapping Left or Right, avoiding recovery time and allowing another charge to be prepared.
By repeatedly alternating Attack and Left / Right, you can walk forward while rapid-firing.

Detonate
Input	Z

Detonate your active thrall for delayed full-screen burst damage, roughly equivalent to a Lv1 charge.
This will kill most weaker enemies, and deal average damage to larger ones. Note that it won't kill weak two-stage enemies outright, and won't destroy projectiles.

◉ Defense

Shield
Input	Y
	Down, Down
Cancels	None

Create a localized shield, providing generous temporary invincibility frames at the cost of free action.
Using Defend will negate your momentum, allowing for midair hovering. It can also be chained with a small delay, which is frequently impregnable, but never guaranteed.

As one of its inputs is directional, don't mash crouch unless you want this to come out.

[Lander]

Dumplings

Restores 20% life.

Riceball

Restores 50% life.

1UP

Grants an extra life; does not exist in Ranking Mode.

A single loose 1UP exists in the House of Spinning Poles. Unlike those spawned from Fire Wheel, it will always look like Taro.

Naturally, it's my game.
...

[Lander]

Ninja (Sword)
Health	3
Hypnosis Resist	10
Points	1
Hypnosis Attack	Melee
Damage Scaling	Attack Rate
Type	Ground

Frontline Zako, seeks to close distance for a melee attack. Capable of jumping melee. Will periodically teleport off the playfield before reappearing elsewhere.

Ninja (Kusari-Gama)
Health	4
Hypnosis Resist	10
Points	1
Hypnosis Attack	Melee
Damage Scaling	Attack Rate
Type	Ground

A slightly tougher Ninja wielding a Kusari-Gama, with slower startup and longer range.

Ninja (Blue)
Health	10
Hypnosis Resist	10
Points	1
Hypnosis Attack	Melee
Damage Scaling	Attack Rate
Type	Ground

Tougher variant of Ninja (Sword), gains a shuriken attack at range.

Drops Dumplings or Riceball on death.

Ninja (Green)
Health	3
Hypnosis Resist	10
Points	1
Hypnosis Attack	Melee
Damage Scaling	Attack Rate
Type	Ground

Color variant of Ninja (Sword).

No apparent mechanical differences.

Ninja (Red)
Health	10
Hypnosis Resist	10
Points	1
Hypnosis Attack	Melee
Damage Scaling	Attack Rate
Type	Ground

Combat variant of Ninja (Blue).

No item drop on death.

Kunoichi
Health	3
Hypnosis Resist	10
Points	1
Hypnosis Attack	Melee
Damage Scaling	Attack Rate
Type	Ground

Support Zako, seeks to gain distance while laying down targetable caltrop hazards. Will go for a melee dash at close range. Similar teleport behaviour to Ninja.

Kunoichi (Winged)
Health	3
Hypnosis Resist	10
Points	1
Hypnosis Attack	Projectile
Damage Scaling	Projectile Count
Type	Ground

Aerial variant of Kunoichi, sweeps back and forth across the play area dropping targetable caltrop hazards. Spawns a regular Kunoichi on death.

Kunoichi (Red)
Health	3
Hypnosis Resist	10
Points	1
Hypnosis Attack	Melee
Damage Scaling	Attack Rate
Type	Ground

Direct attack Kunoichi variant; throws kunai instead of caltrops.

Kunoichi (Bomber)
Health	3
Hypnosis Resist	10
Points	1
Hypnosis Attack	Projectile
Damage Scaling	Projectile Count
Type	Ground

Setpiece Kunoichi (Winged) variant; drops dynamite that bounces and explodes after a delay.

Zombie
Health	9	2 + 2 + 2 + 3
Points	4	1 + 1 + 1 + 1
Type	Ground

Bruiser Zako, advances slowly and winds up a melee strike when in range. Four staggered health pools; best dealt with by discharge-canceling low-level charged shots.

Headless Procession
Health	2	1 + 1
Points	1
Type	Ground

Harmless mook with no attacks, always appears in a line and advances slowly forward. Will collapse to a crawl and reveal its second health point when damaged.

My Chain Lightning will deal with these.
I'll rapid fire from the air.

Miko
Health	8
Points	1
Type	Ground

Elite Zako. Summons ice spikes when close, launches upward-curving projectiles when far, and uses a spinning anti-air against airborne targets.

Can't be hypnotized. Only appears in Temple Grounds.

Claw Ogre
Health	5
Points	1
Type	Ground

Heavy Zako. Uses a wide overhead slash when close, and a forward-spinning claw leap from distance.

Only appears during Super Ninja Ball.

Wisp
Health	1
Points	1
Type	Air

Popcorn zako. Moves along a preset path, or directly at the player.

My Chain Lightning will deal with these, too.
I'll... Rapid fire from the air.

Wisp (Blue)
Health	1
Points	1
Type	Air

Carrier variant of Wisp. Drops Dumplings on death.

Fire Wheel
Health:	9	(8 x 1) + 1
Points:	9	(8 x 1) + 1
Type:	Air

Carrier Zako. Floats across the screen in a sine wave pattern, hiding its main hitbox with an array of wisp sattelites.

A Chain Lightning will destroy the whole wheel.
Extended lock range makes for easier 1UP sniping.

Drops a 1UP if the wisps are destroyed before the main body:

Mage
Health	5
Points	1
Type	Air
Hypnosis Attack	Projectile
Damage Scaling	Projectile Damage(?)

Air support Zako. Sweeps across the screen horizontally, pausing to launch a projectile at the player.

Floating Head
Health	1
Points	1
Type	Air

Elite popcorn Zako. Floats across the screen, occasionally firing a slow aimed bullet. Launches an aimed arcing revenge bullet on death.

My Chain Lightning will deal with these, but I must defend after.
I'll rapid fire from the air, defending when necessary.

Tengu
Health	5
Points	1
Type	Air

Elite air support Zako. Flies around the screen, launching tornado projectiles that persist after impact.

Only appears during the Manipulator sequence.

[Lander]

◉ BOSS

Skeletwins
Health:	20	10 + 10
Points:	2	1 + 1

Right out of the gate, we're in a boss fight. Take that as a statement of intent for things to come.

Charge up during the pre-battle scene. When the skulls enter the foreground, immediately unload to kill the leftmost one. From there, you'll need to dodge a rain of fire. Jump to maintain horizontal mobility, and rapid-fire at the remaining skull for a quick one-cycle.


◉ ACT

Silent Machi

A pace-setting first action stage, the player will have to deal with wisp formations, fire wheels, and periodically spawning combat Zako. The last of the opening wisp chains ends with a blue one - kill it for Dumplings if you need to top up.

Two fire wheels follow the wisp chains, which can be sniped for 1UPs to bolster a survival run.

◉ SETPIECE: Bull Stampede

Make sure to stay on top of the bulls, and proceed as usual. Don't rush, as the waves of wisps and harassment zako make it difficult to progress without taking a hit.

◉ BOSS

Bone Brothers
Health:	60	30 + 30
Points:	2	1 + 1

◉ MINI-ACT

Bridge

◉ BOSS

CENTIPEDE
Health	20
Points	0

◉ ACT

Market Street

◉ BOSS

Blue Spider Demon
Health	50
Points	1

Crouch and charge an attack at mid-screen, then turn and release when he charges over you. Mash out a few extra hits, and repeat.

When it fires a series of lock-on lasers, either tap-dodge from the far edge of the screen or slide back and forth.

◉ ACT

Alley of Faces
These guys.

◉ BOSS

Fisher Ogre
Health:	231	10 + 10 + 10 + 1 + 200
Points:	5	1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1

His first four forms constitute the pole, the arm, the other arm, and the body, after which he will transform.

His transformed head and arm will separate over the course of the fight, adding new redundant targets to manage, and granting access to an extend-o-punch, a grab, a vertical needle thrust, and fire breath.

Grabs can be escaped by wiggling the directional pad.

After he transforms, I can crouch at his feet to neutralize his Akira arm and projectile attacks.
I can easily maintain a lock on his body, but only if I don't change direction.

My Chain Lightning will arc from any limb to his core, trivializing target management.
Aimed correctly, my Lightning Bolt does more damage.

◉ BOSS

Bone Kaiju
Health	100
Points	1

Focus on the boss and spam charge, jumping to avoid the kite ninjas' lock-on projectiles.

◉ MINI-ACT

Forest Path

◉ BOSS

Fulcrum Skeleton
Health	100
Points	1

You can bait his targeted punch attack to hit the seesaw, which will launch you if you're on the opposite side. This spawns several rows of wisps to endanger you on the way down, but includes blue ones which will drop Dumpling.

It's best to stall your descent via defend hovering, picking off blue wisps where possible. All offscreen wisps will despawn when you return to ground level.

◉ ACT

The Floor is Spiders

◉ BOSS

Lone Bitch and Snake
	Wholesome.
Health	80
Points	1

The safest way to deal with her flying bomb -> flying bomb -> chakram is to defend thrice and retaliate with a charge.

◉ ACT

House of Spinning Poles

The Blue Ninja on the first screen will drop a Riceball on death.

Take this area slow and careful, dealing with ninjas from outside aggro range for safety.

To deal with the wisp rings, shoot a hole in them, jump out, then use the bought time to rapid-fire the rest.

Some Dumplings can be found in the top right. Move to the far left, then drop down for another serving of Dumplings. From there, drop down again to find a 1UP.

When climbing away from the fire, the rightmost Riceball can be grabbed easily as Taromaru. Enkai has a harder time with this, so it may be better to skip it and go for the Dumplings at the top instead.

◉ BOSS

Thingu Da
Health	100
Points	1

Come in with a full charge and unload a sneaky shot as soon as the fight begins. When the room rotates, hold right, and slide once per side.

The boss' weak point is vulnerable for longer than the animation would suggest, so mash out free hits until it stops bleeding.

◉ BOSS

Manipulator
Health	~100

○ Pre-fight

• The safest position is on the right of the screen
• As Taromaru, you can repeatedly spam chain lightning on the manipulators to keep them retracted and wipe the tengus

○ Fight

• As Taromaru, the optimal position is at the right edge of the fire field to guarantee your lock-ons
• As Enkai, stand at the right of the screen to give yourself more safety margin
• Hit each fireball with 3-5 regular attacks, then switch target and repeat
• Defend when a large fireball comes near
• You can have a DBZ beam struggle and make a really big fireball if you're targeting the same one as the boss, but it's a risky style move
• When the boss dies, keep moving and charge; the tengus have too much health to mash on

◉ ACT

Temple Grounds

• The blue ninja on the first screen drops a rice ball
• Take this section carefully
• The miko girls can't be hypnotized, and will fuck with your lock-on
• Don't rush right without a bomb, as the screen will fill up with a horrible cocktail of enemies

◉ BOSS

Onmyoji
Health	100

Kill the miko girls as fast as possible, as their lock-on interference will make this fight much harder.

When he summons floating heads, position yourself on the opposite edge of the screen, walk up to him while charging to dodge their bullets, and unload.

For the beam, quickly cross him up, then unload until he teleports.

◉ MINI-ACT

River Path
WARNING: Heavy Amphibian Crossing

◉ BOSS

Great Frog
Health	200
Points	0

The one-two can be dodged by standing in the middle of the screen and jinking opposite to the incoming hand. When he begins to inhale:

• If you read it early, simply hit one hand with three consecutive charge shots
• If you read it late, hit one hand with two consecutive charge shots and then mash like a madman

For the flying seeds, charge and tap-dodge their aimed radial shots. He'll do a one-two attack halfway, so jink or defend at the middle of the screen if necessary.
The tadpole eggs are best handled with mashing, and can be defended to push them away.

◉ BOSS

Belly of Great Frog
Health	200

Stand at the edge of the screen to avoid acid, charge until an orifice is in range, then unload. By canceling attack recovery, you can fit two full charges in per cycle.

When the worms start appearing:

• As Taromaru, prioritize hitting them with full charges if they're in range
• Chain lightning will bounce from the worms to the orifices, even those out of range
• As Enkai, continue as before and kill worms if them come within a half screen or make an obvious charge
• Defend to deflect them if they get too close

◉ ACT

Minecart Madness

• The right side of the screen is safer, as dynamite explosions will move left on landing
• Come in with a full hypno charge and try to get one of the flying bombers; very tricky and not critical, but handy
• The minecart ninjas can't be hypnotized

◉ BOSS

Thungu Da II - BIG CORE
Health	100

• Move to point-blank when it fires dual lasers.
• Use chain lightning to get some damage in when it spawns flesh balls .
• When the screen shakes, defend through the falling rocks .

When it spawns an energy wall, retarget and mash to slow it. If within range, you can alternate between targeting the wall and core for free damage; jump forward while mash-attacking to push toward the core.

◉ ACT

Descent

• Mash while dodging the first few waves for extra kill points
• Once the wheels start targeting you, move to the center and time defends for the remainder of the sequence

◉ BOSS

Thingu Da III - Heart Shaped Box
Health	100

• Shooting the lower core moves you inward, upper core moves you outward
• While slow, the projectiles can line up awkwardly at times - prioritize making it dead
• Mashing seems more effective here on account of its low health pool, particularly as Taromaru

◉ ACT

Super Ninja Ball

Remain airborne as much as possible to retain control over your momentum. Don't use defend on a slope, as it doesn't stop the ball's momentum; plink Jump -> Defend while grounded to avoid this.

○ Downhill

The mines trigger when you pass over them in midair, so defend to delay in cases where there's no safe landing spot. The blue ninja at the bottom will drop Dumplings.

I need to approach slowly and methodically.
I can safely chain airdashes all the way down.

○ Uphill

Push to the right, hypno-bombing the Ninja spawns where necessary.
Make sure to reset the ball's momentum by jumping if it begins to rotate backwards.

Chain Lightning will help control the enemy count.
I should make liberal use of Discharge Cancel to keep pushing forward.

◉ BOSS: Curse of Maru Madness

Curse of Maru Madness
	FAAAAACK M88888
Health	100
Points	1

• One slide will move you 90 degrees
• For the most part, you only need to slide, jump, charge and defend here

My airdash allows for safe rotation.

◉ ACT

City in Flames

• A Blue Ninja with a Riceball appears early on.
• Another Blue Ninja carrying Dumplings appears just before the rolling log.

◉ MINI-ACT

Channeler
Health	60

• Destroy the cannons before moving close to the jetty (15 Health each)
• Then, jump back onto the log, duck, and attack the channeler to trivialize this sequence

◉ BOSS

Claw Crane
Health	200

• The claw attack can be avoided by walking from left to right
• Use attack recovery canceling to stay mobile
• Staying on the left side of the screen helps avoid accidental claw lock-ons
• When the conductor balls come out, either jump the lasers or use defend if they intersect with a claw attack
• When the conductors balls begin to bounce around, slide in and out of the corner while charging

◉ ACT

Hallway Interlude

Tip: Hypnotize one of the Red Ninjas here, but keep it alive. The goal is to have him soak up attrition damage over the next few rooms, raising his attack speed enough to be effective against the location's endboss.

◉ BOSS

Haunted Armor
Health	200
Points	1

○ Phase One

• Charge while retargeting to the piece of armor possesed by the wisp, and unload until it leaves
• As Taromaru, stay at the edge of the ring to make sure all the pieces are in range
• It will only attack you if you don't hit the possessed piece in time
• Don't wait until it stops rotating to begin retargeting, as the lock order may be unfavourable
• Use the away-toward manual relock if the possessed piece stops next to you

○ Phase Two

• When the pieces float to the ceiling, either jump to herd the bullets into an upper corner, or slide under them
• He has two spear attacks with distinct audio cues
• The vertical slice will launch a screen-height projectile that should be defended through
• The stab combo can be crossed up with a max height jump and / or airdash
• Run to the other side of the room to buy some charge time You should notice your ninja's attack rate getting significantly faster toward the end of phse two

In the next room is a pair of red and blue ninjas. Kill the blue one for a Riceball.

◉ BOSS

Kitsune
Health	200
Points	1

The game's trickiest fight; very difficult if you don't know the tech, but trivial otherwise.

• Prioritize the eyestalks to minimize the amount of projectiles you need to deal with during her barrage attack
• Retarget away from the head and mash from the lower-left corner to break through it
• Though make sure to keep your ninja in range Phase two is easy
• Jump to the leftmost side of the hanging bar and tap-dodge your way through the tails, spamming charge until it dies

Once you kill it, note that it was Thingu Da the whole time! Defeated, it leads you to its master for the final showdown.

○ Tech

If you still have a hypnotized ninja, move to the lower-right corner to drag him in range of the boss. If he's above 20-40% health, jump to maneuver him into the corner so he'll take some extra damage. Otherwise, don't jump, and leave him on the left.

From there, crouch inside his hitbox and mash fire. With a fast enough attack, he'll knock all projectiles out of the air before they can hit you, rendering the boss inert until its phase 2 hitboxes activate.


◉ BOSS

Water Snake
Health:	200	100 + 100

• Stand at the edge of the screen and spam charges at the nearest orifice
• The claw attack can't reach directly beneath either one

For the giant fly

• Start on the right side
• Use defend to reflect the spinning projectiles
• Try to stay airborne to prevent awkward interactions between the roof and boss floor
• Kill the maggots as soon as they hatch for maximum safety

◉ BOSS

Red Spider Demon
Health	80
Points	1

Largely the same strategy as before; duck to trivialize its dash attack and spam charge. When it uses the lock on, position yourself at the left of the screen, charge, slide in, unload, slide out, and repeat.

Say hello to your brother... But wait!

◉ BOSS

From Software Antecedent
Health	100
Points	1

• During her lightning beam, remain grounded and defend through for a damage opportunity
• When she uses the lock-on, charge and tap-dodge toward her to spread the locks across the platform, then unload at point blank
• When she uses the wind and blue spheres, use chain lightning as Taromaru to stop them early, or defend through them as Enkai

◉ BOSS

Monki-Paki
Health	200

○ Creeping Columns

• Be standing 2-3 character widths left of the right edge as he summons
• Walk right to avoid the column hitbox
• Unload
• Move back and repeat

○ Laser Array

• Crouch in the lower-right quadrant and spam charge until the boss stops
• Prepare to defend if either of the orbs closest to you flash in sequence with another on the bottom row

○ Grasping Portal

• Open with as many charge spams as possible
• Jump and mash to break through the fireballs and finish him off
• Try and stay left of mid-screen to avoid getting hit by his surprise three-way lightning

◉ BOSS

Enma's Brass Bollocks
	Polished to a mirror sheen.
Health	100

○ Safe Strategy

• Defend against the vertical and horizontal projectile attacks
• Charge while jumping over the spindash, and unload as soon as the core reappears

○ Stylish Strategy

• Slide the vertical projectiles
• Jump the diagonal projectiles
• Unload and recharge during the spindash
• Opportunize around its quick-peek fakeouts

◉ BOSS: Enma's Spoor

Enma's Spoor
	Ssssssss.
Health	100

○ Phase One

• Spam charges or mash on the main body
• Retarget and carefully single-shot each sattelite when its beam nears you
• Rotation speed increases with each hit, necessitating a quick mash-through if you make a mistake or take too long to kill the body
• Alternately, don't shoot the sattelites, take a hit, and abuse the iframes to switch sides, then continue attacking

○ Phase Two

• Continue charge spam, dodge to inner / outer part of playfield
• Alternately, prioritize sattelites to destroy them and revert to phase 1

◉ MINI-ACT

Shoot This Guy
Health	1

Go on.
Do it.

◉ BOSS

Ghoulish Puppetry
Health	200
Points	1

As Taromaru, make sure to stay at middle-left; close enough to target the head, but out of hand range.

Focus on the head, as damaging the hands only disables them temporarily.

Herd the green bullet barrage into the bottom-left, jump, release charge at the apex, then defend for safety.

Halfway through the arms will fall off and the head will begin floating

• These are actually separate events with slightly staggered trigger points
• If pressured, favour jump-mashing at this point, as the attacks will layer in ways that are only safe to defend through
• Remain aware of the head, which will peroidically rain damaging blood droplets
• Defend through the large sigil attack

◉ BOSS

Gurren Dragann
Health	200
Points	1

Appropriately, the game's final boss is its toughest. Huge health pool, broad move variety, and hard-hitting.

• Periodically switches between combined and split forms
• Learn his pose tells well

○ Combined Form
● Fire breath

• Jump, mash out some regular attacks, and defend on the way down

● Upper / lower chakram toss

• A sneaky one, with similar tell poses for upper / lower
• Jump at 1/3 across the screen or defend through

● Sword slash / extend-o-bo

• The sword slash is harmless if you're spacing properly, but may be followed up by a screen-width bo attack that can be crouched under
• Good charge opportunity

● Full-screen lightning strike

• He'll start using this after the first split
• Watch for the cast and defend through

○ Split Form
● Fire breath

• Same strategy as before, but with a steeper angle
• His upper half can be manipulated rightward to buy space if you stay close

● Legs laser

• Should be harmless if you're jumping the fire breath, but use defend hovering or leftward airdashing if they overlay inconveniently

● Annelids

• These can be ignored for the most part
• Will chain lightning to his main hitbox
• Make sure to mash-wipe them as he recombines

[Lander]

And there you have it. Demons banished, Princess saved, Mon well-earned!

◉ Most Honouraburu Mentions [ SPECIAL THANK ]

• BIL, for founding R2RKMF, recommending Taro amongst many other fine things, and general forum pillar activities.
• XoPachi, for having a bad time with the game and finally motivating me to get this shit done.
• The broader R2RKMF zaibatsu, for continuing to Run Right and Kill Motherfuckers with impunity.
• And you, the reader. Aww.

◉ Retroactive foreword from the author

Well gee, I'm a right muppet for having let this rot in a database for upwards of a year after going to the effort of building it. Busy, busy, but here we are!
Wasn't quite sure where to post it, given that Taro isn't a shmup, so I've put it next to R2RKMF for now. If the mods should happen to move it to Strategy in their wisdom, then that's fine by me.

Under the hood, this R2R-ST was rendered with ox-farm.el, a Shmups Forum effortposting tool powered by Org mode for GNU Emacs, and written expressly for the purpose of wrestling its raw form into something nice and readable.
I'll look at sharing it via the Development subforum once the thread has had time to settle and go through a few passes of post-posting cleanup; Org is heavy-duty machinery, but delightful for writing rich content

Oh, and if someone would be kind enough to let me know whether the fancy UTF headline bullets (the pink circled-dot on the left) show up in normal people browsers, I'd be most obliged.

Pebble snatched, honour regained!

-L

◉ NEW: ox-farm.el

The first public version of ox-farm.el, the tool used to build this ST, has been released via the Development subforum. You can find its thread here.

[BIL]

Sweet Jesus, thought I was dreaming.

Spoiler

Splendid work, and much-needed, too! Indexed with all quickness!

[Randorama]

Masterpiece! I would give it an A+ in a class on "Writing Academic Reports". Send it in as an "Art Project" entitled "Decompressing infinite difficulty in rationally, aesthetically pleasing manageable chunks", I will award the grade right away and hand it as class material to R2R undergrads

Everything looks fine, including the pink bullets, and all links seem to work fine as well (PC and MacBook). Thank you for introducing us to Org. I should be studying it for future endeavours, I guess!

[guigui]

Shmups forum quality by Lander, as always since 2+ years joined. Congrats.

[Lander]

Many thanks, gents!

I think it was Itsuno of Capcom fame who once said 'as a creator, you eventually just have to let your creation go'.
Ain't that ever true - certainly beats pulling a Broussard and stalling until the entire production can be rendered down to so many perfectly optimal one-cycle gifs

Threadwise, I managed to break the index after pasting in a fresh render, so have fixed it up again - thinking I'll code up some slots for phpBB IDs, and have ox-farm paper over that particular crack twixt file and post!

Also, I received a red-hot, shumps exclusive telex from a deep-cover overseas R2RKMF operative!

Running it through a sophisticated RGB decoder reveals a set of bonus manga panels, and a charmingly Japanese anecdote from Taro project lead Michio Okano, so the Background section has been updated accordingly.

[BIL]

Perfidious Aki-chan! Always stealin' the best ideas from long-suffering Michi-kun! I hope Jonny's doing ok out there, wonderful chap to have around.

[Lander]

Version 0.0.1 of ox-farm.el - the tool behind this ST - is now ready for prime time, and can be found alongside an equally elaborate set of release posts in its topic in the Development subforum.

Thank you for introducing us to Org. I should be studying it for future endeavours, I guess!

Happy to share - it made writing the accompanying topics a genuine pleasure, compared to the rough and ready square bracket rustlin' of old.
Rewrote my sig in it too, just for the sake of it

[To Far Away Times]

Okay, you sold me on this. This looks great.

That's a ton of work put into an opening post. Holy shit that must have taken forever to make. Lander, is this your favorite game?

[Lander]

It most certainly is great well deserving of the effort!

I think the thread content itself took maybe a couple of weeks, not counting the playthroughs spent learning the game to the point of justifying an ST, and the extra week-ish of engineering ox-farm after the fact. Though I was on an extended work holiday when I wrote the first draft, so it was a pretty (un?)productive fortnight!

And hmm, favourite, I dunno - certainly one of! And king of its subgenre, though there's not much competition on the defensive Strut'n'Gun front.

All I can say is that it captivated me hard, didn't let go for a good while, and stayed memorable enough for me to do right by it a year plus later

[Austin]

Holy shit this is an insanely detailed guide. Nice work!

I've always wanted to get better at this game, having only played a couple levels in previously. I'll refer to this thread when I decide to buckle down with it.

[Immryr]

incredible post

[Blinge]

Never heard of this but my god what a post, looks frickin awesome