ST: Hitogata Happa (Incomplete, Your Input is Needed)

[SAM]

Moved from the Chat Section.

************************

I acquire the virtical shmups, Hitogata Happa, by Platine Dispositif a few days ago. After playing a few games I feel the game deserve some more attention.
http://www20.cds.ne.jp/~murasame/games/happa64.htm

So I decide to write a quick review here:
(Please correct me if I got anything wrong.)

Game Control:

Joystick:
Control the movement of your Doll (Player Ship)

Button 1:
Fire. Tapping to keep firing and moving at full speed; hold to focus fire and slowdown.

Button 2:
Special Action. Consume the Mana Bar to perform the special action of the Doll. Different type of Doll got different effect when special action is activate.

I don't know how the Mana Bar is filled up, but I think it got somthing to do with enemy distoryed and the time passed by.

Button 3:
Change the next type of Doll to come in when you loss the current Doll. This action is only valid if there are more than one type of Dolls in stock.

Game System:

Bomb (Self Destruct):
Your would self destruct when you ram into an enemy, if the bar labeled Flow beside the Mana bar is fully filled up. You would just die instead, if the Flow bar is not fully filled. The damage infected would totally depends on the type of Doll you are using.

Self Destruct is nessary to KO the Stage 0 Boss witin the time limited given. Since the firepower of the Doll you got in the beginning to too weak to bring it down in time. (That why you got 9 Dolls at start, you need to ram 3 to 5 of them into the boss to get the job done.)

Bullet Cancel Zone:
Each enemy got a circle surrunding it. When the enemy is destoried, all bullet within the circle would canceled into Green Gems. Similar to Progear.

If you fly within the circle, it would enlarge and change in color. An enlarged circle would slowdown moment of enemys' bullet as well as cancel enemy bullets within when the circle owner destroyed. The circle would remind enlarged even you move out of it later. This make an interesting stratgy for the game.

Purchase of Dolls:
At the end of each Stages, you are allow to purchase Dolls (lifes/Player Ship) with the Green Gems you collected. There are a total of 8 type of Dolls. After the purchase of each Doll, the price of the type of Doll you just bought would rise a little.

And if you completed the game under certain conditions, new dolls can be unlocked (there's a doll for both the suitcase girl and dual pistol girl from GunDeadligne, and a maid, and an ultimate OMG HAX character that shoots near instant-kill bullets all over the screen). Don't ask me about what the conditions are, though, I just got frustrated and downloaded a patch to unlock the hidden dolls, along with all the game modes.

i remember, when i played that game (im not playin much lately), that, the only way to unlock the new chars (and hopefully, new game modes) you need to 1CC the game in EVERY difficulty level, so when you beat the game in the 4 default difficulty levels, you unlock 4 new chars... beating the game in easy, normal its ok... hard, its another level.... but DEMONIC its for Shmups G.O.D.s ... i just managed to unloc 2 chars... i guess its a matter of practice for me to get the other 2 hidden chars.

Homage to Other Games:
This game got stages paying homage to Ikaruga, ESPgaluda, Shikigami no Shiro, etc. quite funny.

************************

This is the one of the few Dojin game that actually support playing in TATE.

[Damocles]

Hitogata Happa is very different from your normal shmup. For one, lives don't really matter. Sure, you can purchase dozens of dolls between levels, but if you don't have the right one, you will die. Not because you ran out of lives, but because the boss timed out and killed you, ending the game. It's also very, very technical. You can't wing it. You have to know what you're doing and when to do it.

Level 0 is self-explanatory.

Level 1 isn't too tricky. I normally use the doll with the thin vertical laser through most of the stage. Her speed and strength help in dancing around the thicker patterns.

Level 2 is a bit more interesting. I use the doll that fires homing missiles out of her back for most of the stage. Granted, I don't pick up many gems this way, but it allows me to stay centered through much of the level.

To me, the Leaf doll is the one designed for taking down bosses. Since you don't do much damage to them anyway, Leaf's relatively quick bomb charge helps in taking them down quickly. In fact, I'd say that's her intended purpose. However, she is a good all-around character, so if you don't know a level, choose her.

Is it just me, or are some dolls just useless? The shotgun-charge doll and the doll that forces you to hold down the button for shot distance seem pretty pathetic. The one with the dual swords, despite pathetic range, is damn powerful.

[Damocles]

Leaf - Forward shots
Mana: Bullet-time mode
Speed:2
Bomb Attack:3

Clover - Straight Laser
Mana: Powerful forward flamethrower
Speed: 4
Bomb: 1

Rooty - Rotating Shot
Mana: Rotates shot
Speed: 1
Bomb: 2

Assam - Homing Missiles
Mana: Extra homing missiles
Speed: 3
Bomb: 1

Earl - Homing laser
Mana:Bullet-time mode
Speed: 1
Bomb: 2

Dimbula - Charge/Shotgun
Mana: Self-destruct
Speed: 2
Bomb: 3

Sikkim - Short-range morter
Mana: Morter that creates bullets for collecting as gems
Speed: 3
Bomb: 2

Peco - Close-range flaming sword
Mana: Screen-clearing bomb attack
Speed: 3
Bomb: 1

Platina - 360 degree shot
Mana: Medium-range mine
Speed: 1
Bomb: 3

Unfortunately, I have not unlocked any of the other Dolls.

Basically, you should always have either a half-dozen or so Leafs/Earls in stock.

Leaf doesn't do much damage, but, as mentioned before, her bomb is extremely useful at bosses.

Clover is a good all-around ship. Her laser is not only relatively strong, but she automatically collects the gems from destroyed enemies. Also, don't underestimate her mana action. It's powerful and regenerates (relatively) quickly.

I also like to keep quite a few Assams in stock. Her homing missiles, though erratic, are quite powerful. Combine those with her added missiles from the mana action, and boss health bars quickly deteriorate. She's also the only Doll I use on the final boss.

Peco is great if you know the levels and can kill enemies before they get off shots. She's powerful enough to take down nearly anything very quickly.

Rooty, Dimbula, and Sikkim are useless in my book.

I havn't played around much with Platina, but she seems at least moderately usefull. Considering her price, though...

[Goshi]

Its not too late for me to contribute is it? Anyway I have found out a ton of stuff in the game andcouldn't help but reveal it all. Go me.

Rooty can roate shots and all but you failed to mention that if you tap left and right in rhythm she spins around making her invulnerble until her mana runs out.

Sikkim is pretty useless and his Mana ability makes enemy bullets however you use well you get more gems doing this.

Dimbula can charge his shots which are powerful against enemies plus fly onto the edge of the screen and you'll appear at the other.

There's 4 secret characters you get one for beating the game in a different way, like through Solo Voyedge, completing normal mode in any difficulty and so on...
They are unlocked in the order I put them in (Minus Sphere 13 who is availble though special means)

Platina can fire shots in a flower like formation and can shoot rose bombs with her Mana ability which shoots bullets everywhere. She also has a circle around her which slows down enemy bullets and grows as you hold the fire button. Not shooting at all will restore her Mana at pretty fast rate.

Lovers can fire a powerful laser if you hold down the fire button but if you tap it she'll fire bullets that spread is directions. Her ability is exactly the same as Earl's.

Fourtuner fires two powerful bullets forward quite quickly, there firepower is decent. She can also fire a wheel which slows down time as long as its hitting an enemy. She easily is the coolest looking character on another note.

Fool fires a slow but powerful spike ball at enemies her special makes her jump over well... anything, however this does not use Mana. Rather her mana resembles how many hits she can take. She take 5 hits in total. She's also the only secret doll with a resonable price (About 200 gems).

Sphere 13 is only availible if Leaf dies she'll appear (But only under certain condtions and only if Leaf is the next doll, I'm still unaware of what these conditions are). She also is selectable in the Destiny 13 mode. Shes pretty much a stronger version of Leaf, her basic shot is a power forward shot with two energy orbs that shoot spearding shots. Her mana ability completely freezes time.

The other modes are unlocked the same way as the secret dolls once you get at least one, they should be under the 4th option in the main menu.

Solo Voyage is unlocked after to you complete the game for the first time, you can only use one doll in that mode and you gain extra dolls by collecting a certain amount of gems. Personally this easiest mode to unlock everything with. Maximum life count seems to be 999 in this mode O_o;

Destiny 13 is unlocked after you complete the game in a different way once you've unlocked every character. in this mode you have one of every doll including Sphere 13. You cannot get extra dolls so this mode can be quite difficult and requires a bit of strategy.

There a few other things I've yet to unlock and some other things too.

Supposedly there's a boss after Nilheim whatever (The king head guy) but I'm unsure on how to fight it, if anyone knows how to I would like that.

EDIT: BTW, that Julzar account is mine I mucked up the e-mail address and I was unable to validate it, is possible for a staff member to delete it?

EDIT2: Okay so I foind out stuff about the secret boss appearently its Kreutzer (Yea I know you should put spoiler tags and blah blah, but people looking thorugh guides are asking for it), but looking through those screenshots she's seems... impossible. Its weird though I completed Nobilmente but never faced her... hmm....

EDIT3: Please refer to the newer version for more indepth help
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... ht=#197024