GD: Mushihime-sama Futari scoring & strats

[EOJ]

Thought I'd open a thread to discuss basic scoring strats, etc.
Things we know:

ORIGINAL MODE:
-scoring is based on two multipliers, the overall counter and the stage counter. The overall counter increases from the start of the game until the end of the game, while the stage counter resets at the start of each stage. The stage counter appears under the overall counter in the upper left of the screen. The overall counter changes color from green to blue. It is green when the 100 digit is from 0-4, and it is blue when the 100 digit is from 5-9. In order to get large (sometimes green-aura) gold gems, you must kill enemies with the C button when the counter is GREEN, and the A button when it is BLUE. I find it easier to rely on just looking at the value of the 100 digit on the counter, as the blue and green shades used are very light in color and sorta hard to discern.

-when you die your overall counter decreases by 50% and the stage counter decreases by 25%
-when you bomb your stage counter decreases (by 25%?), but the overall counter remains the same

-Here are the values of the different gold gems (in other words, how much each adds to your counters when you get one):

Large gem in the sky: +2
Small gem in the sky: +1
Large green-aura gem in the sky: +4
Small green-aura gem in the sky: +2
Large gem on the ground: +10 (<--MOST VALUABLE)
Small gem on the ground: +5

I'm not sure about how to trigger the green-aura gems.


MANIAC MODE:
-You have a gold gem counter in the upper left and underneath that is a chaining bar. The gold gem counter maxes out at 9999. The chaining bar increases rapidly from blue to red. When it is flashing red every enemy you kill will give large gold gems. When it is in the blue zone you get small gold gems. The counter only increases with hits from DIFFERENT enemies, unlike the first game. So if you stay with your lasers on one large enemy, instead of the counter increasing it goes down slowly. So you have to keep killing new things in order to keep the counter in the red as much as possible.

-when you kill enemies with the A button the chaining bar goes down quickly. When it reaches zero, every enemy you kill with the A button triggers the stored up gold gem multipier to kick in. Every bullet on the screen gets added to the multiplier. Every gem you collect from a "multiplier-killed" enemy (or a bullet converted to a gem) has a blue aura and it decreases your gem counter. The multiplier is the main way to score in the game, much like the kakusei in Espgaluda.

-when you bomb or die your gold gem counter decreases by 25%.

-Value of the gold gems (the amount each adds or subtracts to your gem counter):

Small gold gem: +1
Large gold gem: +3
Small gold gem on the ground: +10
Large gold gem on the ground: +20 (<--MOST VALUABLE)
Small blue-aura gold gem: -8
Large blue-aura gold gem: -16

-Here are the point values of each gold gem collected:

Small gold gem: 5pts
Large gold gem: 10pts
Small blue-aura gold gem: 5 x multiplier
Large blue-aura gold gem: 5 x multiplier

Since the max multiplier is 9999, the max you can get from a blue-aura gem is 49,995pts.

----

DIFFERENCES IN CHARACTERS, GENERAL ENEMY STRATS, ETC:

ORIGINAL MODE:

MANIAC MODE:
-On the stage 1 boss, Normal Reco and Abnormal Palm can kill the boss much quicker than Abnormal Reco or Normal Palm.

-In stage 2 Normal Reco is VERY weak against the three large butterfly-type creatures that appear after the midboss. They are very frustrating to kill with her C shot. With palm, it's quite easy.

-Normal Reco is stronger against many enemies in Stage 5 compared to Normal Palm.

-It seems each character is stronger against certain types of enemies, much like in an RPG. Still need more confirmation on this.

-Enemies (at least many larger ones) seem to have small weak points. If you concentrate your fire on these spots you can kill them very quickly.

[CIT]

Anybody want to explain how to get the 1UP in original Mode?

[EOJ]

In ver 1.5? You have to get through the midboss and the part up to the building right before the first big dragon descends without bombing. Then blow up that building right before the dragon descends (it's at the top of the screen) to reveal the 1up.

[CIT]

Yeah, Ver. 1.5. Thanks, I'll try it tomorrow.

[rtw]

In ver 1.5? You have to get through the midboss and the part up to the building right before the first big dragon descends without bombing. Then blow up that building right before the dragon descends (it's at the top of the screen) to reveal the 1up.

On which level is this please?

rtw

[EOJ]

@rtw: stage 5

[oxtsu]

twe- your guide has helped me a lot.

one point

MANIAC MODE:
-You have a gold gem counter in the upper left and underneath that is a chaining bar. The gold gem counter maxes out at 9999. The chaining bar increases rapidly from blue to red. When it is flashing red every enemy you kill will give large gold gems. When it is in the blue zone you get small gold gems.

I netted more large golds from A holding rather than A tapping/C while in the red zone. Particularly on the larger enemies ('beanstalks' on st2 for example). Perhaps you could clarify or add to this.

[EOJ]

Oh good lord, I really need to write a ver 1.5 strat guide. A lot of what I wrote for ver 1.0 does not apply to ver 1.5, hence your confusion.

I'll try and whip something up tonight.

[oxtsu]

aha, very good.

[EOJ]

Alright oxtsu, I just spent the past hour and a half typing up a preliminary guide:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=15512

Hope that helps you. If you have questions please ask in that thread.

[oxtsu]

wow, that was quick. Good job!

[EOJ]

Thanks. I know ver 1.5 like the back of my hand, so it wasn't too difficult.