Radio Zonde is made by a doujin group called Inudon Empire. The latest version is 1.41, and the full game is available for free. It's almost complete. It is completely playable, but the menus look unfinished, and 2 of the characters default to infinite lives.
Everyone agrees the game is -hard-. The game system gives the player a lot of advantages -- weapons always available, frequent-enough extends, a 2x2 pixel hitbox, even a rechargeable shield -- and it compensates for all that in the difficulty of the enemy attacks. Add to that complex scoring and controls, and the game's all but impossible. Especially if you can't read Japanese. There's a helpful HTML manual included with the game, and a great website by OnesDouble, all JP only. I learned a bunch by watching a couple of the replays at that site.
In any case, in hopes of making the game more accessible, I'd like to talk about game mechanics and the 6 ships. Most of this comes from observing and playing a lot. Some wild guesses about scoring will be mixed in.
Links
v1.41 download from Vector
v1.41 graphics fix for beginning of stage 1
Inudon Empire - they made Radio Zonde, Hellsinker, and a fighting game called Dogma.
OnesDouble's Radio Zonde site - Partial game guide, instructions, hundreds of screenshots, replays. Also has replays for Hellsinker and Touhou 6-8.
Mechanics
- Energy: There's an orange gauge in the top left of the screen that serves as shield and weapon energy. WLS/USE ships have special weapons that consume this energy; EDS ships do not. Energy is recovered in the following ways: Not moving, buzzing shots, collecting green gems, and getting an extend. It also recovers very slowly no matter what. Getting hit will cause you to lose some (usually all) of this energy or to simply die, depending on what you hit and how much energy you have.
- Bomb: The blue gauge is for the bomb/overdrive attack. It appears to recharge only as you shoot things.
- Signal Stability: This gauge is normally green, but it slowly becomes red if you press a fire button and a movement button at the same time; some attacks have a stronger effect (bad) than others. Stability is also affected by powerups, collisions, and successful hits. It contributes a score multiplier of 0-9 to every enemy killed.
- Combo system: The blue gauge on the bottom left is a combo timer. It drops faster if you move or shoot. It is raised a little by buzzing, more by green powerups, and completely by getting a blue powerup or killing something. Each kill in a combo increments the Blood counter, which increases the meter's drain rate, and it adds a variable amount to the Inherited counter. The Inherited value is added to the value of every enemy killed (after the multiplier from Clock/Stability is applied). If the combo gauge is lost, then the Inherited value drains slowly, maybe exponentially, making it useful to break combos at planned times. The initial drain rate may depend on the Blood value.
- Small green gems: They follow your ship. If you can avoid them for a second or two, they transform and are worth more energy and points.
- Extends: First occurs at 25 million, rest occur every 28 million thereafter.
- Stage timer: The vertical blue bar is the stage timer. It has an /effect on some bosses. I don't think it ever has a chance to run out.
- Clock: The primary determinant of enemy point values. It ranges from 100%-9,999%, but its effect is only about 1-15x. It is raised by buzzing, shooting things, and powerups (maybe others). It decreases slowly with time, by about 200% upon Pains, and by 1/2 its value upon Deaths. The mapping from Clock to multiplier is piecewise linear with the following endpoints:
Code: Select all
100% -> 1x
500% -> 5x
1,000% -> 6x
10,000% -> 15x (unattainable)- End of stage bonus: Bonuses are given (Stages 1-8 and X_Psy) for clock %, remaining energy, and fight duration. They are multiplied by a factor from 0-24 that depends on Deaths and Pains. The multiplier is approximately ( 20 - 4 x (# deaths) - (# pains) / 2 ), or ( 24 - (# pains) / 2) with no deaths.
Game Modes
- Touring: Regular game. Play [Stage 1 or Breakin], Path 1, [Stage 2 or Stage 3 or Stage 4], Path 2, [Stage 5 or Stage 6 or Overhaul], Stage 7, Stage 8.
- X_Psy: Practice boss fight with infinite lives.
- U_T_N: Survive for a fixed time; infinite lives. There is an invincible enemy that flies sideways figure eights; you can shoot it for powerups and bomb charging.
- Breakin/Overhaul: Simple practice stages. Playing them can make Touring easier, but they aren't worth a lot of points. And they don't get you out of Stages 7-8...
- Path 1/2: Short stages. Near the end of these, the screen will be divided into colored vertical bars with a number in each one. In Touring mode, this indicates the next stage you will play.
- Stage 1-8: See Touring.
Misc.
- Replays: A replay is recorded automatically whenever a stage is selected with a specific ship, and the existing replay is silently overwritten. Touring mode does not overwrite single-stage replays. The replay file is a huge, fixed-length buffer that can be compressed really really well.
- Aborting: Hold Esc for 5 seconds to skip to the end of a level. This gives you an opportunity to peek at the next one or to quit playing.
Ships
This is the part I originally wanted to write up, behavior/weapon descriptions for the playable ships. There are 4 weapon buttons, bound to ZXCV. V is always for bomb. There are 4 movement speeds: normal, slow, very slow, and stopped. Most ships default to normal speed when not firing. There are probably mistakes in these speed comments.
Type WLS: Human characters. They have a modal attack system and seem to have either a wider buzz radius or faster recharging from buzz than the other ships. The WLS bomb creates a small, immobile circle that is protected from bullets. If the bomb was created in attack mode 1, then the circle reflects bullets. In attack mode 2, the circle instead fires enhanced versions of regular weapons from either mode.
WLS-003 Mahilo
Mode Change: X in either mode. Mode 2 causes slow motion.
Main shot: Z in mode 1. Looks like DDP type A. The main beam wiggles a little bit. Causes slow motion.
Zapper: Tap Z in mode 1. Must be activated by not firing for a second. There is a sound when it is ready, and the character flashes white. Two green shots appear beside/behind Mahilo and move upward very fast. They slow down when they hit something.
Quad shot: Z in mode 2. Fires heave shots about 30 deg. And 60 deg. off vertical.
Cluster Bomb: Hold Z, tap C in mode 2. Fires a small bomb forward, explodes on impact. Turns bullets into gems. Costs 33% energy.
Sword: C in either mode. Damages anything at very close range. Turns bullets into gems.
WLS-004 Yoxola
Mode Change: X in either mode. Mode 2 causes slow motion.
Main shot: Z in mode 1. Slightly spreading shot. Causes slow motion.
Side shot: Hold Z, press X in mode 1. Like main shot, but sideways. Causes slow motion.
Quad shot: Tap Z in mode 1. Must be activated by not firing for a second. There is a sound when it is ready, and the character flashes white. Fires 4 slow, piercing shots in same direction as Mahilo's quad.
Beam: Z in mode 2. Fires instantaneous, piercing beam forward.
Wide Beam: Hold Z, tap C in mode 2. Fires a set of beams that cover the whole front quadrant. Turns bullets into gems. Costs 75% energy.
Spear: C in either mode. Has short forward range, very short backward range. Turns bullets into gems.
Type USE: Crystal-looking ships. The USE bomb causes heavy damage to everything for about a second and cancels bullets.
USE-01W Nyphn
Single shot: Tap Z. Fires a single, fast shot. Not sure if it's stronger than the double shot.
Double shot: Hold Z. Like single shot, but slower and maybe weaker. Causes slow motion.
Quad shot: Hold X. Fires piercing shots to all 4 diagonals, parallel to play field's main diagonals.
Curve shot: Press Z+X. Fires 4 shots that start along forward diagonals, turn inward, and cross. Leaves an explosion on impact.
Side spear: Tap C. Fires a long blast to either side. Turns bullets into gems. Costs 25% energy.
USE-01L Gophn
3-way/green: Hold Z. Fires a piercing beam forward and a beam at each target. The beam aimed at green is slightly stronger. Causes slow motion for the player and normal motion for the green target.
3-way/red: Hold X. Similar to 3-way/green, but the beam aimed at red is stronger now, and it causes stopped motion for the player. Re-targets any active 8-way shots to the red target.
Reset: Press Z+X. Returns both targets to the middle of the screen and drops an object under Gophn. The object repels bullets and damages anything it touches for a couple of seconds. This attack prevents new 8-way shots while active.
8-way shot: Tap C. Creates a ring of 8 points that each fire a beam at the green target. They move outward while firing, and they can expire prematurely if they leave the screen. Turns bullets into gems. Costs 50% energy.
Type EDS: Machines. They have faster bomb recharging. The EDS bomb cancels bullets for an instant and fires a few dozen homing shots for several seconds.
EDS-39-F Hykyh: Hykyh's default speed is slow.
Leaning shot: Hold Z. If you move sideways, most of the shots will aim slightly in that direction.
Leading shot 2: Hold Z+X. Like the regular leading shot, but the shot leans more, and it causes stopped motion.
Wide shot: Hold X. Fires forward from 2 well-separated origins and fires waving shots to the sides.
Shadow: Hold C. Creates a damaging shadow that follows the ship for about a second. Provides immunity to collisions with destructible enemies and causes normal motion.
Shadow beam: Hold Z+C. A beam attack. Causes very slow motion.
Shadow claws: Hold X+C. Creates 3 claws to either side of the ship, causes very slow motion.
EDS-74-M Khyh: Khyh's default speed is slow. I think. It was normal in v1.40.
Tight shot: Hold Z. Strong, focused fire.
Loose shot: Hold Z+X. Fires forward, but from positions to the side of the ship.
Spread shot: Hold X. Fides spreading shots, none forward. Causes slow motion.
Charge fireball: Hold C. While it is charging, the little bits of fire it collects can damage things. The fireball itself can damage things, too.
Break charge: Tap Z/X while holding C. This will restart the charging sequence.
Fire beam: Release C when fully charged. Fires a piercing beam that gets wider when it hits things. Causes stopped motion while firing.
IMO, Khyh and Nyphn are the easiest to use, and Khyh and Gophn are the most powerful. Gophn is insanely hard to use, but it eats through bosses in seconds even if you can't use it that well.
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