gameoverDude wrote:I've done 2.6M for Area B, though I'd still say Icarus did a little better in his replay for the first zone. The Captain Capture bonus for this would be 300,000 more onto the end game total- so we're nearly even on score, but he has five capture balls left (I finish with 3). Looks like Area A may be the better one for score-capture ball ratio.
You can get over 3mil for both Alpha A and B if you expend all your Capture Balls. However I do not recommend it at all, as those Capture Balls are far more important for the later stages where scoring opportunities are more frequent.
The technique in my
2.3mil Alpha-A vid is a variation of HARUKA's overall technique for conserving Capture Balls while scoring over 2mil for the stage. His method of dealing with Eclipse Eye - using the Captain's missiles to destroy one eye and cheek part, while weakening the other eye and cheek for the counter beam - is very difficult as it requires very controlled bursts of fire, something the PSX and probably PS2 ports don't have.
One tip I'll give you is to learn the location of all of the high scoring formations in each stage - high scoring is 10k or higher for the formation - and work them into an Alpha Beam routine. Unlike your Shot, your Alpha Beam has a half-second extra leeway in destroying enemies, meaning you can let something go off the right side of the screen for at least half a second and still destroy it with a Beam. Use this to your advantage in timing attacks, you see HARUKA use it quite liberally.
One other thing: this idea of planning your beam attacks around the higher scoring formations also applies to Border Down. ^_-
gameoverDude wrote:One interesting trick for some moments of invincibility (or protecting a captured Captain) in HARUKA's replay is the Fake Alpha Beam, where you temporarily absorb an enemy but release the button instead of holding to complete the charge.
Yup. In places where protecting the Captain is required to score high - such as both Queen and Fire Fossil - beam cancelling helps to preserve the Captain's hitpoints. On the slowdown-plagued PSX version it is much harder to do (otherwise I'd be using it during Fire Fossil) but it might be easier to do on the PS2 version.
gameoverDude wrote:The PS2 G. Darius seems to have less slowdown, maybe even compared to the PCB Ver 2.03J (I assume that's the one in the HARUKA vid).
The PS2 version, from what I hear, is very close to the original hardware. Meaning no slowdown at all. Which is great.
I like all the fishies. ... Except for Queen Fossil. 
...)