ST: ESPGaluda II

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GaijinPunch
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ST: ESPGaluda II

Post by GaijinPunch »

History, etc.
  • 07.27.06 - added Gwyrgyn Blood's 360 modes guide
  • 07.27.06 - some clean up, got rid of superfluous info
  • 05.14.06 - added requirements for Shin Seseri
  • 01.16.06 - added the two zesshikai and bullet speed graphs
  • 01.08.06 - added a bit of info to the kakusei shikai section
  • 12.28.05 - deleted a part that I think was wrong, added valuable bug & gem collecting info
  • 12.25.05 - changed the order of some things; added info on getting hit
  • 12.22.05 - fixed the clear bonus and added comments
  • 12.18.05 - added some kakusei over info
  • 12.13.05 - added links and more scoring info
  • 12.10.05 - added boss strategies
Background & Basics:
Vocab:
-Zako: A "popcorn" enemy. Basically the enemies that die with one hit..
-Hakkyou: A term which literally means "to go mad" but in Galuda II is referred to when the bosses spit out a stupid amount of bullets, in excess of 500 on screen at once, to be precise.

Shooting:
Each of the three characters has two firing attacks. Like most Cave games, presseing the button repeatedly will fire a shot, keeping ship speed the same. Holding the button down will result in the lapia (laser), and ship speed will decrease. Note each character's specifcs in their own section.

Guard Barrier:
Like it's prequel, ESPGaluda II has the guard barrier in place of bombs. Pressing the guard barrier (C button) once, without holding it down will result in losing 25% of your remaining gauge. Holding it down will result in a greater amount, relative to how long the button was held. The longer you hold down the button, the more damage is dealt. Notice that destroying items with the guard barrier will not generate gems. As talked about later, auto guard barrier results in losing 50% of your gauge in kakusei mode, and 100% in kakusei zesshikai.

Hit Box:
The hit box is a very small area on the character's back. When holding the fire button down, the hit box will shine.

Characters:
  • Ageha: The most well-rounded of the characters. Character on the left of the character select screen. Male, becomes female in kakusei mode. Like in the original ESPGaluda, shoots straight, but can achieve an angle if he fires as he moves laterally. In kakusei mode, his laser is strengthened.
  • Tateha: Said by some as the most challenging of the three characters. A female, that becomes male in kakusei mode. The character on the right during the stage select. Shoots in a spread fashion, but moves much slower than Ageha or Asagi. In kakusei mode, her shot is strengthened.
  • Asagi: The newest character, is in the middle/top of the character select. Her shot is strong linear, but she has ghosts (options) that trail her. Her shot shoots a laser, and the ghosts have a sort of homing function. Shooting laser in kakusei mode results in ghosts surrounding an enemy and shooting him directly. [Not sure exactly what decides which enemy is surrounded]. She seems extremely weak when she starts off, but is the strongest of the three in at full power, which happens during stage 3. It's said that the boss fights towards the end of the game are easiest with Asagi.
  • Tsubame: First stage boss.
  • Madara: 2nd stage mid-boss and 4th stage boss. Most (JPN) forums refer to him by his is a nickname, Wehha, due to his (wehhahaa) laugh.
  • Janome: 3rd stage boss, Tsubame's older sister. Pronounced JAH-NO-ME (as in merit).
  • Ikare Seseri: 5th stage boss. Bullet patterns intensify if reached with specific criteria met. No miss + Kakusei Over Level 3.
Modes:
  • Normal Mode: This is the mode that the game is started in. Destroying enemies results in collecting gems. Getting hit by a bullet or enemy in this mode will result in a loss of life. Gem counter will go to 250. Kakusei level, shot strength, and gold count remain the same.
  • Kakusei Shikai: The mode you enter by pressing B. In this mode, bullets go slower, and are turned to gold if you destroy the enemy firing them which are intern factored by a multiplier for higher points. The multiplier maxes at x100 in this mode. Only gems deplete in this mode. Destroying enemies in this mode will consume extra gems, depending on their size. Hitting a bullet or enemy in this mode will trigger the auto-barrier. This will result in depletion of 50% of the total guard barrier bar. If less than 50% remains, it will then be empty. No gems or gold are lost. If no guard barrier remains when getting his, this will result in the loss of one life.
  • Kakusei Zesshikai: Entered by pressing and holding B, in this mode bullet patterns often become more fierce, but the multiplier is maxed at x500. Note that bullets in this mode are not turned into gold, but actually spawn more bullets. Gold and gems both deplete in this mode.
  • Kakusei Shikai Over: This mode is entered when player either presses B with no gems, or gem counter reaches zero in kakusei mode. Bullets speed up, and become red. Destroying enemies in this mode render one gold, and are not factored by a multiplier. Getting hit by a bullet in this mode will trigger the auto barrier, and will consume the entire barrier meter. Arcade translated the gold depletion rate opposed to gem depletion as follows:

    Code: Select all

    Stage 1     500 gems     999 gold
    Stage 2     500 gems     999 gold
    Stage 3     500 gems     666 gold
    Stage 4     500 gems     666 gold
    Stage 5     500 gems     499 gold
    Stage 6     500 gems     499 gold
    
    Unlike regular kakusei mode, destroying enemies in this mode results in very small (if any) loss of gems. A chart for both modes is listed below (as found in Arcadia).

    Code: Select all

                  Boss      Normal Enemy     Zako
    Kakusei       -60            -25          -5
    Zesshikai     -50            -10           0
    
    Striking a bullet in this mode will trigger the auto-barrier, and will result in the loss of the entire remaining barrier gauge. Mode will then be changed to Kakusei, where normal kakusei rules apply. The multiplier should pick up where it left off, but will not exceed x100. Note that if you continue to kill enemies in this mode thinking you're in zesshikai, you will find your gem counter hit zero, very fast. Other than the cost of going form zesshikai to regular kakusei, there is no loss of gems or gold. If no guard barrier remains when getting his, results will be the same as dying.
  • Kakusei Zesshikai Over: Entered when gem counter reaches zero in kakusei zesshikai mode, or if attempting to enter zesshikai mode with a gem counter of zero. This mode cannot be entered with a gold count of zero. Hitting a bullet or enemy in this mode will trigger the auto-barrier, and consume the entire barrier gauge. If no gauge remains, a life is lost.
System:
  • Gems: Gems (seiseki) are collected when defeating enemies, and are used in the two kakusei modes. In the original game, destroying enemies in the top 20% or so of the screen resulted in a small amount of bonus gems. This seems to not be the case this time. For starters, the gem counter is incremented in 1's when enemies are destroyed with the shot (from a far distance), and in 2's, when destroying them with the lapia. By getting as close to the enemy as possible and shooting with the shot, more gems should be produced. You can test this on the first stage. Up to the first cannon, if you kill everything with the shot from the bottom of the screen, you should have about 200 gems. If you kill everything with the lapia, you should have about 230 gems. If you kill everything from a short distance, you should have 250-260 gems. Bosses act in a similar manner. Finishing the first form of the Stage 1 boss with the shot results in 22 gems, whereas the lapia results in 44. Finishing this form with the shot from almost zero distance will result in 88 gems. NOTE: I have gotten 22 gems when killing the boss with the lapia, so there are still some unknowns.
  • Kakusei Level: Like in the first game, there is a kakusei level. Stay in either kakusei mode with no gems, and a dial will circle your character in counter-clockwise motion. When it finishes (at level 4) the dial will disappear. The higher the kakusei level, the more gems are generated from defeated enemies in normal mode, and more gold is generated in either kakusei over mode. Red bullets will also travel faster in relation to the kakusei level. Unlike the previous installment, your kakusei level is retained when you die.
  • Scoring:
    Still no specifics are known, but it appears that not all bullets have the same base value. Specifically, bullets that are spawned by other bullets and by killing enemies do not result in that many points, even if applied to a x500 multiplier. As such, destroying an enemy (IE, a boss) with 500 bullets on screen will yield a far higher score than chaining several zako together, even though you can get a considerable more amount of x500s. This should be apparent from the level 1 video floating around on the net. Towards the end of the stage, the player gets quite a few x500's, but only makes about 5 million points total. On the boss, he only gets the multiplier up to x400, but gets close to the same amount of points.
  • Clear Bonus
    • Basic Bonus: 10,000,000
    • Each Life: 20,000,000
    • Barrier: Max 10,000,000
    • Each Gold: 10,000
    • This is what it says, but I got about 80 million as my clear bonus, with no remaining lives, about half my barrier, and however many gold you get when you kill the last boss.
Other Useful Stuff:
Boss Fights:
  • Gold:Some noticeable differences occur during boss fights. For starters, your gold is continually depleted. The longer the boss fight, the more gold you lose. As far as I know, gold is lost at the same rate as the first game.
  • Zesshikai Notes:
    • Only in boss fights, bullets cancelled in Zesshikai do not spawn other bullets, regardless of whether the boss fight is ending or not.
    • Certain patterns will result in double or more the amount of bullets. Unfortunately, you often have to wait a while for these patterns.
    • Finishing off a bar section (IE - triggering the multiplier bonus) in a boss fight in zesshikai makes the gem and gold counter behave like regular kakusei mode. That is, after the multiplier is triggered, both counters will be depleted by a certain amount.
Triggers
  • 1-UP item: This is a multi-step process:
    • Destroy all the parts on the Stage 3 mid-boss (3 on the left, 3 on the right)
    • Don't use your barrier (including auto) from the mid-boss until the life item
    • At the very end of the stage, as you get the energy replenishing item, there's a spot on the left with two brown shaped cones. One is slightly to the left and up from the other. Shoot this area in Zesshikai mode for a 1-up item.
  • Shin Seseri: No-miss up to Seseri (stage 5 boss) in Kakusei Level at 3. 1-Player mode only.
  • Stage 2 Gem/Gold Fountain: Destroying the Stage 2 midboss (Madara) quickly (guard barrier or a lot of gems required) will result in the turret at the end of the battle ship when the screen scrolls horizontally to give off a fountain either gems or gold. The strategy book accompanying the DVD says it's random, but some evidence proves otherwise. Not destroying the first battleship (at the first of the stage) seems to throw things in favor of the fountain giving off gems (the more beneficial of the two).
Advice for clearing:
  • MAX Kakusei level is a must. Even if you die, kakusei level is retained. The kakusei meter speed also dosen't change if you're shooting or at a standstill.
  • Kakusei Zesshikai is not only for points. Gems and gold in Zesshikai mode only deplete with time, not enemies killed like in normal Kakusei mode. In Zesshikai, there are many safe places throughout the game that would be otherwise difficult. Stage 5 goes to reverse-vertical scroll, and when the Alice clones pop out on stage 6 to name a few.
  • Close up Zesshikai with normal Kakusei. When leaving Zesshikai mode, depending on how many enemies you killed, you'll have quite a few bullets to dodge through... sometimes an impossible amount. If you've saved some gems, go into normal kakusei mode, and kill anything on the screen to cancel these bullets. The multiplier will only go to 100, and they won't turn to gold, but it is a much safer route.
Misc.
  • Rank: The only things related to rank thus far are the stage 2 fountain and True Seseri. All boss bullet patterns are sequential - with no variations.
  • Tutorial bug: During the tutorial, as your character starts shooting enemies and gems appear, before the character in the demo grabs them and they're added to the counter, press the start/fire button to start the game. You will start with this many gems.
  • Seseri's Stand: For those that don't know how to use Google's language tools, the writing on Seseri's podium say, "Shinra, my homeland" in German.
  • Sound bugs:Perhaps limited to my board, or even my ears, it seems that some special effect sounds are sometimes muted... even the extend chime.
  • Stage 2 Freeze Bug: There's some situations where the game will freeze when getting the power up item just before the Stage 2 boss. This has also been reported to happen on the Stage 2 mid-boss.
  • Life up bug:
    (This may be bullshit)
    A very bad bug that I've not gotten to test myself, but apparently one can really abuse this one to help with a 1CC. I believe for it to work, you need to be on the last form of the 2nd boss, with a score under 35 million (or whatever the 2nd extend is). Suicide, then go into zesshikai during his hakkyou for big scoring. When the 1UP is triggered at 35 million, you should have 7 full life containers. Picking up the 1UP item on stage 3 will give you another life, but the containers will not extend past 7.

    UPDATE: There's a video out there where the player has 7 life containers, so I think this one is real, although I'm not 100% sure if that's how it works.
Advanced Strategy
We're now getting into my realm of trial (and more so) error, so take everything with a grain of salt.

A bit beyond the basics of scoring:
The main gist of it is to raise the gem and gold counter, and then destroy enemies in zesshikai mode. In the original, you would aim for an enemy that shot out a lot of bullets. For the most part, that idea still remains, but to take full advantage of the multiplier, you'll almost always have to chain a few enemies - preferably ones that are firing. As stated before, any cancelled bullets spawn more bullets, which is where the chaining comes in. Also worth noting is that killing an enemy that has shot no bullets results in a "spiral" of bullets that shoot in multiple directions. This can be beneficial, as you can in theory rack up points even from enemies that don't fire. A very simple example would be the following. Let's say there's 3 enemies on the screen, and I've got the benefit of killing them when I want. The first one shoots of 100 bullets. I enter zesshikai and blow him away. For the first bullet, the multiplier is at x1, and for the last it's at x100. Great. Now, all 100 of those bullets spawn more bullets. I'm not sure exactly how many, but we'll say 1 for 1 to keep it easy. Now, I kill enemy number two who has also shot 100 bullets (that are still on screen mind you). After killing him, the counter starts at x101, and will go up to x300 as there are 100 respawned bullets and hundred normal bullets on screen. I go to enemy #3 who has only shot 50 bullets. The counter starts at x301, and quickly goes to x500, as there are 250 bullets on screen. I now get x500 for every bullet on screen when any enemy on screen is destroyed. If more enemies appear on screen, great. Kill them, and keep the x500's coming. That is, the very simple way of looking at it. The down side is that spawned bullets do not give as many points as bullets that are shot. It can still be a great scoring opportunity, but not as good as a boss that spams bullets.

The Dangers of Zesshikai:
There are two things that take a while to get used two.

First, things can quickly get messy, so thinking out where is a good place to go into zesshikai is half the battle. Doing it on a midboss where you're surrounded by bullets might be the answer, but you're going to have some bullets chasing you. There's a small frame of time where these bullets are harmless. Now is a good time to haul balls across the screen and kill another zako to rack up some points. There are only two ways to get rid of the respawned bullets at this point. Go out of zesshikai into normal mode, and then back into normal kakusei mode, and kill something. You'll be awarded an x100 multiplier for each bullet, but receive no gold and this will require a handful of gems, but the bullets will be gone. The other method is to let the bullets go offscreen, which isn't always that hard, but always carries a certain amount of risk. Everytime the bullets respawn, they will eventually start coming for you. This will require you to think ahead, but if there's ample space, you can easily lead the bullets offscreen, and don't have to waste any gems to "clean up" the screen.

Secondly, there's a small lag between killing the enemy, and the bullets respawning. If you kill one too fast, the bullet's will not respond. This will suck b/c you don't make as many points (in theory), and the bullets are most likely on a direct path to mess you up. If you're one of those players that likes to dash across a screen full of bullets during the respawn (when it's safe) you might have only half a screen full of harmless, spawning bullets, and another half full of painfully harmful real ones. Unfortunately, there's really no way around this other than putting in a little lag between each enemy you destroy. If you go into zesshikai mode and start blasting, you just have to figure out what bullets are spawning and which aren't.

Fans of the original game might find the new mode a bit hard to get used to. The safety of normal kakusei isn't really there. In fact, there are only a few places where the zesshikai is truly a safer option. The biggest danger of all though, is actually leaving the zesshikai mode. It seems that onscreen bullets simply change speed at random. There is, however, some conformity to this. Understanding what you're up against when you leave zesshikai mode will help. Below is a chart of bullet speeds from Arcadia. It's rather cryptic in itself. As best as I can make it, the different occurrences are:

Regular = is the mode before or after kakusei
At Start = this is the "entering" of the mode phase
During = obviously, during the mode
At Stop = the split second gap between during, and regular.

Bullet Types are
Regular = regular bullets
Respawn = bullets that are spawned from enemies, or other bullets.
Changing = the stage inbetween the two above types.

Code: Select all

Condition   |  Bullet    |  Regular  |  At Start  |   During   |   At Stop
Kakusei     |  Regular   |  Normal   |    Slow    |    Slow    |    Slow
            |  Respawn   |   Slow    |   Normal   |   Normal   |    Fast
Zesshikai   |  Regular   |  Normal   |    Slow    |   Medium   |   Medium
            |  Changing  |   Slow    |    Stop    |    Stop    |    Stop
            |  Respawn   |   Slow    |   Normal   |   Normal   |    Fast

Raising the Kakusei Level:
For scoring or clearing, maxing one's kakusei level is a must. Much like the first game, doing at least most of it on stage 1 is not a bad idea. Considering you can get 900+ gold long before the stage 1 mid-boss, this is an ideal time to get it out of the way. One can gain 2 kakusei levels by going into kakusei over mode a bit after the big cannon (left-hand side of the screen) and ending just into the mid-boss's first attack. Make sure not to destroy his claws in kakusei mode... the gems will come in handy later. If you're not a stickler for score, doing it again at the end of stage 1 just before the boss is okay, but you likely lose a good zesshikai opportunity. The beginning of stage 2 is also a place where point loss is minimal. The beginning of stage 3 is okay, but that's a little late in the game.

Boss Strats:
  • Stage 1: Pretty standard. Does a hakkyou in his 2nd form, 3rd (?) wave. There's a higher scoring opportunity, but requires the player to go to the far upper right corner at the right moment, enter zesshikai, and then destroy the boss.
  • Stage 2: Also pretty easy. Has a few Mushihime-sama-esque patterns. Features one true hakkyou on his 3rd and final form, 1st wave, and not a hakkyou, but enough bullets to hit x500 if zesshikai mode is entered quick enough, on the 2nd wave of his 2nd form. You can even get up to around X475 relatively easily on the last wave of his first form, for a total of three zesshikai scoring opportunities, assuming you have the gems.
  • Stage 3: The first boss with some genuine difficulty, particularly the pattern on her final form. Staying in the middle is tricky, to say the least. Before the pattern starts, try going almost all the way to either the right or left side. Does a hakkyou twice, but neither in very opportune times. The first is the end of the 3rd wave on her 1st form. Inconvenient (for at least Ageha players) as if you're continually firing your rapier, you'll kill her too fast. Slow it down, or do some dodging and go into zesshikai just before she fires the third round of round bullets (in all directions). A scream marks the first round, so you can't miss it.. Kill her too fast or too late, and you won't get to x500. Her 2nd hakkyou is like the first but worse. You have to wait much longer (losing gold as you go, btw) and have a tricky pattern to dodge if you're not firing your laser (which you won't be as Ageha unless you didn't fire at all earlier). The timing of this hakkyou is less forgiving as well. In all honesty, I usually don't bother. Maybe it's easier as Asagi.
  • Stage 4: This boss takes a while to get used to, and even then can dish out some problems. I'll break this one up to make it easier to read.

    There's a slightly safe spot on his 1st waves of his 1st two forms - directly above him. He will shoot at you, but once you get in the groove, these bullets are easily dodged. The 2nd wave of the 1st form will shoot straight down, so you're in the clear. The 3rd wave will fire at you, so best go down and start attacking.

    The 1st wave of the 2nd form is much like the 1st wave of the 1st form, but he fires at a higher frequency. Once you dodge, he will fire straight down again for the next wave. Note that to avoid both of these waves, you need to be directly in the middle of the boss. When the 2nd wave is done, wait for the little doors to open. This signals the 3rd wave. Wait a second, then go clockwise around down to below the boss. If you time it right, he'll fire a bunch of shit out to the right, and you've got a few free seconds to unload on him. The 4th wave is coming for you though, so put your dodging cap on. Note that destroying the parts on either side of him results in a more intense pattern. Good for scoring, but not for living.

    The 1st wave of the 3rd form isn't that hard to figure out. Just dodge through the "grid" of bullets, and be ready for the next wave, which can be tricky. It consists of "strings" of bullets. You'll most likely have to quit firing your lapia to get out of the way. The 3rd wave is pretty straight forward, but gets a bit intense if you wait too long.

    The 4th form has some pretty shitty patterns -- all of them you just have to get used to. There's no real safe spot or method that I know of. Destroying the parts on either side (at the top) results in a much more intense firing of bullets. It is good for scoring, but most patterns on the 4th stage involve a very long Zesshikai at the very end, which requires 500 gems and 500 gold -- meaning you won't have enough gold (if any) to go into zesshikai on the 4th and 5th form.

    The only wave of the 5th form starts off very easy, but gets a little tricky. It will eventually feature shit coming from the top, and both left and right. You can destroy the parts on either side for a pattern alteration, but then you've got some diagonal bullets to mix it up.

    There are at least two places to get x500 in zesshikai on this boss. Namely, the last two forms. On the 4th form, destroying both parts will work, but is very risky. For the 5th form, destroying only 1 part can result in x500 in zesshikai, but destroying both will get quite a few more x500's. Of course, this carries a bit of risk to it.
  • Stage 5: Coming Soon
  • Stage 6: Coming Not So Soon :(
Everything Else

Resources 360 Modes by Gwyrgyn Blood

Black Label

- Asagi is replaced by Seseri.

- New chaining bar, it's at the top of the screen. The multiplier for canceling bullets now goes to 1000x, and it will won't reset as long as this chaining bar doesn't drop to zero. You build the chain bar up by killing enemies and canceling bullets. In Kakusei and Zesshikai it drops much slower. In either Over mode it also slows down but not nearly as much.

- New 'Invincibility' bar that is used in Zesshikai mode, replaces the Player 2 bomb meter. It builds up from canceling bullets and drains slowly over time.

- Extends at ... ?

Normal Mode:
- Your shot now bullet cancels like Kakusei mode used to. You still get Gems for killing and more for point blanking. You can cancel respawned bullets this way too.
- Your chain bar drops off rapidly in this mode.

Kakusei Mode:
- Killing stuff in Kakusei mode causes them to shit out a lot of suicide bullets, but it doesn't cancel bullets anymore.

Zesshikai Mode:
- New 'Hyper' Meter replaces the P2 bomb meter. It fills up when you collect gold. While in Zesshikai, it appears over you as that dark green circular meter. You seem to be completely invincible during this. It takes a while to start dropping but then drops very fast.
- You can buzz bullets in Zesshikai, but not Zesshikai Over. Causes bullets to split, so you can get a lot more bullets on the screen by doing this. You can make bullets split more than once too.
- No idea what happens when you kill stuff in Zesshikai.

Over Mode:
- Kakusei Over doesn't cause enemies to shit out suicide bullets. Also doesn't seem to give you anything for killing enemies.
- You can cancel bullets in Zesshikai Over but they don't turn into gold. Seems to cause some limited bullet respawn. Respawned bullets seem to give gold when canceled.

Seseri Stuff:
- Normal Shot is just a strait linear, in Kakusei it has trailing options that seem to slightly arc with your movement and shoot blueish bullets. Seems pretty similar to Asagi.
- Normal Laser is just a strait forward set of small lasers. Kakusei Laser has 'aimable' shots kind of like Sakyura, they aim in the opposite way you are going, like Trace formation from Garegga.


Arrange Mode

- You can stock up to 1000 gems now. Gold still capped at 1000.
- Extends every 100m points.
- You start with 5 lives.

- There are more bullet colors now:
Blue = Cancel with Shot (turns into Gems)
Pink = Cancel with Laser (turns into Gems)
Purple = Can't be canceled with shot/laser. Can be canceled by killing the parent in Kakusei/Zesshikai. Fairly rare but respawned bullets are this color too.
Dark Purple = Can't be canceled with shot/laser. Blue/Pink change to this color in Kakusei/Zesshikai, and can be canceled just like Purple bullets.
Dark Red = Bullets change to this color in Over mode. Can be canceled with anything, turn into gold (which is just worth points it seems).

Normal Mode:
- Shot Cancels Blue Bullets, Laser Cancels Red Bullets. They turn into Gems.
- If your gems are maxed out, canceled bullets still turn into Gems (not Gold).
- Switching into Laser or back to Shot causes you to LOSE Gems! You lose 5% (rounded down) of your current stock.
- No Autobomb.
- If you try to activate Kakusei while completely out of gold/gems, you just get a barrier instead.

Kakusei Mode:
- Basically the same as normal. Multiplier still caps at 100x, all bullets cancel and turn into gold.

Zesshikai Mode:
- Basically the same as normal? Bullets will only respawn once though.
- Respawned bullets are light Purple in color but can be canceled as in the normal game.

Over Mode:
- Consumes Gold. All bullets turn Dark Red and can be canceled with Shot or Laser, they turn into gold bars when canceled but it isn't added to your gold meter. The size of the gold bars increases the longer you are in this mode, and they seem to be worth a lot of points at max value.
- If you run out of gold while in Over, you switch back to normal mode.


Omake Mode

- New 'Total' Counter at the top of the screen. Builds up over the course of the level. Seems to directly relate to scoring. Drains rapidly while fighting bosses.
- Grabbing gems or gold increases your total counter.
- When you grab a gem or gold, it displays your Total counter above your character, and below that it shows a small +counter. This +counter is the number of that item you have in stock currently (so if you have 400 gems, it shows +400).

- Gems seem to not have much value, but Gold is multiplied by your Total Counter?

- Extends at 15m and 35m as normal.
- You can get the extend in Stage 3 even if you have bombed. You just need Kakusei to do it.

- Some large enemies will play the 'almost dead' voice like bosses do.

Bomb:
- You can't activate bomb manually??
- You will always autobomb when hit. It only costs maybe 1/8th your meter? But you can choose to charge longer and use additional meter.
- Bombing bullets turns them into gems. They will not turn into gold even if your gems are full.
- Killing enemies with bombs still causes them to drop items.
- Getting 1000 Gold refills your bomb meter by 50%.

- Having full Bomb and Gold plays a unique sound. When here, you can activate a special Zesshikai mode?

Normal Mode:
- When bullets get close to you, they turn red and slow down. You can cancel these bullets somehow and they turn into gems. They will never turn into gold even if your gems are full.
- Killing enemies drops gems as normal, but if you are maxed on gems, they drop gold instead.
- If you kill a boss form in this mode, all of the bullets cancel into gems.

Kakusei Mode:
- Killing enemies makes the coin insert sound. :I
- Your circular meter is doing something weird. It has three colors (red/green/yellow) and drains rapidly. It fills back up when you kill stuff.
- Total counter drains slowly in this mode.
- Switching into or out of Kakusei mode causes all red bullets around you to cancel, but they don't turn into gems!

- If you switch out of Kakusei after killed a boss form, you may cause some of the bullets to turn into gems and some into gold.
Last edited by GaijinPunch on Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:59 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by Wanderer »

Bumping this great resource for all the new Espgaluda II PCB owners.
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Monk 0 Nuggets
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Post by Monk 0 Nuggets »

Can someone do this for Ibara?
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Post by system11 »

I just got mine - the press + hold B for Kakusei Zesshikai, I haven't managed to reliably do this yet, seems to keep reverting to normal Kakusei. You you press+hold just to enter it, or keep it held for the duration?

Edit: now I understand, need gold+gems, not just gems.
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Post by Nakano »

bloodflowers wrote:I just got mine - the press + hold B for Kakusei Zesshikai, I haven't managed to reliably do this yet, seems to keep reverting to normal Kakusei. You you press+hold just to enter it, or keep it held for the duration?

Edit: now I understand, need gold+gems, not just gems.
So thats how they do it in the DVD! Right back to practising!
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Post by zakk »

Are there rank-triggered zakko?

I'm noticing I'm not getting some of the zakko in stage 2 that I see on the dvd. Example: right after you kill the mid-boss, and just before (and during) that last section of the stage.
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Post by Gwyrgyn Blood »

I honestly don't recall anything like that, there isn't really Rank in this game for the most part. With the midboss, you can get some extra large ships to appear if you kill him fast enough.
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Post by zakk »

There are entire groups of zakko that appear on the DVD that I never see in my games.

1) right after the midboss (I could see this being time triggered)
2) after the fountains, but before the big ship.
3) multiples during the last section. DVD player is in zesshikai the entire time, so they're hard to see, but there's at least 3 groups of them
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Post by EOJ »

You have to destroy all the parts of the first ship except the mast, then destroy the mast just as it is leaving the screen in order to trigger the extra waves of enemies in the level.
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Post by zakk »

EOJ wrote:You have to destroy all the parts of the first ship except the mast, then destroy the mast just as it is leaving the screen in order to trigger the extra waves of enemies in the level.
ah ha. lol@Cave
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Post by Gwyrgyn Blood »

Wow what the heck, I guess that's what I get for never watching a replay of the game before. Maybe that would help my Stage 2 score not suck so much. Of course, my score would be considerably higher if I were to actually hammer out a 1cc at some point. -___-
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Post by GaijinPunch »

zakk wrote: 1) right after the midboss (I could see this being time triggered)
Not played this in a while (and I know I'm way late to this) but I'm pretty sure they are time triggered only (or a combination). I always leave the mast of the first ship, but don't always get the extra little guys.
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Post by XIONG »

Did not receive additional small guy, so I do not understand is, why should the first to open mast ship.
Perhaps this is not, I hope.
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Post by GaijinPunch »

Try killing Madara faster.
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Post by Kiken »

Just one minor note, GP, what's you're transliterating as laypia (holding down the shot button) should be Rapier (like the blade).
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Post by GaijinPunch »

Thanks, Kiken. At least I didn't spell it Labia.
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Post by RGC »

GaijinPunch wrote:Thanks, Kiken. At least I didn't spell it Labia.
Now there's a shooting concept. :)
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Post by neorichieb1971 »

Can someone enlighten me what the basics are in English please?

I notice in setup mode it supports four buttons. I figured that A button shoots and B button does the slowdown thing (I'm sure you used a specific term for it above but I don't know what your talking about).



The C button and D button I've not touched yet. Still learning.

My PCB defaults to easy 1 setting is that right?

Sorry for the basic questions, but they don't seem to be answered above.


When you press the B button are you invulnerable? Or am I just lucky?


Thanks for any responses.. It looks fantastic though, well happy with it.
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Post by Necronopticous »

Most of your questions can be answered by watching the "How to play" segment at the beginning of the game.

The correct term for the slowdown thing toggled by the B button is "Kakusei" mode. It is also possible to enter Zesshikai mode by holding this button down, provided you have green gems and gold, but I wouldn't really worry about that one until you start getting really serious about scoring or getting the 1cc.

Buttons C and D correspond to your bomb (an energy shield that you can charge up and unleash by holding and releasing the button), and full auto fire, respectively. These buttons can be swapped by choosing the second button option.

My board defaults to difficulty 2.

You are not invulnerable in Kakusei or Zesshikai mode, however, bullets are slowed down (provided you have green gems; these are your "meter" for this mode), and you will autobomb in the event that you get hit and have some of your bomb meter left. Though it can save you, it's best to avoid letting the autobomb happen if you can avoid it, as it will take significantly more of your bomb meter than manually deploying your bomb would.

I hope this helps. Like I said, for a visual demonstration of the core gameplay concepts, watch that "How to play" segment at least once.

Congrats on picking up this great game.
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Post by neorichieb1971 »

Thanks my friend.
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Post by msm »

i'm currently playing this much like the first one so clearly i'm missing out on loads of points, i'm not after a mega score but just want to get to 35m so i can get the next extend - anyone got any tips for some easy extra points? like should i be using the new slowdown mode at the end of each boss?

any tips much appreciated!

i've been trying to use the new slowdown thing at various points, sometimes i survive it but i can't really tell if it's working as i can't see the score. tried 3 different 14" crt's and i can't see the score or left edge of the screen on any of them so trying to sort out a new tv soon.

thanks to this guide i'm getting the 1up and getting to max red bullet level right at the start for more gems, but that's all i have so far in terms of stratergy :D
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Post by Gwyrgyn Blood »

In general you want to stock up gems and gold and then cash in with Zesshikai on enemies that spit out shit loads of bullets. You also want to cancel the respawned bullets as much as possible because these are worth a bit of points as well (usually in the 1-2 million range for each screen worth canceled). Bosses are also good for scoring too, you'll want to find the patterns that spit out the most bullets, enter Zesshikai, and then finish them off. Some boss patterns can get you over 20 million for this.

Unfortunately, points are rarely earned easily in this game. But if you just learn to Zesshikai cancel bosses 1 and 2 properly you should easily be able to get 35m+ points.
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Post by msm »

i've never been one for waiting around before killing a boss but i'll certainly give it a go, thanks :D
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Post by billd420 »

I just got up on a copy of Espgaluda 2 yesterday. Thank you so much GaijinPunch for this amazing guide! You're a prince among men :D
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Post by system11 »

Ok, so I'm watching this superplay here:
http://www.super-play.co.uk/index.php?superplay=432

The player goes into Zesshikai early on, but I'm sure that's saying 0 gold gems. I've tried again and again but -cannot- enter Zesshikai without gems at that point, anyone know what I'm missing?
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Post by EOJ »

You can enter Zesshikai with 0 gold if you hold the kakusei button down when you enter Kakusei. Keep holding it, and once you cancel a lot of bullets all of the gold gets added and you instantly enter Zesshikai (once this happens you can let go of the Kakusei button).
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Post by pixeljunkie »

I've watched the official Ageha superplay a number of times and I keep trying to get the extra life on stage 3, but I am obviously "not getting it". Could someone explain to me as you would a 5 year old how to get that extra life? I thought it had to do with taking out the 4 gun turrets at a particular time while fighting those 2 big guys...then shoot the top of the last castle roof before the boss in Kakusei Zesshikai mode.
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Post by jpj »

don't use any guard barrier as well :)
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Post by Gwyrgyn Blood »

You have to knock off all 6 turrets on the mid-boss and don't bomb anywhere between when the mid boss shows up and when you get the 1-up. You just need to be in Zesshikai to get it, you can do it in Zesshikai Over mode as well.
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Post by system11 »

EOJ wrote:You can enter Zesshikai with 0 gold if you hold the kakusei button down when you enter Kakusei. Keep holding it, and once you cancel a lot of bullets all of the gold gets added and you instantly enter Zesshikai (once this happens you can let go of the Kakusei button).
Thanks, I'm still not doing it quite right, but it did work a couple of times, just got to work out what I'm doing right/wrong each time. The time it worked I doubled my best stage 1 score, and I'm not anywhere close to the max that stage could give.
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