ST: Guwange -- created by Mode7

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Bydobasher
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ST: Guwange -- created by Mode7

Post by Bydobasher »

This ST was created by Mode7 and posted on the old forum. Mode7, if you're still around and want to regain editorial control of your work, please let me know so that I can subsequently delete this post.

Please note that the Secrets section originally contained an image that I don't presently know how to incorporate, as I don't know its URL. Or is there a way that I can upload the image from my machine?


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

Guwange

Related links:

Score Ranking
Official Cave Site
HTML Version
(Thanks to rtw for hosting!)

Basic Gameplay Mechanics

» Characters

Shishin: Shishin's main shot veers considerably from side to side to correspond with character movement. This is of great help once the game starts in with enemies at oddball angles.

Light Rain: A powerful and focused main shot and the highest speed of all characters makes Light Rain a natural choice for many players. She also sports what is recognized (by myself, anyway) to be the neatest sprite in the history of all games ever.

Gensuke: Wide but entirely linear, Gensuke's main shot also sports a mild penetrating ability, allowing it to often move through seemingly solid structures and obstructions.

For the most part spirits are functionally exact from character to character, but the simple difference in the shape of the Spirit itself is often enough to throw a person off once accustomed to a specific character. Also, Light Rain's spirit generates a napalm-style explosion that trails up the screen.


» Spirit Use

Successful play in Guwange revolves largely around proficient Spirit use. Holding down the A button will deploy your character's corresponding Spirit. The Spirit itself has free reign of the screen, but your character will be reduced to slower and strictly lateral movements. When engaging the Spirit without directly contacting an enemy, your main fire will be reduced to a small forward stream. Bring it into full contact and your main fire will be replaced entirely, and the Spirit will take up the cause.

The Spirit works best as an offensive weapon, and not as a defensive-style last resort. Try your best to avoid continually running the Spirit near the character to stave off incoming bullets, a mistake often made by amateurs. Since the Spirit can quickly access any section of the screen without danger, pre-emptive strikes and breaks are a simple matter and will go a long way to avoiding situations where you must respond defensively.

Important! As you engage your Spirit you will notice that it "flares" up around you before settling in front of your character. This flare is actually solid. By quickly engaging and disengaging the spirit (see "Regarding Auto-Fire") one can quickly gather up coins both to the sides and immediately in front of the character. This allows for efficient coin collection -- quick grab, I call it -- with minimal interruption to main fire.

That said, most of your Spirit use will of course focus on the...


» Bullet Break

When I say to use the Spirit offensively, I am referring largely to the Bullet Break. This is a technique that allows you to destroy bullets and convert them into precious coins. The execution is simple enough: as an enemy is destroyed by the Spirit, any bullets that are in contact with the Spirit (i.e. appear pink) will vanish and be converted into coins.

Things get slightly more complicated, however, when you take into consideration that there is a brief period after the destruction of an enemy in which the Spirit can still be used to quickly sweep up bullets that weren't close enough to the initial blast radius to be converted into coins. Conversely, one can quickly destroy an enemy after sliding off bullets and have those bullets converted into coins. Speed is the key in both cases.


» Bomb Use

I'm going to approach this topic much like my teachers approached the sex ed. I received in Junior High. That is, to strike a peculiar balance between explaining the mechanics behind it all and stressing why you should never, ever actually do it.

With that in mind, all characters come equipped with a standard bomb blast. Standard in that it is the same for each character, and standard in that it does just about what you'd expect: clears the screen of all threat and renders the user invulnerable. This is a Cave game, however, so of course there's a catch. Specifically, bomb use does not replenish the Skull Meter for its duration, meaning it puts your chain at a slow and creeping sort of risk.

The solution for those incapable of abstinence, then, is simply to plan ahead: panic bombing is a spectacularly poor idea. Ascertain where you require a bomb ahead of time, and then charge your Skull Meter to max capacity before deploying.

Another aspect of bomb use that many players remain blissfully unaware of is 360° control. By holding down the B button, one can direct the stream in a full radius. Not only is this ideal for sections such as the dreaded Stage 6 Squeeze, but it can also be used to direct the stream away from bosses, thus allowing you to avoid difficult patterns without harming the boss and missing out on additional coins either from Boss Breaks or Spirit Flux, both of which are discussed below.

Max bomb stock, incidentally, is five units. Exceeding stock results in a coin bonus of 3000.


» Regarding Auto-Fire

Guwange provides players with the option of setting the C button to full auto. This allows for faster Spirit deployment, enabling Quick Grabs and Spirit Flux techniques. Retaining sensation in your fingers even after extended play is a nice bonus as well.

Contributed by StorminNorman:

With regard to turning auto-fire on in emulators, it's as simple as using an emulator that lets you access the game's service mode, which is built in to the game code, and therefore the ROM image.

In MAME, you have to hold F2 (service) for a few seconds before it works-- this is true of all the Cave games supported by MAME. Once there you get three options. The one you want is Configuration. From there it should be easy to figure out how to enable it.

Then all you need to do is make sure that MAME has been configured to use 3 buttons for the game (it should be, by default) and you're away. The same process works on all Cave games except ESP Ra.De (which uses the C button for other purposes anyway.)

Please note that altering configuration settings WILL ERASE YOUR HIGH SCORES. Again, this appears to be true of all the Cave games.


Scoring Well in a Nutshell

Like most modern shooters, Guwange uses a chaining system as the basis of its scoring mechanics. Any coin collected while the Skull Meter remains at least partially filled is added to a cumulative point value. In the most basic of terms, the higher this value, the higher your potential score. Simple, right?


» The Skull Meter

Similar to the GP (Get Point) meter of the venerable DoDonPachi series, the Skull Meter is a chain indicator found in the upper left-hand corner of your screen. So long as the meter remains at least partially filled -- the smallest portion of even the initial skull is sufficient -- your chain will be maintained. As soon as the Skull Meter empties entirely, your chain is reset to zero and is typically replaced by a chain of profanity equal to or exceeding the length of the coin chain that was lost. You've also no doubt noticed that the Skull Meter begins to flash gold once five or more skulls have been filled. Don't worry -- I'm getting to that.

The Skull Meter is filled in two ways: either by using your main shot, or your Spirit. Different enemies will produce different responses in the Skull Meter depending on how you choose to dispense with them, so it is important when first starting out to watch your Skull Meter from time to time to determine the best course of action. As a general rule, the small foot soldiers that are found throughout the game will quickly boost your Skull Meter to the max when destroyed by your main shot, whereas larger turrets and their ilk require Spirit contact in order to maintain the Skull Meter.


» Coin Production

Destroying enemies with your main shot will often produce additional coin piles. If the Skull Meter was at maximum when the enemy was destroyed, this will be reflected in a larger payout. Hidden pots (revealed simply by walking over them) work in the same fashion: destroy them at a higher meter level to earn their full value. A small number of coins can also be earned by maxing out your Skull Meter by keeping it in constant contact with sturdier enemies or bosses. The number of coins earned in this fashion pales in comparison to the flux technique, however. All other coins will be earned either through Bullet Breaks or the infamous...


» 1,000 Mode

Once your coin chain reaches the 1000 mark, a wonderful thing happens. Remember the flashing gold Skull Meter that occurs as five or more skulls are filled? If your chain is at or beyond 1,000 coins, all main shot contact with destructible objects will produce a continual stream of small coins so long as the Skull Meter is flashing. The 1,000 mode state lends itself to a couple different techniques discussed in further detail below.


» Death and You

Though your character can sustain at least two hits before dying thanks to the game's inventive life-bar system, being struck also comes at the cost of a reduced coin chain. The amount lost corresponds to the bullet's "strength" (i.e. how much health was lost) but is typically a penalty of either 200 or 300 coins. Dying outright will halve your chain. Try not to do that.

Conversely, collecting food items while in a state of perfect health will cause bonuses to be awarded to your coin chain. They are as follows:

Image
Quick Snack = 2000 Coins

Image
Light Lunch= 3000 Coins

Image
Full Banquet= 4000 Coins


Boss Encounters

» Shifted Mechanics

A few aspects of the basic gameplay mechanics are altered slightly at boss encounters. Specifically:

Skull Meter Decline: The last five skulls of the meter (i.e. the range that triggers a flashing meter) still decline quite rapidly, but the intial five dissipate at a much slower rate during boss encounters. This allows you some leeway to run about with the main shot or to simply not attack at all, which is an important aspect of successful milking.

Bullet Breaks: While still possible (and in fact extremely handy), Bullet Breaks are not rewarded with coins during boss encounters. Instead, coins are earned as you move through attack sequences and, ulimately, destroy the boss.

Spirit Placement: Generally the spirit will always deploy directly in front of your character and remain there until moved or called back. During boss encounters, however, the spirit will not return to your character. This means you can park the Spirit on a given section of screen, engaging and disengaging its power as necessary. This is also an essential component of...


» Spirit Flux

The main benefit of enabling auto-fire comes in the form of Spirit Flux. The idea behind this technique is to hold the A button down just long enough to trigger a flashing Skull Meter, and then releasing in order to allow the main fire to strike the boss and trigger a stream of coins. With auto-fire enabled, quick successive taps to the A button while C is held is all that is required of the player. Without auto-fire, the A button must be held longer, resulting in fewer coins and a more demanding rhythm to maintain. Character movement must also be timed against the A button presses in order to avoid excessive Spirit movement.

All told, auto-fire holds a clear advantage and is the obvious choice for those playing for score.


» Milking

Since the Skull Meter depletes at such a slow rate, it is possible to do minimal damage to a boss while exploiting certain coin-producing attacks and sequences. Each time a boss attack sequence has to repeat itself it is accompanied by an increase in attack rank (difficulty), but this isn't enough to stop the more intrepid players. The two main milk points and techniques are as follows:

Stage 2 -- Centipede: Destruction of the tentacle-things that pop out of either side with your main fire will result in additional coins. This attack becomes quite violent if it has to loop any more than twice and requires precise bullet leading and spirit placement.

Stage 3 -- Cat Spider: The Cat Spider's second attack sequence involves "spores" that can be destroyed to reveal long strings of coins. Again, anywhere past two loops and the sequence becomes quite difficult. Expert players can boost their score during this section by upwards of 20 million points points across seven or eight attack sequence loops.

The main threat to survival is the large blue "arrowhead" spread -- watch the pattern's point of origin to determine positioning instead of responding to the spreads that flare out shortly thereafter. By that point it is typically too late.


Scoring Outside the Nutshell

» Bullet Stall

Occasionally there are uncharacteristically barren sections of gameplay where it seems nearly impossible to maintain your chain. The most obvious example is at the end of stage 3, where the enemies quit some time before the boss actually arrives. This is where bullet stalling comes in handy.

By isolating a single bullet, you can rest your spirit on top and follow its slowed trajectory for as long as necessary. This will sustain the Skull Meter and, of course, your all-important chain. Remember that you can chain right from one end of the game to the other.


» Bullet Stall / Coin Stream

This is an extension of the technique described above. By catching a bullet and letting the single-stream shot come in contact with a destructible object, you can trigger a steady stream of coins. Some instances where this is possible are more profitable to simply bullet break, however, so be sure to exercise some discretion.


» Quick Defense

Though defensive use of the Spirit is generally to be discouraged, there will still be instances where bringing the Spirit in close to defend is necessary. If the spirit is already deployed, do not leave it engaged and drag it slowly back toward you. Instead, destroy an enemy and quickly redeploy the Spirit. The carry-over from the destroyed enemy, no matter how far away, will instantly dissipate the bullets nearby.


Secrets

The food item hidden away at the halfway point of stage 3 isn't exactly a secret, but the conditions for triggering it may not be immediately obvious. Pay careful attention to the four statues huddled in the corner: you will notice that one is larger than the other three.



Its position is determined at random, but in this case the large statue has located itself conveniently in the bottom left-hand corner. Destroy this large statue before any of the others, and you will be awarded all bonus items, including the elusive snack item.

CREDIT: tsunami0ne


Game Clear Bonus

The following information is from Cave as interpreted by the ever-resourceful BER and is used with permission:

Upon clearance, the game rewards you for the following: full life segments remaining, maximum chain count, bombs remaining, and never receiving damage ("no miss").

Life bonus

If you have any full life segments remaining (denoted as L), this bonus is calculated by the following formula:
9,216 / (4 - L) / 32 * 10,000. If you have all three life segments remaining, but you were hit at least once, then this value is multiplied by 2. If you were never hit, then this value is multiplied by 4. Examples:

1 Full Life Segment: 9,216 / 3 / 32 * 10,000 = 96,000
2 Full Life Segments: 9,216 /2 / 32 * 10,000 = 144,000
3 Full Life Segments: 9,216 / 1 / 32 * 10,000 * 2 = 576,000
No miss: 9,216 / 1 / 32 * 10,000 * 4 = 1,152,000

It seems that no credit is given for partial life segments.

Chain bonus

Multiply your maximum chain count by 100. Examples:

1,210 Chain: 1,210 * 100 = 121,000
15,889 Chain: 15,889 * 100 = 1,588,900

Bomb bonus

Multiply the number of bombs remaining by 1,000,000. If you were never hit, this value is multiplied by 2. Examples:

2 bombs remaining: 2 * 1,000,000 = 2,000,000
3 bombs remaining, no miss: 3 * 1,000,000 * 2 = 6,000,000


Score Translation

Game clear bonuses are of little use if you have no way of determining what your final score actually is. For further elucidation please consult the crudely rendered diagram below:

Image

In order:

1. Level Reached
2. Ranking by Score
3. Player Name
4. Ranking by Max Chain
5. Max Chain
6. Total Score

Special thanks to Matt for sussing out the more cryptic bits. Translating your actual score is as easy as...

Image
One

Image
Two

Image
Three

Image
Four

Image
Five

Image
Six

Image
Seven

Image
Eight

Image
Nine

For those interested in the finer points of name entry, please consult your nearest Hiragana and Katakana charts.
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The Coop
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Post by The Coop »

Just giving this a nudge, since it's the third-to-last thread.
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Goshi
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Post by Goshi »

I don't think you really need to so since they're all linked to on that Stickied thread.
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The Coop
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Post by The Coop »

Perhaps, but seeing as it was literally the third to last thread on the last page of this forum, it seemed like a prudent thing to do.
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rtw
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Post by rtw »

Bydobasher, you might be interested in this thread:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=11429

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Post by P_HAT »

chaining make me mad :cry:
I'm dude lame :cry:
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Post by Ghegs »

Strategy section and especially ST's are not for idle chatter.

But it would seem that the images in this ST are no longer functional. If anybody has them in store or wants to re-capture them AND can host them, please do so and either post the links here or to me directly via PM so I can edit them into the ST.
No matter how good a game is, somebody will always hate it. No matter how bad a game is, somebody will always love it.

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Post by rtw »

Ghegs wrote:But it would seem that the images in this ST are no longer functional. If anybody has them in store or wants to re-capture them AND can host them, please do so and either post the links here or to me directly via PM so I can edit them into the ST.
Mode7 once made a very nice page at the now defunct symphonyofbullets describing the basics of Guwange. However his site has passed on and the original page is no longer available. I have therefore mirrored the page at the world-of-arcades.

I went through the member list and it seems as if mode7 is no longer a member, so it's hard to ask for permission. However if anyone has any strong objections to me hosting it let me know.

http://world-of-arcades.net/mode7/

Ghegs, feel free to update the ST with this link.

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Ghegs
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Post by Ghegs »

It completely slipped my mind that you've already done this. Much appreciated, I've updated the ST accordingly.
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Post by Gemant »

there are some mistakes in this guide:
Life bonus

If you have any full life segments remaining (denoted as L), this bonus is calculated by the following formula:
9,216 / (4 - L) / 32 * 10,000. If you have all three life segments remaining, but you were hit at least once, then this value is multiplied by 2. If you were never hit, then this value is multiplied by 4. Examples:

1 Full Life Segment: 9,216 / 3 / 32 * 10,000 = 96,000
2 Full Life Segments: 9,216 /2 / 32 * 10,000 = 144,000
3 Full Life Segments: 9,216 / 1 / 32 * 10,000 * 2 = 576,000
No miss: 9,216 / 1 / 32 * 10,000 * 4 = 1,152,000

It seems that no credit is given for partial life segments.

Bomb bonus

Multiply the number of bombs remaining by 1,000,000. If you were never hit, this value is multiplied by 2. Examples:

2 bombs remaining: 2 * 1,000,000 = 2,000,000
3 bombs remaining, no miss: 3 * 1,000,000 * 2 = 6,000,000
bombs:

bomb remaining = 1.000.000
bomb remaining + NEVER DAMAGE IN ALL GAME = bomb x 2 (es. 5 bombs x 2 = 10.000.000 pts)

NO MISS mean nothing in this game because is equivalent of "NO DOWN" (no Life block lost). NEVER DAMAGE is correct for perfect energy bonus.

life:

1 Full Life Segment: 960.000 pts
2 Full Life Segment: 1.920.000 pts
3 Full Life Segment: 2.880.000 x 2 = 5.760.000 pts (damage during game but recovery)
3 Full Life Segment: 2.880.000 x 4 = 11.520.000 pts (never damage in all game)

Life Segment (no full): (1 full segment = 48 dot. 1 dot = 20.000 pts)
if you have 1/2 Segment, you bonus is 480.000 (20.000 x 24)

real score of YUSEMI replay (counter stop) is 100.856.206 pts
Last edited by Gemant on Fri Jun 22, 2007 1:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Gemant »

correct names for each character are:

SHISHIN & RIKIOU
KAMO NO GENSUKE & KIRINMARU
HIIRAGI KOSAME & YATTSUHISHA
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Post by Icarus »

Some food for thought.
  • CHAIN MILESTONES:
    At present, the most documented chaining milestone is at 1,000, which as many Guwange players should know starts off coinstreaming (noted as "1000 Mode" in the ST).

    However, there is a second chaining milestone that many players are not aware of, that occurs at 6,000. Between 1,000 and 6,000, the coins gained from coinstreaming are of the lowest gold denominator: the really tiny ones that are worth 1 coin or so each. However, once you pass 6,000 on your chain, the coins gained from coinstreaming are automatically upgraded to the largest gold version, the coins worth 3 or more. This is important to note for expert players as the second milestone is extremely important to scoring - the sooner you hit both 1k and 6k, the faster your chain will increase thereafter.

    I am unsure if there is a milestone inbetween 1k and 6k, currently looking into it.
  • RANK:
    At present I am not entirely certain what constitutes the rank system in Guwange, but I do know there is one present. From what I can observe, the rank system is determined by survival time (both time between individual hits, and life bars lost), and chain size - comparing my best no-miss run to the catspider with Yusemi-SWY's counterstop shows at least 50% more enemies and bullets being fired, which greatly increases chaining opportunities.

    It is important to note that for players wishing to go the distance rather than score the high points should avoid coinstreaming, because if chain size does influence rank, then keeping a lowish chain throughout the game is a must.
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Post by PROMETHEUS »

It appears that there is another milestone at 4000, and also it seems the size of the coins you get via the coin flux depends on how many skulls are highlighted in the skull-meter.

I seem to get maximum size coins when in a chain between 4000 and 6000 if all the skulls are highlighted.

It should also be noted that the 3 important actions that directly increase your score are, by order of importance :
- collecting coins on the floor
- grabbing coins by canceling bullets (not quite as many points)
- grabbing coins via the coin flux (much less than the 2 others)

Each of these is multiplied by your current chain count, using a formula that I do not know.
So, given a XXX current chain count, collecting 500 coins via coin flux will give you MUCH LESS POINTS than collecting 500 coins on the floor. This should be kept in mind at certain key moments when you better not cancel bullets and instead use your main shot to make gold appear on the floor, and then collect it (like in the demon plain in stage 6 just before the boss).
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Post by Icarus »

PROMETHEUS wrote:It appears that there is another milestone at 4000, and also it seems the size of the coins you get via the coin flux depends on how many skulls are highlighted in the skull-meter.

I seem to get maximum size coins when in a chain between 4000 and 6000 if all the skulls are highlighted.
From what I can tell, the chain meter only affects coin size when cancelling with the Shikigami - maximum size coins are had if there is between full and -2 skulls on the bar, and to some extent from coinstreaming as well. The milestones seem to affect the coins gained from coinstreaming on bosses, once you pass 6k, every coin you get is a big one. I'll have to do a more thorough check to confirm if it affects standard coinstreaming in-stage, however.
PROMETHEUS wrote:It should also be noted that the 3 important actions that directly increase your score are, by order of importance :
- collecting coins on the floor
- grabbing coins by canceling bullets (not quite as many points)
- grabbing coins via the coin flux (much less than the 2 others)

Each of these is multiplied by your current chain count, using a formula that I do not know.
So, given a XXX current chain count, collecting 500 coins via coin flux will give you MUCH LESS POINTS than collecting 500 coins on the floor. This should be kept in mind at certain key moments when you better not cancel bullets and instead use your main shot to make gold appear on the floor, and then collect it (like in the demon plain in stage 6 just before the boss).
Yup, that is correct. It is not just the big chain that adds to the score, but knowing when to use Shot to generate air and ground coins, and when to Shikigami to maintain the chain and cancel huge clumps of bullets.

The formulas (Babelfished):

Code: Select all

RED Coins:
they exit killing the enemies with the SHOT, do not head automatically towards our personage (characteristic said "homing").
Factor combo: 1

RED Coins DERIVING FROM PROJECT CANCEL THEM To YOU:
they exit qundo are cancelled with the shikigami, are homing.
Factor combo 1/10

BLACK Coins:
they exit killing the enemies with the SHOT, but WHEN ONE IS HAD ADVANCED COMBO To 1000. They are homing.
Factor combo: 1/100

Coins SILVER:
They exit killing acuni enemy particular and WHEN the CHANGE OF SHAPE HAPPENS GODDESSES BOSS. They are homing.
Factor combo: 1/10

NB: the BLACK coins and SILVER are easy to confuse! Watch out!

Since all the coins are homing except those red ones, it must make red attention raccgliere only that note.

SCORE DERIVED FROM THE COINS:
(Base points of coins) + (value of combo) x (the factor combo)
Sauce: http://www.m-net.ne.jp/~yuji-5/guwange.html

Coinstreaming and Shikigami cancelling are only good for boosting the chain.
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Post by PROMETHEUS »

Here is some information I discovered by testing and confirmed :

About Damage

Recovery Time :
What I call the recovery time is the length of the invincibility period after you take a hit. Thus, it represents how much time has to pass when you have taken a hit, before you can take another hit.

When you're hit by a bullet :
- if your Shikigami IS NOT activated, you lose 1/2 health bar. The recovery time is approximately 0.5 second.
- if your Shikigami IS activated, you lose 1/4 health bar. There is no recovery time at all !

When you come in contact with an enemy :
- if your Shikigami IS NOT activated, you lose 1/4 health bar. The recovery time is approximately 0.25 second.
- if your Shikigami IS activated, you take a continuous hit that damages you for approximately 1/2 health bar per 0.25 second.

NOTE : the big yellow fireballs in the game's final pattern count as enemies ; the damage you take from coming in contact with them is the same as the damage you take from coming in contact with any other enemy.

NOTE2 : Obviously, the time lengths I specified are modified by the game speed ^_^ When a lot of bullets are on screen, the game automatically slows down, and the length of your recovery time increases to adjust to this.
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Post by Neverland »

Icarus e Promtheus thanks for this GOLD info
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Post by Winane »

Copy/paste from my own notes, so apologies for any redundancy and messiness; but assuming my testing methodologies were not flawed:

Kosame is the fastest runner.
Shishin is slightly faster than Gensuke.

All three characters have the exact same walking speed while holding the A button.

Kosame's and Gensuke's shikigamis appear to have exactly the same speed while uninhibited.
Shishin's shikigami is just very slightly slower than the other two.
(Haven't compared the Shikigamis' speeds while touching stuff.)
Each shikigami has the same startup speed (tested both with C button full-auto enabled and disabled, & used and unused).
Simply enabling autofire doesn't affect shikigami startup time, when triggered by the A button alone. But it does greatly shorten shikigami startup time when triggered while holding down the C button.

With all characters, one row of shots comes out every two ticks, unless the max number of your shots on-screen has been reached.

In 2-player mode:
With no powerups, Gensuke and Shishin fire with the same velocity and frequency.
Gensuke's fully powered-up knives travel at a faster speed than Shishin's powered-up daggers, and Gensuke can fire more frequently (as in, with shorter breaks between each burst of several shots).
With no powerups, Kosame's arrows are faster and more frequent than Gensuke's knives and Shishin's daggers.
Gensuke's fully powered-up knives travel at a faster speed than Kosame's powered-up arrows, and Gensuke can fire more frequently.
At full power, Shishin and Kosame fire at about the same velocity, but Kosame's arrows are just barely (about 2 or 3%*) faster, so she can fire a bit more frequently.
*With no horizontal motion, Shishin's daggers move 55 to 56 pixels for every 57 pixels Kosame's arrows move.

In 1-player mode:
With Shishin:
With no powerups, you can have up to eight pairs of shots on-screen at once.
Fully powered-up, you can have up to twelve pairs of shots on-screen at once.
With Kosame and Gensuke:
With no powerups, you can have up to nine pairs of shots on-screen at once.
Fully powered-up, you can probably have up to twelve pairs of shots on-screen at once, but the shots disappear offscreen fast enough that this usually means no interruptions to your shot stream.

Oddly, bringing out your shikigami and going into single shot mode increases how many rows of your shots can be present at once (since each row contains half as many shots) in single player mode, but not in two player mode.

Each character's bombs are lobbed once every 4 ticks, unless the max number of your bombs on-screen has been reached.

The bodhisattva statues do appear to improve spirit bombing (rather than desperation beaming--or conceivably that too? Haven't checked, but probably not.). They make the explosions larger (and presumably stronger), and they allow for a more continuous stream of bombs. Same 4-tick interval, but decreased limitation on how many can be in the air at once.

Based on single taps of the shot button, with no shot power-ups:
Shishin has the weakest shot (9 shot taps to destroy the stage 1 carts and floating gun turrets).
Gensuke has a slightly stronger shot than Kosame (both take 7 taps to destroy the gun turrets, but Gensuke takes only 6 taps to destroy the cart).

With shots fully powered up, Kosame appears to do the most damage, and Shishin the least.
This conclusion based on the lifebar of boss 1, form 1 after 11 pairs of shots.
Shishin: -2 pixels
Gensuke: -3 pixels
Kosame: -4 pixels
(Another 11 hits from each character removes 2 more pixels, with each character.)

All three characters seem to take damage the same.
You take less damage per hit while your shikigami is deployed. But whereas getting hit without your shikigami deployed gives you a brief window of invulnerability after getting hit, getting hit while using the shikigami does not provide this advantage (unless your lifebar reaches one of the 1/3 life mark dividers), so you can immediately get hit again after each hit you take. So you can lose an entire third of your lifebar in a short instant if you get hit by a stream of several shots while using the shikigami.
Damage values are:
1/2 bar of damage from contact with each enemy shot, when not using the shikigami.
1/4 bar of damage from direct contact with enemies, when not using the shikigami.
1/4 bar of damage from contact with each enemy shot, while using the shikigami.
1/16 or so bar of damage from direct contact with enemies, while using the shikigami. (Might be more like 1/14, from what I've observed briefly.)


(I haven't tested shikigami bombing velocity, strength, or hit area. Couldn't think of a sufficiently convenient and reliable way to systematically measure or compare them.
Haven't compared shikigami shot blocking areas or shot deceleration properties either.
And desperation beam (八相弾) properties not tested.)


There are no extra levels nor special endings if you beat the game on a single credit, not even if you make it through completely unscathed.
And SWY's replay demonstrates that keeping an uninterrupted chain going throughout the game, and maxing out your score, all without using any beams, does not result in a different ending either.
(But, I haven't tested the combination of all those conditions, though I'd highly doubt anything'd be different.)


And just in case anyone hadn't immediately figured it out:
If you only shoot, bomb, or superbeam the zombie dancers in stage 5, they'll merely collapse, and later revive themselves. But if you tread on them while they're lying down, then they'll be destroyed, leaving a bloody mess on the ground. (But unlike the little spiders in stages 3 and 6, you do have to shoot/bomb/beam the dancers to knock them down before stepping on them.)


________________________________________________


Wish I could find specific info on things like exact velocities, damage values, enemy hit points, and the like. Is there any chance of that existing on the Internet, or is that kind of information not normally bothered with by anyone in the shmup game genre?
This site provides a few of the values I'm looking for, but the shikigami speed statistics don't match what I've observed in-game, so I dunno if I should trust the other values either. (Or perhaps those speed stats are for when the shikigami is coming into contact with stuff, rather than when unhindered?)


Mode7 wrote: She also sports what is recognized (by myself, anyway) to be the neatest sprite in the history of all games ever.
Just out of curiosity, which of her sprites were you referring to?
StorminNorman wrote: In MAME, you have to hold F2 (service) for a few seconds before it works-
Same with Final Burn Alpha.
Any chance of adding StorminNorman's addition to the HTML version of the guide at WORLD-OF-ARCADES, for those who only find that version? Not having seen the forum version, it took me a while to figure out the holding down F2 bit. Gemant's corrections ought to be included too.

Gemant wrote: real score of YUSEMI replay (counter stop) is 100.856.206 pts
How did you calculate that? I count 87418366 + 64942*100 + 5*1000000 + 1920000 = 100832566. Where did the other 23640 points come from?


In the second half of the first boss fight, does anyone know what the purpose of those long Youmen tongues is? Touching the tongues does no damage, and doesn't seem to affect walking speed either. Other than being a bullet source at the very base, are they just to trick you into thinking that you can't safely touch them?
Last edited by Winane on Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Gemant »

Winane wrote:
Gemant wrote: real score of YUSEMI replay (counter stop) is 100.856.206 pts
How did you calculate that? I count 87418366 + 64942*100 + 5*1000000 + 1920000 = 100832566. Where did the other 23640 points come from?
total score 87.418.306 + 5.000.000 (bombs)+6.457.900 (chain)+1.920.000 (2 full life segment) + 60.000 (3/48 dot in last segment)= 100.856.206 pts


total energy status = 33/48 (note from arcadia magazine). 33/48 is 16 (full life) +16 (full life) + 1/16 energy of last segment.

but 1 segment = 48 dot, and you must convert first grade value with second grade value:

1:16=x:48

x = 3. 3 x 20.000 pts for dot = 60.000 pts.
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Post by Gemant »

YUSEMI replay is maximum hi-score in this game?

not.

max score in this game is by HAMARESHIO player with gensuke with about 103.000.000 final score.
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Post by Winane »

Gemant wrote: 87.418.306
Whoops, I'd misread that as a 6, d'oh. Stupid blurry video encoding. ><

Gemant wrote: (3/48 dot in last segment)
Ah, okay. Can't really see it in the video.

Gemant wrote: total energy status = 33/48 (note from arcadia magazine). 33/48 is 16 (full life) +16 (full life) + 1/16 energy of last segment.
but 1 segment = 48 dot, and you must convert first grade value with second grade value:
Might be better to write "hit points" or "hp" instead of "dot". "Dot" implies "pixel", and there's only 20 pixels per lifebar segment (plus 2 pixels per divider, if those count (too lazy to check)).

Mode7 wrote: Multiply your maximum chain count by 100.
Actually, I believe it's your final chain that's used in this calculation, not your maximum chain.
E.g., in a no-[s]miss[/s]damage* game I completed (using savestates =P), the final tallies displayed in Arabic numerals before the ending cutscene were 6521406 score and 119 chain. The high score table then listed my score as 18053306, and my max chain as 7488. That means the score was calculated as 6521406 + 11520000 + 119*100 = 18053306, ignoring the higher max chain.

And that means your calculation is indeed correct, Gemant. (In my previous post, I'd used the max chain displayed on the high score table in my calculation.)


*What, no strikethrough tag? phpBB sucks in so many ways. .\/.
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Post by Winane »

This site has pictures showing the hitbox for each playable character:
http://hyryu.free.fr/hitbox/
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Post by RackGaki »

Is there anyone out there who happened to save these pics? I'm getting the dreaded 404 message from that site.

The open directory on there doesn't suppose that it's hosted any longer.
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Post by croikle »

As far as I remember, the pictures showed that the hitbox is right at the center of the circle that appears around the character when using shikigami. This ends up being near the waist.
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Re: ST: Guwange -- created by Mode7

Post by Aguraki »

I have played many credits on this game,even credit feeding through the end,etc... cause it's beautifull,but after all these credits I still have no idea understanding the spirit.
Everything I've read is too vague.

Some of the questions that I need to know:
-what makes the spirit stays in a place or disappear?
I can't tell why sometimes the spirit is "on" or not.
Sometimes the spirit stays at a place,gold shining(activated?no idea) and he just stays there and it seems I can move.
Other times he disappears when you stop holding A.

I feel incredibly disappointed by not understanding how it works as everyone says it's natural and simple use :( .
Please someone makes a "spirit behavior" analysis.

ps:reading about auto-fire is it possible I have a problem?
I use default config but I'm trying to rationalize the fact I don't understand eheh.
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Re: ST: Guwange -- created by Mode7

Post by Tyjet »

Aguraki wrote:I have played many credits on this game,even credit feeding through the end,etc... cause it's beautifull,but after all these credits I still have no idea understanding the spirit.
Everything I've read is too vague.

I feel incredibly disappointed by not understanding how it works as everyone says it's natural and simple use :( .
Please someone makes a "spirit behavior" analysis.

ps:reading about auto-fire is it possible I have a problem?
I use default config but I'm trying to rationalize the fact I don't understand eheh.
-what makes the spirit stays in a place or disappear?

(Look at Spirit Placement section)

The answer you seek is playing only the stage vs playing against a boss.

Your spirit can only stay in place and always be on screen in a BOSS fight (the midboss in stage 3 is not a boss). As stated in the guide, your spirit will NOT dissappear when you stop pressing or holding "A" button.

If you are not in a boss fight, you spirit will dissappear off the screen the moment you stop pressing or holding "A" button.

-reading about auto-fire is it possible I have a problem?

(Look at spirit flux and 1000 section)

If you want to score well, yes it is problem. You want to enable autofire to "spirit flux" (tap A+hold B). It also enables you to quickly change from normal shot to concentrated shot. Just always have it enabled.

hope it helps
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Re: ST: Guwange -- created by Mode7

Post by Aguraki »

Tyjet wrote: -what makes the spirit stays in a place or disappear?

(Look at Spirit Placement section)

The answer you seek is playing only the stage vs playing against a boss.

Your spirit can only stay in place and always be on screen in a BOSS fight (the midboss in stage 3 is not a boss). As stated in the guide, your spirit will NOT dissappear when you stop pressing or holding "A" button.

If you are not in a boss fight, you spirit will dissappear off the screen the moment you stop pressing or holding "A" button.

hope it helps
Tyvm!
It makes all sense now and that's what probably confused me so much,I didn't understand these changes.
I don't use auto-fire nor I'm good at this game since I didn't even know how to use the spirit,just thought it was a controller problem eheh.

ps:I just understood why I didn't see this info at first;in the guide under spirit use section there isn't this info;this info is in boss encounter section which I overlooked (since I didn't make the relation between bosses and the spirit behavior).
Maybe updating the OP with an "*see boss subsection" to fit the noobs like me :)
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Re: ST: Guwange -- created by Mode7

Post by n0rtygames »

Sorry for the major bumpage

Thinking of getting back in to Guwange to play for clears and scores.. Does anyone have a guide available for translating the scores? The original image links in this thread are dead now

---

Update: Turns out I've actually found Mode 7's original article on world-of-arcades. While trying to wget the images myself - I got a 403 forbidden. So I suspect they're trying to stop hotlinking or recursive leeching. So I thought I'd host and link the images in the first post.

Quick Snack:
Image

Lunch:
Image

Banquet:
Image

Score Diagram
Image

1. Level Reached
2. Ranking by Score
3. Player Name
4. Ranking by Max Chain
5. Max Chain
6. Total Score

Translation:
One
Image
Two
Image
Three
Image
Four
Image
Five
Image
Six
Image
Seven
Image
Eight
Image
Nine
Image


Credit to Mode 7 for the original article
http://world-of-arcades.net/Cave/Guwang ... /index.htm
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Re: ST: Guwange -- created by Mode7

Post by CloudyMusic »

Adding a few odds and ends that are mostly already known, but aren't explicitly spelled out here:

Food

The small food item will restore up to 1/2 of a health block, but will not fill beyond the top of the current block. If you don't have any damaged blocks (i.e. you have 1, 2, or 3 full blocks) you won't get any health and you'll get the chain bonus instead. The chain bonus is +1000 if you have 1 or 2 full blocks, and +2000 if you have 3 full blocks.

The medium food item will restore the equivalent of 1 full block, and will carry through to the next block if it fills up the current one. As stated in the ST, if your health is completely full, you get +3000 chain instead.

The large food item restores your health to full, and as stated, will give you +4000 chain instead if your health is already full.

Coin types

To provide a more concise English version of the Babelfish text from Icarus's post:
  • The score from each coin is: (Chain counter * Coin multiplier) + (Coin base value). The coin base value is generally very tiny, so the first part is what matters most.
  • Copper coins: produced by killing enemies with Shot, air and ground alike. Multiplier: 1. (By far the most valuable)
  • Bullet-canceled copper coins: produced by canceling bullets with your Shikigami. Multiplier: 1/10. (Not as valuable, but can still be lucrative if produced in large quantities or if you repeatedly milk bullet-spewing enemies.)
  • Iron coins: produced by shooting enemies or destructible objects with your Shot while your chain counter is 1000 or higher. Multiplier: 1/100. (Essentially worthless for score on their own, but they raise your chain counter, which means more points in the long run.)
  • Silver coins: during boss phase changes and when killing certain very large enemies, all on-screen bullets will turn into these. Multiplier: 1/10. (I think the base coin value is higher than normal for these ones, but I'm not positive.)
"Large" coins don't give any more score than small coins, but they increase your chain counter by a larger amount.

Boss kill bonuses

Stages 1-5: (Stage number * 100,000)
Stage 6 form 1 (Amagisu): 800,000
Stage 6 form 2 (Guwange-sama): 900,000
Stage 6 form 3 (Amagisu & Mikoto): 1,000,000

Miscellany

If you hold the stick in a direction as you summon your Shikigami, you can slightly influence the location where it will appear.

Only 50 coins can be on-screen at a time, so if you do a big bullet cancel or something that would exceed that limit, you'll lose some.

The chance that Oshino will appear in stage 3 is based on your life gauge: at full health, you have a 100% chance, at 2/3 it's a 66% chance, etc.
Last edited by CloudyMusic on Sat Apr 09, 2016 1:07 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: ST: Guwange -- created by Mode7

Post by CloudyMusic »

Image

This number actually represents how many credits you used before getting the displayed score. Your score does get reset to zero whenever you continue, though, so only your final credit's score is used.

For example, start a new game, game-over once, continue, then get a high enough score to get onto the table. This number will be 2. Do the same thing except game-over and continue twice, and it will be 3.
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Re: ST: Guwange -- created by Mode7

Post by Shepardus »

What's the difference between the regular Guwange and the special/blue version? I can't find more than scattered bits and pieces of information on the blue rom.
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