Triggerheart Exelica: Perfect System, Triggerheart Exelica: Zero Mission, Super Triggerheart Exelica, Triggerheart Exelica Redesign, Triggerheart Exelica: Champion Edition, ヱグゼリカ: Rebuild of Exelica 1.11: Triggerhearts are (not) alone, Triggerheart Exelica: Director's Cut, Triggerheart Exelica Kai, Triggerheart Exelica: The Twin Faintears, Triggerheart: Ver'mith Hunter Exelica, Triggerheart Exelica: Integral, Triggerheart Exelica: Substance, Triggerheart Exelica: Subsistence, pick a nickname and shut up.
Enhancements in games are very few and most of the times make a game better (the best example is Thunder Force V: Perfect System for PlayStation, it improved a good game making it a perfect shmup challenge)
This time Triggerheart Exelica gets an "Enhancement" for the PlayStation 2 and i couldn't stay without review it and criticize it's possible flaws, so let's go.
Gameplay: 8/10
The first thing that gets you when you put this in your PS2 is the Anime opening and the intro song, it feels like Macross Frontier or Mobile Suit Gundam 00, but a good opening doesn't mean a good game, so let's move on to the gameplay.
The game has the same features of its predecessors, but the only problem is the Auto Swing, instead of select a left or right rotation now it's random, it's a little bit troublesome but you'll know how to deal with it during gameplay.
Unlike the Dreamcast and X-Box Live Arcade versions, this game doesn't have to load between levels, so Goodbye ''Now Loading'' during gameplay, you only see that on the Game Over screen, so that's another point in favor to this game. Another improvement is the pause, they added another option for configure the sound and controls, and they remove the annoying "Countdown to unpause" from the Dreamcast version.
The V.B.A.S. (Variable stage-Boss Attack System) has some changes, in Arcade Mode the number of boss parts depends on how much Item Points you have while in Story Mode you're forced to blow every part of the boss and battle Faintear Imitate even if you have few Item Points, speaking about Item Points, the Item Point counter stops running when you pause the game, unlike the Dreamcast version where it stops until it reaches the Points that you got, making the ''Quick Hi-Scoring'' techniques more harder.
The Arcade Mode has a ''Bad Ending'' and a ''Good Ending'' like in the XBLA version, for unlock the good ending you have to unlock the battles with Faintear in stages 1 & 3, and survive without using continues, yeah Arcade Mode with some Story Mode settings.
The Arrange Mode no longer exists in this game and that change was good, since the player doesn't need a Extra-hard game where he/she doesn't have a chance for beat it, and an unrewarding ending that makes you want to send the game to oblivion.
The Training Mode was changed, unlike the Dreamcast version where you can select one specific stage and the power level of your character, you can select your starting stage, but you can't select your power level, but you can save your score. If you select ''Stage Prologue'' you'll play both Stage 0 and Stage 1, once you pass Stage 1, the Training Mode ends.
The main feature of this game is you can play with a new character: TH44 Faintear, so the Faintear that we know and fought on the previous games is a copy of her, called ''Faintear Imitate''. Back to TH Faintear, her main weapon is the Laser Form shot, a large and really powerful Twin Laser shot, you can kill a large enemy with one or two shots, and it seems her weapons are appropiate for rack up a high score (kinda like the Aryustailm in Blazing Star), this sounds good, but there's a little (or should i say BIG) problem with Faintear: the ridiculous speed, normally she moves way too fast, and when she holds something with the Anchor, her speed is slower than the other Triggerhearts, for the average shmupper she is almost unplayable, so if you want to use her as your favorite character Good Luck, just get ready to master the absolutely worst controls in the history of shmups (that's even worse than the Over Weapon slowdown in Thunder Force VI), i think a speed control would be helpful for Faintear, a good example could be the 4-level speed control in R-Type Final, that would work not only on Faintear, but also on all the Triggerhearts.
One of the things that disappointed me is the lack of a Two Player game, if they ''Enhanced'' the game, what was wrong on make a two player mode, if the game designers came with the ''There's not enough characters'' pretext it's just unacceptable. Compare this with U.N. Squadron or Vapor Trail Hyper Offence Formation, both games only have three characters/jets available for play, so there's no excuse for that.
Also, there's no Shield item on this game, only the ''After-hit Force Field'' generated by the Triggerheart, instead of a ''3 Second Invincibility'' it would be more useful if the shield was an item that absorbs a certain number of hits like in Darius or Thunder Force.
Story Mode is the synonym of ''Get ready for being annoyed at any moment'' because the Cybernator-like In-game interruptions of the Dreamcast version are back and WORSE than ever. In the first half of level 1 you'll be interrupted because of a Ver'mith transmission, and during the boss battles the things are even worse: interruptions when the boss arrives and every time you blow one part of the boss your character will say something, blow another one and you'll be interrupted again, and there goes on, and on, AND ON, AND ON, constantly interrupting the game, just like i said in the Dreamcast review, JUST SLOWS THINGS DOWN!!, i guess the game designers were trying to make it look like the ''Radio Chatters'' in Ace Combat 04 or Airforce Delta Strike, but in those games you don't get interrupted every 3 minutes because someone is talking!, is almost as bad as the Cortana and Gravemind moments in Halo 3 (Remember those?, "You'll be the protector of Earth and all their colonies", "I have walked the edge of the abyss. I have seen your future. And I have learned! SUBMIT! END HER TORMENT AND MY OWN!!") and i said "Almost" because in Halo 3 is even worse.
This interruptions works well in RPG games like Legend of Zelda, Xenosaga, Terranigma or the Final Fantasy series, because in those games you have to stop for talk to townspeople for read clues, buy stuff, find your way through a dungeon or locate a specific weapon, but not in Shmups where you just fly and blow your enemies, and adding more talking parts in this game makes the word ''Enhanced'' questionable.
This is another problem present in both modes, like in the XBLA version, some bosses can't be attacked until they've entered the screen and done an opening animation. If you shoot/throw an object, it passes through. This only happens in stages 2 & 4, where you have to wait until Ver'mith Gharatoaga rotates his turrets and Ver'mith Willdiac claps his mechanical arms, unlike the DC version where they are both active targets as soon as they come on-screen, what's the point to that?, why i have to wait for the boss to make the first move?. This kind of "Opening animations" worked well in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, but not in shmups, if the boss is going to make the first move, it could be more like the B-2 Bomber from the arcade version of U.N. Squadron, the boss attacks you before it enters the screen giving you a ''surprise attack'', at least is not like the stage 2 boss from Axelay, the AT-ST wannabe that keeps firing until its core flashes.
Another problem that i found is in Stage 5 before you fight Faintear Imitate, right before you destroy the sub-boss ''Ver'mith Shoot'', two Power Up carrying ships ''Mizukas'' and a bomb-carrying ''Mizuka Shizuka'' will appear, when you capture one and the other two left the screen, the captured ship will Self-Detonate, unlike the Dreamcast version where you can use it against Faintear.
But the Story Mode was improved in other positive details, when you start the game and everytime you beat a level you'll have cutscenes like a Graphic Novel or a Sim-Date game (Galaxy Angel, Megaman X5 and Snatcher for example), where you'll see a drawing and dialogues, it's not bad but honestly i thought some anime cutscenes would be better than a simple CG and spoken text, or should i say "Cross-fading" CG Slideshow that looks more like it was made on Microsoft Movie Maker?, compare that with Xenosaga Episode I, it has cutscenes and it was a waaaay longer game, so using plain CG's for a PS2 game is just a mediocre idea.
Another good improvement is in Story Mode when you play as Faintear, there's a "Stage 0" as a Prologue Stage, but it's too short and there's no boss battles and that's disappointhing because it could be something more than protect the C'rna_dyne ship from a bunch of small Ver'mith ships.
The ranking system was improved too, unlike the Dreamcast version where you had a Top 5 for the game modes and their respective difficulties for both characters, in this game each character has it's own rankings so let's do the math here: 2 Game modes + 3 Difficulty levels, multiplied for the 3 Triggerhearts results in 18 rankings, and also they're now a Top 10 instead of 5, so you had to beat the game 180 times for fill the rankings.
Graphics: 8/10
The graphics are much better than the Dreamcast version, but not as well detailed like the XBLA version, it seems they made a downgrade on the graphics for improve other aspects of the game (the animated intro and Faintear for example), it happened in Thunder Force V, now with Triggerheart Exelica. But the best part is the Story Mode ''Event CG'' cutscenes that you get when you start the game or beat a stage.
Crueltear: Despite being born as a weapon... right now, fighting like this, makes me feel surprisingly uneasy.
In my opinion that's a nice improvement that the game really needed, but it feels like a scam for rip-off the gamers, because if they made an anime opening, why the game doesn't have more anime cutscenes, just like Megaman X4 on the PlayStation, there's like 10 cutscenes and Megaman X4 was a long game for a CD, another good example could be The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, the character sprites are 2D CG while the cutscenes were in 3D, and it was animated, if that was on a console like the PlayStation, isn't the PlayStation 2 supposed to be better by far?, not only that, we're not talking about a CD, we're playing on a DVD so the enhancement for this mode could be something really different., even an NES game like Ninja Gaiden had cinematic-style cutscenes, and that was an 8-Bit game, so why not this game? for god's sake it's PlayStation 2, something way beyond the 8-bit, for sum up the whole thing: Even a 60's cartoon like The Invincible Iron Man and the Transformers videobook Satellite of Doom were more animated than Triggerheart Exelica Enhanced, that sums up the whole thing, even saying that is being extremely generous with the cutscene stuff.
The game has ''Wallpapers'' like it's previous versions, but they're the same of the XBLA version (Anchor Unit Emblem, Exelica, Crueltear, and Faintear Imitate), except for Triggerheart Faintear, if Warashi was thinking on re-use the previous wallpapers, at least they should add the wallpapers of the Dreamcast version which they're more colorful than the XBLA monochromed ones.
There's two things that sucks is when you play as Faintear (in both Arcade and Story Modes). First: when you complete the game with the bad ending, she doesn't have a falling sequence like the other Triggerhearts, instead it takes you directly to the credits. Second: The game only has one ''Stage Clear Pose'' that repeats over, and over, and over again, so you'll see it in Faintear's wallpaper, Player Select, all the Stage Clear Result screens and the Rank In screen, another thing that i found is the Stage 3 Clear pic of Crueltear was changed for unknown reasons. Some cutscenes in Story Mode recycle the drawings (same pose, different facial expression) just like the Sim-Date games. It looks like Warashi and Alchemist rushed to release the game in ''no time''.
Music & Sound: 8/10
YOU GET TO BURNING! kizutsuite momegenai asu o mezasu yuuki, mieru yo. To beeeeeeeeeeee Going your day's, GROW UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!
CUT!, This kind of stuff doesn't work in Shmups!!
The first thing that you'll hear during the intro is the song "Gravity Error" by Ayane, it's a good song, but it doesn't fit with this game. I mean, very few music genres fit on shmups, but why J-Pop?, i could understand that if the game was based on an anime like Saber Marionette J or Vandread, but Triggerheart Exelica? it's just unfitting, did the game designers never played games like Thunder Force V, Blazing Star, Darius Gaiden or at least Axelay?, those games didn't used J-Pop songs, they used Techno, Dance, or Electronic music for make them fit with the futuristic concept, i'm not expecting another ''Rising Blue Lightning'' or a ''VISIONNERZ'' but also i wasn't expecting a J-Pop song. The only shmup where i head this kind of songs was TwinBee Yahoo!, but in TwinBee fits quite good since that's a cute-em-up game, while Exelica is not a cute-em-up. Now you'll ask yourself ''why is that song there?'', just because it says ''pull the Trigger of your Heart'' (心のトリガーを引け！) ?, that's pretty cliche, it will be like using Domine's song ''The Hurricane Master'' for Thunder Force or Raiden because it says ''A mighty thunder is breaking through the night''. Anyway, if they wanted to use a J-Pop song, i think Two-Mix's "Maximum Wave" would be waaaaay better.
The game music was also improved and i really liked it, my only complaint about that is they re-used the soundtrack from the XBOX Live Arcade version. Even if ''Exelica Dancing at Dawn'' (Stage 1) still sounds like the stage 1 song of Phalanx, and ''Deep Crimson Impact'' (Faintear's theme) still sounds like a slight variation of ''Duel of Top'' (Rynex theme) from Thunder Force V (only in Stage 1, because she have 2 "VS Faintear" themes for stages 3 & 5).
Stage 0 deserved a different song instead of ''Exelica Dancing at Dawn'', making it repetitive and boring, they could use the unused songs of Sound Anchor (''Those children are three unwelcoming eyes'' will fit well in Stage 0), so why Warashi didn't used them on the game?
The voice acting is not excent of flaws, like the new voice actress for Faintear Imitate, Natsuko Kuwatani (Ryoko Asakura from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), i don't know why Yuko Ishibashi didn't reprised her role as Imitate, but Natsuko's voice sounds more like an imitation of Yuko Miyamura. Yep, the legendary Sohryu Asuka Langley from Neon Genesis Evangelion, but at least the original cast is there, i really loved how Kozue Shimizu improved her voice as Crueltear, she doesn't sound too adult like in the Dreamcast version.
Well, Yuko Ishibashi doesn't voice Imitate, but she's mentioned in the credits as ''System voice'' (i guess she is the voice that says ''Triggerheart...Exelica'', ''Select your Triggerheart'' or ''Emergency, Emergency, Your target is approaching...Are you ready?''), for some reason the System voice reminds me a lot of the female voice that says ''Bullseye'' on Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere.
Speaking of voices, i found a flaw on the voice samples: The game can't handle more than one at the same time, if another voice sample pops out, the first one will be cutted-off, for example when you're selecting a character, Example: "Select your Trigge-Omatase!" (Faintear cuts off the system voice), and the same when you're throwing something or you get hit or if the "Emergency" voice appears. The Dreamcast version didn't have that voice problem. That's another bad point for the PS2, are they trying to tell me the PS2 can't handle multiple voice samples?, they gotta be kidding me!, once again let's compare it with Airforce Delta Strike, everybody is talking during the whole mission, example: "Intercerpt!-Enemy fighter down by Lilly-Launching Rocket!-Enemy fighter down by Sprog!". Back to Triggerheart Exelica Enhanced, that's an unacceptable flaw for this game.
I also think the game would be even better if it had english audio. The japanese version of Gradius V had english audio but the subtitles were in japanese. You know, not all Triggerheart fans are japanese, so it'd be nice to have an optional english audio with acceptable voice acting (Alison Keith would be perfect as Crueltear), but avoiding f.--k ups like the ones in Megaman X4.
For a final flaw on the sound department: The lack of music on the Rank In screen, there's sound effects when you move the letters or type your initials, and in my opinion there's no excuse, because if they bothered to compose music for the opening, the Story Mode cutscenes and the Gallery, and had 3 unused songs from Sound Anchor that could be used in Enhanced, why there's no music in the Rank In screen?, that's a mystery for me.
Replay Value: 8/10
Faintear puts the "F" on the Replay Value: She's already playable.
Finally, they added some unlockable stuff: an Image Gallery, the first time i opened one of the galleries, i thought it would be like in Thunder Force V: Perfect System (You know: CG artworks, rough sketches and 3D models of the bosses) but unfortunately it wasn't like that, for unlock the galleries you have to play the Story Mode and get the bad and good endings of each character for unlock them, and guess what?, the images are the cutscenes from Story Mode, it's not bad, but the gallery could be better if they could add more stuff that could be unlocked when you play the Arcade Mode, that would be good for increase the game's replay value and give more challenge to the players, a Sound Test would be great as an unlockable feature, since the game music is more enjoyable than the Dreamcast Version, but unfortunately, Warashi forgot that.
Another thing that i don't liked is the fact that Faintear is already playable, she looks more like a secret character that you could unlock (This thing would be like playing Ace Combat 04 and being able to select the X-02 Wyvern as one of the default planes instead of beating the game with rank ''S'' for unlock it), so that reduces the Replay Value a little bit (but at least it has more replay value than Raiden III, where you unlock everything beating the game one single time), speaking about characters, it was a waste that C'r_na wasn't a playable character because she's a AI/Navigator, compare this with Megaman X8, you can unlock the Navigators as playable characters (Alia for example), and also it would be great if you could play as Faintear Imitate, i know the idea of play with an enemy sounds weird, but check Neo Contra, you can play with Lucia even if she's one of the bosses (Pheromone Contra), another example could be the "Vile Mode" in Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X where you play as Vile. With this examples, being unable to play as Imitate or C'r_na doesn't have an excuse.
Pro's
- Anime style opening.
- Selectable ''Wallpapers'' for the screen.
- New Character: Faintear.
- Prologue Stage for Faintear's Story Mode.
- Cutscenes in Story Mode.
- No ''Now Loading'' between levels.
- No Arrange Mode in this game.
- Unlockable Feature: Gallery.
- Each Triggerheart have her own rankings.
- Crueltear's bad ending (the falling sequence) is no longer ''Censored'' like in the XBLA version.
Con's (It's incredible how Warashi managed to add more mistakes than the Dreamcast and XBLA combined)
- ''Gravity Error'', Although the song is good, J-Pop doesn't work for a shmup.
- The ''Wallpapers'' are the same of the XBLA version, the only new one is Triggerheart Faintear.
- No ''Two Player'' Mode.
- No Sound Test.
- Re-used soundtrack from the XBOX Live Arcade version.
- Training Mode passed trough unnecesary changes.
- Faintear is already playable from the beginning.
- Faintear's speed is an exaggeration.
- One pic of Faintear for the whole game.
- C'r_na is not playable (what a waste of a new character).
- Faintear Imitate is not playable.
- No Shield Item in the game, just a 3 second after-hit defense.
- Auto-Swing has random rotation.
- Stage 0 is too short.
- Stage 0 has the same music of Stage 1.
- No boss battles in Stage 0
- More In-game Interruptions (talking parts) in Story Mode.
- The Cutscenes are just Cross-fading CG's instead of anime cutscenes (even The Misadventures of Tron Bonne was better than this).
- Natsuko Kuwatani as Faintear Imitate, she doesn't have what it takes to replace Yuko Ishibashi (and i'm really sure Natsuko was there because of Haruhi's fame).
- Voice "Cut-offs", the game can't handle two voice samples simultaneously.
- No "optional" English audio.
- The ''Opening animations'' of the bosses.
- No music in the Rank In screen.
- Faintear doesn't have a ''sequence'' for her bad ending.
- The Gallery is just the Story Mode CG Cutscenes.
Game Errors & Extra Stuff
- In the title screen the ''System voice'' only says ''Triggerheart Exelica'' instead of ''Triggerheart Exelica Enhanced'', it forgot it or the word ''Enhanced'' doesn't count?
- There's a typo in the screen config option, ''Horizonal'' instead of Horizontal, this typo was also in the Dreamcast Version.
- There's an error in Faintear's Triggerheart Code, according to Warashi (both website and Archive Anchor book) her number is TH38, but according to the game (and Alchemist's official site) her number is TH44 (Messed-up numbering, first the RVR-00 Phoenix from Thunder Force VI, now Triggerheart Faintear)
- The first part of the Anime opening is very similar to the opening of Ace Combat 04, because the opening on both games starts with Seagulls flying in the open sea and when they're offscreen the main characters appear and they fly up into the sky.
- The anime intro was made by P.A. Works (Canaan, True Tears and Angel Beats!)
- The song used on the Gallery is called ''When Time Flows'', it's one of the unused tracks composed for the Dreamcast Version OST ''Sound Anchor''
- When you grab a Bomb, instead of "Bomu!" (Bomb), your Triggerheart says "Rirodo!" (Reload)
- The bomb attack is called "Supression" (only Exelica and Faintear say that, while Crueltear keeps her "Kurae!" (Take This!!) like in the original version)
- In the Good Ending of Exelica's Story Mode there's another error, at the end C'r_na calls the Triggerhearts because there was a cat in the console, how it get inside C'rna_dyne if Exelica asked Skilltor to take care of her cat?
- Speaking about Skilltor, his name is mentioned in the credits as Skiltall, but in Warashi's website (English Version), his name is written as Skilltor, so which one is correct?, who knows.
- In Crueltear's Story Mode, when she mets Faintear Imitate, she says "Anata wa, Faintear?!" (Is that you Faintear?!), the "original" Faintear is showed and mentioned during the "Pre-Stage 1" cutscene, how she could be confused?. Seriously, the concept of "being unable to tell the difference between Faintears" requires Crueltear to be either blind or INCREDIBLY stupid. She can't remember the Spec Suit (the swimsuit-like outfit) colors of the original Faintear?, she forgot the original Faintear has smaller breasts, a different voice and a different tone of blue in her eyes?, it demands an explanation.
- If Faintear Imitate is a ''Copy'' of the ''Original'' Faintear, why they look completely different?, if the Ver'mith captured Faintear, and they used her data to create Imitate, she should be identical to the original, except of course for the Ver'mith Control Core imbedded in her head and the Fardotts instead of an Anchor Unit.
- When Ver'mith Ennda punches down Crueltear and Exelica in Faintear's Story Mode, you can see Exelica going down first, then Crueltear, but when the game is interrupted, Crueltear screams first instead of Exelica.
- In the True Ending of Faintear's Story Mode there's a part where the Triggerhearts yell the names of their Anchor Units for throw a Fardott, but if you look carefully the Triggerhearts don't have any Anchor Units.
- You can spin the "Game Over" symbol like in the Dreamcast version, when you're on the Game Over screen (It doesn't matter if you win the game or not) press left or right constantly for make it spin (i don't know if you can do this in the XBLA version).
- This one is for Story Mode, when you're on a cutscene (CG Event) you can press select for make the text disappear, but when you press any button the text will reappear for the next dialogue (this can be used during the level start interruptions).
- The Bad Ending of Crueltear in both Arcade and Story Modes is no longer ''censored'' like the XBLA version, so you can see her falling backwards with her entire body displayed and you can clearly see her crotch, unlike the XBLA version where the image starts out more zoomed in her face and never zooms out to show her body (Blame Microsoft for that).
- Unlike the Dreamcast version, you can input "SEX" as your initials without being changed to WRS or EXE, CRU, or FAI.
- Max Factory and Good Smile Company are mentioned on the credits, because they made the Nendoroid "Exelica & Unit Set" figure for the special version of the game.
Things that would "Enhance" the game even more
- Speed Control: The L2 and R2 would be perfect for that, specially for Faintear.
- Alternate Outfits: If flight sim games like Ace Combat have unlockable paintjobs for the jets, in Exelica Enhanced we would see what they wore on the phone cards: Swimsuits, Bikinis, along with the causal clothes they wear on the endings, it'd be graphical, unless you want the outfits work like the hidden RVR-01 Variants in Thunder Force V: Perfect System. Hey i have an idea of how would be that:
- Swimsuits = Bonus Multiplier ( x2 for Example)
- Casual Dress = More powerful shots
- Winter Dress (Exelica's True Ending) = Start with more Energy
- Better Gallery: Like i said before, something in the style of the Digital Viewer of Thunder Force V: Perfect System would work, 3D renders of the enemies, bosses, and artwork.
- Animated Cutscenes: Event CG could work on third party (Doujin) games, but on Official games is just working on the cheap.
- Playable C'r_na & Faintear Imtate: They wouldn't have an Anchor Unit, but a weapon selection in the style of Gradius V and Axelay would work.
I could continue, but i don't wanna give more ideas to Warashi for re-rebuild the same game, i prefer to see that on a sequel (if Warashi is still alive).
High-Scoring Tips
The first thing you have to learn as a "Hi-Score Enthusiast" in this game is this: There's no cheats in this game, but there's some strategies that will help you with your score along the way so let me tell you all what i've discovered in this game
1.- This is the MOST IMPORTANT for every Hi-Score enthusiast Set both Life and Bomb Stock to 5, then the Extend Type must be on "25,000,000 Pts. Every", this tip is helpful for Exelica and Crueltear, and a vital requirement for Faintear, and it can't be considered a cheat since this doesn't make you invincible.
2.- Mastering Faintear's speed is a vital priority to the score run, the most number of hits you can take on a score run is 1, and speed is a factor that leads to failure if you don't know how to control Faintear.
3.- Getting hit means lose your bonus item total and the extra bomb (50,000pts. gone could be fatal on a score attack), avoiding bullets is a MUST, specially with Faintear.
4.- Sometimes try to shoot the anchor without capturing something, you'll reduce your speed and keep shooting the laser shots (this can be helpful with the bosses in stages 2 and 4), this tip only works with Faintear.
5.- The second form of Ver'mith Aragabis (Stage 1 boss) consists in throwing you little "Mines" that shoot, destroy the mines, but concentrate on holding the fire button (release it when the bonus items are close to the bottom of the screen) and trying not destroying the boss, it takes practice but it's possible to reach a 12,000 Item bonus in stage 1 without getting hit. NOTE: This tip work better with Faintear. It can work for Exelica and Crueltear, but you will not get the same results.
6.- Speaking of forms, the first form of Ver'mith Gharatoaga (Stage 2 boss) throws little "Satellites" that can be captured and be thrown, giving you bonus coins and points. They can be destroyed too, but the bullets fired by them makes them a hard task to accomplish, the Satellites are re-used in it's third form, try to concentrate all your attacks on the satellites rather than the boss.
7.- When you reach the Ver'mith Flagreat Merr (1st boss in Stage 3), concentrate all your fire on the wings, but destroy them from the tip of the wingspan in this pattern: 1-2-3(Body)3-2-1, you'll get a lot of bonus coins if its done right, this tactic works on any Triggerheart, but it's more effective on Faintear.
8.- When Ver'mith Flagreat Nacht (3rd boss in Stage 3) appears, don't destroy it, kill the little ships that launches on the sides, you'll get bonus coins for them, it works better when you capture one and you throw them to the other ships. (If you're playing with Faintear you can get more bonus coins using her lasers)
9.- During the battles with Faintear Imitate (Stage 1 & Stage 3), don't shoot at her when her energy refills (or in stage 5 when she starts attacking), wait until her Fardotts (the flying things that sorrounds her) appear, then capture one, and throw it to the bullets
10.- When you fight Ver'mith Ennda (Last Boss), don't throw the junk at her, get to the lower part of the screen and destroy more junk, this will give you bonus ''coins'' (this works with any Triggerheart)
This tips can help you to reach a high-score of +300,000,000 with Exelica and Crueltear, and an impressive +600,000,000, +700,000,000 and even 800,000,000 with Faintear (My current record is of 855,335,832 pts. with her, i think that's the highest score possible, so if anyone can break that record, let me know.)
Insert Thunder Force V's "Record of Fight" here. (My "Arcade Mode" Score is shown in this pic)
Secrets
Unlocking the "Other" gallery without playing the game: Once the anime opening is over, you'll be on the title screen, wait until the company logos appear, once the Warashi logo disappears, a black screen with the word "TRIGGERHEART EXELICA" will appear, wait until it fades, and a slideshow with the prologue will begin, wait until it ends and you'll return to the title screen, then press start (or circle), then head to gallery, select "Other" and the images will be unlocked.
Different phrases on Player Select: When you're on the Select your Triggerheart screen (It could be on any game mode), if you press any of this buttons: Square, Circle, R1 or Start, your Triggerheart will say a different phrase when they're selected. Example, Circle makes Faintear say "Omatase!", and with Start says "Zaaa!" or "Tsugeki!"
Conclusion
It looks like Warashi learned from their mistakes (well, some of them) and made a good game, you can call it Triggerheart Exelica: Perfect System if you want
(or should i say Triggerheart Exelica: Perfect Anchor?, since some of the merchandise has the word ''Anchor'' stamped on it, ''Sound Anchor'', ''Parallel Anchor'', ''Archive Anchor''), or even Triggerheart Exelica: The Twin Faintears (parody and pun of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes), if Warashi and Alchemist didn't waste their money on make a Nendroid and used it for improve the game further, we could have a perfect game, but once again, Warashi dropped the ball.The only thing that i still hating is Crueltear's name, even if she's my favorite characater, her name sounds more like it belongs to Transformers (Starscream to be precise) more than a Triggerheart name, why they didn't named her ''Sakura'', and the same goes for Faintear (both Triggerheart and Imitate), they could have a name like ''Asuka'', this name thing will be like if Asayuki from Blazing Star was called Soundwave or Ironhide, anyway it's not the first time that Warashi gives weird names to their characters (Herrenlose Katze from Shienryu as example).
''More mistakes than successes, but it's way better than it's predecessors'', from the three versions this is probably the one that i'll recommend. One thing: have a little big patience for the interruptions. That's all that i have to say about Triggerheart Exelica Enhanced.
Triggerheart Exelica Enhanced's Final Score: 8/10