GD: Mars Matrix - Arrange/Elite Mode (A)

[Battletoad]

The arranged mode of Mars Matrix on the Dreamcast is sadly ignored by most players. No superplays, no strategy discussions so far (I think so at least), so it's time for this topic. I'd like to share and learn strategies for chaining, scoring tricks and of course tips for surviving, too.

Below I refer to my video showing stages 1 to 4 to explain and show things in a clearer way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLkdhPRBKPw

My general impressions of this mode:
- Often, more so than in Arcade Mode, you can hold your chain just by destroying enemies and without the need to generate cubes with the Mosquito. But generating extra cubes improves your chain of couse.
- Bridging the difficult parts seems more difficult though, or maybe it's just the lack of superplays and my practice.
- Surviving is (much?) more difficult than in Arcade Mode. There's a lot more bullets, thus you might also get caught easier and lose your chain.
- Arrange Mode seems to be as awesome as Arcade Mode. I mean it!

Some scoring tricks I found, some more important than others:
- In stage 1, if you destroy the first big tank early, a second tank will appear. (see 0:43)
- In stage 2, use the safe spot and you can still shoot all of the flying enemies. (see 2:28)
- In stage 3, those big ships shortly before the gold waterfall give a lot of points. One appears, when you destroyed one, so kill them fast to get more ships and points. (see 5:57)
- Same thing in stage 4 when the 2nd huge battleship appears. (see 8:18)

Chaining in stage 4, my recommendations (not executed too well in the video):
- You have to make good use of the enemies which cancel all the bullets and turn them into gold cubes.
- It might be best to do a short reflect inside the bullet hell, during this reflect getting near a bullet cancelling enemy and during the short invincibility after the reflect, kill it with Piercing Cannon so the bullest are gone when your invincibility ends.
- If you're courageous and have had enough practice, let the screen get filled with many bullets (preferably from the big red ships) and cancel bullets then.
- At the 1st huge battleship a bullet cancelling enemy will always appear roughly at the same spot where a big red ship will appear a moment later. Let the ship come into the screen, shoot a ton of bullets and then destroy it together with the bullet cancelling enemy. Repeat.
- The first big red ship entering from the top left should be destroyed fast though because you can't cancel bullets yet or rather want to use that opportunity for the next ship entering from the top right (where the bullet cancelling enemy is, too, as already mentioned).
- Try to get the +50 cube from the 2nd huge battleship as late as possible to hold the chain during the long break to the midboss. (I haven't learned yet to chain the midboss myself.)

What I want to try in my next runs:
- Let those rows of running enemies in stage 3 get further to the left at the end to maybe get a better bridge to the next enemies/cubes. (see 5:38)
- Some of the mentioned strategies, and some things I don't remember right now...

What I'm most interested in:
- How to hold the stage 2 chain near the turrets which shoot lightning fast bullets (see 2:50).
- How to hold the chain in the end of stage 2 where there are the barrages from both sides of the screen.

What I wish:
To get more people to play this!

[Rob]

At 0:41/0:51, you can get more of those upper corner enemies by shooting them quickly. And they shoot out a bunch of bullets, so move in a little closer. I think the tanks are far more useful in arcade mode.

That 'bridge' I was talking about on level 1: the object(s) should appear at about 1:29-1:31, moving upwards towards the rock (blending in with the stars). This is the only way I know of to match arcade's stage 1 chain. Otherwise I max at about 700-800.

At the beginning of stage 2, I try to avoid those fast bullets until I'm ready to fire them back. It helps to use the large boxy structure as cover until the barrier is recharged. Or you can just use those blue enemies for cover.