GD: Gokujou Parodius Rank System

[Seahawk]

This thread is for documenting the rank system of Gokujou Parodius.
I don't have it completely figured out right now, but I'm using this space as scratch paper while I figure it out, and also so that anyone interested can view and/or contribute.
I will edit this post with whatever new things I discover, to eventually have it fully documented.

Rank is a 2-byte value stored at 0xC0D922 in main CPU memory. It's range is from 0x00-0x2F.

It is initialized to 0x14 at game start, on all difficulties, and without regard to auto/semiauto/manual powerup setting.


Power ups:
The game keeps track of how many of the missile, double/laser, and ? powerups you have activated. The double/laser are together because you cannot have both active at once.
The game also keeps track of how many options you have, for a maximum of 3. Even though some ships can have 4 options, the third one you activate is treated as a special case (see below). So having 4 options technically counts as 3.

In both variables, the maximum value is 3. The lower of these two values is the amount added to the rank.

A few examples:
Missile + Laser + Shield + 0 option = +0
Missile + 1 option = +1
Missile + 2 option = +1
2 options = +0
Missle + Laser/Double + Shield + 4 option = +3

The game considers your third option a special case, and with any ship, is +1 for having it.

Speed ups have no effect on rank.

(I'm sure there is a better way to express that formula but I can't think of it right now )


There is a counter at 0xC0D926 that keeps track of the time since your last death.

More info as it comes...

[Dumple]

Here's a little more info about the rank system:

Total rank (stored at 0xc0d923) is affected by current power level plus rank accumulator minus 2 times death count, plus minor unknown factors.

Power level is based on whether you have missiles, double/laser, shield and options. I think 4 options is the same as 3 for power level, so you might want to procrastinate getting a 3rd option, but once you get a third you might as well get the fourth.

Rank accumulator ticks up over time, and it ticks up more quickly based on your power level. It doesn't reset if you die or lose power-ups. (Getting a shield and then losing it leaves you worse off than when you started!) Rank accumulator is at 0xc0d82d and it increments every time the 2-byte value at 0xc0d82e rolls over.

Dying reduces rank by 2. This keeps going across continues (if you keep dying and continuing, the rank will keep dropping!) Note that dying does not *reset* rank, it just lowers it by a fixed amount.

Carrying blue bells in stock doesn't increase rank. As far as I can tell, bells don't impact rank.

Here's a low-rank route with Koitsu (or 2P version Aitsu - they're equivalent) using Manual:

• Get 2 speedups, spread shot, 2 options (POW icon). DO NOT buy missiles, DO NOT buy shield. (Save your "missiles" button for using bell powers!)
• Chain gold bells to score at least 200,000 points and get the extend by the end of stage 2.
• When fighting the stage 2 boss, blow up her "laughter" to end the level with 8 or 9 in the hundreds digit to trigger the bonus moai stage.
• Suicide at the start of the bonus moai stage. This lets you skip the stage, which saves time, which help lower rank.
• Suicide two more times at the start of stage 3 (make sure you're carrying one pod on the last suicide, to make recovery easier).
• You're now ready for a 1-life, low-rank clear! Quickly buy 2 speedups, spread shot, and 4 options, and that's all. Once you finish that shopping spree, don't worry about getting a roulette item, you're not going to buy anything else anyway.

Grab blue bells when you get the chance (especially at the opening part of a level) so you have some screen-clearing bombs. Some points where blue bells come in especially handy are:

• The big "hit squad" of chickens that comes from behind on the high speed stage,
• The big formation of midbosses near the end of the space stage (hide in the NE or SE corner and bomb)
• The bunny spawners just before Kaguya (bomb, move to the bridge, tap dodge up then tap dodge left)
• The penguins that come from behind at the start of the showgirl "crab", when you need to move left.

Note that grabbing another non-gold bell will throw away your bombs. Don't grab a green bell if you're already carrying a blue, and you won't have a chance to restock before you need a bomb.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

This is interesting to know, thanks for the info!