GD: Thunder Dragon 2 / Big Bang

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zinger
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GD: Thunder Dragon 2 / Big Bang

Post by zinger »

I've been playing this for an hour or so, and beside the medal chaining system, there seems to be LOADS of secrets in this game. Yagawa must have been inspired by it. :)

Shoot all of the text in the beginning of stage 1 to get a 50,000 pts bonus item. Doing this on later stages will get you a bomb item.


I also managed to spawn a bonus item just before stage 2 boss, have no idea what the requirements for this is, any ideas?
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Post by zinger »

Shoot all of the missile dropping ships in stage 1 for a 50,000 pts bonus item.

Shoot all of the bombs dropped by stage 1 boss for a bomb item.
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Post by BulletMagnet »

As chance would have it, I just tried this in MAME for the first time last night...I haven't played enough to contribute much to the revelation of the secret stuff, but I'd say that just shooting all over the place is a good general rule, since there are loads of hidden 500-point medals and whatnot around, and most of what's been found so far seems to suggest that most secrets are based on destroying stuff (as opposed to the weirder requirements found in some games). I might also suggest trying the 2P ship, since its homing missiles can help you find some of the aforementioned hidden medals.
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Post by AWJ »

A lot of bonuses in this game seem to be based on shooting enemies down as quickly as possible as they come onscreen. For example, the last wave of popcorn planes before the stage 1 boss--if you shoot down the formations on the left and right sides of the screen fast enough, a third formation will appear. Shoot this formation down fast enough, and a large delta-wing plane will appear. Shoot it down (or let it self-destruct, which it will before the boss appears) and it'll drop a 50000 point medal.
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Post by zinger »

AWJ wrote:A lot of bonuses in this game seem to be based on shooting enemies down as quickly as possible as they come onscreen. For example, the last wave of popcorn planes before the stage 1 boss--if you shoot down the formations on the left and right sides of the screen fast enough, a third formation will appear. Shoot this formation down fast enough, and a large delta-wing plane will appear. Shoot it down (or let it self-destruct, which it will before the boss appears) and it'll drop a 50000 point medal.
Yes;
zinger wrote:Shoot all of the missile dropping ships in stage 1 for a 50,000 pts bonus item.
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Post by AWJ »

zinger wrote:
AWJ wrote:A lot of bonuses in this game seem to be based on shooting enemies down as quickly as possible as they come onscreen. For example, the last wave of popcorn planes before the stage 1 boss--if you shoot down the formations on the left and right sides of the screen fast enough, a third formation will appear. Shoot this formation down fast enough, and a large delta-wing plane will appear. Shoot it down (or let it self-destruct, which it will before the boss appears) and it'll drop a 50000 point medal.
Yes;
zinger wrote:Shoot all of the missile dropping ships in stage 1 for a 50,000 pts bonus item.
I wasn't talking about those, I meant the regular propeller planes that appear after them. Shooting them down fast enough causes this guy to appear:

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You can get three 50000 point medals in stage 1 (unless there are even more waiting to be discovered): One from the letters at the start of the stage, one from the missile planes, and one from this hidden sub-boss.
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Post by AWJ »

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a subboss like this in every stage, not just the first. The mysterious bonus item zinger triggered once in stage 2 and couldn't repeat was probably a subboss that self-destructed (due to reaching the appearance point of the actual boss) before you got a good look at it.
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Post by zinger »

AWJ wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if there's a subboss like this in every stage, not just the first. The mysterious bonus item zinger triggered once in stage 2 and couldn't repeat was probably a subboss that self-destructed (due to reaching the appearance point of the actual boss) before you got a good look at it.
Yes, it looked just as the one you triggered in stage 1.
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Post by Macaw »

I'm pretty sure there is one in every stage. I have seen one in stage 3 many times.
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Post by Macaw »

50,000 secret ship in stage 2 is triggered by destroying the flame ship near the end of the stage quickly.

50,000 secret ship in stage 3 is triggered by destroying the ground base near the end of the stage quickly.

Rank seems determined by how much power you have and how long you have survived without dying. Going a long time without dying makes the rank skyrocket.

The 2nd player side ship seems to be completely useless due to how weak it is.

Extra enemy formations appear in several areas in the game if the previous formations were destroyed quickly.
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Post by Observer »

Sorry to bump this 'ancient' thread but I've been playing this tonight and I'm amazed at the way enemy formations keep appearing non stop and how the premise doesn't get extravagant: shoot down shit fast, collect medals and survive.

However... does this game have extends? If so, which is the score needed to obtain them or where are those pesky 1ups I'll probably need by the final stage when there are more enemies than screen space?

Also, does bombing affect the score or anything whatsoever? I mean, they give me way too many bombs and not using them is just sad.
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Post by Enhasa »

I think the answers are "sorry, no extends" and "bomb like mad." :P
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Re: GD: Thunder Dragon 2 / Big Bang

Post by Nifty »

Bamp. The information for this game is all over the place, making this an ideal time to get it in order. Here's what I've found over time in regards to scoring:


Items/Secrets

Small purple medals: Revealed on the ground or by destroying certain enemies. Only worth 500 points, so don't waste a life over them.

Medium purple medals: Revealed on the ground or by destroying certain enemies. These increase in value up to 10,000 points, making them possibly the most consistent scoring item in the game. Dying resets their value, but missing one won't.

Large purple medals: At 50,000 each these are definitely worth looking for. They appear in two main places as enemy drops, the first being the large black ships that appear near the end of each stage if the enemy waves are cleared quickly enough, and the other the sets of seven brown missile-dropping ships that appear on stages 1, 6 and 7 provided they are all destroyed before they can escape. The only other places are the large turrets on the final stage, and upon the complete destruction of the letters at the very start of the first.

Blue medals: These are hidden at preset locations a few times on each stage. Shooting reveals them, but their trick is that they scroll much faster than the background and can be easily missed. In addition to giving 1,000 points upon collection, every third one picked up will make another bomb appear, making them deceptively useful for both survival and scoring.

Destroyable letters: At the beginning of every stage and the end of the game, each letter can be destroyed for 1,000 (+ some shot points) each. Perfect destruction will reward the player with another bomb (or a 50,000 point medal on the first stage, as mentioned above), which is tricky to do as they don't hang around too long and are invincible while spinning. The best method I've found is to get in close and simply move back and forth quickly, being careful to watch the edges as they're the hardest to hit if the text starts flying away. It can't hurt to use a bomb if you're not confident, because you'll get it straight back with full points from the letters in tow. Also, be careful where you move, because enemies will start appearing as soon as the words are gone.

Bombs: Dropped by certain enemies, or under certain bonus conditions as explained above. The max bomb stock is eight, and the max bonus 10,000, but there's a twist: This bonus is achieved upon picking up the eighth bomb rather than after! As a result, bombing at max stock will still reward the player upon the next pick-up, allowing them to 'ride' the max bonus for as long as they can manage. This mechanic is one of the key elements of the game and I don't think I've ever seen it mentioned before. It also appears in Rapid Hero (although it's not nearly as prominent there) and possibly other NMK games (P-47 Aces and Zed Blade mayhap?). Unless you can perfect every stage, this is very helpful for clearing out enemy waves quickly (and therefore getting more bonus items) in addition to the obvious survival perks.

Powerups and Missiles: Dropped only by enemies. Give a bonus of 5,000 upon reaching max power, like bombs, and death only weakens them by one level, making it possible to go straight back to full.


Enemy waves

The main underpinning of TD2's stage design is that each designated wave will only appear after the previous one has been fully destroyed. Interspersed are certain large or ground-based enemies, which do not affect the wave count and will often pause the next wave for some time or until they are removed. The key to scoring, then, is basically to kill everything as quickly as possible and advance through all the available waves and bonus items. The most noticeable sign of destruction efficiency is the appearance of the large black ship holding a 50,000-pt medal at the end of a stage, which will only appear if enough waves have been killed - this is the main target, but note that there are always a few more sets to come after it. Additionally, some types of wave will only give a bonus item if they are wholly destroyed, e.g. the brown missile ships or the rain of small green ships on stage 2. On the other hand, if you're purely looking to survive, it can sometimes be better to leave enemies on screen for as long as you can in order to ward off later, more dangerous enemies.

That's the most of it. The world record for this game is about 6.24 million and I have no idea where the last half million of that comes from. Milking bosses or parts where the scrolling stops may account for some of it, but regular enemies don't give many points at all.
Last edited by Nifty on Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:44 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: GD: Thunder Dragon 2 / Big Bang

Post by trap15 »

Excellent post, will be referencing as I play :)
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Re: GD: Thunder Dragon 2 / Big Bang

Post by Despatche »

DoubleThink wrote:Destroyable letters: At the beginning of every stage and the end of the game, each letter can be destroyed for 1,000 (+ some shot points) each. Perfect destruction will reward the player with another bomb (or a 50,000 point medal on the first stage, as mentioned above), which is tricky to do as they don't hang around too long and are invincible while spinning. The best method I've found is to get in close and simply move back and forth quickly, being careful to watch the edges as they're the hardest to hit if the text starts flying away. It can't hurt to use a bomb if you're not confident, because you'll get it straight back with full points from the letters in tow. Also, be careful where you move, because enemies will start appearing as soon as the words are gone.
With Player 2, you can just bomb the first stage set, and the rest are guaranteed at the power levels you should be at.
DoubleThink wrote:Bombs: Dropped by certain enemies, or under certain bonus conditions as explained above. The max bomb stock is eight, and the max bonus 10,000, but there's a twist: This bonus is given upon picking up the eighth bomb rather than after!
Small correction: you get 10000 for max bonus and for every excess bomb after, same with shot/missiles and 5000 I think*. This only further clarifies what the game expects you to do, of course.

*once I got a [MISSILE] display from getting the missile pickup at the stage 1 boss, when normally i'd just get a 5000... not sure what that's all about
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Re: GD: Thunder Dragon 2 / Big Bang

Post by Ed Oscuro »

Player 2 can shoot all the letters at the beginning of the game, although it is a bit tricky. Just move back and forth and make sure not to wait at the edges. You just want to flip each letter so don't linger.

Player 1, with autofire, has an even easier time.

Player 2 seems far and away the best for scoring and survival play. Player 1 is wide shot + power missiles for point-blanking (but the fast missile refire rate near the top of the screen is almost useless in practice), whereas the Player 2 ship is like playing Raiden with a laser and homing missiles - but without much sacrifice in power, and in fact the homing missiles and fast ship speed let you get damage to the far corners more effectively than dispersing shots with P1's wide shot.
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Re: GD: Thunder Dragon 2 / Big Bang

Post by trap15 »

Huge bump, but I've got some answers :wink:

For all items (powerups, missiles, bombs), you get the bonus for reaching the max and every item past that.

There are 4 levels of powerups and missiles.

Now here's where stuff gets fucked...

There are two missile items. The normal one increases your missiles by 1. The other one will max it out. The first boss's wing drops a max missile item, yet the plane earlier drops a normal one. As far as I know, nothing distinguishes the two items visually...
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Re: GD: Thunder Dragon 2 / Big Bang

Post by Domino »

I'm curious, does the game ever throws out an 1up? It's a bad habit for later NMK titles to not give out any sort of extend (excluding Gunnail).
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Re: GD: Thunder Dragon 2 / Big Bang

Post by trap15 »

Nope, no extends at all. it's time to put in more coins man.
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