ST: Battle Garegga (20.7.14 - edits, record replays list)

[Aliquantic]

I don't think there's a Special Course in Garegga, or is it? The bossrush was only in Batrider and Bakraid iirc.

Not Special Course, no, but Special mode, which is apparently Harder and Extended modes combined into one neat little package (with Stage Edit too). It's... an interesting experience to say the least

[captpain]

He's using GareMAME, a special MAME build that only supports Garegga and allows a lot of nifty HUD options and shortcuts, as well as reduced input lag IIRC.

Also, he understands English rather well, so you could as well ask him directly.

I've asked him to play certain characters and even switch games in English and he's responded happily. He seems to understand a lot but doesn't have a great speaking vocabulary.

[Zeron]

Ugh the homing special power up is pissing me off I can barely seem to get it and I really need it to pull off stage 5 and stage 6(pre midboss part) perfectly


So I am supposed to miss 5 small bomb power ups but right after lets say a shot power up falls down its reseted right? But what lets say 7 small bomb power ups fall down then I pick up the option item will I still get homing?
final question Do items on the ground count or is it only relevant for airborne items?

[Plasmo]

right after lets say a shot power up falls down its reseted right?

No.

But what lets say 7 small bomb power ups fall down then I pick up the option item will I still get homing?

No.

Do items on the ground count or is it only relevant for airborne items?

Every item counts.


How to get the Homing Special Power Up precisely:

1. Pick up (!) at least one bomb item. See it the way, that it resets your "missed bomb item"-counter.
2. Miss exactly five bomb items. Miss here, means let them go off screen. It doesn't matter, if there are more items on the screen when you collect the final shot item.
3. Pick up one shot item. It doesn't matter if you've missed 10 before, just grab one item BEFORE the next bomb item goes off screen.

If you either miss another bomb item OR pick up another bomb item before you've picked up the shot item, you have to restart the procedure.
While you're waiting for five bomb items to go off screen, it doesn't matter at all how many shot items go off screen.

[captpain]

I never really "got" it until I understood the first step of Plasmo's list: that is, pick up one bomb fragment first to reset the counter. There are plenty of spots where you can pick up one and then expose exactly five.

This helps the most just after the turret wall, where you can pick up one of the six fragments and let the other five go off. Then, there's an option powerup waiting right there for you afterwards.

[Zeron]

right after lets say a shot power up falls down its reseted right?

No.

That made things alot easier now I can get to stage 7 regularly thank you very much

[Drum]

Ok, so I read the (great) OP and I have now become interested in Garegga. Game looks infuriatingly opaque and arbitrary - like what would happen if Roberta Williams designed a shmup - but the good aspects seem like they outweigh that stuff, so I give it a pass ... for now. Wish me luck!

[ChronoMoogle]

A great guide, thank you very much for this!

[Icarus]

It came to my attention recently that the online version of The Battle Garegga Handbook, which was the basis for this ST thread, has been closed for whatever reason indefinitely. Looks like the only places where the guide can be viewed now are on (the outdated version on) the Saturn disc, in the book that accompanies the The Madness Insanity DVD, and this English translation and "improved" revision.

Thanks for all the original information, Raizing, and the various players that developed the guide. I still have a web translated version of the Handbook for reference and archiving. The URL to the original site will be retained in this guide for posterity.

[Professor Jones]

Quick little questions :

Why is Gain able to score more than other ships ? Is it because of the fact that his bomb is good even with one small bomb "tab" ?
Why is the Golden Bat considered as the easiest ship to use and finish the game with ? I find it slow (which is a problem when trying to grab medals) and its bomb takes ages to start up, which makes it useless to get out of tricky situations.

[RNGmaster]

[*]Wild Snail (B/ABC variant)
- Best for distance. Great Shot strength, comes with piercing bullet as standard. Bomb is a little short ranged, however. (Japanese gaming mags noted that 80%-ish of all Japanese clears use the Golden Bat.) This ship has the most balanced speed in the game when using a speed subtype, so concentrate on B/ABC types over the C-type.


[*]Gain (C variant)
- Highest scoring ship via exploits, but very difficult to use since the Options count as piercing bullets (meaning less points from certain targets). Options have great power, but can only fire a single bullet each time (Space Invaders Syndrome). Weapon can be dropped multiple times, great for the st2 flamingoes. Masters exploit the rank increase from the Options for the best scoring technique in the game, Black Heart2. Very difficult to use ship, for players totally knowledgeable about the game only. One of the two fastest ships in the game, therefore using C-type is a must.

Gain gets more points from Madball and Flamingoes than any other type since his bombs have a concentrated, damaging effect, and you can stack them. He is also fast, so it's harder to lose one's medal chain.

I don't know why people use Golden Bat. :V

[Eaglet]

I don't know why people use Golden Bat. :V

Firepower and great speed for dodging the tighter patterns (stage 6 and onwards).

[Professor Jones]

Code: Select all

|      Fuselage     |   Level   |   Number of discharges   |   Change quantity   |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                   |     0     |                          |                     |
|                   |     1     |            N2            |         60          |
|                   |------------------------------------------------------------|
|   Silver Sword    |     2     |                          |                     |
|                   |     3     |                          |                     |
|                   |     4     |            N3            |         80          |
|                   |     SP    |                          |                     |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                   |     0     |                          |                     |
|                   |     1     |            N2            |         60          |
|                   |     2     |                          |                     |
|                   |------------------------------------------------------------|
|    Grasshopper    |     3     |                          |                     |
|                   |     4     |         N2 + P1          |        140          |
|                   |------------------------------------------------------------|
|                   |     SP    |         N2 + P2          |        220          |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                   |     0     |            N2            |         60          |
|                   |     1     |                          |                     |
|                   |------------------------------------------------------------|
|   Flying Baron    |     2     |            N3            |         80          |
|                   |     3     |                          |                     |
|                   |------------------------------------------------------------|
|                   |     4     |            N4            |        100          |
|                   |     SP    |                          |                     |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                   |     0     |                          |                     |
|                   |     1     |                          |                     |
|                   |     2     |         N2 + P1          |        140          |
|    Wild Snail     |     3     |                          |                     |
|                   |------------------------------------------------------------|
|                   |     4     |                          |                     |
|                   |     SP    |         N2 + P2          |        220          |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

If I understand the contents of this table, the garegga ship that has the less effect on rank augmentation is the silver sword, and the one that has the most is the wild snail. Wich puzzles me even more about golden bat's reputation as a noob friendly ship .

[Icarus]

If I understand the contents of this table, the garegga ship that has the less effect on rank augmentation is the silver sword, and the one that has the most is the wild snail. Wich puzzles me even more about golden bat's reputation as a noob friendly ship .

Wild Snail has: high attack power even at level one Shot; piercing bullets all the way through the power levels; decent speed (after selecting B or ABC type); high-powered homing-type Weapon.
Since you can blow away bosses just by aiming at the primary weak point with your piercing Shot, you can get quite far into the game quite quickly.
Granted that the Silver Sword has a lower rate of increase, but what good is it if it takes you forever to kill something?

[Eaglet]

Wild Snail has: high attack power even at level one Shot; piercing bullets all the way through the power levels

Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't it only the center-most bullet that is piercing on Golden Bat Shot level 3?
Would like to get some confirmation on this since some enemies/boss parts get you more points for destroying with a non-piercing shot.

I haven't seen the two outer ones pass through any of the bosses... so that's why i'm wondering.

[moozooh]

Correct, only the central bullet is piercing, but that's all you need anyway. Level up to power level 3 with large powerups as soon as you can; there's no difference in per-shot rank between those, while the power difference is pretty pronounced. Stay right under the center of the bosses, and they will die within mere seconds (except st3 boss, which you're better off just bombing through if you don't feel confident fighting it).

Then, get homing options somewhere before the st5 boss rush, get power level to special before Junky Monkey, and raise autofire rate to maximum right before the BH mk2 fight. These measures will affect your rank increase rate, but, since it's so late in the game, they won't have enough time to change things for the worse, while the ability to kill everything quicker will certainly help survival a lot.

[Eaglet]

Yeah, my interest wasn't survival or rank oriented at all.
I want to get a letter score and every little bit helps (shooting certain enemies with the outer non piercing shots for an example).

Many drops make a river.

[moozooh]

I think that approach won't get you far in Garegga. Scoring, survival and rank management are so tightly connected there you'll most likely get a completely different result than what you're seeking. Keeping rank at a comfortable level will lead to easy survival and better scores in general, since later stages are plenty expensive. This way won't get you much higher than 9-11 million, but 10 million is already a letter score, so in your case it'll work just fine.

If you focus on scoring at all costs, you'll have to deal with much higher rank and thus much harder survival, and by that I mean it'll be very hard to get past stage 5 without constantly dropping your medal chain and/or gameovering. I went for that approach in 2009's STGT; having very little experience with Garegga, I had no time to clear the game, so I tried to push the first stages as far as I could at the expense of an early gameover. While my score was acceptable (slightly below 8 million, using Gain-C), I had a LOT of trouble getting TO stage 5, and it can easily be improved with a laid-back Golden Bat clear that keeps medal chain through the first five stages.

Basically, the only tricks you ever need for a letter score in Garegga are medal chaining, flamingos, and the two incarnations of Mad Ball. You'll be surprised just how expensive competent medaling is, milking and esoteric dismantling/bombing techniques be damned!

[Eaglet]

I think that approach won't get you far in Garegga.

Oh yeah?
Not shooting shit with the right shot is a bad approach? One of the key fundamentals of rank in Garegga is: if you are shooting, you might as well be shooting at something (since shooting nothing gives you rank and no points - shooting shit gives you points). Take it one step further: if you're shooting at something, you might as well be shooting it with the right shot.
Besides, it's mostly just applicable to boss parts. The difference in rank between shooting something with piercing to kill it and shooting it with non-piercing to get more points is minimal.

Keeping rank at a comfortable level will lead to easy survival and better scores in general

You do this by scoring and suiciding. Not by bombing all the bosses.

and by that I mean it'll be very hard to get past stage 5 without constantly dropping your medal chain and/or gameovering.

Is it actually possible to drop the medal chain in stage 5? Stage 6 i can agree on (the beginning is designed to make you drop your chain) but 5? Hell no.
The only thing hard about stage 5 is the last spread shot from the second incarnation of the first boss (especially if you've destroyed all it's other parts aside from the main body) and if you don't want to deal with that you can just time out the boss. You only lose something like 150k points.

You'll be surprised just how expensive competent medaling is, milking and esoteric dismantling/bombing techniques be damned!

Yeah i don't think you can get a 7 mil+ score without medalling.


Im curious, what is your best score?
You speak as if you know all the ins and outs of the game.

[Professor Jones]

Scoring, survival and rank management are so tightly connected there you'll most likely get a completely different result than what you're seeking.

Theoretically this is true, but Ket demonstrated that by not picking any item besides a few power ups you can keep the rank at a very manageable level :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjaunQC1 ... re=related

This run almost makes the game look like a walk in the park. This seems to be the best strategy if your only concern is survival (which is my case, for the time being).

[moozooh]

Take it one step further: if you're shooting at something, you might as well be shooting it with the right shot.

Shooting something "with the right shot" more often than not aggravates rank. Either because this means discharging bombs (more rank), or taking time to shoot (more rank), or dismantling bosses rather than going for the vital spot (more rank). Purposefully aggravating rank only makes sense if you can handle it, because a couple more seconds of survival is generally worth more than a few thousand you gain from, say, destroying the nose propellor with options' fire.

You do this by scoring and suiciding. Not by bombing all the bosses.

Ah, right, my bad. Have you had success with that letter score yet?

Is it actually possible to drop the medal chain in stage 5? Stage 6 i can agree on (the beginning is designed to make you drop your chain) but 5? Hell no.

I meant not only stage 5, but all stages through 5. And it's not particularly hard to drop a chain in stage 5 either, not any harder than in, say, stage 2 or stage 3.

Yeah i don't think you can get a 7 mil+ score without medalling.

Actually you can get a letter score without medaling. Thoroughly milked bosses together with the flamingos are alone worth something like 7-9 million, depending on the ship. Gain is obviously the best, since he can take advantage of the three most expensive scoring techniques in the game (BH mk2, Mad Ball x2, the flamingos, that's already over 7 million potentially).

Im curious, what is your best score?
You speak as if you know all the ins and outs of the game.

I've read this ST a few times and watched the superplay at least a dozen times or so. I've mentioned the score in my previous post.

[Eaglet]

Shooting something "with the right shot" more often than not aggravates rank. Either because this means discharging bombs (more rank), or taking time to shoot (more rank), or dismantling bosses rather than going for the vital spot (more rank). Purposefully aggravating rank only makes sense if you can handle it, because a couple more seconds of survival is generally worth more than a few thousand you gain from, say, destroying the nose propellor with options' fire.

The only "extra" rank you get from dismantling bosses is absolutely minimal. Maybe you're confusing rank with boss aggression?
For minimum rank increase you get a lot more points. You seem to be making the rank out to be something uncontrollable and much more dangerous than what it really is.
So long as you don't pick up unnecessary power-ups/options, suicide before extend and never keep more than an extend in the trunk there should never (ever) in the game be a situation that is uncontrollable due to rank. Check out Kamui's high scoring Gain runs. Comparably higher rank all the way through.

I meant not only stage 5, but all stages through 5. And it's not particularly hard to drop a chain in stage 5 either, not any harder than in, say, stage 2 or stage 3.

I don't know. The only place i actually find hard keeping my chain in is - aside from basically all of stage 6 - the medal rails before the fourth boss (if i don't bomb the tank shelters first).
Anything before that is not hard.

I've read this ST a few times and watched the superplay at least a dozen times or so. I've mentioned the score in my previous post.

So just a couple hundred thou over my recent HS?
I feel like one has to at least achieve a letter score in order to give advice on how to get one...

[Professor Jones]

The only place i actually find hard keeping my chain in is - aside from basically all of stage 6 - the medal rails before the fourth boss (if i don't bomb the tank shelters first).
Anything before that is not hard.

Maybe you can help me then, I have a hard time keeping my medal chain because sooner or later a medal will be inaccessible because of one or several bullets near it, or even above it. How do you avoid this scenario ?

[Moniker]

The only place i actually find hard keeping my chain in is - aside from basically all of stage 6 - the medal rails before the fourth boss (if i don't bomb the tank shelters first).
Anything before that is not hard.

Maybe you can help me then, I have a hard time keeping my medal chain because sooner or later a medal will be inaccessible because of one or several bullets near it, or even above it. How do you avoid this scenario ?

Helps if you don't try to kill all enemies. If there are waves coming on both the right and left, just pick a side and the medal drops will be more predictable. If there's a medal blocked by bullets, you still have a chance of keeping the chain if you can trigger another medal drop before the first disappears. Bombing applicable terrain is useful for this.

[moozooh]

So just a couple hundred thou over my recent HS?
I feel like one has to at least achieve a letter score in order to give advice on how to get one...

Look, I'm... not sure what your difficulty with the game is. If you have over 7 million, surely you know where and how to get points. If you post in this thread, surely you've read the opening post. If you suggest watching Kamui's videos, surely you've seen them yourself. If you don't find the first five stages hard, I guess you should by now have enough knowledge and ability to get a letter score by stage 6, unless one of us is missing something crucial in this debate.

Don't take me wrong, I'm not trying to force my opinion on anyone—if you want to do things the hard way, well, more power to you. But then I'm lost as to why you're using Garegga's main survival ship if you're not concerned with survival. There are at least two characters with much better scoring potential, especially in the early parts of the game. Attaining a letter score with Gain is pretty simple, the actual hard part is dodging, which I know I can't do well.

[Eaglet]

Helps if you don't try to kill all enemies. If there are waves coming on both the right and left, just pick a side and the medal drops will be more predictable. If there's a medal blocked by bullets, you still have a chance of keeping the chain if you can trigger another medal drop before the first disappears. Bombing applicable terrain is useful for this.

A typical example is after the flamingos, before the two flying bigger medal-ships, where a bigger tank will rush down from the middle top of the screen and fire at you.
There are basically two ways to go about it:
The safest is to just sit on top of the tank and point-blank it as soon as it gets in range. The only bullets you'll have to dodge are the ones coming in from the left and right.
The other higher scoring way is to start at one side, then circle around the tank as it fires and shooting enemies on both sides. Easy to drop the medal chain here unless you keep track of what power-ups are dropping where etc.

As is written in this guide; every fifth flying enemy killed drops a power-up/medal/option. A shot power-up will always precede a medal so when you see a shot power-up flying down the screen, be prepared for a medal.

Look, I'm... not sure what your difficulty with the game is. If you have over 7 million, surely you know where and how to get points. If you post in this thread, surely you've read the opening post. If you suggest watching Kamui's videos, surely you've seen them yourself. If you don't find the first five stages hard, I guess you should by now have enough knowledge and ability to get a letter score by stage 6, unless one of us is missing something crucial in this debate.

If i pull of everything correctly (getting over 1,7 mil from flamingoes, madballx2 etc.) i should with my current strategies theoretically be able to obtain a letter score by beginning of stage 7.
I guess all that is needed now is practice...
I recently figured out the trick to stage 6 (get homing and bomb every single port) so now i'm just waiting for the PCB...

Don't take me wrong, I'm not trying to force my opinion on anyone—if you want to do things the hard way, well, more power to you. But then I'm lost as to why you're using Garegga's main survival ship if you're not concerned with survival. There are at least two characters with much better scoring potential, especially in the early parts of the game. Attaining a letter score with Gain is pretty simple, the actual hard part is dodging, which I know I can't do well.

I might try Gain after i'm finished with Golden Bat. He seems really fun to use.
But i feel that i want to see everything through with the ship i first picked. And to be honest "doing things the hard way" is a lot of fun.
Except "The Wall".
No fun at all.

[stratos]

LOL, years I don't post on Shmups forum, what a shame
Well, I found a strange Iron Mackerel run posted by KET on his youtube channel (found on an italian forum, hope they won't upset for this), here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXUPVBeyKik

It seems to be an easy 1cc performed without doing the most complicated stuff and without suiciding too much. Here's tha google trans:

"There are four display rank No. Garegga Battle ("Battle Garegga rank display run n.4", I suppose)

Also crushed when the rank is low, because they do not rank below it has a minimum value, becomes "waste to death."
Waste and crushed to death when it is "NG!" Is displayed at the bottom of the right side of the screen.
Leave a lot of reference to give an indication of the remaining aircraft and bomb the ranks of the surface when the late rush in "Black Heart 4 child machine"."

Since I never managed to 1CC this shmup (and it is my fav shmup of all, what a shame) I'd like to give another try taking inspiration from this run, but I think a little help from you Garegga veterans. Basically, I see many of the deaths in this vid are not intentional. To you, what are the intentional suicides in this run, and why he suicides in those particular spots? Also, I see he drops his medal chain in stage 6, and he try to avoid picking other medals for rank management. Until what stage you can try to regain medals, and what stage is better to drop? Please excuse my lazyness, coul'd you tell me an easy trick to pick special powerup in 5th and 6th stage?

Other suggestions about rank managing in this run?

Thank you very much!

[Gibberish]

Didn't notice a post about this, maybe I missed it.

Is there a cheat/hack that allows the display of a numerical value for rank?

I am just starting out with Garegga, can only get to level 4 consistently on 1CC, but never really know when I should be picking up weapon upgrades.

I suppose I could watch a superplay, but I feel having a rank value displayed would be useful regardless.
Would be nice to have for Batrider too.


Also any tips for being consistent in the selection of Golden Bat?
I am using a keyboard and when trying to hit all 3 keys at the same time it seems to read one of them first.

[BulletMagnet]

Also any tips for being consistent in the selection of Golden Bat?
I am using a keyboard and when trying to hit all 3 keys at the same time it seems to read one of them first.

If memory serves just leaving the cursor on the plane you want and leaving it there for a few seconds will automatically select the "ABC" type for it.

[TLB]

Didn't notice a post about this, maybe I missed it.

Is there a cheat/hack that allows the display of a numerical value for rank?

GAREMAME TO ZE RESCUE!!!

Just put whatever garegga roms you have or can find into the roms folder and give it a go. It has tons of cheats saved. You can go to the options menu in the UI to change the language to ENRGIRHS. You might even be able to take the cheat.dat and use it in other mames. No idea.

I am just starting out with Garegga, can only get to level 4 consistently on 1CC, but never really know when I should be picking up weapon upgrades.

Zees depend on your sheeeep! If you're using SHOUNEN BATTO (the fourth ship from the left on the top row in ABC modo), you can just chill with basically nothing. I recommend killing that big dual-cannon tank in stage 2, then picking up two of its bomb chips, then NOT picking up any for the rest of the stage (there are three more chips from tanks at that very section, which you should NOT pick up), then picking up options wherever (IF you're confident you won't die and you don't expect to have to suicide; otherwise you can wait until after the suicide) so as to get homing options. Later on in the game you can pick shit up because you'll need it, but for the first 2-4 stages you really don't need shit.

With Miyamoto, the DORAGON SAMURAIIIIII, just pick up two options, aim them frontways, and for-fucking-get about everything, including rank variation. Hard ship to use, but completely breaks the fuck out of the game if you already know how to play. A worthy contender.

With BORNNAMUU-O, you should just, uh...pick up two options and then wait for BIG shot powerups. Gain is about the same, but faster and with a less pwnage shot setup (for gameclearing purposes, mind you!).

With all ships, you should totally fucking avoid picking up extra options and NEVER pick up small shot powerups unless you know what you're doing. If you fuck up your medal chain, keep in mind that the lowest-value medals crank rank moar than ANYTHING ELSE, DAWG. Moral of the story is: don't fuck up your medal chain.

I suppose I could watch a superplay, but I feel having a rank value displayed would be useful regardless.
Would be nice to have for Batrider too.

Dawg, I already answered this shit. It's probably already been done for Batrider, but you really can ignore rank variability in Batrider if you follow a few simple rules (1. suicide to last stock before extend 2. medal chain like a boss 3. use "b-type" or "c-type" or "start-type" ships and only pick up a couple options unless you're pro as shit 4. ask someone else, this is the galegga thread). I wonder what those rules are...

Also any tips for being consistent in the selection of Golden Bat?
I am using a keyboard and when trying to hit all 3 keys at the same time it seems to read one of them first.

Dawgerator, BM already got dis fo yo bad self!

Also any tips for being consistent in the selection of Golden Bat?
I am using a keyboard and when trying to hit all 3 keys at the same time it seems to read one of them first.

If memory serves just leaving the cursor on the plane you want and leaving it there for a few seconds will automatically select the "ABC" type for it.