Battle Garegga - Menu Options

[captain ahar]

couple questions. did a search and i didn't find anything matching (in strategy at least).

1) theres a replay on ikaruga.co.uk where the person enters into a "replay" option on the main menu. where can i find this? i am, obviously, under the impression that the replay was made with the saturn version.

2) in the options menu, there are several blank spots between toggles. do these fill in or are they just spacers?

3) what does the toggle reading something like "Blast Bit" do? and "S-Option"?

also, something that is more of a general question. is the demo on Souky presented with the default arcade difficulty, and operating with the same rank system? it sure doesn't seem like it.

[Ghegs]

Not really strategy-related, so moved to Shmups Chat.

[sven666]

when in options press r once, the bottom alternative turns everything to english.

replay is unlocked by clearing the game.

sokyu demo deost seem to have any rank...

[Ord]

The "Blast bit" option removes the debris from the enemy craft when your ship shoots them. (I think).

[BulletMagnet]

I believe that "s option" automatically makes your options go to the special "trace" formation, a la Gradius. However, you can't use any of the other option formations when this is in effect.

[Icarus]

Thanks for reminding me that I needed to do this. Here is a quick translation of the Japanese Options menu. Note that there are differences between both Japanese and English Options menus - the English Options has BLAST CHIP (which lets you switch the shrapnel on/off) and the Japanese Options has something in the main menu I can't decipher.

But anyway, what do you need to know?

EDIT: Thanks to twe and Ganelon for the corrections ^_^

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MAIN OPTIONS

1. DIFFICULTY MODE
   Default setting is Arcade (obviously), and you are unable to change the Stock, Credits and Extend Limit options for any of these selections other than Edit, which lets you tweak.
2. SCREEN MODE
   Changes the display type to different settings. More will be explained later.
3. SET DIFFICULTY
   A little toggle to tweak the difficulty of the game. Since you can only change this when using Edit, this toggle is to replicate the changes to the difficulty when using the other Difficulty Modes (Easy, Training etc). The Arcade difficulty is set to 4.
4. CREDITS
   Fairly self-explanatory, changes the Credits limit. I think from 1-20, then Free Play. Can only be tweaked when using Edit.
5. EXTEND STOCK
   Your starting Extends stock. Default is 3 Extends (one active, two stocked). Can only be tweaked when using Edit.
6. EXTEND LIMIT
   How many points you need to get to the next Extend. Default is every 1mil, with other settings taken from other versions of the original PCB. Can only be tweaked when using Edit.
7. CONTROLLER CONFIGURATION
   Where you change your controller settings. More explained in it's own section.
8. SOUND OPTIONS
   The place to change sound options, and to listen to the BGM/SFX.

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SCREENMODES

1. TRUE TATE
   TATE with correct controller orientation, for monitors set to TATE.
2. TATEYOKO
   TATE for those who have the monitor set to horizontal, with corresponding controller orientation.
3. SQUASHED TATE
   The full length TATE screen, rotated, compressed and zoomed out to fit in a horizontal screen setting. Probably the worst screenmode, since the bullets are now impossible to see unless you Red Ball everything -_-;;
4. YOKO
   A full-zoom TATE screen cropped top and bottom. No loss of detail on the graphics, but very difficult to play without having the top and bottom of the screen available.
5. WOBBLE MODE
   Similar to YOKO, but you have the top and bottom of the screen available. The downside is you have to scroll the screen to access these portions of the screen. Headache inducing -_-;;

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SOUND OPTIONS

1. OUTPUT TYPE
   Change the output type to Stereo or Mono.
2. SOUNDTRACK SELECTION
   Select either the OST or the AST as your in-game BGM.
   
3. SFX VOLUME
   Change the volume of the SFX to suit your tastes. Default is at 28.
4. RESET TO DEFAULT
   Pretty simple, resets all sound options to their defaults.
5. BGM PLAYBACK
   Play the selected track from the OST/AST (whichever you have currently selected in SOUNDTRACK SELECTION.
6. SFX PLAYBACK
   Listen to the different in-game sound effects. EXTEND! SHOT POWER UP! ^_^

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CONTROLLER CONFIGURATION
You can select from three different controller types - NORMAL, EDIT and MANIA - each with their own different characteristics.

In NORMAL, A, B, C and R have buttons set to them, and cannot be changed. They are:

1. SHOT
   Fires your main Shot, and any Options you have equipped.
2. WEAPON
   Uses your Special Weapon.
3. OPTION
   Cycles through your Option Formations. Both C and R are set to Option as default.
4. EMPTY
   There's nothing set to this particular button.

In EDIT, you have an extra button assignment:



This literally means ALL SIMULTANEOUS, which lets you push A+B+C at once. Great for easy selection of ships like the Golden Bat and Shatter Star. You can also change the buttons to whatever you require.

In MANIA, you have even more extra assignments relating to RAPID settings:

1. SHOT RAPID UP
   Increases your current Shot Frequency by one. Great and recommended if you have good knowledge of Shot Frequencies, and want control over them without needing to mash the Shot button when you want to change. The only downside is, there is no button to decrease the Shot Frequency...
2. RAPID SHOT ( 1 to 8 )
   A fixed Shot Frequency setting, from 1 to 8.
3. RAPID WEAPON ( 1 to 8 )
   A fixed setting for rapid Weapon firing. Useless, to be honest -_-;;
4. RAPID OPTION ( 1 to 8 )
   I think this one either allows you to cycle through the Option Forms rapidly, or rapidfires your Options without your main Shot firing. If it is rapid Option Form cycling, then it's a good setting to have, as at it's fastest setting, it gives you a pseudo-Wide formation without having to set up for the special Wide Form (through dropping five small Shot powerups).

Please note that with the RAPID settings, the higher the number, the slower the setting. 1 therefore is fastest, and 8 slowest.

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SPECIAL OPTIONS

1. BULLET TYPE
   Either Bullet (the classic thin type) or Red Ball (large red circular bullets). Note that Red Ball does not change all of the bullets, only ones that are aimed at your ship.
2. GUEST PLAYERS
   Allows you to select the Mahou Daisakusen characters without needing to enter the secret code.
3. SPECIAL OPTION FORMATION
   The main Garegga ships will automatically have a Special Option Formation active at start, and will be unable to change their formations. Mahou ships always use the default Spread Form.
4. STAGE EDIT
   Lets you change the order of the middle three stages - Plateau, Factory and Plant - without needing to enter the special code.
5. SMALL HIT SIZE
   Shrinks the hitbox in a similar vein to selecting the ship with the C (Option) button. I'm not certain if using this option along with the usual C selection compounds the effect.
6. EASY MENU
   Changes the menu language to English. As noted, there are a few extra options available in the English menu, including BLAST CHIP and WAIT CONTROL.
7. RESET TO DEFAULT
   Resets these options back to their default states.

[EOJ]

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MAIN OPTIONS

1. DIFFICULTY
   Default setting is Arcade (obviously) and you are unable to change the Stock, Credits and Extend Limit options if arcade is the active difficulty. The other difficulties have their own settings for these, with the exception of Edit, which lets you change all of them.
2. SCREEN MODE
   Changes the display type to different settings. More will be explained later.
3. Not entirely sure about this one...

According to the Japanese, #3 means "set difficulty". I guess this lets you tweak the difficulty within the individual difficulty settings (Arcade, Easy, Hard, Training, etc.). Or perhaps it only applies to Arcade, and acts like the Arcade difficulty dipswitch? I know different region BG PCBs are set at different difficulties.

[EOJ]

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SOUND OPTIONS

1. DEMO SOUND
   You can choose to have the sound during the attract sequence. Default is On.

This one is incorrect. The Japanese translates to "output selection: stereo (I would assume you can change this to MONO too)". Setting it to mono might have a secondary effect on the demo music (??).

[Icarus]

Thanks for the corrections ^_^

[Ganelon]

SPECIAL OPTIONS
NOTE: Special Options are gained by accumulated gametime and stage completion.

Err, the special options are immediately available at the beginning without doing anything else.

Anyway, you get the replay feature by "beating" the game (continues don't matter).

[Icarus]

Thanks for the heads up. Corrected. ^_^;;

[D]

RAPID WEAPON ( 1 to 8 )
A fixed setting for rapid Weapon firing. Useless, to be honest -_-;;

I do use Rapid Weapon 1, because on the 2nd level with the birds you can just hold down the Rapid Weapon 1 button and then when you collect those little weapon icons you quickly release them by keping the button held. And in some tight spots where icons could become available it's also usefull.

For the replay option: I advise using a cheat cartridge and setting your ship on invincible and let her rock for about 30 minutes, come back and you got the replay unlocked without having to play through it on easy and continueing etc.

BG; let's rock.

[captain ahar]

the Blast Chip option, does that take out the general destruction shrapnel? like i shoot an enemy, but they don't fall apart onscreen (ala raiden).

and thanks to everyone, especially Icarus for the detailed options menu review. ^_^

[Icarus]

the Blast Chip option, does that take out the general destruction shrapnel? like i shoot an enemy, but they don't fall apart onscreen (ala raiden).

BLAST CHIP removes all shrapnel, from the bits that fly off when you shoot something (such as Nose Lavagghin's wing armor) to the Raiden-style flying debris generated by explosions. The only shrapnel that isn't removed is the scattered shrap you create when your ship explodes.

If you're having trouble seeing stuff on-screen, then turn BLAST CHIP off, at least until you have trained yourself to spot the bullets under clouds of debris. (Lunatics like myself play with BLAST CHIP on ^_^) I think the BLAST CHIP option stays in effect even if you switch back to Japanese options, so if you want to change it again, you need to re-enable Easy Menu..

[captain ahar]

oh Easy Menu is permanent with me.

progress with the game is, of course, slow. with no (intentional) rank control i can get to the opening of level 3. during this best run i've also saved a Weapon for the birds of level 2, but manage it incorrectly, so my best score was around 870,000.

i like having Blast Chip. it adds to the visual interest and actually doesn't distract me all that much. my problem is, as with most any shmup i play, i can understand where the gaps are in the fire and how i have to move to get through... its the execution that fucks with me. well, practice, practice, practice. i traded Trizeal for Battle Garegga (and given the prices being thrown around today, i think i did well) and i really want to make it worth my while.

and Trizeal don't cry, its not you... its me. i just couldn't be happy in the relationship and needed a change of pace.