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[Sixfortyfive]

Why does the game start on Stage 3? 3A, 3B, etc. what does it all mean? Where is stage 1?

The story jumps between present day and flashbacks.

How do I unlock Ikaruga mode? It just doesn't show up on my game and my friend tells me his was unlocked from the start. What am I missing here?

I think it unlocks automatically if you have Ikaruga XBLA. Not sure though.

Any basic tips on weapon usage? There are just too many and I've been using mostly the default cannon (A button), the others seem too unwieldy or seem to do less damage.

Vulcan, Homing, and Spread are the basic weapons. The other weapons are combinations of them, and their strength is dependent on the component weapons' strength.

 

[NotMyUsername]

How do I unlock Ikaruga mode? It just doesn't show up on my game and my friend tells me his was unlocked from the start. What am I missing here?

Any basic tips on weapon usage? There are just too many and I've been using mostly the default cannon (A button), the others seem too unwieldy or seem to do less damage.

Ikaruga mode is unlocked if you have Ikaruga downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace. I don't think there's any other way to have it unlocked.

As for weapon usage I think it's best to be versatile. On the first level I generally alternate between the primary three pretty evenly. Also, the attack that's like a radial homing attack thing is the only way to find the secret stuff hidden in levels.

I'm new to the game having played it last night for the first time so I can't really say a whole lot more. I'm curious what triggers some of the bonuses. Why do I get Special and Weapon bonuses seemingly randomly? I know about the hidden dog things but I get special bonuses occasionally without even those being around.

 

[LiK]

Just curious, I unlocked an avatar shirt. Not sure how. Anyone know?

 

[kaioshade]

Ikaruga mode is unlocked if you have Ikaruga downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace. I don't think there's any other way to have it unlocked.

As for weapon usage I think it's best to be versatile. On the first level I generally alternate between the primary three pretty evenly. Also, the attack that's like a radial homing attack thing is the only way to find the secret stuff hidden in levels.

I'm new to the game having played it last night for the first time so I can't really say a whole lot more. I'm curious what triggers some of the bonuses. Why do I get Special and Weapon bonuses seemingly randomly? I know about the hidden dog things but I get special bonuses occasionally without even those being around.

Weapon bonuses are dependent on certain conditions you use the weapons

Vulcan - 200 hits without missing a target, about 15 seconds hitting the target.

Homng - 300 shots without missing

Spread - 20 shots without missing

Plasma - 10 or so seconds of constant contact with both lasers.

Rear shot - 300 hits, i believe it resets if you dont hit anything for more than 3 seconds.

Homing lasers - 15 seconds on a target, dividedby the number of targets. so if you have 3 target with the laser, you would need 5 seconds on continuous fire to get the bonus.

radiant sword - 5 seconds of contact with an enemy.

 

[Wired]

Just curious, I unlocked an avatar shirt. Not sure how. Anyone know?

Either by playing Arcade or Saturn/Story mode 20 times, whichever mode it is the other will give you a radio controlled ship after you play it 20 times

 

[LiK]

Either by playing Arcade or Saturn/Story mode 20 times, whichever mode it is the other will give you a radio controlled ship after you play it 20 times

Nice!

 

[Wonko_C]

OK I got two more sessions and my god, I am terrible at this game or it's just that hard. Very Easy, extra life every 1000000 points, 4 credits, 10 lives per credit, I got to what I think is the last boss (giant running man) with 1 credit and half and his Guile Flash Kicks totally drained me. It also didn't help that my weapons never went beyond LV08.

This game is kicking my ass, chewing it up and spitting it off... and I love it.

 

[kaioshade]

OK I got two more sessions and my god, I am terrible at this game or it's just that hard. Very Easy, extra life every 1000000 points, 4 credits, 10 lives per credit, I got to what I think is the last boss (giant running man) with 1 credit and half and his Guile Flash Kicks totally drained me. It also didn't help that my weapons never went beyond LV08.

This game is kicking my ass, chewing it up and spitting it off... and I love it.

Jesus, level 8?

Your weapons should be level 8 before even leaving the first stage. Maybe halfway into the second stage. End game doing reasonably well weapons should be in the 20's

 

[Ben Morales]

I can't imagine a world where I could compete with some of you guys in the leaderboards, but it might drive me to keep playing and getting better so if anyone wants to add me, my GT is snorggy

Added you. I need some Radiant Silvergun friends as well. My friends ranking is so bare! GT is Johnnie Guitar.

 

[Gaspode_T]

Jesus, level 8?

Your weapons should be level 8 before even leaving the first stage. Maybe halfway into the second stage. End game doing reasonably well weapons should be in the 20's

What? Not story mode right? Or am I missing something huge about leveling them up?

If one of you experts can write a short dummies guide it would help us newbies out

 

[AC!D]

Gaspode_T, I'm not an expert but I find these tips for boosting weapons work:

- Chaining enemies: Most of the time focus on taking out nothing but red enemies. If you can find spots where you can chain a red, blue, yellow and then continue chaining yellows, do that instead. These are the 'secret' chains and you get + 10,000 points for each successive chain of yellows you destroy.

- On boss fights: try to use your combination weapons. These power up two guages at once. The longer you can hit the boss with these weapons the more they will boost.

 

[Wired]

How disheartening, have played a couple more times but it's not coming back to me at all. I'm sure part of the difficulty is getting used to the stick and all but still... Stupid brain, after I spent dozens of hours learning the game on the damn Saturn it just decides to forget those things?

 

[Muchi Muchi Pink]

Learning the 1 Hyper Sword Kill technique for the first boss to get a better score (killing him fast spawns more red enemies while still killing him with 100%). But positioning is a little bit tricky.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Learning the 1 Hyper Sword Kill technique for the first boss to get a better score (killing him fast spawns more red enemies while still killing him with 100%). But positioning is a little bit tricky.

I used to get that randomly in the Saturn version. No idea how :/

 

[Muchi Muchi Pink]

I used to get that randomly in the Saturn version. No idea how :/

Well, you need Hyper ready before approaching him. When he spawns you try to get on the left side between the main body and the left part. Then you shoot your spread shot, so you kill both parts, left and right. Then hyper to kill the remaining two parts and the main body last. As said it's a bit tricky. I'm at 200k after him, but doing it right will end result in around 300k-350k.

 

[kaioshade]

I swear the first boss alone is going to stop a LOT of people from getting the complete 100% achievement.

Even half of the freakin superplays i see dont even 100% the first boss.

 

[LiK]

I swear the first boss alone is going to stop a LOT of people from getting the complete 100% achievement.

Even half of the freakin superplays i see dont even 100% the first boss.

i got the Complete Breakdown cheevo from the first boss. :O

 

[kaioshade]

i got the Complete Breakdown cheevo from the first boss. :O

There is another achievement from getting 100% breakdown from every single boss in the game. I do not know if this carries across replays, or if it needs to be done in all 1 run.

If it is all in one run, that is going to take a while.

 

[epmode]

Pretty sure it carries across all playthroughs. There's 0 chance I'd get this if it had to be done in one.

 

[LiK]

There is another achievement from getting 100% breakdown from every single boss in the game. I do not know if this carries across replays, or if it needs to be done in all 1 run.

If it is all in one run, that is going to take a while.

if it's all in 1 run, that would be nuts.

Pretty sure it carries across all playthroughs. There's 0 chance I'd get this if it had to be done in one.

phew!

 

[epmode]

phew!

I'm not certain on that point! I'd like confirmation too!

 

[LiK]

I'm not certain on that point! I'd like confirmation too!

damn, i misread your post...lol.

 

[Gaspode_T]

i got the Complete Breakdown cheevo from the first boss. :O

Yeah I did too i think just with Vulcan at level eight or so in story mode

 

[LiK]

Yeah I did too i think just with Vulcan at level eight or so in story mode

i got it in Arcade. i'm a RS noob so i guess i happened to get it by doing it just right by chance.

 

[Skiptastic]

Oh my god, I forgot how terrible I am at this game. lol

 

[Muchi Muchi Pink]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_haSuskNx4E&html5=True

1 Hyper Sword Kill Technique I mentioned earlier. Thanks IcarusFW from the shmups-forum. Also perfected in Ben Shinobi RS' superplay.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Oh yeah.
VTF-INO's sword-only playthrough and Ben Shinobi's arcade/original runs are definitely worth checking out.

http://benjamin.bouloch.free.fr/ben-shinobi.htm
Plenty of other replays here. Dude is a beast.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

I feel like a horrible gamer. I just managed to get to level 2C before I was ambushed within that electric field.

I crossed 2 hours played so I got an extra life though. Does the arcade and story mode power up separately? I don't have an hour in arcade so I'm still on 2 (?) credits, but after 2 hours in story mode I start out with five lives.

 

[BruiserBear]

I'm still working on leveling up my weapons good enough to beat Story Mode. Most of mine are around 16 right now.

 

[blizzardjesus]

I really like the replay download feature. Got som interesting strategies from them that i never thought of. Alot of it has to do with abusing the sword to pass walls and tricky segments.

 

[manzo]

Been wondering this myself. I've only done it a few times.

Easy way which works for me all the time.

- Get enough bullets in 1-1 to get radiant sword when you get to the boss. Easily done by destroying the turret of the first big red enemy (appears from the middle of the screen). When the turret is destroyed, it shoots absorb-able bullets.

- When the boss appears, go right in front of it and shoot. When you see that the bullets harm it, use the radiant sword and destroy the middle, right and left sections.

- Just shoot the rest.

The first boss has two sides. Upper side has 3 parts: middle, left and right. Lower side has a middle part. Usually people won't get the chance to destroy the upper middle part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_haSuskNx4E&html5=True

1 Hyper Sword Kill Technique I mentioned earlier. Thanks IcarusFW from the shmups-forum. Also perfected in Ben Shinobi RS' superplay.

Ah, there it is.

 

[0 HP]

this game is so good i want to cry

i wish i could play story mode with the huge handicap thats available to you in arcade mode, but i guess that would be kind of pussy for a treasure game. i only got this game today and its hard as shit until you understand how to use each of the weapons (i probably still don't). i beat level 3, but still can't finish level 2 or 4.

Spoiler

holy fuck at that boss you chase in that wall/maze thing in level 2

 

[Agent Unknown]

This summer I sold my original copy of the game to go towards a more mint copy with spine card which arrived in the mail a few days ago. Started playing again, the game is just as amazing as ever. I bought a new battery for my Saturn today because me and a friend are having a good old fashioned score competition (he's playing the XBLA version) Here's some pics along with my official guide book: