...I Learned in the First Stage
Introduction!
If you want your appreciation for Cave's masterful Guwange to extend beyond the brilliant theme, pretty graphics and metric ton of bullets, a basic understanding of the game's scoring is all that's needed. A working knowledge of Guwange's mechanics will add just as much to your enjoyment of the game as it will to your score. So let's get on with it!
» The Replay
This is a stage one replay using Shishin that demonstrates reasonably proficient (but hardly ideal) scoring and spirit use. This replay (and specific moments within) are referenced throughout the guide in red text. This is because I am lazy and it saves on typing.
° Download Stage 1 Replay -- 14.5 MB
There's no telling what might happen to you should you play this file without DivX 5.3 or above. Implosion, probably.
Basic Gameplay Mechanics
» Characters
Shishin: Shishin's main shot veers considerably from side to side to correspond with character movement. This is of great help once the game starts in with enemies at oddball angles.
Light Rain: A powerful and focused main shot and the highest speed of all characters makes Light Rain a natural choice for many players. She also sports what is recognized (by myself, anyway) to be the neatest sprite in the history of all games ever.
Gensuke: Wide but entirely linear, Gensuke's main shot also sports a mild penetrating ability, allowing it to often move through seemingly solid structures and obstructions. Successful play in Guwange revolves largely around proficient Spirit use. Holding down the A button will deploy your character's corresponding Spirit. The Spirit itself has free reign of the screen, but your character will be reduced to slower and strictly lateral movements. When engaging the Spirit without directly contacting an enemy, your main fire will be reduced to a small forward stream. Bring it into full contact and your main fire will be replaced entirely, and the Spirit will take up the cause. When I say to use the Spirit offensively, I am referring largely to the Bullet Break. This is a technique that allows you to destroy bullets and convert them into precious coins. The execution is simple enough: as an enemy is destroyed by the Spirit, any bullets that are in contact with the Spirit (i.e. appear pink) will vanish and be converted into coins.
I'm going to approach this topic much like my teachers approached the sex ed. I received in Junior High. That is, to strike a peculiar balance between explaining the mechanics behind it all and stressing why you should never, ever actually do it.
Guwange provides players with the option of setting the C button to full auto. This allows for faster Spirit deployment, enabling Quick Grabs and Spirit Flux techniques. Retaining sensation in your fingers even after extended play is a nice bonus as well.
For the most part spirits are functionally exact from character to character, but the simple difference in the shape of the Spirit itself is enough to throw a person off once accustomed to a specific character.
» Spirit Use
The Spirit works best as an offensive weapon, and not as a defensive-style last resort. Try your best to avoid continually running the Spirit near the character to stave off incoming bullets, a mistake often made by amateurs. Since the Spirit can quickly access any section of the screen without danger, pre-emptive strikes and breaks are a simple matter and will go a long way to avoiding situations where you must respond defensively.
Important! As you engage your Spirit you will notice that it "flares" up around you before settling in front of your character. This flare is actually solid. By quickly engaging and disengaging the spirit (see Regarding Auto-Fire) one can quickly gather up coins both to the sides and immediately in front of the character. This allows for efficient coin collection -- quick grab, I call it -- with minimal interruption to main fire. A number of clean quick grab examples can be seen throughout the replay.
That said, most of your Spirit use will of course focus on the...
» Bullet Break
Things get slightly more complicated, however, when you take into consideration that there is a brief period after the destruction of an enemy in which the Spirit can still be used to quickly sweep up bullets that weren't close enough to the initial blast radius to be converted into coins. Conversely, one can quickly destroy an enemy after sliding off bullets and have those bullets be converted into coins. Speed is the key in both cases. Watch at 0:14 for a sweeping bullet break.
» Bomb Use
With that in mind, all characters come equipped with a standard bomb blast. Standard in that it is the same for each character, and standard in that it does just about what you'd expect: clears the screen of all threat and renders the user invulnerable. This is a Cave game, however, so of course there's a catch. Specifically, bomb use does not replenish the Skull Meter for its duration, meaning it puts your chain at a slow and creeping sort of risk.
The solution for those incapable of abstinence, then, is simply to plan ahead: panic bombing is a spectacularly poor idea. Ascertain where you require a bomb ahead of time, and then charge your SKull Meter to max capacity before deploying.
Another aspect of bomb use that many players remain blissfully unaware of is 360° control. By holding down the B button, one can direct the stream in a full radius. Not only is this ideal for sections such as the dreaded Stage 6 Squeeze, but it can also be used to direct the stream away from bosses, thus allowing you to avoid difficult patterns without harming the boss and missing out on additional coins either from Boss Breaks or Spirit Flux.
Max bomb stock, incidentally, is five units. Exceeding stock results in a coin bonus of 3000.
» Regarding Auto-Fire
Scoring Well in a Nutshell
Like most modern shooters, Guwange uses a chaining system as the basis of its scoring mechanics. Any coin collected while the Skull Meter remains at least partially filled is added to a cumulative point value. In the most basic of terms, the higher this value, the higher your potential score. Simple, right?
» The Skull Meter
Similar to the GP (Get Point) meter of the venerable DoDonPachi series, the Skull Meter is a chain indicator found in the upper left-hand corner of your screen. So long as the meter remains at least partially filled -- the smallest portion of even the initial skull is sufficient -- your chain will be maintained. As soon as the Skull Meter empties entirely, your chain is reset to zero and is typically replaced by a chain of profanity equal to or exceeding the length of the coin chain that was lost. You've also no doubt noticed that the Skull Meter begins to flash gold once five or more skulls have been filled. Don't worry -- I'm getting to that. Destroying enemies with your main shot will often produce additional coin piles. If the Skull Meter was at maximum when the enemy was destroyed, this will be reflected in a larger payout. Hidden pots (revealed simply by walking over them) work in the same fashion: destroy them at a higher meter level to earn their full value. A small number of coins can also be earned by maxing out your Skull Meter by keeping it in constant contact with sturdier enemies or bosses. The number of coins earned in this fashion pales in comparison to the flux technique, however. All other coins will be earned either through Bullet Breaks or the infamous... Once your coin chain reaches the 1000 mark, a wonderful thing happens. Remember the flashing gold Skull Meter that occurs as five or more skulls are filled? If your chain is at or beyond 1,000 coins, all main shot contact with destructible objects will produce a continual stream of small coins so long as the Skull Meter is flashing. The 1,000 mode state lends itself to a couple different techniques discussed in further detail below. Watch for the 1000 coin mark at 0:58. Though your character can sustain at least two hits before dying thanks to the game's inventive life-bar system, being struck also comes at the cost of a reduced coin chain. The amount lost corresponds to the bullet's "strength" (i.e. how much health was lost) but is typically a penalty of either 200 or 300 coins. Dying outright will halve your chain. Try not to do that.
The Skull Meter is filled in two ways: either by using your main shot, or your Spirit. Different enemies will produce different responses in the Skull Meter depending on how you choose to dispense with them, so it is important when first starting out to watch your Skull Meter from time to time to determine the best course of action. As a general rule, the small foot soldiers that are found throughout the game will quickly boost your Skull Meter to the max when destroyed by your main shot, whereas larger turrets and their ilk require Spirit contact in order to maintain the Skull Meter.
» Coin Production
» 1,000 Mode
» Death and You
Conversely, collecting food items while in a state of perfect health will cause bonuses to be awarded to your coin chain. They are as follows:
Quick Snack = 2000 Coins
Light Lunch= 3000 Coins
Full Banquet= 4000 Coins
Boss Encounters
» Shifted Mechanics
A few aspects of the basic gameplay mechanics are altered slightly at boss encounters. Specifically:
Skull Meter Decline: The last five skulls of the meter (i.e. the range that triggers a flashing meter) still decline quite rapidly, but the intial five dissipate at a much slower rate during boss encounters. This allows you some leeway to run about with the main shot or to simply not attack at all, which is an important aspect of successful milking.
Bullet Breaks: While still possible (and in fact extremely handy), Bullet Breaks are not rewarded with coins during boss encounters. Instead, coins are earned as you move through attack sequences and, ulimately, destroy the boss.
Spirit Placement: Generally the spirit will always deploy directly in front of your character and remain there until moved or called back. During boss encounters, however, the spirit will not return to your character. This means you can park the Spirit on a given section of screen, engaging and disengaging its power as necessary. This is also an essential component of...
» Spirit Flux
The main benefit of enabling auto-fire comes in the form of Spirit Flux. The idea behind this technique is to hold the A button down just long enough to trigger a flashing Skull Meter, and then releasing in order to allow the main fire to strike the boss and trigger a stream of coins. With auto-fire enabled, quick successive taps to the A button while C is held is all that is required of the player. Without auto-fire, the A button must be held longer, resulting in fewer coins and a more demanding rhythm to maintain. Character movement must also be timed against the A button presses in order to avoid excessive Spirit movement. Since the Skull Meter depletes at such a slow rate, it is possible to do minimal damage to a boss while exploiting certain coin-producing attacks and sequences. Each time a boss attack sequence has to repeat itself it is accompanied by an increase in attack rank (difficulty), but this isn't enough to stop the more intrepid players. The two main milk points and techniques are as follows: Stage 2 -- Centipede: Destruction of the ... things, that pop out of either side with your main fire will result in additional coins. This attack becomes quite violent if it has to loop any more than twice and requires precise bullet leading and spirit placement.
All told, auto-fire holds a clear advantage and is the obvious choice for those playing for score. Keep an eye open for this technique throughout the entire boss encounter.
» Milking
Stage 3 -- Cat Spider: The Cat Spider's second attack sequence involves "spores" that can be destroyed to reveal long strings of coins. Again, anywhere past two loops and the sequence becomes quite difficult. Expert players can boost their score during this section by upwards of 20 million points points across seven or eight attack sequence loops.
The main threat to survival is the large blue "arrowhead" spread -- watch the pattern's point of origin to determine positioning instead of responding to the spreads that flare out shortly thereafter. By that point it is typically too late.
Scoring Outside the Nutshell
» Bullet Stall
Occasionally there are uncharacteristically barren sections of gameplay where it seems nearly impossible to maintain your chain. The most obvious example is at the end of stage 3, where the enemies quit some time before the boss actually arrives. This is where bullet stalling comes in handy.
By isolating a single bullet, you can rest your spirit on top and follow its slowed trajectory for as long as necessary. This will sustain the Skull Meter and, of course, the all-important chain. Remember that you can chain right from one end of the game to the other. This is an extension of the technique described above. By catching a bullet and letting the single-stream shot come in contact with a destructible object, you can trigger a steady stream of coins. Some instances where this is possible are more profitable to simply bullet break, however, so be sure to exercise some discretion. An example of this technique can be seen at 1:18.
Though defensive use of the Spirit is generally to be discouraged, there will still be instances where bringing the Spirit in close to defend is necessary. If the spirit is already deployed, do not leave it engaged and drag it slowly back toward you. Instead, destroy an enemy and quickly redeploy the Spirit. The carry-over from the destroyed enemy, no matter how far away, will instantly dissipate the bullets nearby.
Click here to watch a short video of the stage 3 gap being bridged via bullet stall technique.
» Bullet Stall / Coin Stream
» Quick Defense
Click here to watch a short slow-motion video of this technique in action.
Game Clear Bonus
The following information is from Cave as interpreted by the ever-resourceful BER and is used with permission:
Upon clearance, the game rewards you for the following:
full life segments remaining, maximum chain count, bombs
remaining, and never receiving damage ("no miss").
Life bonus
If you have any full life segments remaining (denoted as L), this bonus is calculated by the following formula:
9,216 / (4 - L) / 32 * 10,000. If you have all three life segments remaining, but you were hit at least once, then this value is multiplied by 2. If you were never hit, then this value is multiplied by 4. Examples:
1 Full Life Segment: 9,216 / 3 / 32 * 10,000 = 96,000
2 Full Life Segments: 9,216 /2 / 32 * 10,000 = 144,000
3 Full Life Segments: 9,216 / 1 / 32 * 10,000 * 2 = 576,000
No miss: 9,216 / 1 / 32 * 10,000 * 4 = 1,152,000
It seems that no credit is given for partial life segments.
Chain bonus
Multiply your maximum chain count by 100. Examples:
1,210 Chain: 1,210 * 100 = 121,000
15,889 Chain: 15,889 * 100 = 1,588,900
Bomb bonus
Multiply the number of bombs remaining by 1,000,000. If you were never hit, this value is multiplied by 2. Examples:
2 bombs remaining: 2 * 1,000,000 = 2,000,000
3 bombs remaining, no miss: 3 * 1,000,000 * 2 = 6,000,000
Score Translation
Of course, game clear bonuses are of little use if you have no way of determining what your final score actually is. For further elucidation please consult the crudely rendered diagram below:
In order:
1. Level Reached
2. Ranking by Score
3. Player Name
4. Ranking by Max Chain
5. Max Chain
6. Total Score
Special thanks to Matt for sussing out the more cryptic bits. Translating your actual score is as easy as...
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One
Four
Seven
Two
Five
Eight
Three
Six
Nine
For those interested in the finer points of name entry, please consult your nearest Hiragana and Katakana charts.
Hey, Thanks
This guide is the result of asking many stupid questions to rather a large number of inordinately patient individuals. Too many to list, but they know who they are. So, thanks.
This guide is also based largely on my own experience with the game, and as such is likely riddled with mistakes. Please let me know if you've spotted an error or can fill in any missing information -- I respond reasonably well to constructive criticism and have even been known to answer the occasional e-mail. Best of luck,
- M7