Mushihime-sama Futari ver 1.5 [Strategy guide]

[EOJ]

1.0 Introduction
This guide is for Mushihime-sama Futari ver 1.5. I previously wrote a short explanatory guide for ver 1.0, but that version is rather obsolete these days, with ver 1.5 being the only one people play seriously now.

1.1 CHARACTERS
There are two characters, Reco and Palm. In addition there are two types of each to choose from. These are termed “Normal” and “Abnormal”. All four character-types play quite differently from one another. In the section below, note that I’ve rated Speed (S), Range (R), and Power (P) for each shot type (A and C) for each character-type, from 1-10 (10 is the best). These are based upon my own estimation after extensive use with each character type.

Reco
___Normal: Her A shot [S:3 R:4 P:8] is similar to S-power from the prequel, while her C shot [S:6 R:10 P:6] is similar to W-power from the prequel. Perhaps the most well-rounded character-type in the game.
___Abnormal: Her A shot [S:10 R:4 P:9]  moves faster than her C shot, and is similar to S-power from the prequel. In addition, the child pods attach to whatever enemy is near them when the A button is held down. Her C-shot [S:6 R:9 P:6]  is similar to a shot-type seen in Ketsui. Overall the hardest character to handle in the game, though when fully powered her A shot is stronger than anything Normal Reco can muster. She is also faster than the Normal-type. She requires a great deal of skill, but in the right hands she can do serious damage.

Palm
___Normal: His A shot [S:4 R:9 P:7]  is a DDP-esque laser, moderately powerful but quite effective. His C-shot [S:8 R:7 P:6]  is similar to M-power from the prequel, and is strong and fast with a decent range once powered up.  
___Abnormal: His A shot [S:2 R:9 P:10]  is the strongest shot in the game, beating out Abnormal Reco’s A shot. It also has a great range. His C shot [S:9 R:3 P:5], while it looks very cool, is actually the weakest in the game. It has the worst range as well.

2.0 CONTROLS
A: Shot
B: Bomb
C: Autofire

Like the first game, tapping C very fast allows your lasers to stop firing, so you can do damage solely with your shot. This works best with Normal Reco. This is useful in many instances in Maniac mode, particularly when needing a quick burst to the red zone of the chaining bar on a boss when there is very little life left before its next phase change (or its complete destruction).

IMPORTANT: Anytime you are not pressing A, you suck in all the gems on the screen within a certain range. Any time you press A you suck in all the gems on the ground.

3.0 MODES
There are three modes in the game: Original, Maniac, and Ultra.

[3.1] ORIGINAL MODE
Original mode is characterized by fast but less dense bullet patterns.

[3.1.1] SCORING
Scoring is based on two multipliers: the overall counter and the stage counter. It is unclear how they are combined together, though it is clear that both influence the scoring.

[3.1.1.1]THE OVERALL COUNTER:
This is the bigger of the two counters in the upper left of the screen. It increases from the start of the game until the end of the game with no reachable maximum. The overall counter changes color from green to blue. It is green when the 100 digit is from 0-4, and it is blue when the 100 digit is from 5-9. Each time you die, your counter decreases by 1/3 (e.g. if you have 900 gems, after 1 death you will have 600). When you bomb this counter also decreases over the duration of the bomb (on average 10-15%??).

[3.1.1.2]THE STAGE COUNTER:
This resets at the start of each stage, and maxes out at 9999. The stage counter appears under the overall counter in the upper left of the screen. Each time you die, your counter decreases by 1/3 (e.g. if you have 900 gems, after 1 death you will have 600). When you bomb this counter also decreases over the duration of the bomb (on average 10-15%??).

[3.1.2] GEMS
In order to get large gold gems, you must kill enemies with the C button when the overall counter is GREEN, and the A button when it is BLUE.

[3.1.2.1]GEM VALUES
Here are the values of the different gold gems (in other words, how much each adds to your counters when you get one):

Gems in the sky:
Large: +2
Small: +1
Large green-aura: +4
Small green-aura: +2

Gems on the ground:
Large: +10
Small: +5
Large green-aura: +20 (<--MOST VALUABLE)
Small green-aura: +10

[3.1.2.2] GREEN-AURA GEMS
These are the secret to scoring in Original mode. The closer you are to enemies when they die, the more GREEN-AURA gems you can absorb. In order to trigger them you must kill the enemy with the appropriate shot, based upon the status of the multiplier (see sections 3.1.1.1 and 3.1.2 for details). These are twice the value of regular gold gems, and they only appear for a second or two once an enemy dies, whereupon they revert back to yellow. So, you must be quick, and close to enemies when they die whenever possible (and either let off the A shot or hold C to absorb all the gems quickly).

[3.1.3] RANK
Bullets gradually increase in speed, in effect increasing the game's rank, as the overall counter increases. When you reach 70,000 on the overall counter, you max out the rank in the game.

[3.2]MANIAC MODE
Maniac mode is characterized by dense bullet patterns at moderate speeds, as well as the most complex scoring of any of the game modes.

[3.2.1] SCORING
Scoring is based on one multiplier, which is termed the overall counter. This counter is only triggered by killing enemies with the A shot when the chaining bar is at zero. Each gem absorbed at this time has a blue-aura, and the value of the multiplier is added to the value of each of these gems, which increases your score once you absorb them.

[3.2.1.1]THE OVERALL COUNTER:
This is the counter in the upper left of the screen. It serves as a multiplier added to the value of the blue gems you obtain. It maxes out at 9999 and is reset to 0 at the start of each level. Gold and green-aura gems increase this counter, while blue-aura gems decrease it. Each time you die, your counter decreases by 1/3 (e.g. if you have 900 gems, after 1 death you will have 600). When you bomb this counter also decreases over the duration of the bomb (on average 10-15%??).

[3.2.2.2]THE CHAINING BAR:
This appears under the overall counter and increases from blue to red. As long as you chain enemies with the C shot, it will increase. In addition, it increases to red as long as you hold your C shot on a large enemy (like a boss). This bar decreases rapidly to zero as you hold the A shot. Kill an enemy with the A shot when the chaining bar is red and you’ll get double the gems. Kill an enemy with the A shot when this bar is empty and you’ll spawn blue-aura gems (see below). Basically, the scoring system and gameplay flow are based upon using the C shot when the chaining bar is between zero and MAX, and using A when it is at either zero or MAX.

[3.2.3]GEMS
Whenever you kill an enemy, all the bullets on the screen from that enemy are changed into gems, and in addition some gems are spawned from the enemy itself. In order to get large gold gems, you must kill enemies with the C button when the chaining bar is red (any time the chaining bar isn't red you will get small gems). Kill them with the A shot when the bar is red and you get double (or more??) the large gems, which can quite literally fill the entire screen with gems!

[3.2.3.1]GEM VALUES:

Point values:
Small gem: 5pts
Large gem: 10pts
Small blue-aura gem: 5 x multiplier
Large blue-aura gem: 10 x multiplier

Values added or subtracted from the Overall Counter (i.e your multiplier):
Small gem: +2
Large gem: +5
Small gem (on ground): +10
Large gem (on ground): +20
Small Blue-aura gem: -15
Large Blue-aura gem: -30


[3.2.3.2]GREEN-AURA GEMS
To trigger these in Maniac mode, you need to kill enemies when the chaining counter is red and not be holding the A shot when you absorb them. These are worth double the normal gems (large and small), so it’s well worth it to learn how to trigger these if you want to score well. They only glow green for a second or two before they revert back to yellow, so you must be quick and suck them in by letting off the A button. The best way to get a ton of gems quickly is to wait for an enemy to fill the screen with bullets, then kill it with the A shot when the chaining bar is red, then quickly switch to the C shot (or just don’t hold any button down) to have the nearby gems turn green as you absorb them.

[3.2.3.3]BLUE-AURA GEMS
To trigger these you must destroy an enemy with the A shot when the chaining bar is empty (no color showing). Every blue-aura gem is worth the value of the overall counter x5 for small gems and x10 for large gems at the time it is absorbed. Once absorbed, they are subtracted from the overall counter. Since the max multiplier is 9999, the max point value you can get from a single large blue-aura gem is 99,990pts.

[3.3] ULTRA MODE
Ultra mode's scoring is the same as Original mode with the following changes:

-Counter changes from green to blue every 2000
-Stage counter does not max at 9999, but rather continues indefinitely
-Bullets never change speed as your overall counter increases
-----------------------------------------------------------
*There is no rank in Maniac or Ultra mode*

[jpj]

how do you get fully powered up in Ultra mode without collecting the MP when you're credit-feeding through it?  (ala SWY on the official dvd)

[maco]

You don't lose power when you die, so he's avoiding the MP item so he's not overpowered for the strats he's practicing.
If that's what you're asking about.

[jpj]

when you lose your last life, then continue with another credit, you're still full-power?  are you sure?

[EOJ]

When you continue you start at the last power level you had when you died, but if you collect the bouncing MP thing then you get jacked up to full power. So, to practice at a normal power level, you have to let the MP thing bounce around for a bit and then disappear.

[jpj]

why does iso delay killing the first boss?  (on the official dvd - original mode)

[EOJ]

In order to get the counter to where he can start Stage 2 with the C shot - gives him some more gold starting the level with a C shot sweep than an A shot sweep.

[jpj]

ah, cheers   :oops:

[hermosaguy]

Damn!  I was trying to figure that out!  Great find EOJ!

In order to get the counter to where he can start Stage 2 with the C shot - gives him some more gold starting the level with a C shot sweep than an A shot sweep.

[Shalashaska]

So what's the system for Ultra? The only time I notice that I get the big gems is if I point blank an enemy. Seems like it's just based purely on survival and keeping the counter up (ie. no bombing)?

[EOJ]

For Ultra, you just have to change C shot & A shot every 2000 on the overall counter in order to get big gems. So start with the C shot until you reach 2000, then use A from 2000-3999, and then C from 4000-5999, and so on. It's just like Original mode in most other respects, except the stage counter does not max out at 9999 - it continues indefinitely like the overall counter.

[Shalashaska]

Ah cheers for the quick explanation. Doesn't really matter though as I'm lucky to make it to the stage 1 mid-boss.

[Sycada]

ah I'm glad I looked at your guide EOJ, Thanks there I was thinking that the system was kinda like progear or something, I completely missed the bar under the main multiplier (maniac), I'll have to put another hour into Futari before bed to try that out I think, definately fast becoming my favorite cave game

[PROMETHEUS]

I'd be very interested to know how scoring works in ultra if you're still interested in writing about it !

[EOJ]

Ultra is pretty simple. It's just like Original mode except you change shots every 2000 on the counter, and the stage counter does not max out at 9999.

[PROMETHEUS]

oh okay
I guess I'm a little disappointed then, I liked the scoring in Maniac much more than in Original. Maybe I'm wrong and it's just as much fun.

[EOJ]

Ultra is pretty thrilling due to the large overall counters you can accumulate (100,000+), lots of gold to absorb, and lots of bullets.

[adverse]

Black label question but...

What is the secret to dodging the 2nd boss' first form?   
I've 1CC'ed the game and have no particular trouble anywhere else but here. 
Sometimes I'll move left to try to get the L-shaped danmaku to follow me, then zip around its right side to try to dodge through the bullet rain, but often that does not work and I'm forced to bomb.  This form is much easier on 1.5.

Also, I've tried to duplicate SIN's scoring technique for the two giant balls the 2nd boss spits out but I always wind up fucking it up because the boss does that pattern with lots of round bullets that you have to laser dodge through and then immediately spits out the balls.  I don't have time to jack the meter up to red with shot.  Does this mean that during that tight pattern you have to be hitting him with shot and then laser him when he spits out the balls?

[EOJ]

There's a black label strat thread, you know:

http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=61.0

As for your first question, I just try to stay centered on the st2 boss and stay close to him. This usually kills him before the bullet spreads get too nasty.
It's probably the sloppiest pattern in the game though, and one of a variety of reasons why I prefer ver 1.5's Maniac mode.

[EOJ]

I love the X360 port's practice mode. Right now I'm working on Stage 3 and the first half of Stage 4 and Stage 5 (all Maniac Mode).
I can now consistently get 5200+ after the first lantern at the start of stage 3, my best is 6032 which is better than the superplay DVD. I've finally gotten the timing down just right. This gives me about 30mil when I score on the first hive.

My best before the Stage 3 boss is about 120mil, which is 40+mil shy of TAC's score at the same spot. I'm on par with him until after the midboss, but his strats in the second half of the stage are really hard to replicate. The hardest part is scoring well on the first hive after the midboss. Try as I might I still can't trigger the kamikakushi (this is the term when the on screen display flickers, indicating you've triggered a huge number of the multiplier) on it, as TAC does.

More progress to come! Feel free to discuss strats, ask questions, etc here. I'm actively playing the game so I'd be happy to help if I can.

[lawnspic]

Ok after some observation on arrange this is what i saw regarding "Fever Mode"

A. Once both OS and DS counters are maxed (9999) you can stay there indefinitely until you use laser and enter "Fever Mode". While maxed out you can collect large gems prior to entering "Fever Mode"

B. In "Fever Mode" you will be able to collect large gems and reflect enemy bullets for large gems until the counters revert back to zero.

B. If you get hit only your OS counter will drop slightly. If you option gets hit only you DS will drop as well.

C. OS and DS will not count backwards after being maxed out while waiting for the boss



BTW i used training mode with counters maxed to test on 1st level and boss

Also need to see if both OS and DS counters carry over

[EOJ]

Sorry, you weren't in fever, you're describing what happens in regular (non-fever) mode. Fever mode by definition has your counters counting down. Just like in Deathsmiles. You aren't in fever until you press laser when both counters are at 9999!

[lawnspic]

Ok, my bad. I will update that above soon when i know exactly whats going on. Are you invincible when in fever mode?

Large gems are available when counters are maxed and indefinite prior to fever. I assume fever gives you a small window to score by gathering large gems and the ability to reflect for more gems, is that correct? Thanks for the help

[EOJ]

You're not invincible in fever. It makes all gems reflected large instead of small, and I think you can just plow through the stages (at least in Original mode) with laser and it increases your overall counter while still scoring. Haven't played this mode much, though.

[cstarflare]

If you place your secondary character on top of your attacking character and hold laser, you're pretty much invincible unless you run into an enemy or they shoot an unreflectable bullet at you. The stage 1 boss' fireballs, stage 3 and 4 boss's big purple balls, and the balls the TLB shoots out can all still hit you.

There also seems to be a few arbitrary normal bullets that make it through on the stage 2 boss, in that pattern right after it throws those destructible "rings" out. They turn blue but don't reflect; it's probably just a glitch and there's so few that it's pretty hard to get hit by them.

Once you realize that your defense counter almost stops dropping once you hit 9999, and that manually bombing gives big gems to help you get it up, Ultra becomes much easier.