Giga Wing 2



Giga Wing 2 (ギガウイング2) is a vertical shooting game developed and published in 2000 by Takumi. Developed for Sega's Naomi board, it is a 3D sequel to Giga Wing. It was eventually ported to the Dreamcast. Players take control of one of four pilots to quell a civil war in the nation of Serbenia, where the two sides fight for control of an ancient Ark of great magical power. The battle rages over seven stages, from the streets of Serbenia's capital to the mysterious tower where the Ark is held.

Like its predecessor, Giga Wing 2 utilizes the Reflect Force mechanic, which allows players to activate a shield and reflect enemy bullets back to create medals. Generating enough medals on-screen at once will result in a large explosion of point items dubbed a "Volcanon." Grabbing score items increases your multiplier, which every enemy's value is multiplied against. This results in the series trademark of truly "Giga" scores, jumping into the quintillions of points.

The Dreamcast port is unique in that it offers 4 player cooperative play, a rarity in the genre.

Gameplay Overview
Giga Wing 2 is a 2 Button game


 * A Button (Press): Shot; light tapping will result in a full stream of fire.
 * A Button (Hold): Reflect Force (when meter is full; recharges over time)
 * B Button: Bomb (limited quantity)

The Dreamcast port adds a button for dedicated autofire.

Reflect Force

The series' main mechanic is the Reflect Force. Holding down the shot button will cause a shield to envelop the player ship. While this shield is activated, the player is invulnerable to enemy fire (including non-bullet attacks; e.g. missiles, lasers, fire). Depending on the type of Reflect Force chosen, bullets absorbed by the shield will react in different ways.


 * Reflect Barrier: The mainstay mechanic of the series. When the Barrier is activated, bullets that hit it will reflect back towards enemies. If the player is not moving, the bullets will fly back at the angle they hit the ship. If the player is moving, the bullets will be guided along at the angle the player moves. Because the player can control and manipulate enemy medal spawns with more precision, the Reflect Barrier is often the weapon of choice for more advanced players.
 * Reflect Laser: New to Giga Wing 2. When activated, the Reflect Laser's shield will absorb enemy bullets, rather than reflect them back. This charges a homing laser attack; the more bullets absorbed, the more enemies targeted/the stronger the laser. These lasers generate medals from enemies. The Laser is generally seen as friendlier towards beginners since no angling of enemy bullets is needed. However, this lack of control comes with a scoring tradeoff. While scoring potential is lower on some stages and bosses, others (e.g stage 4, the Sanctuary) seem to offer higher potential for the Reflect Laser vs. the Reflect Barrier.

Approximately 3/4 through the Reflect Force's activation, the shield will contract before growing rapidly and dissipating. The player needs to carefully manipulate this short window of time to reposition the barrier hitbox to hit more enemy bullets in order to maximize its effectiveness.

Medals and Volcanons

Stages

The game takes place over 7 stages. The stage order of the first three stages (Cloud Sea, Factory, Capitol) is determined by your choice of pilot. While enemy formations remain the same regardless of order, stage placement alters the amount of bullets fired by enemies, which affects each character's overall scoring potential.

Characters
Giga Wing 2 offers 5 playable characters, with different strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, the Dreamcast port allows the use of five additional ships from its predecessor, Giga Wing. These can be unlocked either by 1CC'ing the game with every character (any difficulty) or going to the Gallery in the main menu, and quickly inputting the following code:

{Up, X, Y, X, Down, Y, X, Y, Y}