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Blue Revolver

2025-06-12T15:16:20Z

Fw: Updated "Zero Flourish" to reflect current DOUBLE ACTION gameplay.

[[File:Blue Revolver Logo.png|200px|center]]
{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #6dc2ca
|innerbordercolor = #597cce
|title = BLUE REVOLVER
|background = #deeed6
|image = Blue Revolver Cover.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Box art
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = [http://stellarcirclegames.com/ Stellar Circle]
|music = Qygen Hagane Exemia
|program = [[User:Danbo|danbo]]
|art = woof Comic-Z
|releasedate = '''BLUE REVOLVER'''October 2016'''BR DOUBLE ACTION'''November 14 2024
}}

[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|BLUE REVOLVER]] is a vertically scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Stellar Circle in 2016 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It plays like a [[CAVE]]/[[Raizing]] hybrid, with strong emphasis on fast patterns and resource management. It is wholly designed to be a forgiving, beginner-friendly game that can serve as a "stepping stone" into the genre.

A large-scale rebalance of the game, '''BLUE REVOLVER: Double Action''', was released on November 14 2024.

{{VideoIndex}}
__TOC__
{{clear}}

== Gameplay Overview ==
[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|BLUE REVOLVER]] is a three-button game (with an optional autofire button), with 2 playable pilots featuring 3 shot types and 4 special weapons each, for a total of 24 unique combinations.

=== Controls ===
* '''Z (Tap) / C (Hold):''' Fires the device's primary weapon in unfocused mode.
* '''Z (Hold):''' Fires the device's primary weapon in focused mode.
* '''X:''' Fires the device's special weapon.
* '''V:''' Fires the device's bomb.
* '''P:''' Pauses the game.

=== Characters/Weapons ===
There are three playable characters: '''Mae''', '''Val''' and '''Dee'''. Each character has their own shot type and four special weapons.

* Mae has the '''Power''' shot type, which boasts a slightly higher DPS but is fairly narrow and demands positioning. Mae's special weapons tend to be '''rapid-fire''', which gives flexibility when it comes to ammo consumption.
* Val has the '''Follow''' shot type, which moves with the player's movement, and freezes on focus. Val's special weapons tend to have great '''spread''', controlling a lot of the screen with less shots.
* Dee has the '''Wide''' shot type, which is a wide cone of shots that becomes a wide-but-straight volley of fire on focus. If all shots hit the same target, unfocused is higher DPS. Dee's special weapons tend to have '''high damage potential''' in specific situations.

==== Special Weapons ====
All special weapons run off the same internal ammo gauge system. Players have 100 ammo, which is replenished via ammo pickups.

In DOUBLE ACTION, special weapons have an associated perk which is applied at all times.

''See [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/Damage Comparison]] for a comparison of damage values and efficiency between most special weapons.''
<tabber>
Plasma Lancer=[[File:Blue Revolver Plasma Lancer.png|240px|right]]
A fast-firing lancer weapon with limited enemy piercing capability. While easy and flexible to use, it does lack raw power.

Uses '''1.5 ammo per shot''', firing up to '''13.34 shots per second'''.

* One of the game's less consistent weapons - each shot has a random velocity, and damage potential is tied to the projectile's velocity.
* Overpenetration can be a concern against small targets at short range.
* Generally efficient against stage enemies, but not suitable for speedkilling bosses.

'''PERK: Bombs produce more ammo'''

Whenever a bomb produces an ammo item, there is a '''30%''' chance to produce one additional ammo item.
{{clear}}
|-|
Hyper Laser (Mae)=[[File:Blue Revolver Hyper Laser Mae.png|240px|right]]
A slow-charging, wide and powerful laser. Eats through ammo quickly.

Firing produces a small "anticipation bullet" anchored to the player for '''0.63s''', after which the laser fires. This anticipation period consumes no ammo.

Firing uses '''6 ammo per second''' at first, which becomes '''18 ammo per second''' 0.91s after firing.

* Due to the odd ammo consumption mechanics, Mae's Hyper Laser can be surprisingly efficient and viable for scoring if fired in short bursts.
* The laser gains no additional damage or properties from the increased ammo consumption.
* The anticipation bullet has a very small hitbox but can deal damage (about half the damage of the actual laser) and counts as a special projectile.

'''PERK: Higher focused damage'''

Player shot does '''4.6%''' more damage in focused mode.

{{clear}}
|-|
Vortex Barrier=[[File:Blue Revolver Vortex Barrier.png|240px|right]]
A defensive weapon that produces multiple bullet-blocking orbiting projectiles around the player. On release, the projectiles are launched upwards with considerable power and pierce enemies.

Produces '''13 projectiles''' over time at '''3 ammo per projectile'''. Holding a full barrier costs '''4.6 ammo per second'''. Releasing costs no ammo.

* The projectiles deal damage while functioning as a barrier, though the damage is fairly weak until they are launched.
* Due to the piercing nature of the projectiles, they are most effective against big targets.
* Projectiles are always produced to the top-left of the player.
* Designed for players struggling against bosses.
* A few projectiles can be produced and released for an offensive capability. Roughly on par with the Plasma Lancer in terms of damage, though much less flexible.

'''PERK: Start with an extra life'''

Start the game with one extra life.
{{clear}}
|-|
Cluster Missile (Mae)=[[File:Blue Revolver Cluster Missile Mae.png|240px|right]]
A "mini cluster missile", fast-firing but with smaller spread and uptime.

Firing uses '''4 ammo per shot''', at a fire rate of '''4 missiles per second'''.

* Launches behind the player before accelerating up the screen - the player can use this to their advantage by deploying the missile while above enemies, in effect "bombing" them.
* Excellent at exploiting "Zero Flourish".

'''PERK: Better flourish extension'''

Generally, the chain meter is is extended a little by destroying enemies even during flourish mode -- but as more enemies are destroyed for that chain, this effect falls off. This perk disables this "falloff", making the extension a constant +0.1s.
{{clear}}
|-|
Arc Caster=[[File:Blue Revolver Arc Caster.png|240px|right]]
A fast-firing, target-seeking arc weapon. Very easy to use, though lacks raw power and is imprecise.

Firing consumes '''5 ammo''' and produces '''3 bolts''' per shot, at just under '''3 shots per second'''.

* Only the visible "bolts" at the end of the arcs deal damage. The chains deal no damage.
* The weapon scans a 80*170px rectangle in front of the player and targets the first three enemies it sees. Note that these may not be the closest entities to the player.
* If only one or two enemies are found, more bolts are projected randomly in front of the player.
* The caster can target the multiple hitboxes of large, complex enemies - but can also target things like Boss 4's arms, which don't take damage.
{{clear}}
|-|
Hyper Laser (Val)=[[File:Blue Revolver Hyper Laser Val.png|240px|right]]
A single-shot beam with long recovery time. Excellent for sweeping the playfield, but players may find it hard to control ammo consumption.

Uses '''10''' ammo per shot.

* Has an "anticipation projectile" much like Mae's variant.
* Takes about '''12 frames''' to fire.
* The projectile lasts on-screen for '''55''' frames.
* Produces splash damage particles at the point of impact, making it more consistent against groups. A lot of the laser's damage potential comes from these splash particles.
* Can exploit "Zero Flourish".
{{clear}}
|-|
Stasis Field =[[File:Blue Revolver Stasis Field.png|240px|right]]
An unconventional defensive weapon; a circular field projected directly in front of the player. Sucks kinetic energy from bullets, slowing them down - the stored energy is launched around the player on release, cancelling enemy bullets caught in the field.

Uses '''7.2 ammo per second''' to maintain the field - uses '''10 ammo to discharge'''.

* The stored energy discharge is spread in a 360-degree spiral pattern, making it very hard to effectively use.
* It takes a very long time to fully charge the field from only a few bullets - clusters and patterns of bullets must be leveraged to use the weapon effectively.
* The field does a very meagre amount of contact damage to enemies.
{{clear}}
|-|
Cluster Missile (Val) =[[File:Blue Revolver Cluster Missile Val.png|240px|right]]
A slow-firing finesse weapon which produces a lasting explosion on impact. Tremendous scoring potential, but punishing on miss.

Firing uses '''10 ammo per shot''', at a fire rate of '''1 missile per second'''.

* Almost identical to Mae's variant.
* In Val's variant, the particles travel further and control more of the screen, but deal less damage.
{{clear}}
</tabber>
[[File:Blue Revolver Bomb.gif|thumb|left|The ammo-generating effect of the bomb in action.]]
==== Bombs ====
Bombs are uniform among both characters - a short-range projectile is projected in front of the player, dealing decent damage to anything in its vicinity. Bombs also convert all enemy bullets on screen into ammo pickup items, grant '''6 seconds''' of invulnerability and reset any applicable chain timer. They also count as special weapons for the purposes of scoring (see Flourish section).

[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|BLUE REVOLVER]] has a 3-frame counterbomb window. When the player is hit, an internal "about to die" timer is set for 3 frames. If the player uses a bomb during this period, their death will be cancelled. (This includes the frame the player was hit on.)

Bombs cancel all enemy bullets on-screen for '''30 frames''' after firing. During this time period, '''every second bullet''' that is cancelled via the bomb is replaced with an Ammo Pickup.
{{clear}}
=== Items ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| [[File:Blue Revolver Ammo Pickup Item.gif|center]] || '''Ammo Pickup''' items are dropped by ground enemies and resupply ships. Bombs also convert bullets into Ammo Pickup items. Each item replenishes '''2''' ammo, or gives '''2,000''' score if the ammo meter is full. Resupply ships drop '''30''' ammo items, for '''60%''' ammo in total.
|-
| [[File:Blue Revolver Bomb Item.gif|center]] || '''Bomb''' items restore one bomb or grant '''50,000''' score if the player has the maximum amount of bombs.
|-
| [[File:Blue Revolver 1UP Item.gif|center]] || '''1-UP''' items grant an extra life. Spawns when the giant carrier on Stage 3 is destroyed.
|-
| [[File:Blue Revolver Score Item 200.png|center]]
[[File:Blue Revolver Score Item 2000.gif|center]]
[[File:Blue Revolver Score Item 20000 Animation.gif|center]]
|| '''Score Items''' are generated by special weapon usage or by clearing boss phases. Score items are always worth either '''200''', '''2,000''' or '''20,000''' points each.
|}

=== Rank/Difficulty ===
[[File:Blue Revolver Rank Comparison RL1.png|160px|thumb|right|An early boss phase at Rank Level 1. No problemo.]]
[[File:Blue Revolver Rank Comparison RL5.png|160px|thumb|right|The same boss phase at Rank Level 5. HOLY SHIT!]]
[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|BLUE REVOLVER]] uses a rank system for two of the three difficulty modes. Rank is divided into five "Rank Levels" (RL) based on an internal variable. The Rank Level only affects enemy and boss bullet patterns - enemy health and other such things are not affected at all. ''Rank is not intended to be something the player must manage, rather it simply eases up on the player after a death for a short while.''

* '''Normal''' mode is the game's novice mode and locks Rank to the first 2 Rank Levels. Normal mode also features '''Autobomb''' - however, it is unusually punishing, consuming '''all bombs in stock''' when triggered.
* '''Hyper''' mode is for shmup warriors and allows rank to go through all 5 Rank Levels.
* '''Parallel''' mode is for brave players. Rank is locked at lvl.5 at all times. Extends are in shorter supply, but bombs are plentiful.

Each difficulty setting also has its own extend system.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| '''Normal'''
| 5,000,000
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | EVERY 10,000,000
|-
| '''Hyper'''
| 5,000,000
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | EVERY 15,000,000
|-
| '''Parallel'''
| 40,000,000
| 80,000,000
| 120,000,000
|}

'''Parallel''' has two further changes to the resource balance :

* On hit, 4 bombs are resupplied instead of the usual 2, and 100 (full stock) ammo is restored instead of the usual 50.
* Every 10,000,000 points, a bomb is directly resupplied. If the player has a full stock of bombs at this time, nothing happens, and this bomb extend is effectively wasted.

Rank typically increases with scoring and additionally has a per-frame increase depending on the current stage. Firing the special weapon also increases rank, though only to a small degree. Bombing is entirely rank-neutral. Rank decreases on player death - for Rank Levels 1-3, the player's rank variable is halved on death, and for Rank Levels 4-5, rank is reset to Rank Level 3 on death.

==== Hyper Mode "Rank Drain" ====
There is an additional rank mechanic applicable only to '''Hyper''' mode. At Rank Level 5, the rank variable is immediately set to a high value and drains passively over time. Scoring actions, per-frame rank increase and special weapon rank increase do not apply at this point. The passive drain is per-frame and is increased as the player loses lives. Once the rank is drained back down to the Rank Level 5 breakpoint, rank is reset to Rank Level 4. Therefore, high-performing Hyper mode players will see a constant see-saw between Rank Levels 4 and 5.

RL5 drain sets the internal rank variable of 200,000, and the breakpoint to go back to RL4 is 140,000. Per-frame rank drain is 10 under normal circumstances, 16 if the player has 1 or 2 lives remaining, and 32 if the player has no lives remaining. Therefore, it will take 100 seconds to go back to Rank Level 4 under normal circumstances, 62.5 seconds at 1 or 2 lives remaining, and 31.25 seconds at zero lives remaining.
{{clear}}

=== Scoring ===
----
There are two primary scoring mechanics in [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|BLUE REVOLVER]] - ''Flourish'', and ''Break''.

==== Flourish ====
Each enemy in [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|BLUE REVOLVER]] has a point value that is granted on destruction. This point value varies depending on the enemy and generally becomes higher at the later stages.

Additionally, destroying enemies fills a chain meter. The chain meter takes roughly '''3 seconds''' to drain if nothing is happening, and maxes out at '''8 hits'''. Building a chain on its own does not provide any scoring benefit - rather, the player must destroy enemies with the Special Weapon in order to get value out of their chain. Enemies generate point items on destruction with a special weapon according to the following multiplier table:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Hit !! Point Value Multiplier
|-
| 8 || 64x
|-
| 6-7 || 32x
|-
| 4-5 || 16x
|-
| 1-3 || 8x
|}

However, firing the Special Weapon engages '''Flourish Mode''' - which locks the chain value and forces the timer to drain from a hidden maximum value. It takes '''4 seconds''' to finish Flourish Mode generally, but it can be extended a little if many enemies are destroyed.

Therefore, the basic scoring strategy is to build up an 8-hit chain on weak, poor enemies, then use Special Weapons to cash in by powerful, lucrative enemies, and keep repeating that process while being as efficient with ammo as possible.

Bombs, uniquely, reset the chain timer to maximum both inside and outside of Flourish Mode.

===== "Zero Flourish" =====
One interesting quirk in the scoring system is that Flourish Mode cannot be activated when a chain is not active. Five of the special weapons are notably able to exploit this - Val's Hyper Laser, Dee's Fractal Salvo and all three variants of the Cluster Missile. Some other weapons can exploit it to a small degree, but these weapons have long uptimes and/or large potential areas of effect, making them ideal. Because they only trigger Flourish Mode on firing and not while they're destroying enemies, the player can activate the special weapon at a zero or 1-hit chain and use it to both increase the chain and generate score items.

Zero Flourish becomes an increasingly more lucrative trick in the later stages, where the popcorn enemies the player would typically simply use to build a chain have increased point value - but it does require some self-control.

==== Break Bonuses ====
Break bonuses are static point bonuses awarded for fulfilling specific conditions. Typically, these conditions are during midbosses and bosses (destroy both wings of the Stage 1 midboss in quick succession, for example) - but there are a few in-stage break bonuses like destroying over 80% of an enemy rush.

A Break Guide can be found both in-game and on the [https://tinydanbo.github.io/bluerevolver-site/breakguide/ official game website].

==== Pattern Bonuses ====
Each named bullet pattern has an associated bonus value. This generally scales with the game's progression, going from 100,000 points for the ST1 midboss pattern, to 500,000 a piece for the ST5 boss patterns. This bonus is awarded on clearing the given pattern.

In DOUBLE ACTION, there is a new "Perfect" multiplier system which is applied to this bonus based on misses, bombs and special usage.

* Clearing a pattern without special, missing or bombing awards a '''2.0x''' PERFECT bonus.
* Clearing a pattern without special and '''1''' miss or bomb awards a '''1.5x''' GREAT bonus.
* Clearing a pattern using special, or '''>= 2''' misses+bombs awards no multiplier.

In the case of the final pattern, "REVOLVER", special usage does not affect the bonus multiplier.

'''Note:''' The balance of this bonus is such that a relevant break bonus is always worth more than the potential bonus increase. If you can get the break and clear the pattern perfectly, that's great, but in an either/or, burning resources to get a break is more lucrative.

==== Other Scoring Mechanics ====
Boss phases cancel all bullets on screen when they are cleared, and this follows the same logic as enemy destruction with a special weapon - ie, point items are generated in their place. The base value of each bullet is fairly low (100 points on the last boss, therefore 800 points per bullet cancelled), but in the few cases where a chain can be built up and a lot of bullets cancelled, they will receive the 64x value multiplier.

== XP-Mode ==
XP-Mode is an arrange mode introduced in DOUBLE ACTION. While the stages and enemies are unchanged, the scoring, resource and rank systems are much different, and the player must hit score milestones to upgrade their shot type. Only Dee is playable in XP-Mode, with a selection of 5 oddball special weapons.

=== Weapons ===
<tabber>
Cascade Blast=
A short-range spread of explosive grenades.

* Enemy bullets that collide with these explosions are converted into more explosions.
* Enemies that are destroyed by the explosions are similarly converted.
* This conversion stops '''1.5s''' after the initial firing.
* The only XP-Mode weapon that has defensive utility, due to its ability to clear the screen.

Uses the full stock of ammo, but multiplies incoming ammo by '''2x'''.
|-|
Volt Cable=
A sticky projectile attached to the player via an uninsulated electric cable.

* The damage dealt by the sticky projectile ramps up over time and can be a surprising boss-killer.
* The fact that the cable does damage creates most of the scoring utility, and creates new ways to control the playfield.
* The projectile is capable of attaching to the top of the screen.
* On destruction of an attached enemy, the projectile will generally continue flying upwards -- but it can get stuck on some dead ground-based enemies.

Uses 50 ammo, meaning two cables can be active at once. An active cable will prevent firing, however, so ammo generation can be difficult.
|-|
Kinetic Orb=
A bouncing, chaotic orb that deals very strong damage, while bouncing against enemies, the screen edges, the player, and other orbs.

* The bottom of the screen will "drain" the orb, destroying it.
* The damage of an orb increases every time it hits an enemy.
* Insane damage potential if an orb can be fired in "just" the right spot, perhaps behind a large enemy.

Uses 33 ammo, meaning three orbs can be active at once.
|-|
Zap Drone=
A slow-moving drone that periodically zaps the area around it for high damage.

* Direct collision with an enemy will destroy the drone, dealing a very small amount of damage. Optimal usage is to "miss".

Uses 50 ammo.
|-|
Percept Bit=
Two lasers that sweep the playfield, locking onto enemies. After the laser sweep, a volley of gun-bits attack all locked enemies.

* Multiple locks on one target will increase the amount of damage directed at that target.
* The gun-bits will attempt to fire at locked enemies that have flown off-screen, making timing crucial.
* Correct positioning of the player in relation to the locks will allow the extra shots to better control the playfield.

Uses 100 ammo.
</tabber>

=== Scoring ===
In XP-Mode, all enemies drop score items at a 8x value. However, destruction with a special weapon creates a 64x value -- there is no chain or flourish system. Therefore, optimal scoring is to destroy as many enemies as possible with the special weapons, placing emphasis on optimal usage of the weapons and good ammo generation.

== Strategy ==
{{center|''See [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}/Strategy]] for '''stage maps''', '''enemy and boss descriptions''', '''walkthroughs''', and '''advanced play strategies'''.''}}
----

=== General Tips ===
* Self-destructing here and there is highly encouraged by the game systems. On death, rank is decreased outside of Parallel mode, 2 extra bombs are granted without resetting the existing stock, and 50 special ammo is replenished.
* In stages 3 and 5, there are almost no ground targets, meaning the player must rely on self-destructs and bombs to generate most of their ammo. Players would be wise to ensure they have enough bombs to keep up during, for example, the Stage 3 zako rush break without wasting resources.
* The Stage 5 Boss and the True Last Boss will counterbomb the player outside of Normal mode. Their invulnerability period lasts half a second longer than that of the player and their counterbomb prevents ammo from being generated.
* Almost all special weapons fire straight upwards by design, requiring the player to at least pass through the most dangerous areas of the playfield. The most notable exception is the Arc Caster, which can often be used from across the screen.

== True Last Boss ==
The TLB appears only at the end of Parallel Mode. The TLB consists of two ships (Epsilon and Yasumi together as SR-X "Zealot"), who can also counter-bomb. Both ships of the TLB share together an attack set (and as well the HP gauge of each attack set), and each one of their attack sets can last for 31 seconds. Beating one of the attacks sets quickly will result in getting a Break bonus from them.

== Story ==
[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|BLUE REVOLVER]] takes place in an Earth-like world where magic has a code-like structure. Using scripting and various forms of technology, reality can be manipulated to the user's will - however, irresponsible use of this power creates hazardous "junk data". Stringent safety laws are enforced by groups of Technicians, and one such group is called "Blue Revolver".

Recently, a massive data anomaly has been sighted in the mountains - the work of a relatively gifted but flawed magic user called Mae. Blue Revolver set out to investigate this anomaly and hopefully curtail it.

== Version Differences ==
* '''v1.01:''' Score Info option, readability options (background darkening, alternate bullet colour schemes), bugfixes.
* '''v1.02:''' Fixed the stage 2 boss instagibbing the player during Boss Rush mode.
* '''v1.05:''' Achievements.
* '''v1.1:''' Replay functionality added, Steam leaderboards, Break Guide, Experimental Weapon, shot type / weapon rebalancing.
* '''v1.11:''' Fixed replay desync issues.
* '''v1.12:''' Added the DOUBLE ACTION soundtrack by Exemia and Hagane as an in-game option,

== Trivia ==
* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|BLUE REVOLVER]] was originally going to be a clone of [[Muchi Muchi Pork]]. Then it was going to be a clone of [[Ketsui]]. In the end, it ended up being a mix of both - though perhaps a clone of [[Cyvern: The Dragon Weapons]], too.
* Despite the variety in bullet visuals, all bullets in [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|BLUE REVOLVER]] share the same hitbox size of 2 pixels by 2 pixels. This is incidentally the same size as the player's hitbox.
* All shot types have a different default player speed, however their focused speed is always the same for the sake of consistency.
* While probably impossible to actually achieve, if the player can score 100 septillion points, they will be granted an extend every frame the game is running due to inelegant programming.
* [[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|BLUE REVOLVER]] has no boss timeout mechanic outside of midbosses and the True Last Boss. One or two boss phases are milkable to a degree, but the rewards are very low and it is very hard to avoid damage being done to the boss.
* "DSP" is among the various phrases censored by the game's highscore system.
* The Stage 3 boss and several attack craft flying out of the midboss on destruction is a shameless reference to [[Battle Garegga]].

== References ==
* Technical information supplied via source code inspection by [[User:Danbo|danbo]].

[[Category:Independent/Doujin shooting games]]
[[Category:Vertical orientation]]
[[Category:True Last Boss]]
[[Category:Bomb_mechanic]]

Same! Same! Same!

2025-04-21T19:23:05Z

Fw: Overhaul of the Weapon System section.

[[File:SameSameSame title card.jpg|center|400px]]
[[File:Fire shark title card.png|center]]

{{GameInfobox
| bordercolor = black
| title = Same! Same! Same!
| background = #f8f8f8
| image = Same same same title screen.png
| width = 324px;
| imagecaption = Title screen
| imagescalepx = 220px
| developer = [[Toaplan]]
| music = Masahiro Yuge
| program = Sanae Nito Yuko Tataka
| art = Shintaro Nakaoka
| releasedate = November 2, 1989
| previousgame =[[Zero Wing]]
| nextgame = [[OutZone]]
}}

[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|Same! Same! Same!]] (JP: 鮫!鮫!鮫!, lit. "Shark! Shark! Shark!", localized in the West as '''''Fire Shark''''') is a vertical scrolling shooting game developed by [[Toaplan]] and released in arcades in 1989. It is the sequel to [[Hishōzame]].

The game maintains the military theme with the player piloting a biplane, but expands the weapon roster with 3 unique shot types.

{{VideoIndex}}
__TOC__
{{clear}}

==Gameplay Overview ==
=== Controls ===
----
Same! Same! Same! uses 2 buttons by default.

* '''A:''' Shot, hold for autofire.
* '''B:''' Bomb, hold to fire, release to detonate.

Diagonal movement is slower than non-diagonal movement and can be exploited for precise positioning. Unlike many other games with this quirk, only true diagonal movement is slower, meaning that the player cannot reduce their speed by moving diagonally when movement in one axis is prevented by a screen boundary.

Holding the Shot button will enable the roughly 2hz internal autofire.
As a result, it is recommended that the player set up an additional 30hz autofire button.

=== Bomb Properties ===
----
The current bomb stock can be seen in the bottom right corner of the screen. The range of the bomb depends on how long the bomb button is held. Pressing B will launch a bomb that travels up the screen and can be exploded at any height by releasing B again. The bomb explodes then 8 frames after B is released and the explosion lasts for 68 frames. The explosion deals damage to enemies and any bullet that enters the explosion will be erased. The explosion normally deals 9 damage per 2 frames to normal enemies, but when the green or red weapons are equipped it deals 10 damage. It deals a base of 4 damage per 2 frames to large enemies and bosses, but this is scaled with your power level. At maximum power bombs deal 2.5 times the base damage of 4 to boss enemies. This damage scaling does not apply to normal enemies, and the small increase from using the green or red weapon does not apply to boss enemies.
Bombs can be used effectively as a shield from bullets by staying positioned inside the explosion. However some bullets are not erased instantaneously and it's still possible to be hit while very close to the point from which they are fired. A maximum of 10 bombs may be carried at once.

=== Weapon System ===
----
The game features three weapon types, with only one usable at a time. Players can switch weapons by collecting the corresponding item, but the change won't occur until all shots from the current weapon have left the screen. To switch quickly, it's often best to stop firing briefly before picking up a new weapon, if it is safe to do so. Collecting multiple weapon items in rapid succession while firing can prevent the final item from being registered, potentially leaving the player with an unintended weapon.

The game features an on-screen shot limit of 3 salvos at a time for each weapon. The Fire Shot is not affected by this limitation.

<tabber>
Spread Shot (Blue)=[[File:Fire_Shark_Normal_Shot_Variations.gif|158px|right]]
A wide-angle arc shot. It excels in most scenarios due to wide coverage and high damage when used with autofire. Power increases the number of projectiles, filling-in the arc as it progresses.

'''Strengths'''
* At full power it covers the entire upper screen, excellent for dealing with swarms and multi-directional enemy spawns.
* Extremely effective at point-blank speedkilling.

'''Weaknesses'''
* At low power levels, enemies can often pass through gaps in your shot.
* Can only fire upward, making it hard to hit enemies approaching from below.
* Subject to the game's on-screen shot limit.
{{clear}}
|-|
Fire Shot (Red)=[[File:Fire_Shark_Fire_Shot_Full_Power.gif|158px|right]]
A continuous flamethrower-type weapon with dynamic side coverage and unique rear attack potential.

''Each power level grants unique bonuses:''
* Level 1: Single forward stream.
* Level 2: Double forward streams (wider coverage).
* Level 3: Adds two angled side streams that fan out horizontally and return.
* Level 4: Adds two rearward flamethrowers that sweep back.

'''Strengths'''
* Can hit enemies behind the player.
* No gaps in fire; good for eliminating enemies before they fire.

'''Weaknesses'''
* Low overall damage. Especially against quick, medium-hp targets.
* Very weak against many bosses, particularly Stage 5's.
* Attack color blends with enemy bullets, hindering visibility.
{{clear}}
|-|
Beam Shot (Green)=[[File:Fire_Shark_Green_Shot_Variations.gif|158px|right]]
A twin projectile weapon with oscillating green beams and narrow coverage. It is inferior to the Spread Shot in almost every way, avoid at all costs. Power increases the number of projectiles, increasing it's effective width.

'''Strengths'''
* It is slightly better than the Fire Shot at killing bosses.
* It is slightly better than the Spread Shot at killing medium-sized enemies.

'''Weaknesses'''
* Every weakness of the Spread Shot, but worse.
* The limited spread makes it a death sentence for later stages.
{{clear}}
|-|
</tabber>

=== Dynamic Difficulty ===
----
Same! Same! Same! has a dynamic difficulty system in which various aspects of the game become more difficult under certain conditions. The most important factors are the current power level the player has reached, the area the player has reached, and the loop the player has reached. These elements are combined in various ways to influence the difficulty of the game.

==== Rank ====
The rank is in effect the base difficulty level of the game. It is determined by the formula:
'''rank''' = '''difficulty''' + '''area'''/2

''difficulty'' refers to the the setting of the difficulty dipswitch. This provides the base value of the rank:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Easy
|1
|-
! Medium
| '''4'''
|-
! Hard
|8
|-
! Hardest
|12
|}

With medium being the default.

Area is an internal counter of your progress through the game. Each area is subdivided in 64 units which occupy a window of 16 frames. This means that the rank increases by 1 every 2 areas. The maximum rank level that can be reached is 24. After the first loop the above formula no longer applies and the rank is always at the maximum value.

==== Bullet speed ====
The bullet speed is determined by the following formula.
30 + '''rank'''/2 + '''power'''*3 + '''loop'''*2

''A further +4 is added to this when the '''red''' weapon is equipped.''

''power'' is a value between 0 and 3 determined by which of the four power levels the player has reached.
It should also be noted that the loop number begins at 0, not 1.
The maximum bullet speed that can be reached is 80. This first becomes possible to reach in the 14th loop with maximum power and the red weapon equipped.
By the 20th loop the maximum bullet speed is impossible to avoid under any circumstances.

==== Enemy Firing Rate ====
This determines how soon enemies shoot after appearing and how soon after shooting they are able to shoot again.
The starting delay is determined by one of two formulae depending on the enemy:
'''delay''' = '''base''' - '''power'''*8

'''delay''' = '''base''' - '''power'''*2

'base' is a value specific to each enemy in the game that ultimately determines the difference in firing rates between different types of enemy.
As can be seen the sole difference between the two formulae is how much of an influence your power level ultimately has on the firing rate of the enemy. Bosses and large enemies are more likely to use the second version which places less importance on your current power level.
If at this point delay is already less than or equal to 0 the enemy will fire.

'''rate''' = '''delay''' - '''rank'''*delay/40

Again, if the calculated rate is less than or equal to 0 the enemy will fire immediately. If the enemy still hasn't fired however a ''timer'' is used to coordinate its attack. This timer is divided by the ''rate'' and when the reminader of the division is 0, the enemy will fire.
The higher the rank and the higher the power level, the lower the *rate* value becomes and the more often an enemy fires.

==== Cannon Turning Rate ====

Tanks, boats and turrets must rotate their cannons towards the player's current position before firing. The rate at which they can rotate is determined by the player's current power level:
'''rate''' = 6 - '''power'''*2

''rate'' is the number of frames between each angle change. At maximum power the angle is adjusted every frame.
As can be seen neither the rank level nor the loop nor any other factors affect the rate of aiming adjustment.

==== Cannon Destruction ====

Tanks, boats and turrets will lose their cannons after the enemy has received a certain number of hits, making them unable to attack. This starts at a single hit and increases by one for each additional power level gained. As these enemies only take three hits to be destroyed, it becomes impossible to destroy the cannon separately from the enemy itself beyond the first two power levels as the calculated threshold exceeds this.

==== Enemy HP scaling ====
A small number of very large or boss enemies undergo HP scaling based on your current power level:
'''HP''' = '''base''' + '''base'''*'''power'''/2

This means some enemies have 2.5 times their base HP at full power. As noted above this same formula is applied to scale the damage dealt per frame by bombs when it is used against large enemies and bosses.

=== Bullet Sealing ===
----
Many ground based enemies such as tanks and turrets will not shoot if the player is within a 32 pixel radius of its current position. This is a fixed range that is not affected by power level, rank or any other factors.
While not strictly sealing, some flying enemies are also incapable of shooting up to hit the player from below, and can be prevented from firing at all by staying above them.

=== Deaths and Checkpoint System ===
----

In the 1P version of Same! Same! Same! Dying returns the player to a checkpoint with the spread shot, at minimum power and minimum speed, with three bombs in stock, and returns the item table position back to the start. Reaching full power again after such a death is a long and uncertain process. In particular, avoiding the green and red items that appear consecutively after the first three items while at low power and low speed is extremely difficult. In some cases the green and red items will be on screen simultaneously further adding to the difficulty. In many cases dying too soon after appearing at a checkpoint will send the player back even further to a previous checkpoint, causing the player to effectively travel back through the stage and making negative progress.

=== Item System ===
----
One of the most complex features of Same! Same! Same! is the item system. There are eight different items in the game as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
! 1-UP
| Awards one extra life.
|-
! 2-UP
| Awards two extra lives.
|-
!Power (P)
| Collect three to increase the power level.
|-
! Bomb
| Adds one bomb to the current stock.
|-
! Speed
| Increases the speed of the player up to three times.
|-
! Blue
| Changes weapon to Spread Shot.
|-
! Green
| Changes weapon to Beam.
|-
! Red
| Changes weapon to Fire.
|}

These items will move around the screen in a predetermined pattern but with a random initial direction and will change direction by bouncing off the edges of the screen. Most items follow a linear path but the speed and bomb items follow an unpredictable circular path and have a tendency to stay high on the screen where they are too dangerous to collect. The movement of these items can be manipulated to some extent as the horizontal scrolling of the screen can be used to control when items reach the edge of the screen and bounce in a new direction. This can be used for example to make sure an undesirable item is away from an area the player needs to occupy in the near future. Items have an expiration timer that determines how long they will remain on screen. When the timer expires the items will no longer bounce upon reaching an edge but simply leave the screen. These are as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
! Item
! Frames
! Seconds
|-
|Power, Speed, Bomb
|512
| 8.89
|-
|Blue, Green
|1408
|24.44
|-
|Red
|512
|8.89
|}

The 1-UP and 2-UP items do not bounce off the edges of the screen. Instead they travel in an initial direction while erratically spinning around a centre point, then reverse direction and eventually exit the screen.
Only four items may exist on screen at any one time. If there are already four items on screen and an enemy that carries another item is destroyed, that item will not appear.

Items are dropped by certain enemies and can be considered to fall under one of three types based on the enemy: those dropped according to a hidden table, static items that always appear in the same locations and items that change based on certain conditions.

==== Item Table ====
Items in the first category are dropped by blimps and carrier boats according to the player's current position in the table:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!1
| Power
!2
| Speed
!3
| Power
!4
| Green
!5
| Red
!6
| Power
!7
| Speed
!8
| Bomb
|-
!9
| Power
!10
| Blue
!11
| Bomb
!12
| Power
!13
| Speed
!14
| Blue
!15
| Power
!16
| Power
|-
!17
| Green
!18
| Power
!19
| Bomb
!20
| Blue
!21
| Red
!22
| Power
!23
| Speed
!24
| Power
|-
!25
| Green
!26
| Blue
!27
| Power
!28
| Green
!29
| Bomb
!30
| Bomb
!31
| Power
!32
| '''2-UP'''
|-
!33
| Blue
!34
| Power
!35
| Green
!36
| Bomb
!37
| Red
!38
| Bomb
!39
| Power
!40
| Green
|-
!41
| Blue
!42
| Power
!43
| Green
!44
| Power
!45
| Bomb
!46
| Blue
!47
| Green
!48
| Bomb
|-
!49
| Blue
!50
| Power
!51
| Power
!52
| Red
!53
| Blue
!54
| Power
!55
| Power
!56
| Green
|-
! 57
| Red
! 58
| Power
! 59
| Green
! 60
| Blue
! 61
| Bomb
! 62
| Red
! 63
|Green
! 64
|Power
|-
! 65
| Blue
! 66
| Power
! 67
| Power
! 68
| Red
! 69
| Blue
! 70
| Green
! 71
| 1-UP
!
|
|}
The current position is not revealed to the player and upon reaching the end of the table the position returns to the start. Any death will cause the cycle to start again from the beginning. Therefore the 2-UP at position 32 can only be accessed by avoiding losing a single life for just over four stages.
The total number of item carriers across all ten stages is 75. This exceeds the 71 places in the table, therefore the final four items in any loop are the same as the first four assuming the player never dies. This means that without intervention every loop of the game will begin four items ahead of the previous one.
Recovering from a death becomes very complicated as the location of the last death determines how items are distributed over the following stages. Problematic item locations may arise many stages after the original death. These must be anticipated and in some cases countermeasures must be taken. Most problematic of all is an undesirable weapon change item such as the green item appearing at a boss area.

The cycle is advanced when the enemy carrying the item appears, not when the item itself appears, and so this means that it is possible to avoid releasing undesirable items altogether. The fourth item in the first stage for instance will be a green weapon change. If the enemy carrying this item leaves without being destroyed, the item will not be released but the position in the item table will advance nevertheless. The next item carrier to appear will therefore not contain the green item but the red weapon change item which immediately follows. It is sometimes possible to erase item carriers by having them move too far outside the visible screen. This technique cannot be performed often but has the same effect of bypassing an undesirable item. However, if the enemy does not appear at all due to too many enemies being on screen already, the table position will not be advanced and the next carrier to appear will contain the same item.
One other way to achieve the same result is through the item limit. Only four items may appear simultaneously and so if an item is unable to appear because this limit has already been reached, the item will not appear but the table position will still be advanced, effectively skipping over that item.

====Static Items====
Static items are items that are always dropped by specific enemies. These are limited to stage 8. The submarine enemies in the opening of this stage will always drop a bomb item, and the large ships later in the stage will always drop a power item.
====Conditional Items====
Conditional items are limited to a single enemy, the so-called 'Otakebi' which appears in stages 3,5,8 and 10. This enemy will usually drop a weapon change item based on the current weapon in use:

{| class="wikitable"
! Current Weapon
! Weapon Dropped
|-
! Blue
| Green
|-
! Green
| Red
|-
! Red
| Blue
|}

If the correct condition is fulfilled this enemy will also drop a 1-UP item. In order for this to happen the player must be in a certain horizontal range when the enemy appears. This range of positions is quite generous, however this 1-UP may only be triggered ONCE per stage even if the condition is fulfilled again. If the player receives a 1UP and dies the 1UP will not appear again. If the player reveals a 1-UP but does not collect it no more 1-UP items will be given by these enemies for the current stage. Most crucially, if the conditions are fulfilled and the enemy that contains the 1-UP is not destroyed, it is still considered to have been triggered and no more of these enemies may contain a 1UP for the current stage. It is possible and even common to fail to receive a 1-UP because it was unknowingly triggered in an earlier enemy by pure chance. Note that this does not affect the 1-UP or 2-UP items in the item table that may be received from normal item carrier enemies. It's entirely possible to receive a 1UP from both sources in a single stage. An additional condition for receving this hidden 1-UP seems to be a low number of enemies on screen. If the number of enemies is too high The 1-UP will not appear.

====Item Substitutions====
Another feature of the item system to be wary of is the item substitution system. If an item is scheduled to drop that one already has the maximum amount of it will be substituted with either a blue or green weapon change item, determined randomly. For instance, if one has the maximum 10 bombs in stock and destroys a submarine containing a bomb in stage 8, a bomb will not be dropped but instead either a blue or green item will be dropped in its place. Similarly there are 4 speed items in the drop cycle but maximum speed is reached after collecting just three of these. This means that the fourth of these will usually not appear as a speed item but instead be substituted with either a blue or a green weapon change item.

An unrelated form of substitution occurs when the player has 0 bombs in stock. In this case a P item may substituted with a bomb item. This can be beneficial in areas where a bomb is urgently needed but detrimental when a bomb isn't needed and the substitution prevents the player from powering up. There is only a 50% chance that a P item will be substituted with a bomb in this way. It is determined by the current frame counte alone, with the item ultimately awarded alternating every 16 frames. Unlike maximum substitutions which are determined when the item itself appears, P to bomb substitutions are decided when the enemy that contains the P appears. This leaves very little influence the player can have over the outcome.

Any item that the player is considered to already have the maximum amount of will instead give 5000 points when collected. This includes bombs collected when the player has the maximum stock of ten bombs, and weapon change items for the weapon the player is already using. Collecting P items with a maximum stock is rarer but possible. Speed items collected at maximum speed theoretically award 5000 points but because of the rarity of speed items it is impossible to create any situation where this occurs.

=== Power Bar ===
----
In the top left corner of the screen is the power up bar, consisting of three slots. These slots can be filled by collecting power (P) items. Filling the current bar completely allows you to ascend to the next power level, and the bar is emptied in the process. As there are four power levels in the game, this means nine P items must be collected to reach the maximum level. A further three items may be collected to fill the bar again at full power. At all power levels the current status of the bar is maintained after a death. This means that if two slots are already filled upon death the player need only collect a single P item to reach the second power level instead of the usual three. If the bar is completely filled at full power it will not empty and the player will immediately be taken to power level 2 after a death.

While this may seem advantageous the item substitution system means that it cannot be used reliably to increase one's survival chances. Once the bar is permanently filled by collecting three more P items after reaching full power, every P item that appears from that point will be substituted with either a blue or green shot change item. This increases the amount of time that will be spent trying to avoid the green items and severely increases the risk of death. Therefore it is advisable to avoid collecting P items once one has reached full power. There is a balance to be found in deciding how to handle this final power bar. You may accidentally collect an additional two P items after reaching full power without consequence. Trying to keep the final bar empty for as long as possible allows you this leeway but some players may prefer to keep one or two slots filled to reduce the time to reaching power level 2 again in the event of a death.

===Extends===
----
Extends increase the player's current stock of lives. There is no limit to how many lives you may have in stock other than the theoretical and unattainable limit of 65535.
Extends can be gained in two ways: score extends and item extends.
Score extends are awarded after the first 70,000 points, and every subsequent 200,000 points (270,000, 470,000 etc.) However score extends may ONLY be received in the first loop of the game. As soon as the first loop is cleared score based extends are disabled for the rest of the game. This means you don't receive any extends from the 1,000,000 point bonus at the end of the first loop. Item extends are received from 1UP and 2UP items and are the sole means of increasing one's stock of lives from the end of the first loop onwards. A maximum of seven item extends can be received each loop with no deaths.

===Bonuses===
----
There are two kinds of bonuses in Same! Same! Same! - stage clear bonuses and special bonuses awarded for clearing a full loop of all 10 stages. These bonuses make up the primary means of gaining points in the game.
====Stage Bonus====
The stage clear bonus is determined by the number of Targets collected during a stage. These are medal items that look like lightning bolts. Each stage contains a certain number of these Target items:

{| class="wikitable"
!Stage
!Targets
|-
!1
|5
|-
!2
|10
|-
!3
|9
|-
!4
|16
|-
!5
|15
|-
!6
|20
|-
!7
|20
|-
!8
|20
|-
!9
|18
|-
!10
|21
|}
20 Targets is considered to be the maximum the player can collect and so the 21st Target in stage 10 will simply give 5000 points.

The number of targets collected determines the base value of the stage clear bonus. This base value is then multiplied by the number of bombs in stock (so 0 bombs will result in a 0 point bonus). Dying will reset the number of Targets collected in a stage to 0, meaning dying in the middle of the stage will prevent you from completing the stage with all Targets collected. The base value does not increase linearly with each Target collected, rather they are as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!1
| 1000
!2
| 2000
!3
| 3000
!4
| 5000
!5
| 10000
|-
!6
| 11000
!7
| 12000
!8
| 13000
!9
| 15000
!10
| 20000
|-
!11
| 21000
!12
| 22000
!13
| 23000
!14
| 25000
!15
| 30000
|-
!16
| 31000
!17
| 32000
!18
| 33000
!19
| 35000
!20
| 50000
|}

The maximum stage clear bonus that can be received is therefore 500,000, by collecting 20 Targets in a stage and completing the stage with a full 10 bombs in stock. Missing just one target has a large impact on the bonus, with a reduction of 15,000 in the base value (a loss of 150,000 with 10 bombs in stock). As can be seen the later stages have many more Target items available so reaching those stages will allow the player to receive much higher bonuses.
====Special Bonus====
The special bonus awards 1,000,000 points per loop cleared which accumulates throughout the game so that 2,000,000 is received upon clearing the second loop, a further 3,000,000 upon clearing the third, until a maximum of 10,000,000 upon clearing the 10th and every subsequent loop of the game. These special bonuses eventually become by far the largest source of points in the game as the number of loops increases. From the fifth loop onward it becomes higher than the number of points that can possibly be gained during the course of the loop itself. The game's score eventually stops at 100,000,000 points, a score which thanks to the special bonuses is possible to reach after clearing 12 loops of the game.

=== Looping ===
----
Same! Same! Same! loops infinitely with the game gradually increasing in difficulty as the game progresses. After completing stage 10 the game will progress to stage 1 of the next loop. The biggest difference is seen in the transition from the first to the second loop. At this point score based extends are disabled leaving item extends as the only means of increasing one's stock of lives. The rank level in the initial stages is also considerably higher from the second loop onwards. With each new loop there is a slight increase in the base bullet speed which gradually accumulates eventually reaching a maximum at the 20th loop of the game. This increase in speed is not related to the rank system and it does not appear that looping the game has any effect on the rank itself beyond the second loop. Enemies will continue to fire with the same timing and delay, the bullets fired will just be moving slightly faster than the previous loop.

===Bugs and Oddities===
----
==== Looping Boss Glitch ====
If stage 4 is cleared without destroying the boss, the main target of the boss will sometimes appear at the beginning of stage 5 and loop around the screen until destroyed. It continues firing bullets while the player is still unable to move. Although the player isn't vulnerable until regaining control it's still very likely to be hit as the boss part will have reached a low position on the screen and the player regains control at a high starting position.
The bug is caused by destroying the front cover of the boss before the main part has come on screen, and then finishing the stage without destroying the boss. Destroying the cover too quickly causes a memory allocation error that ultimately results in the main part not being removed when it leaves the screen at the end of stage 4.

==== Delayed Weapon Switch ====
If when changing weapon any bullets from the previous weapon are still on screen, the weapon change will not be allowed to occur until all bullets of the previous weapon have left the screen. If multiple weapon changes are attempted during this time only the first will be recognised after the bullets of the starting weapon leave. This can result in the player ending up stuck with an unintended weapon.

== Version Differences ==

As well as the original 1-player version of the game, several versions that allow 2 players simultaneously were developed. These versions are all significantly easier than the original, with the most immediately noticeable changes being the removal of the checkpoint system in favour of instant respawning, and the screen being locked horizontally, removing the threat posed by enemies advancing on the player while out of view. Aside from the 2-player version released in Japan, a localised version entitled ''Fire Shark'' (referred to hereafter as version A) was released internationally. This version appears to be almost identical to the Japanese 2-player version aside from the localised text and a very minor reduction in the speed of enemy bullets. A further revision of ''Fire Shark'' (version B) was also developed, featuring various minor adjustments to the game's mechanics, including significantly faster bullets compared to the previous 2-player versions (though still far slower than the 1-player version). This version of the game was released in North America, published by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romstar Romstar].

The differences between the various versions are summarised below.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ General
!
! 1-player version
! 2-player version
! Fire Shark (A)
! Fire Shark (B)
|-
! Year
|colspan="3"|1989
| 1990
|-
! Return to checkpoint?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Screen scrolls horizontally?
|Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Allow 2 players simultaneously?
|No
|colspan="3"|Yes
|-
!On-screen shot limit per player
|4
|colspan="3"|3
|-
!Maximum bomb stock per player
|10
|colspan="3"|7
|-
!Maximum stage end bonus
|500000
|colspan="3"|350000
|-
!Characters in name
|6
|colspan="3"|3
|-
!Player character collision detection
| Every 2 frames
|colspan="3"|Every 4 frames
|-
!Weapon-enemy collision detection
| Every frame
|colspan="3"|Every other 2 frames
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ Items
!
! 1P
! 2P
! FS (A)
! FS (B)
|-
! Item table version
| A
|colspan="2"|B
| C
|-
! Length of item drop cycle
| 71
|colspan="3"|91
|-
! Number of sequential item carriers per loop
| 75
|colspan="3"|95
|-
!Position in item table resets upon death?
|Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Surplus power, speed, bomb items replaced with weapon change item?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Time limit of power, speed, bomb, red items
|512
|colspan="3"|1408
|-
! Fixed speed item drops from specific enemies?
| No
|colspan="3"|Yes
|-
! Item dropped by the three large boats in Stage 8
| Power
|colspan="3"|Speed
|-
!Alternate appearance of final power item required to gain a power level?
|Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ Number of sequential item carriers by stage
! Stage
! 1P
! 2P
! FS (A)
! FS (B)
|-
! 1
| 8
|colspan="3"| 10
|-
! 2
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 3
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 4
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 5
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 6
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 7
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 8
| 8
|colspan="3"| 10
|-
! 9
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 10
| 10
|colspan="3"| 12
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ Difficulty
!
! 1P
! 2P
! FS (A)
! FS (B)
|-
! Power level affects bullet speed?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
! Power level affects enemy attack frequency?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
! Power level affects turret turning speed?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Red weapon penalty
|Enemy bullet speed increases
|colspan="2"|None
|Enemies attack more frequently
|-
!Loop at which maximum bullet speed (80) reached
|14 - 20
|22
|23
|17
|-
!Player's base movement speed
|13
|colspan="2"|16
|18
|-
!Reduced HP of certain enemies?
|colspan="3"|No
|Yes
|-
!Enemies invulnerable at edges of screen?
|colspan="3"|No
|Yes
|-
! Stage 1 boss aiming
| Scattered
|colspan="3"|Direct
|-
!Item carrier attack
|4-way
|colspan="3"|2-way
|}

=== Alternate Item tables ===

As noted in the above table, the 2-player versions feature modified item tables to that of the original game:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Item Table B
|-
!1
| Power
!2
| Power
!3
| Green
!4
| Red
!5
| Blue
!6
| Green
!7
| Power
!8
| Red
|-
!9
| Power
!10
| Bomb
!11
| Power
!12
| Blue
!13
| Green
!14
| Bomb
!15
| Power
!16
| Red
|-
!17
| Blue
!18
| Green
!19
| Power
!20
| Power
!21
| Green
!22
| Power
!23
| Bomb
!24
| Red
|-
!25
| Blue
!26
| Power
!27
| Red
!28
| Power
!29
| Blue
!30
| Power
!31
| Blue
!32
| Power
|-
!33
| Green
!34
| Power
!35
| Red
!36
| Bomb
!37
| Power
!38
| Bomb
!39
| Power
!40
| 2-UP
|-
!41
| Power
!42
| Blue
!43
| Power
!44
| Green
!45
| Bomb
!46
| Red
!47
| Red
!48
| Power
|-
!49
| Bomb
!50
| Power
!51
| Blue
!52
| Power
!53
| Green
!54
| Power
!55
| Blue
!56
| Power
|-
! 57
| Bomb
! 58
| Power
! 59
| Green
! 60
| Blue
! 61
| Power
! 62
| Red
! 63
| Blue
! 64
| Power
|-
! 65
| Power
! 66
| Red
! 67
| Power
! 68
| Blue
! 69
| Power
! 70
| Power
! 71
| Green
! 72
| Red
|-
! 73
| Power
! 74
| Power
! 75
| Green
! 76
| Power
! 77
| Blue
! 78
| Bomb
! 79
| Power
! 80
| Red
|-
! 81
| Green
! 82
| Power
! 83
| Blue
! 84
| Power
! 85
| Power
! 86
| Red
! 87
| Power
! 88
| Blue
|-
! 89
| Green
! 90
| Power
! 91
| 2-UP
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Item Table C
|-
!1
| Power
!2
| Power
!3
| Green
!4
| Blue
!5
| Red
!6
| Green
!7
| Power
!8
| Blue
|-
!9
| Power
!10
| Bomb
!11
| Power
!12
| Blue
!13
| Green
!14
| Bomb
!15
| Blue
!16
| Red
|-
!17
| Green
!18
| Blue
!19
| Power
!20
| Blue
!21
| Red
!22
| Power
!23
| Bomb
!24
| Green
|-
!25
| Blue
!26
| Power
!27
| Green
!28
| Power
!29
| Blue
!30
| Power
!31
| Green
!32
| Power
|-
!33
| Blue
!34
| Green
!35
| Red
!36
| Bomb
!37
| Power
!38
| Bomb
!39
| Power
!40
| 2-UP
|-
!41
| Power
!42
| Blue
!43
| Power
!44
| Green
!45
| Bomb
!46
| Red
!47
| Red
!48
| Power
|-
!49
| Bomb
!50
| Power
!51
| Blue
!52
| Power
!53
| Green
!54
| Power
!55
| Blue
!56
| Power
|-
! 57
| Bomb
! 58
| Power
! 59
| Green
! 60
| Blue
! 61
| Power
! 62
| Red
! 63
| Blue
! 64
| Power
|-
! 65
| Power
! 66
| Green
! 67
| Speed
! 68
| Blue
! 69
| Power
! 70
| Speed
! 71
| Green
! 72
| Red
|-
! 73
| Power
! 74
| Power
! 75
| Green
! 76
| Power
! 77
| Blue
! 78
| Bomb
! 79
| Power
! 80
| Red
|-
! 81
| Green
! 82
| Power
! 83
| Blue
! 84
| Power
! 85
| Power
! 86
| Red
! 87
| Power
! 88
| Blue
|-
! 89
| Green
! 90
| Power
! 91
| 2-UP
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
|}

The 2-player versions also introduced some new bugs to the game:

=== Double damage ===
The player 2 side plane's wide shot is twice as powerful as that of the player 1 side, removing two hit points per bullet instead of the usual one. The game is intended to exhibit this behaviour for both players only when the blue weapon is not equipped, the game reading the current player's weapon to determine when to apply the second hit point of damage. In the case of the second player, the game mistakenly reads data that is completely unrelated to the player's weapon, causing the extra hit of damage to be applied regardless of the weapon equipped. This significantly reduces the difficulty when playing on the player-2 side. Note that bosses and other large enemies are treated differently than normal enemies with regard to damage, so this bug does not apply to them and both players are equally effective against these enemies for all weapons.

=== Double clear bonus ===
For some reason, dying in the final moments before the end of the current loop will delay the player's reappearance until the start of the next loop. A temporary frame counter coordinates the end-of-loop clear bonus - when both the bonus flag is set and this frame counter is at 0, the loop clear bonus is initiated. When the player respawns, this has the side-effect of resetting the frame counter associated with the bonus to 0. If this occurs while the bonus is still active, this will cause the bonus count to fully restart as soon as the player respawns, which will always be after most of the points from the original bonus have already been added to the player's score. As the delayed respawn takes place just as the next loop begins, the restarted bonus will be in the amount awarded for the loop the player has just entered.
As the bonus increases successively with each loop, the amount of time taken for the points to count down varies between loops. At the sixth loop, the rate at which the points are counted is raised in an attempt to counteract the increasing amount of time this takes. This means that the double bonus is not achievable on some loops as the bonus will have finished counting and have been deactivated before the player is able to respawn. The loops for which this is the case are loops 1-3 and loops 6-7.

=== Invisible player ===
As noted, when a player switches to a different weapon, they will be unable to fire the weapon until all the bullets of the previous weapon have left the screen or collided with a target, and attempting to do so will delay the firing of the new weapon until this is the case. This highly debilitating bug occurs when the player switches to the red weapon and dies during the delay period. This results in firing the red weapon while dead, an unintended behaviour which corrupts the player's sprite address so that it is identical to that of the very first enemy bullet. This has the effect that whenever that bullet appears it will overwrite the player's sprite, making the player invisible. This bug can be repeatedly performed to alleviate the negative effects to some extent, by raising the address to match that of a lower priority bullet, so that it takes increasing numbers of bullets to be fired before the sprite disappears.

== References ==

# Game system information guide provided by smc | via STG Rev. 2020 Discord
# Transferring to wiki format provided by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]]
# https://crossfish.sakura.ne.jp/same/TOP/top.html


[[Category:Vertical orientation]]

File:Fire Shark Fire Shot Full Power.gif

2025-04-21T19:11:57Z

Fw: The full-power Fire shot-type in Fire Shark.

== Summary ==
The full-power Fire shot-type in Fire Shark.

File:Fire Shark Normal Shot Variations.gif

2025-04-21T18:27:59Z

Fw: Fw uploaded a new version of File:Fire Shark Normal Shot Variations.gif

== Summary ==
The 3 power variations of the Normal shot type in Fire Shark

File:Fire Shark Green Shot Variations.gif

2025-04-21T18:27:00Z

Fw: The 4 power variations of the Green shot type in Fire Shark

== Summary ==
The 4 power variations of the Green shot type in Fire Shark

Same! Same! Same!

2025-04-21T18:21:57Z

Fw: Cleaned up Controls overview.

[[File:SameSameSame title card.jpg|center|400px]]
[[File:Fire shark title card.png|center]]

{{GameInfobox
| bordercolor = black
| title = Same! Same! Same!
| background = #f8f8f8
| image = Same same same title screen.png
| width = 324px;
| imagecaption = Title screen
| imagescalepx = 220px
| developer = [[Toaplan]]
| music = Masahiro Yuge
| program = Sanae Nito Yuko Tataka
| art = Shintaro Nakaoka
| releasedate = November 2, 1989
| previousgame =[[Zero Wing]]
| nextgame = [[OutZone]]
}}

[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|Same! Same! Same!]] (JP: 鮫!鮫!鮫!, lit. "Shark! Shark! Shark!", localized in the West as '''''Fire Shark''''') is a vertical scrolling shooting game developed by [[Toaplan]] and released in arcades in 1989. It is the sequel to [[Hishōzame]].

The game maintains the military theme with the player piloting a biplane, but expands the weapon roster with 3 unique shot types.

{{VideoIndex}}
__TOC__
{{clear}}

==Gameplay Overview ==
=== Controls ===
----
Same! Same! Same! uses 2 buttons by default.

* '''A:''' Shot, hold for autofire.
* '''B:''' Bomb, hold to fire, release to detonate.

Diagonal movement is slower than non-diagonal movement and can be exploited for precise positioning. Unlike many other games with this quirk, only true diagonal movement is slower, meaning that the player cannot reduce their speed by moving diagonally when movement in one axis is prevented by a screen boundary.

Holding the Shot button will enable the roughly 2hz internal autofire.
As a result, it is recommended that the player set up an additional 30hz autofire button.

=== Bomb Properties ===
----
The current bomb stock can be seen in the bottom right corner of the screen. The range of the bomb depends on how long the bomb button is held. Pressing B will launch a bomb that travels up the screen and can be exploded at any height by releasing B again. The bomb explodes then 8 frames after B is released and the explosion lasts for 68 frames. The explosion deals damage to enemies and any bullet that enters the explosion will be erased. The explosion normally deals 9 damage per 2 frames to normal enemies, but when the green or red weapons are equipped it deals 10 damage. It deals a base of 4 damage per 2 frames to large enemies and bosses, but this is scaled with your power level. At maximum power bombs deal 2.5 times the base damage of 4 to boss enemies. This damage scaling does not apply to normal enemies, and the small increase from using the green or red weapon does not apply to boss enemies.
Bombs can be used effectively as a shield from bullets by staying positioned inside the explosion. However some bullets are not erased instantaneously and it's still possible to be hit while very close to the point from which they are fired. A maximum of 10 bombs may be carried at once.

=== Weapon System ===
----
Same! Same! Same! has three weapon types available for use throughout the game, outlined below. Only one weapon may be used at a time. The player can convert their shot to another weapon type by picking up the corresponding weapon change item for the desired weapon. Beware, however, that the change to the new weapon cannot take place until all of the shots of the previous weapon has left the screen. It can be advantageous to stop firing shortly before changing weapons if it is safe to do so as this allows the new weapon to be used immediately if necessary. It is dangerous to quickly collect several different weapon items while firing as this can prevent the final item collecting from being recognised, leaving the player with a weapon they did not intend to use.

==== Spread Shot (Blue) ====

This is the standard weapon the player begins the game with. It is also the weapon the player reverts to after losing a life. The vast majority of the game will typically be played using this weapon as it is by far the most well-rounded of the three. Even if another type would be advantageous for an individual section, switching back and forth between the different shots at will is rarely practicable due to the restrictive item drop system. A likely result is that an opportunity to change back will not come for quite some time, and the player may be forced to struggle on with the new weapon through new areas where it poses an extreme disadvantage.

The spread shot has by far the best range, its shots covering the entire upper screen at full power. This makes it ideal for dealing with the many areas in the game where enemies enter the screen from multiple points, and sections where large swarms of enemies appear across the whole screen such as in stages 6 and 10.

It is also by far the best weapon for quickly dealing with bosses and other very large enemies. Shooting rapidly at close range destroys many of the bosses in the game extremely quickly. The closer the player's proximity to the intended target, the more individual shots of the spread will make contact with the enemy's hitbox. Combined with high frequency autofire, this allows an extreme amount of damage to be delivered in a short space of time at close range. It is this dual purpose nature of the spread shot that makes it so useful, allowing the player to use it either for range or power through controlling the rate of fire and the distance from the target.

It does however have some disadvantages: the spread shot's attack consists of individual bullets. These individual bullets have gaps between them, and this makes it possible for the intended target to survive by passing through these gaps, especially at lower power levels. It is a common cause of death to miss shooting an enemy that was expected to be destroyed and immediately be hit by that enemy before being able to react. The spread shot can only shoot at enemies above the player, making it difficult to deal with some enemies in the game that appear from the bottom of the screen.

Same! Same! Same! has a limit to the number of player bullets that may be on screen at a time - the 'shot limit'. Another shot may only be fired if there are less than four bullets of any row currently on screen. This means using the starting 3-way shot there may only be a maximum of 12 individual bullets on screen at any given time. After upgrading to the 5-way shot there may be a maximum of 20 individual bullets on screen. Another set of bullets may only be fired when doing so would not cause this limit to be exceeded. This shot limit is another way to miss an enemy that would normally be expected to be hit - the shot limit being activated at an inopportune time and preventing the player from firing on the enemy. An important aspect of skilled play is varying one's shooting frequency to minimize the breaks in fire caused by the shot limit, based on the vertical position of the player and the number of enemies.

==== Fire (Red) ====
With the Fire weapon, holding the A button releases a constant flamethrower attack. Much like the spread shot, powering up increases the density of the fire. At the lowest power level, a single forward firing flamethrower is fired. Ascending to the second power level adds a second forward firing flamethrower, effectively doubling the width of attack range. At the third power level two moving flamethrowers are added. After holding A these side flamethrowers will start at roughly a 45° angle and fan out to be completely horizontal, returning to their original angle after a short time. At full power yet another two flamethrowers are added which begin firing horizontally and fan out to fire behind the player.

Effective use of the Fire weapon at power levels 3 and 4 will involve frequent release of the A button to reset the fanning cycle of the outer flamethrowers, allowing them to fire at the desired angles at the desired times. This makes the Fire weapon preferable to the spread shot in some places as the ability to aim at targets behind the player is unique to this weapon. Unlike the spreadshot the attack is a continous stream with no gaps which means it is able to dispatch some enemies before they are even able to shoot, which would be unlikely to occur with a non-continuous weapon.

The Fire weapon is effective at dealing with some moderate sized enemies, in particular the larger tanks. However it fares much more poorly against the moderate sized plane enemies. It is an extremely poor weapon for use against most bosses as it is unable to deal effective damage against their main parts. The Stage 5 boss in particular receives extremely little damage from this weapon and so in this area it must be avoided at all costs. The weapon's attack is a very similar colour to enemy bullets and so it can be difficult to detect their prescense and avoid them while in use.

==== Beam (Green) ====
The Beam weapon fires a twin set of green projectiles oscillating in intercrossing sinusoid patterns as they travel up the screen. Increasing the power level simply increases the width of these oscillations. Even at maximum power the range of this weapon is so poor that it is of extremely limited use in dealing with the large numbers of enemies that often appear at various locations across the entire screen. Like the spread shot it is composed of individual bullets that contain gaps. A small advantage it has over the spread shot is that it can destroy some moderate sized enemies more quickly. It can destroy large planes and bosses somewhat more effectively than the Fire weapon but still much less effectively than the spread shot. Switching to this weapon unintentionally in the course of a game is very likely to be the end of that life, and a crucial skill in playing Same! Same! Same! is to be able to prevent this from occuring by predicting and manipulating the bouncing green items that confer this fate upon the player.

=== Dynamic Difficulty ===
----
Same! Same! Same! has a dynamic difficulty system in which various aspects of the game become more difficult under certain conditions. The most important factors are the current power level the player has reached, the area the player has reached, and the loop the player has reached. These elements are combined in various ways to influence the difficulty of the game.

==== Rank ====
The rank is in effect the base difficulty level of the game. It is determined by the formula:
'''rank''' = '''difficulty''' + '''area'''/2

''difficulty'' refers to the the setting of the difficulty dipswitch. This provides the base value of the rank:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Easy
|1
|-
! Medium
| '''4'''
|-
! Hard
|8
|-
! Hardest
|12
|}

With medium being the default.

Area is an internal counter of your progress through the game. Each area is subdivided in 64 units which occupy a window of 16 frames. This means that the rank increases by 1 every 2 areas. The maximum rank level that can be reached is 24. After the first loop the above formula no longer applies and the rank is always at the maximum value.

==== Bullet speed ====
The bullet speed is determined by the following formula.
30 + '''rank'''/2 + '''power'''*3 + '''loop'''*2

''A further +4 is added to this when the '''red''' weapon is equipped.''

''power'' is a value between 0 and 3 determined by which of the four power levels the player has reached.
It should also be noted that the loop number begins at 0, not 1.
The maximum bullet speed that can be reached is 80. This first becomes possible to reach in the 14th loop with maximum power and the red weapon equipped.
By the 20th loop the maximum bullet speed is impossible to avoid under any circumstances.

==== Enemy Firing Rate ====
This determines how soon enemies shoot after appearing and how soon after shooting they are able to shoot again.
The starting delay is determined by one of two formulae depending on the enemy:
'''delay''' = '''base''' - '''power'''*8

'''delay''' = '''base''' - '''power'''*2

'base' is a value specific to each enemy in the game that ultimately determines the difference in firing rates between different types of enemy.
As can be seen the sole difference between the two formulae is how much of an influence your power level ultimately has on the firing rate of the enemy. Bosses and large enemies are more likely to use the second version which places less importance on your current power level.
If at this point delay is already less than or equal to 0 the enemy will fire.

'''rate''' = '''delay''' - '''rank'''*delay/40

Again, if the calculated rate is less than or equal to 0 the enemy will fire immediately. If the enemy still hasn't fired however a ''timer'' is used to coordinate its attack. This timer is divided by the ''rate'' and when the reminader of the division is 0, the enemy will fire.
The higher the rank and the higher the power level, the lower the *rate* value becomes and the more often an enemy fires.

==== Cannon Turning Rate ====

Tanks, boats and turrets must rotate their cannons towards the player's current position before firing. The rate at which they can rotate is determined by the player's current power level:
'''rate''' = 6 - '''power'''*2

''rate'' is the number of frames between each angle change. At maximum power the angle is adjusted every frame.
As can be seen neither the rank level nor the loop nor any other factors affect the rate of aiming adjustment.

==== Cannon Destruction ====

Tanks, boats and turrets will lose their cannons after the enemy has received a certain number of hits, making them unable to attack. This starts at a single hit and increases by one for each additional power level gained. As these enemies only take three hits to be destroyed, it becomes impossible to destroy the cannon separately from the enemy itself beyond the first two power levels as the calculated threshold exceeds this.

==== Enemy HP scaling ====
A small number of very large or boss enemies undergo HP scaling based on your current power level:
'''HP''' = '''base''' + '''base'''*'''power'''/2

This means some enemies have 2.5 times their base HP at full power. As noted above this same formula is applied to scale the damage dealt per frame by bombs when it is used against large enemies and bosses.

=== Bullet Sealing ===
----
Many ground based enemies such as tanks and turrets will not shoot if the player is within a 32 pixel radius of its current position. This is a fixed range that is not affected by power level, rank or any other factors.
While not strictly sealing, some flying enemies are also incapable of shooting up to hit the player from below, and can be prevented from firing at all by staying above them.

=== Deaths and Checkpoint System ===
----

In the 1P version of Same! Same! Same! Dying returns the player to a checkpoint with the spread shot, at minimum power and minimum speed, with three bombs in stock, and returns the item table position back to the start. Reaching full power again after such a death is a long and uncertain process. In particular, avoiding the green and red items that appear consecutively after the first three items while at low power and low speed is extremely difficult. In some cases the green and red items will be on screen simultaneously further adding to the difficulty. In many cases dying too soon after appearing at a checkpoint will send the player back even further to a previous checkpoint, causing the player to effectively travel back through the stage and making negative progress.

=== Item System ===
----
One of the most complex features of Same! Same! Same! is the item system. There are eight different items in the game as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
! 1-UP
| Awards one extra life.
|-
! 2-UP
| Awards two extra lives.
|-
!Power (P)
| Collect three to increase the power level.
|-
! Bomb
| Adds one bomb to the current stock.
|-
! Speed
| Increases the speed of the player up to three times.
|-
! Blue
| Changes weapon to Spread Shot.
|-
! Green
| Changes weapon to Beam.
|-
! Red
| Changes weapon to Fire.
|}

These items will move around the screen in a predetermined pattern but with a random initial direction and will change direction by bouncing off the edges of the screen. Most items follow a linear path but the speed and bomb items follow an unpredictable circular path and have a tendency to stay high on the screen where they are too dangerous to collect. The movement of these items can be manipulated to some extent as the horizontal scrolling of the screen can be used to control when items reach the edge of the screen and bounce in a new direction. This can be used for example to make sure an undesirable item is away from an area the player needs to occupy in the near future. Items have an expiration timer that determines how long they will remain on screen. When the timer expires the items will no longer bounce upon reaching an edge but simply leave the screen. These are as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
! Item
! Frames
! Seconds
|-
|Power, Speed, Bomb
|512
| 8.89
|-
|Blue, Green
|1408
|24.44
|-
|Red
|512
|8.89
|}

The 1-UP and 2-UP items do not bounce off the edges of the screen. Instead they travel in an initial direction while erratically spinning around a centre point, then reverse direction and eventually exit the screen.
Only four items may exist on screen at any one time. If there are already four items on screen and an enemy that carries another item is destroyed, that item will not appear.

Items are dropped by certain enemies and can be considered to fall under one of three types based on the enemy: those dropped according to a hidden table, static items that always appear in the same locations and items that change based on certain conditions.

==== Item Table ====
Items in the first category are dropped by blimps and carrier boats according to the player's current position in the table:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!1
| Power
!2
| Speed
!3
| Power
!4
| Green
!5
| Red
!6
| Power
!7
| Speed
!8
| Bomb
|-
!9
| Power
!10
| Blue
!11
| Bomb
!12
| Power
!13
| Speed
!14
| Blue
!15
| Power
!16
| Power
|-
!17
| Green
!18
| Power
!19
| Bomb
!20
| Blue
!21
| Red
!22
| Power
!23
| Speed
!24
| Power
|-
!25
| Green
!26
| Blue
!27
| Power
!28
| Green
!29
| Bomb
!30
| Bomb
!31
| Power
!32
| '''2-UP'''
|-
!33
| Blue
!34
| Power
!35
| Green
!36
| Bomb
!37
| Red
!38
| Bomb
!39
| Power
!40
| Green
|-
!41
| Blue
!42
| Power
!43
| Green
!44
| Power
!45
| Bomb
!46
| Blue
!47
| Green
!48
| Bomb
|-
!49
| Blue
!50
| Power
!51
| Power
!52
| Red
!53
| Blue
!54
| Power
!55
| Power
!56
| Green
|-
! 57
| Red
! 58
| Power
! 59
| Green
! 60
| Blue
! 61
| Bomb
! 62
| Red
! 63
|Green
! 64
|Power
|-
! 65
| Blue
! 66
| Power
! 67
| Power
! 68
| Red
! 69
| Blue
! 70
| Green
! 71
| 1-UP
!
|
|}
The current position is not revealed to the player and upon reaching the end of the table the position returns to the start. Any death will cause the cycle to start again from the beginning. Therefore the 2-UP at position 32 can only be accessed by avoiding losing a single life for just over four stages.
The total number of item carriers across all ten stages is 75. This exceeds the 71 places in the table, therefore the final four items in any loop are the same as the first four assuming the player never dies. This means that without intervention every loop of the game will begin four items ahead of the previous one.
Recovering from a death becomes very complicated as the location of the last death determines how items are distributed over the following stages. Problematic item locations may arise many stages after the original death. These must be anticipated and in some cases countermeasures must be taken. Most problematic of all is an undesirable weapon change item such as the green item appearing at a boss area.

The cycle is advanced when the enemy carrying the item appears, not when the item itself appears, and so this means that it is possible to avoid releasing undesirable items altogether. The fourth item in the first stage for instance will be a green weapon change. If the enemy carrying this item leaves without being destroyed, the item will not be released but the position in the item table will advance nevertheless. The next item carrier to appear will therefore not contain the green item but the red weapon change item which immediately follows. It is sometimes possible to erase item carriers by having them move too far outside the visible screen. This technique cannot be performed often but has the same effect of bypassing an undesirable item. However, if the enemy does not appear at all due to too many enemies being on screen already, the table position will not be advanced and the next carrier to appear will contain the same item.
One other way to achieve the same result is through the item limit. Only four items may appear simultaneously and so if an item is unable to appear because this limit has already been reached, the item will not appear but the table position will still be advanced, effectively skipping over that item.

====Static Items====
Static items are items that are always dropped by specific enemies. These are limited to stage 8. The submarine enemies in the opening of this stage will always drop a bomb item, and the large ships later in the stage will always drop a power item.
====Conditional Items====
Conditional items are limited to a single enemy, the so-called 'Otakebi' which appears in stages 3,5,8 and 10. This enemy will usually drop a weapon change item based on the current weapon in use:

{| class="wikitable"
! Current Weapon
! Weapon Dropped
|-
! Blue
| Green
|-
! Green
| Red
|-
! Red
| Blue
|}

If the correct condition is fulfilled this enemy will also drop a 1-UP item. In order for this to happen the player must be in a certain horizontal range when the enemy appears. This range of positions is quite generous, however this 1-UP may only be triggered ONCE per stage even if the condition is fulfilled again. If the player receives a 1UP and dies the 1UP will not appear again. If the player reveals a 1-UP but does not collect it no more 1-UP items will be given by these enemies for the current stage. Most crucially, if the conditions are fulfilled and the enemy that contains the 1-UP is not destroyed, it is still considered to have been triggered and no more of these enemies may contain a 1UP for the current stage. It is possible and even common to fail to receive a 1-UP because it was unknowingly triggered in an earlier enemy by pure chance. Note that this does not affect the 1-UP or 2-UP items in the item table that may be received from normal item carrier enemies. It's entirely possible to receive a 1UP from both sources in a single stage. An additional condition for receving this hidden 1-UP seems to be a low number of enemies on screen. If the number of enemies is too high The 1-UP will not appear.

====Item Substitutions====
Another feature of the item system to be wary of is the item substitution system. If an item is scheduled to drop that one already has the maximum amount of it will be substituted with either a blue or green weapon change item, determined randomly. For instance, if one has the maximum 10 bombs in stock and destroys a submarine containing a bomb in stage 8, a bomb will not be dropped but instead either a blue or green item will be dropped in its place. Similarly there are 4 speed items in the drop cycle but maximum speed is reached after collecting just three of these. This means that the fourth of these will usually not appear as a speed item but instead be substituted with either a blue or a green weapon change item.

An unrelated form of substitution occurs when the player has 0 bombs in stock. In this case a P item may substituted with a bomb item. This can be beneficial in areas where a bomb is urgently needed but detrimental when a bomb isn't needed and the substitution prevents the player from powering up. There is only a 50% chance that a P item will be substituted with a bomb in this way. It is determined by the current frame counte alone, with the item ultimately awarded alternating every 16 frames. Unlike maximum substitutions which are determined when the item itself appears, P to bomb substitutions are decided when the enemy that contains the P appears. This leaves very little influence the player can have over the outcome.

Any item that the player is considered to already have the maximum amount of will instead give 5000 points when collected. This includes bombs collected when the player has the maximum stock of ten bombs, and weapon change items for the weapon the player is already using. Collecting P items with a maximum stock is rarer but possible. Speed items collected at maximum speed theoretically award 5000 points but because of the rarity of speed items it is impossible to create any situation where this occurs.

=== Power Bar ===
----
In the top left corner of the screen is the power up bar, consisting of three slots. These slots can be filled by collecting power (P) items. Filling the current bar completely allows you to ascend to the next power level, and the bar is emptied in the process. As there are four power levels in the game, this means nine P items must be collected to reach the maximum level. A further three items may be collected to fill the bar again at full power. At all power levels the current status of the bar is maintained after a death. This means that if two slots are already filled upon death the player need only collect a single P item to reach the second power level instead of the usual three. If the bar is completely filled at full power it will not empty and the player will immediately be taken to power level 2 after a death.

While this may seem advantageous the item substitution system means that it cannot be used reliably to increase one's survival chances. Once the bar is permanently filled by collecting three more P items after reaching full power, every P item that appears from that point will be substituted with either a blue or green shot change item. This increases the amount of time that will be spent trying to avoid the green items and severely increases the risk of death. Therefore it is advisable to avoid collecting P items once one has reached full power. There is a balance to be found in deciding how to handle this final power bar. You may accidentally collect an additional two P items after reaching full power without consequence. Trying to keep the final bar empty for as long as possible allows you this leeway but some players may prefer to keep one or two slots filled to reduce the time to reaching power level 2 again in the event of a death.

===Extends===
----
Extends increase the player's current stock of lives. There is no limit to how many lives you may have in stock other than the theoretical and unattainable limit of 65535.
Extends can be gained in two ways: score extends and item extends.
Score extends are awarded after the first 70,000 points, and every subsequent 200,000 points (270,000, 470,000 etc.) However score extends may ONLY be received in the first loop of the game. As soon as the first loop is cleared score based extends are disabled for the rest of the game. This means you don't receive any extends from the 1,000,000 point bonus at the end of the first loop. Item extends are received from 1UP and 2UP items and are the sole means of increasing one's stock of lives from the end of the first loop onwards. A maximum of seven item extends can be received each loop with no deaths.

===Bonuses===
----
There are two kinds of bonuses in Same! Same! Same! - stage clear bonuses and special bonuses awarded for clearing a full loop of all 10 stages. These bonuses make up the primary means of gaining points in the game.
====Stage Bonus====
The stage clear bonus is determined by the number of Targets collected during a stage. These are medal items that look like lightning bolts. Each stage contains a certain number of these Target items:

{| class="wikitable"
!Stage
!Targets
|-
!1
|5
|-
!2
|10
|-
!3
|9
|-
!4
|16
|-
!5
|15
|-
!6
|20
|-
!7
|20
|-
!8
|20
|-
!9
|18
|-
!10
|21
|}
20 Targets is considered to be the maximum the player can collect and so the 21st Target in stage 10 will simply give 5000 points.

The number of targets collected determines the base value of the stage clear bonus. This base value is then multiplied by the number of bombs in stock (so 0 bombs will result in a 0 point bonus). Dying will reset the number of Targets collected in a stage to 0, meaning dying in the middle of the stage will prevent you from completing the stage with all Targets collected. The base value does not increase linearly with each Target collected, rather they are as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!1
| 1000
!2
| 2000
!3
| 3000
!4
| 5000
!5
| 10000
|-
!6
| 11000
!7
| 12000
!8
| 13000
!9
| 15000
!10
| 20000
|-
!11
| 21000
!12
| 22000
!13
| 23000
!14
| 25000
!15
| 30000
|-
!16
| 31000
!17
| 32000
!18
| 33000
!19
| 35000
!20
| 50000
|}

The maximum stage clear bonus that can be received is therefore 500,000, by collecting 20 Targets in a stage and completing the stage with a full 10 bombs in stock. Missing just one target has a large impact on the bonus, with a reduction of 15,000 in the base value (a loss of 150,000 with 10 bombs in stock). As can be seen the later stages have many more Target items available so reaching those stages will allow the player to receive much higher bonuses.
====Special Bonus====
The special bonus awards 1,000,000 points per loop cleared which accumulates throughout the game so that 2,000,000 is received upon clearing the second loop, a further 3,000,000 upon clearing the third, until a maximum of 10,000,000 upon clearing the 10th and every subsequent loop of the game. These special bonuses eventually become by far the largest source of points in the game as the number of loops increases. From the fifth loop onward it becomes higher than the number of points that can possibly be gained during the course of the loop itself. The game's score eventually stops at 100,000,000 points, a score which thanks to the special bonuses is possible to reach after clearing 12 loops of the game.

=== Looping ===
----
Same! Same! Same! loops infinitely with the game gradually increasing in difficulty as the game progresses. After completing stage 10 the game will progress to stage 1 of the next loop. The biggest difference is seen in the transition from the first to the second loop. At this point score based extends are disabled leaving item extends as the only means of increasing one's stock of lives. The rank level in the initial stages is also considerably higher from the second loop onwards. With each new loop there is a slight increase in the base bullet speed which gradually accumulates eventually reaching a maximum at the 20th loop of the game. This increase in speed is not related to the rank system and it does not appear that looping the game has any effect on the rank itself beyond the second loop. Enemies will continue to fire with the same timing and delay, the bullets fired will just be moving slightly faster than the previous loop.

===Bugs and Oddities===
----
==== Looping Boss Glitch ====
If stage 4 is cleared without destroying the boss, the main target of the boss will sometimes appear at the beginning of stage 5 and loop around the screen until destroyed. It continues firing bullets while the player is still unable to move. Although the player isn't vulnerable until regaining control it's still very likely to be hit as the boss part will have reached a low position on the screen and the player regains control at a high starting position.
The bug is caused by destroying the front cover of the boss before the main part has come on screen, and then finishing the stage without destroying the boss. Destroying the cover too quickly causes a memory allocation error that ultimately results in the main part not being removed when it leaves the screen at the end of stage 4.

==== Delayed Weapon Switch ====
If when changing weapon any bullets from the previous weapon are still on screen, the weapon change will not be allowed to occur until all bullets of the previous weapon have left the screen. If multiple weapon changes are attempted during this time only the first will be recognised after the bullets of the starting weapon leave. This can result in the player ending up stuck with an unintended weapon.

== Version Differences ==

As well as the original 1-player version of the game, several versions that allow 2 players simultaneously were developed. These versions are all significantly easier than the original, with the most immediately noticeable changes being the removal of the checkpoint system in favour of instant respawning, and the screen being locked horizontally, removing the threat posed by enemies advancing on the player while out of view. Aside from the 2-player version released in Japan, a localised version entitled ''Fire Shark'' (referred to hereafter as version A) was released internationally. This version appears to be almost identical to the Japanese 2-player version aside from the localised text and a very minor reduction in the speed of enemy bullets. A further revision of ''Fire Shark'' (version B) was also developed, featuring various minor adjustments to the game's mechanics, including significantly faster bullets compared to the previous 2-player versions (though still far slower than the 1-player version). This version of the game was released in North America, published by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romstar Romstar].

The differences between the various versions are summarised below.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ General
!
! 1-player version
! 2-player version
! Fire Shark (A)
! Fire Shark (B)
|-
! Year
|colspan="3"|1989
| 1990
|-
! Return to checkpoint?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Screen scrolls horizontally?
|Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Allow 2 players simultaneously?
|No
|colspan="3"|Yes
|-
!On-screen shot limit per player
|4
|colspan="3"|3
|-
!Maximum bomb stock per player
|10
|colspan="3"|7
|-
!Maximum stage end bonus
|500000
|colspan="3"|350000
|-
!Characters in name
|6
|colspan="3"|3
|-
!Player character collision detection
| Every 2 frames
|colspan="3"|Every 4 frames
|-
!Weapon-enemy collision detection
| Every frame
|colspan="3"|Every other 2 frames
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ Items
!
! 1P
! 2P
! FS (A)
! FS (B)
|-
! Item table version
| A
|colspan="2"|B
| C
|-
! Length of item drop cycle
| 71
|colspan="3"|91
|-
! Number of sequential item carriers per loop
| 75
|colspan="3"|95
|-
!Position in item table resets upon death?
|Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Surplus power, speed, bomb items replaced with weapon change item?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Time limit of power, speed, bomb, red items
|512
|colspan="3"|1408
|-
! Fixed speed item drops from specific enemies?
| No
|colspan="3"|Yes
|-
! Item dropped by the three large boats in Stage 8
| Power
|colspan="3"|Speed
|-
!Alternate appearance of final power item required to gain a power level?
|Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ Number of sequential item carriers by stage
! Stage
! 1P
! 2P
! FS (A)
! FS (B)
|-
! 1
| 8
|colspan="3"| 10
|-
! 2
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 3
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 4
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 5
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 6
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 7
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 8
| 8
|colspan="3"| 10
|-
! 9
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 10
| 10
|colspan="3"| 12
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ Difficulty
!
! 1P
! 2P
! FS (A)
! FS (B)
|-
! Power level affects bullet speed?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
! Power level affects enemy attack frequency?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
! Power level affects turret turning speed?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Red weapon penalty
|Enemy bullet speed increases
|colspan="2"|None
|Enemies attack more frequently
|-
!Loop at which maximum bullet speed (80) reached
|14 - 20
|22
|23
|17
|-
!Player's base movement speed
|13
|colspan="2"|16
|18
|-
!Reduced HP of certain enemies?
|colspan="3"|No
|Yes
|-
!Enemies invulnerable at edges of screen?
|colspan="3"|No
|Yes
|-
! Stage 1 boss aiming
| Scattered
|colspan="3"|Direct
|-
!Item carrier attack
|4-way
|colspan="3"|2-way
|}

=== Alternate Item tables ===

As noted in the above table, the 2-player versions feature modified item tables to that of the original game:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Item Table B
|-
!1
| Power
!2
| Power
!3
| Green
!4
| Red
!5
| Blue
!6
| Green
!7
| Power
!8
| Red
|-
!9
| Power
!10
| Bomb
!11
| Power
!12
| Blue
!13
| Green
!14
| Bomb
!15
| Power
!16
| Red
|-
!17
| Blue
!18
| Green
!19
| Power
!20
| Power
!21
| Green
!22
| Power
!23
| Bomb
!24
| Red
|-
!25
| Blue
!26
| Power
!27
| Red
!28
| Power
!29
| Blue
!30
| Power
!31
| Blue
!32
| Power
|-
!33
| Green
!34
| Power
!35
| Red
!36
| Bomb
!37
| Power
!38
| Bomb
!39
| Power
!40
| 2-UP
|-
!41
| Power
!42
| Blue
!43
| Power
!44
| Green
!45
| Bomb
!46
| Red
!47
| Red
!48
| Power
|-
!49
| Bomb
!50
| Power
!51
| Blue
!52
| Power
!53
| Green
!54
| Power
!55
| Blue
!56
| Power
|-
! 57
| Bomb
! 58
| Power
! 59
| Green
! 60
| Blue
! 61
| Power
! 62
| Red
! 63
| Blue
! 64
| Power
|-
! 65
| Power
! 66
| Red
! 67
| Power
! 68
| Blue
! 69
| Power
! 70
| Power
! 71
| Green
! 72
| Red
|-
! 73
| Power
! 74
| Power
! 75
| Green
! 76
| Power
! 77
| Blue
! 78
| Bomb
! 79
| Power
! 80
| Red
|-
! 81
| Green
! 82
| Power
! 83
| Blue
! 84
| Power
! 85
| Power
! 86
| Red
! 87
| Power
! 88
| Blue
|-
! 89
| Green
! 90
| Power
! 91
| 2-UP
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Item Table C
|-
!1
| Power
!2
| Power
!3
| Green
!4
| Blue
!5
| Red
!6
| Green
!7
| Power
!8
| Blue
|-
!9
| Power
!10
| Bomb
!11
| Power
!12
| Blue
!13
| Green
!14
| Bomb
!15
| Blue
!16
| Red
|-
!17
| Green
!18
| Blue
!19
| Power
!20
| Blue
!21
| Red
!22
| Power
!23
| Bomb
!24
| Green
|-
!25
| Blue
!26
| Power
!27
| Green
!28
| Power
!29
| Blue
!30
| Power
!31
| Green
!32
| Power
|-
!33
| Blue
!34
| Green
!35
| Red
!36
| Bomb
!37
| Power
!38
| Bomb
!39
| Power
!40
| 2-UP
|-
!41
| Power
!42
| Blue
!43
| Power
!44
| Green
!45
| Bomb
!46
| Red
!47
| Red
!48
| Power
|-
!49
| Bomb
!50
| Power
!51
| Blue
!52
| Power
!53
| Green
!54
| Power
!55
| Blue
!56
| Power
|-
! 57
| Bomb
! 58
| Power
! 59
| Green
! 60
| Blue
! 61
| Power
! 62
| Red
! 63
| Blue
! 64
| Power
|-
! 65
| Power
! 66
| Green
! 67
| Speed
! 68
| Blue
! 69
| Power
! 70
| Speed
! 71
| Green
! 72
| Red
|-
! 73
| Power
! 74
| Power
! 75
| Green
! 76
| Power
! 77
| Blue
! 78
| Bomb
! 79
| Power
! 80
| Red
|-
! 81
| Green
! 82
| Power
! 83
| Blue
! 84
| Power
! 85
| Power
! 86
| Red
! 87
| Power
! 88
| Blue
|-
! 89
| Green
! 90
| Power
! 91
| 2-UP
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
|}

The 2-player versions also introduced some new bugs to the game:

=== Double damage ===
The player 2 side plane's wide shot is twice as powerful as that of the player 1 side, removing two hit points per bullet instead of the usual one. The game is intended to exhibit this behaviour for both players only when the blue weapon is not equipped, the game reading the current player's weapon to determine when to apply the second hit point of damage. In the case of the second player, the game mistakenly reads data that is completely unrelated to the player's weapon, causing the extra hit of damage to be applied regardless of the weapon equipped. This significantly reduces the difficulty when playing on the player-2 side. Note that bosses and other large enemies are treated differently than normal enemies with regard to damage, so this bug does not apply to them and both players are equally effective against these enemies for all weapons.

=== Double clear bonus ===
For some reason, dying in the final moments before the end of the current loop will delay the player's reappearance until the start of the next loop. A temporary frame counter coordinates the end-of-loop clear bonus - when both the bonus flag is set and this frame counter is at 0, the loop clear bonus is initiated. When the player respawns, this has the side-effect of resetting the frame counter associated with the bonus to 0. If this occurs while the bonus is still active, this will cause the bonus count to fully restart as soon as the player respawns, which will always be after most of the points from the original bonus have already been added to the player's score. As the delayed respawn takes place just as the next loop begins, the restarted bonus will be in the amount awarded for the loop the player has just entered.
As the bonus increases successively with each loop, the amount of time taken for the points to count down varies between loops. At the sixth loop, the rate at which the points are counted is raised in an attempt to counteract the increasing amount of time this takes. This means that the double bonus is not achievable on some loops as the bonus will have finished counting and have been deactivated before the player is able to respawn. The loops for which this is the case are loops 1-3 and loops 6-7.

=== Invisible player ===
As noted, when a player switches to a different weapon, they will be unable to fire the weapon until all the bullets of the previous weapon have left the screen or collided with a target, and attempting to do so will delay the firing of the new weapon until this is the case. This highly debilitating bug occurs when the player switches to the red weapon and dies during the delay period. This results in firing the red weapon while dead, an unintended behaviour which corrupts the player's sprite address so that it is identical to that of the very first enemy bullet. This has the effect that whenever that bullet appears it will overwrite the player's sprite, making the player invisible. This bug can be repeatedly performed to alleviate the negative effects to some extent, by raising the address to match that of a lower priority bullet, so that it takes increasing numbers of bullets to be fired before the sprite disappears.

== References ==

# Game system information guide provided by smc | via STG Rev. 2020 Discord
# Transferring to wiki format provided by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]]
# https://crossfish.sakura.ne.jp/same/TOP/top.html


[[Category:Vertical orientation]]

File:Fire Shark Normal Shot Variations.gif

2025-04-21T16:21:52Z

Fw: Fw uploaded a new version of File:Fire Shark Normal Shot Variations.gif

== Summary ==
The 3 power variations of the Normal shot type in Fire Shark

User:Fw

2025-04-21T16:02:15Z

Fw: Created page with "🐑"

🐑

File:Fire Shark Normal Shot Variations.gif

2025-04-21T16:00:42Z

Fw: The 3 power variations of the Normal shot type in Fire Shark

== Summary ==
The 3 power variations of the Normal shot type in Fire Shark

Same! Same! Same!

2025-04-21T14:31:03Z

Fw: Reformatted opening

[[File:SameSameSame title card.jpg|center|400px]]
[[File:Fire shark title card.png|center]]

{{GameInfobox
| bordercolor = black
| title = Same! Same! Same!
| background = #f8f8f8
| image = Same same same title screen.png
| width = 324px;
| imagecaption = Title screen
| imagescalepx = 220px
| developer = [[Toaplan]]
| music = Masahiro Yuge
| program = Sanae Nito Yuko Tataka
| art = Shintaro Nakaoka
| releasedate = November 2, 1989
| previousgame =[[Zero Wing]]
| nextgame = [[OutZone]]
}}

[[{{FULLPAGENAME}}|Same! Same! Same!]] (JP: 鮫!鮫!鮫!, lit. "Shark! Shark! Shark!", localized in the West as '''''Fire Shark''''') is a vertical scrolling shooting game developed by [[Toaplan]] and released in arcades in 1989. It is the sequel to [[Hishōzame]].

The game maintains the military theme with the player piloting a biplane, but expands the weapon roster with 3 unique shot types.

{{VideoIndex}}
__TOC__
{{clear}}

==Gameplay Overview ==
=== Controls ===
----
Same! Same! Same! has a very simple control scheme, using only an 8-directional joystick and two buttons:
A: Shoot
B: Bomb

Diagonal movement is slower than non-diagonal movement and can be exploited for precise positioning. However, unlike many other games, only true diagonal movement is slower, meaning that the player cannot reduce their speed by moving diagonally when movement in one axis is prevented by a screen boundary.

It is recommended that the player set up a 30hz autofire button for A. For other firing rates the player may prefer either to set up additional autofire buttons or tap A manually.

=== Bomb Properties ===
----
The current bomb stock can be seen in the bottom right corner of the screen. The range of the bomb depends on how long the bomb button is held. Pressing B will launch a bomb that travels up the screen and can be exploded at any height by releasing B again. The bomb explodes then 8 frames after B is released and the explosion lasts for 68 frames. The explosion deals damage to enemies and any bullet that enters the explosion will be erased. The explosion normally deals 9 damage per 2 frames to normal enemies, but when the green or red weapons are equipped it deals 10 damage. It deals a base of 4 damage per 2 frames to large enemies and bosses, but this is scaled with your power level. At maximum power bombs deal 2.5 times the base damage of 4 to boss enemies. This damage scaling does not apply to normal enemies, and the small increase from using the green or red weapon does not apply to boss enemies.
Bombs can be used effectively as a shield from bullets by staying positioned inside the explosion. However some bullets are not erased instantaneously and it's still possible to be hit while very close to the point from which they are fired. A maximum of 10 bombs may be carried at once.

=== Weapon System ===
----
Same! Same! Same! has three weapon types available for use throughout the game, outlined below. Only one weapon may be used at a time. The player can convert their shot to another weapon type by picking up the corresponding weapon change item for the desired weapon. Beware, however, that the change to the new weapon cannot take place until all of the shots of the previous weapon has left the screen. It can be advantageous to stop firing shortly before changing weapons if it is safe to do so as this allows the new weapon to be used immediately if necessary. It is dangerous to quickly collect several different weapon items while firing as this can prevent the final item collecting from being recognised, leaving the player with a weapon they did not intend to use.

==== Spread Shot (Blue) ====

This is the standard weapon the player begins the game with. It is also the weapon the player reverts to after losing a life. The vast majority of the game will typically be played using this weapon as it is by far the most well-rounded of the three. Even if another type would be advantageous for an individual section, switching back and forth between the different shots at will is rarely practicable due to the restrictive item drop system. A likely result is that an opportunity to change back will not come for quite some time, and the player may be forced to struggle on with the new weapon through new areas where it poses an extreme disadvantage.

The spread shot has by far the best range, its shots covering the entire upper screen at full power. This makes it ideal for dealing with the many areas in the game where enemies enter the screen from multiple points, and sections where large swarms of enemies appear across the whole screen such as in stages 6 and 10.

It is also by far the best weapon for quickly dealing with bosses and other very large enemies. Shooting rapidly at close range destroys many of the bosses in the game extremely quickly. The closer the player's proximity to the intended target, the more individual shots of the spread will make contact with the enemy's hitbox. Combined with high frequency autofire, this allows an extreme amount of damage to be delivered in a short space of time at close range. It is this dual purpose nature of the spread shot that makes it so useful, allowing the player to use it either for range or power through controlling the rate of fire and the distance from the target.

It does however have some disadvantages: the spread shot's attack consists of individual bullets. These individual bullets have gaps between them, and this makes it possible for the intended target to survive by passing through these gaps, especially at lower power levels. It is a common cause of death to miss shooting an enemy that was expected to be destroyed and immediately be hit by that enemy before being able to react. The spread shot can only shoot at enemies above the player, making it difficult to deal with some enemies in the game that appear from the bottom of the screen.

Same! Same! Same! has a limit to the number of player bullets that may be on screen at a time - the 'shot limit'. Another shot may only be fired if there are less than four bullets of any row currently on screen. This means using the starting 3-way shot there may only be a maximum of 12 individual bullets on screen at any given time. After upgrading to the 5-way shot there may be a maximum of 20 individual bullets on screen. Another set of bullets may only be fired when doing so would not cause this limit to be exceeded. This shot limit is another way to miss an enemy that would normally be expected to be hit - the shot limit being activated at an inopportune time and preventing the player from firing on the enemy. An important aspect of skilled play is varying one's shooting frequency to minimize the breaks in fire caused by the shot limit, based on the vertical position of the player and the number of enemies.

==== Fire (Red) ====
With the Fire weapon, holding the A button releases a constant flamethrower attack. Much like the spread shot, powering up increases the density of the fire. At the lowest power level, a single forward firing flamethrower is fired. Ascending to the second power level adds a second forward firing flamethrower, effectively doubling the width of attack range. At the third power level two moving flamethrowers are added. After holding A these side flamethrowers will start at roughly a 45° angle and fan out to be completely horizontal, returning to their original angle after a short time. At full power yet another two flamethrowers are added which begin firing horizontally and fan out to fire behind the player.

Effective use of the Fire weapon at power levels 3 and 4 will involve frequent release of the A button to reset the fanning cycle of the outer flamethrowers, allowing them to fire at the desired angles at the desired times. This makes the Fire weapon preferable to the spread shot in some places as the ability to aim at targets behind the player is unique to this weapon. Unlike the spreadshot the attack is a continous stream with no gaps which means it is able to dispatch some enemies before they are even able to shoot, which would be unlikely to occur with a non-continuous weapon.

The Fire weapon is effective at dealing with some moderate sized enemies, in particular the larger tanks. However it fares much more poorly against the moderate sized plane enemies. It is an extremely poor weapon for use against most bosses as it is unable to deal effective damage against their main parts. The Stage 5 boss in particular receives extremely little damage from this weapon and so in this area it must be avoided at all costs. The weapon's attack is a very similar colour to enemy bullets and so it can be difficult to detect their prescense and avoid them while in use.

==== Beam (Green) ====
The Beam weapon fires a twin set of green projectiles oscillating in intercrossing sinusoid patterns as they travel up the screen. Increasing the power level simply increases the width of these oscillations. Even at maximum power the range of this weapon is so poor that it is of extremely limited use in dealing with the large numbers of enemies that often appear at various locations across the entire screen. Like the spread shot it is composed of individual bullets that contain gaps. A small advantage it has over the spread shot is that it can destroy some moderate sized enemies more quickly. It can destroy large planes and bosses somewhat more effectively than the Fire weapon but still much less effectively than the spread shot. Switching to this weapon unintentionally in the course of a game is very likely to be the end of that life, and a crucial skill in playing Same! Same! Same! is to be able to prevent this from occuring by predicting and manipulating the bouncing green items that confer this fate upon the player.

=== Dynamic Difficulty ===
----
Same! Same! Same! has a dynamic difficulty system in which various aspects of the game become more difficult under certain conditions. The most important factors are the current power level the player has reached, the area the player has reached, and the loop the player has reached. These elements are combined in various ways to influence the difficulty of the game.

==== Rank ====
The rank is in effect the base difficulty level of the game. It is determined by the formula:
'''rank''' = '''difficulty''' + '''area'''/2

''difficulty'' refers to the the setting of the difficulty dipswitch. This provides the base value of the rank:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Easy
|1
|-
! Medium
| '''4'''
|-
! Hard
|8
|-
! Hardest
|12
|}

With medium being the default.

Area is an internal counter of your progress through the game. Each area is subdivided in 64 units which occupy a window of 16 frames. This means that the rank increases by 1 every 2 areas. The maximum rank level that can be reached is 24. After the first loop the above formula no longer applies and the rank is always at the maximum value.

==== Bullet speed ====
The bullet speed is determined by the following formula.
30 + '''rank'''/2 + '''power'''*3 + '''loop'''*2

''A further +4 is added to this when the '''red''' weapon is equipped.''

''power'' is a value between 0 and 3 determined by which of the four power levels the player has reached.
It should also be noted that the loop number begins at 0, not 1.
The maximum bullet speed that can be reached is 80. This first becomes possible to reach in the 14th loop with maximum power and the red weapon equipped.
By the 20th loop the maximum bullet speed is impossible to avoid under any circumstances.

==== Enemy Firing Rate ====
This determines how soon enemies shoot after appearing and how soon after shooting they are able to shoot again.
The starting delay is determined by one of two formulae depending on the enemy:
'''delay''' = '''base''' - '''power'''*8

'''delay''' = '''base''' - '''power'''*2

'base' is a value specific to each enemy in the game that ultimately determines the difference in firing rates between different types of enemy.
As can be seen the sole difference between the two formulae is how much of an influence your power level ultimately has on the firing rate of the enemy. Bosses and large enemies are more likely to use the second version which places less importance on your current power level.
If at this point delay is already less than or equal to 0 the enemy will fire.

'''rate''' = '''delay''' - '''rank'''*delay/40

Again, if the calculated rate is less than or equal to 0 the enemy will fire immediately. If the enemy still hasn't fired however a ''timer'' is used to coordinate its attack. This timer is divided by the ''rate'' and when the reminader of the division is 0, the enemy will fire.
The higher the rank and the higher the power level, the lower the *rate* value becomes and the more often an enemy fires.

==== Cannon Turning Rate ====

Tanks, boats and turrets must rotate their cannons towards the player's current position before firing. The rate at which they can rotate is determined by the player's current power level:
'''rate''' = 6 - '''power'''*2

''rate'' is the number of frames between each angle change. At maximum power the angle is adjusted every frame.
As can be seen neither the rank level nor the loop nor any other factors affect the rate of aiming adjustment.

==== Cannon Destruction ====

Tanks, boats and turrets will lose their cannons after the enemy has received a certain number of hits, making them unable to attack. This starts at a single hit and increases by one for each additional power level gained. As these enemies only take three hits to be destroyed, it becomes impossible to destroy the cannon separately from the enemy itself beyond the first two power levels as the calculated threshold exceeds this.

==== Enemy HP scaling ====
A small number of very large or boss enemies undergo HP scaling based on your current power level:
'''HP''' = '''base''' + '''base'''*'''power'''/2

This means some enemies have 2.5 times their base HP at full power. As noted above this same formula is applied to scale the damage dealt per frame by bombs when it is used against large enemies and bosses.

=== Bullet Sealing ===
----
Many ground based enemies such as tanks and turrets will not shoot if the player is within a 32 pixel radius of its current position. This is a fixed range that is not affected by power level, rank or any other factors.
While not strictly sealing, some flying enemies are also incapable of shooting up to hit the player from below, and can be prevented from firing at all by staying above them.

=== Deaths and Checkpoint System ===
----

In the 1P version of Same! Same! Same! Dying returns the player to a checkpoint with the spread shot, at minimum power and minimum speed, with three bombs in stock, and returns the item table position back to the start. Reaching full power again after such a death is a long and uncertain process. In particular, avoiding the green and red items that appear consecutively after the first three items while at low power and low speed is extremely difficult. In some cases the green and red items will be on screen simultaneously further adding to the difficulty. In many cases dying too soon after appearing at a checkpoint will send the player back even further to a previous checkpoint, causing the player to effectively travel back through the stage and making negative progress.

=== Item System ===
----
One of the most complex features of Same! Same! Same! is the item system. There are eight different items in the game as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
! 1-UP
| Awards one extra life.
|-
! 2-UP
| Awards two extra lives.
|-
!Power (P)
| Collect three to increase the power level.
|-
! Bomb
| Adds one bomb to the current stock.
|-
! Speed
| Increases the speed of the player up to three times.
|-
! Blue
| Changes weapon to Spread Shot.
|-
! Green
| Changes weapon to Beam.
|-
! Red
| Changes weapon to Fire.
|}

These items will move around the screen in a predetermined pattern but with a random initial direction and will change direction by bouncing off the edges of the screen. Most items follow a linear path but the speed and bomb items follow an unpredictable circular path and have a tendency to stay high on the screen where they are too dangerous to collect. The movement of these items can be manipulated to some extent as the horizontal scrolling of the screen can be used to control when items reach the edge of the screen and bounce in a new direction. This can be used for example to make sure an undesirable item is away from an area the player needs to occupy in the near future. Items have an expiration timer that determines how long they will remain on screen. When the timer expires the items will no longer bounce upon reaching an edge but simply leave the screen. These are as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
! Item
! Frames
! Seconds
|-
|Power, Speed, Bomb
|512
| 8.89
|-
|Blue, Green
|1408
|24.44
|-
|Red
|512
|8.89
|}

The 1-UP and 2-UP items do not bounce off the edges of the screen. Instead they travel in an initial direction while erratically spinning around a centre point, then reverse direction and eventually exit the screen.
Only four items may exist on screen at any one time. If there are already four items on screen and an enemy that carries another item is destroyed, that item will not appear.

Items are dropped by certain enemies and can be considered to fall under one of three types based on the enemy: those dropped according to a hidden table, static items that always appear in the same locations and items that change based on certain conditions.

==== Item Table ====
Items in the first category are dropped by blimps and carrier boats according to the player's current position in the table:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!1
| Power
!2
| Speed
!3
| Power
!4
| Green
!5
| Red
!6
| Power
!7
| Speed
!8
| Bomb
|-
!9
| Power
!10
| Blue
!11
| Bomb
!12
| Power
!13
| Speed
!14
| Blue
!15
| Power
!16
| Power
|-
!17
| Green
!18
| Power
!19
| Bomb
!20
| Blue
!21
| Red
!22
| Power
!23
| Speed
!24
| Power
|-
!25
| Green
!26
| Blue
!27
| Power
!28
| Green
!29
| Bomb
!30
| Bomb
!31
| Power
!32
| '''2-UP'''
|-
!33
| Blue
!34
| Power
!35
| Green
!36
| Bomb
!37
| Red
!38
| Bomb
!39
| Power
!40
| Green
|-
!41
| Blue
!42
| Power
!43
| Green
!44
| Power
!45
| Bomb
!46
| Blue
!47
| Green
!48
| Bomb
|-
!49
| Blue
!50
| Power
!51
| Power
!52
| Red
!53
| Blue
!54
| Power
!55
| Power
!56
| Green
|-
! 57
| Red
! 58
| Power
! 59
| Green
! 60
| Blue
! 61
| Bomb
! 62
| Red
! 63
|Green
! 64
|Power
|-
! 65
| Blue
! 66
| Power
! 67
| Power
! 68
| Red
! 69
| Blue
! 70
| Green
! 71
| 1-UP
!
|
|}
The current position is not revealed to the player and upon reaching the end of the table the position returns to the start. Any death will cause the cycle to start again from the beginning. Therefore the 2-UP at position 32 can only be accessed by avoiding losing a single life for just over four stages.
The total number of item carriers across all ten stages is 75. This exceeds the 71 places in the table, therefore the final four items in any loop are the same as the first four assuming the player never dies. This means that without intervention every loop of the game will begin four items ahead of the previous one.
Recovering from a death becomes very complicated as the location of the last death determines how items are distributed over the following stages. Problematic item locations may arise many stages after the original death. These must be anticipated and in some cases countermeasures must be taken. Most problematic of all is an undesirable weapon change item such as the green item appearing at a boss area.

The cycle is advanced when the enemy carrying the item appears, not when the item itself appears, and so this means that it is possible to avoid releasing undesirable items altogether. The fourth item in the first stage for instance will be a green weapon change. If the enemy carrying this item leaves without being destroyed, the item will not be released but the position in the item table will advance nevertheless. The next item carrier to appear will therefore not contain the green item but the red weapon change item which immediately follows. It is sometimes possible to erase item carriers by having them move too far outside the visible screen. This technique cannot be performed often but has the same effect of bypassing an undesirable item. However, if the enemy does not appear at all due to too many enemies being on screen already, the table position will not be advanced and the next carrier to appear will contain the same item.
One other way to achieve the same result is through the item limit. Only four items may appear simultaneously and so if an item is unable to appear because this limit has already been reached, the item will not appear but the table position will still be advanced, effectively skipping over that item.

====Static Items====
Static items are items that are always dropped by specific enemies. These are limited to stage 8. The submarine enemies in the opening of this stage will always drop a bomb item, and the large ships later in the stage will always drop a power item.
====Conditional Items====
Conditional items are limited to a single enemy, the so-called 'Otakebi' which appears in stages 3,5,8 and 10. This enemy will usually drop a weapon change item based on the current weapon in use:

{| class="wikitable"
! Current Weapon
! Weapon Dropped
|-
! Blue
| Green
|-
! Green
| Red
|-
! Red
| Blue
|}

If the correct condition is fulfilled this enemy will also drop a 1-UP item. In order for this to happen the player must be in a certain horizontal range when the enemy appears. This range of positions is quite generous, however this 1-UP may only be triggered ONCE per stage even if the condition is fulfilled again. If the player receives a 1UP and dies the 1UP will not appear again. If the player reveals a 1-UP but does not collect it no more 1-UP items will be given by these enemies for the current stage. Most crucially, if the conditions are fulfilled and the enemy that contains the 1-UP is not destroyed, it is still considered to have been triggered and no more of these enemies may contain a 1UP for the current stage. It is possible and even common to fail to receive a 1-UP because it was unknowingly triggered in an earlier enemy by pure chance. Note that this does not affect the 1-UP or 2-UP items in the item table that may be received from normal item carrier enemies. It's entirely possible to receive a 1UP from both sources in a single stage. An additional condition for receving this hidden 1-UP seems to be a low number of enemies on screen. If the number of enemies is too high The 1-UP will not appear.

====Item Substitutions====
Another feature of the item system to be wary of is the item substitution system. If an item is scheduled to drop that one already has the maximum amount of it will be substituted with either a blue or green weapon change item, determined randomly. For instance, if one has the maximum 10 bombs in stock and destroys a submarine containing a bomb in stage 8, a bomb will not be dropped but instead either a blue or green item will be dropped in its place. Similarly there are 4 speed items in the drop cycle but maximum speed is reached after collecting just three of these. This means that the fourth of these will usually not appear as a speed item but instead be substituted with either a blue or a green weapon change item.

An unrelated form of substitution occurs when the player has 0 bombs in stock. In this case a P item may substituted with a bomb item. This can be beneficial in areas where a bomb is urgently needed but detrimental when a bomb isn't needed and the substitution prevents the player from powering up. There is only a 50% chance that a P item will be substituted with a bomb in this way. It is determined by the current frame counte alone, with the item ultimately awarded alternating every 16 frames. Unlike maximum substitutions which are determined when the item itself appears, P to bomb substitutions are decided when the enemy that contains the P appears. This leaves very little influence the player can have over the outcome.

Any item that the player is considered to already have the maximum amount of will instead give 5000 points when collected. This includes bombs collected when the player has the maximum stock of ten bombs, and weapon change items for the weapon the player is already using. Collecting P items with a maximum stock is rarer but possible. Speed items collected at maximum speed theoretically award 5000 points but because of the rarity of speed items it is impossible to create any situation where this occurs.

=== Power Bar ===
----
In the top left corner of the screen is the power up bar, consisting of three slots. These slots can be filled by collecting power (P) items. Filling the current bar completely allows you to ascend to the next power level, and the bar is emptied in the process. As there are four power levels in the game, this means nine P items must be collected to reach the maximum level. A further three items may be collected to fill the bar again at full power. At all power levels the current status of the bar is maintained after a death. This means that if two slots are already filled upon death the player need only collect a single P item to reach the second power level instead of the usual three. If the bar is completely filled at full power it will not empty and the player will immediately be taken to power level 2 after a death.

While this may seem advantageous the item substitution system means that it cannot be used reliably to increase one's survival chances. Once the bar is permanently filled by collecting three more P items after reaching full power, every P item that appears from that point will be substituted with either a blue or green shot change item. This increases the amount of time that will be spent trying to avoid the green items and severely increases the risk of death. Therefore it is advisable to avoid collecting P items once one has reached full power. There is a balance to be found in deciding how to handle this final power bar. You may accidentally collect an additional two P items after reaching full power without consequence. Trying to keep the final bar empty for as long as possible allows you this leeway but some players may prefer to keep one or two slots filled to reduce the time to reaching power level 2 again in the event of a death.

===Extends===
----
Extends increase the player's current stock of lives. There is no limit to how many lives you may have in stock other than the theoretical and unattainable limit of 65535.
Extends can be gained in two ways: score extends and item extends.
Score extends are awarded after the first 70,000 points, and every subsequent 200,000 points (270,000, 470,000 etc.) However score extends may ONLY be received in the first loop of the game. As soon as the first loop is cleared score based extends are disabled for the rest of the game. This means you don't receive any extends from the 1,000,000 point bonus at the end of the first loop. Item extends are received from 1UP and 2UP items and are the sole means of increasing one's stock of lives from the end of the first loop onwards. A maximum of seven item extends can be received each loop with no deaths.

===Bonuses===
----
There are two kinds of bonuses in Same! Same! Same! - stage clear bonuses and special bonuses awarded for clearing a full loop of all 10 stages. These bonuses make up the primary means of gaining points in the game.
====Stage Bonus====
The stage clear bonus is determined by the number of Targets collected during a stage. These are medal items that look like lightning bolts. Each stage contains a certain number of these Target items:

{| class="wikitable"
!Stage
!Targets
|-
!1
|5
|-
!2
|10
|-
!3
|9
|-
!4
|16
|-
!5
|15
|-
!6
|20
|-
!7
|20
|-
!8
|20
|-
!9
|18
|-
!10
|21
|}
20 Targets is considered to be the maximum the player can collect and so the 21st Target in stage 10 will simply give 5000 points.

The number of targets collected determines the base value of the stage clear bonus. This base value is then multiplied by the number of bombs in stock (so 0 bombs will result in a 0 point bonus). Dying will reset the number of Targets collected in a stage to 0, meaning dying in the middle of the stage will prevent you from completing the stage with all Targets collected. The base value does not increase linearly with each Target collected, rather they are as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!1
| 1000
!2
| 2000
!3
| 3000
!4
| 5000
!5
| 10000
|-
!6
| 11000
!7
| 12000
!8
| 13000
!9
| 15000
!10
| 20000
|-
!11
| 21000
!12
| 22000
!13
| 23000
!14
| 25000
!15
| 30000
|-
!16
| 31000
!17
| 32000
!18
| 33000
!19
| 35000
!20
| 50000
|}

The maximum stage clear bonus that can be received is therefore 500,000, by collecting 20 Targets in a stage and completing the stage with a full 10 bombs in stock. Missing just one target has a large impact on the bonus, with a reduction of 15,000 in the base value (a loss of 150,000 with 10 bombs in stock). As can be seen the later stages have many more Target items available so reaching those stages will allow the player to receive much higher bonuses.
====Special Bonus====
The special bonus awards 1,000,000 points per loop cleared which accumulates throughout the game so that 2,000,000 is received upon clearing the second loop, a further 3,000,000 upon clearing the third, until a maximum of 10,000,000 upon clearing the 10th and every subsequent loop of the game. These special bonuses eventually become by far the largest source of points in the game as the number of loops increases. From the fifth loop onward it becomes higher than the number of points that can possibly be gained during the course of the loop itself. The game's score eventually stops at 100,000,000 points, a score which thanks to the special bonuses is possible to reach after clearing 12 loops of the game.

=== Looping ===
----
Same! Same! Same! loops infinitely with the game gradually increasing in difficulty as the game progresses. After completing stage 10 the game will progress to stage 1 of the next loop. The biggest difference is seen in the transition from the first to the second loop. At this point score based extends are disabled leaving item extends as the only means of increasing one's stock of lives. The rank level in the initial stages is also considerably higher from the second loop onwards. With each new loop there is a slight increase in the base bullet speed which gradually accumulates eventually reaching a maximum at the 20th loop of the game. This increase in speed is not related to the rank system and it does not appear that looping the game has any effect on the rank itself beyond the second loop. Enemies will continue to fire with the same timing and delay, the bullets fired will just be moving slightly faster than the previous loop.

===Bugs and Oddities===
----
==== Looping Boss Glitch ====
If stage 4 is cleared without destroying the boss, the main target of the boss will sometimes appear at the beginning of stage 5 and loop around the screen until destroyed. It continues firing bullets while the player is still unable to move. Although the player isn't vulnerable until regaining control it's still very likely to be hit as the boss part will have reached a low position on the screen and the player regains control at a high starting position.
The bug is caused by destroying the front cover of the boss before the main part has come on screen, and then finishing the stage without destroying the boss. Destroying the cover too quickly causes a memory allocation error that ultimately results in the main part not being removed when it leaves the screen at the end of stage 4.

==== Delayed Weapon Switch ====
If when changing weapon any bullets from the previous weapon are still on screen, the weapon change will not be allowed to occur until all bullets of the previous weapon have left the screen. If multiple weapon changes are attempted during this time only the first will be recognised after the bullets of the starting weapon leave. This can result in the player ending up stuck with an unintended weapon.

== Version Differences ==

As well as the original 1-player version of the game, several versions that allow 2 players simultaneously were developed. These versions are all significantly easier than the original, with the most immediately noticeable changes being the removal of the checkpoint system in favour of instant respawning, and the screen being locked horizontally, removing the threat posed by enemies advancing on the player while out of view. Aside from the 2-player version released in Japan, a localised version entitled ''Fire Shark'' (referred to hereafter as version A) was released internationally. This version appears to be almost identical to the Japanese 2-player version aside from the localised text and a very minor reduction in the speed of enemy bullets. A further revision of ''Fire Shark'' (version B) was also developed, featuring various minor adjustments to the game's mechanics, including significantly faster bullets compared to the previous 2-player versions (though still far slower than the 1-player version). This version of the game was released in North America, published by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romstar Romstar].

The differences between the various versions are summarised below.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ General
!
! 1-player version
! 2-player version
! Fire Shark (A)
! Fire Shark (B)
|-
! Year
|colspan="3"|1989
| 1990
|-
! Return to checkpoint?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Screen scrolls horizontally?
|Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Allow 2 players simultaneously?
|No
|colspan="3"|Yes
|-
!On-screen shot limit per player
|4
|colspan="3"|3
|-
!Maximum bomb stock per player
|10
|colspan="3"|7
|-
!Maximum stage end bonus
|500000
|colspan="3"|350000
|-
!Characters in name
|6
|colspan="3"|3
|-
!Player character collision detection
| Every 2 frames
|colspan="3"|Every 4 frames
|-
!Weapon-enemy collision detection
| Every frame
|colspan="3"|Every other 2 frames
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ Items
!
! 1P
! 2P
! FS (A)
! FS (B)
|-
! Item table version
| A
|colspan="2"|B
| C
|-
! Length of item drop cycle
| 71
|colspan="3"|91
|-
! Number of sequential item carriers per loop
| 75
|colspan="3"|95
|-
!Position in item table resets upon death?
|Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Surplus power, speed, bomb items replaced with weapon change item?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Time limit of power, speed, bomb, red items
|512
|colspan="3"|1408
|-
! Fixed speed item drops from specific enemies?
| No
|colspan="3"|Yes
|-
! Item dropped by the three large boats in Stage 8
| Power
|colspan="3"|Speed
|-
!Alternate appearance of final power item required to gain a power level?
|Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ Number of sequential item carriers by stage
! Stage
! 1P
! 2P
! FS (A)
! FS (B)
|-
! 1
| 8
|colspan="3"| 10
|-
! 2
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 3
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 4
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 5
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 6
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 7
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 8
| 8
|colspan="3"| 10
|-
! 9
| 7
|colspan="3"| 9
|-
! 10
| 10
|colspan="3"| 12
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center
|+ Difficulty
!
! 1P
! 2P
! FS (A)
! FS (B)
|-
! Power level affects bullet speed?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
! Power level affects enemy attack frequency?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
! Power level affects turret turning speed?
| Yes
|colspan="3"|No
|-
!Red weapon penalty
|Enemy bullet speed increases
|colspan="2"|None
|Enemies attack more frequently
|-
!Loop at which maximum bullet speed (80) reached
|14 - 20
|22
|23
|17
|-
!Player's base movement speed
|13
|colspan="2"|16
|18
|-
!Reduced HP of certain enemies?
|colspan="3"|No
|Yes
|-
!Enemies invulnerable at edges of screen?
|colspan="3"|No
|Yes
|-
! Stage 1 boss aiming
| Scattered
|colspan="3"|Direct
|-
!Item carrier attack
|4-way
|colspan="3"|2-way
|}

=== Alternate Item tables ===

As noted in the above table, the 2-player versions feature modified item tables to that of the original game:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Item Table B
|-
!1
| Power
!2
| Power
!3
| Green
!4
| Red
!5
| Blue
!6
| Green
!7
| Power
!8
| Red
|-
!9
| Power
!10
| Bomb
!11
| Power
!12
| Blue
!13
| Green
!14
| Bomb
!15
| Power
!16
| Red
|-
!17
| Blue
!18
| Green
!19
| Power
!20
| Power
!21
| Green
!22
| Power
!23
| Bomb
!24
| Red
|-
!25
| Blue
!26
| Power
!27
| Red
!28
| Power
!29
| Blue
!30
| Power
!31
| Blue
!32
| Power
|-
!33
| Green
!34
| Power
!35
| Red
!36
| Bomb
!37
| Power
!38
| Bomb
!39
| Power
!40
| 2-UP
|-
!41
| Power
!42
| Blue
!43
| Power
!44
| Green
!45
| Bomb
!46
| Red
!47
| Red
!48
| Power
|-
!49
| Bomb
!50
| Power
!51
| Blue
!52
| Power
!53
| Green
!54
| Power
!55
| Blue
!56
| Power
|-
! 57
| Bomb
! 58
| Power
! 59
| Green
! 60
| Blue
! 61
| Power
! 62
| Red
! 63
| Blue
! 64
| Power
|-
! 65
| Power
! 66
| Red
! 67
| Power
! 68
| Blue
! 69
| Power
! 70
| Power
! 71
| Green
! 72
| Red
|-
! 73
| Power
! 74
| Power
! 75
| Green
! 76
| Power
! 77
| Blue
! 78
| Bomb
! 79
| Power
! 80
| Red
|-
! 81
| Green
! 82
| Power
! 83
| Blue
! 84
| Power
! 85
| Power
! 86
| Red
! 87
| Power
! 88
| Blue
|-
! 89
| Green
! 90
| Power
! 91
| 2-UP
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Item Table C
|-
!1
| Power
!2
| Power
!3
| Green
!4
| Blue
!5
| Red
!6
| Green
!7
| Power
!8
| Blue
|-
!9
| Power
!10
| Bomb
!11
| Power
!12
| Blue
!13
| Green
!14
| Bomb
!15
| Blue
!16
| Red
|-
!17
| Green
!18
| Blue
!19
| Power
!20
| Blue
!21
| Red
!22
| Power
!23
| Bomb
!24
| Green
|-
!25
| Blue
!26
| Power
!27
| Green
!28
| Power
!29
| Blue
!30
| Power
!31
| Green
!32
| Power
|-
!33
| Blue
!34
| Green
!35
| Red
!36
| Bomb
!37
| Power
!38
| Bomb
!39
| Power
!40
| 2-UP
|-
!41
| Power
!42
| Blue
!43
| Power
!44
| Green
!45
| Bomb
!46
| Red
!47
| Red
!48
| Power
|-
!49
| Bomb
!50
| Power
!51
| Blue
!52
| Power
!53
| Green
!54
| Power
!55
| Blue
!56
| Power
|-
! 57
| Bomb
! 58
| Power
! 59
| Green
! 60
| Blue
! 61
| Power
! 62
| Red
! 63
| Blue
! 64
| Power
|-
! 65
| Power
! 66
| Green
! 67
| Speed
! 68
| Blue
! 69
| Power
! 70
| Speed
! 71
| Green
! 72
| Red
|-
! 73
| Power
! 74
| Power
! 75
| Green
! 76
| Power
! 77
| Blue
! 78
| Bomb
! 79
| Power
! 80
| Red
|-
! 81
| Green
! 82
| Power
! 83
| Blue
! 84
| Power
! 85
| Power
! 86
| Red
! 87
| Power
! 88
| Blue
|-
! 89
| Green
! 90
| Power
! 91
| 2-UP
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
!
|
|}

The 2-player versions also introduced some new bugs to the game:

=== Double damage ===
The player 2 side plane's wide shot is twice as powerful as that of the player 1 side, removing two hit points per bullet instead of the usual one. The game is intended to exhibit this behaviour for both players only when the blue weapon is not equipped, the game reading the current player's weapon to determine when to apply the second hit point of damage. In the case of the second player, the game mistakenly reads data that is completely unrelated to the player's weapon, causing the extra hit of damage to be applied regardless of the weapon equipped. This significantly reduces the difficulty when playing on the player-2 side. Note that bosses and other large enemies are treated differently than normal enemies with regard to damage, so this bug does not apply to them and both players are equally effective against these enemies for all weapons.

=== Double clear bonus ===
For some reason, dying in the final moments before the end of the current loop will delay the player's reappearance until the start of the next loop. A temporary frame counter coordinates the end-of-loop clear bonus - when both the bonus flag is set and this frame counter is at 0, the loop clear bonus is initiated. When the player respawns, this has the side-effect of resetting the frame counter associated with the bonus to 0. If this occurs while the bonus is still active, this will cause the bonus count to fully restart as soon as the player respawns, which will always be after most of the points from the original bonus have already been added to the player's score. As the delayed respawn takes place just as the next loop begins, the restarted bonus will be in the amount awarded for the loop the player has just entered.
As the bonus increases successively with each loop, the amount of time taken for the points to count down varies between loops. At the sixth loop, the rate at which the points are counted is raised in an attempt to counteract the increasing amount of time this takes. This means that the double bonus is not achievable on some loops as the bonus will have finished counting and have been deactivated before the player is able to respawn. The loops for which this is the case are loops 1-3 and loops 6-7.

=== Invisible player ===
As noted, when a player switches to a different weapon, they will be unable to fire the weapon until all the bullets of the previous weapon have left the screen or collided with a target, and attempting to do so will delay the firing of the new weapon until this is the case. This highly debilitating bug occurs when the player switches to the red weapon and dies during the delay period. This results in firing the red weapon while dead, an unintended behaviour which corrupts the player's sprite address so that it is identical to that of the very first enemy bullet. This has the effect that whenever that bullet appears it will overwrite the player's sprite, making the player invisible. This bug can be repeatedly performed to alleviate the negative effects to some extent, by raising the address to match that of a lower priority bullet, so that it takes increasing numbers of bullets to be fired before the sprite disappears.

== References ==

# Game system information guide provided by smc | via STG Rev. 2020 Discord
# Transferring to wiki format provided by [[User:CHA-STG|CHA-STG]]
# https://crossfish.sakura.ne.jp/same/TOP/top.html


[[Category:Vertical orientation]]

ZeroRanger

2025-04-01T13:49:31Z

Fw: Added Category: Melee attack mechanic

[[File:ZR_Logo.png|200px|center]]
{{GameInfobox
|bordercolor = #008080
|innerbordercolor = #004f4d
|title = ZeroRanger
|background = #ffbc79
|image = ZR Title.png
|width = 324px;
|imagecaption = Title screen
|imagescalepx = 180px

|developer = SystemErasure
|music = eebrozgi Qwesta
|art = ebboshidori
|releasedate = October 2018
}}

'''''ZeroRanger''''' (ゼロレンジャー) is a vertically scrolling [[shoot'em up]] developed and published by SystemErasure released on Steam and itch.io in 2018. A new game mode called White Vanilla was added in 2020, along with the official soundtrack. The game is notable for its unique color pallet, and for being densely packed with references to other shooters and anime. A demo that serves as a prologue to the story can be found on the developer's website.

{{VideoIndex}}
__TOC__
{{clear}}

== Gameplay Overview ==
'''ZeroRanger''' uses 3 buttons by default. An optional Slow and Auto-fire 3 can be set in the options menu if the player desires.

=== Controls ===
*'''Z:''' Fire 1 (Main Weapon).
*'''X:''' Fire 2 (Back/Side Shot).
*'''C:''' Fire 3 (Charge/Lock-on).
*'''Fire 1+2+3:''' Alternates between Fighter and Mech (Sword/Drill) Modes.

=== Characters/Weapons ===
There are two playable ships: Type-B "Rybb" and Type-C "Decker". Both share the same weaponry, but with unique properties depending on the chosen ship. After defeating a boss in the first three stages, the player can choose which weapon they wish to collect. It's possible to collect none at all by destroying the Power-Ups or simply letting the time run out. However, doing so will lock you into the Fake Ending. Both ships can also transform into a Mecha after collecting the Power-Up from the boss in Stage 3. In this mode, they only have access to either the Drill or Sword weapon, depending on what the player chooses to collect. '''Charge, Lock-on, and Type-B's Sword can only be Auto-fired by mapping the Auto-fire 3 button'''.

Both ships have a passive shield to protect against '''collision damage'''. The shield can absorb three hits. On the fourth, damage will be sustained and a life will be lost. The shield does recharge after not receiving damage for a moment. Upon losing a life, the player craft will be momentary stunned, but immune to further hits. If the player double taps a direction, they can perform a dash in that direction at the cost of the remaining period of invincibility.

=== Weapons ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:100%;"
|-
! style="width:10%;" |'''Weapon'''
! style="width:45%;" |'''Type-B'''
! style="width:45%;" |'''Type-C'''
|-
| '''Main Shot'''
| Wide forward shot. Must point-blank for maximum damage.
| Narrow forward shot. Always does full damage but requires precise aiming. Resembles the main shot in ''Ikaruga''.
|-
| '''Back Shot'''
| A flamethrower that pierces targets. Sticks to the borders of the screen for just a second before disappearing.
| Fires a stream of bullets backwards, with powerful afterburners to the sides. A weak forward fire is also included. Point-blank for maximum damage. Resembles the back shot in ''Radiant Silvergun''.
|-
| '''Side Shot'''
| A lightning pillar fired directly to the side and at a 45-degree angle on both sides of the ship. Does continuous damage.
| Fires bullets at the same angle as Type-B's. They are slower but much more powerful.
|-
| '''Lock-on'''
| Creates a lock-on reticle around the ship that can lock up to 8 targets. Release the button to fire. If tapped, it will quickly lock and fire at the nearest enemy. Can hit background enemies.
| Same as Type-B's, but the reticle appears a set distance in front of the ship.
|-
| '''Charge Shot'''
| Fires a piercing plasma ball. If charged, it creates a field around the ship that absorbs bullets and contact damage. If too much damage is absorbed, the ship will be unable to fire the Charge Shot for a while. At max charge, the shot will linger on screen as a big fireball for a while. Resembles the Charge Shot in ''Recca'92''. A hidden, extremely powerful variant can be used if the charge is held for a full minute.
| Also fires a piecing plasma ball. Charging it creates a small plasma shot directly in front of the ship, that can absorb a limitless number of shots and does damage on contact. The hidden variant is also present as works the same way as Type-B's. Mechanically works similar to the Shield weapon in ''[[Eschatos]]''.
|-
| '''Sword'''
| Tapping the button will unleash a single sword slash with high damage. Holding the button will charge a more powerful slash. A low charge does more damage and reflects bullets. At max charge, Type-B unleashes a flurry of slashes that besides reflecting bullets, also fire short range projectiles.
| Tapping the button result in a single slash that can reflect bullets. Tapping at the right rhythm will unleash a 3-hit combo. The third attack will hit multiple times. Mashing or holding the button will do a continuous sword swing, but with less range and no bullet reflection.
|-
| '''Drill'''
| Holding the button will unleash a big drill that can gather debris from hitting enemies. It slows down big bullets and outright destroy weaker ones. The debris circle around the ship, further shielding Type-B from enemies and bullets.
| Holding it unleashes a small drill that grows in size and damage as it hit enemies. Otherwise, it's the same as Type-B's drill.
|}

=== Items ===
ZeroRanger only has two types of items. The first is the '''SE-Bonus''' (System Erasure). They're point caches present in every stage, and are uncovered when certain conditions are met. The first bonus collected in each stage is worth 1000 points, with each subsequent Bonus being worth double the last. There are 3 in every stage of Green Orange mode except for the last one. In White Vanilla mode they're much more abundant, and thus their value is tweaked slightly: the first is worth 222 points and each subsequent Bonus is worth 222 more than the last.

The other item is a Life Up that awards an extra life. Like SE Bonuses, these can be uncovered by fulfilling certain conditions. The maximum number of lives you can have is eight.

=== Extends ===
Extends are rewarded fairly frequently in ZeroRanger. The less lives a player has, the easier it is to earn an extend. This is indicated in the score on the top-left corner of the screen: as you earn points, the numbers will turn into a paler shade of the color. An extra life is awarded when the score turns fully pale, then it turns back to regular orange and the process repeats. This makes for a fairly forgiving game for beginners, while also encouraging scoring.

=== Loops ===
ZeroRanger has a second loop that you access automatically for story reasons, no special conditions required. Loop 2 levels offer new secrets, new bosses, and the chance to change your first two weapons if you so desire. Please note that to access stage 2-4, you'll need to show the miniboss of 2-3 the ZeroRanger form, triggering a new boss and allowing you to finish the game.

== Scoring ==
Both game modes in ZeroRanger have their unique spin on the game's scoring mechanics.

=== Green Orange ===
Base game mode. Scoring in Green Orange revolves around a multiplier that can be found in the top-right corner of the screen. The multiplier increases as enemies are destroyed—the bigger the enemy, the bigger the increase—and it can be maintained by hitting enemies, absorbing bullets with Charge Shot, or locking-on to enemies. Not attacking for a long period of time causes it to rapidly decrease. In Fighter form, the multiplier caps at 6.4x. In Mech form, it can be "overloaded" to a max of 12.8x, but it will decrease much faster. Note that you do not need to stay in Mech form to maintain the "overloaded" multiplier, but you cannot increase it past 6.4x in Fighter Form either.

During minor bosses (those without a health bar), your multiplier stays in effect, and the text "BOSS BREAK" will appear to indicate that. During major bosses, the multiplier is replaced with a timer. Destroying the boss before it hits 0 will reward you a Time Bonus (the value is "remaining seconds x 100"). Additionally, failing to destroy a boss before it hits 0 will more often than not have the boss flee, leaving behind only a single power-up. Ending a stage with extra lives will award 1,000 points per life. If 8 lives are in stock, the bonus will be of 8,888 instead of 8,000. There's also an overkill mechanic present in both modes: you can continue to shoot certain enemies for an extra few points.

Overall, the general strategy for Green Orange can be summarized like this:
*Max out the multiplier as fast as you can and keep it from decreasing.
*Every stage has certain moments where there will be very few enemies on screen. In these cases, you'll want to slowly shave away their health instead of destroying them. This will keep the multiplier high.
*Look for SE Bonuses. Their location and conditions are fixed. Memorizing and incorporating them into your route can make all the difference.
*Speed-killing in encouraged. Completing sections fast will cause golden enemies to appear, and those are worth more points than regular ones.

=== White Vanilla ===
Score Attack mode. This mode consists of a remix of various segments from every stage in the game. On a fresh install, it has to be unlocked by reaching a Game Over in Green Orange for the first time. In White Vanilla, the Multiplier is fixed, increasing based on how well the player performs during each segment. After each segment is completed, the player will be given a grade on three criteria: '''Hits''', '''Time''', and '''Destruction'''. All criteria are ranked individually. The higher the grade, the more the Multiplier increases. Grades go from E (0.5x increase) to Z (1.0x increase). The Multiplier maxes at 16x in this mode and resets back to 1x at the start of the next stage. Between stages, there are bonus levels for increased score. The player cannot lose lives in these levels, but they automatically end if a single hit is taken.

Players are limited to a maximum of five continues in White Vanilla. The TLB can be fought if the player plays from the beginning and destroys the "Congratulations!!" message with any weapon after defeating the regular Last Boss. Continiues do not invalidate the requirement.

General Strategy:
*Speed-killing is king. Not only does this contribute to your Destruction Rank, completing sections early makes the screen scroll faster. This is key to obtain the Speed Zone achievement in the final segment of Stage 4.
*Some segments have been altered slightly. Don't expect exactly the same things from Green Orange.
*The TLB uses the scoring mechanics from Green Orange, and this is the only place where milking is feasible. For every other section, the Time Bonus vastly overshadows any milking. Dying to this boss still counts as a clear.

== Story and Themes ==
''"This is the story of a fighter who wanted to become . . ."''

''ZeroRanger'' takes place on the fictional planet '''Daikon''', where aliens called "'''Green Orange'''" have invaded. The Green Orange invaders end up taking control of Daikon's defense systems, and the two remaining ships (Type-B "Rybb" and Type-C "Decker") blast off to destroy the menace.

During the game, the playable ships unlock latent powers resting within, building on the running theme of "''enlightenment''" (which is highlighted on the game's Steam page, and in several messages that are displayed during gameplay).

== References ==
# https://zeroranger.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page

[[Category:Vertical orientation]]
[[Category:Tate support (PC)]]
[[Category:True Last Boss]]
[[Category:Melee attack mechanic]]