Battle Garegga

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Battle Garegga

Title screen

Developer:	Raizing / Eighting
Music:	Manabu Namiki
Program:	Shinobu Yagawa Yasunari Watanabe Yuichi Ochiai
Art:	Shinsuke Yamakawa M. Tatsuda
Release date:	Arcade: 1996 Sega Saturn: 1998 Playstation 4, Xbox One: 2016
Previous game:	Shippu Mahou Daisakusen
Next game:	Soukyugurentai

Battle Garegga is a vertically scrolling shoot'em up arcade game developed by Raizing and published by Eighting in 1996. It is notable for its rank system that dynamically updates the difficulty of the game during gameplay based upon the player's actions.

It was later ported to the Sega Saturn in 1998, and an updated version, Battle Garegga Rev.2016 was released in 2016.

Controls

Battle Garegga uses 3 buttons by default. Many arcade cabinets also feature an additional dial for controlling the game’s autofire rate.

• A (Press): Fires the ship's main shot and option shots
• A (Hold): Continuously fires the ship's main shot and option shots at the current autofire rate
• B: Deploys the ship's special weapon
• C: Changes the option formation

Auto-fire Rate

The auto-fire rate of the player’s ship may be adjusted in one of two ways. The first method is to tap the A button in the frequency that you want to set auto-fire to. The game counts the amount of frames between button pushes and will then set the auto-fire rate to the corresponding frequency. However, arcade cabinets often install a dial for selecting the rate of auto-fire. The second method, available on such cabinets, is to simply use the autofire dial to manually choose a desired autofire rate. The default autofire rate is 8.6 Hz, with available faster autofire rates of 10 Hz, 12 Hz, 15 Hz, 20 Hz, and 30 Hz available. Care must be taken by the player when choosing an autofire rate since higher rates will cause the game’s rank to increase significantly faster.

In the Battle Garegga Rev.2016 port, the player may assign multiple buttons on their controller as shot buttons and assign different autofire rates to individual buttons, allowing them to change the autofire rate without having to mash at the desired frequency. It is recommended that the player also sets a "clean" shot button without an autofire rate to be held down as their primary shot button so they have a means of inputting A (Hold). Otherwise, using an autofire button can cause the autofire rate to increase beyond the desired rate when the game encounters slowdown, such as during stage transitions or when there are a large amount of objects (such as bullets) on screen.

In addition to these core functions, the Battle Garegga Rev.2016 port also allows the player to set a quick restart button that when held will allow them to restart the game or start from their most recently loaded save state.

Weapons

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Main Shot

Each ship has a unique main shot that is fired by pressing the A button. Tapping the A button will fire a single volley while holding the A button will fire continuous volleys of the main shot at the current autofire rate. Rapidly tapping and then holding the A button can be done to increase the autofire rate, but care must be taken when doing so since this will also increase the rate at which the game's rank increases.

The main shot has five normal power levels and a secret "special" power level, and is powered up by collecting shot icons which drop from airborne enemies. The number of small shot icons required to power up the main shot increases depending on the current shot level, varying from one small shot icon required to level up the main shot from Level 1 to Level 2 to eight small shot icons required to level up the main shot from Level 4 to Level 5. Picking up a large shot icon will immediately level up the main shot regardless of the number of small shot icons collected.

Special Shot Level During the game, let five small shot items fall off the screen. If you pick up the sixth small shot item and are at shot level 5, your main shot will be upgraded to its most powerful shot level. The main shot will downgrade to level 5 upon the next death. If you pick up an option after the fifth dropped small shot item, the wide option formation is triggered. If you want to trigger special shot, you will therefore need to collect the next small shot item, then let 5 more small shot items fall off the screen before having another opportunity to activate special shot level.

Special Weapon

Each ship has a unique special weapon, deployed by pressing the B button. The special weapons are the closest analogue to traditional smart bombs in Battle Garegga, but have subtle differences. The special weapon can be used to destroy enemy bullets and background scenery in addition to damaging enemies, but does not clear the screen of all obstacles as in other shmups. When a special weapon is triggered, the player will get a brief period of invincibility and the special weapon will then be deployed. All ships have different properties when it comes to special weapon deployment time and invincibility frames.

Activating a special weapon requires ammunition which may be gathered by collecting weapon fragments that drop from grounded enemies such as tanks or turrets. Picking up 40 small weapon fragments gives the player one full weapon stock, whereas a large weapon fragment will award a full weapon stock. Up to five weapons may be stocked at once. Activating a special weapon consumes one weapon stock. If the player does not have a full weapon stock available, the weapon will use the stocked weapon fragments to activate at reduced power.

Options

Each ship can collect option power ups to gain miniature drones that fly in formation around the player ship. These options shoot when the main shot is fired and their formation may be manually cycled through five preset formations with the C button.

The standard option formations, which are cycled through in order, include:

1. Spread: The default formation. Options point forward with a slight outward angle for more coverage.
2. Tail: Options point backwards in a fan shape.
3. Front: Options point straight forward, giving a much narrower shot than the default formation.
4. Rotate: Options rotate around the ship in a ring, allowing for shooting in all directions.
5. Trace: Options follow behind the ship, pointing in the opposite direction of the player's movements.

In addition to the standard five formations, there are several hidden formations activated through specific circumstances:

• Wide During the game, let five small shot items fall off the screen. If you pick up an option item before the sixth small shoot item falls off the screen, you will activate the wide formation. Options in the wide formation provide wider coverage than the standard spread formation, being aimed nearly horizontally. This formation will persist until death or cycling option formations with the C button.

• Homing During the game, let five small bomb fragments fall off the screen. If you pick up an option item before the sixth small bomb fragment falls off the screen, you will activate the homing formation. Options in the homing formation will automatically fly across the screen to shoot enemies from point-blank range. This formation will persist until death or cycling option formations with the C button.

• Search During the game, let five option items fall off the screen. If you pick up the sixth option item before it falls off the screen, you will activate the search formation. Options in the search formation will automatically rotate in place to aim at enemies on screen. This formation will persist until death or cycling option formations with the C button.

• Shadow During the game, let five medals fall off the screen. If you pick up an option item before the sixth medal falls off the screen, you will activate the shadow formation. Options in the shadow formation will follow the player ship while shooting straight up, similar to the options in Gradius. This formation will persist until death or cycling option formations with the C button.

• Chain In a two-player game, the chain formation will have a 50% chance of activating whenever the conditions to activate any secret option formation are satisfied. Options in the chain formation will link the two player ships while shooting upwards. The options of the player who did not activate chain formation will remain unaffected.

If a secret option formation is manually deactivated by pressing the C button, the options will change to the spread formation.

Death Shrapnel

When the player dies, the ship will explode into a wave of shrapnel. This shrapnel has penetrating properties, meaning it will travel through enemies. It deals damage and cancels bullets, although enemies killed by shrapnel will never award any points. The shrapnel deals a set amount of damage to bosses, but will never kill a boss.

Dying awards the player with 20 small weapon fragments, but will also weaken the player's main shot by one level and take away their options. However, the explosion will release a large shot icon (even if they were already at shot Level 1) and an option power up for each option lost, allowing the player an opportunity to regain their previous power level.

Ships

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There are four playable ships in Battle Garegga by default, as well as four additional secret characters who originally appeared in the earlier Raizing game Mahou Daisakusen. The secret characters are unlocked by inputting the code "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, C, Start" at the title screen of the arcade version or enabled in the option settings on the console ports.

The button the player uses to select their ship will change its color as well as slightly influence its speed and hitbox size.

Button	Effect
A button	Default speed and hitbox
B button	Increased speed
C button	Smaller hitbox
A, B, and C buttons simultaneously (or wait for the selection screen to time out)	Increased speed and smaller hitbox

Upon the start of a credit, the player starts with shot level 1, a fire rate of 8.6 Hz, and 1 full weapon stock and 20 weapon fragments (equivalent to 1 ½ weapon stocks). These default settings will reset upon continuing after a game over.

Silver Sword

Silver Sword		A	B	C	ABC
		"Silver Sword"	"Cannon Ball"	"Masamune"	"Shatter Star"
		G-1010 FIGHTER AIRCRAFT
Main Shot: Forward shot that becomes a 3-way shot at Level 3. Option Shot: Standard bullets. Special Weapon: Napalm cone that is aimed in the direction opposite the ship's movement. Strengths: Special weapon can be aimed, giving it a lot of utility Low rank increase Weaknesses: Special weapon covers a tiny area when deployed with only a few weapon fragments.

Grasshopper

Grasshopper		A	B	C	ABC
		"Grasshopper"	"Reinforcer"	"DGR October"	"Diving Fox"
		G-130 AIR-TO-GROUND INTERCEPTOR
Main Shot: Forward shot that gains penetrating bullets at Level 4. Option Shot: Standard Bullets. Special Weapon: Chain gun that fires bullets in a narrow cone in front of the ship. Spent shell casings are also discharged at oblique angles behind the ship. Strengths: Very powerful main shot that can very quickly kill many bosses Weaknesses: Main shot is narrow at all shot levels Special weapon also has narrow coverage Completely reliant on options for wider coverage Slow

Flying Baron

Flying Baron		A	B	C	ABC
		"Flying Baron"	"Stormy Omen"	"Red Impulse"	"Black Zeppelin"
		G-1026 LIGHT CARRIER-BASED FIGHTER AIRCRAFT
Main Shot: Forward shot that becomes a 3-way shot at level 3 and a 4-way shot at level 5. Option Shot: Standard Bullets. Special Weapon: Unleashes a homing missile barrage. Missiles are initially deployed behind the ship. Strengths: Low rank increase Weaknesses: Main shot is weak Special weapon is difficult to control Very few missiles are deployed when using the special weapon with only a few weapon fragments

Wild Snail

Wild Snail		A	B	C	ABC
		"Wild Snail"	"Iron Mackerel"	"Rust Champion"	"Golden Bat"
		G-913 HEAVY CARRIER-BASED TORPEDO BOMBER
Main Shot: Forward shot that becomes a 3-way shot at Level 3 and a 4-way shot at Level 5. Has penetrating bullets at all shot levels. Option Shot: Standard Bullets. Special Weapon: Twin flamethrowers that lock on to nearby targets. Strengths: Very powerful main shot that can very quickly kill many bosses Weaknesses: Special weapon behaves randomly when there are many targets on screen High rank increase Slow

Gain

Gain		A	B	C	ABC
		-	-	-	-
		VALHALLYZER
Main Shot: Forward shot that becomes a 3-way shot at Level 4. Option Shot: Large swords that function as penetrating bullets. Special Weapon: Magic circle that deals area-of-effect damage in front of the ship. Strengths: Very powerful special weapon whose area-of-effect property is useful for scoring tricks Multiple special weapons can be deployed at once in rapid succession Fast ship Weaknesses: Options have a shot limit of 1 sword on screen at any time, which can make them difficult to precisely control Easter Eggs: Gain's options are his F-subweapon from Mahou Daisakusen, as are the swords they shoot Gain's special weapon is the bomb that was shared between all ships in Mahou Daisakusen and his personal bomb in Shippu Mahou Daisakusen Gain's pet monkey is nowhere to be seen :(

Chitta

Chitta		A	B	C	ABC
		-	-	-	-
		GUN-DALF
Main Shot: Forward shot that becomes a 3-way shot at Level 3. Option Shot: Special bullets with homing properties. Special Weapon: Genie in a bottle that hits an area in front of the ship. Strengths: Homing option bullets Area-of-effect special weapon Weaknesses: Weak special weapon Special weapon has long start up Easter Eggs: Chitta's options are enemy gobligan mages from Mahou Daisakusen ~How scandalous!~ Chitta's special weapon is her bomb from Shippu Mahou Daisakusen

Miyamoto

Miyamoto		A	B	C	ABC
		-	-	-	-
		THE SAMURAI-DRAGON
Main Shot: Narrow forward shot that becomes wider at Level 4. Option Shot: Special bullets that explode on impact, dealing area-of-effect damage. Special Weapon: Sword slashes that propel wind blades in a wide cone in front of the ship. Strengths: Fastest ship in the game Options are very powerful and give lots of tick points Special weapon is fast and effective at clearing bullets from the screen Low rank increase Weaknesses: Special weapon is weak Difficult ship to precisely control Easter Eggs: Although Miyamoto's options are the ninjas that accompany him in his ending in Mahou Daisakusen, the bullets they shoot are from his W-subweapon of the same game Miyamoto's special weapon is his bomb from Shippu Mahou Daisakusen

Bornnam

Bornnam		A	B	C	ABC
		-	-	-	-
		GOLGODIAN
Main Shot: Forward shot that becomes a 3-way shot at Level 3 and a 5-way shot at Level 5. Option Shot: Special wide bullets. Special Weapon: Summons a demon to attack an area in front of the ship. Strengths: Powerful main shot with very wide coverage Area-of-effect special weapon Weaknesses: Slow Easter Eggs: Bornnam's options and the bullets they shoot are his W-subweapon from Mahou Daisakusen Bornnam's special weapon is his bomb from Shippu Mahou Daisakusen

Ship Hitboxes

Items

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There are a number of power up items in Battle Garegga. Shot power ups, option power ups, and medals drop from popcorn enemies according to the item drop order. Grounded enemies will drop bomb fragments.

Normally, collecting shot power ups, weapon fragments, and option power up items awards no extra points. However, when at maximum shot level, weapon ammunition or options, picking up excess power ups will award bonus points. However, this is generally not recommended since the bonus points awarded does not outweigh the rank increase from picking up the items.

Shot Power Ups

Icon	Bonus Point Value	Description
	100	Small Shot Power Up Dropped by popcorn enemies based on the Item Drop Order. Collect multiple small shot power ups to level up the ship's main shot.
	5,000	Large Shot Power Up Dropped by popcorn enemies based on the Item Drop Order, or by the Player when losing a life. Levels up the ship's main shot.

Weapon Fragments

Icon	Bonus Point Value	Description
	1,000	Small Weapon Fragment Dropped by grounded enemies such as tanks or turrets. Adds one weapon fragment to the player's weapon ammunition. 40 weapon fragments are required to create one full weapon stock.
	10,000	Large Weapon Fragment Obtained as a pickup by destroying all parts of large tanks in Stage 4 and Stage 6. Adds a full weapon stock to the player's weapon ammunition.

Option Power Ups

Icon	Bonus Point Value	Description
	500	Option Power Up Dropped by popcorn enemies based on the Item Drop Order, or by the Player when losing a life. Summons one option drone to assist the player.

Medals

Medals are golden icons dropped by popcorn enemies based on the Item Drop Order that may be collected for points. The value of medals ranges from 100 to 10,000 points. Usually, the value of a medal will be one increment higher than the previous medal collected, allowing the player to create a chain of high point-value medals. However, if a medal falls off the bottom of the screen, the next one to spawn will be of the lowest value.

More specifically, the value of the next medal to spawn will be either

1. one increment more valuable than the last medal collected, or
2. base value, if the last medal fell off the screen.

This means that if a medal falls off the screen, the chain may still be salvaged if another high-value medal has already spawned and is collected before a base-value medal is dropped by an enemy.

Medals can also be found upon using a bomb on certain items of scenery.

From 100 to 900 points, medals increase in value by 100 points each:

Icon
Value (Points)	100	200	300	400	500	600	700	800	900

From 1,000 to 10,000 points, medals increase in value by 1,000 points each:

Icon
Value (Points)	1,000	2,000	3,000	4,000	5,000	6,000	7,000	8,000	9,000	10,000

Rank

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The game features an adjustable difficulty system ( rank) that will increase difficulty based on the actions of the player. As rank increases, more popcorn enemies spawn, enemies gain more health, enemies shoot more frequently, enemy bullets travel faster, and items fall off the screen faster. Uncontrolled increase of the game's rank can quickly turn it into a manic shooter. In brief, things that increase rank are:

• Time: rank increases by a set value every frame, the value primarily determined by the player's autofire rate
• Shots: rank increases by a set value for every shot fired, the value determined by the player's ship, shot level, and number of options
• Items: rank increases every time an item is collected, with the value determined by the item
• Special Weapons: rank increases by a set value every time the player deploys their special weapon
• Bullets Sealed: rank increases by a set value for every enemy bullet sealed (note that cancelling bullets by bombing does not affect rank)

Losing a life will decrease the rank. The fewer lives a player has when they die, the more rank is decreased. Thus, the game rewards a player who doesn't stock up many lives at a time by more drastically reducing its difficulty.

Although rank is hidden from the player in the arcade release, in the Battle Garegga Rev.2016 port rank may be displayed in a widget on the side of the screen. The rank is displayed on a graph as a percentage ranging from 0.0% to 100.0% that updates in real time during gameplay.

Simple Rank Mitigation Strategies

• Don't horde more than two extra lives. Ideally, try to stay at one extra life and suicide right before gaining an extra life from scoring.
• Try to limit yourself to 2 options and power up the main shot slowly with large shot icons.
• Do not set the autofire rate higher than 10 Hz.
• Do not pick up excess items, including small weapon fragments. (All you usually need are a small handful for safety bombing.)
• Try to stop firing when there are no enemies on screen. In addition, you can often tap fire to wipe out popcorn waves.

In general, the trick to controlling rank is to take only what you need to survive and score.

See Battle Garegga/Advanced Rank for a detailed discussion on rank in Battle Garegga.

Extends

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Extends, or extra lives, are gained every 1,000,000 points or from collecting the secret 1UP in stage 3.

Scoring

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The primary intended scoring mechanic of Battle Garegga is to maintain a chain of maximum-value medals throughout the entire game. In addition, certain background elements may be destroyed using the ship's special weapon for points or to reveal hidden caches of medals. Some bosses have multiple parts that may be destroyed for extra points, and these parts (as well as many enemies throughout the game) are often worth different amounts of points when destroyed with regular, non-penetrating bullets, penetrating bullets, or special weapons.

See Battle Garegga/Scoring for a detailed discussion on scoring in Battle Garegga.

Strategy

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Even for a survival clear, it is recommended for the player to devise a strategy that accounts for the rank system in order to keep the last few stages of the game playable. Since the player gains an extend for every 1,000,000 points scored, the rank system encourages players to make at least a modest attempt to score points to gain extends that can then be traded for reduced difficulty via intentional suicide. Other rank mitigation strategies that focus on reducing the rate that rank increases include keeping a low autofire rate, slowly powering up, and conserving shots fired. It is possible to finish the game in one life, but this requires intricate knowledge of the game's rank system and an ultra-prudent playstyle.

Some useful tips for beginners aiming for a 1 credit clear:

• The ABC variant of Wild Snail (aka "Golden Bat") is a popular ship for obtaining a first clear because of its powerful main shot whose penetrating bullets simplify many boss fights. Miyamoto is another good ship due to his powerful options and defensive special weapon, but only if you can handle his speed.
• It is more important to learn the stage layouts then to stress out about rank when first picking up the game.
• Think of the game as having two distinct parts. During the first part, Stages 1 through 5, you should aim to control rank by suiciding and maintaining a lower than maximum power level. Stages 6 & 7 are very difficult even at low rank and seemingly impenetrable at high rank. During these stages you should stop worrying about rank control and fully power up, activate homing options, and horde lives and bombs to maximize your chances of surviving the Stage 7 bosses.
• Keep an eye out for easy scoring opportunities such as the pink flamingos or partial boss dismantles to more quickly gain extra lives. Learning how to maintain a max-level medal chain is a fundamental first step that allows you to use special weapons to harvest lots of max-value medals from background scenery in Stages 3 & 4 for lots of points at little risk.
• Learn how to obtain the secret 1-up from the Stage 3 mid-boss.
• Finally, don't worry if you accidentally make a mistake. The rank system is not so strict that a single slip-up will lead to a game over, and often allows the player a degree of flexibility to adjust their strategy accordingly.

Secrets

Pink Flamingos

At the beginning of Stage 2, there is a castle in the background shortly after the gunblimp and before the tanks that run over houses. If you use a special weapon on the castle, it will release a flock of pink flamingos that award points on every frame in which they take damage. To maximize the points gained, it is recommended for every ship to stockpile as many weapon fragments as possible during Stage 1 and use all of their ammunition bombing the flamingos. When executed properly, many ships can gain over 1,000,000 points from this single trick.

Obtain a 1UP from the Stage 3 Midboss

The conditions are destroying the two main side parts and then destroy the midboss when it has come to a full stop in the rectangular yellow-striped area before the stage boss. If done successfully, the boss will drop a golden plane (1UP).

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Trivia

Unlike in most other scrolling shooter games, where bullets are often brightly colored to distinguish from the background, bullets are realistically colored, making it difficult for players to see them. Exploding enemies and objects also create flying debris, further camouflaging incoming fire. This was ameliorated to some extent in the Type 2 version, which replaces most of the standard bullets with yellow dots.

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References & Contributors

1. Battle Garegga Rev.2016 Online Manual, https://m2stg.com/en/battle-garegga/ps4/manual/index.php
2. Icarus, ST: Battle Garegga, https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=351
3. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/arcade/577456-battle-garegga/cheats
4. Primary info provided by IrateIrem
5. Additional info provided by VxD

External Links

Superplay videos

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