Gundemonium

Gundemonium is horizontal shoot 'em up created by Platine Dispositif, whose sole member is known as Aeju Murasame. It was originaly released in 2003 and excluding the remakes, it's a part of the Gundemonium trilogy; the other two games are GundeadliGne (2004) and Hitogata Happa (2005). It's set in the alternate 1800s where alchemy is a major part of humanity as a whole. The player characters are agents of an organization called Rosenkreuz Foundation that is fighting against a demonic invasion.

The game heavily features fast-paced gameplay and a mechanic called »Demonic Shift«, which allows you to get more lives and points... with a sacrifice. There's also a dynamic rank system that adapts to your performance at any time, which makes this game suitable for everyone, including the absolute beginners.

The game received two remasters: "Gundemonium Recollection" for PC in 2007 and »Gundemoniums« for PS4 and PS Vita in 2018. Both of them provided graphical updates and much more content than the 2003 version. This article will cover »Recollection« because it's been available for years and is much more accessible to people outside Japan than the other two versions thanks to Rockin' Android.

Gundemonium Recollection

Title screen

Developer:	Platine Dispositif
Music:	Aeju Murasame (Arrange by DM Ashura
Program:	Aeju Murasame
Art:	Aeju Murasame
Release date:	2003 (Gundemonium), 2007 (Gundemonium Recollection), 2018 (Gundemoniums)
Next game:	Gundemoniums

Gameplay Overview

Controls

Gundemonium is a 4-button game with 2 optional macro buttons. The following 4 buttons are essential for playing the game:

• Shot: Your main weapon. Can be tapped rapidly when using certain characters to increase damage.
• Mana Action: Activates the character's Mana Action, a special character-dependant ability. Nearly every such ability deals damage in some way and some even assist the player with special effects.
• Bomb: Activates the character's bomb, which deals damage to enemies and makes you invulnerable. Additionaly, it converts all projectiles that were present on-screen at the time of activation into blue gems.
• Slow Movement: as the name implies, it slows down your movement speed to allow more precise dodging.

Last 2 keys are of a macro type that can make your play sessions less tiring and more consistent if you're able to handle playing with more buttons.

• Rapid Shot: grants you the »Rapid Shot« ability certain characters have, which changes their shot properties. It can be bound to a separate button, so that you don't have to mash the shot button for longer periods of time and strain your body.
• Demonic Shift: acts as an simultaneous press of Mana Action and Bomb buttons at the same time. Makes the Demonic Shift activation much more consistent, so you don't have to worry about pressing two buttons with a slightly wrong timing at a crucial moment.

Characters

Eryth

A main character of this game. She has high mobility, her Mana Action can create Planeshifts and her main weapons are dual revolvers. Her defining trait is being one of the few characters in the game that can utilize the Rapid Fire mechanic.

Equipment
Icon	Type	Description
	Weapon	Dual revolvers that fire their bullets in a straight line towards the right side of the screen. Because of this, she needs to move around the screen a lot in order to successfully destroy her enemies. Rapid Fire effects: Eryth starts firing both revolvers at the same time, which increases the amount of damage she can deal to enemies. If Rapid Fire is used too much, the revolvers will get overheated, which will disable them for six seconds and make her defenseless in a worst case scenario.
	Mana Action	A wheel that consumes 33 points of Mana when activated and deals damage to enemies if it collides with them. At the same time, it will cause Planeshifts while it's dealing damage. It penetrates anything and is active as long as it's on the screen and multiple instances can be deployed if one has enough Mana energy. It disappears if the player activates Demonic Shift, even if it's damaging an enemy, but the Planeshift effect won't immediately go away, which can be utilized in certain situations.
	Bomb	A flying machine gun appears that shoots bullets in a wide spread to the right. It follows your vertical position on the screen and once it reaches you, it will stop moving, do its thing and then go away. Because of this, you can manipulate where on the screen it will be positioned, which makes it a versatile tool at any time.

• Earl Types: The Earl Types' customizable nature provides a wide variety of arsenals and speeds for anyone's needs. Their weapon choices will be covered in the weapons section. While having less overall options in a single character, such as multiple shot types and a Demonic Break buff, their customizable nature allows them to shine where the player needs them to.

Elixirel

This one is special due to the fact that she needs to be unlocked first before you're able to play as her. In order to unlock her, you need to beat the TLB in a run or get 24 Play Orders out of 29(?). She is the second character in the game that has actual benefit with the Rapid Shot button.

Her equipment shares some similarities with the Earl Type 11X units, but her main weapon is stronger and has an unique bomb called »Gundemonium«.

Equipment
Icon	Type	Description
	Weapon	A machine gun similar to the one Earls can use, but more powerful and can even fire a red beam if you hold the shot button. This is the second weapon in the game that can benefit from the »Rapid Shot« button because you can fire bullets without having to tap the main one. When her Mana Action is active, the bullets turn into drills that can pierce anything.
	Mana Action	Works exactly the same as the Daath Whisper Earls can use and it has the same consumption rate when activated and after.
	Bomb	It's called »Gundemonium« and it damages everything on the screen. The most unique feature about it is that instead of using stocks, it uses an energy bar that can slowly fill up on its own over time and it takes 21 seconds to completely refill - bomb pickups can do that instantly. The recharging process temporarily stops during intermissions between stage sections.

Weapons

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Earl Types

• 'Earl Primary fires:

Star Fire Wide-shot. The centre shot is the most damaging, and the shot type powers up during Planeshift. Using this weapon type will lock the character to the lowest speed grade, regardless of other equipped weapons.

Twin Drill High fire-rate weapon with piercing shots. The weapon can be aimed with upwards and downwards movement, making it one of the best weapons in the game, given the low health of most stage enemies.

Photon A unique weapon type that can only have a single bullet out at a time. This single bullet, however, will destroy most stage enemies in a single hit. The shots will also cause Planeshift to occur if fired at a high enough rate. While risky, Photon has the highest damage potential in the game, given one is proficient at point-blanking.

Lucky Ray Fires a narrow laser. The weapon has sub-par damage and no redeeming features. It is for the most part a completely useless choice.

• Earl Mana Actions:

Daath Whisper Activates planeshift while draining mana at a constant rate.

Derringer Mini-Earls are summoned and fire a line of shots forwards. The mini-Earl shots will trigger planeshift on hit. Costs 33 mana.

Rizing Sword Fires a massive laser that rapidly drains the mana gauge. It's excellent damage is offset by the fact that the weapon cannot cause Planeshift to occur. Using Rizing Sword will cause the Earl to have the highest speed stat possible, provided Wide Shot is not being used.

Hellspike Uses all mana for an extremely powerful melee attack.

• Earl Bomb Types:

Bloodrain Blood-colored bullets rain from above the screen, damaging the whole stage.

Shooting Star Summons a burning dragon to chase down foes.

Overdrive Powers up attack damage for some time.

Rozenkreutz Causes a chain of explosions that move forwards. It's position can be influenced by movement.

Items

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• Mana Gems: Large green mana gems are the game's main scoring item. Every enemy drops an amount of mana gems that varies by rank. Every large gem collected counts for 10 gems
• Green Gems: Small green gems that drop from named enemy kills and bullet cancels, these are worth 10x your Phase Level in gems, but do not recover mana.
• Blue Gems: Blue gems appear from bullets cancelled from bombs or by getting hit. They recover mana, but decrease the Gem value by 10 each.
• Bomb pickups: Revolver cylinders marked as "bomb", adds a single bomb to the stock.
• Life extends: Heart icons marked "Life", these not only add a life to the stock, but unlike score extends, these also raise the maximum life count by 1, up to 5.
• Tetrabiblios: Completing play orders during a run will cause it's Tetrabiblios to appear. Collecting it will grand 50000 points and refill the mana gauge entirely.

Rank

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Phase Level is the game's rank system. It is capped at 2 for novice mode, 5 for Revised difficulty and is uncapped in Unlimited. Rank is fixed at 11 for Demonic Challenge. Phase Level increases: After a named enemy is killed. Individual boss phases all count as a named enemy. After a successful counter-bomb. When entering demonic shift. After a Friction Break (500 grazes)

Phase Level decreases: When bombing, or getting hit. When being awarded with an Extend while on max lives.

Rank significantly affects bullet patterns. Enemies will fire more shots, they will fire them faster, and once Phase Level is high enough, patterns that were previously static will begin to be aimed. At Phase Level 11 and higher, every enemy will fire aimed suicide bullets when killed. This mechanic, combined with damage immunity from named enemy kills, can be abused for significant amounts of bullet grazing.

Some guides on the internet say Phase Level rises if Eryth's guns overheat. This is not the case, and is likely a mechanic in another Platine game.

(Ability Level should probably go here as well)

Scoring

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We are in the process of learning the scoring. Come back later, or ask us about our findings anywhere the game is played.

Strategy

Keep an eye out on your score at all times. Getting an extend when at full life stock is a terrible outcome. Using the extend for a demonic shift or getting hit on purpose for rank control and a free bomb is far better in all situations. Killing enemies and collecting green gems is the main objective here. Milking bosses can be a good idea, but it's always important to weigh what the milk gives you, compared to the bonus enemies, considering enemy kill count plays into the stage bonus.

Bombing during extremely dense sections can be very counterproductive. Every cancelled bullet will become a blue gem and be magnetized to the character. This can completely erase accumulated gem value in bad situations. Lumiere can destroy bombs, but bullets will still be cancelled. Ereshkigal is not only bomb-immune, but has a counter-bomb mechanic which fires many bullets back at the player. Elixirel herself will heal from bombs, she can often completely heal.

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This section details some particular strategic information about the game and its gameplay, such as hidden 1UPs and some basic scoring tricks. For anything particularly deep or highly complex, you can probably leave it in the Strategy page.

(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)

Story

From the instruction manual of Gundemonium Recollection:

In the 18th century, mankind’s rapid advancement had slowly led them to disaster. With the powerful Philosopher’s Stones, also known as the Matrixes, there were great advances in alchemy, bringing about a new age. These advancements came at a cost, however - The Matrixes were found in the Spring of Yord, deep within a Hell known as Que Pholith. Destruction poured out from Que Pholith and the Demonium army attacked in full force. People eventually learned to control the Matrixes in an attempt to counter the demons. Those people are called Matrix Masters, though even they weren’t enough to stop them. When the 7th Demonium emerged, known as Gundemonium, an artificial Matrix was created to counter this threat. Her name was Elixirel, the Chrome Matrix Proxy. Then it happened . . . Elixirel was captured by Gundemonium, and turned against against mankind. The Rosenkreuz Foundation rushed into action to stop the demons and put an end to this, marking the beginning of Mission Gundemonium.

Unlockable Secrets

A third character, Elixirel, can be unlocked by defeating the true final boss in Unlimited Mode.

Play Orders Section goes here Matrix Orders Section goes here

Version Differences

• Gundemonium: The original 2003 game. Largely unavailable and considered inferior to the Recollection version, as such, little to no information is available.

• Gundemonium Recollection: Released in 2007, this remake of the original comes with new characters, improved bullet patterns, upgraded graphics and an overhauled engine. In 2011, it's been published by Rockin' Android on Steam and PlayStation Store for the PlayStation 3; the former also has an arranged soundtrack by DM Ashura. Although it is no longer listed for sale on either platforms, Steam keys are still available, valid, and the only currently known way to obtain this version.

• Gundemoniums: Released in Japan by the publisher Mediascape in 2017, with a worldwide release in 2018 by publisher Strictly Limited, Gundemoniums is a remake of Recollection. This version is played in a fully horizontal 16:9 aspect ratio over the previous games' 4:3 resolutions. It sports much of the same core game as Recollection, yet adds several new features. To accomodate the new aspect ratio, most enemies have had their sprites changed, as have their bullet patterns. A new ability named "Alterburst" can be chosen instead of Demonic Shift, which briefly stops a stage segment's progression timer. "Signet" mode has been added, which features unlockable bonuses that the player can use to assist them in trying to clear the game, although scores and replays are disabled in this mode.

Bugs

Since this game wasn't very played on Steam while it was still available for purchase, it contains several bugs that were never fixed and are listed below.

Replay Mode bug

What this bug does is that whenever you delete any replay that isn't the last one you have, any replay that was after the deleted one will disappear. It may look like they were deleted as well, but they're actually still there, but hidden in-game for some unknown reason. This has been present for years and since the developer stopped selling the game on Steam, this bug can no longer be properly fixed. Fortunately, there is a workaround solution to this problem: renaming the replay files.

All you have to do is to rename the replay files in order. They're labeled as "gdmrepXXXX" (XXXX represents numbers, starting with 0000). While this can be done by hand, the process gets time-consuming very quickly if you have to correct several dozen replay files. In that case, you can use software that can rename a large amount of files very quickly for you and even automate the process to make it even easier and quicker. ReNamer is one of the renaming tools that is recommended since it's free, portable and compatible with older Windows operating systems.

The replay files can be found in two possible locations:

• game's root folder,
• somewhere in Steam's "userdata" folder.

If you have a non-Steam version of the game, you're free to change the however you want. However, it gets a bit complicated for Steam users due to the cloud saving feature.

First, you need to disable cloud saving for this game in particular by right-clicking on the game in your library, then select "Properties". At the time of writing this (2021-06-20), the option for disabling should be available on the first tab ("Keep games saves in the Steam Cloud for Gundemonium Recollection"). Untick the checkbox, then exit the "Properties" window. Now you need to copy your replays and a save file to a different location. The one used for cloud saving is as follows:

• Steam\userdata\[your AccountID number]\92200\remote

Copy everything in the "remote" folder, then paste the files in:

• Steam\steamapps\common\Gundemonium Recollection

If done correctly, you should be able to freely rename the replay files (by hand or via software). For those that really need the cloud saving feature enabled for this game as much as possible, you'll need to copy the renamed replay files back in "Steam\userdata\[your AccountID number]\92200\remote\replay" and re-enable the feature. Every time when you'll be deleting replays, you'll have to do the steps above all over again.

Warning: if you forget to copy the "gundemonium.sav" file, you may end up either having no user data or having it out-of-date when you'll start playing.

Trivia

Game is good!

Gallery

See (Template Page)/Gallery for our collection of images and scans for the game.

Video References

If the game already has an existing entry in the Video Index, please link to the page here. If you want to link to smaller clips perhaps not included in the Index, you can also leave them here.

References & Contributors

1. Remember to include everyone that you can in your credits if they contributed information! | Having links handy is even better, when available.
2. If you are a primary source of information for a game, be sure to link to your Shmup Wiki user account by including a link to your profile, such as: [[User:(You)|(Your Name)]]
   1. And while you're at it, make yourself a little profile page (if you want, of course)! As a contributor, you deserve to be recognized for your efforts.

• Written by FORECAST and InFireX, so far.
• Thanks to user Goshi on the shmups forum for his guide. It has been rather helpful.
• Information found mostly on the manual and Goshi's forum thread. Everything else found by the gundemonium players over on discord.
• Template page assembled by CHA-STG and Plasmo.