Pink Sweets: Ibara Sorekara

Pink Sweets

Title screen

Developer:	CAVE
Program:	Shinobu Yagawa Yuji Inoue
Art:	Tomoyuki Kotani
Release date:	Arcade JP: April 21, 2006 Xbox 360 JP: February 24, 2011
Previous game:	Ibara Kuro: Black Label
Next game:	Mushihimesama Futari

Pink Sweets: Ibara Sorekara (ピンクスゥイーツ ～鋳薔薇それから～, Pinku Suītsu: Ibara Sorekara, abbreviated: PS) is a bullet hell shoot-em-up developed by CAVE in 2006. In terms of story, this game is a sequel to Ibara.

Pink Sweets was later ported to the Xbox 360 in 2011, included in a double-pack with Muchi Muchi Pork!.

Gameplay Overview

Controls

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Pink Sweets is a 2-button game in normal play, with an 8 directional joystick for movement.

• Not shooting will build up your Shield and charge your Rose Cracker. 142 frames after the last regular Shot from your ship, the Rose Cracker Gauge is fully charged.

• A: 1) Fires your Shot & Rose Hips. However, pressing the button fast enough will raise the internal autofire rate; 2) In case your Rose Cracker Gauge is fully charged, you will additionally release a Rose Cracker.
• B (press): Cycles through your Rose Hip Formations, if you have any collected on your current life. Cycling between: Forward, Wide, Back, Reverse & Turn in that order.
• B (hold): Fires your Rose Hips only.
• A+B (press): 1) Changes your speed; 2) The current charge of the Rose Cracker Gauge is cancelled.

In-Game HUD

1) Rose Cracker Gauge. When fully charged you'll be able to release a Rose Cracker

2) Speed meter. There are 4 different levels of speed

3) Internal auto-fire rate (#10, #12, #15, #20, #30)

Characters

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Each character has 4 different sub-types to choose from. These types usually have slightly different attacks from Shot Level 1 onwards. Shot Level 0 is the same for each type. The types are decided by which button you press when you select a character: A, B, A+B, and Start.

The 4 types of each character and their Rapid Shot as well as their Wide Shot at Shot Level 3 are as follows.

		Meidi Rose & Midi Rose
		Gloire de Meidi & Midi
A	Rapid	Six straight shots to the front
	Wide	Five wide shots to the front
B	Rapid	Four straight shots to the front Two straight shots to the back
	Wide	Five wider shots to the front
A+B	Rapid	Four straight shots to the front Two straight shots to the back
	Wide	Five even wider shots to the front
Start	Rapid	Two straight shots to the front Three wide shots to the back
	Wide	Two straight shots and one shot each at 45° to the front One shot each at 45° to the back

		Kasumi Rose
		Hana Kasumi mk2
A	Rapid	Six missiles to the front, which accelerate in the center and your level 0 Shot
	Wide	Six homing rockets to the front and your level 0 Shot
B	Rapid	Six missiles to the front, which are fired first on the sides and your level 0 Shot
	Wide	Five homing rockets from each side and your level 0 Shot
A+B	Rapid	Six missiles to the front and your level 0 Shot
	Wide	Five homing rockets from each side and your level 0 Shot
Start	Rapid	Six missiles to the front and your level 0 Shot
	Wide	Homing rockets from all sides and your level 0 Shot

		Shasta Rose
		Child of Mount Shasta
A	Rapid	Two fixed laser beams to the front
	Wide	Two laser beams to the front (leaning angle 20°)
B	Rapid	One fixed laser beam and your level 0 Shot to the front Single straight shot to the back
	Wide	One laser beam (leaning angle 60°) and a 5-way shot to the front
A+B	Rapid	One fixed laser beam and your level 0 Shot to the front 3-way shot to the back
	Wide	One laser beam (leaning angle 80°) and a 6-way shot to the front Laser locks on to enemies
Start	Rapid	One fixed laser beam to the front 4-way shot to the back
	Wide	One laser beam (leaning angle 90°) and a 6-way shot to the front Laser locks on to enemies

		Lace Rose
		French Lace S
A	Rapid	Three straight lightning beams to the front
	Wide	3-way wide lightning up to 30° to each side
B	Rapid	Two straight lightning beams to the front One straight lightning beam to the back
	Wide	3-way wide lightning up to 45° to each side
A+B	Rapid	Two straight lightning beams to the front One straight lightning beam to the back
	Wide	3-way wide lightning up to 60° to each side
Start	Rapid	One straight lightning beam to the front Two straight lightning beams to the back
	Wide	3-way wide lightning up to 90° to each side

Speed

There are four levels of speed you can switch to by pressing A+B anywhere in the game. In terms of speed, Meidi&Midi and Shasta are both faster than Kasumi and Lace. The speed values in the table below are measured by counting the frames it takes to cross the screen horizontally. Therefore, a high value corresponds to a slower speed and a low value to a faster speed.

	Speed 0	Speed 1	Speed 2	Speed 3
Meidi&Midi	140	105	71	53
Shasta
Kasumi	171	128	86	64
Lace

Items

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	Shot Power Up Increases your Shot Level by 1 Surplus score value: 1,000
	Rapid Shot Changes to Rapid Shot or increases your Shot Level by 1 Surplus score value: 1,000
	Wide Shot Changes to Wide Shot or increases your Shot Level by 1 Surplus score value: 1,000
	Rose Hip Adds a Rose Hip to your ship Surplus score value: 1,000

Rose Items

100	200	400	800

Rose Medals

100	200	300	400	500	600	700	800	900	1,000	2,000	3,000	4,000	5,000	6,000	7,000	8,000	9,000	10,000

Item Drop Order

Generally speaking, ground enemies drop Rose Items in a fixed appearance while airborne enemies drop regular items determined by the item drop order below. Moreover, a couple of ground enemies, e.g. the laser towers in stage 2 or the trains in stage 5 are also guaranteed to drop regular items.

As for airborne enemies, under normal circumstances, every eighth popcorn enemy destroyed will drop an item. Airborne enemies with more than 1 hp will always drop an item. These kills do not contribute to the popcorn enemy count.

When a popcorn enemy is destroyed in the deadzone, it will neither drop an item nor does it contribute to the kill count of 8 (it does, however, still contribute to the ZAN counter). On the other hand, airborne enemies with more than 1 hp will always drop an item, even in the deadzone or when they are off screen. In this case, if the spawned item happens to be a medal, it will immediately break your medal chain.

The items are determined according to a specific order, governed by the following table.

Drop Number	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Item

• If you fulfil the conditions for a Special Power Up, it appears as the next Shot Power Up, Rapid Shot, or Wide Shot item. As a visual key, this item is blinking rapidly.
• If you fulfil the conditions for a Search Rose Hip, it appears as the next Rose Hip item. As a visual key, this item is blinking rapidly.
• If you fulfil the conditions for a 1 Up item, it appears before the next item drop. Succeeding this, the regular item drop order then continues. The 1 Up item will not replace a regular item.

Rank

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There are two separate difficulty settings affecting the rank in Pink Sweets. Difficulty 1 determines the starting base rank as well as the minimum rank cap. After the player has started a run, the rank is then gradually increasing determined by difficulty 2, which is the per frame rank increase. Under normal circumstances the game always starts with a base rank 1,048,576 (100,000 in hex) higher than the minimum rank cap. Starting a game in Special Version always begins at minimum rank.

Difficulty 1 (base rank)	Starting rank in dec (hex)	Minimum rank in dec (hex)
Super Easy	15,204,352 (E80,000)	16,252,928 (F80,000)
Very Easy	14,680,064 (E00,000)	15,728,640 (F00,000)
Easy	14,155,776 (D80,000)	15,204,352 (E80,000)
Normal [default]	13,631,488 (D00,000)	14,680,064 (E00,000)
Hard	13,107,200 (C80,000)	14,155,776 (D80,000)
Very Hard	12,582,912 (C00,000)	13,631,488 (D00,000)
Super Hard	12,058,624 (B80,000)	13,107,200 (C80,000)
Unbelievable	11,534,336 (B00,000)	12,582,912 (C00,000)

Difficulty 2 (per frame rank)	in dec (hex)
Minimum Slow	4 (4)
Very Slow	8 (8)
Slow	12 (C)
Medium [default]	16 (10)
Fast	20 (14)
Very Fast	24 (18)
Maximum Fast	28 (1C)
Unforgettable	32 (20)

Notes:

• Rank maxes out at 00,000,000 (000,000 in hex) regardless of the difficulty settings.
• Starting rank for Score Attack mode is the same as on Normal.
• Minimum rank cap for Extended mode is 11,010,048 (A80,000 in hex) on loop 1 and 8,257,536 (7E0,000 in hex) on loop 2 on default difficulty settings.

Both the overall rank and the per frame rank are influenced by certain actions of the player, e.g. firing your Shot or picking up an item. All of the actions that have an effect on rank are listed in the tables below. Even though, an increase in difficulty is actually measured by a decreasing rank counter, the numbers below are listed as if the rank counter would count up. This is simply to make things easier to follow.

Action	Rank increase in dec (hex)
Death from 0 lives > Game Over	-2,097,152 (-200,000)
Death from 1 life > 0 lives	-1,048,576 (-100,000)
Death from 2 lives > 1 life	-524,288 (-80,000)
Death from 3 lives > 2 lives	-262,144 (-40,000)
Death from 4 lives > 3 lives	-131,072 (-20,000)
Death from 5 lives > 4 lives	-65,536 (-10,000)
Death while on infinite lives	-1,048,576 (-100,000)
Death during Score Attack mode	-524,288 (-80,000)
Speed Change	16,384 (4,000)
Formation Change	4,096 (1,000)
Absorb a bullet w/ Shield or RC	16 (10)
Shoot a destructible bullet	16 (10)
Seal a bullet	1,024 (400)

Notes:

• Simply pressing the A or B button has no effect on rank. It is only the action that counts.
• Grazing enemy bullets has no effect on rank.
• Absorbing enemy lasers with your Rose Cracker has no effect on rank.

Action	Per Frame Rank increase in dec (hex)
Shot Special Power Up	1 (1) [permanent]
Search Formation	1 (1) [permanent]
Rose Hip equipped (per Rose Hip)	10 (A)
Rose Cracker Gauge fully charged	64 (40)

Notes:

• The per frame rank increase from activating Shot Special Power Up and Search Formation stays even after the player dies or unequips them.

Item	Rank increase in dec (hex)
100~900 Medals	256 (100)
1,000~9,000 Medals	1,024 (400)
10,000 Medal	4,096 (1,000)
100pt. Rose Item	256 (100)
200pt. Rose Item	512 (200)
400pt. Rose Item	768 (300)
800pt. Rose Item	1,024 (400)
Power Up Item	16,384 (4,000)
Rose Hip Item	16,384 (4,000)
1-Up Item	524,288 (80,000)

Notes:

• Dropping a medal has no effect on rank.

Attack	Rank increase in dec (hex)
Any character, Shot (power Level 0)	5 (5)
Rose Hip Shot	10 (A)
Rose Cracker	32,768 (8,000)
Meidi&Midi, Twin Shot	5 (5)
Kasumi, Napalm	20 (14)
Kasumi Homing	15 (F)
Shasta, Laser (per frame)	6 (6)
Lace, Lightning (per beam)	60 (3C)

Scoring

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Lace specific scoring / strategies but generally applies

Stage 1 Boss: Caramel & Maple Pink

• Damage distribution strategy in favor of getting Shot Kill when the boss times out which includes the score gain from reaching Time Out.

Phase 1 (8 Cycles)

• Objective is to destroy both arms before the phase times out
• Every other attack is a Double-Pronged bullet attack that comes out in 4 volleys (if rank is raised, otherwise 3.) Use this attack for grazing on the side of the boss, inching out of the way for each volley.
• If both arms are not destroyed, you'll have a smaller window to launch full-scale scoring on Phase 2 as you'll still need to destroy the Middle Cannon in a cycle which replaces more lucrative patterns versus if it's destroyed.
• If the boss uses the arms for example 3 times in a row from the beginning, you can optimize the scoring on this phase by destroying one arm in one cycle with 9 shots (in respect to raised rank) which will destroy it in a single cycle.

1. Then on the 2nd cycle, go 8 shots on the remaining arm and you may wait a few cycles to finish off the arm, in order to use the Double-Pronged attacks for extra graze score in the meantime. The boss tends to use the Missile Arms once every few cycles - though there is a certain amount of randomness.
2. Probably by the 5th cycle, it's time to take the kill on the remaining arm, in fear of getting bad RNG where the arm isn't used again in that phase.
3. When you kill the remaining arm with a single shot at the beginning of the cycle, you'll also have extra time to graze the front of the boss as this will prolong the phase shift "cutscene".

Phase 2 (10 cycles)

• Use the "3-Count" method for Phase 2 (after arms are destroyed)

1. Count in your head: # of Cycles, then # of Additional Shots, then # of (point blank) RCs (0,0,0)

• The goal here is count your damage with this method so that you can consistently reach the time out, as well as earn the Shot Kill bonus (100k versus 10k for RC).

1. The boss will be primed for the Shot Kill once your counter reads

• Example counts that work:

1. (10,2,4) = 2 RC's during Time out. Shoot during your last RC.
2. (10,8,3) = 1 RC during time out. (so wait for the boss to lower if feeling confident)

• The difference here is that 6 Laser Shots is the equivalent damage to one point blank RC (~23HP according to the MAME overlay). So because of the 8 additional shots, it's one less RC to finish.

1. Additional Shots specifically refers to the number of Laser Shots you'll do while grazing the mandatory Double-Pronged bullet attack.
2. OR for example: If you accidentally damaged the boss during phase 1 - which usually occurs if you don't get out of the way for the Missile Arms when you start shooting them. Usually can be identified if the boss flashes on damage.
3. Go for RC Cancels on these patterns to get as much graze as possible.
4. Typically only one cancel will occur, so you'll shoot instead of cancelling. Count these Laser volleys and add them and keep track in your "3-Count"

• The first goal is to destroy the Middle Cannon so you can then have the most dense bullet patterns to absorb with your RC. This enables the brunt of the scoring.

1. Example: You're on the 4th Cycle, For 3 of those cycles the middle cannon appeared, when the Middle Cannon appears always shoot it 8 times as soon as its missiles are shot from the source. The middle cannon should be destroyed after 20 shots, but sometimes it varies an extra 2 or 3 shots on the 3rd cycle.
2. You must add any additional shots on the middle cannons past 20 Shots (Any past 4 shots on cycle 3) to the '# of Additional Shots' count.

• Once the Middle cannon is destroyed, the boss can use a spammy green bullet attack that is perfect for RC'ing to absorb the bullets for big chunks of score.

1. This RC usage will be counted in the "3-count" i.e. (5,1,1)
2. The boss will typically use this at least 2 times. As the cycles get closer to 10, say, at cycle 7, if you haven't gotten any of the Green Spam, you'll have to make up the damage with 6 Laser volleys (equivalent to an RC) during the Double Pronged attacks. If you do 6 volleys, instead of adding it to '# of Additional Shots' just convert it into an a single RC count.

• So, ideal RNG here would be first 3 cycles it uses the Middle Cannon. Then you get 3 or 4 Green Spams + RC's before the 10th cycle.

1. If you reach your damange quota early, you'll get a little extra score, especially if there is more Green Spam to block with your shield.

• If the boss times out around the middle of the screen, it's full time-out pattern will spread out on the screen. This is ideal in the scenario that you can do 2 RC's to finish the boss.
• When you unleash the final deathblow RC, commit to firing your Lasers and 95% of the time you'll be rewarded the Shot Kill 100K bonus. A convenient design choice!

1. If you don't count your damage properly, you may not get the kill when you expect to. It's not the end of the world if you die from the Time Out pattern. You can still reach Max Stock lives later on.

Enemy point values

Main article: Pink Sweets: Ibara Sorekara/Enemy list

Video References

Video index for Pink Sweets

References

1. Primary info provided by Pearl and Plasmo
2. All item sprites taken from CAVE's official website https://www.cave.co.jp/gameonline/pinksweets/system/item.html
3. Rank info from Archer's website: http://archerstg.web.fc2.com/pinksweets/bitterrank.htm with additions by Serrara Mayfield