Battle Garegga

Battle Garegga is a vertically scrolling shoot'em up arcade game developed by Raizing and published by Eighting in 1996. It was later ported to the Sega Saturn in 1998, and an updated version, Battle Garegga Rev.2016 was released in 2016.

It was followed by a sequel titled Battle Bakraid in 1999.

Gameplay

In addition to the player's main shot, picking up green Option power-ups will add up to four support pods to the craft. The formation of these Options can be changed to one of five presets and there are additional secret formations that can be accessed by dropping a certain number of power-ups before picking up the next. Both shot and options are fired by holding the A button.

Upon killing a regular enemy on the ground, a Small Bomber token will appear. Picking up enough of these gives the player one Large Bomber token, but the player can use their remaining Small Bombers without a Large Bomber in stock; the duration or strength of the bomb will merely be reduced according to the percentage of a full bomb that was used. Up to five Large Bombers can be in stock at any one time, after which each Small token is worth 100 points.

Power-ups drop randomly from popcorn enemies, along with Medals. Every time a Medal is collected, the next one that spawns will be worth more, from 100 to 10,000 points; however, if a medal falls off the bottom of the screen, the next one to spawn will be of the lowest value. Medals can also be found upon using a bomb on certain items of scenery.

The game features an adjustable difficulty system called rank that will increase difficulty based on the actions of the player. Uncontrolled increase of the game's rank can quickly turn it into a manic shooter. Firing and powering up the main weapon, as well as picking up various items, will increase the difficulty of the game. Losing a life will decrease the difficulty (rank) of the game. 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. Players are thus forced to keep themselves powered down, conserve shots, and lose lives on purpose in order to keep the last few stages of the game playable, though it is possible to finish the game in one life given an intricate knowledge of the game's rank system and an ultra-prudent playstyle.

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.

Secrets

New Formations

Search During the game, let five Option items pass. Pick up the next Option item and you will now have flags with homing capabilities.

Shadow During the game, let five Ratio Medallion items pass. Pick up the Option item and you will now have shadows following you which can fire upwards.

Wide During the game, let five Small-shot items pass. Pick up the Option item and you can now cover a wider shooting range.

Homing During the game, let five Small Bomb items pass. Pick up the Option item and you will now have flags with more powerful homing capabilities.

Access a Mahou Daisakusen character

On the arcade version at the title the player must press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, C, Start. But on the PS4 Rev.2016 version they must instead flip the switch in the menu.

References

1. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/arcade/577456-battle-garegga/cheats