Battle Garegga/Bosses

Score Breakdown

Part	Shot/Option	Weapon/Penetrating
Tail Cover	4,000	4,000
Tail Turret	50,000	5,000
Tail 1	3,000	3,000
Tail 2	2,000	2,000
Tail 3	1,000	1,000
Spinning Turret	5,000 (x2)	5,000 (x2)
Mini Turret	3,000 (x2)	3,000 (x2)
Wing Turret	10,000 (x4)	10,000 (x4)
Propeller Turret	50,000 (x2)	5,000 (x2)
Front Propeller	50,000	5,000
Missile Launcher Cannon	1,000 (x2)	1,000 (x2)
Missile Launcher Body	50,000	5,000
Wing Panel (8 phases)	1,000x8 (x6)	1,000x8 (x6)
Boss Core	100,000	100,000

Overview

General Overview

Nose Laughin is the easiest boss in the game. If the player opts for a low scoring quick-kill strategy, Nose Laughin will offer little resistance. However, the fight becomes quite a bit more complicated when the player is optimizing it for score. Nose Laughin consists of many parts that can be optionally destroyed for points or to disable attacks. This boss presents a training opportunity for players to become familiar with how to use the game's various option formations since many parts need to be destroyed with the trace formation in order to award maximum points. Nose Laughin's individual parts will attack the player in a staggered fashion, with one part activating to attack after another. If it is a part's "turn" to attack but it has been destroyed, the player will get a short break while the other parts lay dormant.

Tail

The tail consists of a cover rudder, a turret, and three spines. The cover must be destroyed before any of the other parts are revealed. Destroying a tail spine will also destroy any tail parts that would become detached from the boss. Extra parts destroyed in this fashion will not award points, so it is important to destroy the parts closest to the player first. The tail turret is worth more points when destroyed by an option bullet. This is most easily done using trace options and aiming them horizontally so that only the turret is being hit by the upper-most option. Since the tail spine is easier to destroy, this can be tricky. You can use the hit flash on the tail turret as a visual cue. In addition, the turret will explode in a small vertical explosion when destroyed. Attacking the tail turret with trace options.

Wing Panels

Each wing has three panels that do not flash like other parts when taking damage, but will leave a visual effect as they are destroyed, making it look like the wing has taken increasingly more damage over the course of the fight. Each wing panel has eight phases of disintegration, with each phase awarding points. Somewhat annoyingly, the center wing panel will prevent the propeller turret from being damaged from below with non-penetrating bullets until it has been completely destroyed.

Propeller Turrets

The propeller turrets will only activate after the two wing turrets on the same wing have been destroyed, and cannot be damaged before they activate. They are worth more points when destroyed by a non-penetrating shot. They may be damaged from the front after completely destroying the wing panels in front of them or at any time from the side using the trace option formation. The propeller turrets shoot destructible bullets in two alternating patterns, twin shots straight down and spread shots.

Front Propeller

The front propeller is worth more when destroyed with a non-penetrating shot or option bullets. For most ships, it can only be damaged by using trace options to attack it from the side. However, the opportunities to attack it are sporadic because the boss drifts vertically. Before the missile launcher is triggered, it is easier to attack the front propeller from the left side of the screen. After the missile launcher is triggered, if the player destroys the right missile launcher cannon the upper right corner of the screen becomes a safe spot from which they can attack the front propeller. Ships with penetrating bullets can use them to damage the front propeller through the boss, but they must take care not to destroy the front propeller with a penetrating bullet or else they will not get full points from it. Attacking the front propeller using trace options.

Missile Launcher

The missile launcher will appear from the main body of the plane after both spinning turrets have been destroyed or shortly after the third attack by the spinning turrets. The missile launcher consists of three parts, two cannons and a base. The missile launcher will rotate to aim at the player, firing when the player crosses its line of sight. If one of the cannons has been destroyed, only one missile will be fired. It is recommended that the player destroy the right cannon when dismantling the boss for score, since this will create many safe spots.

Boss Core

The boss core is the main body of the plane, beneath the missile launcher. It is easiest to damage after both cannons of the missile launcher have been destroyed, but it is possible to damage it earlier under the following circumstances: If the spinning turret and mini turret on one side have been destroyed, options in the spread formation can point-blank the core from the diagonal before the missile launcher is revealed. It is possible to damage the core while the missile launcher is appearing if it is triggered by destroying both spinning turrets. If one of the missile launcher cannons has been destroyed, it is possible to briefly damage the core after misdirecting the missile launcher to one side. The core will start firing an aimed spread shot after both cannons of the missile launcher have been destroyed. The density, frequency, and bullet speed of this spread shot depend on the number of boss parts destroyed, with the attack becoming incredibly difficult to dodge once all the boss parts have been destroyed.

Strategy

Quick Kill

The easiest (although low-scoring) way to dispatch Nose Laughin is to simply reveal and destroy the core using front options as quickly as possible while paying heed to none of the other parts. In this case the final spread shot by the core will be sparse, slow and easy to dodge, even more so if the two inner wing turrets have been destroyed as well while dodging some of the boss's attacks. Doing this this also quickly destroys the spinning turrets and missile launcher cannons while revealing the core, so you don't have to worry about dodging too many of those attacks. Wild snail in particular can destroy the boss shockingly fast with its penetrating bullets, even at shot level 1. If you need a little more breathing room for the spread shot at the end of the fight, you can use spread options to destroy the inner wing turrets.

Partial Dismantle

A medium-scoring partial dismantle involves destroying all of the wing turrets, propeller turrets, and wing panels. This does not require any technical option manipulation using the trace formation, although the front formation may be useful for a little extra precision. In addition, as long as the front propeller and missile launcher body have not been destroyed it shouldn't be impossible to dodge the spread attack at the end of the fight. Make sure to destroy the spinning turrets and mini turrets before the missile launcher is automatically triggered, which occurs shortly after the third attack by the spinning turrets. If you are feeling brave, you can also tick milk the boss by point-blanking the wings even after the wing panels and turrets have been destroyed. This is easiest to do with front options after destroying the right missile launcher cannon. However, make sure to destroy the boss before time out. You can use either an audio cue or the boss timer M2 gadget (if playing on PS4/Xbox One) to predict the boss time out.

Full Dismantle

Fully dismantling Nose Laughin requires the considerations for the partial dismantle as well as extra option manipulation for high-value targets. You also need to move quickly since you only have limited opportunities to damage the front propeller, and doing so can become tricky after the missile launcher is automatically triggered. First, focus on destroying the tail turret with trace options from the side. After doing so, attack the front propeller from the left whenever the boss drifts down. Make sure to escape back down before it drifts back up. You can also damage the propeller turret from the side, which makes destroying it easier. During this phase, it can be easier to focus exclusively on targets on the left wing so that you can more easily get in position to attack the front propeller from the corner. Ideally, you have destroyed all the targets on the left wing and dealt heavy damage to the front propeller before the missile launcher is triggered so that you can spend the rest of the fight focusing on the other side. Destroy the right missile launcher cannon for safety. If this is done the right corner of the screen becomes a safe spot from which you can destroy the front propeller. Destroy any remaining wing panels and tick milk until it comes time to destroy the boss at time out. The final spread shot will become essentially impossible to dodge, so it is good to plan a suicide here. Your goal should be to either suicide on a missile or destroy the other cannon and die to the spread, and then point blank the boss while invincible to destroy the missile launcher body and boss core as the boss leaves the screen (note that Grasshopper and Wild Snail will need to destroy the missile launcher body with an option and Gain will need to use tail options to divert his swords). In order for this to work best, you will need to damage the core and missile launcher some beforehand. The boss core can be damaged enough while the missile launcher is being triggered. You can damage the missile launcher body by misdirecting the missile launcher and quickly sneaking in a few shots from the other side. (If you are very precise you can destroy the missile launcher body before the second cannon, guaranteeing you destroy it before the core.)

Score Breakdown

Part	Shot/Option	Weapon/Penetrating
Outer Turret	10,000 (x8)	10,000 (x8)
Connection (outer)	20,000 (x16)	20,000 (x16)
Connection (thick)	30,000 (x8)	30,000 (x8)
Connection (thin)	50,000 (x8)	50,000 (x8)
Inner Turret	30,000 (x8)	30,000 (x8)
Central Turret	50,000	10,000
Boss Core	100,000	100,000

Overview

General Overview

Mad Ball is a unique boss defined by two distinctive features. The first defining feature of the fight is its rhythm. Mad Ball alternates between an "active" phase and a "dormant" phase. During the active phase the outer ring will expand and the boss will attack the player with all of its currently activated turrets. During the dormant phase the outer ring and all turrets retract and the boss drifts harmlessly across the screen. Which parts are vulnerable also varies according to the phase. In general, it is easier to damage the boss core during the dormant phase, while the inner and central turrets may only be damaged during the active phase. The second defining feature of the Mad Ball fight is its randomness. During every active phase the active turrets will attack with a random weapon. While individually few of these attack patterns are exceptionally complicated, different patterns from the outer, inner, and central turret can overlap and become very difficult to handle. In addition, the boss moves completely randomly, which has critical implications for some attacks and when certain parts can be damaged.

Outer Ring

Outer ring turrets At regular intervals the outer ring of turrets will open to launch an attack. Every turret in the outer ring will launch the same attack, but the attack is randomly chosen. However, each attack is launched by a unique turret so the player may observe which attack is coming and react accordingly. The possible attacks are: Aimed Bullets The aimed bullets move slowly and may be streamed easily. Aimed Lasers The laser turrets will lock on to the players location before firing. They may be easily misdirected since the lasers fire a few seconds after locking on. Spinning Vulcan The spinning vulcan attack is fixed, but the boss's movement during the attack is random. As a result, the player cannot route a fixed path through the pattern since the boss movement will alter the pattern via the bullet doppler effect. Luckily, you only have to weave through the pattern once and can retreat to the upper-left corner of the screen to avoid the second wave. The pattern is easier to dodge on the opposite side (horizontally) of the screen from the boss since the bullets will have to travel farther and spread out to reach you, but beware if the boss starts moving toward you because then the bullets will form a wall. In this case, be prepared to move to the other side of the screen before the first wave arrives.

Inner Ring

The inner ring turrets activate after the boss's 5th attack or the corresponding outer turret has been destroyed. Activated inner ring turrets attack in a similar fashion to the outer ring; every turret uses the same attack but the attack is random. The possible attacks are: Random Bullets Good luck. Destructible Bullets (odd) These destructible bullets are aimed directly at the player. They may be destroyed relatively safely if the player is directly below the boss or slightly off-center. Alternatively, they may be macro-dodged. Destructible Bullets (even) These destructible bullets are also aimed at the player, but an even number are fired to surround the player. These bullets will not hit the player if they are far enough away from the boss and do not move.

Central Turret

Central turret attacks The central turret is activated after the boss's 7th attack or all outer ring turrets have been destroyed. It uses random attacks, but like the outer ring the player may easily predict the attack by observing the turret that appears. Although the attacks used by the central turret are relatively simple, they will be fired in tandem with any inner turrets; these combination attacks can be quite fierce. The possible attacks are: 8-Way The 8-way turret launches large, fast moving bullets in the eight cardinal directions. They are aimed at you, but can be angle-locked. Destructible Bullets The destructible bullet turret will lock on to the player, but then sweep left and right while firing. Since the bullets can be destroyed, the player can generally remain safe as long as they fire. Missiles The missile turret will aim at the player before locking into place and firing. It is easily misdirected.

Boss Core
The boss core lies beneath the central turret, but it may be damaged before destroying the central turret by attacking when the central turret has retreated. If the central turret has been destroyed, the boss core will be uncovered and can be damaged at all times. However, the uncovered boss core will continuously attack with large, fast-moving random bullets.

Strategies

Quick Kill

Because of the nature of the boss the fight breaks down into two distinct phases, before and after the outer ring is destroyed. The most straightforward, although low-scoring, way to dispatch Mad Ball is to simply shoot it. The goal here is to destroy the outer ring turrets as soon as possible since their attacks become sparser and easier to dodge as more turrets are destroyed. Something you will have to come to terms with is that the Mad Ball fight will always have a degree of randomness that you will have to adapt to, whether it be the attacks used or the movement of the boss during these attacks. Because of this, it is good to stay alert and be ready to bomb if you can. In addition, there are steps you can take to make the fight safer: Take note of which turrets appear and act accordingly. Always try to position yourself to the bottom-right of the boss before each attack. This makes it easier to lure the boss into firing towards the side, allowing you to more safely attack from below. You can easily avoid the outer ring lasers, central turret missiles, and central turret destructible bullets in this manner. Try to destroy the last outer ring turrets at the beginning of an attack if you can. This lets you damage the inner ring for a phase without having to contend with an attack by the central turret for a phase. If the boss is firing destructible bullets, it is safest to position yourself directly beneath the boss and switch to the forward option formation. If the boss is using the 8-way central turret a safe spot is directly beneath the boss and slightly off-center, which will angle-lock the 8-way into firing straight down. Special weapons will pierce the inner and central turrets to damage the boss core even during the boss's attacks. You can take advantage of this to quickly end the fight.

Bombing the Outer Ring

Obtaining as many points as possible from Mad Ball requires bombing the outer ring since it is the only way to destroy the outer ring and all of the connecting segments simultaneously. Because of this, you will inevitably need to spend the first phase of the fight not shooting and dodging the full attacks from the outer ring until the perfect opportunity to bomb presents itself. Shooting, bombing, or dying at the wrong time (due to death shrapnel) will compromise your score gain from the outer ring. When attempting to bomb the outer ring, pay close attention to the position of the boss. Any parts above the "Insert Coin" prompt at the top of the screen will take damage from a separate health pool, rendering them effectively invincible. As a result, if the boss is too high on the screen when you bomb you will be unable to destroy all of the parts and get full points. This is particularly annoying for Flying Baron and Wild Snail who rely on the boss not moving above this zone while they are respawning. This trick is worth several hundred thousand points, but even when successfully pulling it off there is some variance in the points obtained due to the number of moving parts involved. Parts above the dashed line are invincible, so wait until it drifts down to bomb! The HP of the boss parts will vary depending on rank and the given weapon fragment numbers should be treated as minimum thresholds. Bringing a few more weapon fragments should help you reliably destroy the outer ring in almost all circumstances, with the tradeoff of dealing slightly more damage to the inner core of the boss. Every ship employs a different strategy dependent on their special weapon, detailed below: Silver Sword wants to suicide at the start of the fight by crashing into the left side of the boss right as the outer ring opens for the first attack. After this, bomb the outer ring right as it opens. It takes x weapon fragments to destroy the outer ring (you will need to bomb twice). Grasshopper wants to suicide at the start of the fight by crashing into the left side of the boss right as the outer ring opens for the first attack. After this, bomb the outer ring as it opens. It takes about 1 full weapon stock to destroy the outer ring. Flying Baron wants to suicide midway through one of the outer ring's attacks. While invincible during the respawn, use a special weapon while circling on top of the boss as the outer ring is retracted and beginning to open. You need to enter the fight with at least 15 weapon fragments in order to have enough ammunition to have a decent chance to destroy the outer ring after the suicide. This trick is unreliable because you cannot control or predict the movement of the boss during the interim while you respawn. The damage from Flying Baron's missiles seems inconsistent so you may want to bring more weapon fragments into the fight so Flying Baron releases more missiles, but if the boss decides to move to the top of the screen while you are attempting to destroy the outer ring the uppermost turrets will survive no matter how many weapon fragments you use. Wild Snail wants to suicide midway through one of the outer ring's attacks. While invincible during the respawn, use a special weapon while sitting on top of the boss as the outer ring is retracted and beginning to open. Wild Snail does not need to enter the fight with any weapon fragments because the 20 fragments it gains upon dying are sufficient to destroy the outer ring. However, this trick is unreliable because some turrets will survive no matter what you do if the boss moves to the top of the screen while you respawn. There is no way to predict or control the boss's movement. Gain wants to bomb the outer ring right before it opens. It takes at least 26 weapon fragments to destroy the outer ring. If you are consistently scoring around 800,000 points it may be a sign that you are destroying all of the connectors but not the outer turrets themselves. In this case try bringing a few more weapon fragments so your bomb does a little more damage. Chitta wants to bomb the outer ring right before it opens. It takes 53 weapon fragments to destroy the outer ring (you will need to bomb twice). It is possible to perform the trick after bring the required weapon fragments into the fight or by suiciding during the activation of the first bomb to gain more weapon fragments to make up the difference. (Note that if the boss is being attacked by a special weapon and death shrapnel simultaneously only the damage from the special weapon will be calculated. Otherwise the death shrapnel would destroy the outer ring and you would receive no points.) If you are consistently scoring around 800,000 points it may be a sign that you are destroying all of the connectors but not the outer turrets themselves. In this case try bringing a few more weapon fragments so your bomb does a little more damage. Miyamoto wants to suicide at the start of the fight by crashing into the left side of the boss right as the outer ring opens for the first attack. After this, bomb the outer ring right as it opens. It takes x weapon fragments to destroy the outer ring (you will need to bomb twice). Bornnam wants to bomb the outer ring right before it opens. It takes at least 35 weapon fragments to destroy the outer ring. If you are consistently scoring around 800,000 points it may be a sign that you are destroying all of the connectors but not the outer turrets themselves. In this case try bringing a few more weapon fragments so your bomb does a little more damage. ***Psst. Hey you, yeah you! Wanna score some points the game's not supposed to have? If you're flying a ship with an area-of-effect bomb try shooting the outer ring a tiny bit while it's retracted, just a few shots. Now when you bomb the outer ring there may be a chance you are awarded points for destroying some of the parts twice!***

Destroying the Inner Ring

Once the outer ring of turrets is destroyed, you will have to decide whether you want to destroy the inner turrets as well. If you bombed the outer ring your special weapon will have done significant damage to the boss's core as well, so harvesting full points from the inner ring entails careful damage control; making sure you damage the inner turrets while minimizing further damage to the core. This is easier said then done for the following reasons: The core will be briefly vulnerable whenever you destroy an inner turret, so it is better to tap fire when the turrets are weak. (No, they do not have a health indicator.) The turrets are invincible while not attacking, and any bullets you shoot during this period will damage the core. The hitboxes for the central turret changes depending on which attack is being used and how it is aiming, and does not always overlap with the core. This means you can damage the core even if the central turret is active if you are not precise with your shots. Destructible bullets will eat up a lot of your shot damage unless you have a penetrating shot. However, you do not want to attack the boss with penetrating shots since you risk losing significant points (40,000) if you destroy the central turret with a penetrating shot. Perhaps most fundamentally, you have to damage the turrets while they are harassing you with all manner of overlapping bullet patterns. This is especially tricky because you often have to split your attention between your ship (to dodge) and the boss (to line up your shots to minimize damage to the core). With all that said there are some tricks you can use to make the inner turrets easier to destroy: The inner core will have more HP remaining if you destroy the outer ring with fewer weapon fragments. This can give you a little more leeway to destroy the inner turrets before ending the fight. The central turret will not activate until the attack phase after you destroy all of the outer turrets. This means that if you bomb and destroy the outer ring as it activates you can spend an attack phase damaging the inner turrets while the central turret and core remain invincible, a nice head start. If in doubt, try to stop firing so you don't accidentally damage something you don't want to damage. If you position yourself right below and to the side of the boss when it is not attacking, you can always sneak in some shots as the turrets activate and then back off once the attack starts. Being close to the boss also makes it easier to take precise shots and misdirect missile/destructible bullet attacks from the central turret. Switching your options to the forward formation can help with precision, but homing options are even better! To set up the homing formation, pick up two of the four weapon fragments that the large tank earlier in the stage drops and let the other two fall offscreen along with the three fragments dropped by the small tanks that follow. You only really need one homing option for Mad Ball, which will lock on to the core but allow inner turrets to cross between the option and the core (so you can use it to damage inner turrets). Additional homing options will lock onto inner turrets. This is particularly useful if you are using a ship that requires a suicide to properly dismantle the outer core, since you can guarantee option drops at your leisure. Finally, practice and pray. There is a lot of randomness in this fight, so doing well takes experience.

Score Breakdown

Part	Shot/Option	Weapon/Penetrating
Rotating Turret (3 per base)	5,000x3 (x6)	5,000x3 (x6)
Rotating Turret Base	10,000 (x6)	10,000 (x6)
Front Hatch Turret	10,000 (x6)	10,000 (x6)
Center Turret	5,000 (x3)	5,000 (x3)
Missile Launcher	30,000 (x2)	30,000 (x2)
Rear Hatch Turret	50,000 (x2)	50,000 (2)
Boss Core	100,000	100,000

Overview

Strategies

Score Breakdown

Part	Shot/Option	Weapon/Penetrating
Mini Turret	1,000 (x10)	1,000 (x10)
Side Turret	1,000 (x4)	1,000 (x4)
Large Turret Cannon	10,000 (x2)	1,000 (x2)
Large Turret Segment (3 per turret)	10,000x3 (x2)	1,000x3 (x2)
Large Turret Base	20,000 (x2)	2,000 (x2)
Center Turret	2,000 (x4)	2,000 (x4)
Center Hatch Turret	30,000 (x2)	30,000 (x2)
Homing Drone	5,000	5,000
Tail (4 segments)	5,000 (x4)	5,000 (x4)
Boss Core	100,000	100,000

Overview

Strategies

Score Breakdown

Part	Shot/Option	Weapon/Penetrating
Tail Cover	4,000	4,000
Tail Turret	50,000	5,000
Tail 1	3,000	3,000
Tail 2	2,000	2,000
Tail 3	1,000	1,000
Spinning Turret	5,000 (x2)	5,000 (x2)
Mini Turret	3,000 (x2)	3,000 (x2)
Wing Turret	10,000 (x4)	10,000 (x4)
Propeller Turret	50,000 (x2)	5,000 (x2)
Front Propeller	50,000	5,000
Missile Launcher Cannon	1,000 (x2)	1,000 (x2)
Missile Launcher Body	50,000	5,000
Wing Panel (8 phases)	1,000x8 (x6)	1,000x8 (x6)
Boss Core	100,000	100,000

Overview

Strategies

Score Breakdown

Part	Shot/Option	Weapon/Penetrating
Outer Turret	10,000 (x8)	10,000 (x8)
Connection (outer)	20,000 (x8)	20,000 (x8)
Connection (thick)	30,000 (x8)	30,000 (x8)
Connection (thin)	50,000 (x8)	50,000 (x8)
Inner Turret	30,000 (x8)	30,000 (x8)
Central Turret	50,000	10,000
Boss Core	100,000	100,000

Overview

Strategies

Score Breakdown

Part	Shot/Option	Weapon/Penetrating
Wing Panel (8 phases)	1,000x8 (x4)	1,000x8 (x4)
Popcorn	1,000	1,000
Boss Core	100,000	100,000

Overview

Strategies

Score Breakdown

Part	Shot/Option	Weapon/Penetrating
Boss Core (Phase 1)	50,000	50,000
Boss Core (Phase 2)	50,000	50,000
Arm	10,000 (x32)	10,000 (x32)
Side Hatch	1,000 (x4)	100 (x4)
Ground Turret	1,000 (x2)	100 (x2)
Boss Core (Phase 3)	100,000	100,000

Overview

Strategies

Score Breakdown

Part	Shot/Option	Weapon/Penetrating
Wing Panel (8 phases)	1,000x8 (x4)	1,000x8 (x4)
Popcorn	1,000	1,000
Grenade	300	300
Grenade Explosion	-	1,000 (weapon)
Boss Core	100,000	100,000

Overview

Strategies

Score Breakdown

Part	Shot/Option	Weapon/Penetrating
Wing Panel (8 phases)	1,000x8 (x2)	1,000x8 (x2)
Boss Core (Phase 2)	100,000	100,000
Boss Core (Phase 3)	300,000	300,000

Overview

Strategies

References & Contributors

1. Icarus, ST: Battle Garegga, https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=351
2. ボスパーツ点数表, http://mtlayk.web.fc2.com/Game/Garegga/Gare_BScore.htm
3. T3-Kamui, Special Demonstrations #13, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4fnxn4xeBE&feature=youtu.be&t=825
4. Tein Gauntlet, ギャラ子がガレッガ一号1600万, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHxMYeTWGTw