DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Arrange B
Contents
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Arrange B
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Arrange B is an incredibly unique arrange mode of DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu; a score attack mode featuring a rank system that constantly changes based on how the player plays the game.
Rather than play all stages of the game in a full run, the player chooses one of the five stages to play, each one which contains its own area rank, which influences how the stage will play out in real-time. The arrange mode is nearly infinitely re-playable, due to the massive amount of potential runs a stage can have (each requiring a slightly different strategy of approach) and the high level of "customization" possible due to these factors. Aside from being noticeably visually distinct, it is also the most uniquely-playing addition to DaiFukkatsu, requiring a completely different strategy and mentality in order to succeed. Arrange B is likely the least-played and least-explored arrange mode in DFK.
This version of the game will be referred to as "DFK B" in this guide.
Controls
DFK B shaves the button count from DFK 1.0/1.5/BL in half, going from 4 buttons to 2. The player's ship is now set to Auto-Fire its Shot when the A button is not being held down, and the Bomb and Hyper functionalities are packed into the same button. The overall mechanics of the game are revised and remixed in several unexpected and unique ways!
- A (Released): Fires the player's Auto-Shot weapon, which now has two additional options with the ship that fire very short Lasers (this cannot be turned off)
- A (Hold): Fires the ship's "focus" Laser weapon, slowing player movement and extending the options' laser length to about 50% vertical length of the screen
- B (Tap/Press): Releases a Manual Bomb, clearing the screen of bullets and dealing massive damage to enemies on screen
- If the B button is pressed during a Hyper Counter that was activated with 2 full Hyper Gauges, the player will cancel the Hyper Counter with a Free Bomb
- Bombs also absorb all Ground Stars on screen
- B (Hold): Activates Hyper Counter, which can cancel pink bullets and turn them into Expert Items (blue bullets are unaffected)
Ships
Just like in other modes and releases of DFK, and following DonPachi series traditions, the player is given the option of three different ships, each with their own positives and negatives:
- Type-A (red): Fast movement speed + narrow Shot; three options circle around the front of the player's ship
- Auto-Shot: Laser options position themselves about 2 ship lengths above and 1 ship width away
- Laser: Laser options position themselves about 1 ship length above and 1 ship width away
- The option placements of the Type-A makes it a powerful mid-range ship, able to quickly and nimbly reposition itself and give it enough breathing room to make twitch dodges when necessary. However, the narrow shot gives it trouble in scenarios with many enemies packed onto the screen. Its Laser range in particular is very narrow. In exchange, its movement speed makes it great at redirecting bullet volleys on-screen and moving in and out.
- Type-B (green): Average movement speed + Shot options angle with player movement; three options, two next to the player and one directly behind them
- Auto-Shot: Laser options position themselves about 1 ship length above and 1 ship width away
- Laser: Laser options position themselves about 2 1/2 ship lengths above and 1 ship width away
- The Type-B serves a similar role here as it does in other DonPachi games, serving as a technical ship that performs at a middle ground between the A and C ships. Its laser options being closer together when using Auto-Shot gives it better point-blank capabilities than the Type-A, and the swerving shot can catch enemies at particular angles and give the player a high amount of control with their Shot, but it does require excellent ship control from the player.
- Type-C (blue): Slow movement speed + wide Shot; three options, one directly in front of the ship and two next to / slightly behind the ship
- Auto-Shot: Laser options position themselves about 1/2 ship length above and about 1 1/4 ship width away
- Laser: Laser options position themselves about 1 ship length above and about 2 1/2 ship widths away
- The Type-C is both great at crowd coverage, and a point-blanking monster, due to the high amount of projectiles it fires combined with the laser options sitting close to the player when firing the Auto-Shot. It is a particularly useful ship when dealing with high durability enemies. Its movement speed gives it great micro-dodging handling, but does require a careful hand when being forced to macro-dodge and swerve through challenging bullet patterns. Finally, its Laser offers fantastic screen coverage due to how far apart the laser options move, allowing it to efficiently clear screens of enemies while nimbly tap-dodging through a densely packed screen of firepower.
Ship Customizations
Instead of selecting Styles (such as in DFK 1.0, DFK 1.5 and DFK BL), the player can instead pick between three different Customizations, each one having its own particular benefit and downside. The player isn't limited in their selection, as they can pick as many as they wish (or none at all), allowing them to custom-tailor their ship to their needs.
- Bomb Customization
- ( + ) The strength of Manual Bombs are increased (does not apply to Free Bomb or Auto-Bomb)
- ( - ) Overall Hyper Meter gain is reduced
- Laser Customization
- ( + ) When using the Laser, the length of the laser options' mini-Lasers is increased from 50% of the screen to 90%
- ( - ) Overall movement speed is reduced
- Hyper Customization
- ( + ) Activating Hyper Counter grants a brief moment of invincibility
- ( - ) Duration of Hyper Counter is reduced
Heads-Up Display (HUD)
The UI of DFK B is significantly different than the other modes in DFK, and is packed quite densely with unmarked information and various numbers.
Special thanks to QSD for providing the screenshot/diagram on the right.
- Hyper Gauges -- Hyper Gauge is tied to both Hyper Counters and Bombs. Two meters can be filled at once.
- When the "B" icon appears under the gauges, the player has access to Auto-Bombs (spends 1 gauge).
- High Score -- Highest score recorded for the current Stage.
- Current Score -- The score that the player currently has during this run of the Stage.
- Global Rank -- Divided into Speed Rank and Density Rank.
- (See Rank System/Global Rank for more info.)
- Area Rank -- Total value of all enemy ranks in the Stage.
- From left to right; Durability Rank, Speed Rank, Density Rank
Not displayed:
- Customizations -- Displayed on the bottom right, and indicates what ship customizations the player has active. B = Bomb, L = Laser, H = Hyper.
- Destruction Gauge -- A yellow vertical bar that appears on both sides of the screen when destroying enemies. This gauge increases with rapid enemy destruction and by training your Laser on enemies, and progressively drops when enemies are not being destroyed. Once it fills up a certain amount, a segment of the gauge will turn red, and any enemies or objects destroyed will drop Expert Items (below).
- Expert Gauge -- A blue vertical bar that appears next to the Destruction Gauge. This gauge increases as the player collects Expert Items. When the gauge is high enough, it will cause Global Ranks and Enemy Ranks to increase at a higher rate.
Items
Expert Items
The primary collectible item in this mode is the Expert Item, a gray hexagon that appears either when canceling pink bullets in Hyper Counter, or dropped by enemies when the Destruction Gauge fills up to red. Expert Items are worth 10pts each when collected, and are usually dropped in groups of six at a time.
Expert Items can be suctioned into the ship by activating Hyper Counter / using a Bomb (suction effect lasts for about 2-3 seconds). Expert Items can also be siphoned into the ship and collected when they are falling behind the player by lining the ship up vertically with them.
Ground Stars
Ground Stars serve a different purpose in Arrange B, as they refill the player's Hyper Meter instead of awarding points. Small Ground Stars fill up the Hyper Meter by about 2-5%, and Large Ground Stars refill about 10-20% (note: these values are estimations, and the amount is also affected by the Bomb customization). Both types of Ground Stars can also be suctioned up into the ship by using Bomb or Hyper, the same as Expert Items.
Bomb items and Extends are removed from DFK B, with the Bomb functionality now tied to the Hyper Meter, and the player given infinite lives.
Rank System
DFK B's most notable and unique remix on the original DFK mechanics is highlighted through an extremely complex "Global Rank System," which increases in complexity and difficulty with every run of a stage. Essentially, in the simplest terms possible, the way that you play a stage will influence the ways in which the stage's behavior changes in the next run. With each play of the game, enemies in that stage will grow in durability, their attacks will become more aggressive, and their bullet patterns become thicker and faster.
Global Rank
The Global Rank is divided into two digits, which we will refer to as Speed Rank (blue) and Density Rank (orange). Speed Rank determines the overall speed of the bullets fired by the enemies, whereas Density Rank determines the thickness of bullet patterns fired by the enemy, and as the rank increases, further layers of bullets get added onto and fired alongside/on top of the enemy's pre-determined patterns.
These two rank values increase constantly over time. Using Auto-Shot will cause the Speed Rank to increase and command enemies to fire bursts of fast bullets, and using Laser will cause the Density Rank to increase and command enemies to fire groups of denser bullet clusters (spawning small pink bullets on top of/alongside freshly fired bullets at high enough rank).
Both Global Ranks cap out at a maximum of 10000. Dying will cause the Global Ranks to decrease by 50 each death; Speed Rank will drop if you were using Auto-Fire, and Density Rank will drop if you were using Laser.
Entering a colored Grid will take rank priority over the rank increase from using certain weapons.
Individual Enemy Rank
WIP
Area Rank
Alongside the Global Rank, there is a visible "area rank" that directly influences the rate of rank growth for enemies when destroyed, to be carried into the next run of the stage. Unlike the Global Rank, the Area Rank has no way of being reduced in-game, and will persist through every following run. To reset a stage's Area Rank, the rank values have to be initialized (removed/deleted) in the Options menu of Arrange B's title screen. The Area Rank is divided into three rank values: Stage Durability Rank, Stage Speed Rank, and Stage Density Rank.
Stage Durability Rank represents the rank that influences the HP values of enemies. This is increased when enemies are destroyed before they have the opportunity to fire at the player. The rate of growth seems to be slightly higher if Auto-Shot's laser options are dealing damage, but this is not confirmed. This rank seems to increase at a flat rate, but the rate of increase is accelerated with a high Expert Gauge.
Stage Speed Rank is the rank that influences bullet speed and rate of fire of enemies, and is increased by destroying enemies with the Auto-Shot. This value increases at a faster rate when the player is in the Blue Grid, and does not increase at all when in the Orange Grid.
Stage Density Rank represents the rank that influences the spread and amount of bullets fired by enemies, and is increased when the player destroys enemies with the Laser. Similar to the Stage Speed Rank, this value increases at a faster rate when the player is in the Orange Grid, and does not increase at all when in the Blue Grid.
Once a stage is completed, the earned rank values (represented in the red number next to each Area Rank) are then added into their corresponding ranks.
Boss Rank
All five Element Daughters (bosses) and the DoDonPachi bosses (mid-bosses) each have their own Boss Ranks (Boss Speed Rank and Boss Density Rank), which influences all of their bullet patterns each run.
Boss Rank will increase by similar rules as the other ranks, with Auto-Shot increasing the Speed Rank and Laser increasing the Density Rank, every time a boss is destroyed or a phase of a boss fight is defeated. The Global Ranks and Grid also influence the rank increase of bosses. Bosses do not have a Durability Rank.
Bee Items & Grid System
In Arrange B, the hidden bee items are uncovered by default, and instead of awarding score or Hyper meter, they influence another new mechanic in DFK B: the Grid System. Collecting a bee will cause a colored grid to appear on top of the background elements of the stage. Each of the four grid types influences enemy behaviors and the Global Ranks in different ways, and the color of the bee item that you collect will determine what grid you get put on.
- White Grid / No Grid -- Collect a flashing bee item while not in Hyper Mode, or lose a life
- Standard grid when starting a level. Global Ranks increase based on the type of shot fire (Auto-Shot or Laser) that the player is using.
- Blue Grid -- Collect a green bee item
- This grid causes the Speed Ranks of the stage to increase constantly as long as it is active. Enemies will fire smaller clusters of bullets, but they will fire at a much higher speed.
- Orange Grid -- Collect a gold bee item
- This grid causes a constant increase in the Density Ranks of the stage. Enemies will fire slower groups of bullets, but in larger amounts and thicker clusters.
- Green Grid / Expert Grid -- Collect a flashing bee item while Hyper Counter is active, or achieve a high score while playing the stage
- The grid with the highest risk, the Green Grid increases both Global Ranks rapidly (as well as the Stage Speed and Stage Density Ranks), and commands enemies to fire more dangerous and numerous bullet patterns that also fire at the player at high speeds.
Strategy
WIP
Trivia
WIP
References & Contributors
- Page layout, formatting, organization, and research + verification provided by CHA-STG
- Information research + verification provided by QSD | via Shmups Discord
- DoDonPachi Resurrection ArrangeB(Steam version) Counter stop No miss ( 怒首領蜂大復活アレンジB(Steam版)ノーミスカンスト ) [ Stage 5: 9,999,999,999,999pts ], by QSD | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ApJVV2m0g
