Blue Revolver

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Blue Revolver Logo.png
BLUE REVOLVER
Blue Revolver Cover.png

Box art

Developer: Stellar Circle
Music: Qygen
Hagane
Exemia
Program: danbo
Art: woof
Comic-Z
Release date: BLUE REVOLVER
October 2016
BR DOUBLE ACTION
November 14 2024

BLUE REVOLVER is a vertically scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Stellar Circle in 2016 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It plays like a CAVE/Raizing hybrid, with strong emphasis on fast patterns and resource management. It is wholly designed to be a forgiving, beginner-friendly game that can serve as a "stepping stone" into the genre.

A large-scale rebalance of the game, BLUE REVOLVER: Double Action, was released on November 14 2024.

For replay videos, visit the Video Index.

Gameplay Overview

BLUE REVOLVER is a three-button game (with an optional autofire button), with 2 playable pilots featuring 3 shot types and 4 special weapons each, for a total of 24 unique combinations.

Controls

  • Z (Tap) / C (Hold): Fires the device's primary weapon in unfocused mode.
  • Z (Hold): Fires the device's primary weapon in focused mode.
  • X: Fires the device's special weapon.
  • V: Fires the device's bomb.
  • P: Pauses the game.

Characters/Weapons

There are three playable characters: Mae, Val and Dee. Each character has their own shot type and four special weapons.

  • Mae has the Power shot type, which boasts a slightly higher DPS but is fairly narrow and demands positioning. Mae's special weapons tend to be rapid-fire, which gives flexibility when it comes to ammo consumption.
  • Val has the Follow shot type, which moves with the player's movement, and freezes on focus. Val's special weapons tend to have great spread, controlling a lot of the screen with less shots.
  • Dee has the Wide shot type, which is a wide cone of shots that becomes a wide-but-straight volley of fire on focus. If all shots hit the same target, unfocused is higher DPS. Dee's special weapons tend to have high damage potential in specific situations.

Special Weapons

All special weapons run off the same internal ammo gauge system. Players have 100 ammo, which is replenished via ammo pickups.

In DOUBLE ACTION, special weapons have an associated perk which is applied at all times.

See Blue Revolver/Damage Comparison for a comparison of damage values and efficiency between most special weapons.

Blue Revolver Plasma Lancer.png

A fast-firing lancer weapon with limited enemy piercing capability. While easy and flexible to use, it does lack raw power.

Uses 1.5 ammo per shot, firing up to 13.34 shots per second.

  • One of the game's less consistent weapons - each shot has a random velocity, and damage potential is tied to the projectile's velocity.
  • Overpenetration can be a concern against small targets at short range.
  • Generally efficient against stage enemies, but not suitable for speedkilling bosses.

PERK: Bombs produce more ammo

Whenever a bomb produces an ammo item, there is a 30% chance to produce one additional ammo item.

Blue Revolver Hyper Laser Mae.png

A slow-charging, wide and powerful laser. Eats through ammo quickly.

Firing produces a small "anticipation bullet" anchored to the player for 0.63s, after which the laser fires. This anticipation period consumes no ammo.

Firing uses 6 ammo per second at first, which becomes 18 ammo per second 0.91s after firing.

  • Due to the odd ammo consumption mechanics, Mae's Hyper Laser can be surprisingly efficient and viable for scoring if fired in short bursts.
  • The laser gains no additional damage or properties from the increased ammo consumption.
  • The anticipation bullet has a very small hitbox but can deal damage (about half the damage of the actual laser) and counts as a special projectile.

PERK: Higher focused damage

Player shot does 4.6% more damage in focused mode.

Blue Revolver Vortex Barrier.png

A defensive weapon that produces multiple bullet-blocking orbiting projectiles around the player. On release, the projectiles are launched upwards with considerable power and pierce enemies.

Produces 13 projectiles over time at 3 ammo per projectile. Holding a full barrier costs 4.6 ammo per second. Releasing costs no ammo.

  • The projectiles deal damage while functioning as a barrier, though the damage is fairly weak until they are launched.
  • Due to the piercing nature of the projectiles, they are most effective against big targets.
  • Projectiles are always produced to the top-left of the player.
  • Designed for players struggling against bosses.
  • A few projectiles can be produced and released for an offensive capability. Roughly on par with the Plasma Lancer in terms of damage, though much less flexible.

PERK: Start with an extra life

Start the game with one extra life.

Blue Revolver Cluster Missile Mae.png

A "mini cluster missile", fast-firing but with smaller spread and uptime.

Firing uses 4 ammo per shot, at a fire rate of 4 missiles per second.

  • Launches behind the player before accelerating up the screen - the player can use this to their advantage by deploying the missile while above enemies, in effect "bombing" them.
  • Excellent at exploiting "Zero Flourish".

PERK: Better flourish extension

Generally, the chain meter is is extended a little by destroying enemies even during flourish mode -- but as more enemies are destroyed for that chain, this effect falls off. This perk disables this "falloff", making the extension a constant +0.1s.

Blue Revolver Arc Caster.png

A fast-firing, target-seeking arc weapon. Very easy to use, though lacks raw power and is imprecise.

Firing consumes 5 ammo and produces 3 bolts per shot, at just under 3 shots per second.

  • Only the visible "bolts" at the end of the arcs deal damage. The chains deal no damage.
  • The weapon scans a 80*170px rectangle in front of the player and targets the first three enemies it sees. Note that these may not be the closest entities to the player.
  • If only one or two enemies are found, more bolts are projected randomly in front of the player.
  • The caster can target the multiple hitboxes of large, complex enemies - but can also target things like Boss 4's arms, which don't take damage.

Blue Revolver Hyper Laser Val.png

A single-shot beam with long recovery time. Excellent for sweeping the playfield, but players may find it hard to control ammo consumption.

Uses 10 ammo per shot.

  • Has an "anticipation projectile" much like Mae's variant.
  • Takes about 12 frames to fire.
  • The projectile lasts on-screen for 55 frames.
  • Produces splash damage particles at the point of impact, making it more consistent against groups. A lot of the laser's damage potential comes from these splash particles.
  • Can exploit "Zero Flourish".

Blue Revolver Stasis Field.png

An unconventional defensive weapon; a circular field projected directly in front of the player. Sucks kinetic energy from bullets, slowing them down - the stored energy is launched around the player on release, cancelling enemy bullets caught in the field.

Uses 7.2 ammo per second to maintain the field - uses 10 ammo to discharge.

  • The stored energy discharge is spread in a 360-degree spiral pattern, making it very hard to effectively use.
  • It takes a very long time to fully charge the field from only a few bullets - clusters and patterns of bullets must be leveraged to use the weapon effectively.
  • The field does a very meagre amount of contact damage to enemies.

Blue Revolver Cluster Missile Val.png

A slow-firing finesse weapon which produces a lasting explosion on impact. Tremendous scoring potential, but punishing on miss.

Firing uses 10 ammo per shot, at a fire rate of 1 missile per second.

  • Almost identical to Mae's variant.
  • In Val's variant, the particles travel further and control more of the screen, but deal less damage.

The ammo-generating effect of the bomb in action.

Bombs

Bombs are uniform among both characters - a short-range projectile is projected in front of the player, dealing decent damage to anything in its vicinity. Bombs also convert all enemy bullets on screen into ammo pickup items, grant 6 seconds of invulnerability and reset any applicable chain timer. They also count as special weapons for the purposes of scoring (see Flourish section).

BLUE REVOLVER has a 3-frame counterbomb window. When the player is hit, an internal "about to die" timer is set for 3 frames. If the player uses a bomb during this period, their death will be cancelled. (This includes the frame the player was hit on.)

Bombs cancel all enemy bullets on-screen for 30 frames after firing. During this time period, every second bullet that is cancelled via the bomb is replaced with an Ammo Pickup.

Items

Blue Revolver Ammo Pickup Item.gif
Ammo Pickup items are dropped by ground enemies and resupply ships. Bombs also convert bullets into Ammo Pickup items. Each item replenishes 2 ammo, or gives 2,000 score if the ammo meter is full. Resupply ships drop 30 ammo items, for 60% ammo in total.
Blue Revolver Bomb Item.gif
Bomb items restore one bomb or grant 50,000 score if the player has the maximum amount of bombs.
Blue Revolver 1UP Item.gif
1-UP items grant an extra life. Spawns when the giant carrier on Stage 3 is destroyed.
Blue Revolver Score Item 200.png
Blue Revolver Score Item 2000.gif
Blue Revolver Score Item 20000 Animation.gif
Score Items are generated by special weapon usage or by clearing boss phases. Score items are always worth either 200, 2,000 or 20,000 points each.

Rank/Difficulty

An early boss phase at Rank Level 1. No problemo.
The same boss phase at Rank Level 5. HOLY SHIT!

BLUE REVOLVER uses a rank system for two of the three difficulty modes. Rank is divided into five "Rank Levels" (RL) based on an internal variable. The Rank Level only affects enemy and boss bullet patterns - enemy health and other such things are not affected at all. Rank is not intended to be something the player must manage, rather it simply eases up on the player after a death for a short while.

  • Normal mode is the game's novice mode and locks Rank to the first 2 Rank Levels. Normal mode also features Autobomb - however, it is unusually punishing, consuming all bombs in stock when triggered.
  • Hyper mode is for shmup warriors and allows rank to go through all 5 Rank Levels.
  • Parallel mode is for brave players. Rank is locked at lvl.5 at all times. Extends are in shorter supply, but bombs are plentiful.

Each difficulty setting also has its own extend system.

Normal 5,000,000 EVERY 10,000,000
Hyper 5,000,000 EVERY 15,000,000
Parallel 40,000,000 80,000,000 120,000,000

Parallel has two further changes to the resource balance :

  • On hit, 4 bombs are resupplied instead of the usual 2, and 100 (full stock) ammo is restored instead of the usual 50.
  • Every 10,000,000 points, a bomb is directly resupplied. If the player has a full stock of bombs at this time, nothing happens, and this bomb extend is effectively wasted.

Rank typically increases with scoring and additionally has a per-frame increase depending on the current stage. Firing the special weapon also increases rank, though only to a small degree. Bombing is entirely rank-neutral. Rank decreases on player death - for Rank Levels 1-3, the player's rank variable is halved on death, and for Rank Levels 4-5, rank is reset to Rank Level 3 on death.

Hyper Mode "Rank Drain"

There is an additional rank mechanic applicable only to Hyper mode. At Rank Level 5, the rank variable is immediately set to a high value and drains passively over time. Scoring actions, per-frame rank increase and special weapon rank increase do not apply at this point. The passive drain is per-frame and is increased as the player loses lives. Once the rank is drained back down to the Rank Level 5 breakpoint, rank is reset to Rank Level 4. Therefore, high-performing Hyper mode players will see a constant see-saw between Rank Levels 4 and 5.

RL5 drain sets the internal rank variable of 200,000, and the breakpoint to go back to RL4 is 140,000. Per-frame rank drain is 10 under normal circumstances, 16 if the player has 1 or 2 lives remaining, and 32 if the player has no lives remaining. Therefore, it will take 100 seconds to go back to Rank Level 4 under normal circumstances, 62.5 seconds at 1 or 2 lives remaining, and 31.25 seconds at zero lives remaining.

Scoring


There are two primary scoring mechanics in BLUE REVOLVER - Flourish, and Break.

Flourish

Each enemy in BLUE REVOLVER has a point value that is granted on destruction. This point value varies depending on the enemy and generally becomes higher at the later stages.

Additionally, destroying enemies fills a chain meter. The chain meter takes roughly 3 seconds to drain if nothing is happening, and maxes out at 8 hits. Building a chain on its own does not provide any scoring benefit - rather, the player must destroy enemies with the Special Weapon in order to get value out of their chain. Enemies generate point items on destruction with a special weapon according to the following multiplier table:

Hit Point Value Multiplier
8 64x
6-7 32x
4-5 16x
1-3 8x

However, firing the Special Weapon engages Flourish Mode - which locks the chain value and forces the timer to drain from a hidden maximum value. It takes 4 seconds to finish Flourish Mode generally, but it can be extended a little if many enemies are destroyed.

Therefore, the basic scoring strategy is to build up an 8-hit chain on weak, poor enemies, then use Special Weapons to cash in by powerful, lucrative enemies, and keep repeating that process while being as efficient with ammo as possible.

Bombs, uniquely, reset the chain timer to maximum both inside and outside of Flourish Mode.

"Zero Flourish"

One interesting quirk in the scoring system is that Flourish Mode cannot be activated when a chain is not active. Three of the special weapons are notably able to exploit this - Val's Hyper Laser and both variants of the Cluster Missile. Some other weapons can exploit it to a small degree, but these weapons have long uptimes and large potential areas of effect, making them ideal. Because they only trigger Flourish Mode on firing and not while they're destroying enemies, the player can activate the special weapon at a zero or 1-hit chain and use it to both increase the chain and generate score items.

Zero Flourish becomes an increasingly more lucrative trick in the later stages, where the popcorn enemies the player would typically simply use to build a chain have increased point value - but it does require some self-control.

Break Bonuses

Break bonuses are static point bonuses awarded for fulfilling specific conditions. Typically, these conditions are during midbosses and bosses (destroy both wings of the Stage 1 midboss in quick succession, for example) - but there are a few in-stage break bonuses like destroying over 80% of an enemy rush.

A Break Guide can be found both in-game and on the official game website.

Pattern Bonuses

Each named bullet pattern has an associated bonus value. This generally scales with the game's progression, going from 100,000 points for the ST1 midboss pattern, to 500,000 a piece for the ST5 boss patterns. This bonus is awarded on clearing the given pattern.

In DOUBLE ACTION, there is a new "Perfect" multiplier system which is applied to this bonus based on misses, bombs and special usage.

  • Clearing a pattern without special, missing or bombing awards a 2.0x PERFECT bonus.
  • Clearing a pattern without special and 1 miss or bomb awards a 1.5x GREAT bonus.
  • Clearing a pattern using special, or >= 2 misses+bombs awards no multiplier.

In the case of the final pattern, "REVOLVER", special usage does not affect the bonus multiplier.

Note: The balance of this bonus is such that a relevant break bonus is always worth more than the potential bonus increase. If you can get the break and clear the pattern perfectly, that's great, but in an either/or, burning resources to get a break is more lucrative.

Other Scoring Mechanics

Boss phases cancel all bullets on screen when they are cleared, and this follows the same logic as enemy destruction with a special weapon - ie, point items are generated in their place. The base value of each bullet is fairly low (100 points on the last boss, therefore 800 points per bullet cancelled), but in the few cases where a chain can be built up and a lot of bullets cancelled, they will receive the 64x value multiplier.

XP-Mode

XP-Mode is an arrange mode introduced in DOUBLE ACTION. While the stages and enemies are unchanged, the scoring, resource and rank systems are much different, and the player must hit score milestones to upgrade their shot type. Only Dee is playable in XP-Mode, with a selection of 5 oddball special weapons.

Weapons

A short-range spread of explosive grenades.

  • Enemy bullets that collide with these explosions are converted into more explosions.
  • Enemies that are destroyed by the explosions are similarly converted.
  • This conversion stops 1.5s after the initial firing.
  • The only XP-Mode weapon that has defensive utility, due to its ability to clear the screen.
Uses the full stock of ammo, but multiplies incoming ammo by 2x.

A sticky projectile attached to the player via an uninsulated electric cable.

  • The damage dealt by the sticky projectile ramps up over time and can be a surprising boss-killer.
  • The fact that the cable does damage creates most of the scoring utility, and creates new ways to control the playfield.
  • The projectile is capable of attaching to the top of the screen.
  • On destruction of an attached enemy, the projectile will generally continue flying upwards -- but it can get stuck on some dead ground-based enemies.
Uses 50 ammo, meaning two cables can be active at once. An active cable will prevent firing, however, so ammo generation can be difficult.

A bouncing, chaotic orb that deals very strong damage, while bouncing against enemies, the screen edges, the player, and other orbs.

  • The bottom of the screen will "drain" the orb, destroying it.
  • The damage of an orb increases every time it hits an enemy.
  • Insane damage potential if an orb can be fired in "just" the right spot, perhaps behind a large enemy.
Uses 33 ammo, meaning three orbs can be active at once.

A slow-moving drone that periodically zaps the area around it for high damage.

  • Direct collision with an enemy will destroy the drone, dealing a very small amount of damage. Optimal usage is to "miss".
Uses 50 ammo.

Two lasers that sweep the playfield, locking onto enemies. After the laser sweep, a volley of gun-bits attack all locked enemies.

  • Multiple locks on one target will increase the amount of damage directed at that target.
  • The gun-bits will attempt to fire at locked enemies that have flown off-screen, making timing crucial.
  • Correct positioning of the player in relation to the locks will allow the extra shots to better control the playfield.
Uses 100 ammo.

Scoring

In XP-Mode, all enemies drop score items at a 8x value. However, destruction with a special weapon creates a 64x value -- there is no chain or flourish system. Therefore, optimal scoring is to destroy as many enemies as possible with the special weapons, placing emphasis on optimal usage of the weapons and good ammo generation.

Strategy

See Blue Revolver/Strategy for stage maps, enemy and boss descriptions, walkthroughs, and advanced play strategies.

General Tips

  • Self-destructing here and there is highly encouraged by the game systems. On death, rank is decreased outside of Parallel mode, 2 extra bombs are granted without resetting the existing stock, and 50 special ammo is replenished.
  • In stages 3 and 5, there are almost no ground targets, meaning the player must rely on self-destructs and bombs to generate most of their ammo. Players would be wise to ensure they have enough bombs to keep up during, for example, the Stage 3 zako rush break without wasting resources.
  • The Stage 5 Boss and the True Last Boss will counterbomb the player outside of Normal mode. Their invulnerability period lasts half a second longer than that of the player and their counterbomb prevents ammo from being generated.
  • Almost all special weapons fire straight upwards by design, requiring the player to at least pass through the most dangerous areas of the playfield. The most notable exception is the Arc Caster, which can often be used from across the screen.

True Last Boss

The TLB appears only at the end of Parallel Mode. The TLB consists of two ships (Epsilon and Yasumi together as SR-X "Zealot"), who can also counter-bomb. Both ships of the TLB share together an attack set (and as well the HP gauge of each attack set), and each one of their attack sets can last for 31 seconds. Beating one of the attacks sets quickly will result in getting a Break bonus from them.

Story

BLUE REVOLVER takes place in an Earth-like world where magic has a code-like structure. Using scripting and various forms of technology, reality can be manipulated to the user's will - however, irresponsible use of this power creates hazardous "junk data". Stringent safety laws are enforced by groups of Technicians, and one such group is called "Blue Revolver".

Recently, a massive data anomaly has been sighted in the mountains - the work of a relatively gifted but flawed magic user called Mae. Blue Revolver set out to investigate this anomaly and hopefully curtail it.

Version Differences

  • v1.01: Score Info option, readability options (background darkening, alternate bullet colour schemes), bugfixes.
  • v1.02: Fixed the stage 2 boss instagibbing the player during Boss Rush mode.
  • v1.05: Achievements.
  • v1.1: Replay functionality added, Steam leaderboards, Break Guide, Experimental Weapon, shot type / weapon rebalancing.
  • v1.11: Fixed replay desync issues.
  • v1.12: Added the DOUBLE ACTION soundtrack by Exemia and Hagane as an in-game option,

Trivia

  • BLUE REVOLVER was originally going to be a clone of Muchi Muchi Pork. Then it was going to be a clone of Ketsui. In the end, it ended up being a mix of both - though perhaps a clone of Cyvern: The Dragon Weapons, too.
  • Despite the variety in bullet visuals, all bullets in BLUE REVOLVER share the same hitbox size of 2 pixels by 2 pixels. This is incidentally the same size as the player's hitbox.
  • All shot types have a different default player speed, however their focused speed is always the same for the sake of consistency.
  • While probably impossible to actually achieve, if the player can score 100 septillion points, they will be granted an extend every frame the game is running due to inelegant programming.
  • BLUE REVOLVER has no boss timeout mechanic outside of midbosses and the True Last Boss. One or two boss phases are milkable to a degree, but the rewards are very low and it is very hard to avoid damage being done to the boss.
  • "DSP" is among the various phrases censored by the game's highscore system.
  • The Stage 3 boss and several attack craft flying out of the midboss on destruction is a shameless reference to Battle Garegga.

References

  • Technical information supplied via source code inspection by danbo.