Sisters Royale
| Developer: | AlfaSystem |
|---|---|
| Music: | Takuya Yasuda, Kota Nakashima |
| Release date: | Nintendo Switch JP 2018-06-14 US 2020-01-30 |
| Previous game: | Shikigami no Shiro III |
| Next game: | TBD |
Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire (シスターズロワイヤル 5姉妹に嫌がらせを受けて困っています) is the spiritual successor of the Shikigami no Shiro series, following the third installment Shikigami no Shiro III. The game was originally released in Japan for Nintendo Switch in 2018 and then later released to other platforms and globally in 2020.
This game shares a lot of the same mechanics as the previous entries; it maintains the grazing for tension bonus, which multiplies score and gives the player a powershot. It also keeps diverse cast of characters with unique summon abilities. This game introduces its own button for the summon ability and chests in the hard difficulty mode for coin score play. The difficulty is also notably more forgiving than the Shikigami no Shiro series.
For replay videos, visit the Video Index.
Contents
Gameplay Overview
- The game is played with an 8-way stick and 3 buttons.
- The default extends are : first at 200 mil, then one very 400mil
- Each player can only carry 3 lives and 5 bombs at the same time. They start a run with 3 lives and 3 bombs.
- The game features 5 stages and no loops
- A full run lasts around 20 minutes
Controls
Controls on Nintendo Switch:
- Y: shot
- B: summon familiar
- A: bomb
Hitbox
The hitbox is a bit unusually located at the back of the head of the playable characters. When enemy bullets are nearby, it appears as a shining star.
Characters
Sonay (ソナイ)
Eldest sister. Fire magic.
You can Get down on your tarty knees and Lick the floor.
Sonay’s normal shot is a rapid narrow straight shot. Its powershot variant is slightly wider.
When Sonay summons her familiar, it homes in on near-by enemies.
Her bomb are spinning flames.
Selma (セルマ)
Second eldest sister. Ice magic.
Thanks, sis, it’s been a ball. Let’s do this again.
Selma’s normal shot is a three-way spread forward shot. Its powershot variant is a five-way spread shot.
When Selma summons her familiar, it creates from ice three spikes around Selma at 120° angles from each other. As she moves with her familiar, she can turn 360°. When summoned, one spike is in front of Selma, with the other two being behind her at an angle (⅄ position). As soon as she moves, the spikes change order to instead have the single spike right behind her and two at an angle in front of her, leaving her front open (Y position relative to wher Selma is facing) and stay that way for as long as the summon is active. To put a spike right in front again (⅄), the player needs to first disengage the summon button and re-press it while not moving.
Her bomb are frozen spears that fill the whole screen.
Ece (エジェ)
Middle sister. Light magic.
Fighting amongst ourselves. We’re so Wicked!
Ece’s normal shot is a narrow homing two-way spread forward shot, leaving the front empty. Its powershot variant has a slightly wider shot.
When Ece summons her familiar, a laser beam between Ece and her familiar appears, where you can initially position the familiar, to set the angle. The angle can be in any of the 8 movement directions (i.e. at 45° segments) and is set in the same direction the character was moving toward when the summon button was pressed. When you Ece moves, the familiar moves as well, so the initial angle stays the same. To change the angle, the player needs to first disengage the summon button and start a new summon.
Her bomb are four forward-facing lasers.
Nur (ヌル)
Second youngest sister. Wind magic.
I’ll show my sisters how my world travels have Changed me!
Nur’s normal shot are three (losely) homing shots. Its powershot variant has five such shots.
When Nur summons her two familiars, they circle around her.
Her bomb is a sequence of four ball explosions that progress forward. They always position themselves on the same X axis as Nur, so the player can manipulate where they will spawn.
Lale (ラーレ)
Youngest sister. Dark magic.
Yay! Let’s get married!!
Lale’s normal shot is a sparse narrow straight shot. Its powershot variant is slightly wider.
When Lale summons her familiar, she holds it in front of her and it absorbs enemy bullets. As she moves with her familiar, she can turn 360° to better absorb bullets around her. When released (or when the bar fills?) the familiar shoots powerful homing shots back at the enemies.
Her bomb are spirits that fly out in a upside-down heart pattern, meeting near the top center of the screen. They are slightly homing.
Ode (OZ)
??
I’m this world’s Saviour. I’m here to intervene a little.
Ode’s normal shot is a directed rapid narrow shot – its angle moves slightly in the same direction that Ode is moving. Its powershot variant is slightly wider.
When Ode summons her familiar, you lose control of Ode and have to position where the lightning ball drops.
Her bomb are a screen-full of lightning balls that convert bullets into coins.
Ode is a DLC character, cameo of Fumiko Odette van Stein from Shikigami no Shiro III – or rather Ode is a doll controlled by Fumiko from a different dimension. At the end of her story arc, Munchausen also makes a guest appearance.
This section should include the characters or ships, if any, that the player can select in the game. Ideally, different "styles" (for games that use them, such as DoDonPachi) would also be included here.
If there is only one playable character and no elements to augment/customize your ship, this section can be omitted from the page.
Weapons
All characters share the same core mechanic; characters have a unique shot type, summon spirit, and bomb.
Shot
This is your standard shmup shot attack. It's extremely slow, weak, and rarely has practical function without the following Power Shot mechanic. Each character has a unique shot type.
Power Shot
Power Shot is one of the more unique mechanics in the Shiki no Shiro and Sisters Royale game. When the player grazes bullets or enemies you initiate the TBS which in addition to a score multiplier, you gain a Power Shot which will be indicated when your shot turns from blue to red. This is much faster and much more deadly version of the regular shot. The primary function is speed killing and managing boss health during scoreplay.
Summon Spirit
The Summon Spirit is unique to each character. You can see more details in the Character Section. This is the main attack to use for score. It is what enables the TBS multipliers.
The spirits all play drastically between each character in comparison to their shots. Some characters will share similar score routes with their summons. Whereas others will have completely different ways to tackle scoring. Each summon also introduces its own nuances to scoreplay.
Bomb
Bombs are powerful attacks each character has access to. You start each game with 3 and you gain a bomb every time you are hit, or if your score hits 200m or any 400m increment after that (600m, 1b, 1.4b, etc.).
Each character has a unique bomb that has different power and visuals.
Bombs are used primarily for survival, but also for scoring. For example, Nur has a weak bomb that can be used to grab fairies during boss fights, or used for invulnerability in overtime. Selma as another example can use her bomb to clear out particular objects or bullets in boss fights for safer milking or more points from boss crystals.
Items
This section describes any and all collectibles that you acquire in the game. An example being any Power Up items or Medals from Battle Garegga. Include secret items such as extra lives as well.
Scoring
While Sisters Royale can provide an adequate survival challenge for newer players of the genre, it's usually a pretty tame experience overall in that regard. The real meat of the game is its scoring system, which will be detailed below.
Tension Bonus System
The tension bonus system (TBS) provides a scoring multiplier of x1 to x8 (or x2 to x16 see Fairy System). The multiplier is based on the players proximity to a hostile object. The closer to the object, the higher the multiplier.
The TBS multiplier applies to the following:
- The score the enemy provides upon their death
- The number of coins the enemy spawns when they die
- The value of the coins as your character collects them
Only a summon kill will provide a the tension bonus multiplier to the score from killing the enemy and the amount of coins they drop. It does not effect coin pick up multiplier.
Coins
Coins are earned from killing enemies, hitting purple spherical bullets from some boss/mid-boss phases (see milking section), ending a mid-boss/boss phase, and from hitting chests (hard mode only).
Coins start at an initial value of 10 and go up in value by 10 each coin collected until it reaches the value of 10,000 where it will remain until you are hit. This value carries over to the next stage. The TBS and fairy also effects the coin value, but does not effect their base value. For example: if you grab a coin when your previous coin's value was 200 and your TBS + fairy multiplier is at x8 the next coin you grab will be worth 210 x 8. Note the base value only increases by the normal 10, not by 80.
Once your character takes damage, the coin value is reset back to 10. When hit your coins will also all fly over the ground, allowing you to pick them up and start building the coin value again, but despawn after a short period of time.
One thing to consider when playing for score is when the player goes from 10,000 back down to 10 you will need to grab 999 coins to get back to that maximum value. Depending on two factors (fairy bonus and TBS) this means you are missing out on 5m-80m points that you would have had had you not taken a hit. You can mess around with calculating how much you miss out by the below equation. Where x is the TBS + Fairy multiplier and n represents the range of which you're gathering the coins up to the 10,000 value. n is only valid from range [1,999].
Fairy System
Fairy collectibles can be found throughout the stages. Typically they are before the mid boss, before the boss, and during the boss. The exception being stage 5 where they both occur after the mid-boss and only one for the first boss fight.
The fairies are can be spotted by a faint glimmer on the ground, but this is very difficult to see, and it's better to rely on memorization than spotting it. The player needs to shoot this spot with either their shot or summon to reveal the fairy. Once revealed, the fairy with follow the player until it is collected. Once collected, the TBS multiplier is doubled. So x8 becomes x16 for example. Important when under the fairy buff x8, x10, 12, and x14 do not add to the x8 end stage bonus.
You will know the fairy bonus is active if the screen has a little rainbow effect on the edges of the screen and your tension bonus multipliers are rainbow colored.
Stage Clear Bonuses
After completing a stage you are provided with three bonuses, which are based on only the stage completed; nothing carries over. There is no bonus for no-miss or for not using any bombs.
- Time Bonus - This is calculated based on the amount of time left to kill the boss of the stage. In stage 5 it calculates this for each of the 3 bosses. The calculation is as follows, where t is the amount of time remaining. In stage 5 you use this calculation 3 times and add it up.
- x8 action bonus - This is calculated by simply multiplying your x8 action bonus by 10,000.
- coin bonus - Like x8, just multiply your coin amount by 10,000.
Milking
Milking in this game occurs for mid-bosses and bosses. Not every character can milk effectively against every attack. Attacks that can be milked have a special type of purple spherical bullet that can be destroyed. When destroyed it provides coins on death. This must be destroyed with summon to get the tension bonus.
When milking mid-bosses you have to consider if the score you are getting from milking outweighs the amount of score you would get from bonus enemy waves if you were to speed kill it. Also be mindful of the mid-boss' health when milking, because if you're milking, your goal is to milk it until it times out and leaves.
When milking a boss, there's two things to consider. The first is that if that timer reaches 0, you go into overtime, where a bunch of enemies will start spawning on screen directed towards you until you die or kill the boss. These enemies have bounceable collisions with one another. Another thing to consider is if the milk value is worth more than the time value you are getting out. An example being, Lale is better off just killing a boss instantly with a x16 bonus from the fairy rather than milking. Whereas Nur is great at milking the bosses.
The enemies that spawn at overtime
Bonus Enemy Waves
When engaging in mid-boss fights, the player can initiate bonus enemy waves immediately after depending on the speed at which the mid-boss is killed. The faster it is killed, the most enemies that will spawn afterwards. The amount of enemies varies from stage to stage.
It's also worth noting that timing the mid-boss out can spawn more enemies then killing it last second. It would appear that the invulnerability status you gain after killing the mid boss must go away before enemies begin to spawn. When timing the mid-boss out you don't get that status. Because of that some enemies will spawn timing out vs last second kill.?
Chests
Chests occur only during hard mode. They are scattered throughout the stages. Usually spotted near a fairy. When hitting them they shoot out coins. These coins function the same as any other coin.
General Scoring Loop
Unlike some other Alfa System games, there isn't much value in intentionally suiciding for bombs or any of the like. Instead, your goal should be:
- Try to keep your tension at max when killing and collecting. Especially during bosses, because their kill value is really high; most notable is the final boss can provide a ton of extra points just for killing under x8 TBS
- Finding an optimal time to collect the fairy, which sometimes might be a little bit later than when it spawned - this varies stage to stage.
- Decide whether to speed kill a mid-boss or milk it.
- Decide whether to speed kill a boss or milk it.
- Avoid getting hit. And if you do get it, keep in mind you lose double under the fairy effect when starting at a fresh 10 coin base value.
- Avoid bombing during stages. Bombing non-milkable boss patterns can be safe, just try not to kill the boss with a bomb.
- Chest input needed?
Strategy
See (Template Page)/Strategy for stage maps, enemy and boss descriptions, walkthroughs, and advanced play strategies.
Stage 1: Graveyard of Flame (Sonay)
Stage hazard: wells etc. you have to walk around?
Stage 2: Cave of Ice (Selma)
Stage hazard: slippery patches of ice (note: Ode is flying, so unaffected)
Stage 3: Temple of Wind (Nur)
Stage hazard: windmills blowing wind
Stage 4: Dungeon of the Soul (Lale)
Stage hazard: limited vision, you need to shoot at lanterns to see more of the stage than just around your character
Stage 5: Chapel of Light (Ece)
Stage hazard: wells etc. you have to walk around?
End-boss: Yanshin & Seytan
This section details some particular strategic information about the game and its gameplay, such as hidden 1UPs and some basic scoring tricks. For anything particularly deep or highly complex, you can probably leave it in the Strategy page.
(Currently evaluating whether or not this specific section should even include information outside of the separated Strategy pages. Worth thinking about as a community.)
Story
[Taken from the game's opening sequence]
It tells of five sisters who combine their formidable magic powers to defeat the Seytan.
One day, as if to fulfill that prophecy, five sisters, with considerable magical powers, were born.
However, no matter how long the people waited, the sisters did not defeat Seytan.
In fact, they went their separate ways, leading lives far removed from conflict.
This was not due to a lack of power. On the contrary, were they to cooperate, they could defeat the Seytan with ease.
So why do they not fight? The answer to this is simple :
They completely and utterly despise each other.
The people of the land gave up all hope these five would ever band together.
But one day, a miracle occurred.
The five sisters gathered on common ground.
The people shed tears of joy and spent endless days and nights in celebration...in vain.
The five had not gathered to defeat Seytan.
This prophecy-fulfilling gathering was over a man!
The people wailed in the depths of despair.
They were about to witness the worst sister's squabble the world has ever seen.Development History
If available, you can include information here about the hardware, the development of the game, and its general reception. Try to have as much information in this section cited as possible.
Version Differences
- Include information here about differences in a game between various versions. This includes regional differences, patch updates/bugfixes, and the like.
Trivia
The original Japanese title is シスターズロワイヤル 5姉妹に嫌がらせを受けて困っています (Sisters Royale: 5 Shimai ni Iyagarase o Ukete Komatteimasu), which translates to Sisters Royale: I’m Being Harassed by 5 Sisters and It Sucks.
The sisters’ names, as well as their love interest’s, are from the movie Mustang.
Gallery
See (Template Page)/Gallery for our collection of images and scans for the game.
Other
We have support for wikitables, giving us the potential to add lots of cool info in a small box on the page somewhere, but we are not using them at the moment. I'm just leaving this here so we can have it handy in case we decide to actually use them. Feel free to not use this section.
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