How to Play?

[Sadnehs]

Are there any clarifications on the Steam community for how this game works? I couldn't find any how-tos

I get it's a simple game, but there's some stuff I'm unsure of. Like one time an enemy short a sweeping laser and I seemed to just take the hit, like I had a block? Not sure if I pressed a button for that or what.

[John4300]

Shoot em ups can be a bit mysterious at first, but if you give it some time, you'll learn more as you play!

However, the red lasers are a bit badly explained (Due to the tutorial on AC mode being in japanese too..)

Anyhow, you can counter the red lasers enemies shoot (Marked with three pings before shot). You have to hit the laser while your own burst laser is "Charging up" (You have a small delay before your own burst laser shoots when you press the button). If you get the timing right, you'll counter with a golden laser! Do remember however, only red enemy lasers with three pings can be countered.

This can be done by waiting until the enemy shoots (Pressing the button at or after the third ping is a good que) or "cutting in" to a laser while you are charging your own laser. The timing is quite tight and can be difficult at first, but it'll feel great when you start getting it down!

Legend, Next, Formulae and Assault work all the same way (Even if assault has that odd spark type burst).

You can also counter with Genesis and Murakumo: Just shoot your laser and cut in to get your upgraded laser! If you don't want to bother with the timing, these ships can be a good start to play as.

If you don't want to bother with the counter system at all, Gaiden and Second are great ships too! I don't recommend playing Origin unless you want a challenge!

For learning, I recommend playing both CS and AC mode. The top route of AC's original is the easiest. =)

If there are any other things you need help with, do ask away!

[VaeliusNoctu]

I heared in the CS mode i can activate endless Lives/Continiues. But i dont found that.
Btw can i use Points from AC mode in CS Mode?

As far as i heared Mutakumo is the best Ship ingame by far. Is that true even without counter?

[John4300]

I don't think you can activate endless lives/continues in CS mode, but you can buy ARM (Shield units) up to 99 making any stage really easy. AC points can't be used in CS, sadly. Usually, giving yourself few extra ARM units is already pretty good headstart and you usually gain score completing the stage too. Sadly, it's all a learning experience, some stages are harder than others.

About upgrades, you'll have to remember main weapon upgrades don't always mean a better weapon. You can erase enemy missiles with your missiles (First levels of main weapon), enemy lasers with your lasers (Second levels of main waeapon) and wave just pierces through terrain.
Sometimes it might be a good idea to have laser instead of wave for a boss that spams lasers, making the boss a bit easier (For example Violent Ruler).

Fun fact: Level 1 weapon of the next kind is worse than the max level of previous kind. Level 1 laser does much less damage than level 5 missile, for example.

Also, what is the best ship really depends on your preference. I recommend giving a go to all of them. I like Genesis and Second personally.

[VaeliusNoctu]

Ok, thx. But to buy ARMs i need first my own ship i think. I have atm 228k so that needs a bit more time.

Curios, i wonder about that. I read in a Forum that Mutakumo is from his stats so far above the other ships that it is op.

[John4300]

Murakumo seems quite strong at first, but you'll notice some shortcomings in the end. If you are aggressive and get close to bosses with Second, you'll notice Second kills bosses much faster, for example. Murakumo is quite good beginner ship as you can use your options as a shield.

I don't think Murakumo has better stats, it's just quite easy to use due not needing to time counter lasers, options that can change how they form around you and can protect you and also can shoot any shot type so you can erase bullets easily.

[VaeliusNoctu]

Originally posted by John4300:

Murakumo seems quite strong at first, but you'll notice some shortcomings in the end. If you are aggressive and get close to bosses with Second, you'll notice Second kills bosses much faster, for example. Murakumo is quite good beginner ship as you can use your options as a shield.

I don't think Murakumo has better stats, it's just quite easy to use due not needing to time counter lasers, options that can change how they form around you and can protect you and also can shoot any shot type so you can erase bullets easily.

Ok, sounds like the perfekt ship for me. I dont understand this counter concept fully and it think its hard to manage. But i will check the other ships too for sure. As far as i know i playd next in one level as fixed ship and he was cool.

[VaeliusNoctu]

Originally posted by John4300:

I like Genesis and Second personally.

What do you think about Gaiden and Legend?

[John4300]

Originally posted by VaeliusNoctu:

Originally posted by John4300:

I like Genesis and Second personally.

What do you think about Gaiden and Legend?

Gaiden is a good ship on some routes, and poor on others. The piercing shot is good on stages that have a lot of weaker enemies and also charges the black hole bomb quickly in that case (For example, in AC zone L), but on bosses you have very little protection since the bomb charges quite slowly and rather quickly you have a weapon that won't block bullets at all. However, the black hole bomb can sometimes rather quickly destroy boss pieces, like with Lightning series of bosses.

Legend is quite similar to Next, only difference is that when you double tap the burst button (Or press the fixed burst button) and release your burst system, the laser aims the opposite direction with Next. You also have different type of secondary weapon, Legend has a classic bomb/missile that goes in an arc up to 4 directions, while Next has a homing missile. Legend does more damage with this if you get close.

Overall, I like playing Gaiden at times but nowdays I play other ships mostly (I usually pick Second instead) and Legend is okay as you can use your fixed burst quite easily to defend yourself from some bosses (Even I prefer Next due to learning using the inverted turning of the fixed burst, but the ships are quite similar anyhow).

If you master using Fixed burst (You can aim it by not shooting), you'll notice that it REALLY helps with some bosses (Especially Great Thing).

[VaeliusNoctu]

Originally posted by John4300:

Legend is okay as you can use your fixed burst quite easily to defend yourself from some bosses

If you master using Fixed burst (You can aim it by not shooting), you'll notice that it REALLY helps with some bosses (Especially Great Thing).

Aim it by not shooting? And with fixed Burst you mean that i can use the fixed burst to hide me behind him (he is a shield and dont deal damage but defends you?)

[TouyaShiro]

Before anything else, let me give you this tip: Enemy shots can be cancelled by your own shots of the same type if your Silver Hawk (or certain DLC ships, even) match that shot type. Enemy missile (orange) shots can be cancelled by missile shots of your own, and likewise, enemy laser (yellow) shots can be cancelled by lasers. Remembering this can make several bosses much easier to deal with, especially if you're utilising a ship which doesn't have an easy way to guard against the projectile spam that certain bosses are known for (like the Ruler series of battleships). This tip will change slightly depending on whether or not you're toying around with DLC Mode, as well as certain Silver Hawks which have specific shot types tied to other gimmicks, but if you can figure out what kind of shots each ship is capable of cancelling you can plan ahead for the bosses you'll encounter during your route.

So with that being said, let's start with my tips for Legend!
Legend is my personal favourite of the Silver Hawk Bursts in this game. It's an evolved version of Origin's toolset as it uses the classic bomb pattern and its own standard armaments, save for two key differences: Wave only pierces walls but not enemies (to help give Origin a distinguishing feature of its own), and of course, Legend has a Burst Engine. The Fixed Burst aims its direction opposite to Legend's position on screen when you're not firing, and like with the other standard ships, holding down the fire button will lock its position. I'd say this ship is not one for the faint-hearted.

If you want my tip for learning about Burst, go to AC Mode and just wait until ACEX's attract sequence plays - it gives you a pretty neat tutorial on how it works for the standard types, so you can get used to using them in regular play. What it won't teach you is how to effectively pull off a Burst Counter, which requires precise timing as soon as you make contact with an enemy's red Burst Beam - this type of Burst Counter applies to Legend, Next, Formula and Assault. (Of course, Assault has its own unique Spark Burst in comparison to Legend, Next and Formula which all use a variation of the original Burst style, but we'll get to that if you ever take an interest in using it.) My one tip in this regard is that it's easier to do it based on timing than it is trying to move your ship to cross over the beam and counter that way.

Gaiden is an interesting play style, and my personal favourite of the classic Silver Hawks - in place of Burst, it uses the Black Hole Bomb from Darius Gaiden, though its range is no longer full screen and deploys some distance forward of Gaiden when used. You recharge the gauge to use it by firing at and destroying enemies, and you simply hit the Burst button to use it. Destroying enemies and bosses with the Black Hole Bomb specifically has a very high score multiplier, so don't forget this if you're trying to increase your score. And here's my tip for Gaiden in particular: Only power up to a single big green wave (Wave Level 1 power on the status screen above) - that shot type, while not Gaiden's strongest, is the one that allows you to charge the Black Hole Bomb the fastest.

Genesis and Murakumo have an easy time with their Burst in comparison, so I'll break those down for you as well. Genesis uses a system inspired by its home game G-Darius, where if you have both drones available, you can then consume them to charge up the Alpha Burst Beam. Once fired, you simply need to cross the beam over with an enemy's Burst Beam to increase its power, width and time. Be warned, as you need both drones intact in order to fire it - as soon as you lose one of them, you need to charge it back up by firing at and destroying enemies, and until then you can't use Alpha Burst Beam. The drones themselves can take on 3 different formations using the Burst button, and then you can hold that button down to charge the Alpha Burst Beam when both are available.

Murakumo has it even easier in a sense, as the Compression Burst (C. Burst) fires immediately, but it has low power compared to other Burst Beams so you have to be careful using it. Also, letting go of the Compression Burst after a certain amount of time will cause a shockwave on the last enemy the beam made contact with (or at the end of the screen if there is none), causing massive damage. It's the abuse of this particular system that grants Murakumo the majority of its damage (and it is very effective as the blast reaches the 3D plane, allowing you to snipe certain enemies before your regular shots can even touch them!), but as flexible as this Burst is, it's also very dangerous if you use it too much. The amount of drones you have as Murakumo are determined by how much of the Burst Gauge you have filled up, and while you can fire it at just a single drone, Murakumo's base shots are very weak - without drones, you are lacking both a way to absorb shots and the ability to fire Burst.

So yes, in other words, Burst Gauge management is actually arguably even more important with Murakumo than with any other Silver Hawk, in my opinion, because it's very easy to get complacent on the power of the C. Burst and not realise just how much of the gauge you're using before you run low enough to the point where you can't even use it. My other tip for you is this: Murakumo's entire game plan is that it's very flexible. Use its three different drone formations to your advantage, especially to cancel shots, and try to destroy as much as you can with the Compression Burst's explosion to easily regain your Burst Gauge and continue the cycle - though, of course, be warned about going overzealous with this lest you be stuck without any gauge to use.

As for Second, which was mentioned above, there's no real gimmick to this one - just fire and fire away. It's difficult to use because there is no Burst system, but once you get to certain levels of power, Second deals a LOT of damage point-blank. In addition, while it may be hard to implement, Second can fire off green lasers which can cancel out enemy laser shots, and even at the Wave level of firepower it can fire off secondary Missile shots which have the chance to cancel out the enemy's own. That's a lot more than can be said about Origin, easily the most difficult Silver Hawk to use in this game...

[John4300]

Originally posted by VaeliusNoctu:

Originally posted by John4300:

Legend is okay as you can use your fixed burst quite easily to defend yourself from some bosses

If you master using Fixed burst (You can aim it by not shooting), you'll notice that it REALLY helps with some bosses (Especially Great Thing).

Aim it by not shooting? And with fixed Burst you mean that i can use the fixed burst to hide me behind him (he is a shield and dont deal damage but defends you?)

As said, when you release the burst on the map by double tapping the burst button or pressing fixed burst button (With Legend and Next at least), if you don't shoot your normal shot the laser will aim upwards or downwards. It will lock in place once you start shooting again. You can use this as a wall to block bullets: You get more power and the laser stays longer on the map if you block a lot of bullets.

[VaeliusNoctu]

Originally posted by John4300:

Originally posted by VaeliusNoctu:

Aim it by not shooting? And with fixed Burst you mean that i can use the fixed burst to hide me behind him (he is a shield and dont deal damage but defends you?)

As said, when you release the burst on the map by double tapping the burst button or pressing fixed burst button (With Legend and Next at least), if you don't shoot your normal shot the laser will aim upwards or downwards. It will lock in place once you start shooting again. You can use this as a wall to block bullets: You get more power and the laser stays longer on the map if you block a lot of bullets.

Ah ok, now i understand, thx.

@Touya Shiro
Im a bit confused about some things you explained, but thx for the detailed tips. I give you a Price thats realy helpfull.

whats: ACEX's attract sequence play

this counter thing i dont realy understand after the 2nd ping at the moment when the 3rd ping is heared i must shot a normal? or a Burst shot?

Also, letting go of the Compression Burst after a certain amount of time will cause a shockwave on the last enemy the beam made contact with (or at the end of the screen if there is none). --- You mean if the Compression Burst is long enough active i trigger a Shockwave? Not sure if i ever seen it and i used the C.Burst often whyle he is full and dont stoped him manualy.

[TouyaShiro]

Originally posted by VaeliusNoctu:

whats: ACEX's attract sequence play

Ah, I guess that wouldn't make sense to people who don't have experience in arcade culture, haha. The attract sequence is what they call the little demo that plays whenever nobody's playing an arcade game, showing gameplay, sometimes tutorials, and also high scores. It's called an "attract sequence" cause it's supposed to, as the name implies, attract customers to the cabinet, insert a coin and play.

In this case, I'm indicating for you to wait on ACEX's title screen to play out the entire sequence where its tutorial pops up, as it contains a tutorial on how the Burst works. It might help you out if you're more of a visual learner.

Originally posted by VaeliusNoctu:

this counter thing i dont realy understand after the 2nd ping at the moment when the 3rd ping is heared i must shot a normal? or a Burst shot?

You must fire the Burst at that moment, but it must be making contact with the Silver Hawk Burst itself for you to do this - if you know where the beam is going to be fired, you can use the flashes and tone as an indicator of when to release your own Burst, but not every boss will be as simple as that - some start firing from off screen and move downwards, for example.

Genesis and Murakumo are different in that you simply need to cross their beams together instead without any complicated timing or frame-perfect activation during movement, which is why I broke those two down - if you don't want to have to worry about the timing, those two (and the Black Fly from the Metal Black DLC) are the ways to go.

Originally posted by VaeliusNoctu:

You mean if the Compression Burst is long enough active i trigger a Shockwave? Not sure if i ever seen it and i used the C.Burst often whyle he is full and dont stoped him manualy.

Correct. If you hold it out for long enough (it's about a second and a half, I don't know exact timing), you will begin to see Murakumo glow. Letting go at that moment releases an explosion in front of it, either at the tail end of the screen, or on enemies you make contact with. If you've ever played R-Type Delta, Final or Final 2, think of it kinda like the way the Shock Wave Cannon works.

This is also the reason C. Burst does low damage on its own - it's so that it can more easily set up to detonate the burst on the enemy/formation you want to. Be warned, though - if you don't release the C. Burst before you run out of Burst Gauge, you won't get the detonation.

[John4300]

As a reminder: I did say it earlier in the topic, but to counter with Legend, Next, Formulae or Assault, your ship needs to hit the enemy red laser while your own burst laser is "charging" (It's the short moment it takes to shoot when you press the burst button). The window is rather small, but it's satisfying when you get it.

[TouyaShiro]

Is it really as lenient as that? Cause I feel like it's supposed to be frame perfect...