Ranking system

[PrinceFroggy]

I'm not sure I understand how the ranking works.

Am I mistaken or almost everything makes the rank grow (firing normal, firing special), and only dieing make it goes down?

[danbo]

hi there!

you're more or less correct.

the rank works in 5 levels, which can be seen in the small bar at the top of the screen - blue is lv1, green is lv2, yellow, orange, red. filling the bar bumps you up to the next rank level.

rank slowly goes up by itself over time, moreso on later stages.

it goes up moderately when you destroy enemies or fire the special weapon. using a bomb has no direct effect on rank.

the fastest way to increase the rank is via scoring - flourishes and breaks both increase the rank at about the same rate. there's also a "pattern bonus" awarded for clearing bullet patterns (no conditions) - this doesn't increase rank as much as flourishes and breaks.

dying makes the rank fall by one level. on top of this, the amount the rank drops is multiplied depending on how many times you've died in that stage this run. so the rank goes down by 40% more if its your first death, then it's the baseline level for your second death, then it's 40% less for subsequent deaths. additionally, the higher the rank bar is when you die, the more the rank will drop.

hope this clears it up for you!

[PrinceFroggy]

Wow awesome, thanks for the reply.

[swmorgan77]

ah ok so keep scoring low, kill in vanilla ways and with bombs. Time intentional deaths to be only one within the same stage...