S-Rank requirements?

[Tony Soprano]

I played on Easy mode with Cherry, sped through it and didn't lose a life, finished with 4 stars in my inventory and still got A-Rank..what did I miss?

[Umbrella Incorporated]

It's just a matter of getting points. It's actually easier with the weaker characters who don't do as much damage per hit but can attack faster. More hits means bigger combos. Each stage also has different score thresholds for S ranks. I've beaten the game 9 times on normal difficulty and have only gotten S rank on three stages.

[DarkFenix]

Combo ratings are based on damage rather than number of hits. My first S rank, along with the top combo achievement, came from playing Floyd, who really doesn't get many hits at all. That means easy difficulty will actually penalise you, because there's less enemy health to damage in the first place.

So basically get lots of combo damage, don't get hit out of combos (it doesn't just end your combo, you lose everything you would have earned from it), don't use any stars, finish with as much health as possible, and finish as fast as possible.

[Tony Soprano]

Originally posted by Umbrella Incorporated:

It's just a matter of getting points. It's actually easier with the weaker characters who don't do as much damage per hit but can attack faster. More hits means bigger combos. Each stage also has different score thresholds for S ranks. I've beaten the game 9 times on normal difficulty and have only gotten S rank on three stages.

What stages?

[Tony Soprano]

Originally posted by DarkFenix:

Combo ratings are based on damage rather than number of hits. My first S rank, along with the top combo achievement, came from playing Floyd, who really doesn't get many hits at all. That means easy difficulty will actually penalise you, because there's less enemy health to damage in the first place.

So basically get lots of combo damage, don't get hit out of combos (it doesn't just end your combo, you lose everything you would have earned from it), don't use any stars, finish with as much health as possible, and finish as fast as possible.

What stage?

[EXPERIMENTONGOD]

Try to achieve long combos without getting hit (or get hit a few seconds after you last hit an enemy so you don't lose the points). You can hit trashcans/motorbikes/boxes/etc. to keep your combo going.

If you see the word "BREAK" on the screen several times you won't get S-Rank period.

No need to "rush" the stage or conserve lives, combos are way more important. A good couple of HIGH DAMAGE combos gives more points than your whole time bonus for the stage.

Also try to pick up health items with full health (chicken/turkey is 1.000 points!). Also do secret arcade machines because you get a Star (500 points) and you get your health fully restored when you enter and also exit with full health which lets you get full points from the health items outside.

Again: most of the time if you pick up two chicken/turkeys with full health it's worth more points (2.000) than your whole time bonus, it's that important.

Stage 7 is one of the easiest to practice combos and get S-Rank IMHO. Just be careful with Barney getting a grab on you (the guy who uses stun/taser gun), he's just way too fast.