Space Moth DX Scoring Guide

A quick guide to the different scoring mechanics in Space Moth DX

Arcade Mode

Arcade Mode has a lower difficulty level and simpler scoring mechanics than DX Mode, making it a great place to learn the basics! Other than simply shooting enemies, there are 5 ways to increase your score in this mode:

1) Soul Draining
If you shoot a medium or large enemy with rapid shot, it will turn neon and become more aggressive. Once it has turned neon, if you finish it off with laser you will get 2x as many points! This is called soul draining, and is the most important scoring mechanic. Note that bosses can not be soul drained!

2) Grazing
Only the glowing centre of your character (its hitbox) can be harmed by enemy bullets: touching one or more enemy bullets with your character's wings, or grazing, will make the score increase by 30 points per second. Grazing more than one enemy bullet will not give additional points.

3) Normal Items
There are 2 extra lives and 2 bomb refills hidden somewhere in the game, each of which counts as a normal item and is worth 1,000 points! Unlike many bullet hell games, lives and bombs are not awarded for reaching a certain number of points in Space Moth DX, so keep an eye out for normal items!

4) Bonus Items
There are 30 bonus items hidden throughout the game, which must be hit with the tip of the laser before they can be picked up. The first bonus item you collect will be worth 100 points, and each subsequent bonus item you pick up will increase in value by 100 points, up to a maximum of 1,000! Missing a bonus item or dying will decrease the value of the next bonus item by 100 points. Using an auto-bomb will reset the value of the next bonus item to 100 points: auto-bombs are for survival, not score!

5) Boss Bonus
Boss fights are timed, and if you let the timer run out the boss will die, awarding no points! Destroying a boss before this will give you a large number of points, and killing the boss in the last 2 seconds will award a huge boss bonus for even more! Each boss is worth a different number of points, and has a different boss bonus. To make the boss bonus easier to get, try using a bomb: it will briefly freeze the timer when it explodes!

DX Mode

DX Mode is more difficult than Arcade Mode, and includes two extra methods for getting points to raise the score ceiling as well: if you're good at bullet hell games, this is the mode for you!

1) Hit Bonus
Every time rapid shot connects with an enemy your score will increase slightly, even if the enemy does not die. Rapid shot fires 3 streams of bullets - left, middle and right. Each stream will give you points when it connects with an enemy, for a total of 60 points per second if all 3 streams hit. To maximise your hit bonus, use rapid shot as much as possible on every enemy and switch to laser at the last moment when soul draining!

2) Suicide Bullets
When enemies die in DX Mode they will release clusters of bullets aimed directly at your character, called suicide bullets. This creates more danger, but more opportunities for grazing too!

[~Sumi~]

Thanks for these tips, might try to get the 1cc

[Orakio "O Gagá" Rob]

These are some great tips! Thanks!

[_xAE^]

Interesting. Very good guide :)

[Starfighter]

Thank you for this, very useful!