Pink Sweets [Strategy guide]

[Plasmo]

1.0. General Stuff
Score Attack: Hold A and B whilst pressing Start. Lets you play Stage 6 with a 5 minutes limit and infinite lives.
Harder: Hold Up whilst pressing Start. Lets you play a more difficult version including suicide bullets and a smaller hitbox.
Extended: Hold Down whilst pressing Start. Lets you play the slightly harder game than the regular one followed by a loop similiar but not identical to Harder.
Reset Command: Press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, Start. Resets the game anywhere and returns to title screen.
Stage Select: Go to the Test Menu -> Dip Switch settings and set "player count" to Invincible or Multiply. Now you can select all regular stages and the bossrush stage by pressing Left and Right on the title screen. Unfortunately the Stages are a bit out of order:
Stage 1=Stage 1
Stage 2=Stage 3
Stage 3=Stage 4
Stage 4=Stage 5
Stage 5=Stage 6
Stage 6=Stage 2
Stage 7=Stage 7
Stage 8=Bossrush



2.0. Controls
A: If your charge meter is full you fire your Rose Cracker. It refills after not pressing A for 3 seconds. While your charge meter is refilling, your Shield builds up. If your charge meter is not full, you fire your basic Shot.
If you tap A very quickly you can raise your Shot frequency. Once it is raised, you can not lower it down again, even if you die. There are five levels of Shot frequency: #10-#12-#15-#20-#30
B: If you have collected at least one Rose Hip item you can let your Rose Hip(s) fire by holding down B. Tap B to change your Rose Hip formation. The five formations are: Front-Wide-Back-Reverse-Turn.
A+B: Changes your Speed. There are four different levels of speed.



3.0. Enemies
There are four different types of enemies:
Type 1: Enemies in the sky with 1 hitpoint (Popcorn enemy)
Type 2: Enemies in the sky with more than 1 hitpoint
Type 3: Enemies on the ground
Type 4: Midbosses and bosses*

One thing about enemies is that you get a different amount of points from destroying them depending on how you destroy them. It usually does not matter, if you destroy a type 1 enemy with Shot or with Rose Cracker, but it is important to know about all the other enemy types (except 3), that you usually only get 1/10 of the score, you would get from destroying an enemy with Shot, if you destroy it with your Rose Cracker. Check this Link for a complete list (S=Shot, R=Rose Cracker). Note, that you do not get any points at all for destroying an enemy with your Rose Hips. To prevent your Rose Hips from accidentally destroying an enemy, you should definitely have your Rose Hips fire backwards, especially towards the end of bossfights.

*One exception is the stage 2 boss, because you get an item for destroying it, so it is technically a type 2 enemy. See section 4.0. for more information on item appearance.

List of all Midbosses (in order of appearance)
Stage 1: Scramble Egg
Stage 2: Scramble Egg - Melon Blizzard
Stage 3: Scramble Egg
Stage 4: Scramble Egg - Strong Strawberry Churros
Stage 5: Scramble Egg
Stage 6: Mint York - Cheese Korone - Scramble Egg
Stage 7: Scramble Egg

List of all boss enemies
Stage 1: Maple=Pink&Caramel=Pink
Stage 2: Socie=Soar
Stage 3: Harmony=Humming
Stage 4: Uni=Ulysses
Stage 5: Freesia=Freedom
Stage 6: Super=Nova
Stage 7: Big=Burn



3.1. Bullets
There are three types of bullets:

Type 1: You can absorb them with your Shield, but you can not destroy them with your Shot.
Type 2: You can not absorb them with your Shield and you can not destroy them with your Shot.
Type 3: You can not absorb them with your Shield, but you can destroy them with your Shot.

Note that your Rose Cracker destroys all bullets, no matter what type they are.



4.0. Items
You get an item for destroying eight type 1 enemies and for every type 2 enemy, aswell as for every type 3 enemy. You only get Roses from type 3 enemies, all the other items appear from type 1 and 2 enemies in a fixed order (see section 4.3.), that is NOT resetted after ending a credit or using the reset command. The only way to reset the item appearance order is to power down the PCB.
Another important thing to notice, is that type 1 enemies do not count as destroyed if you either point blank them or destroy them at the edge of the screen. However they still count as destroyed for the 1 Up requirement. This has no effect on type 3 enemies.



4.1. Item types
Rose Hip: Adds a Rose Hip next to your ship. You can have a maximum of two Rose Hips. Surplus value is 1000.
Shot Power Up: Increases your Shot level by 1. You start every life with Shot level 1. The maximum Shot level is 4. Surplus value is 1000.
Rapid Fire: If you already have Rapid Fire it increases your Shot level by 1 up to a maximum of Shot level 4, if you do not, it changes your Shot to Rapid Fire. Surplus value is 1000.
Wide Shot: If you already have Wide Shot it increases your Shot level by 1 up to a maximum of Shot level 4, if you do not, it changes your Shot to Wide Shot. Surplus value is 1000.
Medal: The medal values are: 100-200-300-400-500-600-700-800-900-1000-2000-3000-4000-5000-6000-7000-8000-9000-10000. You get the next value by collecting all the medals on screen with the current value. If you miss a medal and there is no other medal on screen, the medal value resets to 100.
Rose: The Rose values are: 100-200-400-800. The Rose value depends on the enemy size.
Special Power Up: Instantly raises your Shot level to 5. See section 4.2. how to get the Special Power Up item. Surplus value is 1000.
Search Rose Hip: Changes your Rose Hip formation to Search. See section 4.2. how to get the Special Rose Hip item. Surplus value is 1000.
1 Up: Gives you an extra life. If you have more than 5 lives in stock you get infinite lives. See section 4.2. how to get the 1Up item. Surplus value is 10000.



4.2. Special Item Requirements
Special Power Up: Miss four items of the following types: Power Up, Rapid Shot, Wide Shot. The next item of one of these three types spins faster than usual, collect it to get the Special Power Up item. However, if you miss a Special Power Up item, you first have to collect one of the three item types before you can start missing the next four on purpose.
Search Rose Hip: Miss four Rose Hip items and the next one spins faster than usual. Collect it to get the Search Rose Hip item. However, if you miss a Search Rose Hip item, you first have to collect a regular one again before you can start missing the next four Rose Hip items on purpose.
1 Up: There are three ways to get a 1 Up item:
1) Let one of the big tanks roll over a standing tank. This is possible in Stage 3 and twice in Stage 7. Damage the wheels of the first tank and then let the second one roll over it.
2) Destroy all 12 towers in Stage 5. The 1 Up item is in the last one if done correctly.
3) There is an invisible counter that goes +1 if you destroy an enemy or a type 3 bullet with Shot and goes -1 if you destroy them with your Rose Cracker. Everytime the counter reaches 2500 a 1 Up item will appear and the counter resets. It doesn't affect the counter at all, if you destroy an enemy with your Rose Hips.



4.3. Item Appearance Order
1. Power Up
2. Medal
3. Rapid Shot
4. Medal
5. Wide Shot
6. Medal
7. Rose Hip
8. Medal

After the eighth item has appeared the order starts out at 1. again.
If you trigger the Special Power Up, it appears instead of the next Power Up, Rapid Shot or Wide Shot item.
If you trigger the Search Rose Hip, it appears instead of the next Rose Hip item.
If you trigger the 1 Up, it appears instead of the next item.



5.0. Rank
The dynamic ingame difficulty that makes the game harder if you play well is called Rank. In Pink Sweets you get by far the worst Rank system in any Shooting Game up to date. The lack of regular score based extends makes it even worse.



5.1. How to control Rank
An important task besides scoring well is controlling the Rank. Basically everything raises it and nothing lowers it. The only way to "control" it, is not to let it raise to quickly. Let us start with the worst thing you could ever do, the Rose Cracker. Simply never use this thing, because if you use it once, the Rank raises, the bullet patterns get more dense and then the second time you are forced to use it. By the third time you are already game over. Other stuff that raises Rank (not as much as the Rose Cracker though) is:
-Pressing a button
-Survival Time
-Collecting items (including roses and medals)
You can not do anything against the first two points, so just ignore them. For the third one, I would suggest only collecting medals and maybe one Special Power Up at the start/after a death. Try to avoid Rose Hip items, as you do not get any points from killing an enemy with it anyway. Another very important thing is your life stock. The more lives you have in stock, the worse is the effect of the stuff that raises the Rank. The best way to keep Rank down is to play with an empty life stock the entire game.



5.2. How Rank affects the gameplay
-All enemies except type 1 enemies get more hitpoints
-Enemies shoot more bullets
-Enemies shoot faster bullets
-Some type 4 enemies use their regular attacks combined with suicide bullets
-The time between type 4 enemy attacks gets shorter



6.0. The Characters
Meidi&Midi Rose: Her shot is very weak and gives close to no points at all.
Kasumi Rose: Her RP is stronger and gives you some points. Her WS is weak but does search the enemy automatically.Good for beginners.
Shasta Rose: Her laser is not too weak and gives you more points than Kasumi, however it is hard to get out of a corner, if you are caught in it, especially if you consider, that her Rose Cracker is also straight forward.
Lace Rose: Very strong piercing shot that gives you the most points. Best used if you are trying to get a highscore. The only problem are the gaps between her shots that take some time to get used to.

Meidi&Midi and Shasta are a bit faster overall than Kasumi and Lace.



6.1. Character types
Each character has four different types that affect your Shot. Shot level 1 is the same for each type. The type depends on which button you press when you select your character. The types for each character and their Rapid Shot (RP), aswell as their Wide Shot (WS) at shot level 3 are as follows:

Meidi&Midi
A: RP: Six shot streams to the front.
    WS: 5-way shot to the front
B: RP: Four shot streams to the front. Two shot streams to the back.
    WS: Wide 5-way shot to the front.
A+B: RP: Four shot streams to the front. Two shot streams to the back.
         WS: Even wider 5-way shot to the front.
Start: RP: Two shot streams to the front. 3-way shot to the back.
          WS: Two shot streams to the front, aswell as a one streamed shot at 45? each side. A one streamed shot at 45? each side.

Kasumi
A: RP: Six rockets to the front, aswell as the regular shot from shot level 1.
    WS: Six search rockets to the front, aswell as the regular shot from shot level 1.
B: RP: Six rockets to the front, aswell as the regular shot from shot level 1.
    WS: Six search rockets to the front, aswell as the regular shot from shot level 1.
A+B: RP: Six rockets to the front, aswell as the regular shot from shot level 1.
         WS: Regular Shot from shot level 1. 3-way search rockets from each side.
Start: RP: Six rockets to the front, aswell as the regular shot from shot level 1.
          WS: Four search rockets from the front, aswell as the regular shot from shot level 1. Four search rockets from the back. One search rocket from each side.

Shasta
A: RP: Two fixed laser beams to the front.
    WS: Two laser beams to the front, if you move to one side you can shoot up to 20? to that side with one laser.
B: RP: One fixed laser beam to the front, aswell as the regular shot from shot level 1. Single streamed shot to the back.
    WS: One laser beam to the front, if you move to one side you can shoot up to 60? to that side with the laser. 5-way shot to the front.
A+B: RP: One fixed laser beam to the front, aswell as the regular shot from shot level 1. 3-way shot to the back.
         WS: One laser beam to the front, if you move to one side you can shoot up to 80? to that side with the laser. The laser locks on, no matter what enemy type. 6-way shot to the front.
Start: RP: One fixed laser beam to the front. 4-way shot to the back.
          WS: One laser beam to the front, if you move to one side you can shoot up to 90? to that side with the laser. The laser locks on, no matter what enemy type. 6-way shot to the front.

Lace
A: RP: Three lightning streams to the front.
    WS: 3-way lightning up to 30? to each side.
B: RP: Two lightning streams to the front. One lightning stream to the back.
    WS: 3-way lightning up to 45? to each side.
A+B: RP: Two lightning streams to the front. One lightning stream to the back.
         WS: 3-way lightning up to 60? to each side.
Start: RP: One lightning stream to the front. Two lightning streams to the back.
          WS: 3-way lightning up to 90? to each side.



7.0. The Stages
Stage 1: Rosebase
Stage 2: Ocean
Stage 3: Ruins
Stage 4: Waterfall
Stage 5: Desert
Stage 6: Clouds
Stage 7: Hall



7.1. Walkthrough
Score estimations only go for Lace.
Stage 1: Immediately raise your Shot frequency to #15 or #20 and kill yourself right at the first enemy that comes on screen. Get the Special Power Up throughout the stage and do not collect any Rose Hip item. Milk the Midboss for type 3 bullets. Fulfill the Special Power Up requirement, so that the first item that appears in Stage 2 is a Special Power Up.
Stage 1 Boss: 1.Phase: When he shoots type 3 bullets, try to destroy one arm. The second time, try to destroy the other arm. 2.Phase: Only shoot during the type 3 bullet attack to destroy the main cannon. Once it is destroyed, kill yourself and destroy the boss.
-Score should be around 750.000-850.000 after stage 1-
Stage 2: Get the Special Power Up. Milk the enemies before the second laser tower and the second midboss for type 3 bullets.
Stage 2 Boss: 1.Phase: Nothing special. 2.Phase: If you have milked enough type 3 bullets during the stage then you get an 1 Up item here.
-Score should be around 2.050.000-2.150.000 after stage 2-
Stage 3: Try to concentrate on shooting down all the type 1 enemies instead of taking down the four big tanks beside them. You should definitely get the first 1 Up item by now. When the two big tanks roill in from the left, try to damage the first tank, so it can not go on and let the second one roll over it to trigger another 1 Up item. Do not collect this one. Milk the Midboss for type 3 bullets.
Stage 3 Boss: 1.Phase: Nothing special. 2.Phase: It is possible to destroy the two arms but I have not figured out how to do that yet. 3.Phase: Nothing special.
-Score should be around 3.900.000-4.000.000 after stage 3-
Stage 4: Do not destroy the two boats, before they have reached the end of the two rivers. You get around 250.000 from both boats together. Do not destroy any of the round type 3 enemies next to the second river, if you would have to use your Rose Cracker. Collect two Rose Hip items during the stage.
Stage 4 Boss: 1.Phase: Nothing Special. 2.Phase: You can destroy both arms while they shoot the big blobs that absorb you. Try to milk the boss for at least one type 3 bullet attack.
-Score should be around 5.800.000-5.900.000 after stage 4-
Stage 5: From now on you can use your Rose Cracker (you should not have used it before). The second variable 1 Up item should appear during the first half of the stage, collect it. Only damage the midboss with your Rose Hips set to Reverse. Finish him off with your Shot.
If you have destroyed all the towers you get another 1 Up item. Only collect it, if you have less than two lives in stock, otherwise trigger it and miss it.
Stage 5 Boss: 1.Phase: Set your Rose Hips to Front and try to destroy the swinging orb as soon as possible with using your Rose Cracker twice and shooting. Once it is destroyed, a new attack with green type 1 bullets fills the screen instead of the orb attack every time. Stay above this attack and shoot the boss. 2.Phase: Try to use the Rose Cracker as little as possible. If you have more than one life in stock, suicide at the end of the bossfight.
-Score should be around 6.900.000-7.000.000 after stage 5-
Stage 6:
In progress.



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Please excuse my bad English. This is my first ST in English and you'll probably find lots of weird sentences and mistakes. Please correct if necessary.

[EOJ]

Awesome guide! Thanks for posting it.

You should mention that using the Special Power-up raises the rank really fast as well. In the Arcadia mag I have they say you should never use the Special Power up if you want to control the rank.

[jpj]

maybe you could add this Link that shows the points for each enemy and boss of every stage.  it's surprising the difference in score between shot and bomb, and sometimes bombing is worth more    (S=shot and R=rosecracker bomb)

[rtw]

Fantastic guide Plasmo!  

rtw

[Plasmo]

Thanks for the link jpj. adding all the stuff would be too much so the links just perfect.
@EOJ
Collecting the special power up item raises the rank more than collecting a regular item but it doesnt constantly raise rank if youre having the special power up activated.

[Shalashaska]

Wow awesome guide, thanks a lot Plasmo.

[Gakidou]

Really nice guide Plasmo!

I found a good strategy for the second boss (using Lace) is milking the white discs she shoots out in her first form for points. This, coupled with trying to destroy as many discosaucers in the second form as possible without killing the boss, will leave you at around 2,6-2,8 million after the second stage (maybe even higher if you're lucky with the second form). Uploaded a video at http://www.megaupload.com/se/?d=OBBUFAWS just to demonstrate (end score is around 2,6 million, image quality sucks and is really dark sorry). I'm guessing the other ships can get a much larger point increase from the second form (since it's easier not to harm the boss by mistake when you're destroying the saucers), but they on the other hand wouldn't be as good to milk points from the first form with.

[Plasmo]

Nice one! Thanks Gakidou!

[EOJ]

That's a great vid, Gakidou. I have done the disc-milking before, but never the whole boss so thoroughly. Very nice.

[EOJ]

Alright, if we're going to get anywhere with this game, let's start strategizing about the quickest, best way to trigger the infinite lives trick.

Is it possible to get the 4th extend before stage 5? When should I be aiming to get the previous 3 extends?

Midi& Meidi should be the easiest due to their shot. Then Kasumi, Shasta, and Lace, from left to right?

[EOJ]

I just figured something out: the thing that raises the rank the fastest is tapping the B button (changing the rose hip formation). I always wondered why Galford said he used "rapid fire for the B Button" on his 19.8mil run. Thankfully my Sigma stick has rapid fire built in, and I flicked it on (the max, 30hz). It makes your rose hips change position in a crazy fashion, but if you hold it down all through stage 1, you will see an INSANE rank on the stage 1 boss, far greater than you will ever see without this method. Beat it (actually not too hard thanks to all the slowdown), and Stage 2 is like DDP DOJ's stage 5. :shock:  But interestingly, it seems possible to get through. You just have big waves of bullets to dodge, Ikeda-style. There is a lot of slowdown, which helps.

So why is Galford using this? One theory is it jacks the rank up at the beginning of the game, which gives all enemies more hit points, which allows him to score higher and get the infinite lives bug sooner. The other would be he does not use the B-rapid fire until after the infinite lives bug, maybe not until Stage 7, as just a means of skyrocketing the rank in order to milk the last boss.

Anyone else try this? It's pretty wild.

PS-He said he used this on his score attack runs as well. Could this be the key to jacking up the rank on purpose in order to milk the bosses more thoroughly in SA mode?

[EOJ]

I just triggered the first extend at the very beginning of Stage 2 with Shasta. :shock: I think I may have figured out the secret to high scores in this game.

[Plasmo]

Whoa, that sounds great.
One Question though: Why would you get the variable extends faster if the enemies have more health? You get the extends after destroying enemies not hitting them...?!
And getting an extend at the beginning of 2 is insane! :shock: I'll definitely give it a go today.

[Gakidou]

Yeah, I'm also gonna try this. Sounds amazing. Such a strange and different game.

Maybe the enemies that fire destructable bullets fire a whole lot more when the rank is insanely high, and that's why EOJ got the extend so early? That could mean you should be able to get the second variable extend a lot earlier too, maybe in the third or beginning of the fourth stage? If enemies get more hit points, wouldn't this also mean that Lace particularly could score a lot higher on the enemies?

Also, just a quick question: Is it possible to destroy the wing cannons on the second boss? I've noticed that it seems as if they are separate hit areas from the main body of the boss, but have never accomplished destroying any of them.

[Plasmo]

Tried to hold B down the whole time and i didn't work for me. I still get my first extend at the beginning of stage 3. :x

@Gakidou
They look like you can destroy them but it's definitely not possible

[Plasmo]

About the infinite lives bug: If you play low rank with Kasumi the last live should be the fixed one in the towers in stage 5. Another strategy would be an aggressive high rank play so that the third midboss spews out an insane amount of bullets. This way you should gain infinite lives before the third boss.

[Gakidou]

Tried to hold B down the whole time and i didn't work for me. I still get my first extend at the beginning of stage 3. :x

But do you have a high autofire frequency on the B button? I've also tried this and it's amazing how high the rank is on the second stage. The whole screen is covered with bullets. One time I got the extend just before the midboss of the stage (the one after the ufo egg), but I'm having a lot of trouble just surviving at this point.

[Plasmo]

Oh ok i thought holding B down (no autofire) would be more effective than pressing B very fast or having autofire on.

[jpj]

awesome work EOJ.  especially as i have the same set-up as you!

 

[EOJ]

This is how I get the first extend at the start of Stage 2:

Use Shasta, hold rapid-fire B the whole time in Stage 1, get the special power-up, milk the midboss normally, collect all items you can, then start the boss fight (Make sure you have a straight shot, not a wide shot). Hold rapid-B the whole time during the boss fight, but don't do any damage to the boss with your shot. When those arms open up to shoot the destructible bullets at you, press A (this automatically changes your speed and starts firing your shot). There are so many bullets that Shasta cannot do any damage to the arms, her shot only reaches halfway through the destructible bullet mess.  :shock: Repeat this until the boss times out, at which point you need to bomb to survive (this is a bit tricky). Maybe there is a way to destroy the boss at the end of the milking sequence and avoid the time-out part?

Then at the start of Stage 2 you get the 1-up after the second or third wave of enemies.

I don't think this works well with Lace, as her shot does damage to the boss.

[Gakidou]

Been experimenting with this a bit today, and have concluded that maxing out the rank early on indeed is good for getting lots and lots of destructible bullets, but also makes survival so hard that it isn't really worthwile. I could see however how increasing the rank a little bit on the first stage (without making it skyrocket) may be very useful for getting extends earlier. The trick I guess is balancing the rank and knowing when to stop changing the rose hip formation, so that the game gives you lots of destructible bullets while still being manageable. I bet that this, and raising the rank through the roof before the last boss, is what Galford uses the rapid fire on the B button for. Anyway, great find EOJ!

[EOJ]

I think you're right, Gakidou. Unless you need to bomb your way through Stage 2, then raise the tick counter on the boss, then get an extend in Stage 3, plus the fixed extend, and milk the midboss for the final extend?? That would trigger the infinite lives trick at the end of Stage 3.

And what about Score Attack mode? Anyone have any ideas when to use the rapid-B in this mode? Galford uses it here too, remember.

[jpj]

i was literally just about to say that...!  
damn shame i read all this stuff just as i have to leave for a couple of hours.  he probably uses it for a lot of score attack, as it's quite easy.  and would help to explain how he can get 6 million points before the boss.  i wonder how that would affect the lightning attack...?  or the midbosses...?  

damn, i gotta go   :evil:

[EOJ]

I tried out SA with the B-rapid fire. It makes a huge difference. :shock: The game becomes much harder, but there are so many more destructible bullets, it makes your score increase a lot faster. I got 600K after the first midboss, which is about 250K more than I usually get. :shock:

[EOJ]

About the infinite lives bug: If you play low rank with Kasumi the last live should be the fixed one in the towers in stage 5. Another strategy would be an aggressive high rank play so that the third midboss spews out an insane amount of bullets. This way you should gain infinite lives before the third boss.

I've looked at Tsumanne's old videos, and I see he triggers the infinite lives on the 3rd boss with Shasta. In Galford's Stage 3 Harder mode video (the only video we have from him, AFAIK), he triggers it before the stage boss. So it looks like you really need to get it by the end of Stage 3. The low rank play is probably worthless - not worth it for the score, and too easy to mess up and have to start all over again.

So, I am thinking perhaps I'd need to start using the rapid-B towards the middle of stage 3, to jack up the rank for the midboss. This would give me an extend on the midboss, and one right after it, like in Galford's video.

BTW if anyone needs Galford's vid, let me know. It is not available from his site anymore.

EDIT: I just noticed Galford starts using Rapid-B right after the midboss, until the boss appears. :shock: He does not use it anywhere else in the level, as far as I can see. But then again it is harder mode, so he probably uses it less than in Normal mode.

[lowemark]

are there any high scoring Score Attack videos available on the net somewhere?
or any Score Attack videos at all?

[EOJ]

There was a SA 1CC vid with Kasumi awhile back, but I seem to have lost it.  Anyone have it?

[jpj]

nope, never seen it   :?

what was the score?

[Plasmo]

It's quite frustrating that I actually can't do the infinite lives trick because of the wrong setup.(i don't have autofire)  :cry:
About the replay: never heard of it before.

[EOJ]

Plasmo: I think it's still possible by the end of stage 3 (or beginning of stage 4) without autofire. At least with Shasta. I played a run today and got the first 1up on the stage 2 boss, then the fixed extend. Unfortunately I messed up the ST3 midboss.

You can try to just press B really fast sometimes to increase the rank, maybe right after the 2nd boss, and in the middle of stage 3?