Pink Sweets [Strategy guide]

[Plasmo]

I had a run where i pressed the WHOLE stage 1 autofire as fast as i can. at least #20. It had close to no effect on the rank.

[EOJ]

Are you talking about Rapid-B or Rapid-A? Sometimes I change the Rapid-A autofire to #30 (with the autofire on my Sigma stick). It doesn't have much effect on Stage 1, but it makes a difference in later stages.

[Plasmo]

i was talking about auto B pressed as fast as rapid A at #20 if you would have to press it manually.

[EOJ]

Update on my PS infinite lives trick progress:

Just had a run where I got the first extend on the stage 2 boss, and the second extend was the fixed extend.
Then, right after this extend, I held down Rapid-B until the midboss, and kept holding it through the midboss fight.
After about 20 seconds the rank increased enough to where the boss looked exactly the same as in the harder mode
vid by Galford. At this point I let off Rapid-B. I milked the bullets for a bit and got the 3rd extend on one of its satellites.
Unfortunately I died foolishly after this, otherwise I would have milked it a bit more and hopefully gotten the fourth and final extend right before the
stage 3 boss.

Anyway, with a bit more practice, I should have a 1CC coming soon.

[Gakidou]

Is this Galford video you speak of available for download somewhere?

[EOJ]

No, but I'll put it up on megaupload this afternoon.

[EOJ]

Okay, here's the video:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=B279L7O0

Galford's Stage 3 Harder Mode vid.

[Gakidou]

Thanks EOJ!

[EOJ]

I was looking through some Arcadias today, and noticed there is a commentary page after the hi scores that talks about some of the best runs.
There is one for YOS.K's 20mil Pink Sweets run with Lace. They state he "did things such as skillfully utilize the brief invincibility right after a death in order to cancel enemy bullets and gain points". Is there some trick to this I'm not aware of?? Must be something you can due after you trigger the infinite lives trick.

They also give his scores at the end of each stage:

Stage 2: 3.7mil
Stage 3: 6 mil
Stage 4: 9 mil
Stage 5: 10.8 mil
Stage 6: 17 mil

How the heck do you get 3.7 mil at the end of stage 2? Wouldn't you have to jack the rank up to max with the rapid-B in stage 1??

Also, Arcadia calls the infinite lives trick a "condition (to be reached)" not a "bug". So it's clear it isn't a bug. They say you should aim to get this condition in Stage 3 (which is what we already assumed).

[jpj]

very interesting.  any other info at all?

i'm surprised at how few points are scored in stage 5 though   :?  perhaps he lost the medal chain, or ballsed something else up?  

i'm also stumped by the invincibility comment...  do you think they just mean hitting A to release a bomb as you're in the death animation?  (dying whilst bombing a pattern still nets you points)

[EOJ]

That's all the info in YOS.K's run. In a previous issue they say " a key to high scoring is using the rapid-B to max the rank out - this produces more enemies and more items dropped in each level. It also produces more bullets on the bosses, which allows you to milk them for more gains."

Chapter 5 doesn't have a lot of points in comparison to the other stages. You can't milk the midboss, for example. I guess the boss can't be milked much either.

As for the invincibility after dying, I think it has to be something with bombing at the right moment. Not sure how that could be very profitable though.

[jpj]

sure, it's like bombing the boats on stage 4 isn't really *key* to a good score   :?

[Plasmo]

FINALLY I've figured out when the non fixed 1 Up item exactly appears. Read 3) under section 4.2. for more information!

[jpj]

ah, i already knew about this.  i think myself and icarus talked about the 2,500 number in one of the shmups threads.  thought you knew sorry  

[EOJ]

1) How did you get the precise number of 2500?

2)I don't see how this helps matters much, as without any visual counter you still have to just rely on "a lot of bullet-milking" on bosses and midbosses.

[jpj]

some japanese bloke counted it!  

it's on the japanese stg wiki site.

[Plasmo]

It was indeed news to me lol. I know that it doesn't really help you, but for me this bit was the last one i didn't fully understand about the game.

[Icarus]

some japanese bloke counted it!  
it's on the japanese stg wiki site.

Indeed. We (and a number of others) discussed the game system in one of the two main Pink Sweets threads at shmupsforum. When you think about it though, 2,500 sounds about right given the amount of actual milking and Shot destruction you have to do to trigger a variable Extend.

FYI, the STGWiki is here, for those interested.

[jpj]

have you experimented with an auto-B set-up yet icarus?

[Icarus]

have you experimented with an auto-B set-up yet icarus?

Haven't had the chance, since my time has been invested elsewhere. I might give it a look tonight as my Hori RAP allows me to set up B+, however I'll lose manual control over the Rose Hips temporarily with it.

By the way, I found another amusing bug in the game a while ago, accidentally. Even got it on video. Not sure how it happened, though.
I'll post it in the PCB glitches thread later.

[jpj]

if it's triggering infinite lives, i know that one too  

[Icarus]

if it's triggering infinite lives, i know that one too  

Not quite what I was referring to.

[jpj]

what is it sorry?  (i don't have the necessary codecs on this pc for .avi files)

[Plasmo]

It shows the demonstration but theres no player craft...Weird stuff.

[EOJ]

The part in Plasmo's guide about destroying enemies with the rose cracker lowering the hit counter by 1 must be wrong, as if you watch Galford's ST3 harder mode vid, he gets the last 1UP to appear by bombing a group of enemies - he never touches any with the shot. This would be impossible if the rose cracker only lowered the counter.

Also I found out the source of the 2500 number - a Japanese dude didn't count it, it was taken from an issue of Arcadia (who got the info from Cave).

[EOJ]

Some interesting info about the extra modes from Cave's official page for the game that I somehow overlooked until now:

-In HARDER mode the hitbox on your ship and the enemy bullets is smaller (ONLY in Harder mode).
-In EXTENDED mode the first loop is slightly harder than the normal game's 1st loop, and the 2nd loop is harder still, but it is different from HARDER mode.

Might want to add this info to your guide, Plasmo.

[EOJ]

More info on Extended mode:

The rank starts high in the second loop, but there are no suicide bullets like in Harder mode. The boss fights are harder. There's no TLB.

When you get into the second loop, your high score shows the stage as a number between 8 and 14. If you 2-ALL it, it shows 14 as your stage, with your score in Green.

Apparently the fixed 1up in stage 5 is not there in the first loop of Extended. Not sure about in the second loop.

[EOJ]

I watched Tsumanne's ST3 midboss vid with Lace again. I noticed he enters the midboss with 2 lives in stock (and 4.2mil). This could mean he only has 2 lives, or it could mean he triggered the infinite lives BEFORE the midboss. In the vid he gets to the midboss at an insane rank level, one higher than I've managed to experience even after holding rapid B through most of ST3. So now I'm wondering, maybe it is possible to trigger the infinite lives before the ST3 midboss. Maybe it's only possible with Lace though. If so, the rank would probably need to be jacked up in ST2, and I'm guessing the midboss would need to be milked there.

This would also help explain how YOS.K got 3.7mil by the end of ST2 in his 20mil run with Lace.

Thoughts?

[Gakidou]

Yeah, that sounds reasonable. By experimenting with using rapid B through the first half of the first stage, I've managed to consistently get the first variable extend on or right before the second midboss (using Shasta), with the rank still being managable. So I don't find it unlikely at all that you could get the first extend even earlier. Wasn't it you EOJ who managed to get the first extend from the first wave of enemies on the second stage? You can milk the second midboss for quite a lot of bullets (the large white ones mainly) even without raising the rank too much, so I don't think it's impossible that you could get as much as two variable extends on the second stage with high rank tactics (especially since the flying saucers the second boss releases also fire destructible bullets).

EDIT:
Also, Plasmo you should get a HRAP.

[EOJ]

My quest to trigger the infinite lives on default settings w/ Shasta (A) continues. I am making progress with the rank manipulation needed to trigger the 6th extend before the ST3 boss. The strategy I am using now is to hold rapid-B from the end of the ST2 boss fight until the fixed 1UP in ST3 (I let off here, destroy the tank, hold B a bit to get through the section with all the bullets firing at you), then I hold rapid B-again until the midboss fight, and let go of it after destroying the first two drones on the left side. If done correctly, I'll have jacked the rank up enough to where the bullet stream is the same as in Tsumanne's ST3 harder mode vid. Then I just have to milk the thing without dying. I've gotten one 1up off of it a few times, but I keep messing up the end.

Also, I always get the first extend right after the second ST2 midboss now. I milk his destructible bullets for 4 turns.