Pink Sweets [Strategy guide]

[EOJ]

I keep reading Pink Sweets threads archived from 2ch. One interesting tidbit I found is a guy who said he got a 10mil ALL with Midi/Meidi without the infinite lives trick. So it is possible to get a high score ALL without the trick.

[jpj]

if only galford would release that video (or any of the other top players for that matter)  

[EOJ]

One thing Galford mentioned on his blog, which may be of interest, is that he basically doesn't use the shot at all on ST5 because the rank is so high. So I guess you need to bomb your way through the level.

[Plasmo]

Just got an awesome idea: dont press any button at all in stage 5. you lose some points but the rank will stay manageable I THINK. I really have to start playing PS again.

[EOJ]

I don't know how well that work would with those homing lasers. You'd have to do a bomb from time to time.

I'm starting to think that getting 5 extends by ST4, then getting the fixed 1up in ST5 may be an easier way to get the infinite lives. I nearly got through ST4 without dying in my last run, and it was pretty much at max rank. There is so much slowdown on those snakes and trains if you use Lace with a special power up, it's really not too hard. You can get through the tricky parts with a bomb as well.

I'd just have to practice a safe path through ST5, perhaps just holding B most of the time, and bombing when necessary, but still taking out all those towers.

[Plasmo]

completely forgot about those damn homings....stage 5 is such a nightmare

[jpj]

what did galford say again about part of good scoring involving exploiting your abilities after a death?

and is it worth firing an email off to the gamebox2 website for a copy of galford's dvd?  (as i take it this is where it was recorded, and he said something about giving his friends copies)

[EOJ]

what did galford say again about part of good scoring involving exploiting your abilities after a death?

That was YOS.K in Arcadia, not Galford. He was pretty vague about it.

I guess an email to Gamebox2 wouldn't hurt, but I doubt you'll get a reply.

[jpj]

after thinking about it, i thought maybe it was just the infinite lives trick he meant, and he worded it badly or whatever.  ie "i exploit the technique to carry on after a death" or similar.

i may bug someone on gamebox2.  hopefully they're unscrupulous  

[EOJ]

So, I'm playing a lot of Pink Sweets these days, for some weird reason. I nearly triggered the infinite lives with Kasumi today, which gave new life to the game.

I have been looking back on old 2Ch PS threads again, and noticed some interesting stuff. First, one guy got 16mil without the infinite lives. So it seems you don't need the infinite lives to score high - you just need skills. Also, GER's high score on his Stage 5 lace scoring run was a C score/12mil (not a clear), which is also pretty damn good for a non-infinite lives score.

It's clear that there are a lot of hidden scoring tricks in the game that we aren't aware of yet. Most, I think, are based on using the rose cracker on certain enemies. I described how you can get 600,000+ using the rose cracker on the ST7 midboss, for example. The ST 6 boss's lightening attack is another clear example of how the rose cracker can net huge points. A final example is the swarm of ships at the very end of stage 2 - use the rose cracker on them and each one is worth 2000 points. There must be more stuff like this if people are getting 16-20mil in the game.

[Plasmo]

Interesting stuff EOJ! Too bad I sold my PCB but without an autofire stick it wouldn't be possible to improve my score anyway...
Clearing the game without the infinite lives bug AND getting 16mill is unbelieveably impressive. It's fair to say that it's nearly impossible and probably on par with a 2-ALL DOJ.
I always had no lives in stock, didn't use my rosecracker at all and tried to keep my rank low, but it's not possible. Clearing stage 5 is VERY difficult and once you enter stage 6 you're just hitting a wall.
I don't get this game and have officially given up. :oops:
Try some non infinite live bug credits if you want a great challenge! I can imagine that it would be pretty boring if you have infinite lives. Just suicide 30 times on each boss to lower the rank to 0 again and it shouldn't be too hard to get 14mill at least.
Oh how I wish there would be a proper superplay.....

[EOJ]

I don't think the 16mil is on par with a DOJ 2-ALL - this guy got that score in May 2006, about a month after the game was released.

So far, scouring the 2Ch PS thread archives, I've discovered quite a few people who have cleared the game without infinite lives, the most impressive being the 16mil w/ Lace, and the 10mil with Midi/Meidi. I'll keep looking (it's a lot to sift through) and post more details when I find them.

PS-it's not a bug!

[Plasmo]

Well then try it yourself.
The problem is that you can't lower your rank at all during stage 6 (you only get one/two lives) and you need to be fully powered up and even need to use the rose cracker from time to time if you want to destroy the enemies and get the medals.
Clearing the game with 5-6mill and completely ignoring all items like in GER's replays is the only easy way to clear the game without infinite lives.

[EOJ]

I didn't say it was easy. But it took the Japanese like 6 months to 2-ALL DOJ. The Lace score took under a month. I'm just saying they're not comparable.

I just found a funny post on 2Ch, where a guy rates what each class of player can do in this game:

Beginner - Stage 4
Average - Stage 5
Pro - Infinite lives triggered
Freak - Clear without infinite lives

[Plasmo]

I'm just saying they're not comparable.wink

You're probably right, comparing Cave and Raizing like games is not the best idea...
At least we can safely assume that it's the most difficult Raizing game.

[EOJ]

Okay, just found a guy back on June 2006 who posted details about his Midi/Meidi ALL without the infinite lives on 2Ch. He apparently played for score and medalled throughout. His advice:

-For stages 1-6, keep your default 2 lives, and try not to die. Let ALL the 1UPs fall down off the screen. This keeps the rank stable throughout the game, moreso than suiciding. He only died twice in Stage 6's laser/snake hell section.
-For stage 7, try and suicide 4 times before the midboss to lower the rank for the midboss and last boss fights.

The following are listed in order of rank reduction:

Letting a 1UP fall off the screen: Large reduction
Continuing: Medium reduction
Suiciding: Small reduction

[Plasmo]

Lol I didn't know that the effect of suiciding was that small. Maybe I was playing PS the wrong way for the whole time...

[jpj]

EOJ, is there any interesting info on galford's message board?  also, i'm wondering if i should try bribing him again

[EOJ]

There are some tidbits on Galford's page, but nothing too interesting, iirc. I'll have another look.

My newest 2Ch archive finding is a guy who cleared the first loop of Extended mode without the infinite lives, but his game ended in the second loop on the stage 1 midboss. He said there were so many destructible bullets on the screen he couldn't avoid them, and his game ended here. He thinks it's absolutely impossible to 2-ALL the game without the infinite lives.

Keep in mind the Extended first loop is harder than Normal mode.

[EOJ]

Here's my quick guide to getting the Infinite lives by the start of Stage 4, using rapid B:

-Keep your A shot at #10 throughout. Pick up the rose hips at the start, but keep them on the back. Get a Special Power up at the start of Stage 1, collect all medals and items, only avoiding those power ups that change your shot to wide or rapid, if you want to stick with what you have. You should stick with rapid (straight) with Shasta, and never change. Milk the stage 1 midboss's and boss's destructible bullets as much as possible to raise your hit counter.

-Milk the stage 2 midboss for 4 turns. You have to get lucky here, if you get one or more turns without destructible bullets, it'll be hard to get the 1UP right after. You have to hope you'll get 1 or 2 turns where both arms are firing destructible bullets. Stay on the left or right the screen destroying the bullets, while avoiding damage to the body. destroy the midboss at the 4th or 5th turn. The 1UP should pop out of one of the enemies right after.

-Milk the Stage 2 boss if you want. Not necessary for the infinite lives, but it helps your score a bit. When the boss starts its final phase, hold rapid B (@30hz) until you destroy it. Continuing holding it to the start of stage 3.

-Keep holding rapid B in stage 3 during the first 4 waves of enemies, then let off and put your options forward, while using your shot. Watch Galford's harder mode stage 3 video. Duplicate his run, bombing the tanks in the same way. This helps raise the rank to the level we need for the midboss. After the fixed 1UP pops out of the tank, hold Rapid B until the start of the midboss fight.

-At the midboss, let go of rapid B before the boss starts firing, then destroy the two drones on the left. Keep your rose hips forward, and milk the bullets exactly the same way as on Galford's vid. If you do it perfectly, you'll get 1 UP on a drone, then another immediately after midboss fight. Otherwise you will have to milk the stage 3 boss a bit, and hope a 1UP pops out on one of the bombs. If it does not pop out on the bombs, it should pop out at the very start of stage 4.

That's it! Shasta is the easiest. Lace is harder due to the space between her shots, as when there are a lot of destructible bullets she can die easily if you're not careful. The stage 3 boss milking is easier with Lace, however, so it's a tradeoff.

Hope that helps! Looking forward to some other players getting the infinite lives triggered soon.

[jpj]

thanks  

[jpj]

still trying to figure out what the hell people are milking on score attack stage...

plasmo, with the 2nd midboss, do you mean killing him and tose red orbs with the shot?  with shot or bomb, i never really got much points from there (with kasumi).  and using bombs, you kill him much quicker..   

the guy on gamebox2 playing SA mode with kasumi (AB) had 8.8 mill  that's the same as galford's score he recorded to dvd with lace.  he must've made about 5 mill from the level, if not more.  best i can do with kasumi is maybe 3+.  i just can't see where the hell these extra 2 mill come from.  he doesn't state if he's using auto-B but i'm assuming he does

[jpj]

sorry, it was 8.7 mill with kasumi.

here's an interesting list of records for pink sweets from the french forum

YOS.K ? Normal Mode - Lace ? 20.614.480
Galford ? Normal Mode ? Shasta ? 19.816.910
ポン酢シャワー ? Normal Mode - Midi&Meidi ? 14.499.610
Nakano Ryuuzou (中野龍三) ? Normal Mode ? Kasumi - 14.327.490
AFO ? Harder Mode - Lace - 21.059.020
CHA - Extended Mode - ? - 34.069.890
DGN ? Score Attack ? Lace - 10.251.870

Score game center Game Box Q2 (nagoya):
Score attack mode / 9,462,910 / 逸般人GAL＠思い出はおくせんまん / ALL (16/07/07)
Score attack mode / 8,870,670 / 逸般人GAL / ALL (15/04/07)
Normal mode (Shasta) / 19,816,910 / 1プレイ80分（笑）通りすがりの逸般人 / ALL (21/01/07)
Normal mode (Shasta) / 17,927,260 / 通りすがりの逸般人 / ALL (17/12/06)
Normal mode (Shasta) / 16,487,860 / ↑↑↓↓←→←→ABS / ALL　(19/11/06)
Normal mode (Gloire de Midi&Meidi) / 14,499,610 / ポン酢シャワー / ALL (15/10/06)
Harder mode (Shasta) / 12,054,630 / 通りすがりの逸般人 / ALL (15/10/06)
Harder mode (Shasta) / 4,189,520 / 残機無限バグは集計上問題なしですか？ / Stage5 (20/08/06)
Normal mode (Gloire de midi&Meidi) / 10,565,980 / ローズヒップティをおいしく味わう会会長 / ALL (20/08/06)　
Harder mode (Shasta) / 3,900,250 / バナナスパサンニンマエ / Stage 5 17/07/06)
Score attack mode (Kasumi) / 8,700,580 / モモコマチニコイリ / ALL (17/07/06)
Score attack mode (Gloire de midi&Meidi) / 5,426,750 / 山奥からの使者 / ALL　(18/06/06)
Score attack mode (Kasumi) / 6,224,090 / 雷ゲーの予感 / ALL　(21/05/06)

[Plasmo]

plasmo, with the 2nd midboss, do you mean killing him and tose red orbs with the shot?  with shot or bomb, i never really got much points from there (with kasumi).  and using bombs, you kill him much quicker..   

You really need to learn to play with Lace. Your score should skyrocket by a few million points and you should get farther with her. She's not only the highest scoring character, but also the best one overall. I milk the midboss with Lace's shot and get a few hundred thousand points from him with just shooting him. The good thing is, that you can't destroy him with your shot but nevertheless milk him, that's why I think that the secret about the high scores maybe is this midboss.

[jpj]

you are right, i should use lace.  but i'm confused that the kasumi score is also so high.  i tried milking with shot for kasumi, and milking the destructable bullets as well.  and in 1 minute, i got a huuuuge 60k 

i don't know, i still think to have over 6 mill during the stage there is something important we are missing.  and if it's tied into driving the rank up with auto-B, it would be something to do with either more bullets, or more hit points.

looking at that list above, there are *two* world record holders in gamebox2    maybe i just need to find a contact in nagoya 

with you, EOJ, and icarus having sold your boards, it's tough staying interested    i will try some runs with lace though 

also, did anyone elaborate further on the secret menu?  is it pressing the test button whilst holding down A+B+C ...?

[EOJ]

Icarus sold his too? I thought he'd hold on to it.

I may buy the game again. I've owned like 4 or 5 of them over the past 2 years.

As for score attack, I think it's just higher rank = more hit points = more points. The problem is you can't really die, at least not until the snakes. Galford died twice in the snakes in his 8.8mil run, iirc.

I wonder if holding rapid B from the start, and NOT killing things quickly (until the first midboss or so) might be helpful. This would let you raise the rank higher before the midbosses, which might let you milk more points off them. You'd lose a bit of time in the beginning, but the score gains in the second half of the stage would make up for it. Something worth trying, I'd think.

[jpj]

sold it to kiken, i believe.

trouble with that is running out of time before you get the pay-off sections.  at the moment, i'm just experimenting with anything and everything, but always keeping an eye on the score counter to see if anything rapidly bumps it up    that's how i found out about the lightning   

i'm also gonna try for the infinite lives by stage 3 with shasta.  i just got a variable extend on the last wave of enemies on stage 2    but it's been so long since i played it that i need to get back in the flow.  had about 20 runs where something somewhere always goes wrong..   

[EOJ]

sold it to kiken, i believe.

Ah, then he probably still has the game. He only sold it to Kiken because he bought another kit in better condition. 

I found Normal Mode to be more entertaining than Score attack, so that's what I mainly played. Good luck at it.

[Plasmo]

Pink Sweets Highscore History

(08.2006)
Arcade:
15,932,380 - Lace - 中野龍三

(09.2006)
Arcade:
17,434,530 - Lace - 中野龍三


***from 10.2006 onwards, Arcadia started to list Arcade mode scores for each character seperately and also accepted scores for Score Attack, Harder and Extended.***


(10.2006)
Arcade:
14,327,490 - Kasumi - 中野龍三
15,223,780 - Shasta - 中野龍三
13,491,320 - Meidi&Midi - 中野龍三
18,932,690 - Lace - 中野龍三

Harder:
3,900,250 - (Stage 5) - バナナスパサンニンマエ

Extended:
18,164,810 - Shasta - プチてんしシャスタS

Score Attack:
8,700,580 - モモコマチニコイリ

(11.2006)
Arcade:
20,614,480 - Lace - YOS.K
14,355,010 - Meidi&Midi - 中野龍三
15,271,220 - Shasta - 裏行けず？そんなの認めませんわぁ～

Harder:
4,189,520 - (Stage 5) - 残機無限バグは集計上問題なしですか？

(12.2006)
Arcade:
16,065,870 - Shasta - あ！？あぶない！！

Harder:
13,981,500 - YOS.K

(01.2007)
Arcade:
17,142,180 - Shasta - DGN
14,499,610 - Meidi&Midi - ポン酢シャワー

Extended:
20,381,240 - プチてんし誰かやって下さい！ （><;）

(02.2007)
Arcade:
18,623,900 - Shasta - DGN

Extended:
23,496,290 - なかなかや

(03.2007)
Extended:
23,652,350 - 巧信神流＠ベル狭すぎ！！

Score Attack:
8,716,830 - DGN

(04.2007)
Arcade:
19,816,910 - Shasta - 1プレイ80分（笑）通りすがりの逸般人

(05.2007)
Extended:
25,422,210 - 巧信神流＠ベル狭すぎ！！

(07.2007)
Arcade:
16,538,810 - Kasumi - しょこたん

Extended:
34,069,890 - しょこたん

Score Attack:
8,870,670 - 逸般人GAL

(09.2007)
Score Attack:
9,735,850 - DGN

(10.2007)
Harder:
18,271,820 - AFO

(11.2007)
Harder:
18,513,380 - AFO

(01.2008)
Score Attack:
10,251,870 - DGN

(02.2008)
Harder:
21,059,020 - AFO

(04.2008)
Harder:
21,168,020 - AFO


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This is probably more something for the Cowboy hideout, but I decided to post it here. Maybe someone finds it interesting.

[jpj]

 

and WTF at those Harder Mode scores