The hidden secrets of the Pink Sweets infinite lives trick

Started by Muchi Muchi Spork, March 24, 2018, 02:48:44 PM

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Muchi Muchi Spork

The hidden secrets of the Pink Sweets infinite lives trick
Version 1.1 | Mar. 26, 2018


This discussion assumes you already have a basic understanding of the game. To review key points about the trick, when you get the 4th 1UP without having died, it triggers the infinite lives trick. When you destroy 2500 enemies or destructive bullets with your main shot, the next item release is a 1UP and there are also some fixed ones. There is one fixed 1UP in the middle of stage 3 when you cripple a tank's wheels and then another at the end of stage 5 if you destroy all 12 towers and then there a couple in stage 7.

If you play the game trying to trigger the trick by blindly milking all you can without having a thorough understanding of what I'm about to teach you, your best case scenario will most likely be looking to trigger infinite lives at the end of a high ranked Nightmare at the 12 Towers in stage 5. What you want to do ideally is trigger the trick much earlier - right after the stage 3 midboss.

If you turn on the 7th C menu in special mode (hold A and B and hit the service button to get to special mode, start a game, then hold down C and press up 7 times) you can see the hit counter for 1UP releases which is hidden when you play the game in its normal mode. The middle right set of 6 hex values is the 2500 counter for them (2500 is 9C4 in hex). You can see it circled in green in this picture.



When it passes 9C4 (2500 DEC) and then you hit an enemy that does an item release, it will release a 1UP and the counter resets (note that in the XX version of the game the number is 3000 DEC instead of 2500).

Here is how the counter works:
- raises toward the 2500 DEC when you kill enemies/destructible bullets with your normal shots
- does nothing when you kill enemies/destructible bullets with your rose hips
- lowers when you kill enemies/destructible bullets with your rose cracker

Here's a big problem: The counter doesn't just release a 1UP and roll over after 9C4, it rolls over only after a 1UP is released when you kill an enemy that is an item releaser. So whatever amount you milk the counter up past 9C4 before killing an enemy that releases items is a waste/loss. You can even pass what should rightfully be 2 1UP release markers (5000 hits) before an item gets released, and if you do, you basically get screwed out of 1 of the 1UPs you are owed - only 1 is released.

This happens naturally on the stage 3 midboss. You kill off all the drones then he starts the massive end spray. Then during this final spray you pass what should be 2 1UP markers - 9C4 (2500) and 1388 (5000 hits) on the counter but only 1 1UP comes up after you finish him off and kill an enemy swarm. The key is to time it to where you leave 1 drone until after you have passed 9C4 (2500), then kill the drone and get the 1UP, then milk the final spread a bit and kill him and you will get a second 1UP soon after which will trigger infinite lives if you have done everything correctly prior to it (milking enough to have gotten a 1UP in stage 2, built up your counter a decent amount before facing him, and getting the fixed one at the tanks in stage 3).

You can go into special mode and turn on invincibility (in dips turn player counts to invincible) and then go plan out a route to memorize to get proof of concept where you can see the counter and make sure the run would trigger infinite lives in normal mode if you did it without getting hit, then go make it happen in the normal mode and you've beaten the game. If you need to raise rank during practice, keep changing your ship speed quickly. If you want to see how close you are getting in areas to 1UP releases you can convert the hex with the programmer option in Windows Calculator.

Monouchi

Big thanks for this info Spork. Im just getting ready to dive into Pink Sweets gameplay.  :)

EOJ

I posted my method of getting the infinite lives (before ST4) on June 16, 2008:

http://cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=66.msg3703#msg3703

I thought it would be good to post a link to that here, because it is buried in the middle of the general PS strategy thread. In case it is of use to anyone!

PS: The video by Galford I mention several times in that link is available for viewing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2eXwDiMoPg
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