Mushihime-sama Maniac & Ultra modes: fundamentals of scoring
1.0 Fundamentals of the game
1.1 Buttons
A: shot button, fires your main shot and lasers. Holding it down shows your hitbox, which is very useful in some of the tight spots in the game. You also slow you down when you hold this button.
B: Bomb.
C: Fullauto. Holding this allows you to have your shot and lasers fire and still move at full speed, but the downside is you do not get your hitbox highlighted nor the speed decrease which is helpful in navigating some of the complex bullet patterns. Still, this is the most useful button in chaining the stages.
1.2 Optional rapid fire buttons
A+: rapid shot.
C+: rapid fullauto.
1.3 Counters
You have three counters:
1)Overall counter (shown in the upper left for 1P and the upper right for 2P),
2)Shot counter (shown on top of the enemy you are firing at), and
3)Laser counters (shown when your lasers are hitting an enemy, in a smaller font size than the shot counter. One for each 'option' you currently have).
Basically, you want to increase your overall counter whenever possible, as it acts as a multiplier (enemy's base score value x multiplier=points received) and like any game you want that multiplier as high as possible. Also, when you can't increase it, you want to be able to at least maintain it at a steady level. These two principals (increasing and maintaining the counters) must be adhered to in order to score well in this game. The techniques described in section 2.0 enable you to do just that.
1.4 Powers
M-power, W-power, S-power. More to come later...
1.5 Options
Trace and formation. More to come later...
2.0 Fundamentals of the scoring system
2.1 Tapping techniques
2.1.1 SAT: Slow A Tapping
This is a very important and simple technique (and also the most poorly understood and overlooked one by Western players) which should be used from the beginning of midboss fights and any other large enemy with a good deal of health whose death should be prolonged in order to maintain the chain and boost the shot counter. Basically, by tapping A slowly (2-4 times per second. Tap 2 tps if you are closer and 3 or 4 tps if you are farther away) you increase the overall counter by adding the values of the laser counters to the shot counter each time you tap A. The shot counter flashes red as you do this, it drops a little each time but then rockets up higher. The longer you do it, the larger the increments of the jumps become, due to the values of the laser counters increasing over time. This technique is very useful as it increases the overall counter much faster than by just holding A or C, while allowing your laser counters to increase at their normal rate. Contrary to popular belief, this method does not make your laser counters increase faster. Also, if you tap A too fast, it will not work, as you won?t get the red flash and thus the laser counter values will not be added to the shot counter with each successive press of A. You can use an A+ (rapid shot) setting of 14 or 15 on the PS2 version if you like, but it?s more useful to do it yourself and save the A+ setting for the HCTA powershot (described below). Unfortunately, your hitbox does not show during SAT.
2.1.2 FCT: Fast C Tapping
Tap C as fast as possible (which is 5-7 times per second for humans), and 10hz (C+ (rapid fullauto) setting 2 on PS2) for rapid fire settings. This should be used most often on midbosses, on the nanabushes of Stage 2, and in segments of Stage 3 after using SAT (or in some cases, just holding C). In any case to get the most out of it you need your laser counters to be at a high value (usually 600+ each). Just like SAT, this adds the values of the laser counters to the shot counter to increase the overall counter. There is a red flash in most instances (unless you're on top of the enemy and tap C very fast), but due to your fast tapping frequency you don't have the same drop in the counter as with SAT, so the overall counter increases at an extremely fast rate. The downside is the laser counters turn red and start rapidly decreasing when you start this method, as your lasers stop firing anytime you tap C. So, this acts as the exact opposite of SAT in that the increments of the jumps on the overall counter get smaller as time goes on.
2.1.3 MFCT: Mid-Fast C Tapping
The only time this really needs to be used is on the stage 5 midboss (as FCT does not work there), and parts of stage 3 when you want to stop your lasers from firing in order to keep your chain going. Tap about 5 times per second, or use rapid fullauto (C+) setting 3 on the PS2 version.
2.1.4 SCT: Slow C Tapping
About 2-3 times per second. Same as MFCT but slower. Use it mainly on parts of stage 1 and 3 to keep your shot counter value steady. It shouldn?t be used on any midboss.
2.1.5 HCTA: Hold C and Tap A
Hold C and tap A as fast as you can, or if using rapid fire aim for A+ at 12hz- PS2 setting 4. This is the ?power shot?, it increases your overall counter slightly faster than by just holding C (but not nearly as fast as SAT or FCT) and it is more powerful than just holding A or C, so it takes down bosses and bigger enemies faster. But the main advantage score-wise is that it increases the shot counter on smaller enemies faster where SAT and FCT do not work. A very tiresome technique for those who do not use rapid fire settings. Very useful in any case on the bosses in the game, as it destroys them faster.
2.2 Proximity effects on scoring
2.2.1 The general proximity effect
Get as close as you can to enemies, especially large ones, right before and during their appearance on screen. Using HCTA while doing this increases your shot counter markedly, especially in Stage 5.
2.2.2 The proximity effect of laser counters during FCT
Using FCT while your option(s) are in direct contact with the enemy you are firing at (as in the nanabushes in Stage 2 and the Stage 2 midboss fight using the formation option) actually enables the laser counters to continue to increase during FCT rather than decrease, which when used properly can have significant effects on your score. [Thanks to maco for this info!]
