Battle Garegga (Europe / USA / Japan / Asia) (Sat Feb 3 1996) - MAME machine

Arcade Video game published 28 years ago:

Battle Garegga © 1996 Eighting / Raizing.

An excellent vertically shoot'em up.

TECHNICAL
Game ID: RA9503

Main CPU: Motorola 68000, Zilog Z80
Sound Chips: Yamaha YM2151, (2x) OKI6295

Screen orientation: Vertical
Video resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
Screen refresh: 60.00 Hz
Palette colors: 2048

Players: 2
Control: 8-way joystick
Buttons: 3
→ [A] Shot, [B] Special weapon, [C] Change formation

TRIVIA
Battle Garegga was released in February 1996. It was considered as the first 'Danmaku' shooting game. Danmaku is a Japanese term for 'barrage', as in a barrage of bullets.

The main source of inspiration for this game has been the game "Gun Frontier" (1990 ,Taito). The main gun and bomb power-up systems are almost identical in mechanics, many vehicles have the same attacking patterns, you can destroy scenery and there are flamingos flying away at stage 2 of both games:). Another interesting thing: "Batsugun" also was a source of inspiration for this game, as the last Toaplan game was one of the first SHMUPS in which bombing in key spots (4th boss) could grant a lot of points.

The game forbids the initials 'SEX' on the high score table. If you try, it gets changed to 'H!?'.

Shinseisha released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Battle Garegga - GV-027(4-88199-284-8)) on 30/09/1996.

UPDATES

• VER. Feb 1 1996:

First official version.

• VER. Sat Feb 3 1996:

Distributed in Japan, USA, Europe and Asia.

• VER. Sat Mar 2 1996:

The titlescreen says 'Battle Garegga - New version'.
Distributed in Austria and Hong Kong.
Most of the bullets are changed to yellow spheres.
'Stage select' and the 3 additional game-mode select secrets removed.

• VER. Tue Apr 2 1996:

The titlescreen says 'Battle Garegga - Type 2'.
Distributed in Denmark and China.
Most of the bullets are changed to yellow spheres.
'Stage select' and the 3 additional game-mode select secrets removed.

SCORING
Medals score: as long as you catch all medals of a wave, the increasing continues up to 10,000 points per medal. If you miss one, the next wave restarts at 100 points...
1: 100 points.
2: 200 points.
3: 300 points.
4: 400 points.
5: 500 points.
6: 600 points.
7: 700 points.
8: 800 points.
9: 900 points.
10: 1000 points.
11: 2000 points.
12: 3000 points.
13: 4000 points.
14: 5000 points.
15: 6000 points.
16: 7000 points.
17: 8000 points.
18: 9000 points.
19: 10000 points.

TIPS AND TRICKS

• Battle Garegga weapons:

1) Shot: to powerup your Shot, pick up small or big Shot powerups. The small powerups need to be collected in quantities: (1st) default > (2nd) 1 item > (3rd) 2 items > (4th) 4 items > (5th) 8 items

2) Special weapon: to get one full Weapon in stock, you must collect 40 SMALL Weapon bullets (or one BIG bullet), and you can hold a maximum of four full Weapons and 40 SMALL Weapon bullets. Whenever you die, you get a bonus of 20 SMALL Weapon bullets added to your current stock.

3) Options: there are five basic formations available which are controlled by pressing the "Change Formation" button. They are:

• Spread: two on each side of your ship, one fixed by your side firing at a wideish angle, and one fixed near your ship's nose, firing at a tighter angle. Overall firepower style similar to a fiveway spread.
• Tail: 4 pointing backwards in a wide fan shape, similar to a Silvergun's fully powered Tail shot.
• Front: 4 pointing straight forwards, fixed in front of your ship's nose. Good for concentrated attacks.
• Rotate: 4 Options spaced equally in a ring around your ship, spinning and firing when you do. Pretty useless.
• Trace: similar formation to Front, except they follow your ship around the screen, firing in the opposite direction to your movements. More useful than Rotate Wink

The order in which the Option formations are cycled are as follows. It is important to learn this order, as quick switching of formations is important to survival in many stages:
Spread > Tail > Front > Rotate > Trace > (back to Spread)
There are also secret formations, that are activated when you fulfill certain requirements. These requirements are based on missing a certain number and type of item BEFORE you pick up the next available Option icon, and also remember that it is a lot easier to set up for certain special formations than others:

• Search: these are fixed in a similar formation to Spread, but they track and fire at nearby enemies. It is quite hard to destroy faster moving drones with this formation, so if possible, avoid this and go for Homing instead. To get Search, miss 5 Option items, then pick up the next one that appears.
• Shadow: the Option items trail your ship much like the Gradius Options do. Useful if you like that sort of thing Wink. To get Shadow, miss 5 Medals, then pick up an Option item.
• Homing: the Options have full range of the screen, and will fly right up to the nearest enemy and attack. Very useful Very Happy. To get Homing, miss 5 SMALL Weapon bullets, then pick up an Option item.
• Wide: they are fixed in the same manner as the Spread formation, but have a much wider firing angle. To get Wide, miss 5 SMALL Shot power ups, then pick up an Option item.
• Chain: only available in two-player mode, the Options will create a chain between both ships. More Options beans a bigger chain Very Happy. To get Shadow, one player must satisfy a special formation condition, and the chances of Chain activating is 50%..

There is also a activation order for the special formations which takes effect if you satisfy two or more activation conditions. The order is:
Search > Shadow > Homing > Wide
You can also cancel a special formation by a press of the Option button. Canceling a special form puts you straight back into Spread options.

• Self Destruction: one other unlisted weapon you can use is the explosion and resulting scattered shrapnel released from your ship when it is destroyed. The power of the explosion itself isn't very powerful, but the shrapnel can cause moderate damage to larger enemies. For example, the four large tanks before the Stage 4 boss can have their turrets and tracks destroyed with a well placed suicide, which can set up for easier collection of the LARGE Weapon bullets they hold. The shrapnel released from your ship's explosion also nullifies bullets, so if you find yourself in a tricky situation with a few extra lives in stock, suicide one of them.
• Ship Selection: at the ship select screen...

1) To select a 'Normal power type' fighter, select your ship with A button
2) To select a 'Speed Up power type', select your ship with B button
3) To select a 'Shot power type', select your ship with C button
4) To select a 'Speed up & Shot power type', select your ship with A+B+C button.

• "Mahou Daisakusen" Character: insert a credit, at the title screen press Up(x2), Down(x2), Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, C, Start.
• Extended Mode: insert a credit, press and hold A and press Start (This code does not work with the type-2 version).
• Harder Mode: insert a credit, press and hold B and press Start (This code does not work with the type-2 version).
• Stage Edit: insert a credit, press and hold C and press Start (This code does not work with the type-2 version).
• Unlock Special mode (combines extended, stage edit and harder modes): insert a credit, press and hold A+B+C and press Start (this code does not work with the type-2 version).
• Hint: destroy bridges and buildings!! Use your smartbombs to destroy bridges and buildings. They often contain large numbers of score medals.

SERIES

• Battle Garegga (1996)
• Battle Bakraid (1999)

STAFF
Director: Kazuyuki Nakashima
Programming 68000 Side: Shinobu Yagawa, Yasunari Watanabe
Programming Z80 Side: Yuichi Ochiai
Graphics: Shinsuke Yamakawa, Mitsuakira Tatsuta
Sound effects: Manabu Namiki (Santaruru)
Test players: Mr. Daigoro, Marika F.

PORTS

• CONSOLES:

Sega Saturn (1998)

CONTRIBUTE
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