Battle Garegga

RESTLESS LIMITER






1996 greets consensus with Battle Garegga, a Shoot'em Up statement by the 8ing and Raizing corporations. This title of considerable fame and well harvested notoriety introduces and sports quite a few unique traits, hardly seen anywhere else in the genre so far.

I think sober - yet mildly redundant - debate could be formed whether to regard Battle Garegga as a classic Shoot'em Up delivery OR a Manic Shooter similar to the great Gap Finder DoDonPachi, and here is why: Battle Garegga can be played in a way to make it as Manic as you have ever seen - yet you will want to handle this baby with great care and respect instead, because, believe you me, Battle Garegga will destruct human butt mercilessly once the organ in question starts to think that the Sun shines out of it.

Enjoy and Read on!




The game offers and dictates a pleasant initial pace, one which by it's easy to get carried away and render rampant destruction. As you will soon see: rampant destruction is something you will likely want to avoid in this game, though. As for the basic elements and circumstances Battle Garegga brings to the table, there are four selectable ships coming to you in multiple variants, each sporting a different kind of Secondary Punishment capability.

Collectibles can give you both multiple levels of Options - mobile devices to offer supportive fire - and heavily concealed access for weapons of manic mayhem and inherent, good old scenery destruction of acceptably sentimental qualities. All Stages do come to their respective Conclusions via well presented Boss fights, yet these face-offs are supersensitive to the performance of the player who just arrived to take part in them. Indeed, Battle Garegga is Highly Responsive to Players, as we will see.



The game offers a whole lot to destruct both in scenery and in hostile incoming vehicles, yet, once you give in to your secretive (?) weapon psycho, our notorious subject matter Battle Garegga will persistently inquire if you happen to have yet another trick up your sleeve. The output is not too shy at all, not when concerning the edge of its questions, not when we witness the arsenal it offers. Atop the evident ability of upgrading your initial equipment to messengers of senseless anger and/or incomprehensible armor penetration, your Secondary weapons will be collected as invokable Maximum Bursts of the corresponding weapon type. Was that a "huh?" for you? Nothing too difficult, really: once you collect a certain number of Bomb icons, those little images will turn into a Big-A*s bomb which will give you the aforementioned Maximum Burst upon release. In case you decide to stack your Secondary Verdict for a while, you can go for yet another of the Big Bombs/Maximum Bursts, simply by collecting Bomb icons further on. As for the Optional devices: there can be a maximum of four of those around you, but you can organize them into different, nifty formations via the third button. Battle Garegga has some secret formations - invokable and collectible when certain conditions are fulfilled, see Below - in store for us, as well.

Question quickly becomes evident: why not deconstruct all that can be deconstructed? The answer comes to us via Battle Garegga's invisible, yet ever-present Rank system. As a secretive, silent, yet painfully aware mathematical entity, this algorhythm is your worst, even worstest rival in the game. The Rank system keeps track of pretty much all aspects the output invites you to explore or to rely on. How much you shoot? How powerful your shots are? How often you release your Secondary weapons? Or, do you prefer to STACK them? How many Options you keep around your ship?



All these questions, and many more are being eagerly monitorized by Battle Garegga, in fact, the Rank gets higher with each shots you release, even better/worse: with each frame (!) you survive. If your perform masterfully, a point will come, from which on Garegga will hate your guts quite passionately and will punish it by exhibiting near-impossible challenges. The solution is to keep the Rank system from increasing beyond manageable challenges, yet the most effective method for this is to die. Whether on purpose, or by - bleheh - accident. The less life you have in stock, once your butt is fried: the greater the decrease in the Rank will be. As such, Extra lives are evident musts to go for, yet you should be aware that different regional variants of the game deliver Extra lives at different Score requirements.

Minor, nevertheless important methods are existent to keep the Rank system at relative, yet much needed peace. As a general rule, you don't necessarily want to destruct all, you don't want to shoot the naked air, you don't want to collect all Power Ups, especially not if they no longer mean instant benefit to you beyond Points. Though Autofire is available, it is something Battle Garegga is especially fond of being enraged at. You can program the Autofire, by the way: buffer in some crazy-ass shots, and your Autofire will remember the rate you stated. Keep in mind though that the game hates this classic function, and will start punish you thoroughly if you decide to rely on it constantly, trust me.



Medals and Options do play a significant role in the game, too. What was stated concerning destruction, enjoys its merits concerning collectibles. You don't want to rush on all stuff that is present on the screen at any given time - especially not incoming shots. Sorry, not all jokes do need to work, otherwise, how could we appreciate one which is capable to? Be aware that letting certain collectibles to get away will grant access either to items of more significant scores, or to more versatile tools of magnificent mayhem.

Since this particular subsystem AND the Rank method at the core are rather complex and sophisticated elements, I would urge you to consult the massively thorough, pretty much scientifically detailed Guide I gratefully deliver at the bottom. The Rank method also makes a rather unique experience out of this charming delicacy, offering a gameplay that invites you to implement strategy beside the natural readiness of Gap Seeking and to render a trusty, steady period of Proper Eradication. Question no longer is if you can utilize all tools to dominate the game - question is if you can utilize proper tools to stay alive in the game.

Battle Garegga invites, and, later on, even demands a different approach than most shmups do popularize, yet it delivers its unique experience by speaking the consensus dialect you, as Player, will be thoroughly grateful for and familiar with. Oh, the One and Only Sentence you absolutely MUST write down when you offer an opinion about Battle Garegga: it is hard to differentiate hostile projectiles from resultant junks and debris! Wow. What an acurate observation. Indeed it is. Yes. No doubt. A part of the game, you know. All in all, Battle Garegga weights in as evident, brave classic, inviting you timelessly to show it your awesometacular one credit run.



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