Takumaji said:
So, there are the winged multipliers, and you get multiple points for chain-killing enemy ships with the charge shot + points for the bonus objects/gems or whatever they are. Anything else that I've missed?
When playing for score, the BONUS items are the most important. Charge-up chain combos are of course the most efficient way to kill small enemies, and letting the winged multipliers build up can be very lucrative in a couple situations (like on Stage 3). But overall, it's the Bonus items that are the most crucial for getting high scores. It starts out small at 300, but as you keep picking up the items, it will steadily build until it reaches a maximum value of 81560 (and I don't know the significance of this number either). Once you're getting 81k a pop for each one, you can get crazy scores in the later stages... if you can survive that is
Basically, you want to destroy as much stuff as possible to increase the chances of more bonus items appearing. For instance, some enemies release destructable bullets/missiles if you wait a couple seconds. You don't want to destroy them prematurely before they have a chance to release the bullets/missiles, so let them put them out on the screen and then rapidly press A for Windina's wide angle shot (or whoever you're using).
About the ships, so far I'm in the 1.5 to 2 mil. score region using second Dino (the one with the unit). I tried Windina, but other than the bullet deflection and the wide range, what exactly makes it so good? What's more, I find it much easier to chain multipliers with the straight R Type-esque Dino charge shot. The mines of the Windina charge are quite cool, but I haven't found a good way to use them yet.
Well, the Windina is excellent because of its versatility. The wide shot when the screen is covered with enemies, and then with bosses you can charge in and unload all those shots at close-range for huge damage too. And it really can wipe out the bosses quickly... the only real problem with the ship (besides the awkward charge shot, best way to use that is to go above/below the enemies you want to chain and then release it) is that the ship is rather slow.
the DINO246 is great for survival purposes since it has the shield in the front, but it's attacking power is so weak. I dabble in the Aryustaitailntalam (whatever) from tmie to time, since it can rack up points faster than any other ship... but again, it SUCKS against bosses, or when the screen is covered with enemies.
Lastly, what are your scores for the single levels? And, does the boss time affect your score, or is that just statistics?
I don't have my exact score breakdowns handy, but... it's probably pretty close to what MNK posted above. The first two levels aren't very high-scoring, but it's on Stage 3 where things start to turn around. If you've been doing enough "leeching", you'll be able to get Bonus up to 81560 in Stage 3. The boss time bonuses pale in comparison to the amount of points you can get through Bonus.
500-600k isn't too unreasonable for Stage 1, but here's what you need to do - when you get to the boss, blow the top half of it off (the turret), and then leave the bottom half alone. It will then start a bullet pattern up while firing homing missiles from the right side. Concentrate all your shots on taking down the homing missiles. You want to destroy as many missiles as possible to make more Bonus items appear. Then once the timer gets down to 10 or 15 seconds, start shooting the boss to destroy it. Ultimately though, it's not your score after the first stage that's important - it's the Bonus value. I can't seem to remember what I would have the value at on an average game, though.
Someday I'm really going to have to sit down and learn Stage 6. I've never gotten past it on a single credit, it's too crazy.