I took a weekend to figure out how Money Idol Exchanger works, with some nice results. Getting your ass beat on the 3rd stage is the usual: it's the rule of most arcade games. But what makes En Arashizaki, the third opponent, so good? MIE is a counterattack game. Each character's strength is measured by how organized the lines you sent them will emerge on their side.
Let's say you manage to get a multiple chain, which will sent your opponent about 4 lines of coins. Now, if you send those lines to Lulula Franc, the second opponent, they will emerge on her side like this:
001 | 002 | 003 | 004 | 005 | 006 | 007
001 | 005 | 010 | 010 | 005 | 500 | 010
010 | 050 | 001 | 001 | 100 | 100 | 050
001 | 001 | 010 | 050 | 005 | 010 | 010
010 | 010 | 001 | 001 | 050 | 100 | 100
As you can see, they're totally disorganized.
But if you send them to Blibov Sakata, the second to last opponent and a fucking pain in the ass, the coins will appear like this:
001 | 002 | 003 | 004 | 005 | 006 | 007
001 | 100 | 100 | 010 | 005 | 050 | 010
001 | 100 | 100 | 010 | 001 | 010 | 005
001 | 050 | 005 | 010 | 001 | 010 | 005
001 | 050 | 005 | 010 | 001 | 010 | 010
Already neatly sorted for a big counter. The more lines you'll send him, the stronger he gets. It's Catch 22: In order to beat him, you'll have to sent him lines, the more lines you sent him, the quicker he'll beat you.
I further discovered, that the character AI is programmed to counter at a certain time. Even your first opponent, dummy Bill Bank, will eventually strike hard, if you give him enough time. Of course, the better your opponent, the quicker he'll strike. Blibov Sakata gives you about 5 seconds to do something, after that it's goodbye...
Another info: If you do good with all your opponents up to Seshil Pound (third to last), i.e. produce big chain bonuses & deliver a fast k.o., chances are high that you'll get two blue ER gems against Bibov, which is an immense help... if he doesn't get to use them first. You don't get two gems of the same kind on the final game against Note Bank. Just have to be good by then.
My AI tier list:
Bill Bank aka Coquetrybouncer > LOW
Lulula Franc aka Cherrybeiter > LOWEST
Arashizaki En aka Everyworker > MID-
Sakura Mitsukoshi aka Exchanger > MID+
Asahi Takashima aka Deptmiser > MID
Seshil Pound aka Eldylabor > HIGH
Sakata Blibov aka Mackermocally > HIGHEST
Note Bank aka Mightdealer > HIGH+
There's a small but palpable difference between Sakura and Asahi, so always pick Sakura, if you want to stay ahead.
Of course there are a lot of basic moves you'll have to learn first, like the advantage of 5er coins (5, 50 & 500) opposed to 1er (1, 10 & 100). You need only two of the former for an exchange, but five of the latter. Two 500s will vanish, try to use that fact. Further, if you are about to throw a 10 on top of four other 10s, you better make sure there's a 50 coin under or next to that column, so that the 10s, which will exchange into a 50, can chain-react afterwards. The Exchange consumes a second, so there's still enough time left to throw a 50 on top of that five exchanging 10s -- you just have to see where one is available with the outer corner of your eye
.
Final note: Always try to exchange your special ER & RU gems
horizontally, like this:
ER | ER
Not vertically, like this:
RU
RU
As you know, a green RU tile will rank up all coins of the same denomination, a blue ER title will erase all coins of the same value. If you exchange each of them horizontally,
both coin denominations underneath will be exchanged. If you do it vertically, you'll exchange only one.
