Karian Cross -- 300.930 pts All Clear (1CC)

Info on the recording & special thanks are listed at the bottom! And yes, there is a graphical glitch in the emulation.
Don't miss the "particular" credits roll at the end, it's basic but there are some interesting lines...

This game is weird... not too much really, but I guess that's why I enjoy it more than a classic Puyo Puyo. The weird figures, some of the music tracks, names like Rancerot, winning & entry quotes... then you think "good heavens, only three colors for blocks! this is easier" and then you game over so quickly :V
For who doesn't have any idea of how even Puyo Puyo works, the rules are simple. Group 3 or more same color blocks together, to make them disappear. Any ice block that was adjacent to destroyed blocks, will melt and can be used to form other groups. Game is over when a block fills the cell of the first row, third column from left.

The key to victory is as usual to form chains of disappearing blocks, to send extra blocks to opponent. Different characters will provide different patterns of lines to send (top tier in this game i.m.o. are Warok and Lora - the best would be Rancerot if the player could pick him). In Karian Cross, though, things get complicated.
-Blocks are sent to enemy if you have no block ready to fall on your side. Otherwise, the chain you make gradually nullifies your block stack first.
-Groups of blocks destroyed on higher rows of the field cause extra blocks for the opponent.
-The blocks on your side won't fall if the enemy is still doing chain reactions and sending blocks. The CPU sometimes forgets it and, to know this may, save your game if you seem to be doomed, waiting for three non-ice blocks to start a chain.
-Clearing entirely your field will provide double damage to enemy on your next chain. Only the next one, not all of them. (See this in action on Stage 5)

How I managed to win this game - well, sadly the game isn't all that random. There are limited sequences of blocks that a level can have (should be 10 total sequences), which are repeated in the same order. The enemies order also isn't random. So for instance, if you always start a game immediately after the game re-boots, you will always face Sara as 1st enemy, and you will always get these blocks: red-red, green-red, blue-green, etc.
This video does not include a full loop of attract mode which was run before the actual replay. This delay in starting the game was intentional as it was almost impossible for me to beat Rancerot otherwise.

NOTES ON SCORING
-When the stage is clear and you win the 10.000 pts bonus, you may sometimes notice that you suddenly win more than 10K pts. It's okay, and there's no secret behind. The points counter is programmed to update your score 10 points every frame, 600 points every second. If you score a lot of points from chains, it may take a while for the counter to reach up with your actual score.
And then when you win a stage, the counter stops updating. If you stop while or immediately after a big chain, you will get this impression that you earned more points than what you should have.
-If you win against Rancerot and game is completed, the score you see before the ending is different from the score registered in Hall of Fame. That's also okay.
This well programmed game forgot to tell you that, as bonus, you win an extra amount of points equal to the total points made on last stage. :v


Recording details
Game: Karian Cross (Deniam, 1996)
Player: giro-X
Emulator: WolfMAME 0.197
Record date: 08/05/2018
Other info: 1CC, default settings, play time 617 seconds, Warok character used.

Special thanks to my friend JCK for making a video for me, as my PC is too weak in performances to record a video.
JCK also prepares and uploads many more interesting videos for Arcade Extreme Italian community at    / arcadeextreme  
and for another Italian arcade gaming community called MAME Retro Avengers (forum: https://www.mameretroavengers.com/ YT:    / mameretroavengers   ) of which I'm an active member.
Original input file can be found on MARP at http://replay.marpirc.net/r/karianx (The inputs are there for the only purpose of verification. You are not allowed to recreate a video on your own without my permission - which you won't have - or to use them for any other intention.)