Battle Garegga [PS4] - Arcade 1CC, Silver Sword, Score: A,972,280 points

Well, this clear is quite a milestone for me. It is the first time I have cleared with Silver Sword and my first letter score.

What really ties this run together are good fights against Mad Ball and Mad Ball mk2. The latter is actually tricky to line up because if rank is too high than it will have too much health for me to be able to destroy the outer ring with bombs, so I'm happy I was able to nail it here. This is currently the only part of the game during which I am actually concerned about rank, which I think is rather funny considering how much hubbub that mechanic gets.

I was basically guaranteed to medal drop once homing was activated earlier than I wanted at the start of Stage 6, although I did almost save the chain. I tried rebuilding it and actually got back to max value medals before immediately dropping again and shifting into a more survival-oriented mode. I haven't yet spent very much time optimizing Stage 6 for score, so I decided to stick with the strats I knew from experience with other ships even though they are much lower scoring.

I think bombing the shrapnel on King Crimson in Stage 7 was very wise, although I had never even considered doing so in any other context. This got me ~440k alone and gave me an extra extend for the last bosses. Bomb for a life is a very good trade.

My fights against Black Heart mk2 and Glow Squid speak for themselves.


If you would like to learn more about Battle Garegga and its mechanics, there is a good deal of useful information and tips on the Shmups wiki: https://shmups.wiki/library/Battle_Ga...

I highly recommend checking this game out. It's very fun!