Trouble Witches

[RackGaki]

I played Trouble Witches at PAX2008, fell in love, and haven't put it down since. I heard about it beforehand, but never bothered picking it up. It's a fun horizontal shooter, but it starts to get difficult in the third stage, after being ridiculously easy in the first two stages.

Has anyone else played this game yet? It's PC requirements aren't too high, and despite resembling a cute 'em up, is quite entertaining. The scoring system is a blast to work with. I haven't got the hang of it quite yet - it's much easier to simply run and gun, rather than plan out the high score opportunities. At least until I get the layout of the level down.

[img]http://trouble_witches.mails.ne.jp/screen_shot/20070810_153752.jpg[/img][img]http://trouble_witches.mails.ne.jp/screen_shot/20070810_154715.jpg[/img]

[url]http://trouble_witches.mails.ne.jp/[/url]

If you like it, I would suggest going out on a limb and buying it - it's only $20 or so dollars at a few places online, plus you're supporting a non-Touhou doujin shooter. It's not like games of this quality simply grow on trees...

[HeavyMetalMe]

I wish these people would port these things to some PSP homebrew.

[WirelessFatPipe]

I've been googling for a discussion topic on this game. I just started playing this recently and have gotten hooked on it. I really like the games soundtrack too.

What I can't figure out is how to save replays. I never get the option to do so, even when I get a game over. I have version 1.13. Does anyone know how?

[RackGaki]

I'm glad I've found another fan of the game! Maybe I can finally have someone to trade high scores with - on 1cc, I've only managed 2219903 on medium difficulty.

However, it just occurred to me that I have been playing the original, unpatched version this whole time.

Well, while the patch is being downloaded, I also have to concede that I have never gotten the game to let me replay anything! I would love to save the replays, but the option hasn't come up for me, either. Maybe you have to beat the entire thing, eh?

So what's your favorite character? Yuuki is my preference so far; her shots may not have any spreading while your pet has an active shield, but she's quite fast. I try not to have the shield up too long since it slows me down - at least until I buy the shield upgrade at the shop.

It doesn't much matter anyways, since the game will be pretty different once I patch it. The patch changes it to reflect the 2008 arcade release.

[WirelessFatPipe]

With the 1.13 patch, there are four difficulties as opposed to the three from the un-patched version and I play the hardest one. I am trying to finish the game on one credit, but after last night I found out it was going to be much harder than I thought. When I lose all my lives I start over.

The Witches:

One thing I've noticed is the mp consumption and recovery rate is different between the witches you can select. BTW, with the latest patch the fourth char is selectable. Its the mid-boss you fight on stages 1, 3 and 5, who has a stuffed bunny as a pet.

Pri- She seems to be a solid char. Her attack power is good and she has a spread shot that doesn't cover too much range. Her mp consumption and recovery is decent as well. She seems to move rather slow however.

Aqua- Aqua attack power seems low, but her spread shot covers more range and she can hit more targets. This makes a huge difference on the hardest difficulty. Her mp consumption and recover is also decent. Shes slower than pri, I think and her attack power is lower than pri as well. Her pet however, is stronger than pri's.

Yuuki- She seems to be the hardest character to use. Her biggest weakness is that her mp consumption rate is fast. She can't maintain a shield as long as the other witches and the recovery of it is dead slow. Her shield is also smaller than the other witches. Her moving speed, makes up for this though, but you have to be really good at dodging. Her rapid shot is good and can mow down enemies quickly, but its not too strong.

Unlockable- I can't remember her name, but the last witch you can use is fairly strong. I think her mp consumption rate and recovery is slightly better than aqua's. She fires a rapid shot like Yuuki's, but its stronger and her pet's missile attack is powerful, because its hits continuously on impact.

Tips:

When you leave a shop, the game will be as is before you entered it. The bullets from the enemies are where they were and your shield is still up if you had it up. However, your mp is fully restored and your witch is invincible for a short duration. Good way to collect extra gold as well as reposition yourself and go through bullets with your momentary invincibility.

If you defeat a boss with a spell card before the spell card timer runs out, you can keep the spell card at the start of the next stage.

The "older" shop keeper if you ever meet her, likes it if you touch her breast. Don't touch the "younger" shop keeper's breast or she will cry.

High Score/Gold Guidelines. These are some ways to test your skill to see how good you're doing based off my high scores on the hardest difficulty using version 1.13. Not to say I'm the best player, but way better than those noobs on youtube playing on easy mode.

1st Stage cleared with: 60k+ Gold/1,800,000+ score/extra life before start of second stage. (buying five spell cards and mp potion)

2nd Stage cleared with: 120k+ Gold/3,800,000+score. (buying five spell cards)

These are the highest scores I've achieved on at least the first two stages. I cannot consistently get 60k gold at the end of the first stage, but usually average 50k+.

All I got for now.

[RackGaki]

With the 1.13 patch, there are four difficulties as opposed to the three from the un-patched version and I play the hardest one. I am trying to finish the game on one credit, but after last night I found out it was going to be much harder than I thought. When I lose all my lives I start over.

Played the first level on the default difficulty... this game is really coming alive! I love the changes. More enemies, faster, with more varied bullet patterns. Like many shoot 'em up players, I'm trying for the 1cc as well. Not going well, but I'll enjoy trying more with the new patch. Looking at your score and difficulty level, I've got some game to keep at!

I did notice that the potion to increase your magic has increased in price.

The "older" shop keeper if you ever meet her, likes it if you touch her breast. Don't touch the "younger" shop keeper's breast or she will cry.

Is there any bonuses or hindrances for groping their rack? I've never noticed any, but I haven't been looking for anything specific. I've only gotten the older shop keeper twice on the first time now... every other time was when she butted in screaming. I usually just used it as a more entertaining way to exit the shop screen.

[WirelessFatPipe]

I don't know what the benefit is of building friendship with either of the pumpkin sisters. It sure doesn't seem to lower the prices of the items, thats for certain.

Another tip is that your mp recovers faster when you're sitting still. Kinda hard to do at some points, but the difference in recovery between sitting and moving is big.

[RackGaki]

Well, I managed to get to level four, but I died before the boss. My second time playing the game after updating the patch, and my first serious run. This arcade version is much more fun! Night and day - the first three levels are worlds apart from their former selves.

Every level was shorter, but more manic. Somehow, slightly more manageable than before, though I can't put my finger on why. Every level seem cut in half, but with the same number of enemies. Level three ditched 75% of the icebergs, and consequently, became a cakewalk compared to before. Level four remedies this with a plethora of lava rocks... so it just moved the difficult level back one. Mind you, I'm still playing on the default difficulty, which is two lower than you are.

I played all this with the unlockable character, Sies. She doesn't have a single spread shot, but her attack is powerful and she's still fast enough to dodge things quite easily. I might use this character instead.

[WirelessFatPipe]

Well, I managed to get to level four, but I died before the boss. My second time playing the game after updating the patch, and my first serious run. This arcade version is much more fun! Night and day - the first three levels are worlds apart from their former selves.

Every level was shorter, but more manic. Somehow, slightly more manageable than before, though I can't put my finger on why. Every level seem cut in half, but with the same number of enemies. Level three ditched 75% of the icebergs, and consequently, became a cakewalk compared to before. Level four remedies this with a plethora of lava rocks... so it just moved the difficult level back one. Mind you, I'm still playing on the default difficulty, which is two lower than you are.

I played all this with the unlockable character, Chime. She doesn't have a single spread shot, but her attack is powerful and she's still fast enough to dodge things quite easily. I might use this character instead.

One of the changes I noticed, was the ice level. Before the update, I thought that was the longest stage in the game, but in 1.13 there are definitely less ice bergs and the stage is shorter.

The unlockable char is actually named Sies. Chime is the name of the first boss. Sies seems to be the best char in the game . Shes moves faster than Yuuki and her Magic Circle (bullet barrier) seems to be the biggest. She can also recover mp faster than any other witch and her mp consumption while having a MC up is low. Not to mention her pets missile attack, which eats away at enemies like the bubble spell card. Her only weakness is that she can't hit multiple targets at once.

Last night, I got 67k+ gold and almost got 2,000,000 points at the end of the first stage with her.

[RackGaki]

Fixed unlockables name. Don't know how I got that one mixed up.

To get that much gold + points at the end of the first stage is awesome. I can't score quite that high yet. Oh, it let me save a replay finally. I think the menu just popped right up when I died at the middle of the fourth stage, and I simply pressed the shot button and it saved it all. I would love to see what you are doing to score so high; I imagine that you convert nearly every bullet that's thrown at you.

I tried to watch a couple replays on youtube, and most of them seem to be from the original version. The new arcade is so much better.