Battle Garegga/Stages

A significant part of scoring in Battle Garegga is knowing the many secrets and tricks throughout the stages and how to maximize their point yield. This page is intended to provide an overview of the seven stages in Battle Garegga and the many obstacles and secrets that a player will encounter while playing the game. It is segmented according to points of interest within the stages and includes some general advice on the scoring opportunities available.

With that said, there are a couple of things this page is not. This is not a walkthrough, and will not be providing specific routes for survival or scoring runs. For survival or character-specific scoring routes, see the Battle Garegga/Strategy page. It is also not a boss guide, since the bosses have lots of intricacies and character-specific considerations (See Battle Garegga/Bosses).

Despite all these restrictions, we hope this guide is still useful and provides a glimpse into what is possible in the game. Many of the things documented here can be safely ignored when playing for survival or a first clear. However, we still feel it is important for players of all skill levels to be aware of the many little optimizations that can be made since rank encourages even beginners to make at least a modest attempt to score in order to mitigate the game’s difficulty.

Stage 1 is a low-scoring stage. It is generally not very dangerous and serves mostly as an opportunity to power up and gather resources for key tricks in stage 2. However, fully optimizing stage 1 to maximize the resources gained can be quite tricky, although it is rarely necessary.

Opening bomb fragments

The first encounter in the game are three sets of idle tanks, a set of 12 on the right followed by a set of 10 on the left and a set of 8 on the right (30 total). Each tank drops a small weapon fragment when destroyed. Harvesting all 30 fragments requires efficient movement and an autofire rate of at least 10 Hz. If this is too hard, it is easiest to focus on the set of 12 tanks and 8 tanks on the right, ignoring as many left hand columns as necessary in order to ensure you have enough time to harvest fragments from the right hand tanks.

Minecarts

The minecarts encountered in the stage will stop moving if the cart in front of them is destroyed. Moving minecarts are guaranteed to drop small weapon fragments while stopped minecarts are guaranteed to drop option power ups.

• In addition, the minecart rails can be destroyed with a special weapon and will drop medals when destroyed.

Biplane

The biplane encountered after the first minecarts will contribute the normal item drop order if defeated normally. However, if instead you keep it alive and destroy it as it flees the top of the screen (about when the second crane turret is encountered) then the biplane is guaranteed to drop a secret large shot power up.

Stage 2 introduces the first major scoring tricks of the game. In addition, there are many minor yet tricky sections throughout the stage. Keeping a live medal chain throughout the stage can be a decent challenge, but is very lucrative for later sections of the game.

Gunblimp

The gunblimp enemy consists of a main body and two side blimps. Each side has four destructible turrets that are guaranteed to drop medals (8 total). A strategy for harvesting medals from the gunblimp is to commit suicide and point-blank the turrets on one side of the blimp while invincible after respawning. If done correctly, each medal will be instantly collected and thus one value higher than the previous medal. Fast characters such as Miyamoto can repeat this for the other side of the gunblimp and collect all eight medals. If attempting this, the following should be taken into account:

• Where and when you suicide is important. A consistent method is to suicide on the first spread wave from the gunblimp once it reaches the bottom of the screen (or slightly to the right of center).
• The popcorn enemies surrounding the gunblimp are liable to drop a medal when killed by the death shrapnel. This is a very common place for dropping a medal chain.
• Do not attempt this trick if you are on your last life, as this will lead to a game over.

Flamingos

Immediately after the gunblimp is a castle keep nestled in a forest on the left side of the screen. When hit by a special weapon, the keep will release a flock of pink flamingos that fly out in a cone above the keep. The flamingos award points on every frame they take damage, but the exact number that spawn and their flight paths are random. Damaging the flamingos can be very lucrative when done optimally. In general each ship wants to use all of their available special weapons on them, but the exact method differs per ship. However, all ships want to quickly destroy any turrets that spawn so they don’t interfere.

• Silver Sword wants to destroy the castle keep from close proximity when it is midscreen or slightly below, aiming the napalm up to overlap with the cone the birds fly in. Subsequent weapons should be deployed from slightly above where the road leaves the forest to maximize overlap between the napalm and the birds’ cone.
• Grasshopper wants to destroys the castle keep from below once it passes midscreen, then move up so spent shell casings still hit the keep while aiming to hit clusters of birds with the main gatling fire. Subsequent weapons can be deployed from above the keep, but the exact position should be adjusted to aim for the most birds.
• Flying Baron wants to destroy the castle keep from close proximity above and to the left when it is midscreen so that bombs from both sides home in on the birds released. Subsequent bombs should ideally be released ahead of groups of birds.
• Wild Snail wants to destroy the castle keep immediately as it comes on screen from point blank range and try to manipulate the flamethrowers so that they are hitting groups of birds from point blank range. Due to the randomness of the birds and the flamethrowers, there is huge variance in the amount of score gained.
• Gain wants to destroy the castle keep when it is midscreen, aiming his weapon such that the center of the magic circle is between the upper right corner of the keep and the upper right corner of the forest. Subsequent weapons should be deployed so that the center of the magic circle is roughly above the road exiting the forest. Note that Gain can rapidly deploy weapons.
• Chitta wants to destroy the castle keep as it reaches midscreen, aiming for the keep itself, and then immediately bomb the birds as fast as possible aiming for the point where the road leaves the forest. Note that Chitta can rapidly deploy weapons.
• Miyamoto wants to destroy the castle keep immediately as it comes on screen and point-blank as many birds as possible with four options in the forward formation (this works better at higher autofire rates). Once the keep is midscreen, additional special weapon stocks can be used from above and slightly to the left of the keep (about where the road leaves the forest) for ~200k each.
• Bornnam wants to destroy the castle keep as it reaches midscreen, aiming such that the lower left corner of the weapon hits the keep. Subsequent weapons should be deployed above the forest to maximise the overlap between the weapon’s area of effect and the cone the birds fly in.

House-crushing tanks

Immediately following the section with the birds are a series of tanks that will travel across the screen. Each tank will run into and crush a house in the background scenery. If the tanks are destroyed while crushing a house, they will drop a medal. Otherwise, they will drop a small weapon fragment.

• If a house is destroyed by the player’s special weapon before a tank reaches it, it will uncover an option power-up.

Red Popcorn

The red popcorn enemies that fly towards the player ship in the section immediately following the houses and tanks are worth 200 points when destroyed normally, but 2,000 points when destroyed by a special weapon.

Large tank

The large tank that ambushes the player is most easily dealt with by point-blanking from on top of its sprite. Both of its treads can be destroyed for extra points. The large tank drops four small weapon fragments when destroyed.

• An easy set-up for acquiring homing options exists here; simply collect two of the weapon fragments from the large tank, leaving behind the other two as well as the three dropped by the last three small tanks afterwards.
• Be wary of the popcorn enemies on both sides; this is another common place to drop a medal chain.

Black popcorn

The black popcorn here will travel down the screen in a straight line and fly away after dropping a bomb when the player crosses their line of sight. The bomb explodes into a circular spread of bullets when shot. The popcorn itself is worth 200 points while the bomb is worth 2,000 points.

• A pacifist strategy exists here; simply hug one edge of the screen and these popcorn will harmlessly fly by.

Chaingun planes

The planes with the chaingun turrets have five destructible parts each, the center body, both wings, and both chainguns. If a wing is destroyed after its gun it will drop a medal, and if the main body is destroyed after both wings it will also drop a medal. Note the main body will self-destruct a short amount of time after one of the wings is destroyed. There are six medals total between the two planes. Be careful not to get walled off by a bullet stream when harvesting medals. This is another common medal chain drop.

Stage 3 is less chaotic and lower scoring than stage 2. It’s defining features are the introduction of highly lucrative destructible scenery and the secret extend obtained from the midboss, the only extra life in the game not obtained from scoring.

Medal track

The first thing in this stage is a rail track in the center of the screen. This track can be destroyed by the player's special weapon, and each segment destroyed will reveal four medals. The track is quite long, so harvesting all of the available medals will award a large amount of score if the player is maintaining a maximum-value medal chain.

• The track begins at the bottom of the screen at stage start, so the player must use their special weapon immediately upon stage start to snag the bottom-most medals (the screen fading to black after Stage 2 ends is a good visual cue for when to use the special weapon).
• Medals revealed before the rail reaches the platform will fall off the screen normally, but medals revealed afterwards will rest in place.
• You will inevitably run out of weapon fragments at this section if destroying the rail, but the turrets on the side drop weapon fragments. Use single fragments to destroy later rail segments.

Water tanks

Each of the six water silos will reveal a medal when destroyed by a special weapon. In addition, each of the idle planes to the left of the silos are worth more points when destroyed by a special weapon.

Midboss

The Stage 3 midboss is fairly simple. It consists of five parts: a central turret, two front side turrets, and two rear side missile launchers. The turrets shoot aimed twin bullets while the missile launchers shoot missiles that travel straight down. All of the boss components will hide (becoming invincible) if the player is within point-blank range, although the missile launchers will stay out for the duration of a volley if the player enters point-blank range while they are exposed. Destroying the side turrets reveals turret hatches do not attack but may also be destroyed. Destroying the central turret reveals the midboss' core. If you destroy both side turret hatches and then kill the midboss after it reaches its final destination (marked by a square in the center of the screen after the large "Slayer" planes), it will drop an extra life!

• The core fires a spinning spread fire that is tricky to dodge while splitting attention between the midboss and the enemy turrets on the Slayer planes. For this reason it is recommended that the player tries their best to not destroy the center turret. The midboss may still be damaged if the wreckage left by the destroyed side turret hatches is attacked.
• The midboss is easier when the missile launchers are destroyed as soon as possible.
  • They can be destroyed almost immediately if the player attacks with 2+ options in spread formation from in front of the center turret close within the point-blank range of the turrets (so that they hide) but just outside the point-blank range of the missile launchers. If the player moves down slightly, they can get the side turrets to pop out as well while keeping the center turret hidden.

Docked “Slayer” planes

While the player is fighting the midboss, it will follow a path that snakes underneath multiple "slayer" planes under construction. The frames surrounding these planes and their propellers can be shot normally, but award extra points when destroyed using a special weapon.

• !!!Do not seal the bullets from the spinning turrets!!! They shoot so many bullets so rapidly that they can cause rank to increase at a frighteningly quick pace.

Idle Planes

The idle green planes on the right half of the screen are worth extra points when destroyed by a special weapon. The planes on the left half of the screen are worth the same amount of points regardless of how they are destroyed.

Trapdoor turrets

The trapdoor turrets normally drop weapon fragments, but if they are destroyed while they are flipping in or out they will not drop anything but instead award more points.

Stage 4 is all about destructible scenery and harvesting the weapon ammunition to destroy it.

Opening scenery

• The large pipe on the right side of the screen immediately as the stage starts can be destroyed with a special weapon. It is worth 10,000 points and always drops an option power-up.
• The four silos on the left side of the screen are worth 10,000 points each when destroyed by a special weapon. The small pipes to their right can be destroyed by a special weapon, but are not worth many points and will reveal many tanks when destroyed.
• The set of six pipes on the right half of the screen beside the trees may be destroyed by a special weapon. Each one is worth 10,000 points and reveals two medals.
• There is another large pipe to the left of the six pipes that reveal medals, similar to the large pipe at stage start.
• The popcorn enemies from Stage 2 that are worth more points when destroyed by a special weapon make their return here.

First orange tank

The orange tanks first encountered in this stage deserve special mention. It is possible to disable their v-shaped spread shots by destroying the grey circular turret that shoots the spread. In addition, what the orange tank drops when it is destroyed depends on how many of its wheels remain. If it has an even number of wheels when destroyed, it will drop four weapon fragments. If it has an odd number of wheels, it will drop an option power-up.

Tank Shacks

To the right of the first orange tank is a square shack that spawns tanks. It may be destroyed with a special weapon, and will reveal four medals and stop spawning tanks when destroyed. These shacks continue to appear throughout the rest of the stage, and retain the same properties.

First large tank

Shortly after the first orange tank, a large green tank will ambush the player from below. If the player destroys all four of this tanks treads before destroying the tank itself, it will drop a large weapon fragment. This is the only enemy type in the game that drops large weapon fragments.

Three orange tanks

The section with the three orange tanks can be tricky, especially when juggling safety and collecting medals from the tanks shacks in the same section. It is slightly easier if hugging the right side of the screen as the two right tanks enter, since it is possible to disable their spread turrets as they enter. In addition, this partially scrolls the left tank off-screen, limiting the bullets it fires.

Stealth bombers

The two stealth bombers have four destructible turrets at their front that are worth extra points, but destroying them without some form of piercing shot or area-of-effect weapon is very unlikely.

• The dry-docked submarines in the background beneath the stealth bombers may be destroyed with a special weapon.

Four large tanks

After the submarines are four of the large green tanks similar to the one encountered earlier in the level. This means that if you destroy all of their treads it is possible to harvest four (!!!) large weapon stocks from them. There are two methods of doing this:

• Use the forward option formation to hit their treads from afar while streaming their bullets. This is pretty difficult.
• Plan a suicide here. Ideally, you suicide in the bottom center of the screen right as the left-most tank enters. The shrapnel from your ships explosion will destroy most of the tanks' turrets and treads, letting you easily pick off the rest.
  • If doing the suicide method, be very careful of the popcorn enemies here since they can drop a medal that breaks your chain when destroyed by shrapnel. To counter this, you need to keep track of the item drop order and avoid killing them when a medal is due to spawn.

The medal rails

At the very end of the stage, the player reaches a dock above which are four horizontal rails. These rails may be destroyed with a special weapon and each release 7-8 medals. Harvesting these medals can be quite difficult (particularly with slower ships) since they fall off the screen and have to be caught to avoid a broken medal chain. In addition, there are three ways the rail medals can randomly spawn (left-to-right, right-to-left, and center-out) that you need to react to. To make things worse, you have to do this while being harassed by the first form of the Stage 4 boss, Satanic Surfer.

• When destroying the rails, you can tell how the medals will spawn by how the rail explodes (the medals follow the explosions). This gives you a little more time to react.
• There are tank shacks to the left and right of the second and third rails. Medals revealed by the shacks stay in place, so you can use these as insurance in case you accidentally drop one of the rail medals.
• Sometimes the boss spawns a little late, which gives you more time and space to set up destroying the first medal rail. This may be linked to leaving some turrets/tanks alive near the tank shack before the first rail.
• The fourth medal rail has no safety net, so if you decide to destroy it, good luck!
• There are two methods for setting up homing options for Stage 5 at the medal rails:
  • If you are not destroying the rails, the tank shacks will spawn four tanks on the left and right after the third rail. Destroy these tanks and the two small turrets on the tip of the right dock, and pick up one of the six small weapon fragments these enemies drop before they start to scroll offscreen.
  • If you are bombing the rails, the tanks won't spawn from the destroyed shacks. Instead, destroy the two small turrets on the tip of the right dock and pick up one of the fragments they drop. Then, drop the four weapon fragments at the rear of the first flying platform at the start of Stage 5.

Stage 5 is long and is primarily composed of waves of flying platform enemies. The stage starts slowly and has a lot of repetition, but accelerates as it progresses, ending with a boss rush.

Flying platforms

Slayer

Mini Black Hearts

Stage 6 is the wall, both figuratively and literally. It is a huge difficulty spike compared to the earlier stages. The first half of the stage is a retread of the various large plane enemies from previous stages, while the second half is a chaotic frenzy through myriad small tanks and popcorn enemies. Especially the second half of the stage requires knowledge of enemy spawn points and where dangerous threats are at any given point to reasonably navigate.

Chaingun planes

Gunblimps

The Wall

Post-wall

Tank hatches

Laser turret

4th Laser turret

Pre-boss tanks

Stage 7 is the final stretch. It is shorter than the previous stages and consists of a series of sections where the screen will stop scrolling until specific enemies are eliminated or timed out. It ends with a pair of suitably ridiculous final bosses.

Rear thrusters

Large Turrets

Carrier Deck

Carrier Nose

Mini Black Hearts

References & Contributors

1. Icarus, ST: Battle Garegga, https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=351
2. Icarus, Eaglet, and Plasmo, Battle Garegga Q&A, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz1kXyXOz_4