Shippu Mahou Daisakusen/Guides

These are general guides not catered to any one specific character/ship. They are categorized by the goal being sought: 1cc, 2-all, or score run, and they attempt to focus on the most relevant parts of their respective run. They skim over unimportant parts of the game or details that the player can probably figure out themselves.

Generally speaking, the first thing one must do is decide which character to choose. See Shippu_Mahou_Daisakusen#Characters for details about each character's stats. The most important stats are weapon power, control, and bombs. Other stats are less useful, more situational, or are only important in certain categories. Overall, the most powerful character (and likely easiest one to achieve goals with) is probably Miyamoto, and the weakest one may be Gain because of his lack of any good weapon, or Chitta because of her absolutely awful control. Shippy Mahou Daisakusen typically splits scores based on character when competing for score, so in that case, character selection is less important; one can just compete for the best score with the preferred character. See the Hall of Records for more info about the current highest scores.

Goal: 1cc

Getting started

In a 1cc run, racing basically doesn't matter, so you'll usually be going as slowly as possible for maximum safety. Some other tips that would be helpful for a 1cc:

• Damage limits
• Collecting death powerups
• Scrolling enemies around
• Precision diagonal movement
• More damage ticks
• Rank breakpoints

The last thing to think about before getting started is what stages to pick. For a 1cc, most of the stages are about equal in difficulty. For the final stage, one should definitely pick Kobold Tower, as its boss is noticeably easier than the alternatives, and the level isn't too hard once learned either. It's also good practice for building on score runs where Kobold Tower is also last. For the other stages, either choice could be argued as being easier or harder, so simply go with the preferred choice.

Recommended stages:

• Air Circus - Velmatic Ocean
• Outcast Castle - Crossfire
• Deeply Dungeon - Cold Corridor
• Strato Sphere - Forest of Dead
• Kingdom Grandprix - Yashiki of Ninja - Kobold Tower

Anatomy of a 1cc

Stage 1

Important section: Stage 1 boss
The boss of Basalna City, Wild Wyvern, is arguably the very first hurdle in the game after the placid first stage. Because of his highly random nature he's one of the tougher bosses in the game even for experienced players. His behavior is quite random, but destroying one of his wingtip pods will always cause his dangerous central main cannon to open. One good strategy is to damage both wingtip pods until they are almost dead, then destroy them both quickly. This will cause the main body to explode without opening for more than a moment. Another strategy is to only damage the main body while ignoring the wingtip cannons. This is easier with ships that have good forward weapons. However, the main body still has a massive amount of health, and the main cannon may open before it's destroyed. Either way just practice this boss and try not to use any bombs here as one needs as many as possible for later.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Stage 2

Important section: Air Circus strategy
Air Circus is full of flying mage enemies who will fire enclosing bullets / even aimed patterns, the solution to which is to simply stop moving once they fire. This gets complicated when there are other enemies also aiming at you, but if you use the right weapon type for this level, that shouldn't be much of a problem. Just remember: when there's lots of mages on the screen, even right in front of you, don't panic and stop moving.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Important section: Air Circus boss
Generally speaking, the only danger this boss poses is his spinning disc attack which can easily catch one off guard. Usually it's a problem when paired with a forward bullet pattern. The correct move is to travel up between the bullets so the disc passes behind, but it can get tricky with the winding track. Just always try to stay focused on that spinning disc, especially just after he fires forward bullets.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Stage 3

Important section: Outcast Castle spinning buzzsaw
Not a whole lot happens in Outcast Castle besides the fork in the road and spinning saw; that's one reason it's a good choice for an easier 1cc. Since the saw moves counterclockwise, it's safest to pass through following its direction rather than against it. However, the left path of the fork is certainly easier (left: ghosts, right: zombie horde). Therefore the best strategy is to enter the buzzsaw's loop from the right, move forward, and fork over to the left path between the opening in the saws.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Important section: Outcast Castle boss
This boss has 3 attacks. Red cards: You want to be closer to the boss when you see him holding red cards. The red cards are aimed in your general direction, either up, left, right, or down, so you are safe if you are close and diagonal to him. A higher damage but slightly riskier strategy when you see him holding red cards is to just move out of the way at the last second as he releases the cards, effectively baiting them into a useless direction. Blue cards: Definitely his most dangerous and annoying attack. The blue cards are homing and have an extremely high turn rate, so you must wait them out. You don't want to be close to him when you see him using blue cards. You want to lure the cards over to a side of the screen and then fly off to the other side while the cards run out of power. Sword summoning: This attack takes an extremely long time to become dangerous. Get some shots in and move out of the way / up to the top of the screen and the swords cannot hit you.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Stage 4

Important section: Cold Corridor early enemy rush
Early on in Cold Corridor, just after the two caged giants, is a particularly dangerous set of various enemies who will likely all get to shoot before they are destroyed. The patterns they produce are static and you will generally be safe in the bottom left portion of the screen. For the remainder of the stage, it's best to remain towards the middle and top of the screen (even accelerating). Ice golems who fire very fast beams cannot aim upwards, only down or to their sides.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Important section: Cold Corridor treasure horde
This treasure box section is surprisingly dangerous because of the zombie horde inhabiting it. Falling treasures combine with unexpected shots from zombies to create a risky situation. It is quite difficult to do this section when scrolling slowly because of the rank increase and zombies unexpectedly shooting you from point blank range. Speed up and stay above the middle of the screen, mostly looking out behind you for trailing shots from the zombies. After this section is over, make sure to slow down again as some enemies with tough patterns will spawn and shoot you point blank.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Important section: Cold Corridor boss
This is one of the more difficult bosses in the game, and one reasons you've been saving up bombs. All of his attacks are solvable in a vaccuum, but the problem arises when they overlap with one another unexpectedly. Generally one wants to stay near a wall while their subweapons damage the boss. This will lure rotating ice attacks into a corner. For the pairs of shots from his fists, hopefully you are still near the wall so you can begin leading his shots and changing direction as in the examples. Try to learn the rhythm of the shots and change directions with the rhythm rather than trying to visually read the bullets. Use a bomb if you get cornered. For his random tail bullets, all you can do is try to react and find openings in the pattern. Use of bombs here is expected and fine.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Stage 5

Important section: Strato Sphere Kobold planes
Strato Sphere will be the first introduction to these kobold planes pictured on the right. These enemies have the annoying habit of shooting you from behind while they're exploding, which they take seemingly forever to do. The number one cause of death in the entire stage may just be forgetting about or underestimating these enemies. Their antics can catch even experienced players off guard. In short, always focus on killing these quickly, and if they get behind you while still alive or during a ferocious section, a bomb might be in order to clear out the screen.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Important section: Strato Sphere boss
One of the toughest bosses in the game and with a seemingly massive amount of HP (especially because of all the ship parts/armor that's shielding him), he's the main reason you want a good bomb for a 1cc run. One should take into account the properties of their character's bomb. Miyamoto has an incredible bomb for this boss that can easily destroy both of the homing laser turrets, effectively neutralizing its most potent weapon. Unfortunately, a lot of characters have non-piercing bombs, even characters with strong bombs like Gain. For these characters, you may want to get as close as possible to the main body of the boss before letting the bomb off, or else it will explode upon his armor instead. There's not much point discussing the boss's mechanics or advanced strategies for a 1cc as they are horribly complex and inconsistent. Instead, just dump all of your bombs right here, preferably when you feel like you're about to die. If you do die, just dump all of your bombs again. He will go down soon enough.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Stage 6

Important section: Go. To. Kobold. Tower.
Up until now most of the stages have been about equal in difficulty. For stage 6, Kobold Tower is the only real choice for a 1cc (and score run). Its boss is noticeably the easiest one in the entire game, and the stage itself isn't too difficult either. Meanwhile, Kingdom Grandprix has arguably an easier but trickier stage and much rougher boss, while Yashiki of Ninja has the toughest boss in the entire game.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Important section: Kobold Tower super enemy rush
After the rock section in Kobold Tower, there will be a fierce rush of enemy mechs. The enemy to watch out for in this is the example depicted on the right. These will fire a fast and long stream of aimed shots that will most likely trap you if they are not killed quickly. This really is the final challenge in a 1cc, so feel free to use a bomb to get rid of these two. If you don't have a bomb, try to get as far to the left as possible and slowly tap dodge to the right until these enemies leave the screen.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Important section: Kobold Tower boss timeout strategy
Simply put, the only danger this boss can really pose is its pod attack. Quickly destroy the turrets depicted to the right that are on both sides of him (bomb if he releases a pod before you can) and you can easily wait out the rest of the level, calmly avoiding the bosses attacks. Side turrets turn to face you: He's about to shoot incredibly dangerous pods. Consider bombing pre-emptively. Whirling side guns: This means he's about to shoot a random cone of bullets from his sides. Just move to the middle of the screen. Back opens: It's going to fire homing missiles. These missiles are quite slow and easily destroyed. Just tap dodge around the screen and they should pose no threat. Main opening glowing: It's about to fire a huge laser. You're always safe at the very edges of the screen or at the top of the screen. Destroying the boss is also fine, it's just that the enemies that appear after that are slightly more dangerous than the boss itself, so technically speaking it is safer for the 1cc to not even bother destroying the boss.
Examples https://www.twitch.tv/videos/679270738

Goal: 2-all

Getting started

Completing all stages of Shippu Mahou Daisakusen is considerably more difficult than a 1cc of the first 6. The difficulty stems from the fact that all powerups are irretrievably lost upon death in the second loop. This limits the player to 1-damage main shots and is certain gameover if there are no powerups nearby.

In order to to even reach the second loop, some racing becomes necessary. Even when not racing hard, coming in 2nd or 3rd place is definitely worth it and helpful overall. It's recommended to familiarize oneself with the general techniques on the techniques page, and since a score of 900,000 awards an extra life beyond a score of 600,000, learning some score techniques may also help survival play.

For a 2-all, whatever races weren't picked in the first loop will be encountered in the second loop. Racing difficulty and survival difficulty need to be balanced against each other. One should choose easy-to-win races for the first loop, but one also wants to leave the easy levels for the very dangerous second loop. These two goals sometimes conflict, as there are some very easy races and stage that you would like to have on both loops but can't, like Outcast castle.

Recommended stage choices:

• Air Circus - Velmatic Ocean

Both races are very hard to win, so the only difference is second loop difficulty. The Air Circus boss is very tough on loop 2, probably requiring at least one bomb. With practice, Velmatic Ocean can be done bombless, even on loop 2.

• Outcast Castle - Crossfire

Outcast Castle is a noticeably easier level than Crossfire, and is also an extremely easy race to win. Crossfire is both difficult to race and survive, so this is the first tough choice. Outcast Castle is still recommended for first loop as it's so simple to get 1st place, giving a much-increased chance of reaching the 2nd loop.

• Deeply Dungeon - Cold Corridor

Once again, both levels are roughly equal in difficulty. However, Cold Corridor is noticeably easier to get 1st place in, so that is recommended for first loop. The Deeply Dungeon boss is very inconsistent and difficult on loop 2, but the Cold Corridor boss isn't much better.

• Strato Sphere - Forest of Dead

Strato Sphere is slightly easier to get a good ranking in, and is extremely difficult on loop 2, with many very sturdy enemies shooting very fast aimed shots. Forest of Dead's enemies are a bit easier to speedkill or exploit. Forest of Dead's boss is probably more difficult, but it's expected to die at least once to either boss here, and there are powerups after them.

• Kingdom Grandprix - Yashiki of Ninja - Kobold Tower

This time, we want to leave the easiest level, Kobold Tower, for the second loop, so Kingdom Grandprix is recommended for the first loop.

• Yashiki of Ninja - Kobold Tower

Yashiki of Ninja is a tough level and has a tough boss. The only real reason to visit there is for fun. Kobold tower is a noticeably more simple and exploitable level, and the boss is ironically the easiest one in the game. It's really a no-brainer for survival play.

Anatomy of a 2-all

The following advice assumes most knowledge of the basic 1cc has already been mastered.

Stage 2

Important section: Try to win certain races

Basalna City / Stage 1 Since the rivals are quite slow in this stage, you should usually win. If not, restarting is recommended as it's still early in the attempt. spinbomb racing is one of the safest and most consistent ways to win stage 1. For the boss, revert to survival strategies though, as maximum scoring strategies are very tricky against him. Air Circus It's inherently difficult to win this race because of AI hardcoded behavior. Still, you can in 2nd or 3rd sometimes, and you can try to knock the highest-point rival back a little bit, either physically or in points. But don't overdo it and get yourself killed. Outcast Castle You should be able to to win this race easily with an opening bomb. Cold Corridor A good opening bomb and decent speed throughout tends to lead to victory here, but again, don't overdo it and get yourself killed. It's fine to slow down during the boss. The section after the boss is coded to be "slow" for the rivals so you can catch up there. Strato Sphere It's rare to win this race. One should seriously consider slowing down more here, but one can attempt to speed up if feeling confident. Try to take note of points, and if you're way ahead of everyone else, you may decide that no racing is required at all and you can simply go as slowly as possible and still reach the second loop. Like in Cold Corridor, the area after the boss is hardcoded to be a "slow" area for the rivals during which the player might catch up. The enemies in the ending section only shoot once and then try to ram players. Simply stay boosted and all the way at the top of the screen and you will be traveling at maximum speed and in complete safety. Kingdom Grandprix It's quite difficult and quite random to win or even place well on this track, and speeding through is very dangerous as well. If things went according to plan in previous races, you won't need to even bother racing here, and should simply go as slowly as possible.

Kingdom Grandprix

Important section: Dangers in Kingdom Grandprix

This will be a new stage, not seen in the previous 1cc guide. Overall it's not too difficult because of relatively low enemy health. The enemy to watch for is depicted in the example on the right. Some of these ships will fire an extremely dangerous homing laser after a short time. If you didn't kill them fast enough, consider just bombing on reaction as soon as you see this homing laser come out. Slow ships especially will have trouble avoiding this attack.

Goal: High score

todo