DoDonPachi FAQ 
10-26-01
Version 0.2
by Andy Prapuolenis
wanker-zwei@home.com

::Version History::
0.1 - first draft 10-21-01
0.2 - Fixed tons of mistakes and spelling errors. More still to be found 
I'm sure. Added star explanation. Added things to come. 10-26-01

::Table of Contents::
I. Game Information
II. Story
III. Game Mechanics
IV. The Scoring System
V. Boss Strategy
VI. Misc.
VII. Thank Yous
VIII. Things still to come
IX. Copyright


I. Game Information
---DoDonPachi was released in 1998 for the Sega Saturn. It was released 
by Atlus and designed by Cave. It is the sequel to DonPachi.

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II. Story
---? I never figured out the story line. The instruction booklet is in 
Japanese and I've never seen anywhere on the internet an explanation of 
the story. If anyone knows the story and can even possibly send me a 
complete translation to it. I'd be happy to use it in here.

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III. Game Mechanics
      -Starting up
      -Controls

---Starting up
The start menu is pretty straight forward. You get....

Arcade Mode - Play DoDonPachi as it was in the Arcade.

Saturn Mode  - This features a bonus first level. Gaining extra lives by 
score has changed also.

Score Attack  - Get as far and high of a score you can on 2 lives. 

Option Mode - Fairly simple and straight forward. The Tate mode for 
display sets the screen sideways so it's full screen like in the arcade. 
You have to flip your TV to play it like in the arcade. I do not 
recommend this though. A large majority of TVs will be permanently 
damaged if you decide to put it on it's side and play. Some may work 
alright like this but research your TV before you try this. The only 
other questionable thing would be the Get Point Time option in the 
Saturn Mode. The higher you put this option the more time you will have 
to link your combos in the Saturn mode. 

Once you've started up you have to choose your ship. They are all equal 
overall. It's just preference to what you like best. The red ship is the 
fastest but has only a straight forward shot. Green is the medium speed 
with side turrets that shoot different directions when you move left to 
right. So concentrating all your power onto one enemy is hard. Blue has 
the widest shot but moves the slowest. After choosing your ship you have 
to choose your attack preference. You can have either the shot power or 
the laser power. The shot power allows you to shoot more bullets at once 
and the laser power makes your laser bigger and more powerful. I 
preferably like blue ship with the shot power because it's easier to 
keep combos going it seems. If you want to blast through the game. The 
red ship with laser power is probably your best bet.  

You can power up your shot by collecting the floating P's that will 
appear after destroying certain enemies.
You can collect bombs by collecting the floating B's that will appear 
after destroying certain enemies.
Also there is a floating MP power up that you can get that will bring 
your power up to it's full power. You can only get this if you choose to 
continue once your game is over.
 
---Controls
A: Normal shot.
Hit once to fire your bullets. 
Rapidly hit to continue shooting bullets.
Hold down A for your laser. You will have a small decrease in the speed 
of your ship when using your laser. 

B: Bombs
You shoot a bomb and everything on the screen will automaticlly die or 
take a large amount of damage. 

C: Auto fire
Hold down to shoot bullets. You won't shoot your laser by holding down.

A + B: Super Laser
This is a very powerful Laser shot. It takes up one bomb and lasts for a 
short amount of time. This weapon is a very big key to getting a high 
score. More on that in section V. Boss Strategies.

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IV. The Scoring System
      -Combos
      -Hidden Bees
      -Stars
      -Maximum Bombs

---Combos
DoDonPachi has one of the best scoring systems without a doubt. It's 
simple to understand but takes a good amount of time to master. How it 
works is that each time you destroy an enemy your combo meter in the 
upper left hand corner goes up. If you keep destroying enemies without 
ever letting the meter fully drop you link them all together and there's 
your combo. Higher the combo the more points you will receive. Each 
enemy gives you a different amount to the combo meter. The weaker the 
enemy the less it'll go up. The stronger an enemy is the more it'll go 
up. When you find hidden bees (see below in this section for more on 
these) your combo meter will be shot up to it's max when you uncover 
them. Continuously lasering a strong enemy (like a mini-boss) will keep 
your combo going too. 

The comboing on a boss is a little bit different. Check out below in 
section V. Boss Strategy for more on that.

The best way to keep your combo going is to space out your reign of 
destruction on enemies. Don't blow up everything at first site. Let your 
screen fill up with enemies then at a steady pace destroy them. You 
should try to destroy the last enemy of a wave towards the end of the 
screen.  When the next enemy wave comes you can connect the combo from 
the last wave of enemies onto the new wave of enemies. Thus resulting in 
one long/big combo. Another good way to keep your combo going is when a 
big powerful enemy comes after a wave start lasering the strong enemy. 
Remember that your combo will continue when you keep your laser 
connected to a strong enemy. A good example of all of this is the first 
level in arcade mode (second level in saturn mode). If you pace yourself 
you can combo all the enemies up until the mini-boss. If I remember 
correctly you should have about 178 as your combo when that mini-boss 
appears. If you start shooting your laser just before he comes on screen 
it's possible that you will hit him with your laser as he's coming on 
screen before your combo meter complete falls. You then can add on 
another 6 or 7 hits to your combo. 

---Hidden Bees
Like in the original DonPachi. DonPachi being the first and DoDonPachi 
being the sequel. DoDonPachi has a theme going with bees. Throughout 
each level there are hidden bees laid out. If you are using your normal 
shot you will see them lightly blinking. To uncover them you have to hit 
them the front of your laser shot. Line up with them and then shoot your 
laser at them. You can't be lasering then move over them for them to 
appear. The score value of each one increases with the number of them 
you collect in a level. Here's the value for the number you get.

1st = 100 points
2nd = 200 points
3rd = 400 points
4th = 800 points
5th = 1,000 points
6th = 2,000 points
7th = 4,000 points
8th = 8,000 points
9th = 10,000 points
10th = 20,000 points
11th = 40,000 points
12th = 80,000 points
13th = 100,000 points

I don't think I've ever found more then 13. If there is more then 13 in 
a level I'm sure the score just goes up following the same pattern. 
NOTE: If you collect say 5 bees in a level then die. The next bee you 
get will restart back at the beginning. It will be worth 100 points not 
2,000 even though it's the 6th bee you got in the level.

---Stars
Normal stars are worth 100 points. At the end of the level you get a 500 
point bonus for each one you collect. If you die during a level your 
star count for the end bonus restarts.

The badge looking stars are worth 300 points. At the end of the level 
you get a 1,000 point bonus for each one you collect. If you die during 
a level your star count for the end boss restarts just like the normal 
stars. 

The big mammoth sized ones are with 10,000 points. To get these you have 
to destroy the green enemies that come down the screen very slowly. They 
shoot 2 rows of bullets in the vicinity of your direction. They come in 
a group usually. The further down the screen you destroy them the more 
stars appear. If you get them at the end they will leave behind a big 
star. They also appear out of certain enemies and objects destroyed in 
levels.

---Maximum Bombs
If you have a full load of bombs then pick up another one the word 
maximum will scroll through the area that tells you how many bombs you 
have. While the maximum is going your score will increase dramatically. 
I do not know if it is exactly double or not. I'll get more on this 
later.

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V. Boss Strategy
---Every boss has pretty much the same strategy. First off use your 
laser on a boss all the time. Don't bother with using your bullets. The 
only time you might want to use your bullets is when you want to dodge a 
bullet coming at you and you need some extra speed to make it. You 
should always destroy the extra guns on a boss first if you want to go 
for max score. Shooting at the extra guns either takes no energy or very 
little energy off of the boss meter. That means you'll get extra hits on 
your hit meter for the boss. Also, when you destroy the extra guns on a 
boss you'll get those big stars worth 10,000 points or a hidden bee 
usually. 

Here's a real easy way to get some big points. Once you're focusing on 
the main body listen and watch it's health bar. When it's bar turns red, 
you'll also hear the game say "Just a couple more shots", fire your 
super laser at it. The boss will be destroyed by a super laser when it's 
energy bar is red. Also your hit meter will go up insanely. Big point 
bonus there.

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VI. Misc.
---DoDonPachi is a fairly hard game. What's even harder is once you beat 
it you have to go through it a second time. To reach the second part of 
the game you can't continue at all the first time through. I've almost 
gotten to the last boss (first run through) without continuing. It's not 
something easily done. Especially if you're going for points.

---Here's a little weird thing I've learned about the first boss in the 
original arcade version of the game. You have to play the actual arcade 
version to see this. You won't see this on your saturn. When the first 
boss comes up, sometimes before it fully appears the word OVER is being 
scrolled through it. Kind of weird. I don't know why this is.

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VII. Thanks Yous
---Thanks to
Tony Dziemiela for introducing me to DoDonPachi
Everyone over at the Shooter's Corner for just being shmup heads

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VIII. Things still to come
---Location of every bee in each level.
---Full guide to each boss.
---Exactly how maximum bombs affects your score.

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IX. Copyright
This document Copyright 2001 Andy Prapuolenis
You cannot recreate or distribute this document without my permission. 
E-mail me if you want to post it else where.