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Double Spoiler/Gameplay

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This article covers the gameplay of Double Spoiler.

Gameplay

Controls

  • The Arrow Keys will move your chosen characters
  • Shift slows the character's movement
  • Use Z to take a picture
  • Shift + Z will charge your shot power faster
  • X will toggle picture orientation (portrait or landscape)
  • C in the spell card selection screen will switch your character between Aya Shameimaru or Hatate Himekaidou (if unlocked)
  • Ctrl fast-forwards through any replay

Best Shot Controls

  • L (Scene select only) locks the best picture for the selected scene. Indicated by a key in the lower-right hand corner. While the lock is active, any pictures in that scene that may have a higher score will not replace the locked best picture. All other statistics still apply. The best pictures are placed in the "bestshot" folder, which is in the save data folder. A file "bs_**_?.dat" is a best picture of Scene ? of Level **. If you delete a file, the corresponding best picture is discarded. All other statistics still remain. These statistics are stored in "scoreth125.dat".
  • S (Scene select only) shows the score and bonuses of the best shot.
  • S (Scene results only) stores a selected picture as the best picture, when the scene results are shown. The stored picture can be selected with left and right arrows. The best picture is forced to change if locked.

Movement

Like in Shoot the Bullet, Aya can move at three different speeds. In order of decreasing speed:

  • Normal (not holding either focus or shoot)
  • Focus (hold focus)
  • Charge (hold both focus and shoot). As before, Aya has an above-average normal movement speed.

Taking Pictures

In order to take a picture, Aya's camera needs to be charged to 100%. You'll be notified of that happening by a sound, as well as the text "100%" and "Enabled" around the crosshairs near her. Every scene begins with Aya's camera at somewhere around 50-70% charge (with the word "Disable" underneath it in grey). The camera charges itself, albeit slowly. You can increase the speed of the charge by holding down the focus and shoot buttons simultaneously, which also has the effect of reducing your movement speed to a crawl. However, note that switching back and forth between charge mode and normal/focus modes slows the camera charging process a bit, making it charge even slower than simply remaining in normal or focus mode if done too frequently. For comparison, it takes roughly 4 1/2 seconds or so to fully charge the camera from 0% when staying in charge mode, almost 10 seconds to do the same when staying in non-charge modes (switching between normal and focus has no effect on charging speed), or as many as 20 seconds when rapidly and continuously switching back and forth between charge and non-charge modes.

Note that you cannot take a picture while focusing, as pressing the shot button while focused simply causes the game to put you in Charge mode. Note as well that unlike in Shoot the Bullet, you can't take a picture while charging (Shift + Z) just by releasing Shift; you must release both buttons then press Z to take a picture.

The crosshairs dictate the center of the (potential) picture. Normally, the crosshairs will stay near to Aya, slightly leading in the direction of the boss. While Aya is focused, the crosshairs will move a little more towards the boss - or, if you're close enough, stick on top of said boss.

You may move the crosshairs by holding down the shoot button and pressing directional buttons (only when fully-charged and ready to shoot) - this enables you to take pictures at other locations, but at the expense of picture size (think of it as a zoom). In this mode, time slows down to 1/4th speed. Note that time does not stop; thus, Aya can still get killed while this is in progress if you're not careful. Furthermore, you can only hold the picture button for so long before Aya is forced to discard the shot (frame becomes too small due to overexposure). This will drain the camera to 50%.

Any picture taken drains the camera entirely, setting it back to 0%/Disable. However, bullets and other objects caught in the picture not only disappear, but also restore a tiny amount of charge each. A well-taken picture can reduce the amount of charge time towards the next frame significantly. A maximum of 55% can be restored. However, Hatate's camera can restore up to 75%.

If a picture includes the boss, it is deemed a Success, and tacked to the side. You will also regain charge for any bullets caught in it. (Scoring considerations are below.) If a picture does not include the boss, the picture is deemed a Failure, and is discarded - but the amount of charge you gain from bullets is doubled.

Picture Frame Angle

New to Double Spoiler is the picture frame angle. First, the picture defaults to landscape orientation (or portrait for Hatate), but pressing X will toggle it between landscape and portrait mode. The frame normally tilts so that the axis is pointed at both Aya and the boss. For example, if Aya is directly under the boss, the picture frame will be perfectly vertical or perfectly horizontal, depending on the orientation. However, during unfocused movement, the axis will shift to point in the direction of movement.

Characters

There are two playable characters in this game.

Unlockables

Unlocking LV2: Clear 3 scenes from previous level
Unlocking LV3: Clear 3 scenes from previous level
Unlocking LV4: Clear 3 scenes from previous level
Unlocking LV5: Clear 2 scenes from previous level -OR- 20 scenes total (across all levels)
Unlocking LV6: Clear 2 scenes from previous level -OR- 25 scenes total (across all levels)
Unlocking LV7: Clear 2 scenes from previous level -OR- 30 scenes total (across all levels)
Unlocking LV8: Clear 2 scenes from previous level -OR- 35 scenes total (across all levels)
Unlocking LV9: Clear 2 scenes from previous level -OR- 38 scenes total (across all levels)
Unlocking LV10: Clear 1 scene from previous level -OR- 40 scenes total (across all levels)
Unlocking LV11: Clear 1 scene from previous level -OR- 42 scenes total (across all levels)
Unlocking LV12: Clear 1 scene from previous level -OR- 45 scenes total (across all levels)
Unlocking Extra: Clear at least one scene from each of levels 1-12, and 52 scenes in total.
Unlocking Spoiler: Clear at least 3 scenes from the extra level and 58 scenes in total.
Unlocking Hatate as a playable character: Clear all scenes from the spoiler level.

Bugs

  • Completing the last scene on a level, and proceeding via "next level" will not award a score Affects:
    After completing the last scene of a level, if you select Save Replay, the game allows you to select Next Scene, which is normally not possible. If you do so, you proceed to the first scene of the next level, but it still thinks you are on the previous level and doesn't give you credit for that scene if you complete it. For example, if after scene 2-6 you select Next Scene, you proceed to 3-1; but it counts it as 2-7, saving a replay will show 2-7, and you don't get credit for 3-1. If you do this on SP-9, or on EX-9 with Hatate, the game will crash.
  • Next Scene on SP-4 will play the next scene with Aya as the playable characters Affects:
  • There are only 20 replay slots Affects:
    When saving a replay you can choose from 25 replay slots, but in the replay viewer you can only see the first 20.
  • When speeding up replays, photo's will be shown different Affects:
    When viewing a replay and holding Ctrl to speed it up, the photos often look much lighter than they should and/or are missing a border.
  • You can randomly die on scene 12-6 Affects:
    On stage 12-6, it is possible to simply randomly die without being hit. If this continually occurs on retry attempts, return to the scene selection menu and select it again. Replays of this stage also desynchronize: it might end up with your character dying due to a glitch, even if you originally captured the scene.
  • Characters shown in a replay may be different than the actual character Affects:
    If you watch a replay of Hatate, then one of Aya, the character shown will be Hatate. The opposite happens if you watch one of Aya first. Watching a replay of the same character twice in a row will show the correct one.
  • custom.exe has a tendency to refuse to start. If you experience this issue, try setting compatibility mode to Windows 2000. Affects:


Scoring

Your score depends on a number of factors.

Bonuses

There are two types of bonuses, additive and multiplicative. The Result Score of a shot is calculated by (Base Point + sum of additive bonuses) * (product of multiplicative bonuses).

Additive Bonuses

  • <color> Shot (+300): Awarded when there's a significant amount of a particular color of bullets in your shot. Possible colors are red, yellow, green, blue, cyan, and purple. It is possible to get more than one color bonus with a single shot. Bullets that are not one of the standard colors appear to count towards whichever color they are closest to.
  • Colorful Shot (+2100): Awarded when many different colors of bullets appear in the shot.
  • Rainbow Shot (+2100): Awarded when sufficient quantities of each of 7 different colors of bullets appear in the shot.
  • Clear Shot! (+600): Awarded when there are no bullets overlapping the boss.
  • Macro Bonus (up to 1000 points): Awarded when the shot is taken with the player close to the boss.
  • Front Shot (+100): Awarded when the shot is taken with the player below the boss.
  • Side Shot (+200): Awarded when the shot is taken with the player to the side of the boss.
  • Back Shot (+300): Awarded when the shot is taken with the player above the boss.
  • Risk Bonus (up to 2000 points) Awarded when the player is close to bullets, akin to a graze bonus of older Touhou titles. The amount varies with respect to the numbers (or the lengths when lasers), sizes and types of the bullets close to Aya. The bonus is capped at 2000 points.
  • Solo Shot (+100): Awarded when only the boss or the player herself appears in the picture except lasers.
  • Cat Bonus (+666): Awarded for a picture that contains Orin in her cat form.

Multiplicative Bonuses

  • Boss Shot! (up to x2.00) Awarded when the boss is in the picture. The multiplier increases as the boss nears the center of the crosshairs, with a 2.0 given for almost perfect alignment. You need this to get a valid picture, but you get a bonus for it anyway. You won't get this (or a successful picture) if you manage to clip the feet of the boss only - the engine needs to agree that it was a significant portion of the boss sprite. Note that you will still see other bonuses for failed shots, but you receive none of the points/bonuses mentioned. (Note that Boss Shot! is required for a picture to be eligible for your "Best Shot".)
  • Self Shot! (x1.20) Awarded when the player is in the picture. A Self Shot automatically negates the possibility of a successful picture: If the boss was in the shot, it would become a Two Shot instead.
  • Two Shot! (x1.50) Awarded when both the player and the boss are in the picture. Thus, if you get this, you will also get the Boss Shot bonus. This overrides the Self Shot! bonus.
  • Nice Shot! (up to x1.50): Awarded when the "spell circle" of a boss is in the picture. The "spell circle" is pair of concentric circles, one red on the inside and one blue on the outside, that tends to appear quickly at preset times during a boss' attack pattern. Note that a spell circle, while not always implying an immediate wave of bullets, can still be used to predict boss movements. In addition, it is not considered an attack, meaning the player may stand in it without fear of being hit by it. It generally starts fairly large, centered over the boss, but shrinks in size and disappears quickly. The larger the circle in the picture, the higher the multiplier received.
  • Angle Bonus (up to x1.30 or x1.70): Awarded based on the angle of the line between the boss and Aya compared to the long edge of the photo. If they are lined up perpendicularly with the long edge, it results in a full x1.30 bonus, gradually ranging down to x1.00 (no bonus) for parallel to the long edge. For Hatate, the bonus is maxed at x1.70, most likely due to the fact that one must approach the boss dangerously close to get a landscape shot.
  • Empty Shot (x0.00) An ultimate failure. This means that your shot managed to not capture the boss, not capture any bullets, not even capture yourself. All it captures is the background--Aya and Hatate don't photograph scenery. Something clearly went wrong if you took an empty shot (more specifically, you somehow aimed in such a way that the shot captured nothing but the stage background). You also get this bonus for photographing nothing but lasers.

Other Notes on Scoring

  • The Base Point of the picture presumably comes from the number and velocities of bullets and other objects in it.
  • Common sense suggests a larger picture would be best for getting points - and if one doesn't relocate the center, the Self Shot bonus is automatic. However, there can exist situations where moving the picture center may actually score higher than simply settling for what is immediately in front - though those situations may require exemplary skill and awareness for a noticeable improvement.
  • Understanding the timing of bullet generation is also critical for high scores in some scenes. While such things as lasers are self-evident (where the more of it you catch, the more points you get), there is a difference in optimal timing between something that spits out bullets with a constant velocity, and one with an acceleration on it, for example. Further, things that appear to generate bullets in circular patterns or in a "fog" may be caught right after a moment of bullet generation for maximal impact. Also, keep in mind that, in some cases, all the bullets of a particular pattern are generated at once.
  • There are certainly other strategies and points not mentioned above. See what you can discover yourself!

Strategy