Radirgy Noa ラジルギノア - Expand Mode - ALL (Good End) - 323.128.700pts

At a gaming meetup from a few weeks ago, I got to play some X360 shmups including Radirgy Noa. I don't have a 360 myself and didn't mess with Xenia yet so I don't have many opportunities to play Death/Massive/Classic. I thus had a pretty good time playing those there, and it gave me the drive to play Radirgy Noa a bit more after coming back home. I cleared Noa's Arcade mode some years ago, and now it was time for Expand mode!

Expand mode (which you unlock with the following code on the title screen : ◄◄►►◄►◄◄►►◄◄►◄►► ) is kinda funny. It's basically Arcade Mode...but you're like 3 times bigger. It's both a blessing and a curse because sure, now your sword range is massive, but you know what else is big? Your hitbox!

While the general focus on proper ABSNet activation timings is the same, you have kind of a more glass cannon-y playstyle especially in the late-game since trying to micrododge is even more impossible than in Arcade mode with the regular-size robot. The sword hitbox is lots of fun to mess with and also seems quite beneficial for score, as your x32 charged slash can hit a lot more enemies at once! On the other hand, the mech is so fat that it becomes difficult to put all 4 of your red shots on the same enemy, which slightly changes the way the Dreamer09 fight goes.

In some ways, Dreamer09 is harder because the sword hitbox means you will very likely destroy the center parts early on. This means you will have the retaliation patterns a lot sooner, and they are more painful to dodge with the big hitbox. That's the price to pay in order not to worry too much about small part destruction anymore, though the wings themselves are actually quite tricky since you can't just park on top of the wing to fully damage it anymore. Maybe weapon switch can be a strat to mess with, but I stayed faithful to red.

Weapon switch items could still be useful though! In Radirgy Noa, you can juggle them and after a fixed amount of juggles (I think it's like 8 or 9, not sure), they turn into a ABSNet recharge item! This is actually pretty handy not only for survival as you get extra safety nets, but also for score in order to keep a high multiplier while also giving you time to charge the sword for the extra x2 multiplier. The kicker is that if you slash the recharge item one more time after it has spawned...it reverts into a regular score item. Oops. Can't be Noa if it wasn't also a liiiiittle painful hahaha.

While this run is on the Wii port, I actually used the PC version to practice. There was a PC build bundled in first print copies of Milestone Sound Collection or some other kind of pre-order/shop exclusive bonus nonsense that Milestone loves so much for god knows what reason. That version of the game sadly lacks the X360 modes, but you can tweak the config file to start at a later stage, which I find more fun than making my own save states. I practiced the last two stages a lot, even though it may not actually be obvious when looking at the run here haha.

This winning run turned out to be the first full run I did after all that practice, and also the first (and last) run of the day. I was more worried about early game since my pre-practice derust attempts died a lot before even making it past Dreamer09, but somehow I had a great early game with no lives lost and the Milestone logo in da bag. How not to feel a bit of a self-inflicted stress spike upon entering the second-to-last stage haha. I fucked up for this on the stage 8 midboss as the timing of the enemy respawns is variable, likely depending on midboss kill timing, and of course I got like the worst timing ever hahaha. I also lost a life right before the final boss after mistiming an earlier ABSNet leaving me defenseless against a barrage of enemies and blimps.

I practiced the last boss and even sometimes managed to beat it without losing any lives, but having 3 in stock sure came in handy. I get the feeling it goes down a lot faster than in Arcade mode especially for phase 2 but I don't think it's a power thing, it's "just" that the sword is so big that it is easier to hit the boss with it. First phase was more or less just as planned...until I grabbed the convenient powerup transformed into a ABSNet recharge, which put me a bit off-route though nothing troublesome thankfully.

Phase 2 was a little more sus once the boss went into Berserk mode and I couldn't properly recharge the ABSNet on the side of the boss, but I guess I traded my remaining lives for damage, a x32 kill, and for the win!

Radirgy Noa is a pretty fun game. Yeah it has some flaws the OG Radirgy didn't have but the game feel on that sword is so good, the scoring seems interesting (albeit demanding/technical) and more intentional as there's no bullet conversion item, and the pacing is so fast. The side modes on the X360 version are also pretty damn good. I'd love to play more of Death mode (the endless tower defense mode) some more whenever I can.

Radirgy Noa Wii
Played on Dolphin