Anyone ever finished a 2nd loop in Toaplan games?

[RvR]

Ive played a few Toaplan games and they are all pretty tough, and I recently read that if you finished them they all go into a harder 2nd loop. Has anyone ever finished one of these 2nd loops? Does it give a better ending? Does a third loop start?

[OverDrone]

Came close on Same! Same! Same! but that was from default easy setting. The second loop feels like normal and I gather beating that puts the third loop on hard.

Others like Tatsujin and Hellfire I can't even clear the first loop lol

[Vludi]

Cleared all 5 loops of Truxton years ago. Tatsujin seems to be quite harder though, Tatsujin's "Easy" is harder than Truxton's "Hard"

[RvR]

Cleared all 5 loops of Truxton years ago. Tatsujin seems to be quite harder though, Tatsujin's "Easy" is harder than Truxton's "Hard"

Wow thats intense. So after 5 loops is there a different ending or does it just put you back to the start screen?

[Vludi]

Wow thats intense. So after 5 loops is there a different ending or does it just put you back to the start screen?

Each loop has a diffferent ending and after loop 5 you get the credits and a game over. Tool assisted run for reference:

[Barone]

I feel like this long lost conversation belongs here:

Hi Tony H, would you be interested in creating any codes for Fire Shark? It's quite popular here so any contribution would be well received. Particularly you might try enabling the "berserk" modes from the outset. (In quotes because I've no idea what to properly call it). This is the result of ranking that occurs naturally within the game according to how far the player progresses on 1 continue. Since the game can theoretically be looped 10 times (100 levels) the maximum degree of berserk mode is all but unreachable w/o cheating; a very high degree of ranking can also be accessed through hotswapping but it's a crapshoot and most people would be scared to try it--apart from the difficulty of emulating hotswaps.
Apart from that I'm sure many players would love a code to retain speed-ups after death.

What exactly does the berserk mode do? Extra powers, stronger weapons, harder difficulty?

EDIT: Also, does the "berserk" increase after every level, or only when you complete all 10 levels?

Still haven't figured out what the berserk mode does, but was able to make some other codes. If you can give me more info on what it does, that will be a big help.

Here's the new codes...


Fire Shark (U) Genesis


ABXA-AA7Y
1 hit kills weaker enemies.


RFZA-A6YW
1 hit kills stronger enemies.


BEHT-AAHC
Start with 9 lives. NOTE: The offocial Galoob Game Genie code for starting
lives is 2 codes long (mine only takes 1 code).


C3MT-AAE2
Start with max speed. Does not work after you lose a life.


C3MT-AAC2
Have max speed after you lose a life.


DVMT-AAE2
Start with super max speed (faster than what the game normally allows). Does
not work after you lose a life.


DVMT-AAC2
Have super max speed after you lose a life (faster than what the game normally
allows).


E3MT-AAE2
Start with ultra max speed (much faster than what the game normally allows).
Does not work after you lose a life.


E3MT-AAC2
Have ultra max speed after you lose a life (much faster than what the game
normally allows).


APMT-AAEA
Start with max power. Doesn't work after you lose a life.


APMT-AACA
Have max power after you lose a life.

===================

The "Speed" codes can be easily modified to make you move as fast or as slow as you want (I included 3 different speeds).

EDIT: If you combine 2 of the "Speed" codes (the "start with" and the "have after you lose a life"), you will always have that speed. If you only use the "have after you lose a life" speed code, you will always have that speed after you lose your first life.

EDIT #2: In case anyone wants to modify the speed codes, the regular starting value for speed is 0D, and it goes up in increments of 03 every time you get a pick-up until it gets to 16 (max). Of course you can go much higher than 16 if you want. I made the "Super max" code with a value of 1C, and the "Ultra max" code with a value of 26.

Sorry, I had a thread subscription but still missed your updates.

It's just harder difficulty in the form of faster enemy planes and faster bullets from them. Eg 3 bullets shot from a single plane that would normally come out one after the other will come out so close they almost look attached to each other.
Fire Shark does rank normally throughout the game. This probably occurs with every bomb and badge picked up (because both factor into points) but it's pretty tricky to break down where it occurs. Simply put, it would be hard to appraise the increase at shorter intervals than a whole level. It does seem to get a boost from completing the game however. You could also look for clues under the normal difficulty settings because they increase enemy plane and bullet speed as well. But if you're looking for indices within gameplay I'd suggest trying bomb count (especially after 5 bombs) and badge count.
-- the badges in this case are thunderbolts.
Another idea would be that rank is simply attached to score.
Bear in mind losing a life normally depletes rank. However with the hotswap berserk mode I achieved it was a default difficulty which dying over and over didn't change.

Anyway thanks for the codes so far, those should be of great general interest.

Star Mist, I may have found it. With the code below, the game is even more difficult than with the "Hard" difficulty setting. Some of the things I noticed right away: The blimps fire 4 shots at you (normally none), MANY more enemy shots on the screen at any given time, the first planes you encounter shoot at you (normally they don't), etc. This was all within the first 30 seconds of level 1.

RFGA-A610
Enable "Berserk" mode.

Let me know if that's what you're looking for.

After a little more research, I was able to make a code to adjust the "Berserk" difficulty. So far, I've got every enemy on the screen constantly shooting a solid stream of 8 to 10 shots at a time. Like you mentioned, the shots are so close together, they look connected. I think Berserk mode is a fitting name. :-)


RFGA-A610 +
GBGA-AAH4
Super Berserk mode. Makes the game much harder.


RFGA-A610 +
JBGA-AAH4
Ultra Berserk mode. Makes the game ultra hard.


As you can see, it takes 2 codes. The first code enables Berserk mode. The second code adjusts the difficulty. You can easily modify the second code to further adjust the difficulty if you want. The "Enable Berserk mode" code by itself uses a difficulty value of 18 (hex). The "Super Berserk mode" code uses a difficulty value of 30 (hex). The "Ultra Berserk mode" code uses a difficulty value of 40 (hex).

C3MT-AAE2
Start with max speed. Does not work after you lose a life.

+

C3MT-AAC2
Have max speed after you lose a life.

+

RFGA-A610 +
JBGA-AAH4
Ultra Berserk mode. Makes the game ultra hard.

= Bullet Hell Fire Shark.

That Ultra Berserk Mode is what I'd got through hot swap.
So I can confirm the above work on GensPlusGX.
The first degree of Berserk Mode is only where your difficuly should be after 1 loop on Normal.

Thanks again Tony H.

StarMist, glad to hear the codes worked. Just wanted to let you know what I found in the game's programming...

As far as I can tell, every time the game "loops" and you start back at the beginning, the game checks to see if your level of difficulty is 18 or over. If it's below 18, it doesn't change anything (or possibly adds some to it, I don't remember). If it's higher than 18, it will lower your level of difficulty back down to 18. In other words, it looks like you can't start a new loop with a difficulty higher than 18 (unless you hot swap? or use Game Genie codes). But I only checked the programming from the start of a new game, so it may be different if you have already done 1 loop.

One more thing... To intentionally play that game in ultra berserk mode tells me two things. 1) You're really good at the game. 2) You're insane. :-)

[RvR]

^Cool find! A difficulty cap upon looping would suggest Fire Shark also has more than 2 loops.