Do Don Pachi is an excellent vertical scrolling shooter created by Atlus
and Cave. It was released in 1996 as a follow up to Don Pachi from two
years previous. Colourful and vivid graphics, a catchy soundtrack and
fast-paced, sensational game play make for a popular title in the shmup
world.
Do Don Pachi was later ported to both the Sega Saturn in 1997 and Sony
Playstation in 1998. Later sequels to date include Bee Storm – Do Don
Pachi II in 2001 and Do Don Pachi Dai-Ou-Jou released 2002. [1]
The literal translation of 'Do Don Pachi' in Japanese is 'Angry Boss
(i.e. Mafia Don) Bee'. You'll see the first hints of this theme with the
small bee bonuses in each level. However the actual 'Do Don Pachi' won't
appear until you reach the end of this game, this mean playing through
all six levels twice! ...and believe me, the second time can be very
difficult, so hopefully this FAQ will help you on your mission.
The purpose of this 'FAQ' actually isn't a list of Frequently Asked
Questions at all (as the name implies). Instead it will serve as a
technical reference and tactical guide for both playing for survival and
playing for points. It is aimed at the first time beginner, but I'm sure
there is something in here to be learnt by all!
These are future additions I plan to add to this FAQ before I will call it
complete...
- Boss guides for all bosses.
- Bee guide for all levels.
Obviously writing a guide of this magnitude takes time, not only in the
writing, but also in the research (i.e. on the arcade machine!)
That being said, any help or contributions of you're own work or experiences
are greatly appreciated. Of course, if I use your work in this FAQ you will
have your place in the Credits (section 4-10).
Tapping this button will give you shots of fire.
Holding this button will create a laser. The laser does more damage than
normal burst fire, however player ship movement will be slower as a
result.
Bomb
Bombs will pretty much clear the entire screen of small enemies, enemy
fire, and most bigger enemies too. There are two modes for bombs. You
can drop it normally, called a 'Spread Bomber' clearing the screen, or
you can drop it when in laser mode to create a 'Laser Bomber'. This
serves a devastating twisting laser beam, great for dealing with single
bigger enemies and bosses.
Bombs are limited, so use sparingly. My philosophy is, if you're in a
difficult situation or cornered, it's best to lose a bomb than lose a
life.
Rapid Fire (Disabled by default)
This third button is disabled by default. Holding it down will produce
shot / burst fire.
Each of the three ships have two small guns pieces that float around
close to the ship. These are called 'options'. Each ship's options
behave differently, so it's important to chose a ship that suits your
style of play...
Type A:
This ship has a very narrow bullet spread. It's effective at taking out
enemies quickly and precisely (this is my personal favourite).
When firing the options rotate around the ship, always aiming forward.
Type B:
Probably the least favoured of the three ships. This helicopter ship is
potentially good for shooting forward and up to 90 degrees to the side.
The options follow the movement of the ship, so if you're moving left,
the options will shoot left. This isn't exactly the easiest thing to use
because I find when I'm dodging away from enemy fire, the options are
aiming in the wrong direction.
Type C:
This ship is best suited to the beginner. It has a wide bullet spread
that enables a player to fire at enemies to the sides.
The options don't move, instead they sit on either side of the ship
angled outwards. This spreads your bullets out enabling you to cover the
entire width of the screen when positioned at the bottom.
Note: When playing in two player mode, I recommend either you, or your
partner select this ship. It works great in conjunction with Type
A.
There are a maximum of five power-up levels. You can promote yourself
to the next level by collecting the 'P' icons that are released when
particular enemy ships or bases are destroyed. Each level increases the
number of bullets you release and the damage your laser inflicts. Once
you've reached the fifth and top level, any additional 'P' icons will
gain you bonus points.
Bombs
Bombs can be collected up to the maximum your ship can hold (see the
bottom of the screen). Bombs are gathered by collecting the 'B' icons.
As with power-ups if you reach the maximum number of bombs (the bomb
status at the bottom of the screen will actually say 'MAXIMUM'), any
additional bonus points will be awarded for each 'B' icon you collect.
Stars
Probably one of the first bonus items you notice will be the stars.
Stars appear when you destroy enemies or the enemy ships and buildings.
Stars have an immediate score, and an end of level bonus score. If you
lose a ship during a level, this end of level bonus tally resets back to
zero. There are three sizes of stars...
Small stars:
These are the most common stars, worth 100 points each. You'll find
that when you destroy a large enemy, it's bullets will turn to stars
for you to collect. Each of these stars is worth 500 points when
tallied at the end of a level.
Badge stars:
Worth 300 points each. These stars are commonly found on the ground
after destroying an enemy building, or parts of an enemy ship. At the
end of level point tally, each of these stars is worth 1000 points.
Large stars:
Large stars are the most rare, and most valuable starts. They are
released by destroying certain large enemies or by destroying parts on
a boss. They are worth 10,000 points each.
Bees
Considering this game is based on bees as the title suggests (remember Do
Don Pachi literally translates to 'Angry Boss Bee') it comes as no
surprise that collecting bees is actually an implemented bonus system.
They usually look like a blue-grey ghost of a small bee. You'll need to
activate them by firing directly at them with your laser (not sweeping
over them with the laser). Once they turn gold, you can collect them.
Each bee's value increases as you collect them. If you lose a ship,
you'll start back at the beginning of the bonus count, losing any bonus
you've already accrued.
Here's a table showing you exactly how much each bee is worth...
As with any shmup, the first few times you play, there will be only two
objectives, survive and memorise the level.
Let’s talk about the latter and simplest objective first. Memorising the
levels in Do Don Pachi is important as they play out the same way each
time you play. Things to remember are where and when the more major
enemies appear, bullet patterns of various enemies, and bonuses (more
about bonuses in advanced tactics). For the sake of memorising and
familiarising your self with Do Don Pachi, I urge you not to continue
when you run out of lives, instead play the game again from the start and
learn from that last error. You will learn to be much more efficient at
destroying enemies.
Survival requires quick reflexes for dodging the swarms of bullets, and
good use of the fire and laser shots. For this reason I recommend you
either select the first or third ship, type A or type C. These are the
faster ships and have a much more intuitive bullet spread than the second
'chopper' ship. The first ship is my person favourite - I like the very
direct bullet spread, however ship C is also very popular.
One of the more basic and important skills that Do Don Pachi, and shmups
require in general, is the ability to find and manoeuvre through gaps in
enemy fire, and to predict where gaps will appear. This is something
that will obviously improve with practice, but there are a few tips to
help get started...
1. Learn the bullet spreads of the enemies. (Remember, don’t always
hit the continue button. Learn from your errors.)
2. Keep your distance from heavy bullet spreads, obviously as the
bullets spread out, the gaps become larger and easier to find.
3. Another tip of survival is to stay off the bottom of the screen! I
can't stress this one enough, even if you just sit a couple of ship
lengths from the bottom, you will find dodging bullets a lot easier.
Think of it this way, you have 8 directions you can move - up, down,
left, right and diagonals. If you sit on the bottom of the screen,
you are limiting yourself to only moving up (towards most fire) or
sideways. In hectic situations, backing off and looping back around
is a matter of survival. So keep off the bottom, sides and
definitely corners!
4. When there are multiple enemies firing, don't look at the enemies,
but focus just in front of your ship. If you focus here, you can
pick gaps that are forming and be ready to move into them. You will
know where the enemies are from the direction of the bullets, so
concentrate on the bullets and keep on the fire button!
5. In situations of facing more than one enemy, concentrate your fire on
one of them - don't shoot at both. It’s much easier once you've
eliminated one, as there are fewer bullets to dodge. Take out the
bigger enemies one by one.
6. If all else fails, drop a bomb. Don’t waste your precious bombs
though, these are limited and worth points if you keep them until the
end! However, if the bullet spreads are too much, and there are no
gaps to fly through, better lose a bomb than lose a life. The bomb
will convert enemy fire into stars and get you out of practically any
seemingly impossible situation.
With a bit of practice, you'll find tapping and holding the fire button
isn't solely useful for changing the way you fire (shots or laser), but
also for effectively dodging enemy fire.
Hold the fire button to create a laser. You'll notice the speed of your
ship substantially decreases. In some hectic situations this decrease
in speed (and increase in manoeuvrability) can help you accurately dodge
enemy fire. Obviously when using the laser against an enemy it will also
inflict more damage.
Once you have had some practice at the basic tactics, and feel proficient
in completing levels without too much trouble it's time to start applying
some advanced tactics!
You're now blasting your way through the levels without too much trouble
and you want to get you name in the high score list, right? It's time
to start playing for points. Do Don Pachi has a great points and bonus
system, they call it 'GPS or 'Get Point System'. Essentially, this is
a hit counter - how many enemies can you string together? You will have
noticed this when playing, no doubt. There is a small vertical bar that
slowly decreases after destroying an enemy, if you can destroy another
enemy before this goes completely down, you've strung together a small
hit combo, and each additional hit increases the bonus. So you see this
is a simple system with huge potential for BIG scores.
Here's some tactics that will allow you to chain together some decent hit
counts...
Timing
This is an obvious one. You need to time your hits. For example,
taking out enemies as soon as they enter the screen isn't the best
approach! You've just wiped out ten enemies in no time at all, now
you have nothing on screen to keep the hit count going, so it ends at
ten hits. Now, if you were to space them out a bit, let them fill the
screen and pick them off one at a time, by the time you've wiped them
out, the next wave of enemies has entered the screen. You can now
continue your hit count.
Effective use of the laser
Using the laser effectively can gain valuable hits. When you approach
big enemies (i.e. sub-bosses), using the laser will register hits
consistently, allowing you to continue a chain, whereas shots will
only register a hit once the enemy is destroyed.
Another point, using the laser bomber (hold button A, press button B)
will allow you to rack up a big hit count against large enemies and
bosses.
This boss should be any real trouble for you. Start by aiming at the two
side parts. Both will explode at the same time, so be ready to catch
both big stars that fall out! Dodging the fire from the boss is simple
once you are familiar with the patterns. One thing to watch out for,
when the two circle parts start spinning, and blue needles are fired,
start to move closer to the centre as a ring of fire will be directed
at you, now you can easily move back to the edge and around this. If you
were to stay near the edge, it would be much harder dodge as you've
effectively trapped yourself. No bombs are necessary for this boss,
however you can use one at the end to finish it off boosting your hit
count.
...
Final Boss (Loop 2):
So you've finished the game once, great! Then you finished the game
again (i.e. loop two), congratulations! Now, if you managed to do that
by fulfilling one of the following conditions, then you will meet the
real Do Don Pachi final boss...
- You didn't lose more than two fighters (lives).
- Depending on the ship used, have a maximum hit count of at least
the following:
- Type A: 270 hits
- Type B: 300 hits
- Type C: 330 hits
- Score at least 50 million points.
- Collect all thirteen bees in four of the six areas. [2]
Once you've defeated the final boss 'Do Don Pachi', the huge bee boss,
another boss will follow... and if you thought the first one was hard,
you're in for a real shock! For starters, this thing is fast. Surviving
it's onslaught of fire is virtually impossible! I should also mention
it's immune to bombs? Every time you drop a bomb, this boss will raise
a bubble shield. So use your bombs for clearing the otherwise impossible
enemy fire, but don't expect it to be the easy way to beat this guy.
This isn't really a spoiler - the end features some really badly
Translated Japanese! Enjoy!
There is no easy way to dictate to you where all the bees are in the
game. Some places lack landmarks for me to use when describing
locations, so you'll have to use this next section as a guide (the left
or right for each bee in order should be enough really). If you think
I've missed any bees, please let me know!
Level 1:
Twelve bees documented...
The first two bees are located on the second dirt bridge you encounter on
the right side, the third is to the left edge of the screen. The fourth
is back to the right on the skinny connected bridge. The fifth is also
on the right side of the next bridge (the one with the first big tank),
and sixth is immediately to the left of the big tank. Bee seven is also
on the left of screen, on the small off-shoot bridge. Bee eight, nine,
ten and eleven are all in a vertical row to the left of the second big
tank, so be ready to claim them all. Bee twelve is immediately to the
right of the third and last of the big tanks.
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