Gitaroo Man A PS2 Music / Rhythm Game (c)2002 KOEI Corporation FAQ Version 0.2 By jmdbcool ________ Contents ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ 1. Version History 2. Intro 3. About the Game 4. Gameplay 5. Song Info 6. Scoring 7. Collection 8. Multiplayer (vs. mode) 9. Credits 10. Contact Info 11. Legal Stuff __________________ 1. Version History ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ 0.1 - 2/27/02 Started writing the FAQ. Entered info for every song, but no Phases or Comments yet. Basic outline of the FAQ is complete. LOTS of updates planned for the near future. 0.2 - 3/2/02 Added Gameplay tips, and Scoring section. Some phases and random comments added to Song Info. Surprisingly, a couple of sites have already asked if they can use my FAQ, even though Ver.0.1 kinda sucked... ________ 2. Intro ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ First off, this is the first FAQ I've ever written. I've wanted to write one for a while, but the games I was really interested in (Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X, Super Smash Bros.: Melee) already had tons of FAQs written for them. Then, I got Gitaroo Man, and was surprised to find that it had no FAQs at all. So, I decided to make one for this game. I am a big fan of Konami's Bemani series (Dance Dance Revolution, Para Para Paradise, Guitar Freaks, etc.) If you are not familiar with Bemani, first off, it means Beat Mania (Be-Mani). The entire Bemani series has you do something to music, like dancing, playing guitar, drums, and keyboard, and being a DJ. For more information, search the Internet for "Bemani", you'll find tons of stuff. Anyway, since I AM a fan of these music games, I bought Gitaroo Man, and it has become one of my favorite games. _________________ 3. About The Game ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Gitaroo Man is a music / rhythm game for the Playstation 2. In the game, you fight various monsters using a unique weapon - a Gitaroo - which is basically an electric guitar. If you play well, the enemy takes damage. However, if you play poorly, you take damage. If you take too much damage, the game is over. Gitaroo Man has 10 stages with 12 songs (Stage 9 is a 2-parter, and I'm counting the practice song) in the Normal play mode. In addition, the game also has an insanely hard Master Mode (which includes harder versions of the songs in the normal mode), a VS. mode, and a Collection, where you can view characters you have earned by completing songs in the normal mode. ___________ 4. Gameplay ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ I will assume that you understand the basics of how to play Gitaroo man. If you don't understand the basics, read the instruction manual, or play the Training level again. --Controls-- You play your Gitaroo using a combination of the Analog stick and any one of the X, O, , and Triangle buttons. You dodge your opponent's attacks using the X, O, , and Triangle buttons. Timing is very important in Gitaroo Man. Every time you play a note or dodge an attack, you need to press the button along with the music. Your timing is rated on the following scale: Great, Good, OK, Miss. Great means you hit it exactly; Good, a tiny bit off; OK, a little more off; Miss, you were way off, or didn't hit it at all. --Phases-- Every song is made up of different phases. There are **three kinds of phases: Charge, Attack, and Guard. In the Charge phase, you gain energy based on how well you play your Gitaroo. You cannot lose energy for playing poorly in the Charge phase. In the Attack phase, if you play well, the enemy takes damage. If you play poorly, you take damage. In the Guard phase, you do not play your Gitaroo. All you do is dodge your opponents attacks. If you don't dodge successfully, you take damage. **NOTE: There is also the Final phase at the end of each song, but that's just Attack, with a different name. Here is a quick reference chart for anyone who doesn't get it yet: | Charge | Attack | Guard | -----------------------+---------+---------+---------| Enemy can be damaged | | X | | -----------------------+---------+---------+---------| You can be damaged | | X | X | -----------------------+---------+---------+---------| You can regain energy | X | | | -----------------------+---------+---------+---------| Played w/ Analog stick | X | X | | and button | | | | -----------------------+---------+---------+---------| Played with X, O, , | | | X | and Triangle | | | | -----------------------+---------+---------+---------| --Charge & Attack tips-- (0) You can use any one of the X, O, , and Triangle buttons in the Charge and Attack phases. Personally, I like using the  button. (0) If there is a break in the music where you don't have to look at the screen for a second, take a look at the analog stick. Sometimes, when you think you're pointing it a certain direction, you may be pointing it in a different direction. (This makes me wish there was an option to turn off the Auto-Lock of the Blue Zone to the Trace Line, so you could always see exactly where you were pointing the analog stick.) (0) Screwing up in the middle of a note does not penalize you at all. As long as you push the button at the right time, and the analog stick was pointed in the right direction, you'll be fine. I'm looking into whether or not you gain more energy (Charge phase) or the enemy loses more energy (Attack phase) if you hold the note longer, or in its entirety. If anyone has any info on this, e-mail me. (Experiment with Stage 5, because it has the most long notes.) (0) Tweaking notes (that's when the direction changes in the middle of a note) can be difficult. For tweaks where you have to wiggle the control stick back and forth, you can sometimes do the whole thing just by pointing the stick in one direction. Example: \ | \ <-Trace Line | / | / | \ Hold stick | \ like this -> | / | / | \ | O O Since the game gives you a little leeway for which direction you are pointing the stick, you should be able to do most tweaks like this. --Guard Tips-- (0) All I can say for guarding is practice, practice, practice. Stage 4 is best for this, since it's one long guard phase. Once you get better at figuring which order the buttons are coming at, guarding should be pretty easy. Example: | | | | | -------------+--O----------O- | | X | | You should be able to see that the sequence will be O,X,,O. ____________ 5. Song Info ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ This section contains basic info for every song in the game. Here is an example of the info format: --(Stage Number)-- Song Name: The title of the song. Song Length: Length of the song, in minutes:seconds. BPM: The song's beats per minute. Location: Where the stage is in the game. Opponent: Name of the opponent. Opponent's Gitaroo: The instrument that your opponent is playing. Phases: The order in which the Attack, Guard, and Charge phases appear. Comments: My comments on the stage, plus any tips for beating the song. My best score: The best score I have received so far on the stage. --Stage 1-- Song Name: Twisted Reality Song Length: 3:28 BPM: 116 Location: U-1's house Opponent: Panpeus Opponent's Gitaroo: Axe Phases: Charge, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Final Comments: My best score: 0021974, A --Stage 2-- Song Name: Flyin' To Your Heart Song Length: 3:59 BPM: 154 Location: Downtown Opponent: Flying-O Opponent's Gitaroo: Synthesizer Phases: Charge, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Final Comments: My best score: 0043370, A --Stage 3-- Song Name: Bee Jam Blues Song Length: 4:22 BPM: 102 Location: Forest Opponent: Mojo King Bee Opponent's Gitaroo: Trumpet Phases: Charge, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Guard, Attack, Final Comments: My best score: 0071814, A --Stage 4-- Song Name: VOID Song Length: 1:55 BPM: 165 Location: Weird warp thingy Opponent: Ben-K Opponent's Gitaroo: Phases: Guard Comments: All you have to do here is guard. Don't even worry about the analog stick, just focus on the buttons. My best score: 0043620, A --Stage 5-- Song Name: 'Nuff Respect Song Length: 4:51 BPM: 131 Location: Space station Opponent: Ben-K Opponent's Gitaroo: Turntable Phases: Comments: This is still one of the harder stages for me, because there's a lot of tweaking, and I suck at tweaking. Luckily, you get a lot of Charge phases, so it's okay if you screw up a little bit. My best score: 0037365, A --Stage 6-- Song Name: The Legendary Theme (Acoustic Ver.) Song Length: 2:39 BPM: 71 Location: Beach Opponent: Kirah Opponent's Gitaroo: n/a Phases: Attack Comments: The entire song is one long Attack phase. No charging or guarding. This makes up for Stage 4, which was just a Guard phase. This isn't really a fight, it's a more of a serenade. If anything, you're fighting with Kirah's heart. When you "attack", you're just getting her to like you more. My best score: 0025519, A --Stage 7-- Song Name: Born To Be Bone Song Length: 3:45 BPM: 140 Location: Village Opponent: Sanbone Trio Opponent's Gitaroo: Xylophone (they use their bones) Phases: Comments: My best score: 0063494, A --Stage 8-- Song Name: Tainted Lovers Song Length: 4:07 BPM: 221 Location: Cathedral Opponent: Gregorio Wilehem III Opponent's Gitaroo: The whole cathedral(!) Phases: Comments: My best score: 0054614, B --Stage 9 (Part 1)-- Song Name: Overpass Song Length: 1:51 BPM: 115 Location: Stadium Opponent: Kirah Opponent's Gitaroo: Gitaroo Phases: Comments: My best score: 0054612, B --Stage 9 (Part 2)-- Song Name: The Legendary Theme (Soft Rock Ver.) Song Length: 3:20 BPM: 82 Location: Stadium Opponent: Kirah Opponent's Gitaroo: Gitaroo Phases: Comments: My best score: 0054612, B --Stage 10-- Song Name: Resurrection Song Length: 3:55 BPM: 177 Location: Above Stadium Opponent: Zowie Opponent's Gitaroo: Gitaroo Phases: Comments: My best score: 0081603, B __________ 6. Scoring ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ You earn points for each song based on how well you play. For those of you who don't care exactly how your score is calculated, just keep in mind the following things: Greats are worth the most points. Goods are worth a little less than Greats... ...and OKs are worth almost nothing. Misses give you no points. Your life bar contributes a lot to your score. Okay. For those of you who DO care... There are two portions to your score: your in-game score, and your bonus that you get after the song. --In-game scoring-- I can not find any patterns in the in-game scoring. If anyone has any information on how it works, e-mail me, please. --Bonus scoring-- 100 * number of Greats (If your life bar was at %100, 50 * number of Goods ,-> you get 10000 points. %82, 1 * number of OKs / 8200 points, etc...) 100 * (Percentage of Life bar) + -------------------------------- = Your bonus score. _____________ 7. Collection ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Coming soon... _________________________ 8. Multiplayer (vs. mode) ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Coming soon... __________ 9. Credits ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Whenever someone sends me something that I use in the FAQ, they get mentioned here. (0) Thanks to Cameron Chien, for pointing out that Gregorio's Gitaroo is in fact the entire cathedral, not just the Organ. They mention this in the collection, but I did not have Gregorio in my collection at that point, so I didn't know. :) _______________________ 10. Contact Information ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ If you want to submit something to the FAQ, correct something that I messed up, praise me for my work, or just say hi, e-mail me. Please (and I cannot stress this enough) do NOT send me spam or flames. If you submit information that I use in my FAQ, you will be credited, in the Credits section. When submitting information, don't forget to tell me what name you'd like to go by, so I can tell everyone who sent what in. Here it is: jmdbcool@aol.com -*-*-*-*-IMPORTANT-*-*-*-*- Make sure you put "Gitaroo Man FAQ" in the subject line. I get a lot of spam at my e-mail address, and I usually delete anything that's from anyone I don't know. If "Gitaroo Man FAQ" is NOT in the subject line, your e-mail will probably get deleted. Sorry. -*-*-*-*-IMPORTANT-*-*-*-*- If I happen to be online, you can IM me with AOL Instant Messenger. My screen name is: jmdbcool. _______________ 11. Legal Stuff ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Copyright 2002, by Jason Dragon, a.k.a. jmdbcool. This FAQ may be freely copied and distributed in its original, unaltered form, just as it is posted online. This FAQ may only be posted on the following sites: http://www.gamefaqs.com http://www.cheatcc.com http://www.ps2cheaters.co.uk http://www.cheathappens.com http://www.neoseeker.com If you found this FAQ somewhere else, let me know immediately. If you wish to use information in this FAQ for your own purposes, you may not take credit for anything that I have written, or for anything that people have submitted that has been included in this guide. If you want to do anything else with the information in my FAQ, such as posting it on your web site, e- mail me, and I'll tell you whether or not it's okay. You may not sell this FAQ, unless you send all the money to me. ^_^ However, if you want to print out a copy for yourself, that's okay. _.-'Ż'-._.-'Ż'-._.-'Ż'-._.-'Ż'-._.-'Ż'-._.-'Ż'-._.-'Ż'-._.-'Ż'-._.-'Ż'-. Well, this is the end of the FAQ. You can stop reading now. Really. Peace out, y'all. --jmdbcool