Nep Shooter Speedrun Guide
The hitbox of your characters appears to be their face. You get an extra hit/life for every 30,000 points. On most runs, I get 9 extra lives, for a total of 12 lives. You game over when your life count hits 0. It is possible to get 10 lives or more, but requires riskier play.
In the ideal scenario, you should only get hit during boss fights. The Average # of hits indicates the amount of hits you should expect to take while fighting the bosses. In general, the closer you are to an enemy, the more damage you'll do.
Stage 1 boss (Average # of hits - 0) Boss Fight - Once the big red dogoos turn blue, start heading to the right. Get on the same level as Compa and you will dodge her injection projectiles. Keep holding the fire button and stay level to her while weaving through the pills that drop.
Stage 2 boss (Average # of hits - 1) Boss Fight - Position yourself slightly higher than IF and never let go of the fire button. IF will move up and down alternating between a spread shot and a line of dogoos. Just keep staying on the same level as her and stay as close to her as possible while staying far enough that you can dodge the projectiles. Eventually, IF will stop for a bit and head left. Switch to Compa and get into point-blank range (go slightly below IF) and she should only be able to get a few shots off before she falls. Sometimes, she may not even get a shot off.
Stage 3 boss (Average # of hits - 2) I believe not attacking that last dogoo that splits into many dogoos is slightly faster, for some reason.
Boss Fight - As the last dogoo before Noire spawns is flying off screen, switch to IF and position yourself at the very right of the screen and slightly above Noire. Noire will start moving up and down. Just keep staying on her level while holding the fire button and she should be defeated just before she starts moving to the left side.
Stage 4 boss (Average # of hits - 1) Boss Fight - Switch to IF, head to the very right side of the screen, and position yourself slightly below Vert. Vert will start moving down then up for a few cycles. If she is moving down, stay slightly below her. If she is moving up, stay slightly above her. This will allow you to dodge her missiles. When she stops moving, she will dash to the left. As she is about to dash left, get up close to her, take a hit and keep moving left. When she reaches the left side of the screen, she will start moving down. Just stay on her level and she will fall before she fires another shot.
Stage 5 boss (Average # of hits - 1) Boss Fight - With Vert, charge up her power shot, then when Blanc appears and starts moving up, release it and keep moving right. As you are moving right, switch to Noire to get in some extra damage, then switch to IF when you'r'e behind her and keep staying on her level while holding the fire button. Blanc will move up, down, then up. When she reaches the highest point of her first movement pattern, Blanc will start moving left. Move left with her and try to stay as close to her as possible while moving slightly up and down to avoid the lasers. If done fast enough, you will beat her before the 2nd set of grey dogoo platforms can damage you.
Stage 6 boss (Average # of hits - 5-7) Boss Fight - With Vert, charge up her power shot, then when Arfoire appears and tosses the meteorite, release it and keep moving right through her. As you are moving right, switch to Noire to get in some extra damage, then switch to IF when you'r'e behind her and keep staying on her level while holding the fire button. Arfoire will move up and down a few times, then start heading left. Stay very close to her the whole time. Once she stops taking damage and heads to the right, stay on Arfoire's left side, switch to Vert, charge up a power shot, and release it the moment Arfoire starts firing her blue rings. Use the same tactics of moving right towards her and switch to Noire you're right on Arfoire, then IF when behind Arfoire, then as IF, stay behind Arfoire until she finally falls.
