FAQ - Guide for Gitaroo Man

Gitaroo Man
A PS2 Music / Rhythm Game
(c)2002 KOEI Corporation

FAQ Version 0.2
By jmdbcool

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Contents
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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

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1. Version History
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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...

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2. Intro
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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.


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3. About The Game
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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.


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4. Gameplay
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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.

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5. Song Info
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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


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6. Scoring
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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.


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7. Collection
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Coming soon...


_________________________
8. Multiplayer (vs. mode)
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Coming soon...


__________
9. Credits
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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
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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:

[email protected]

-*-*-*-*-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.


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11. Legal Stuff
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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

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.


_.-'¯'-._.-'¯'-._.-'¯'-._.-'¯'-._.-'¯'-._.-'¯'-._.-'¯'-._.-'¯'-._.-'¯'-.

           Well, this is the end of the FAQ.
           You can stop reading now.
           Really.

           Peace out, y'all.

           --jmdbcool