Paul J Chi (paulchi@ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU)
Tue, 7 Dec 1999 10:42:54 -0500
X-Sender: paulchi@pop.buffalo.edu Message-ID: <l03130300b472d44e7a92@[128.205.233.191]> Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 10:42:54 -0500 From: Paul J Chi <paulchi@ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU> Subject: Re: Hanagumi Columns ranting>So I've been playing Hanagumi Columns lately, and it's totally rockin'. >(Is that game still hard to get in the states? I found it at a game >seller in Tokyo for 1480 yen, and the guy had multiple copies.) But I >have questions. > >1. Is there some sorta FAQ out there? I'm having a hard time following >the "story mode" dealie. As far as the Story mode goes, I couldn't follow it much either. But making certain choices in the Story mode is the only way to unlock certain characters for use in other modes. I don't recall exactly what they are, but there's a walkthrough for the Story mode at the Ishingun web site. http://users.intercomm.com/hidalgo/stmain/columns/ is the HTC part of the site. >2. How the *#%@^! do I defeat Yoneda? Guy's a bastard. I'd rather just >listen to the three ticket girls yell "San ninden, gambarimasu!" cutely >over and over again... There's a trick you can do with the snowflake-looking gems/houseki: Land them on a column which is filled to almost the top, so that the top one or two snowflakes is off the top of the screen. Say the snowflakes land on a blue gem. They get rid of all the blue gems, but the snowflakes that are off the top of the screen don't go away; they land on another color, say green. That way, you can get rid of two colors, which usually can get you out of almost any bad situation. Of course, the way to get the snowflake gems is to charge up again at level 3, instead of attacking or defending. You might want to try using Ayame. Her level 3 attack throws a lot of blocks at the opponent, so try using that during the mid to late game, when you can finish him in one shot. Otherwise the counterattack will likely be nasty. I think Maria's attacks also give a lot of blocks to the opponent as well. It always takes me lots and lots of tries to beat Yoneda. I'm not an expert at Columns (I haven't gotten the high score in 1P mode yet), so I need a lucky game to beat Yoneda. The only general advice I can give you is to watch your opponent's power level and pace yourself so that you either attack or defend after your opponent does. If your opponent defends, it's usually good to defend or charge up. If your opponent attacks, attack if you're confident you can survive his/her attack, or defend if your opponent's attack would kill you, or go for the snowflakes. >That's about it. The game's fun as hell, btw. Any Sakura Taisen fan who >doesn't own it is missing out... The best part is that you can play it with your friends, even if ST itself is too "weird" for them. I'm looking forward to ST Columns 2 on the DC, too. I think the release date is in January now.