Twinkle Star Sprites
Twinkle Star Sprites is a competitive scrolling shooter arcade game first released in 1996, originally created by ADK. It is characterized as the first of its type: a combination of a shoot'em up style with the versus puzzle game genre (PuyoPuyo). This is the oldest entry in our Phantasmagoria tournament event, as it is the one that essentially kickstarted the genre, and its basic gameplay elements.
Gameplay Basics
Player field
The game opposes two players on a split screen setup. The controls are remarkably simple: one button to fire a basic shot, which you can hold to charge up your power gauge, and another one to bomb, granting the player a few moments of invincibility and clearing the screen.
Hearts
You start the game with five hearts. They are your lifeline: if you reach none, you lose the current round.
Whenever you are hit, your opponent also gets back some life (half a heart if you hit an enemy, one heart for anything else).
Enemies
As will become the staple of other games in this genre, the player is expected to destroy enemies that arrive from the top and corners of the screen in chains that allow them to send fireball projectiles on the opponent's screen. What essentially causes an enemy being destroyed to chain with others is the fact that they explode on kill in a rather large radius, which also damages other nearby enemies (but not the player).
Enemies come in different sizes and colors. The size of the enemy only impacts the size of their on death explosion, which might make it more interesting for someone to concentrate on (as they are both easier to hit and the bigger explosion means more potential for combo chains). The color of enemies, on the other hand, indicates the number of times you have to shoot an enemy before it dies. Here is the list of them, and the associated number of hits necessary for a kill:
5 hits
4 hits
3 hits
2 hits
1 hit
Colliding into normal enemies makes you lose one heart, you will also get stunned for a noticeable time. You can be hit again during this stun, however, after recovering from being hit a 2nd time, you get some invincibility frames (as lonk as your character sprite blinks). The game encourages you to recover faster from a stun by mashing buttons and wiggling the directional controls. After recovering from such a stun, your character will be considerably slowed down, and their shot will be weaker, for around 5 seconds, before returning to normal. You cannot die from running into normal enemies, only go down to half a heart.
Fireballs
The first time a player destroys enemies in a chain is done sends over Normal Fireballs (vertical) over to the opponent's screen, aimed at them but rather slow. They can be cancelled as well by the enemy's own shot, and in turn, returned back to the first player, however, they have more health than basic enemies, so it may be a bit difficult to take them head on. Because of that, destroying normal enemies next to fireballs is preferable. Doing so reflects them back in the form of Reversal Fireballs (which are also aimed but come at a diagonal angle and with greater speed). Finally, if one player manages to chain at least 3 Reversal Fireballs, a Boss Attack (or EX Attack if a Boss is already present) is sent over to the enemy screen.
This means there is also a strategy element involved: so that to avoid being punished: you may want to minimize Reversal Fireballs sent over to the enemy screen (despite them being able to surprise someone as they are rather fast), especially in times of high enemy density on your screen, as that may expose you to EX attacks and/or Boss attacks coming from your opponent. The way you do that is simple: it only involves you skipping an enemy formation as you wait for the density of elements on the screen to come back down to something more tolerable (namely lower fireball density on your end).
Gauge
The player gauge in this game has 3 levels, which fill up as you chain enemy combos. You can charge it by holding down the shot button, then releasing it
to trigger an attack.
Here is a list of the attacks charging the gauge up to each level allows:
Level 1: Special shot
Level 2: EX attacks (and special shot)
Level 3: Boss attack (and special shot)
The special shot is useful to clear up massively enemies and fireballs on the screen, however, it should be used sparingly, because killing with it typically
doesn't set off a combo chain.
The EX attacks can be sent automatically when you chain Reversal Fireballs, however, the lvl2 sends several of them on the opponent's screen
(typically 2-4 depending on your character).
The boss attack can also be sent automatically when you chain Reversal Fireballs, typically if you attain a Max Combo.
Formations
Twinke Star Sprites has 36 formations that appear throughout the game. When a match begins, your first eight formations will be selected between groups 0-3 (formations 0-15). After the eighth formation, the game will only use groups 2-7, placed in a random sequence (for instance 2, 5, 3, 6, 7, 4) and then randomly select one formation from each group until all formations have been used. If the match is still ongoing after that, the game will keep reusing the selected sequence but continue to select a random formation from each group.
Recognizing and understanding the way formations work and how to clear them for max combo is a pretty good way to aggressively swarm the opponent with attacks and is thus one of the main key to victory in this game. Here is a pretty good guide on how to optimize each of them (in Japanese).
Bubbles
In the formation spritesheet above, you may see some formations in which enemies have been circled. This indicates these enemies spawn with protective bubbles: they will take one additional shot (to destroy said bubble). However, popping the bubble in itself takes time (around half a second) during which the enemy cannot be damaged. Formations 32-35, which aren't part of basic groups described above, follow an event countdown. In these formations, all enemies spawn with a bubble, but an additional star coin item also spawns which allows the player to pop them all as you collect it.
Coins
There are 3 types of coins, which flip between a special item symbol and a dollar sign. The effect you get when collecting one differs depending on its icon:
Grants points (avoid if possible)
Grants an additional bomb
Grants an additional gauge level
Removes bubbles on all the screen
Note that the color of the coin symbol as you collect it doesn't matter.
Characters
This tier-list is, as all tier lists, potentially inaccurate. However, it is also in good part based on the opinions of the TSS competitive community.
| S | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| A | |||
| B | |||
| C | |||
| D | |||
| E |
Meirin
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Upsides:
Meirin has one of the most toxic ex attacks in the game: it is a giant, wide panda, that climbs a wall of the opponent's field before body slaming down at them. While doing this "jump", the panda will also adjust its direction so that to follow the enemy. The fact that its movement has annoying tracking, coupled with its very wide hitbox and fast speed likely makes it the best ex attack in the game. Finally, it blocks shots!
Aside from that, she has a decent boss, which chooses between three patterns:
- Spin attack: after jumping around a bit, the Principal spins around in a clockwise or anticlockwise pattern, describing a circle around the field. This is annoying as it forces the opponent to move around with it, and it takes a lot of space.
- Panda summon: after wandering, the Principal summons 4 smaller pandas that gravitate around it, blocking hits. Likely the least annoying of attacks as he doesn't move down too much after summoning these.
- Slam trap: the Principal summons two boxes on each wall surrounding the opponent's field, then suddenly smashes them against one another in the center of the screen, at the enemy's height. Can be dodged vertically once it is fired.
Downsides:
Her L1 charged attack isn't very great: it spawns 4 bells that explode in a big radius when they hit an enemy, so their main use is defensive only, but you need to anticipate it a bit due to her slow charge speed.
Her bossfight doesn't move around a lot and has big hitbox, meaning it is easier to deal it damage than most of the other boss attacks.
Her shot also speed isn't very great, meaning it is a bit tricky at times to deal damage to big enemies or fireballs.
Mevious
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Upsides:
Mevious has a very great base shot and shot speed, which when combined with his very good movement speed allows him to clear enemy chains really well. Taken together, this means he has the best base shot in the game.
His ex attack is really annoying. The bats last on the screen for a long time, and wander around in seemingly random directions while hovering next to the opponent. Although the bats are short, they are really wide, which is great as there isn't less room to maneuver horizontally than vertically. This combo of hard to evade and long lasting makes this ex attack and the related L2 one of the best in the game.
The boss attack is also pretty good: it is a gigantic dark blue bat with 3 attacks. One of these attacks in particular is great because it spawns 4 ex attacks at once at the top of the screen, that head towards the opponent before flying upwards and escaping. Combined with a L2 spell attack, dodging gets harder as both patterns can be confused for one another.
Finally, he has a decent charge attack in the shape of 3 bats fired in a tri-shot pattern. At point blank, it deals 9 damage, which is good for taking out bosses. It can also hit fireballs that come at an angle due to the two shots fired themselves at an angle around the vertical one.
Downsides:
Mevious' charge shot biggest weakness is how each shot only does a pitiful 3 damage. That isn't even enough to take down some of the bigger popcorn enemies and fireballs. It can also sometimes hit fireballs you may not want to hit due to its spread covering a wide area. Because of all that, it should only be used contextually (as stated above to damage bosses or packs of diagonal fireballs)
Memory
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Upsides:
Memory is the 2nd fastest character in the game, and she also has a great shot that is made up of a set of 4 multi-colored rings that resemble the shape of a tornado. She also has the 2nd fastest shot speed in the game, tied with Nanja Manja.
Her L1 charged shot is also really great: when using it she fires 4 large blue orbs that bounce all over the screen. It is almost like a free bomb, because it covers the full screen and kills every single enemy and fireball. If fired as a boss appears, it can even kill it in around a second. And, you can even charge it up while the orbs are still on the screen, negating part of its downtime!
Her ex attack is also really good. It works like Sprites' but with different graphics and varying hitbox size. It forces the opponent to move, as it homes in on them in an accelerating fashion. Depending on the way the enemy moves, it might even spawn on them, and it can surround them from many directions when several are sent at once (such as from Memory's L2)
Downsides:
Memory's main downside, even though it doesn't hurt her too much, is that she has the slowest charge speed in the game, which makes charging L1/L2/L3 somewhat of a risky move (as she won't be able to fire at enemy formations and fireballs as she's busy doing it).
This is partially negated by the fact her L3 boss isn't really great, so it is better advised to spam L2 with her instead. She can also fire a L1 charge attack which will clear up the screen before starting to charge up her gauge, giving her a bit of leeway.
Nanja Manja
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Upsides:
Nanja Manja has a great shot: it's fast and easy to spam. They also have the fastest charge speed in the game which allows them to charge up their great L1 attack. This one deals eaither 3, 6 or 9 damage depending on whether it pierces through something or not (it going through an enemy makes it lose 3 damage each time). It can be directed by tapping left or right as you let go of the fire button.
They also have really good ex attackd: they are huge furrballs that last for an extended time on the opponent's field. They also block their shots, which screws up their chain combos, namely perfects. Finally, they can even trap them as they track their position a bit horizontally. That forces any opponent trying to stay alive to stream the massive furballs, which is complicated amidst the chaos of battle.
Downsides:
King Nanja, which is Nanja Manja's boss attack, isn't great. It has the lowest HP in the game, and bounces 4 times before attacking, which makes it easier for an opponent to kill it before it can actually fire any pattern. One of its pattern is great: the lightning, because it is difficult to dodge and almost instant. The other attacks, however, are really weak, because they are slow / telegraphed (spikes and body slam). Using meter for L2 is a better usage of gauge as a result.
Another minor weakness is that Nanja Manja have only an average movement speed. In this game, that is detrimental because macrododges happen very often due to the speed of fireballs and ex attacks.
Sprites
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Upsides:
Sprites has a pretty good shot that can be fired faster than average (tied for the 4th fastest base shot speed with other characters). She shines with her great L1 charge shot: a large, blue comet that is surrounded by two intersecting yellow smaller comets on its sides. The main comet can hit 4 or 5 times, dealing 3 damage each time, while the side comets each deal 3 damage. Combined, a direct full hit of this L1 can add up to 18 damage (or even 21 if it is moving upwards).
Their ex attack is pretty great: it is similar to Memory's but has a fixed size hitbox which is tall but skinny. The speed of each of these rabbicats can vary a lot, and they aim in on the opponent. If several are sent over at once, they can surround them, making it relatively hard to dodge fully.
The boss attack has decent HP, and a pretty good attack that fires 3 thin streaks of lightning covering the full field height, cutting a lot of free space for dodges.
Downsides:
Using the L2 instead of the L3 is still advised because the boss only has one really great attack pattern, and even it can fail to pressure the opponent enough as the 3 lightning strikes may stack together. It has 4 other possible attack patterns that also do not make up for it.
Sprites also has an average movement speed, which is, once again, not good enough in a game where macrododges and moving to kill enemy chains in time is so important.
Tinker & Linker
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Upsides:
Their main strength is their ex attacks, which is one of the best in the game. They consist in big purple or yellow fairies ball travelling from Tinker and Linker's field to the opponent's field with varying angles speeds. Depending on said angle, it can even bounce off the floor or outer wall once before exiting the screen, adding an element of surprise.
Aside from that, they have a great L1 charge attack. It is a crystal that can be fired in any direction hold up as the player lets go of the fire button. It charges quickly and can be fired in all eight directions, making it really flexible. That allows it to be used as a greatly efficient tool to achieve perfect chains, reflect a cluster of fireballs or even hit enemies behind them.
Downsides:
Tinker and Linker's shot is slightly slower than average and has a normal width, which makes it below average. Their L1 also has a small weakness in that it lacks damage. Both of these attributes mean that this character will face a bit of trouble when dealing with boss attacks, which in turns means they have bad matchups against characters with a good boss.
Their boss takes a while to attack, and has low life, making it easy to destroy especially if it uses its starfall attack. It is nonetheless average because its other 2 attacks take a decent space on the field, and combine well with their ex attacks
Again, an average movement speed is a bit detrimental. All in all, they have a poor defense.
Load Ran
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Upsides:
Load Ran is this game's protagonist. She has a pretty decent charge attack that deals 2 damage per hit, and 8 damage on a direct hit. It has a pretty wide hitbox and is thus pretty good at killing bosses, especially if they travel upwards (2 hits will connect deal a total of 10 damage).
Her ex attack is also pretty good: it is a rabbicat that comes out from behind Ran and flies over to the opponent's side before exploding. A L2 attack fires 3 of them. They always fly towards the opponent in an arc, aiming at them, which forces movement. Sometimes, they fly in so quickly that the enemy will have trouble reacting in time. Their explosion also lingers for around half a second, which prevents the opponent from directly moving back to their initial position.
Finally, she has a fairly good boss. It has average life, but decent attacks:
- Body ram attack: the boss lounges at its opponent. As it flies before the dive, it cannot be damaged. This attack takes a lot of space.
- Star spread: the boss fires a five-way shot centered on the opponent's position. It cuts off a good amount of space.
- Carrot barrage: the boss moves from one wall to the other, firing six carrots that block shots. Also a good amount of pressure.
- Dual bunny bombs: the boss fires two rabbicats towards the opponent's position. Combines well with other ex attacks.
Downsides:
She has only average movement and shot speed. Her charged shot also takes time fire since her charge speed is rather slow, and it needs to connect on its center for it to do a significant amount of damage. Because of all that, she can have trouble with intense barrages.
While great, Ran's ex attacks are predictable because they always move in an arc aimed at the opponent's position. This means they can move towards the opposite wall to bait an early explosion, rendering them mostly useless in low pressure situations. Because of that, it also doesn't cut off dodging options from multiple angles.
Dark Ran
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Upsides:
Dark Ran is a doppleganger so she works the same as Ran. She has a pretty decent charge attack that deals 2 damage per hit, and 8 damage on a direct hit. It has a pretty wide hitbox and is thus pretty good at killing bosses, especially if they travel upwards (2 hits will connect deal a total of 10 damage).
Her ex attack is also pretty good: it is a rabbicat that comes out from behind Ran and flies over to the opponent's side before exploding. A L2 attack fires 3 of them. They always fly towards the opponent in an arc, aiming at them, which forces movement. Sometimes, they fly in so quickly that the enemy will have trouble reacting in time. Their explosion also lingers for around half a second, which prevents the opponent from directly moving back to their initial position.
Finally, she has a fairly good boss. It has average life, but decent attacks:
- Body ram attack: the boss lounges at its opponent. As it flies before the dive, it cannot be damaged. This attack takes a lot of space.
- Star spread: the boss fires a five-way shot centered on the opponent's position. It cuts off a good amount of space.
- Carrot barrage: the boss moves from one wall to the other, firing six carrots that block shots. Also a good amount of pressure.
- Dual bunny bombs: the boss fires two rabbicats towards the opponent's position. Combines well with other ex attacks.
Downsides:
She has only average movement and shot speed. Her charged shot also takes time fire since her charge speed is rather slow, and it needs to connect on its center for it to do a significant amount of damage. Because of all that, she can have trouble with intense barrages.
While great, Ran's ex attacks are predictable because they always move in an arc aimed at the opponent's position. This means they can move towards the opposite wall to bait an early explosion, rendering them mostly useless in low pressure situations. Because of that, it also doesn't cut off dodging options from multiple angles.
Macky & Pentell
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Upsides:
Macky and Pentell have a pretty good and fast shot, made up of two large colored pencils. Their L1 charge attack is interesting because it can be manually detonated by pressing the fire button again after it has been fired, which is good to attack a pack of fireballs while they move out of the way before the manual explosion is triggered. The detonation hitbox is also really big.
They shine mostly because of their ex attack: a little monster that travels from their field to the opponent's, before pausing for a second and heading towards the enemy. It is incredible because it is fast, lasts for a long time, has a fairly large hitbox and forces the enemy to move as it aims during its last phase. The L2 fires 3 of them.
Downsides:
Sadly, the L1 isn't that great because Macky and Pentell have a bad charge speed (2nd longest in the game). It also doesn't deal a lot of damage, which is odd considering how long it takes to fire. This bad charge speed is also detrimental for the usual reasons (forces focusing on dodging for extended period of times during which they can't destroy enemy formations, boss and fireballs).
They also have a terrible boss attack, likely the worst in the game, because it spins a lot without firing anything, making it easily destroyable. Its charges, punches and pencils are also slow and easy to dodge. It even has below average HP.
In the sega saturn port, Pentell gravitates around Macky on a cloud. This is only confusing and makes visibility with them even worse. Pretty weird decision considering they're already relatively weak.
Their last and worst weakness is their terrible movement speed. They are the 2nd slowest character in the game, and it makes dodging with them or aggressively chase enemy formations challenging.
Yan Yanyung
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Upsides:
Yan has the fastest charge speed in the game. This combines well with her decent L1 that takes a lot of space on the screen, making her very good at destroying packs of fireballs, making it a great defensive option.
She also has great ex attacks: these pigbirds fly in a curve towards the opponent. They have a decent size, homes in on the enemy, forcing them to move, and is also really fast. A cluster of them can be really hard to dodge, making the L2 that spawns 3 of them a good offensive option.
Finally, her boss, a giant pigbird, is pretty decent! It has 3 attacks:
- Small waves: after moving in 1/4 circle, the boss fires six small waves that can be dodged by staying near the bottom of the screen, left or right.
- Star spread: after moving in 1/2 circle, the boss goes into an exaggerated sneezing animation, firing a big wave. Easy to dodge but takes a lot of space.
- Bullet spray: after moving in full circle, the boss fires 11 bullets in a spray before zigzaging out of the screen, which is annoying to dodge.
Downsides:
Yan is the slowest character in the game, which really hurts her ability to dodge. This, combined with a pretty poor shot speed, also hurt her ability to chain enemy formations well, so it also hurts her offense a lot.
Her L1 is also not that great because it deals only 4 damage, meaning it won't kill the biggest fireballs that have 5 HP in one go. The fact it is so large can also be detrimental since it will hit everything at once, including fever fireballs you may not want to return to the opponent screen.
Realy Till
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Upsides:
Realy Till has pretty good movement speed, and a bit below average shot and charge speed. These are pretty balanced stats overall, meaning her defensive and offensive abilities are pretty balanced.
She has a decent ex attack too: a large, fat dragon that flies downwards from the top of the opponent's screen, then turn left or right at random heights. It takes up a lot of space due to its rather big hitbox, and has a slight trapping effect.
While not great overall, her L1 charge attack is great at popping off enemy bubbles. This means Till doesn't have to necessarily chase off the coin that pops it up, and time its collection.
Downsides:
Her L1 charge attack is made up of 13 separate short-range flames that each deal 1 damage. It bad range and damage makes it one of the worst in the game, although it might be useful in dealing with small fries due to its spread. It also cannot pierce through ex attacks that block hits, meaning she's especially weak in such matchups.
The other big weakness Realy Till has is her terrible L3 boss: its flame spray and bullet spray made up of 6 bullets are pretty easy to dodge. The body ram attack is telegraphed, even though it is relatively fast.
Finally, even if her ex attack is alright, it is sadly rather predictable, and doesn't make a threat on its own. They also break for around half a second before turning, which means the opponent has a bit of time to react to the direction they take afterwards.
Kim / Do Kesubei
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Upsides:
Kim has pretty good movement speed, tied with Mevious for the 3rd fastest character. As usual you know the gist, this is pretty good for defense (macrododges) and offense (aggressively pursuing enemy formations).
His charge attack is really great, first of all because it is spammable thanks to a good charge speed, but also because of its precision and damage: it deals 6 damages 3 times (once per punch). The last punch also has a greater hitbox, helping it deal with smaller enemies. Because of the damage, it's also a great boss killer (2 of these kill any boss if they reach it).
Finally, Kim has a very strong boss, which, even though it has low life, features 4 strong attacks:
- Bouncy Ball: after moving around a bit, the boss turns into a ball and falls down towards the opponent, before bouncing 4 times.
- Bullet spread: after moving around a bit, the boss quivers and then fires almost instantly a quick 6-way spread shot. Because this attack is so fast, point blanking this boss can be challening.
- Bouncing triangles: after moving around a bit, the boss fires 2 triangles that cross each other out and bounce off the inner and outer walls.
- Lasers: after after moving around a bit, going slightly upwards and pausing, the boss then fires two full screen lasers out of its eyes while moving left or right (depending on where it started from)
Downsides:
Sadly, despite great upsides, Kim still falls off and goes into low tier because of crippling issues. His worst one is likely his ex-attack which is by far the worst one in the game: it is a rocker fist that slowly flies down the opponent's field before exploding. It is terrible due to its slowness, predictable movement and narrow hitbox. Half of the time they don't even make it fully to the bottom of the field, meaning they explode prematurely. Said explosion hitbox is also rather small.
Another big weakness is that they have the 2nd slowest shot in the game, and that said shot also has a rather bad hitbox. Because of that, starting chains instead requires using the charge attack, which, while very strong, also has a rather small range, meaning you essentially need to point blank everything, which can become very dangerous very fast.
Arthur Schmitt
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Upsides:
Arthur is the fastest character in the game, which is really useful as it allows him to dodge and aggressively chase enemies really well. It works well with his L1 charge attack, a laser that covers the full height of his field that he can slide around, which is decent at destroying packs of enemies or fireballs. Said attack lasts for 38 frames, and deals multi-hit damage (13 ticks of 1 damage).
He has ex attacks that are pretty gimmicky: they are rockets that fly from the bottom of the opponent's field, creating a trapping effect if there are a lot of fireballs flying down the other direction. It also has a pretty tall hitbox, because the rocket's flame is actually part of it. It can even spawn on top of an enemy staying too much at the bottom of their field. His L2 actually sends 4 of them, which is pretty good at creating clusters of them.
Downsides:
However, said ex attacks have a very narrow hitbox - its side guns cannot hit the opponent - making the attack pretty easy to dodge. A good way to counter them is to stay higher up on the screen than you would typically do in other matchups, to have the time to react to the rockets and dodge them laterally.
Schmitt's L1 charge attack is also in fact not too great because it deals measly damage, meanings he needs to stay stationary to deal enough damage to the biggest enemies and fireballs. It also stuns bosses, which puts them in a state in which they do not receive anymore damage for a while, making it a pretty weak option against them.
Additionally, he has the slowest shot in the game: three light blue mini lasers, with a pretty narrow hitbox. Combined with his L1, that makes him really bad at dealing with enemy formations, making achieving perfects somewhat difficult, as well as making his offensive even worse during times he would need it in a clutch, especially since his pretty bad charge speed makes it difficult to fire his L1 without preparation.
Finally, Arthur has a pretty bad boss attack as well. First of all, it has a measly 17 HP, the lowest in the game. It also only has one decent attack out of 3: dual lasers with 4 slow bullets it fires after placing itself in the center of the screen and moving upwards. The issue is that even this really great pattern, that would otherwise contend for best boss attack in the game, is actually neutered because of how vulnerable the low HP boss is before actually firing its lasers (it takes around 2s for it to position), meaning most of the time, it will get destroyed before firing anything.
Griffon, Evin & Burn
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Upsides:
Griffon, Evin and Burn have a bit above average movement speed, and a pretty decent L1 charge attack: it is a multi hit double saw that goes up diagonally before returning to them. Each blade deals 1 point of damage every 8 frames. It is pretty good at dealing extra damage against a boss as they can fire normal shots while the saws are moving, and it can destroy ennemies and fireballs at angles not achievable by any other character in the game.
The other main upside they have going for them is a pretty good boss attack, boosting the highest health in the game at 25 hit points and four attacks, three of which are rather good:
- Body ram: if this attack is selected and at any point the opponent gets under the griffon while it wanders around, it will dive straight down to the bottom of the field. Otherwise, the griffon will dive from one of three places randomingly instead. Then, it wanders around for 2/3 seconds before leaving the screen.
- Cutter blades: after moving 3/4th of a circle, it goes to a fix position at the top center of the screen and sends out 4 saw blades that move towards the bottom center of the screen, before going boomerang back upwards. This attack can be dodged by moving to the sides of the screen, then going back to the center.
- Bullet spray: after moving in a full circle, the griffon heads back to the opposite wall while spraying 6 bullets out of its mouth, then it leaves the screen immediately.
- Swords: after moving a full circle, the griffon heads back to the opposite wall while summoning 4 swords out of its back. Once they are all summoned, they head towards the opponent. This is likely the easiest attack to dodge, and the boss is vulnerable while summoning said swords.
Finally, their ex attack can be somewhat decent if a few rare situations: they are rather wide, because the griffons spread their wings, taking some lateral space. As a result, a group of them in the right spots can cut off a lot of space. Their L2 also fires 4 of them.
Downsides:
They have a bad extra attack because it travels in a predictable straight line from the top to the bottom of the opponent's field at a constant, slow speed. They also rarely pack together.
Additionally, they are tied with Yan for the slowest base shot in the game. And their L1 doesn't really make up for it because it also has two big things going against it. Firstly, its damage isn't good enough to take out big fireballs, as they'll most likely pass through the blades. Secondly, Griffon has a very slow charge speed generally speaking, and that also hurts their ability to fire their L3 boss attack.