Puzzle: Star Sweep(PSX) FAQ version 1.0.2 by Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. However, if you write a polite e-mail to me referring to me(and this FAQ) by name, then I will probably say OK. But if I ignore you that means no--and I am bad about answering e-mail. Sorry. N.B. this isn't really about the game(which is why it's outside the FAQ proper) but I used a videotape for the first time in the creation of a guide here. And I do recommend it to anyone who writes guides. Plug the PSX into the VCR with the white/yellow cables and plug the VCR into the TV and hit record as you play. Apparently you can even read TV output to a computer screen, which would make guide writing even easier, but I had fun critiquing my own play and not having to scribble stuff down spontaneously. Isn't technology cool? ================================ ****OUTLINE**** 1. INTRODUCTION 1-1. ABOUT THE GAME 1-2. CONVENTIONS IN THIS FAQ 2. CONTROLS 2-1. WHAT YOU NEED TO MASTER 2-2. BREAKS YOU CAN TAKE 2-3. OPTIONS ON THE MENU 3. GENERAL COMBO TIPS 3-1. HOW THE PIECES FALL 3-2. HOW TO SET UP COMBOS 3-3. WAITING/PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE 3-4. SO IS SLIDING IN FOR AN EXTRA COMBO 3-5. REWARDS FOR HUSTLE 3-6. WHEN THE COMBO ISN'T QUITE A COMBO 4. SCORING AND STARS 4-1. SCORES 4-2. GAME-OVER STARS 5. STORY(FIGHT) MODE 5-1. ENEMY DIALOG 5-2. WHAT STRATEGIES WORK 5-3. HOW CLOUDS DROP(BEST GUESS) 5-4. OFFENSE AND DEFENSE 5-5. THE NEXT GENERATION 5-6. ABOUT EACH CHARACTER 5-7. ENDING SPOILERS 6. ONE PLAYER MODE 6-1. GENERAL STUFF TO LOOK FOR 6-2. LEVELS 1-5: THE BASICS OF COMBOS 6-3. BOSS # 1 6-4. LEVELS 6-15: QUICKER PACE 6-5. BOSS # 2 6-6. LEVELS 16-25 6-7. BOSS # 3 6-8. LEVELS 26-35 6-9. THE CLOUD SEQUENCES 6-10. LAST BOSS 7. ATTACK MODE 7-1. LINKS ATTACK(LONGEST CONSECUTIVE COMBO) 7-2. COMBO ATTACK(ERASE MOST BLOCKS AT ONCE) 7-3. OBSTACLE ATTACK(SURVIVAL) 7-4. SCORE ATTACK 7-5. 5 LINKS ATTACK(QUICKEST COMBO) 7-6. TIME ATTACK(REMOVE OBSTACLES) 7-7. COMMON STARTING FORMATIONS 8. VERSIONS 9. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION 1-1. ABOUT THE GAME Puzzle: Star Sweep is apparently based on some goofy anime. And I mean that with a capital G. Given the character cast, the silly translated Japlish, and the sparse manual, you really have to wonder if they got things right in this game by accident. But more than that--with the wrong pieces in most block games, you can linger a bit. In Star Sweep, with four pieces, two have to match and cancel each other out--it's about matching same colored stars together, and you have three colors(red/yellow/blue) and two block types(star on one or both ends.) The one player mode features blocks moving up from below, and you have to liquidate them. More experienced players will do so with combos-- touch two stars, blocks disappear, blocks above them fall, and so on. At first four combos seem like quite a feat, but later it's possible to get seven combos and in fact in the early fixed story-mode play you can do even better. You can lose if blocks reach the top of the screen and you can't do anything about it in three seconds. The game allows you to slip a piece in under a structure too, and you even get temporary breaks or counter resets for clearing certain pieces. Along the way you have clouds to burst(match two pieces touching the cloud,) lines that disappear the same way, and a good ramping up to the boss(requires five 'hits') before the next scene starts a bit quicker-- and more crowded. Even when you've solved the game you can find a way to create more combinations for better points. And the story mode allows tougher challenges where you dump clouds on your opponents for great combos and the rising pieces are less of a factor. Strategy required is a bit different and you don't have the waiting luxury, although you can win quick knockouts. Then there's attack mode which forces you to concentrate on variants; the regular game strategy will only get you a bronze level in most of the challenges. Overall, I'm really impressed with Star Sweep's depth. For such a goofy looking game to start, it requires many strategies, allows many types of trick shots, and allows for fine tuning plans later or even junking what you thought was a clear solution. Also the relatively meager selection of pieces does a good job of taking chance away from things. It's all frighteningly addictive, there's so much I've thought about away from the game and came up with that I thought was impossible, and I'm sure there are things I haven't discovered yet. I'm pretty sure I'll try for them unless I find something even more addictive. One thing that comes to mind is the crowns--get them and get 10000 stars. Are they rewards for blowing away the gold requirements in any one of the attack modes? In miscellaneous info note that the well you play in is 17x8, and the song in the background loops every two minutes. 1-2. CONVENTIONS IN THIS FAQ I'll be using maps extensively in this one. Fortunately the grid-based nature of the game allows them, and there isn't too much to worry about. One of the assumptions I may make is that pieces are of a certain color. This is a sort of standard logical thing and you may have to adjust to when the colors are different, but it's shorter than writing out the same thing for every color combination. regular piece = has star on one end double-piece = 3-long piece that has stars on both ends Regular pieces Double pieces r-R y b r R-R Y B R b-B | | | B-B | | | y-Y Y B R Y-Y Y B R * replacing B/Y/R-- = piece of any color R1r, Y2y = place this first/second * between B/R/Y = place this in an already defined structure X = wall(in maps) ~ = line to destroy color combo = order that the blocks arrive in. For instance I may say "if Y/B, place Y here and B there" cloud ~ obstacle It's delineated as follows: {--} = 4x1 obstacle +--+ | | = 4x3 obstacle +--+ $ = boss 'red: 2R, R' <-place the red piece 2 spaces away from the right edge and with the star facing right. I may use 0 in this notation, too. 2. CONTROLS 2-1. WHAT YOU NEED TO MASTER As you get further along in Star Sweep, split seconds will become more important--whether it's to save stars on the side or get that last piece right in time. Therefore you need to remember: CIRCLE = CLOCKWISE SQUARE = COUNTERCLOCKWISE You'll need to get used to what goes in which direction and note that 1) pieces always start as horizontal 2) the correct turn makes them vertical in the direction you want 3) two turns flip a piece around. So once you see a piece you should be able to flip it into position immediately. Moving it is another matter. Remember that pieces drop until there's another piece--partially or fully--blocking further descent. Note that you can push down when at the bottom to make pieces pop up faster. You can also hold down the X button and move the piece around; the first time the computer sees a valid move for it, that's where you'll drop the piece. This can save the odd split second as well. However, it doesn't divine a best move for you so if there are two legal moves one square away you'll see the 'no!' The game ends when you hear 'zero,' not for a moment after(i.e. like an NBA shot clock.) 2-2. BREAKS YOU CAN TAKE You can always pause the game, although the screen vanishes. It leaves the 'next' box operational, though, and if you remember the rough layout and the current piece in play, you can plan out what you want to do. This knowledge is particularly helpful in some of the attack modes, where you have a minute or less to accomplish a long combo. You can figure what order the colored blocks need to be dropped into. One thing you have to watch, though, is that you don't push any directional keys while paused. You can lose a good game this way. But most importantly, when you hear the countdown, and you know where you want to place the piece, wait 'til you hear 'one' to give yourself the chance to look around a bit more for the next move. There's no penalty for waiting a bit more. 2-3. OPTIONS ON THE MENU There's not much you can do here, really, although you can choose to start one-player from levels 1-26 of 42 or story from 6-9. You can also choose bonus # 1(profiles) once you've got 100 stars and bonus # 2(story mode but with different characters) once you pass 2000. You can also change to best-of-three or -five matches. There's even a useful semi- autosave, for when you complete a game and gain stars. With 100 stars you can also switch characters for one-player, which doesn't change the ending, but then you may just want to stop playing with Tia for a while. X moves forward and O moves back. 2-4. PRACTICE MODE Practice mode is useful if only to see how to get a huge chain or to practice smaller ones. You can get a chain of nine fairly easily. You can also get 12 blocks together without too much trouble but 13 is a bit trickier. ******** ******** y-Y b b | | B B y-Y r-R R R-r | B-b r Here the colors alternate for each block: blue, red, yellow, etc. and all face right in addition. You can start out by knocking off the left blue and trying to place the R in before the cloud comes down--this tests one cool strategy. But the best part is when you clear the board and can try for the chain of nine. Here's an example of how to do it: Y-y R-r B-b Y-y R-r B-b Y-y 123 R-r 123 B-b 123 You can just hit X eight times, move right and hit X again. but then above the Y-y you'll need: B-b R-r Y-y B-b R-r Y-y B-b R-r Then you can dump a yellow on the outlying yellow and watch the chain reaction! In column 1, you can dump all extraneous yellow pieces you aren't using. In column 2, you can put in the reds, and you can put blues in 3. You'll never have much there as you'll always go like this: y r b | | | Y or R or B Y R B | | | y r b In the meantime you can fill up to the top at your leisure. Getting 12 isn't too bad either. I don't think you can do more as you don't get any double blocks. And you can really only zap two blocks at a time, each of which can hold six blocks above--then there are only two 'extra' squares where you can have the falling bricks touch a star. Anyway: brb rbr ||| ||| BRB RBR y-Y Y-y BRBYRBR ||||||| brbyrbr Then drop in the yellow. Any extraneous pieces can be filled in whichever corner is open(the structure is only seven wide) and then once the structure is started... (1st step = y-Y BR || br and you should be able to go from there) ... you can just place--and eliminate--matching colors on top of a piece of the structure you've already made. But wait! You can do a bit better with a slight variation! RBR BRB ||| ||| rbr BRB Ry-Y Y-y |RBR BRB r||| ||| *rbr*rbr |*-*|*-* **-***-* 2-5. GENERAL PLACEMENT NO-NOS Bad things to do: place a star near the side, unless you KNOW you can create a combo soon. Why? Well, it can get surrounded and tough to dig out--you'll start needing specific pieces just to GET to it while it's running to the top of the board. You also don't just want to place pieces for the heck of it. It can be awkward, but when the pressure's on, you want to look for either 1) a clear match or 2) something that will precipitate a quick combo. You're going to just miss some of the time, and that can be awkward. Also another habit to shake yourself from is watching the pyrotechnics after you make a combo or even a simple placement to remove a few blocks. There's a lot to do, especially if the counter is winding down. The noise and flashes may be distracting but often dropping that extra piece into the mix can clear up the board that much more. The mentality of not going for combos also hurts because it'll often seem as though there's only one piece you can really use given what you know. That leads to a lot of others wasted, or a lot of time wasted placing the others. 3. GENERAL COMBO TIPS Combos are an integral part of Star Sweep. You may seem to be able to get along OK without them at first, but eventually you'll run into settings where the play field is too crowded to place anything, or you just won't have the right color piece handy. Usually this is because you've tried to put out fires immediately. Often placing a piece to anticipate a combo saves later trouble. Combos give an advantage above and beyond points because 1. they can open up a lot of room at the top, 2. they give you stars which buy you time when the structure reaches the top, and 3. the chain reaction slows things down when it finally occurs. You'll probably want to learn how to string two together, and eventually you'll see your way to longer ones. 3-1. HOW THE PIECES FALL They generally drop until they touch another piece and stick above them. Once the piece below them is gone, they tend to wait until it's mostly vanished and then drop some more. So you have time to place another piece above them. They also can stay at the bottom, if they get there, until shapes below them push them up. This is decided by the PlayStation in a quasi-random fashion(it picks from several formations.) 3-2. HOW TO SET UP COMBOS You'll want to practice combos of 2 first. The easiest way is to place one star above another, with a different color block between the two. So for instance, B-B R | R B-B A red will connect the B's here. Of course it isn't always so easy; I found when I started that I would do something like this... b-B r < R | < | R < r B-b ..having placed the blue and the red. This isn't critical theory but it will trip you up early on. However there are other ways to set up combos too. Note that you can leave two stars separated by a level bar, so that when the bar disappears you get an extra star to offset the increased speed. y | Y B-b y-Y Here a blue star would activate a combination. It's not a huge combo, but every bit helps. When the game's going slowly early on, you can probably string eight together for the big bonus anyway. One thing I find about setting up complex combos is that I get the order of placement wrong. Generally for 3+ chains you'll want a center lynchpin that causes everything to crash down--but you'll have to keep track of the everything else. If you mess around on the side you can affect the order things drop down in. 3-3. WAITING/PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE Often you may want to wait until the whole screen is shown before dropping in a block, as if a block hits the bottom and nothing appears to buoy it up, it can fall down. So for instance if you see: b | xxxx You know a star is going to appear below, but if you can get a combo to reach it you'll want to wait until it's shown. Similarly if you can't see anything below, but you have lots of time, why not see if you can extend your combo in the structure you're about to blast apart? Also you want to resist the temptation to just clear a level. For instance, when you take out one of the level lines the game begins to go faster. Therefore you want to look at a way to clear the board without hitting a line unless you have a nice combo in place. The biggest example of haste making waste is in the first five levels when you have the chain reaction custom made. Break the level line too early and because your pieces drop down too fast, they will disappear but they won't give you the combos. If you're not playing story mode, there's no need to try for speed. And in fact in story mode sometimes it's a good idea to wait to place something. If clouds seem about to fall and you can make a set, you may want to pause a half-second before doing so. This may allow the clouds to drop onto your combo, zapping one of them. 3-4. SO IS SLIDING IN FOR AN EXTRA COMBO Sometimes you'll be able to fit a piece into a gap just before a structure collapses. Consider the following setup: XB-b XR-r XB-b X Y X | X y XR-r XB-b Let's say you have a Y and a B coming up. You can then match the Y- piece but then you can quickly rotate the B-piece if necessary and drop it in the gap where the yellows were. This will create a chain reaction in this case--one that wouldn't be possible if you didn't sneak anything in. In fact you'd be stuck a while clearing out the sides. There are also more mundane ways to go about things. y | Y v Y-y R-r If red were next in the picture, you could tilt it over the yellow you just placed, rotate it down, and drop it--quickly. It takes a bit of practice but in essence it's making combinations out of nothing. 3-5. REWARDS FOR HUSTLE Even with a combo going on you still can find time to make it better. For instance say you have a yellow with a red to follow below: y-Y b-B y | Y b-B y-Y r-R The obvious move, putting the yellow between the blues, will get you some good points. However, if during the reaction you drop the red on top of the yellow above in time, you can add to the chain reaction. You can even place two vertical pieces on top of one another quickly. This is really an extension of 3-4 but if you find something on the side that you can do, it will get you more points than if you wait for things to quiet down so you can concentrate. You can also slip in a slightly faux combo in some cases. Say you have the following with B/R coming: B | b R-r Place a blue vertically and then quickly rotate the red so that you can place it for a combo. You can also sneak in a combo where there doesn't seem to be space. Say Y/B is coming up: B | < Y b < | Y < y | y Now once the yellows start to vanish you can place the blues vertically...it's a matter of timing so the game thinks you're dropping something in instead of placing it. This is actually pretty low-risk. 3-6. WHEN THE COMBO ISN'T QUITE A COMBO Seeing ahead is critical here but it's possible you may just envision things wrong. Once you have a sector you plan on making a combo for, focus on the piece you want to take out first. Then note the piece above it that would be first to drop and touch something. Then look at the next, and so forth. Identify which blocks they'll fall on and try your best not to do anything to the ones below. More often you'll get the order of the colors wrong and for this I advise not really trying for X+1-length combos until you've got a good grip on X. With the X, X+1 will come by accident, which will eventually make more sense to you. If you do happen to mess up--often you can even go for short term gain and one second after it realize how you disrupted your carefully laid plans--look quickly to see if you can eliminate the offending piece. Maybe you can put the correct piece above it and get a combo out of it. Sometimes if you're working in a crowded space it won't be possible as your problem was positioning. 4. SCORING AND STARS 4-1. SCORES --10 points for each new line that appears on a screen --any time you touch two same colored stars, you get a bonus for how many stars match up and how long the combo was: --200 points for melding two blocks --800 points for melding three blocks --1400 points for melding four blocks --2500 points for melding five blocks --3600 points for melding six blocks --4700 points for melding seven blocks --5800 points for melding eight blocks --500 points for a two-combo --1000 points for a three-combo --2000 points for a four-combo --3000 points for a five-combo --4000 points for a six-combo --5000 points for a seven-combo [I suspect beyond this is a pattern: 1100x-3000 for # of blocks 1000x-2000 for long combo] --you get stars for each additional combo--two separate 2-combos or a 3- combo net the same result. However blocks coming together at the same time don't get you an additional combo, i.e. BY || BY R-R <-put a red here, only one combo BY || by --Once you amass eight stars, you get 30000 points. And a star pig flying across the screen to distract you--so watch out here. I also think I've gotten the tune to play twice, and I'm not sure if that's just the tune or the score. It happens rarely and is a timing issue--if you get two stars in quick succession right next to each other, the tune plays twice. --500 points for each obstacle or level-line removed. No bonus for moving a couple of obstacles at once. --10000 points for killing every boss with 1000 points per hit up to then(need 5 hits to kill) --not really POINTS, but star colors for combos are yellow, purple, blue and red for 4x+2, 4x+3, 4x, 4x+1. My high score is ~634330 on normal. As there's no reward other than stars for completing 'very hard' you might as well go on the easier levels to see how high you can pump up your score. The breakdown for my typical game might go something like this: 1st 5 levels 150k 6-15 260K 16-25 350K 26-35 430K So obviously the points you get are front loaded. And they also depend mostly on how many 30k's you get, unless you're an absolute whiz with combinations(I'm just an everyday whiz.) I also find that whenever I pay attention to points, I trip up. As I have to be eternally vigilant in a game. Also mote the minimum points for an X-combo: 2: 500 + 2*200 = 900 3: 1000 + 500 + 3*200 = 2100 4: 2000 + 1000 + 500 + 4*200 = 4300 5: 3000 + 2000 + 1000 + 500 + 5*200 = 7500 6: 4000 + 3000 + 2000 + 1000 + 500 + 6*200 = 11700 7: 5000 + 4000 + 3000 + 2000 + 1000 + 500 + 7*200 = 16900 This is useful in the one attack mode where 30000 total nets a gold, but what you may overlook is that something you throw on late may give a few valuable additional points--more AND longer is a good rule of thumb and the time trade-off between dropping in another six vs. checking a seven may be in favor of two sixes. The later you can add a piece that enters the chain reaction, the more points you get, so even if you don't find something right away that may not kill you. If you drop a piece in the middle of the combo to get an extra 5-star with your 7, your total is over 20000 points and you should be able to get 10000 with the rest of it all if you get another nice combo. As for scoring in general, the early waves are the best times to pile up big points. They're slow enough, and the generated bricks are easy enough to mess with. A lot of times, you'll be able to set up obvious combos from the given formations, but with a little work you can put together a 5-in-a-row or even better. In addition to the combo points you'll also probably get several 30000+'s. But by the time you get to the end it will be moving pretty fast, and your scores will be relatively fixed. The time break you get from combos will be more important than their points. 4-2. GAME-OVER STARS --(your score)/5000 --5 for beating each opponent in story mode --50 for story mode, easy --100 for story mode, medium --150 for story mode, hard --200 for story mode, veryhard --100 extra for not losing any matches on the way --25 for each win in bonus-2 mode, 5* victory multiples as well --5 for bronze in any attack mode --10 for silver in any attack mode --15 for gold in any attack mode --1000 for getting gold in all attack modes --10000 for getting a crown in attack mode(not sure how) Basically if you want to get to 2000 stars very quickly then you should keep playing One Player mode and going back to the beginning. That is more efficient than going through story mode, which takes around 10 minutes of play, not counting interludes or retry. The combinations immediately available at the start of one-player should net you some quick points, and the early boss isn't too tough. You can usually get good points per minute practicing up on the obstacle elimination in attack mode, which could be a nice change of pace. 5. STORY(FIGHT) MODE In story mode, you have to beat nine progressively tougher opponents in a competitive game of Star Sweep. They seem to get smarter and quicker as you go on. The shapes don't come up too fast from the bottom, but the clouds are determined by your opponent, who gets faster and more skillful at piece placement as the game goes on. You can start at any of the first six levels, and you have unlimited continues, but near the end B-1 and Dr. J tend to dispose of pieces very quickly, and you only get mega-bonuses or a spot on the high score list if you complete all contests without a loss. All different manners of clouds appear here--heights 1, 2, 3, which allow and require more creativity when getting rid of them. They can be used like level lines to create combos, but you can touch them from the side. General tips about concentration include 1) noting that even if you clear some clouds while you hear the countdown they may be stacked above the top and you'll have to move quickly(i.e. less of a mulligan for combos than in one-player,) and on the other hand 2) your opponent's countdown can distract you to inaction at first but in fact if you get another combo in, you may twist the knife just enough. My current record on easy is 5:53.4 without mistakes(and 5:47.8 *WITH*--the thing here is that if you don't get off to a super quick start, you can just wait around and lose and try again if you're sneaky) but anything below 8:00 is something to be proud of. As you get on further the rounds will take more time. Here's what it looks like when I get through relatively quickly: :20 :45 1:15 1:50 2:30 3:25 4:25 5:25 6:25 As opponents get better they can work their way through a few barriers, but if you can string a 4-chain together then you will win no matter what. 5-1. ENEMY DIALOG I couldn't resist. It's too funny. Enjoy, even if you never played this game. 1-MINT (by parthenon like structure.) --Mint, you want to lose again? --Okay! I won't lose to you today, Tia! 2-FUNGA (left of aztec temple in jungle) Funga! keep out of here! orders from the princess. If you say that, I really want to go! Let's play! 3-PRINCESS RIO (right of aztec temple in jungle) --Oh no! Funga! He is useless! --Are you the princess? --Yes! next, I will fight with you! --Selfish, princess! I don't want to lose! 4-PO (on way to high-roofed house) --I feel strong! You are the master of stardust! --My name is Po! please play with me! --You must be really good! --Ok, let's play! 5-KEN (at the house) I'm Ken! Pick me next! I'm not like Po. --It seems Po is stronger than you... --Don't trick me like that! I'll show you! --Let's see your skill! 6-DOMINGO (a bit the up mountain) --hey girl! let's play!! --Cat! can I play with a cat? --Of course! Battle with me! --I've got it now! I am not losing to a cat! 7-RANK (top of the mountain --You beat my friend! --You're so cute. Will you go out with me? --Ok! If you defeat me I'll go out with you! --I see! I will do my best! 8-B-1 --(comes down from spaceship, tia jumps on) --move! move! clean up! clean up! --wait! don't chase me!! --Dr. J says I have to clean up everyintg! You too! --What? Dr. J? OK! I'll clean you up! 9-DR. J (comes onto ship) --At least we meet... --You are the one who made that funny robot! --Funny fobot![sic] I am going to get you! Ready?! --I am not losing to you! 5-2. WHAT STRATEGIES WORK Well, as you start out, you can probably place pieces willy-nilly and get away with it. However later you'll need to rely on combinations and strategically placed pieces that can get rid of clouds. In fact you just need a 3-combo or so for the first few waves. You really have to string them together later, though. Remember that just putting two blocks together may actually hurt your cause--you get minimum credit toward a cloud but not much else. Clouds can get very imbalanced here since they fall on your structure, but I suggest putting pieces on top of them as quickly as possible. If you don't bother, often the clouds will cover up almost the entire area above, and you'll only be able to place a few more pieces before the clouds drop and leave no new space to put other things. If nothing else you can just watch what the opponent who keeps beating you does several times and try to play like that. Also you should always try to go for a combo--whether it's placing one star on the other side of a cloud or just classical combinations, you want to do what you can. Each time blocks vanish they should take something else with them. You'll need to scoot between the top and the bottom a bit but in order to lessen the transit time you'll want to put a wedge above the clouds ASAP. It'll be worth it--the right one(upright, in the center) can potentially erase several and the odds generally favor waiting a few pieces for it. 5-3. HOW CLOUDS DROP(BEST GUESS) I'd guess the computer keeps track of points somehow and once you cross a certain threshhold, that many more clouds drop. At any rate it seems pretty clear that when I put together a combo of four, I get a LOT more than four times what I'd get for a simple set of blocks. Of course you can watch the top of the screen for the flashing 'danger' and it also shows you how many clouds are about to fall down and what size they are. You get the usual breaks for making pieces vanish but if you make clouds drop they still might reach to the top if your opponent had a really good combo. Clouds can be zapped by a tail end of a reaction of two bricks. Two small clouds are more dangerous than one large cloud because if you attack them from the top you'll need to matching pieces to dissolve them. Therefore you want to work from the side whenever possible. What to expect from chain reactions(though you probably won't have the time:) a 2-fer gets a cloud of height 2 and the 3-fer tacks on another cloud of height 3. Also double-star pieces get extra clouds--one cloud height per star. The longer the chain, the more the clouds dumped on the opponent. They usually appear about two seconds after being produced. 5-4. OFFENSE AND DEFENSE I consider offense as building chains and defense as getting rid of cloud barriers. Offense shouldn't be hard if you've played the later levels of one-player, but you also don't want to waste any possible chains. You need to be at the point where you can take a split-second to look around even for just a modest two-chainer. Because it's easy to clear the board and not have any combos to make while your opponent whips one up and...oh dear. Of course in this instance you can go to the bottom of the screen and pull up more rows--or just take a page out of the computer's main strategy and build a tower like so: * | * *-* * | * *-* * | * This will allow for some quick reductions and combos and will also unbalance any dropped clouds. Should you get clouds dropped on you, you'll want to deal with them as in the rather long stretches in the regular game. Put one color next to the board center, the next on the edge, and look at the 'next' box to see what is coming up. Say you get blue, red, yellow and blue--then blue goes near the center and red goes on the edge and yellow will go next to red, the one that isn't matched up. The point here is that you have four vertical slots on any one cloud and want to be sure things match up. Naturally you can tweak things--with blue red red you can try to put the reds like so to knock off an extra cloud if it's there: R-r R | r Exact play is needed to ensure you don't trap a bunch of pieces near the top, but fortunately there aren't --too-- many alternatives. It's just the darned speed issue! 5-5. THE NEXT GENERATION This is bonus game 2, revealed when you get 200 stars. Here your opponents, except Dr. J, are basically all blobs with arms and legs, palette swapped as you move among levels. They look weirder than your opponents from the regular game but sadly have nothing weird to say. They start at about maybe level 6-7 of medium. Dr. J is still the last one, and you get the same ending, but you get five times as many stars. Overall this is a good bargain if you want to see how much you can gain, but I found the learning curve is less steep here. 1. blue 2. orange 3. green 4. white 5. purple 6. grey 7. yellow 8. black 9. Dr. J 5-6. ABOUT EACH CHARACTER (taken from the bonus-1 part of the game which also shows win, lose, obstacle(cloud dropped on you,) fire(drop a piece,) links and count(3-2- 1) actions) This info has no bearing on game play but is amusing. Tia, age 14, female "She is a very fine girl, always thinking of happy times. Though she has a cool head, she hates to lose.(long red hair, short dress) Mint, age 12, male "A fine boy, and easy going. He is similar to Tia, and hates to lose"(blue hair, shorts, sandals) Funger(sic), age 35, male. "He is guardsman for Princess Rio. The best soldier in the country. He is very resposible." (green trollish thing w/minimal armor) Rio, age 14, female "She is willfull and selfish. Once she is mad, nobody can stop her. Usually kind, people generally like her a lot." (skimpy top, green pigtails, amazon warrior dress-up, crotch covered--and the game's still not rated 'M') Po, age 12, female "Even though she is a fighter, she is a kind, tender, and graceful person. She wants to help people as much as she can." (white jumpsuit, auburn hair in bow, headband) Ken, age 13, male "He has very straight personality, and is crazy about fighting. He can not forgive bad people." (spiky hair with tail in back, red vest, ballet pants/slippers. *Resists urge to comment on how few straight men would dress like that, so this is important info...*) Domingo, age unknown, male "This cat is of a rare breed, because he can speak human languages. It is a funny thing, but he loves a human girl." Rank, age 18, male. "He owns domingo. He is intelligent and calm. He also loves girls as much as Domingo does." (long ice blue hair, the closest thing to biker- wear that an anime character can get) B1, age 0, prototype "He is the number one cleaner robot. Always finishes tasks perfectly. He was programmed by Dr. J, and only listens to her." (squat R2D2 with fangs) Dr. J, age 24, female "She is much too interested in her experiments. Even her body became used for experiments...(wonderwoman with superman tone to her outfit, blonde hair and gloves and a crown.) 5-7. ENDING SPOILERS (this is shown after the ending of either the story or the one-player games:) DR. J: What? I lost to her? no way! TIA: (grins, points at her) You sure did! DR. J: (shakes fist) Grrr... (text:) Dr Js plan: To destroy stars near earth, so that star dust would fill the sky B-1 cleaned up all the star dust, and everyone loved him after that ...Everyone already knew about the plan DR. J: No!!! TIA: You can't fool people that easily! DR. J: Oh no! I never give up! Don't forget that! Let's go, B-1. TIA: I'll never lose! 6. ONE PLAYER MODE 6-1. GENERAL STUFF TO LOOK FOR Because you get a nice reprieve for making a combo, and because each star is worth 3750 points(potentially,) you'll want to try even for cheap ones. You'll also learn to feel certain of the random patterns, but at first you'll want to make a splash. I found that at one point in my play my scores went as follows: 150000 after level 5 boss 270000 after level 15 boss 370000 after level 25 boss 450000 after level 35 boss So: the law of diminishing returns due to harder levels. In fact as the levels go on there's more randomization and less space to place blocks. The first ten levels are predetermined, and I think I have a good system for getting through them with lots of points, but otherwise you need to rely on more general strategies. 6-2. LEVELS 1-5: THE BASICS OF COMBOS b-B R-r r y | | R Y b-B R-r ~~~~~~~~ (L2) R-RB-B y-Y B | b y-Y R-r y-Y ~~~~~~~~ (L3) B B Y Y | | | | b b y y R-r r-R B-B R | r ~~~~~~~~ (L4) r-Rr-R B-b Y-y R-r B-b R-r Y-y B-b R Y | | r y R-R Y y-Y | B y | R-R B $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ Starting at level one, it looks like a cinch at first to get some combos. But you can do even more! Don't go for one immediately. Place a red block on top of the left structure. Place a blue on top of the left and a yellow flat above it. If you have time and space a blue and then yellow gets you off to a great start when the next yellow comes in. Of course you can place a blue in the right center as well and then drop a yellow in the right structure for a quick combination, but the first level is a great sign of how to go about combos(i.e. NO, don't put the blue in the top left) and about how you will want to get to the point where you want to try for non-obvious combos. Picture below of level 1: Dump useless pieces here, stars up, to match and kill off VV b Y*y * B*b Br*r Y*y b-B R-r r y < place yellow, | b | < then red, as R * Y < quickly as possible b-B BR-r ^^need to place blue on far left some time anyway. Once you're through level 1, there are lots of ways to get more combos on level 2-3. Here's what I try if I have the time: B | r-R by-Y R-r b * B y R-r | y-Y Y ~~~~~~~~ (L3) B B Y Y | | | | b b y y R-r r-R B-B R | r Of course it may need to be cut out sooner and just matching up the reds with what's below the level 3 line is a good way to start out. It's on levels 3-4 where you can get the big spontaneous bonus if you're careful. I've gotten from seven to ten stars--ten requires a bit of luck. The main thing to watch out for is 1)if the pieces go wrong, just drop stuff in the right and then try to drop the top red and 2) be sure that you go down far enough so that the blue on the left is part of a chain reaction: it will start off a pre-set one. As for the red on top, it actually goes beneath the yellow and I don't see an easy way to extend the combo. So be sure you scroll down enough there. Also you may want to leave the red on the right of the B-B occupied to use for junking pieces you don't want. But wait! There's more! If you set up the left hand side as follows: b-B 1-1 < put blue in far left here. 2-2 3-3 B-b 3-3 2-2 1-1 (you can do this before even knocking out the line to level 3) ...you can get two more combinations this way! Not bad, huh? This does take a bit of effort, though, although I find that if I am shooting for a high score I keep trying for 11-12 stars until I get it to work. Lots of starting over. This assures me of that much better of a start. The key thing to notice is that you can start the stack of 1-2-3 well before you can see the structure it will totally collapse. The whole rewards for thinking ahead thing. You also might want to be careful not rubbing out a star if you go down too fast. Generic set-up: Place blue here V r | R < reds can be placed preemptively, but don't place double-star on bottom. r | R B-B b YR * *| B yr ======== If you want to try for ten stars, then you will need a bit of luck and you'll want to keep the left half of the structure intact. A blue will set it all off. But you need to prepare everything and be prepared to junk pieces until you get a red. b*Br R-r| B BR < place blue here to | |r start chain reaction. b b| R-rR B-B b YR * *| B yr ======== You'll need to pull the screen down rather quickly so that it's above the yellow you originally placed is part of the chain reaction and doesn't just touch the bottom. While it's vaporizing, rotate the red to R | r and drop it in. Yay! Below all this the boss comes up pretty quickly. Fortunately here you can still get a few stars as he comes up slowly. 6-3. BOSS # 1 The first boss is not so bad and should allow you plenty of time to pile up above him or below him, and when you get really good, you can combo your way to victory. One thing you can do is to place a blue piece against the edge and slip a yellow underneath there for one combo. You'll also want a red facint the edge(r-R) and then you can knock out whatever is between it and the red touching the boss. If you get really desperate you can use a red and a blue below the boss to give yourself some breathing room, but otherwise you can afford to place a few pieces horizontally in order to hit the boss with combos and get a few extra stars. The first boss requires five hits to kill. Below are strategies to get a few stars: Drop red then R-r yellow then blue v then red here V R Y | | r y R-R Y y-Y | B y | R-R B $$$$$$$$ You can do lots of neat stuff here for combos like drop a vertical Y next to the red or something. The best way to get a quick double without getting too close to the top is as follows: r-R b | (hope for blue) B r-R The end state you'll want to leave the position in is not important although you can leave red and blue pointing up at 1L and 1R to get a few extra stars. 6-4. LEVELS 6-15: QUICKER PACE R R B B | | | | r r b b y-Y Y-y R y R | | | r Y r ~~~~~~~~ (L7) y R b | | | Y r B B-b y-Y y b R | | | Y B R ~~~~~~~~ (L8) b Y R | | | B y r R-r B-b ~~~~~~~~ (L9) B-b b-B R-rB-B Y-y ~~~~~~~~ (L10) b Y R | | | B y r R-r B-b ~~~~~~~~ (L11) B-b b-B r R | | R y-Yr y-Y r-R b Y | | B y ~~~~~~~~ (L12) y-Y b b | | B B y-Y r-R R R-r | B-b r Y-y ~~~~~~~~ (L13) b-B y Y | R | Y | y R-r r B-b y-Y R b | | r B B-b r R | | R r b-B y-Yy-Y (L14) ~~~~~~~~ b-B Y Y | R | Y | y R-r r B-b y-Y R b | | r B $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ Here the levels are fixed until level 9. You have several options until then to do well. Place upright yellow here if you're really making good time. v r B*b * R*r R y*Y Y*y R R B B | | | | r r b b y-Y Y-y R y R | | | r Y r ~~~~~~~~ (L7) Here you can stick reds and blues in to collapse things if you want-- scroll down if you go on the right to make sure the blue piece gets the bonus. Of course you can also destroy the initial four upstanding R/B's and rebuild them--ie with one red or blue.. Also note that if you go down quickly enough the reds/yellows will create more of a chain as well. The complete structure is tricky, but you'll want to at least collapse the level-line so you get some bonus, and dropping the yellows for a combo shouldn't be too bad. y R b | | | Y r B B-b y-Y y b R | | | Y B R ~~~~~~~~ (L8) If you got through level 7 with a lot of combos you won't need to worry about this but otherwise you can put R/B on each side of the horizontal Y before knocking it off. You can also tap the left blue to get a combo. 6-5. BOSS # 2 This boss is a different color, but you still use the same strategy to defeat him. Just hit him five times. The only difference may be that since the pieces above are packed in a bit more, you may have to use the bottom if things get too filled up. 6-6. LEVELS 16-25 y-Y r R | | R rb-B ======== (L17) +--++--+ | || | +--++--+ +--++--+ | || | +--++--+ ======== (L18) +--++--+ | || | +--++--+ +--++--+ | || | +--++--+ ======== (L19) b y r | | | B Y R R-r B-b ======== (L20) B-b b-B R-rb-B Y-y ======== (L21) b y r | | | B Y R R-r B-b ======== (L22) Y r-R | y y | B-b Y R-r ======== (L23) Y b r | | | y B R Y-yr-R b-B Y-y ======== (L24) Y b r | | | y B R Y-yr-R b-B Y-y ======== (L25) b-B Y y R | | | y Y r b-B Y-yB-b b R | | B r $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ You won't always be as lucky as in this example. The lower down the tightly-packed levels are, the tougher it is to get through. But you again should start to learn how worthwhile it is to create a chain reaction that will open things up and knock out stuff below. The extra second here or there could save you. 6-7. BOSS # 3 Same as before--you might want to look below if you aren't ahead of the game, because the boss can move up quickly. 6-8. LEVELS 26-35 b Y R | | | B y r R-r B-b ======== (L27) B-b R-r y-YB-b ======== (L28) y Y | | Y y B-b Y-yb r-R | R B | R-r rb-B ======== (L29) y Y b | | | Y y B B-b Y-yb r-R | R B | R-r rb-B ======== (L30) Y b r | | | y B R Y-yr-R b-B Y-y ======== (L31) Y r-R | y y | B-b Y R-r ======== (L32) B-b b-B r R | | R y-Yr y-Y r-R b Y | | B y ======== (L33) B-b R-r y-YB-b ======== (L34) b Y R | | | B y r R-r B-b ======== (L35) You can see that structures are more crowded here. You don't want to crash through levels too quickly here and in fact with the lack of space you'll want to place whatever you can over a level line so that when you clear things, it will fall down and you'll get a star. I rarely get through without a count and am able to get 30000 once and this only after lots of experience. Don't coast through any levels that seem well spaced. Wait for the level below to come up and then see where you can place a piece to make space below and buy a little time. 6-9. THE CLOUD SEQUENCES +--++--+ | || | x 4 +--++--+ ======== R R B B | | | | r r b b y-Y Y-y R y R | | | r Y r +--++--+ | || | x 4 +--++--+ ======== This alternates until you get to level 42--after which there are five cloud pairs. Then there is the boss fight. I found it very hard going to get the 30000 on normal here. But the dichotomy(trichotomy) of pieces and decision making to get through(there's always a way) is very interesting indeed. Getting through is not straightforward, but it is guaranteed with best play. One thing you need to learn to do is to make sure the clouds never get to the top and block out your whole screen, which you can accomplish by throwing out the first shape you see after clearing the board. Let's pretend we have an infinite amount of clouds and we've thrown out a piece. B | b +--++--+ | || | +--++--+ If the next piece is blue, we are in luck. Just drop it on the other side of the center to make a match and take out two clouds, and then proceed as before. Assume instead it's yellow. Place it on the same cloud as the blue. If #3 is blue we're still OK but otherwise if it's yellow we can place it to make a match. Then if #4 is blue, great, otherwise place #4(yellow, but it doesn't matter) at the left edge. Now we can trim things down a bit more: current or next piece = blue -> easy current and next = red -> place them where they need to be OR if you are quick enough place the red as follows: R-r B+ || < placing red here gives you a match. b+ one of next = yellow->be sure to get a match with yellow. At any rate you may run into a situation like so: +--+ | | +--+ B+--+ || | b+--+ If you get a blue then you can be clear but what about other colors? Time may be running out here, but again two of any one color will work great: R-r R B | | r b Say instead you get yellow and red. Place the yellow: Y B | | y b What's up next? Two reds? Place the two horizontally and if a third red comes along cantilever it on the blue so that whatever next piece comes up, you get a match. You'll have the time and space. R-r Y*B+--+ |||| | y*B+--+ If red and yellow, then place the red in the corner and put the yellow horizontal. Y-y rY B || | Ry B This destroys two blocks. Then proceed as above...again you should see how a blue destroys something, a red does, and so do two yellows--just with a yellow and red you have to be careful. Note the detail here of putting a corner piece turned down. Perhaps at some later date you'll need/want to get away with something like you see here: r +--+ | | | RR-r+--+ Two clouds with one combo. BAD/TRAPPED GOOD RYRB+--+ RRYB+--+ ||||| | ||||| | ryrb+--+ rryb+--+ There are other bad cases, too, such as B B +--+ | | | | b b +--+ Here if you have Y-R then: Y-y B B +--+ | | | | b b +--+ If a blue shows up then take the drop but otherwise place a red in the center and the next piece will lower the roof. Another case: B B+--+ | || | b b+--+ Here if it's all the way up you may be out of luck, but if you have Y- R put a yellow at the top and if there's R-R next just place the two 
together, i.e.

  R-rY-y
B RB+--+
| |||  |
b rb+--+

  If you get Y-Y then you have a relatively classic case of just having 
to churn out pieces. A blue works great in the near future but say you 
get R-Y after that(R-R at worst leads back to the start--dump them 
between the blues.)

B  B Y r
|  | | |
b  b y R

  B is best but Y or R takes stuff down a peg. Say you get Y, then you 
can take out two clouds with a horizontal R. Or with a yellow if there 
are two yellows, match them in the center, or with a yellow and red but 
the yellow over the current red so you can get two clouds with the reds.

  For cases such as:

B Y +--+
| | |  |
b y +--+

  The tough part here is learning to do all this fairly quickly. 
Studying this guide is OK but you will also need some trial and error. 
There will be frustrating times such as when you see pieces below that 
you can't fit into.

  You employ the same logic(use the one space at the top to buy time) 
but whatever happens, where you place one piece depends heavily on the 
'next' and leaving options open. Also beware that knocking off a cloud 
may hurt a bit if you have pieces balanced just right. But remember--
there are four vertical slots and three colors. Added to what you can 
put on top if you're quick, that leaves two colors for one space and 
ample opportunity to get all that together. With forethought and 
quickness you should never get caught.

  The middle parts with actual blocks set up shouldn't be too tough, 
either. They're set up for quick disintegration, and in fact, you'll 
maybe be able to get a star to buy you some extra time.

========
R R  B B
| |  | |
r r  b b
y-Y  Y-y
 R y R
 | | |
 r Y r

  First, if you're short on time and only part of this has shown up, you 
can take out the top part with red or blue piece. But if you can see it 
all, I recommend putting an upright yellow at 2R. This will cause a 
chain reaction. It's also just fine to use a red or blue at the top or 
put two yellows in the center to take out two clouds. Two blues are a 
bit of a booby prize but if you get a second place it under the right 
yellow. If another comes along to match it, you're in luck. Also one 
thing you need to realize about the clouds is that if this happens, you 
have a neat resource:

    +--+
    |  |
    +--+  <- you can slip a piece in between here!
    y-Y

  A yellow is obviously best but actually an upright blue or red might 
not be too bad. You can probably take one of those two out, which will 
buy you time and space. In fact if you drop in, say, a blue the only 
combinations you can't do anything with there are B/R and R/Y. But with 
B/R you can ditch the blue and if you have R/Y ditch the red and the 
yellow would work to eliminate stuff.

  There's one more trick: under the clouds if you have a yellow and red 
left you can try for a star if things are aligned right, i.e. red 
follows yellow(or you just have the time:)

     Y-y
+--+yRR
|  |1|2
+--+Yrr

  Similarly,

y-Y
 RRy
 |21
 rrY

  I may be going into a bit too much detail here, but the point is that 
you have possibilities here and ought to look at using them if possible! 
If you look for double-cloud combos as well it helps. But the final boss 
requires a different strategy.

    6-10. LAST BOSS

  The last boss is a bit tougher because you will need to make sure you 
don't run out of space. So in this instance you may want to use your 
delays as much as possible. If you can imbalance the clouds, then you 
can maybe just stick a piece horizontally on top of one. A position like 
this is very nice because you can't get reds for too long(and if you do 
you will nail the boss a bit:)

    Y-y
   B+--+
   ||  |
   b+--+
$$$$$$$$

  Either you'll get a yellow which reduces the cloud and stops any 
countdown(in fact, wait until the yellow gets to the top of the screen 
before you take care of it) or you'll hit the blue which stops the 
countdown and knocks everything down a ways--with the blue placed you'll 
want to put something else vertical--chances are you'll get something of 
the same color and be able to go from there.

  If you reduce the part below the boss too quickly you may not have 
anywhere to put pieces, period, and there's nothing like being helpless 
so close to the end. It's worse than the normal explosions at the 
ultimate boss. So you will want to place the yellows so that they 
actually hit the boss, and if one side collapses too quickly you'll want 
to rebuild it before taking out the other side. There are seven spaces 
on each side originally so don't be shy about building up formations 
such as:

b-B
 R
 |
 r

  Or whatever. You can place different colors on the bottom of the 
screen waiting for a blue, then with the colors displayed you start 
dropping vertical pieces everywhere and hope you're quick enough. Heck, 
you could maybe even get a combo if you're quick enough(a yellow is good 
for that--you've seen the structure below,) but of course you need to 
make sure of safety too.

  At any rate if you get a red and blue in the current/next, you can 
take out the left and right of the bottom(if there's a yellow in between 
you should place it flat over the boss if you can--when the next yellow 
comes you can hit the boss and recycle the 3-2-1 timer too) and then you 
can either maneuver to place a yellow flat or just place a blue on the 
left and a yellow on the right so that you'll have plenty of places to 
drop whatever comes your way(yellows can go vertically in the center.) 
But do remember for this last bit that pieces on the bottom should go 
vertically, and if you can buy time at the top by placing a flat piece 
or resetting the counter a few times, it will be invaluable. Also you 
should be good enough now to switch rapidly from top to bottom and place 
something quickly if you need.

  If you can visualize all this, then, have a structure as 
follows(colors can be swapped of course:)

R
| b-B
ry-Y
$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$

  If you have the time you can try for another match up top.

  Now you can move back and forth three times from top to bottom if you 
want--once to take out the red above and reset the timer and once to 
reset the timer with a blue and yellow in either order(there's just 
enough space.) You should have time to place everything below and there 
should always be space. There may be some luck as to your getting the 
right colors(i.e. not getting a yellow for a while could be a nuisance) 
but you can actually use a few tricks to make things go even smoother.

$$$$$$$$
     Y-y
  RB y
  || |
  rb Y
XXXXXXXX

  Here any one color will help you make part of the structure vanish. 
You probably have time to place something before you go to the top. 
What's more if a yellow does come along soon then you can even place it 
across the red or blue and hit the boss while buying time as the whole 
screen ascends one row.

  From there it's a simple matter of 1) making sure you have one piece 
propping up the boss(if the boss falls you may have no space) and 2) 
using whatever you placed at the top if necessary and 3) matching up 
stuff on the bottom. Here holding down a key as you move left/right 
should help, and it's also critical to have rotations memorized at this 
point since things may get a little tight.

  7. ATTACK MODE

  In some attack modes you will need to rely on a little luck to get 
through, and often you'll need to recognize favorable formations and 
play through them several times. On others you can get the gold pretty 
much every time. But they are all challenging. And many of them focus on 
different facets than the competitive game and the one-player game. 
Those seem to favor more moderate chains and putting out fires. The 
attack parts concentrate more on building a structure and having it all 
collapse. Some may seem impossible at first, but I've found that playing 
them often helps me find combos in the regular game.

    7-1. LINKS ATTACK(LONGEST CONSECUTIVE COMBO)

GOLD: 8
SILVER: 6
BRONZE: 4

  Normal play will net you bronze, and you might even stumble on a 
silver with some thoughtful play. Fortunately there are many alternate 
solutions, and once you find one, you can achieve a gold without too 
much trouble.

  Although double-pieces aren't strictly necessary for this one, they 
can help with a quick and dirty solution. So you can probably have a 
designated space at the top, or to the side, of the structure where you 
plan to create the big lump of blocks. Here you can just dump pieces you 
want to vaporize quickly. The more pieces you see, the more doubles 
you'll have the chance to place.

  Overall this one isn't too bad once you realize the twist in the rules 
that ruins your chance at more combos here allows you to lump more 
blocks together more safely:

  Y-y
  vvv
BR
||
BR
y-Y
BR
||
BR

  Here, the second combo would be a combination of eight blocks since 
the blues and reds touch each other at the same time. And in fact this 
is what you need to do for the most likely solution. Find a slab where 
you can lay a vertical two-star piece, put a horizontal above it, and 
fill in the other four spots to get the formation above(with some color 
switches possible.) It's not always a sure bet you'll get the right 
double-pieces but the most straightforward solution seems to require 
this. I suppose you could also work as follows below but it would 
require some tricky alignment--and you'd have to put all useless pieces 
above the area where you go in for the big knockout.

   y
   |
   Y
   v
   v
 br rb
 || ||
 BR RB
y-Y Y-y
 BRYRB
 |||||
 bryrb
*-**-*

  There's another way to do it, too, if you want to succeed without 
having to use a combo. It's more subject to chance, but given that this 
isn't one of the harder attack modes, you might want to tinker with 
alternate solutions just for fun. It requires four double-pieces. You 
should align three as below and keep the area near where you need to 
place the fourth relatively clear. Whether you place the middle double-
piece against the edge or make it so the final piece will touch the 
right side makes no difference but it could be frustrating to have the 
right piece and be unable to place it.

 R-R
R-R   <