How to play.

Welcome to the "How to play SWR" thread.

First, let's look at what the game looks like.

Section 1: The screen.



1. Life Bar - Displays your current life
2. Red Life - Displays the amount of damage taken for a combo/attack.
3. Win Counter - Displays how many rounds you've won.
4. Weather Timer - Displays how much time until the next weather. It starts at "Clear" weather, and counts up to 99. Once it reaches 99, the weather changes to whatever weather is displayed, and then counts down from 99. Once it reaches 0 it starts over again.
5. Current Spell Card - Displays the spell card selected. If the card has a glowing border, it means you can use that card.
6. Spell Card Stock - Shows cards in your reserve. The gold borders indicate the cost of the currently selected card. All lit cards are used up when casting the currently selected card.
7. Spirit Stock - Shows how much spirit you have left. Red orbs have been 'crushed' and are not usable until it is restored after a period of time.
8. Crystals - These appear after you knock down the opponent (turns all bullets shot by person into crystals) and increases the weather's timer.
9. Limit Seal - Limit is increased by some attacks, when limit is reached the opponent will immediately become invulnerable, ending any combo, and will not be able to recover in the air (air tech/ukemi).

Section 2: The controls

Now, on to controls. Aside from the directional buttons, there are four buttons. A, B, C, D. Directions will be referred to by numbers in this, to prevent confusion.

Code:


7 8 9

4 5 6    A  B  C  D

1 2 3

5 is idle
6 is forward
5 is backwards
2 is crouch
8 is jump
1 is back crouch
3 is front crouch
7 is back jump
9 is forward jump

A = Physical Attack
B = Weak Projectile
C = Strong Projectile
D = Dash/8-Way Flight
A+B = Toggle Card
B+C = Use Card


A:

A is the basic melee attack. You can combine it with directional buttons to change the nature of the attack.


B and C:

B and C are designated for bullets and specials. Simply pressing the button shoots a bullet.

^ That is a basic B attack. B attacks are usually weaker then C attacks, but faster or more plentiful.

^That is a basic C attack.

You can also input directional commands to use specials. Specials can either do a unique move or a different bullet/melee attack.


^An example of a unique move would be Reimu's 214B. It creates a shield in front of her.

^An example of a special melee attack would be Reimu's 263B. It is a spin kick.

^An example of a special bullet attack. Patchouli's 214B creates blades in front of her that shoot when you release the button.

Now, you may be thinking. "Geez, look at all those bullets! How do I dodge all of them!?"
The answer to that, my friend, is the D button.

When you hold the D button in a direction, you will fly in that direction. Flying consumes spirit orbs. The longer you fly, the faster your spirit drains. When flying, any bullet that comes in contact with you misses. This is called "grazing."

^In this example, Sakuya threw her knive bullets. Yukari grazed them which caused them to miss.

Now, grazing isn't all-powerful. Melee attacks will hit you in your graze state. While grazing bullets, you must be wary of your opponent knocking you out of graze with a melee attack.

^In this picture, Sakuya attempted to graze, but Yukari hit her with a melee attack, thus canceling Sakuya's graze.

Section 3: Weather.

Weather is an important function in SWR. When the battle starts, the weather is clear; nothing happens. As the battle goes on, the weather timer counts upwards, until it reaches 99. When it reaches 99, the weather changes to the weather that is displayed.

During the 99 seconds of the timer counting upwards, you can influence the selection of the weather. Each time you hit your opponent while they have bullets on the screen, the bullets will disperse into red crystals. The crystals cause the weather to "move" to other weathers.

^As you can see in this picture, around Sakuya are little red gems. Those are weather crystals.

After 99 seconds, the weather will change to whatever weather is being displayed. The timer will then count down from 99, and when it reaches 0, the weather will change to clear again. Once it is clear the timer repeats counting upwards to 99, then downwards to 0.

^An example of weather changing.

Each weather has a unique effect, be sure to keep in mind what the weather is, or it may cause you a disadvantage.

Section 4: Cards.

There are three types of cards: System, Skill, and Spell. System cards are red, and they each have unique effects. Skill cards are grey, and these cards either change your special moves or power them up. Spell cards are golden, and these are like supers.

Firing bullets adds to your card count. You start at 0 and can have a max of 5.

System cards

^This is a system card.

They each have different effects, so I won't be covering what each one does. I'll use this one as an example though.

This particular card is a counter. When blocking, if you use the card, it will instantly end the opponent's action and knock them down.


Skill cards
Skill cards can do one of two things. If you use a new skill card, it will replace an existing special with a new one. If you use a skill card for an existing special, it will power it up.

For example:

^Patchouli is using her default 214B here, "Autumn Edge." However, when she uses a skill card that replaces 214B...

^It becomes a new skill, "Autumn Blade."

Spell cards.

Spell cards, to put simply, are supers. They have a cost of 1-5. A 1 cost spell will cost just that card, while a 5 cost card costs all 5 cards you have.


^Patchouli's "Moon Wood Sign -Satellite Sunflower" costs 3 cards. However, her more flashy attack...

^"Sun Sign -Royal Flare-" is a powerful 5 cost card.

Note: MOST spell cards can be blocked AND grazed.

Reminds me of Melty Blood, only more cutesy. XD