Mecha Ritz Steel Rondo 2.0 [PC/Switch] -1CC 17,475,952 pts (B2, Initial Rank: 100)

0:22. Stage 1 3:33. Stage 2-A 6:58. Stage 3-B 13:29. Stage 4-A 20:17. Stage 5-B Mecha Ritz Steel Rondo got a big update when it came out on the Nintendo Switch on November 3rd, and Steam got the newest version of the game as well that day. It changes some of the routes, re-balances ships and adds new ones, and some other gameplay tweaks like the Sweet Bonuses you can obtain now, which stack as long as you do not get hit. Scoring is much higher overall in this version than the previous one. For those who do not know, this is a doujin bullet-hell shmup created entirely by Japanese developer HEY that has been on PC for a while and is known for its dynamic difficulty through a rank system that gets higher if you play well and comes down once you get hit a lot. This makes it easier for newer players to not get overwhelmed while skilled players will be challenged as they push the rank higher. It also has a unique aesthetic and great FM synthesizer based soundtrack. Also, there's a time limit that affects whether you get to the TLB or not, and finishing stages quickly is better for your score overall as well. If you get to the last stage with time to spare, you get the TLB. However, there is a different version of the TLB if you choose 5-C. If you don't get to it on time, you get the teddy bear for the last boss battle. For this particular run, I used the second Blue ship (B2). This ship does not have the fastest movement speed or a lot of shot spread, but the damage output is superb and killing bosses fast is good for score. This game has branching paths and I mostly stuck with Route A outside of going to 3-B instead of 3-A. 3-B is a lot of fun with plenty of Sweet Bonus opportunities and a ton of bullets once you push the rank pretty high. Speaking of rank, I managed to push the rank all the way up to 482 in 5-B before it started tumbling toward the end of the last boss when I started dying more. Once this game gets to above 300, it gets pretty crazy and going into the 400s makes it downright ludicrous for trying to dodge dense bullet patterns. I got a nice bonus at the end for finishing quickly and without burning through that many shields and bombs since I still had three lives to spare at the end. I may go for a full Route B clear at some point, as Route B does give you higher scoring potential.