Okay. I finally sat down with this one tonight, after weeks of itching to try it without bombs. And...it's amazing how much I improved right off the bat. My concentration and patience for the game goes way, way, up when I don't have the option of lazily working my way out of any sticky situation with a bomb. (This tends to be true with any game I try no-bombing with...the last time I did it was with Strikers 1945 II, and the results were very nice indeed.)
The game is really starting to feel like Bangaioh now...i.e. not just reflecting at the right points, but learning the right places and techniques for creating bonus showers wherever possible, by creating the most potentially dangerous (and bullet-filled) situations for yourself. Anyway, the high point of tonight's session:
115,905,305,606,700 - jiji / Cherry / RF / Stage 3 / no bomb
Edit: Whoops, arcade mode, of course.
And with the amount of improvement I saw tonight, that won't last long, if I keep it up.
