History YMMV / BattleGaregga

* BestBossEver: Despite [[ThatOneBoss its difficulty,]] Black Heart is a pretty cool boss. Rule of Cool dictates that you fight it while flying through a thunderstorm at high speeds. The fact that [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Stab and Stomp]], the game's most awesome song is playing in the background, simply adds to the awesome.

* BrokenBase: The options to change the bullet colors to more visible ones. Some argue that turning them on is effectively a cheat that puts arcade/PCB players at a disadvantage; notably, the Shmups Forum high score thread for the game disqualifies scores achieved with them. Others consider the realistically-colored bullets to be FakeDifficulty and an anti-accessibility point, with an additional point in favor of the latter being that the official online leaderboards for ''Rev.2016'' accept scores with non-default bullet colors.

* PopCultureIsolation: This is easily one of the most infamous shmups within the shmup community, thanks mainly due to its [[DynamicDifficulty rank]] system that cranks up the game difficulty as the player collects items, fires their weapons, and simply survives, and if not managed ''deliberately'' (through [[ViolationOfCommonSense abstaining from picking up power-up items and intentionally dying]]), the rank can spike to a point where the game goes from NintendoHard to nigh-UnwinnableByDesign. The RealIsBrown aesthetic that was unique at its time, the more iconic boss designs like that of [[ClimaxBoss Black Heart]], and the game being Creator/ManabuNamiki's debut as a game music composer also further establish ''Battle Garegga'' as one of the most iconic shmups, and nearly everyone in the shmup community has a strong opinion on it (whether good or bad). Outside of said community, however, almost nobody has even heard of it. While this can be attributed to the game being largely inaccessible to the Western world due to its arcade release being limited outside of Japan and its only port for almost 20 years being a UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn port that, in addition to being on a system that sold poorly, was released in Japan only, even after the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/XboxOne ports made it to the West it's still not something that is going to catch the average gamer's eye, not helped by its high price for a shmup at 34.99 USD. Likely, by the time the game got a home port in the West, the lack of pre-existing brand name recognition (like for ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Raiden}}''), middling bullet counts (as opposed to the [[BulletHell "dodge THIS" factor]] of games like ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' and Creator/{{CAVE}} games) and lack of colorful visuals made it [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny seem like just another arcade shmup from the 90s]].

* BrokenBase: The options to change the bullet colors to more visible ones. Some argue that turning them on is effectively a cheat; notably, the Shmups Forum high score thread for the game disqualifies scores achieved with them. Others consider the realistically-colored bullets to be FakeDifficulty and an anti-accessibility point, with an additional point in favor of the latter being that the official online leaderboards for ''Rev.2016'' accept scores with non-default bullet colors.

* TierInducedScrappy: [[VideoGame/MahouDaisakusen Chitta]] is widely regarded as the worst character/ship in the game. First off, there's her SmartBomb, which takes ''about a second'' before it actually activates, heavily hampering its defensive capabilities. Then, there's her Options, which fire homing shots. [[BlessedWithSuck While this might seem like a boon, it can cause problems]] by [[UnwantedAssistance destroying the wrong targets]], setting the player up to miss medals on the other side of the screen, earning less bonuses from destroying certain enemies/parts as some of those award extra if destroyed with a specific type of attack, and causing enemies to [[TurnsRed release deadly spread patterns]] if certain parts of theirs are destroyed. ''Battle Garegga'' is a game that often requires precise shots, and homing attacks are the exact opposite of precise. A common strategy is to have her Options in the back formation for most of the game so that they don't unnecessarily hit targets, making her firepower more controllable at the expensve of dampening her damage outout greatly.

* TierInducedScrappy: [[VideoGame/MahouDaisakusen Chitta]] is widely regarded as the worst character/ship in the game. First off, there's her SmartBomb, which takes ''about a second'' before it actually activates, heavily hampering its defensive capabilities. Then, there's her Options, which fire homing shots. [[BlessedWithSuck While this might seem like a boon, it can cause problems]] by [[UnwantedAssistance destroying the wrong targets]], setting the player up to miss medals on the other side of the screen, earning less bonuses from destroying certain enemies/parts as some of those award extra if destroyed with a specific type of attack, and causing enemies to [[TurnsRed release deadly spread patterns]] if certain parts of theirs are destroyed. A common strategy is to have her Options in the back formation for most of the game so that they don't unnecessarily hit targets.

* ScrappyMechanic: You can increase your rapid fire rate by rapidly mashing the fire button. However, doing so increases the rate at which rank increases in the background. The default autofire rate is 8 shots/second, and the maximum is 30 shots/second and which has ''four times'' the rank increase rate. But what truly makes it a Scrappy Mechanic is that the increase in background rank increase is ''permanent'', so if you accidentally raise the autofire rate to 30 early on in the game (which is easy to do), the rest of the game is going to play out very badly.

** The infamous turret wall in Stage 6, known for being atrociously difficult if you didn't manage rank in the first five stages properly. While it doesn't seem to be classified as a boss by the game, the fact that all game progress stops until it's destroyed means it may as well be one.

* ScrappyMechanic: You can increase your rapid fire rate by rapidly mashing the fire button. However, doing so increases the rate at which rank increases in the background. The default autofire rate is 8 shots/second, and the maximum is 30 shots/second and which has ''four times'' the rank increase rate. But what truly makes it a Scrappy Mechanic is that the increase in background rank increase is ''permanent'', so if you accidentally raise the autofire rate to 30 early on in the game, the rest of the game is going to play out very badly.

* BrokenBase: The options to change the bullet colors to more visible ones. Some argue that turning them on is effectively a cheat; notably, the Shmups Forum high score thread for the game disqualifies scores achieved with them. Others consider the realistically-colored bullets to be FakeDifficulty and an anti-accessibility point, with an additiona point in favor of the latter being that the official online leaderboards for ''Rev.2016'' accept scores with non-default bullet colors.

* BrokenBase: The options to change the bullet colors to more visible ones. Some argue that turning them on is effectively a cheat (the Shmups Forum high score thread for the game disqualifies scores achieved with them), others consider the realistically-colored bullets to be FakeDifficulty and an anti-accessibility point, with an additiona point in favor of the latter being that the official online leaderboards for ''Rev.2016'' accept scores with non-default bullet colors.

* BrokenBase:
** Concerning the "Red Ball" feature, which turns aimed bullets into obvious red projectiles (rather than the realistically-colored and hard-to-see ones) and is forced on in some versions of the PCB and can be toggled in the Saturn port. Proponents argue that non-obvious bullets are FakeDifficulty, opponents argue that competitively playing the game entails playing on all defaults.
** The rank system is a '''major''' point of contention; some feel that it's well-designed and encourages careful decision-making, but others find it an [[GuideDangIt obtuse]] [[ScrappyMechanic mess]] that's simply designed to take players' money.
** A huge topic of debate is ''Rev.2016'' being a digital-only release. Is M2 doing a disservice to fans by not offering copies that one can hold in their hands and are not at the mercy of DRM or [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes PSN closing down]], or is it justified given the cost to print physical copies and the lack of popularity that the shmup genre has in modern times? Keep in mind, the Western shmup community largely has a very cynical take on digital distribution compared to fans of many other game genres.

* CultClassic: The game was released in 1996, and though it has been eclipsed by Creator/{{CAVE}}, Creator/{{Treasure}}, and ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' games in terms of popularity, there are still players who love the game for its surprising depth and countless scoring tricks and continue to dedicate themselves to achieving the coveted "letter" scores or [[NintendoHard even just trying to clear the game at all]]. It has [[http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=351 one of the most in-depth guides on Shmups Forum]], detailing every critical aspect of the game. Its cult following status managed to persist long enough for a 20th-anniversary port on a modern platform to come about.

* SignatureScene: The fight against Black Heart is easily one of the most memorable parts of the game, due to [[ThatOneBoss the high difficulty]], lack of ways to disable its attacks, the boss theme "Stab and Stomp!", and being the last boss before the player enters the enemy stronghold.[[DynamicDifficulty rank]] correctly in the first five stages, becoming nearly impossible if they did not.

* SignatureScene: The fight against Black Heart is easily one of the most memorable parts of the game, due to [[ThatOneBoss the high difficulty]], lack of ways to disable its attacks, and being the last boss before the player enters the enemy stronghold.[[DynamicDifficulty rank]] correctly in the first five stages, becoming nearly impossible if they did not.

* SignatureScene:
** The fight against Black Heart is easily one of the most memorable parts of the game, due to the high difficulty, lack of ways to disable its attacks, and being the last boss before the player enters the enemy stronghold.
** The Stage 6 "midboss", the turret wall, known for basically checking the player to see if they managed [[DynamicDifficulty rank]] correctly in the first five stages, becoming nearly impossible if they did not.

** Erupter, the theme of the last boss, Glow Squid. A hardcore techno piece similar to the Hibachi music from ''[[VideoGame/DonPachi Do Don Pachi: Dai Ou Jou]]''. In fact, both games' soundtracks were composed by Manabu Namiki. There is also the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF407ietl60 remix]] by renowned speeccore musician [=m1dy=], which amps up the banger factor.

** Erupter, the theme of the last boss, Glow Squid. A hardcore techno piece similar to the Hibachi music from ''[[VideoGame/DonPachi Do Don Pachi: Dai Ou Jou]]''. In fact, both games' soundtracks were composed by Manabu Namiki.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: At the highest levels of play, [[VideoGame/MahouDaisakusen Gain]] is the most commonly used character due to his powerful swords that can pierce through enemies and his AreaOfEffect bomb that can earn the player obnoxious amounts of points from the flamingoes in Stage 2 and Black Heart MKII's mines in Stage 7.

* InternetBackdraft: When it was announced that M2 would be doing a port for the [=PS4=], many fans reacted with surprise and joy...but that turned into ''rage'' when it was confirmed that not only the port, along with the accompanying port of ''VideoGame/DangunFeveron'', would be digital-only, but that even the LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition would not come with a physical game disc.

** The ''Rev.2016'' port for Xbox One and [=PlayStation=] 4 is even better, having been developed by M2 of ''VideoGame/{{Mushihimesama}} Futari'' and the ''3D Classics'' series fame. It has most of what the Saturn has, along with many ways to tweak the game experience such gadgets for displaying important real-time data, a Super Easy mode, a custom mode that lets you change individual elements of the game (such as disabling the DynamicDifficulty system), an arrange mode, and ''four'' soundtrack options (arcade original, Saturn arrange, arcade remastered, and 2016 arrange).

* UnderusedGameMechanic: The widgets you can use in ''Rev.2016'' are all very useful for practice and analyzing runs, but unfortunately most of them are not accessible if you play on a vertically-oriented screen.