Otocky/Gameplay

Controls

 * : Use the direction pad to control the flight path of Otocky. He can maneuver in eight different directions.  When A is held down to shoot, use the direction pad to determine in which direction to fire a bubble.  Note that Otocky cannot move while the A button is held down.
 * : Hold down the A button to put Otocky in offense mode. When pressing the A button, you must press a direction in order for the bubble beam to fire.  Pressing A alone will do nothing.
 * : After you have collected at least one B bubble per stage, you can press the B button to use your special weapon. This special weapon can only be used to attack enemies, not to capture note bubbles.  After you run out of ammunition, you cannot use the B button to attack until you collect another B bubble.
 * : Press Start to select the save file you wish to operate, and press it mid-game to pause the action.
 * : Only used in B.G.M. Mode and Music Maker mode to change selections along the bottom of the screen.

Otocky
You must pilot Otocky through 11 musical stages. Each stage automatically scrolls from right to left, and you have the ability to fly through any available portion of the screen. To fire your bubble beam, you must press and hold the A button while pressing a direction to indicate where you would like to fire. Otocky can fire up to two bubbles on the screen at one time, but the bubbles will only be fired on the up or down beat with the music. The back ground music plays at approximately 120 beats per minute, which means there are four eight note beats per second that you can fire a bubble on. Every bubble will travel a certain distance, unless they hit something first, and return to Otocky. The length and speed at which Otocky's bubbles will travel is determined by the current instrument that Otocky is mimicking. Otocky starts each stage with the Organ sound which, while not the worst available, does not travel far and is not particularly fast.

Otocky can use the bubble weapon for three things; collecting notes, breaking note blocks and attacking enemies. When freeing a note from a note block, Otocky must fire off a second bubble to collect the notes. Otocky must collect enough notes from every stage to engage the stage boss in battle. Whenever Otocky is struck by an enemy, you will lose a small portion of the note meter, and Otocky's bubble weapon will shrink. Although the shrinking bubble does not impact your ability to fight dramatically, it does indicate the amount of remaining health that Otocky has left, and the amount of damage he can withstand before he dies. When the bubble reaches it's smallest size, Otocky will be killed by the next collision. Otocky has one other weapon to use again the enemies. If you collect one of the B bubbles, you will be assigned a random special weapon, which has 8 uses before it runs out. The weapon will follow a particular pattern of attack according to which variety to obtain when you collect the B bubble. These weapons cannot be used against the boss, but they can be used against the enemies spawned by the boss.

Bubbles
Throughout the game, Otocky can collect various bubbles to help you progress through the game. Only the note bubbles can be collected by Otocky's bubble weapon. All other bubbles can only be collected by flying into them.