10 of the best Gal*Gun Returns tips for doki-doki newbies

With Gal*Gun Returns out today, doubtless there are many of you out there coming to the series for the first time. And you’ll have probably discovered that there’s a lot more to it than just shooting girls until they collapse in quasi-orgasmic ecstasy!

Fear not, we got you covered with some top tips to get you started — and in the next few days, we’ll get you some route guides to help you court the girl of your dreams, too! So let’s jump in with some top tips for doki-doki newbies.

Learn your weak points

Each girl in Gal*Gun Returns has a specific weak point that you can shoot to get an “Ecstasy Shot”, which is an instant takedown. It also scores you more points, and in Score Attack mode the game tracks your combo of Ecstasy Shots that you chain together.

As you play more, you’ll learn which girl has which weak point. But you can also tell where it is quickly by the popups that appear when you move the cursor around. They go like this:

• ハッ！ Haa! (Red) – head
• キュン！ Kyun! (Orange) – chest
• ビクッ！ Bikuu! (Yellow) – lower body
• ドキッ！Dokii! (Pink) – legs

Hit a girl in an area with no popup before taking her down and you won’t get an Ecstasy Shot, even if you finish her off with a shot to her weak point.

Watch out for teachers

When dealing with the three teacher characters in Gal*Gun Returns, their weak point won’t appear immediately. You’ll need to blast them repeatedly until it appears — ideally right over where the weak spot will appear so you don’t accidentally shoot them elsewhere.

Rena (short black hair) has one on her chest. Michiyo (pink hair) has one on her stomach. Saori (glasses, brown hair) has one on her legs.

Take out large groups with Doki-Doki mode

If you’re aiming for high scores and don’t think you can accurately blast a large group of girls quickly enough, don’t be shy about busting out Doki-Doki mode. Successful use of Gal*Gun Returns’ Doki-Doki mode has a “smart bomb” effect that takes everyone out on screen.

You don’t get quite as many points for each girl taken out in a Doki-Doki blast as you do for an ecstasy shot, but its more than you’d get if you just hammer the fire button randomly and hit the girls in places other than their weak points.

Restore your health with Doki-Doki mode

Some of the later stages of Gal*Gun Returns can get quite challenging, particularly on Seasoned Lover mode, so you can also set off Doki-Doki mode to restore your health. You’ll restore about 60% on Newbie Lover mode, about 30% on Seasoned Lover.

If you’re worried you won’t make it to the end of a stage, this is a good strategy — though also note there’s no penalty for losing and continuing, and this will just set you back to the beginning of the current area, not the whole stage.

Change your stats with Doki-Doki mode

If your stats aren’t quite right for the Gal*Gun Returns heroine you’re pursuing, you’ll need to use Doki-Doki mode to change them. Successfully completing a Doki-Doki mode will adjust all of your stats up or down to varying degrees — different girls have different effects.

The three teachers have positive impacts on most or all of your stats simultaneously, while most of the other girls will increase some and decrease others.

Collect ’em all!

The final use of Doki-Doki mode is to collect the profiles for all the girls in the Academy. To truly “100%” Gal*Gun Returns you’ll need to Doki-Doki each and every character in all three of their possible outfits — uniform, gym clothes and swimsuit. Each successful Doki-Doki adds more information to their profile.

Note that some characters only show up under very specific circumstances, so if you’re struggling to track someone down, try playing a different route. Good luck tracking down the three Kuroda sisters!

Listen to the reactions

When presented with dialogue options in conversation, the sound you get after you pick something represents whether it was a “correct” or “incorrect” choice. A rising harp scale means you said something good; a descending harp arpeggio means you made a bad choice.

The exact dialogue options you get offered depends on your stats, but there are several possible correct and incorrect answers for each dialogue option in every route. As a general rule, farting uneasily is usually a poor choice in any circumstances you might find yourself in.

Don’t be shy, retry

If you’re going for a Good or True ending (more on those in a sec) then you’ll want to make sure you pick all the correct dialogue options. If you make a mistake along the way, note down which option was “wrong” and retry the stage; at the end you’ll be able to make a different choice.

By doing this, you can get a Good or True ending first try — though note to see all the “Memories” in the heroines’ profiles you’ll need to see the Bad ending once too!

Take aim for an ending

You’ll get a Bad ending if you make some wrong choices along the way and/or your compatibility with your chosen heroine isn’t high enough — 50% or lower.

You’ll get a Good ending if you make all the correct choices along the way, but your compatibility isn’t quite high enough — between 51% and 75%. This usually happens if your stats aren’t quite right. You’ll also only get a Good ending if you get high enough compatibility but don’t see a heroine’s Memory event — more on that in a mo.

You’ll get the True ending if you make all the correct choices, raise your compatibility to at least 76% and see the heroine’s Memory event. You’ll know your stats are correct if their bars are pulsing white on the Stage Complete screen; generally you want at least two of them to be in this state. For Kaoruko, for example, you’ll want your Intelligence over 80 and your Style over 90.

Make beautiful memories

One of the main prerequisites for a True ending in Gal*Gun Returns is seeing a heroine’s Memory event. In order to achieve this, you’ll need to get “Excellent Job” or “Perfect” in one of the event scenes. In Kaoruko’s case, it’s her painting event in Stage 2; in the case of all the other heroines, it’s their Stage 3 event.

Take your time and don’t panic with the event scenes; you don’t need a completely flawless performance to get a good rating — just be aware of each event’s criteria for success, and what is likely to drop your score. To use Kaoruko’s painting event as an example again, you don’t need to hit every single sheep — just make sure Tenzou doesn’t fall asleep.

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And with that, you should be ready to romance your Gal*Gun Returns heroine(s) of choice! Best of luck!

Gal*Gun Returns is out now for Windows PC via Steam, and Nintendo Switch. The Rice-exclusive Birthday Suit Edition is still available for purchase here!

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