Denshattack! Guide: Tips and tricks to hit high scores

Denshattack!'s gameplay is arcade-style to the very core, with each stage begging to be replayed. Every level records the player's highest score and fastest time, all while featuring a variety of dares to complete and collectibles to find, which give you constant reason to return. But with the incredible speeds at which you blitz across tracks, it can be hard to figure out exactly what's going on with your score counter, what you could be doing better, and what the best way to obtain those Gold Medals is. Here's a guide to help you find some clarity amidst the madness that is Denshattack!'s gameplay, breaking down the intricacies of each mechanic so you know exactly how to perfect your runs.

Manual start

Manuals are explained pretty clearly by the game from an early point: hold up or down on the left stick when landing to continue increasing your trick multiplier until you either crash or run out the manual duration. Usually, you can't enter a manual until after your first jump, meaning your second jump will be the one to start building the multiplier. But by restarting the stage and holding up or down on the loading screen, you can enter the stage immediately in manual mode. Perform a perfect start to keep the train tilted and your multiplier will now start building from your very first jump. It's not a huge difference, but a consistent way to increase your potential score.

The Tricktionary

I'm not saying you should study the Tricktionary until boredom, but taking a look at a few different moves and memorising them makes a world of difference in how well you build up your score. With stale tricks placing such a punishing penalty on your score, keeping things fresh is a must. While it's pretty easy to mix in a few different basic, intermediate, and advanced tricks without trying too hard, I'd definitely recommend introducing at least 4-6 hardcore tricks into your repertoire to start. For some easier ones to input, I'd recommend the Front 180 Cancel Kick, Back 180 Cancel Heel, Front 180 Impossible, and Back 180 Impossible. Build your way up from there and you'll be subconsciously switching your way between them all in no time.

Wall, slide, and monorail tricks

Denshattack! doesn't just limit itself to train tracks, with a variety of obstacles, terrains, and modes of transportation you need to switch between to complete levels. For wall-riding, sliding, and riding the monorail, each horizontal flick of the right joystick nets a 200-point trick and an increase to your combo multiplier. As there are nearly no other ways to net points in these sections, spamming these whenever possible is key for building to your next high score, especially with no penalty for doing so. Just make sure you don't risk crashing for the sake of a few extra tricks.

Grind tricks

As for rail-grinding, tricks work the same as they do in the aforementioned sections, but aren't the only way to obtain points. The grind meter features a green "sweet spot" in its centre that maintains balance and increases the player's points. However, on either side stands a red "danger zone" that breaks your grind and most likely sends you flying to your death: a zone that grind tricks send you straight into. What the game doesn't tell you, is each grind trick resets the time you can spend in the danger zone, making it a sure-fire way to both gain points and stay on track during grind sections, as long as you're constantly performing grind tricks.

Doubledrifting

Multi-track drifting was a mechanic I dreamed this game would feature, and it luckily uses the ability to its full potential. It offers so many possibilities on top of its deliberate features, allowing you to interact with stage elements, destroy enemy trains, or obtain collectibles across multiple tracks at once. But more importantly than any of these, doubledrifting allows you to maintain your manual with no limit to its duration. If you're in a tight space with no room to jump up and trick, the best way to maintain your manual and keep that multiplier building is by switching to a doubledrift. That is, if there are two tracks for you to drive across in the first place.

Yukaze tricks

Yukazes let you ride the natural winds to jump high into the air using a trick. When entering the wind tunnel, a smaller, yellow gust will appear around your train, indicating the window for a Perfect Yukaze. Performing one of these will grant you an extra 200 points on top of the trick you perform. While this sounds great in theory and is often worth going for, performing an extra trick before your Yukaze trick can be worth far more than the bonus. If you only have a brief amount of airtime before entering the winds, go for the Perfect Yukaze. But if your jump provides you with the window to perform an Advanced or Hardcore trick beforehand, these will be worth more and can add up to a significant difference over a series of Yukazes.

Trick cancelling

This isn't officially mentioned anywhere in the game, but I'll name it this for now. Denshattack! cuts your combo short when your manual duration ends, caused by balancing on the track at too low a speed for multiple seconds. Jumping up and hitting a trick to keep that combo building is usually the way to go, but if you simply don't have the space or distance to complete one, a trick cancel is the way to go. This involves air stomping back onto the track during a trick, even if you don't complete it. Landing and holding either up or down after this will reset your manual duration - it just won't increase the combo. Trick cancelling can be done in even the tightest of tunnels if you're quick enough, making it possible to keep your combo going in almost any situation.

Cashing in your multiplier

With all these tricks and tips combined, it should be possible for you to move through almost every Denshattack! stage without breaking your combo, racking up massive, three-digit multipliers. I've found a lot of satisfaction in trying to net my highest score on each stage, but if you're only going for the Gold Medals without looking to push the game to its absolute limits, don't be scared to cash in your multiplier. Denshattack!'s skill ceiling is incredibly high, but its ranking system is far more lenient than you'd imagine, especially with these techniques incorporated. Crashing during a combo causes all points tied to your current multiplier to be scrapped, rendering minutes worth of skilful gameplay pointless. The sky is truly the limit when it comes to this game, but don't feel you need to hit this high every time you play a stage. There's nothing more frustrating than losing a x250 multiplier because you accidentally air stomped into a pit five minutes into the stage.

Unfortunately, Denshattack! doesn't currently feature any in-game leaderboard or PvP features, so there's no way to compare your records to other players across the globe, but hopefully these tips and tricks will help you reach your new highest scores. That being said, let's keep our fingers crossed Undercoders introduce a scoreboard of sorts in the future, which lets us show off our denshattacking skills to the world.

If you've discovered any other tips or tricks for hitting new high scores in Denshattack!, let us know in the comments!

Update (September 1): Platinum Medals

As of late August, the Denshattack! team has released a way for players to go beyond gold and push for Platinum Medals, with an even higher score requirement on all stages. If you're looking to go one step further and obtain these accolades across every Denshattack! level, utilising everything in this guide will prove crucial in perfecting your runs. However, with how high Platinum Medals set the bar, cashing in your multiplier mid-stage isn't really an option, with perfect gameplay now required from the start to finish line. On top of this there are many other important ways to boost your score potential. Charging jumps and tricking during any stretch of straight tracks. Focusing primarily on hardcore tricks, only mixing in other variations when necessary. And most importantly, taking the longest routes available for maximum trick time (including the Yaoyorozudo.) They're a significant step up from the highest achievement the game presented before, but with enough practice, hard work, and strategy, they're more than possible.