YMMV / Graze Counter

• Awesome Music: motchi^3 has cooked up a stellar soundtrack for this game, enhanced by the more impactful instruments in GM.
  • Resolution (Original / GM Version) is the selection theme, and it goes hard. You would be forgiven for staying on screens with this song for as long as possible to get crunk to the auditory ambrosia that said screen bestows you.
  • Fragment of Dream is the boss theme that Felicia, Noa, and Seika share, which conveys their struggles to do all they know to do as sentient programs, especially defending EDEN from marauders. Notably in GM, this theme has three variants—one for each of the aforementioned bosses—and at about 37 seconds in, they all segue into different melodies. Felicia's variant, Version F, is a faithful remake of the original song, while Noa's and Seika's variants—Version N and Version S—are blessed with new, equally electric segments.
  • Hearing Stage 3's theme, known as "Drive All Enemy" in the original game and "Drive All Enemies" in GM, is how you know when things are getting serious. After all, Stage 3 is the midpoint of the game, as well as where you square off against a fellow human fighter pilot also trying to get EDEN shut down. The GM version of this song has choir-esque instruments in the beginning that add a certain sort of electricity to the stage, although the lone bass of the original lends its own brand of tenseness to the game feel.
  • Hayate's playful demeanor belies an intense boss battle theme in Like a Flash Breeze (Original / GM Version). It even sounds like it'd fit right into an F-Zero game, especially with the electric guitars and synth solos in both versions of the song, which falls right in line with the Shout-Out in the subtitle for Stage 3 when Hayate is the boss. Like a Flash Breeze is also fittingly the theme for the original game's Extra Stage.
  • Meanwhile Kiriko's battle theme, Like Falling Petals (Original / GM Version), is an equally awesome song that also gets across Kiriko's desire to keep Uzuki and his heart all to herself. It is also more reminiscent of Touhou tracks, especially at the start, and the resemblance to Touhou music is more pronounced in the GM version. There is even a reference to the first stage theme from Kirisame Blade 2, another game by Bikkuri Software.
  • Cross the Line (Original / GM Version), Stage 4/Stage 4-A's theme, is an ethereal-sounding track. The original version perfectly captures the feeling of fighting in the clouds and flying into a thunderstorm, while the GM version takes this feeling and makes it sound floatier.
  • Slipstream, Stage 4-B's theme, is the more intense counterpart to the relatively serene "Cross the Line." It befits rushing through the High Speed Dimension to chase down your primary target while shooting down enemies and contending with a giant rail-bound convoy.
  • Technical Difficulties (Original / GM Version), the mission theme, has strong eurobeat vibes. It's the perfect backdrop for grazing (and drifting) your way through bullets and every mission both versions of the game have to offer.
  • Overhaul (Original / GM Version), the options menu theme, is a delightful little ditty to change your settings and watch chibi Hayates walk/stumble to.
• Fridge Brilliance: Both games have a ticker at the top right of the screen that keep track of the number of times you've ever so slightly come into contact with, but not collided into or get hit by, enemies and their bullets. Surely there's a name with which the ticker can be referred to...
• Funny Moments: Satsuki, in her pre-battle dialogue with Kaika, gets the notion that they can team up, if only because Kaika looks so much like her.
• Game-Breaker: The original game has Copy Uzuki with the Shadow Divider and Copy Satsuki with the Alternative Dancer. These two are always on Break Mode, which allows for greater firepower and a wider range of attack than normal. Meanwhile, there's Scientist Hayate and her Break Mode. Said Break Mode may not be active all the time, but when it is active, the Revolgear 2 will fire Break Mode bullets in so many directions that the screen is almost completely filled with these bullets.
  • In GM in particular:
    • Type-5 and Type-6, the Shadow Divider and Alternative Dancer, are busted in this game too. Not only do they have different pilots, the way they build Graze Counter and Break Mode is swapped; i.e. you build up the Break Mode bar by grazing and you build the Graze Counter gauge by collecting stars. Activating Break Mode is where the fun begins, because you can refill the Break bar and keep the mode going by grazing bullets, allowing for some very high scores and heightened DPS that can last a long time.
    • Type-B is the Purpretties Nexalts from GRAND CROSS: ReNOVATION, which has its Break Mode fire a thin laser that not only lasts for a long time, can be aimed and swung across the screen with ease, but also cancels bullets and lasers alike! No need to dodge bullets when you're essentially nigh-invincible. Observe.
    • Type-C, the SAS-02-G2 ARYS, docks onto a larger fighter for its Break Mode, which then automatically aims at enemies. But more importantly, it makes the ship completely invincible during Break Mode, allowing it to effortlessly rack up multiplier from grazing as well as the Graze Counter gauge. Once Break Mode is about to run out, simply fire your Graze Counter into a thicket of bullets to generate stars and make yourself invincible again, then activate Break Mode again.
    • Type-D, which is TOKOYO's Cocoa herself, can use both Break Mode and Graze Counter at the same time. Once again, Break Mode can be sustained for way longer than other fighters can, since you can fire your Graze Counter without having it interrupt Break Mode and the stars you earn from it can refill the Break gauge even if Break Mode is active, and with your Graze Counter popping off constantly (as long as you keep grazing bullets) in addition to Break, you will easily rip apart bosses and other high-health enemies like they're toilet paper.
• Most Wonderful Sound: Hearing that you just scored a 1-UP and/or your Auto Shield kicked in at the most opportune time.
• Narm: Final boss Striae is, for some reason, referred to as "Strawier" in the original game.
• Narm Charm: In the original game, Stage 5 is subtitled "Dominion Feather." It is unclear what that means, but damn if it doesn't sound awesome.
• Polished Port: The original game starts running slower the more the screen is flooded with bullets. While this also occurs in GM, it is not to the same extent or at the same frequency.
• Sequel Difficulty Drop: Or rather, remake difficulty drop. GM is a lot more generous in giving out 1-UP's via score thresholds and enemy drops, and even gives the player a mercy 1-UP for each time (s)he game overs. Plus, if the player game overs while fighting either Kaika or Striae, (s)he gets to start just before the fight against Kaika—when the power-up ship shows up—as opposed to starting Stage 5/the Final Stage all over again like in the original.
• That One Attack: The cube projectiles. Your own bullets cannot pass through them, unlike with other enemy projectiles, and thus they soak up any damage that enemies or bosses would have taken. In GM, the cube projectiles are destructible, but also take a bit to clear out, even if you have otherwise sufficient firepower. On the other hand, these same projectiles also provide an easy opportunity to charge the Graze Counter meter.
  • Hayate's attack where she sits at the bottom of the screen firing giant Break Mode projectiles. In the original, this attack is easily manageable even with Hayate's drones trying to blast you with lasers, but in GM, while there are no drones, the Break Mode projectiles come out much faster and can easily take out the unprepared.
• That One Level: Stage 2 of the original game—Crystal Labyrinth—for the section that harbors slowly revolving rings of indestructible enemies that fire bullets in a pattern that requires precise movement to get through unscathed. This in spite of how early in the game this is—at this point, the player has three more levels to clear. The silver linings to this section of the level are that there are barely any other enemies to contend with, as well as the fact that the boss fight with Noa is immediately after this gauntlet. Meanwhile in GM, the Crystal Labyrinth has less enemies in those rings, and said enemies can be destroyed. Plus the player has the option of choosing another level to play for Stage 2 instead.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: First-timers are all but likely to look at Uzuki and believe him to be a girl—and then they see the opening sequence of GM outright stating his gender.