This guide is a launching pad for anyone who wants to know more about the game.

If you are interested in talking about this game in any capacity, join the EBF discord: https://discord.com/invite/5gnkTvE

This is where the community for this game discusses things, and many top players have this channel unmuted, so you will likely get a response of some kind, regardless of what you post.

There is quite a history of discussion in this channel, so you might be able to find the info you're looking for via the search function, using the "in: #bullet_heaven" feature, but if you can't, feel free to ask whatever, and I'm sure we'll discuss it again lol.

There are a few pinned posts, but most long discussions are not pinned. Maybe some time i should archive some of the good conversations.

The in game leaderboard is frequently filled with cheaters. The developer has to manually remove scores, which can easily be resubmitted by a cheater if they wish. The leaderboard has been cleaned a couple times, but it's rare.

Additionally, as I have surpassed 2.147b total score, the in game overall leaderboard can't even accept my score, despite it being properly tracked locally in game.

Because of these reasons, I created an external leaderboard which is found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DepBIciwqc0ic_OWoyzAuKPyMdCvQ6QvZ-qkqXr1F-s/edit?gid=0#gid=0

This leaderboard attempts to track every score that is real. I have done extensive research on both the game and its players, so in most cases, it's obvious which scores are real and which are not. A few scores are marked as verification needed where I am unsure.

Anyone can request to add any score(s) to it. To submit scores, you can PM me on discord (wahay), post in the discord, post on the shmups forum thread, or add me on steam and PM me on steam.

This leaderboard also contains links to nearly every high scoring replay available. Most of the high scoring replays that are missing from this list, are mine, and are available via request if you want them. I should have almost everything notable that I've done.

This leaderboard is manually updated, so sometimes it is out of date, and may be missing a few scores. If a top 8 in game score is not in this list, it is most likely a cheated score, but it's possible I just haven't seen the score yet. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

This leaderboard contains a "Perfect Max Handicap Clears" sheet, which is a work in progress attempt to track the community's work on the Mastermaxify challenge, which is basically beating each level on the hardest difficulty. More on this in the scoring spreadsheet section.

Here is the 2023+ scoring spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13IuSXN_b0eh_wGyT1dwWyUmQsOtwcejKxV3ozS0kbno/edit?gid=1918838245#gid=1918838245

I made this spreadsheet primarily for myself, but I am sharing it to not gatekeep data that could be useful for setting high scores. I want people to enjoy the game, so I try to not hide strategies or information that would prevent people from enjoying scoring.

This spreadsheet includes many different sheets, and lots of information, most of which is poorly presented.

• TAS Score:
  - This is a column in the overview sheet, which is an archive of the only known high quality TAS of the game. This TAS was done a long time ago, by someone trying to pass it off as legit, but it can sometimes still be a useful reference point. There are no videos of these scores.
  
• temporary max score:
  - This is a column in the overview sheet, which is an early rough estimation of the max possible score for a level. It's not perfect, but it can give you a rough idea of what may be possible.
  
• Copy of Bullet Heaven 2 Max Handicaps
  - This sheet is my own tracking for the Mastermaxify challenge, which is basically a perfect run of each level on the hardest difficulty. There is a work in progress tracking sheet in the leaderboard spreadsheet, but currently, it's not done. Mastermaxify's original spreadsheet can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1roJALfoWxbUHOoBMUmXKx7Tn1VTtL9-f2bPkMNLb6GY/edit?gid=581006145#gid=581006145
  
• Time:
  - This sheet lists the time limit for each wave in the game. It can be useful for calculating score targets, or for other various things.
  
• Max Clear(bomb test):
  - This sheet is an attempt to figure out where it is best to bomb for score. This is an extremely complex topic, but you can use this spreadsheet to get a rough idea of how bombing will affect your score. If you want max points, or if you want to see how many points you lose by skipping a specific way, this is a quick way to get an idea. These numbers are in bullets cleared.
  
• Graze max (20):
  - An unfinished sheet tracking the most graze I can get on each wave, and possibly a rough outline of my scoring strategy.
  
• Foes-Coins-clear:
  - This sheet provides a rough estimation of base points earned through foes, coins, and bullet clearing. Foes and coins should be fairly accurate, but bullet clear is an estimation of bullets cleared via a natural play, and may be significantly off reality, depending on your gameplay.

WIP sheet is contained in the leaderboard spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DepBIciwqc0ic_OWoyzAuKPyMdCvQ6QvZ-qkqXr1F-s/edit?gid=2091582144#gid=2091582144

This game currently has 10 remaining levels that have not been NMNB'd on the max difficulty.

There is a work in progress sheet attempting to track the community's progress in the leaderboard spreadsheet.

The real goal here isn't just 2.2x NMNB, but also includes no natalie glitch, collecting all 13 diamonds, no bombs, and no post wave 13 death. However, even just a plain 2.2x NMNB is very difficult, and I will likely list it, especially if it's the first one for that level.

If you do not care about scoring, and just enjoy the difficulty of the game, this spreadsheet is for you.

This sheet also links to at least 1 replay of a max difficulty clear of that level, so if that's what you're interested in, check here. Eventually, I want to link everyone's videos who has them.

Also, you could technically make levels even harder by adding additional restrictions, like character choice, etc, but the game is already very difficult, so there currently is no interest in this. Scoring gameplay is different from difficult clear gameplay, but is sometimes more difficult, so keep that in mind too if difficult is your main interest.

Most speedrunning stuff is covered on speedrun com here: https://www.speedrun.com/bh2

The website isn't perfect, but if you are interested in this, most of what you need is there.

There are about 10 full game runs, although you have to tab through all the filters to find them.

The highest quality speedrun in my opinion, is my any% heavenly no cheats run, which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV36ILvGnsg

Any% heavenly no cheats could be done in under an hour, but high end speedrun times are difficult, and accumulate rust very quickly. Extensive notes, focus, and derusting is required for very fast runs, so I don't do these runs often.

Casual runs, and I/L runs, can be pretty fun, and are much less difficult to get into than full game runs.

There are about 1000 I/L runs in total, with plenty of categories and options to choose from, so check the I/L tab and see what's there. PHLHimself has some pretty impressive runs, along with a few other people.

Also check out the guides section, particularly the "basic modern guide" for a little info.

If you lost your game data, or can't be bothered playing through the whole game, or whatever else, a completed, blank save data can be downloaded here in the saves section: https://www.speedrun.com/bh2/resources

Hopefully in the future I will update this guide with some more useful info, but for now, just look or ask things in the discord.

There is a free version of BH2, but IDK exact details on how to run flash in 2024. Hopefully I'll update this section at some point.

Play BH2 :)

Last updated: June 16, 2024