Hermit64 is probably the most unique boss of the Wild Hearts. When you are en route to her, you will gain control of a slick car. With the roads so wide, you are encourage to make large turns. Turn long enough and you will start to drift. The longer you hold a drift, the more points you will earn. There are tons of long and wide turns on the road, so try to get in as much drifting as you can. You will need it for the gold rank! When you reach Hermit64 herself, you will notice she is alone. Pretty brave, right? Well, she does not need any backup with her powerful technology - her special visor turns The Fool into a game cartridge, and she "plays" her! The first phase of this is a first-person section. You will need to guide yourself so that you do not run into any of the illuminated panels. Be sure to grab the hearts along the way. The second phase is a sort of 2D arcade shooter. The Fool's head will appear, and you can move her all around to dodge obstacles and collect hearts. Eventually you will come across Hermit64's heart, and it is a big one at that. Her heart will fire a barrage of missiles towards The Fool's location, and they explode together resulting in a big explosion, so be sure to steer clear. After a while mash quick-time prompt will appear, and that is lights out for Hermit64.
Every single heart matters
Littered throughout the vibrant tracks of Sayonara Wild Heart's world are hearts. The small, filled in hearts are worth a few points, but they are always placed together in rows. Each successive heart you pick up is worth more points, so getting an entire row of hearts is worth a decent amount of points. In fact, this seems to apply to just about any kind of heart you pick up in the game, even the big hearts that are not filled in. As long as you keep picking up hearts at a good rate, the combo multiplier will apply and you will earn lots of points. So, in order to get the best score, you need to be constantly picking up hearts - even the small ones as they will still add to your combo multiplier.
Find the hidden diamonds
On every level lies hidden diamond pick ups that worth a lot of points if you can find them. They are often placed in tricky, one-shot opportunity spots so they are very easily missed. They stand out as they are bright, shining diamonds compared to the neon glow of the hearts. The first diamond you pick up is worth a lot of points, and the best part is that they are affected by the combo multiplier. If you pick up another diamond after getting a lot of hearts, it will be worth a ton of points. But, again, these things are well hidden in dastardly spots. You will probably not get all of them on your first run through, but that is okay - you need to replay the level multiple times to memorize their locations. Since they are worth so much, these diamonds are integral in reaching the gold rank thresholds.
Hatehell Valley: The Dancing Devils
The Dancing Devils is the first biker gang you will come across. With them being the first boss, they are not too difficult, as their encounter is primarily about teaching you the quick-time event command. There are a few camera screws here and there, with the perspective changing to be in front of you. Remain calm and just dodge! There is one segment with the second Dancing Devil where the game temporarily turns into a 2D shooter, as you have full free control over The Fool. This is the first hint that this game is more than just a rhythm based runner-type game!
Heartbreak Subspace: Wild Hearts
Once you defeat Little Death, all of the cursed arcana fuse together to create the ultimate entity: The Wild Hearts! The final boss fight is a test of all of the mechanics you have learned thus far. You will face all of the gangs once more using obstacle dodging, jumping, free flying, cannon shooting, bow shooting, swordfighting, and of course tons and tons of quick-time events. None of this is too challenging since they are basically bite-sized versions of the bosses, so enjoy the ride! Once you have taken out all of the arcana, The Fool's persona morphs into a giant dragon in which you will ride out back into the real world. Be sure to ride in the center of rings to grab all the hearts. After you disembark, you are treated to one last segment where you can grab a bunch more hearts. Grab as many as you can, as this is the last stretch! When you reach the end, The Fool's persona will turn into a heart and merge with the girl for a whopping 100,000 points. Congratulations, you have finished Sayonara Wild Hearts! We hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we did. You can now chase down any gold ranks you may have missed, or try out the Album Arcade, which is basically playing through the whole game in one sitting.
Lovedead City: Little Death
After sailing a turbulent sea, you will come face to face with Little Death. Before you can confront her, she will send her flying skulls after you, and the final mechanic of Sayonara Wild Hearts is presented: the Temperance Bow! With the bow equipped, The Fool can lock onto multiple enemies by simply moving the reticle over them. The more enemies you lock onto, the more points you will earn. You will see some words appear telling you how big your combo was. To pull off big combos, you will need to lock onto multiple enemies in one smooth movement. Slow, messy or erratic movements will cause The Fool to release her arrows too early, so be careful when aiming. After blasting some skulls on the bike, you will be able to finally face Little Death. Chase her down and dodge some tunnel obstacles to knock her off her bike, then things get... kind of weird! Little Death start throwing up so much that she create a stream for you to ride on. Continue chasing her and you can finally knock her out, revealing her many hearts. Shoot them all to reveal her true form! True Death will charge up a line of electricity, and you only have a split second to get out of the way. Once you survive this barrage, a few quick-time events and some bow segments are the only things between you and victory!
Quick-time events require good timing
There will be segments during levels where you a rainbow colored heart will appear over your head. A visual indicator will appear to tell you when you should tap on it, and the closer you are, the more points you will get. Being off beat will net you an OK! which is worth 50 points, whereas decent timing will get a GOOD! which is worth 100 points. If you are spot on or very close with your timing, you will get a PERFECT! worth 250 points. During certain levels such as the battles with the Stereo Lovers, these quick-time events might be the way to get the gold rank on the level. Try to get into the groove and feel the music - most of these quick-time events go in time with the music, and the better you feel the rhythm, the closer your timing will be. There are also segments where many visual indicators will appear on-screen. During this time you have to tap as fast as you can to rack up hits. The more hits you land, the more points you get. To be exact, you will get around 25 points multiplied by 10 if you tap fast enough.
Ride stylish for extra points
There are a few hidden techniques that you can pull off for some bonus points, with the first being the "risky" maneuver. As the name suggests, this bonus is awarded to you when you barely graze past an obstacle. You do not have to be too close for this bonus to activate, so do not be TOO risky! Each risky maneuver is worth 50 points. The second hidden technique is the "slide" maneuver. If you slide from one end of the track all the way to other side in one smooth maneuver, you will earn the slide bonus which is also worth 50 points. You will probably first notice this bonus in the battle against The Howling Moons.
Taking on the Cursed Arcana
The cursed arcana takes on the form of various biker gangs, and these serve as the game's main antagonists. Here, we will go over all the strategies on dealing with them!
Twilight Cry Sky: Stereo Lovers
This is where things get tricky! The Stereo Lovers are two star-crossed lovers who use their powers in unison to create some confusing scenarios. You will need to pay attention to different "worlds," or alternate dimensions. Every time one of the lovers snaps their fingers, the world will switch to a parallel version. They will take turns snapping and then finally coming together for a clap, throwing you through three different dimensions. Keep an eye on the obstacles on the road so that you are not suddenly sideswiped by a obstacle that was not in your current world, but in the next one. Try to memorize their locations and keep in rhythm with the finger snaps. It is very challenging to get through this section, so do not feel too bad if you crash a lot. Do not give up and keep at it and eventually you will make it through. After you turn their power on them, it gets much easier from this point onward. Without their world switching powers, they will attack you head on with their swords. You will be faced with a plethora of quick-time events, so get that finger ready.
Various Steam Achievements
Complete the indicated task to unlock the achievement.
Achievement
How to unlock
Aquarius A
Solved the first Aquarius riddle.
Aquarius B
Solved the second Aquarius riddle.
Aries A
Solved the first Aries riddle.
Aries B
Solved the second Aries riddle.
Cancer A
Solved the first Cancer riddle.
Cancer B
Solved the second Cancer riddle.
Capricornus A
Solved the first Capricornus riddle.
Capricornus B
Solved the second Capricornus riddle.
Gemini A
Solved the first Gemini riddle.
Gemini B
Solved the second Gemini riddle.
Leo A
Solved the first Leo riddle.
Leo B
Solved the second Leo riddle.
Libra A
Solved the first Libra riddle.
Libra B
Solved the second Libra riddle.
Pisces A
Solved the first Pisces riddle.
Pisces B
Solved the second Pisces riddle.
Sagittarius A
Solved the first Sagittarius riddle.
Sagittarius B
Solved the second Sagittarius riddle.
Scorpius A
Solved the first Scorpius riddle.
Scorpius B
Solved the second Scorpius riddle.
Taurus A
Solved the first Taurus riddle.
Taurus B
Solved the second Taurus riddle.
Virgo A
Solved the first Virgo riddle.
Virgo B
Solved the second Virgo riddle.
Woe Woe Woods: The Howling Moons
The Howling Moons are a bunch of wolf-themed bikers, and they present the first serious challenge for you. They will send their wolf robots after you, and your bike unlocks a new upgrade: cannons! You can fire away at the wolves to destroy them, and they are worth a good amount of points. You will need to destroy as many as you can if you want the gold rank, as they follow the same rule of hearts: the more you destroy, the more points they are worth. During the fight with the big robot mech, you will have to shoot the barrels to destroy them for score. Dodge the green fireballs and you will get the chance to attack the mech directly.
