Story Mode > New Game > Difficulty Select

• Casual
  
• Novice
  
• Normal
  
• Hard
  
• Hell (Clear Normal or Hard to unlock)
  
• Bunny Extinction (Clear Hell to unlock)

For those unfamiliar with the metroidvania and/or bullet hell genre, I recommend starting out on either Casual or Novice. This being because these two difficulties prevent bosses from going above level 49, unless you are on a New Game+ file. However, there are ways to make the game easier (or harder) on higher difficulties. That being said, let's move on to:

> Rule Select

• Standard
  
• Alternative
  
• Bunny Heaven (Clear Alternative to unlock)
  
• Bunny Hell (Clear Bunny Heaven to unlock)
  
• Erina 200% (DLC-only. Obtain all 4 of the new items to unlock)

*Standard: Bosses level up upon obtaining items, as well as through story progression.
*Alternative: Bosses level up through only story progression.
*Bunny Heaven: All bosses and enemies are set to level 1. Easiest playthrough ever.
*Bunny Hell: Pretty much the opposite of Bunny Heaven. There's no reason to play this.
*Erina 200%: Start with all items. Not for beginners, and there's no reason to play it.

Note: Achievements are disabled in all modes except for Standard and Alternative.

By the time you collect everything and finish the game, the first two rules end up being about the same. But for those wanting an easier time, I recommend starting out on Alternative. This is because it's generally easier than playing on Standard if you just avoid progressing through the story (done by talking to Rumi for the Stele events). It's a bit more difficult in the beginning, however.

A thing to note here is that there is very little locked behind story progression, meaning that you can do and obtain most things without the need to progress. Now, I'll also say that if you do choose Alternative, it will end up significantly more difficult than Standard if you don't bother searching for items and only focus on story progression.

Enter: Erina. Everyone's favorite bunny.

This introduction is not very long, but it serves its purpose well. Here are a few things you can do that the game does not tell you about:

Gamepad - Xbox layout (keyboards are gross)

1. Hold Y while moving to perform Slow Movement.
   
2. Press A + Down on the left analong stick (or d-pad) while in the air to perform a Quick Drop.
   
3. Face in the opposite direction of a wall, jump, then quickly face that wall and press the jump button again while simultaneously pressing the analog stick (or d-pad) in the opposite
   direction to perform a Reverse Wall Jump.
   
4. Perform a Reverse Wall Jump between two walls.
   Now, when you hit that second wall, perform a Quick Drop to then perform a Wall Kick.

These actions are called Hidden Techniques. As you can probably guess by the name, they are meant to be something that you learn on your own, and thus is why they are never mentioned in the game. There are actually two more of them as well, but aren't really essential to learn, so perhaps finding them yourself may be more fun.

Note that you shouldn't follow the path shown above right off the bat, as you could end up missing both the Hammer and Carrot Bomb.

Speaking of which, this next thing the game does tell you about, but I want to put emphasis on them because there are a plethora of hidden passageways throughout the game that can either lead to items, or are simply just shortcuts:

• Hammer: Erina can destroy certain blocks with it.
  
• Ribbon: She can destroy certain blocks with her Magic.
  
• Carrot Bomb: As the name implies, Erina can destroy certain blocks with it.

Yes; certain blocks can only (perhaps with a few exceptions, as I haven't tested every block.) be destroyed by a specific action.

- The Hammer can destroy some blocks meant to be destroyed by the Carrot Bomb, but cannot destroy blocks meant for Ribbon.

*Blocks destroyed by the Hammer will never be located in the ground that you're walking on, and will almost always be obvious. They are difficult to miss.


- The Carrot Bomb can destroy blocks meant to be destroyed by the Hammer, but cannot destroy blocks meant for Ribbon.

*Blocks destroyed by the Carrot Bomb will never be located in the air. Walls and floors are the love for these carrots, and are about 50/50 on the obvious scale.

- Ribbon cannot destroy blocks meant to be destroyed by the Hammer or Carrot Bomb.

*Blocks destroyed by Ribbon will nev-- wait, no, they can be located just about anywhere. Aside from one or two instances, these are never obvious. Easily missable.


Not important, but some blocks are also destroyed when you stand on/jump into them (some of these require an item called 'Fire Orb' to break). While there are very few of these in the base game, with the addition of 'Is the Order a DLC?' there are quite a few more in Chapter 9.

What is important, however, is that you remember that blocks can be destroyed not only by your hammer and bombs, but also by Ribbon. This is especially important if you ever decide to do a 0% item playthrough.

So you made it to Rabi Rabi Town and you're ready to set off on your adventure, but don't know what you should do first? Well, that's ultimately up to you, as there is no wrong way to play Rabi-Ribi, but here are a few things that you should consider:

> Miriam's Shop > Essentials

• Attack Up: Increases the attack power of the Hammer and Ribbon's Magic
  
• Pack Up: Increases the amount of available Pack Points (PP) for Badges
  
• Speed Boost: Increases Movement Speed
  
• Bunny Amulet: Increases the amount of charges for the Bunny Amulet

Obviously you will want to max out everything in the shop, but in the beginning these are the first things that you should max when possible. Note that the Bunny Amulet is not available until you do the first Stele event, which can be done after recruiting two town members. Another thing is that you don't need to buy the upgrades for the amulet—it will automatically be upgraded free of charge via story progression, but I recommend buying the upgrades to make life easier early on.

Another thing about the amulet is that when you use it, Erina is granted invisible frames (or i-frames) for a short period of time. I assume that most people reading this know what that means, but in case you don't, it's where things that are meant to damage you will just pass through you and no damage will be sustained. This is something that you'll be using a lot, so be sure to take advantage of it.

Now, let's head off and out of the west exit of town.
Eventually you'll come to a point where you can either go left, up, or right. You'll want to take the path on the right first, in order to obtain the

• Rabi Slippers: Increases the height of Erina's Jump

Let's now head back and take the path leading left.


Ah, a snowy winter land. Keep heading left and eventually you'll come to a point where you can take a path leading up. Do that.

Once you get up there, head right until you reach a room with a teleporter. This is not where you want to go, but since you're here, you'll want to go over to it to activate it, and the game will also auto-save upon doing so.

Head back out of the room and take the path leading up, and then to the left. Here you'll find an ice cream cart and a path leading up. Let's take that path.

Once up there, you can either take a left or use Ribbon to open up a path leading right. There's no point going left as of right now (except for an Attack Up item), so let's use Ribbon.

Congratulations—you've just obtained one of the best items in the game.

• Super Carrot: A powerful AoE attack
  Press and hold Y + Down to use.

Not only is this thing powerful, it can also be used to dodge enemy attacks. Like with the Bunny Amulet, after use Erina gets granted i-frames for a very short period of time.

Three things to note with this item:
1. That face is not the face of mercy.
2. It gets more powerful with use (up to three times), but also takes longer to charge.
3. It can be reset by using the Bunny Amulet.

By 'reset', I mean that after using the amulet, you can immediately use the first charge of the carrot again. Very useful for dealing large amounts of damage and extending Erina's i-frames.

If you head back to the spring that you used to get up here and go directly to the right of it, you'll come across a room that you can use for farming EN.

It's a little slow in the beginning, but as you grow stronger and progress through the story, it'll become quicker and enemies will drop more EN.

Note that if you do farm EN here early on, it's easier to enter/exit through the top-left. Bottom-right requires you to have either the Air Jump or Wall Jump item. You technically could do it with a Reverse Wall Jump, but without practice it'll be quite difficult to pull off consistently.
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You are now done here and can go do whatever you wish to do, but I hope that you'll take what you've learned here and make use of it. Also, one last thing..

If you happen to obtain the Pure Love badge before a certain boss (Miriam) in Chapter 6, be sure that you do not have it equipped. Unless, of course, you want the fight to be more difficult.

Choose your badges wisely for this fight, as she will copy every badge that you have equipped at the start of the battle.

Anyway, that's it. Thanks for reading and I hope that this was helpful to you. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.