Turn Off Sixaxis
Did you know you can turn all Sixaxis features off in your options menu? If you turn it off then you will experience an overall easier game-play with Heavenly Sword without any clunky Sixaxis. Try it and see what you think!

How to Revisit Stages and why
You can revisit any stage in the game once you have beaten it. This is an easy way to get a full gauge on any stage you hadn't yet. Plus any emblem you've managed to unlock (3 on each stage) will remain unlocked, as long as you successfully get through the stage. However, you must build the meter up from scratch if you want to unlock any emblem you've yet to get on any stage, regardless if one or two are already unlocked. So head back to some of those stages and get that gauge filled up and those missing emblems.

Health Jars
Health jars can be found throughout the game and they will fully heal Nariko or Kai. Plus they are also good to use filling your gauge. The trick here is to try to work in a health jar into some combos since it will give you extra points towards building up the gauge while healing you as well.

How to Gauge Build
Building up the orange gauge is important if you want to unlock new combos and other in-game unlockables. Here is some tips on how to go about it:
Nariko: try to score consecutive hits on enemies to build the number on the left side of the gauge. If Nariko is injured or waits too long in between scoring successful hits, the number will reset but the gauge will remain.
Kai: You must score consecutive hits as well like with Nariko, but building up the gauge is much easier because Kai time constraints between hits are longer. Plus Kai's use of aftertouch when shooting arrows allows you to guide the arrow to its intended target. There you go, so off to better gauge build now!

How to unlock Hell Mode
To unlock Hell Mode you must beat the game on normal mode. Hell Mode is a much more difficult version to play.