Pretty decent trailer. I'm not big on the character design at all, but I actually really like the art for the levels/enemies. The whole thing reminds me of Cotton.


Cotton 2

I agree with Ketsui. It's almost like a Strikers game, but even more grounded because the bosses don't transform from tankers into giant robot samurai, or anything. Helicopters instead of airplanes, too, which is actually kind of unique.

Hydorah (PC): Free Gradius inspired indie game available here.



Ridiculously good shooter, and I normally don't pay indie games much mind. Jason, you'd love this one. It's definitely Gradius inspired, but it does its own thing with the powerup system and the levels are shorter, and from what I've seen, it has more of a focus on boss fights. Branching paths, customizable weaponsets, smart bombs . . . It's a better game than Gradius Rebirth, hands down. And it's challenging as shit, which indie games usually aren't. Use a stick or pad, go to config and switch to low res mode, and it's fantastic. Game uses all original assets and music, and the coding/design was done by one guy over a span of three years. It's honestly worth checking out. And the price is right.

Downloading now. The trailer looks like what Gradius Rebirth should have been.

You get to try it out? What'd you think?

X-Multiply (Arc, Sat)- Irem shooter from 1989. It's kind of like R-Type, but instead of the force pod, you get these tentacles above and below your ship. You can't detatch them, but it's kind of interesting because they respond to your movement. Move foward and they cover your rear, back and they cover the front, etc. Game is tough as shit, and asthetically it's lacking compared to R-Type, but it's still definitely worth checking out regardless. If you've played R-Type Delta or Final, and you've used the tentacle force, they took that idea from this game.



Xexex (Arc, PSP)- A lot of companies made R-Type clones. This is Konami's. And it's freaking awesome. It actually borrows a bit from X-Multiply as well. Your ship has a charge shot and a force pod, like R-Type, but you can't throw it foward or attach it to your back. Instead, you kind of just detach it and let it wander around, but when that happens it sprouts tentacles ala X-Multiply. It doesn't reatach upon contact, so you can detach it and then stay inside the tentacles to use them as a shield. It's kind of a nice spin on the force idea. Game is a bit more twitch than Irem games as well. Solid all around. I've actually been looking around for a board of this, but haven't had any luck. I really like it. On the PSP in the Salamander Deluxe pack.

IGN Review of Deathsmiles

If you've read any review of any shmup in a mainstream publication in the last ten years, you've heard this all before.

Deathsmiles (Arc, 360): Suppose it'd be pretty remiss of me to let this go by without saying anything about it.

At the risk of sounding like a tool, Deathsmiles is another amazing 360 shooter by Cave. I've said this about all of their releases, but I'll only stop saying it when it stops being true.

I'm not a fan of the character art, and I was right about the English dialogue being cringe worthy. The fact that I like the game so much is just a testament to how strong the gameplay is, then.

The game has a fairly unique structure. There are 3 levels before the final level and an optional, extra difficult stage. Each level is broken down into two sub stages, and you can mix and match to make your own path through the game. So you could go A1-A2, or B1, C2, etc. Before each level you can select its difficulty. Select the hardest too many times (for most scoring opportunities) and the game goes apeshit with suicide bullets. Mixing up your stage order nets you different items, as in extra lives, bombs, etc.

The hitbox is very obvious and defined (your character's heart) and the stages feel more interactive than in Cave's vertical fare. Fantastic art design on the stages, bosses, and backdrops. Soundtrack is good in a very Castlevania sort of way. Very fun game and more accessible than a Ketsui or Galuda 2. Shame there's no demo up, but I suppose something like this is too niche to justify the costs.

Dodonpachi DFK is coming to the Iphone/Itouch.





Don't need new ipod. Don't need new ipod. Ketsui Ketsui Ketsui Ketsui.

Am I the only one completely in awe of Cave's buisiness decision to take their most wanted game and target it at the audience that probably wants it the least? I mean, fuck. What's their competition in the iphone market? Bejeweled? Uno? It's either genius or insane.

Slow night, fired up Ikaruga and watched my 1cc replay on a whim. I may have the achievement and 25gp for clearing the game, but I know I didn't beat Ikaruga. In my heart of hearts I know it wasn't legit. Why does this game torment me? Someday . . .

Ikaruga is my white whale.

Someday? What? Dude, just accept the fact that you've beaten it already, would ya?

This is probably the first and only instance where an "achievement unlocked" message actually means something. It's concrete proof that you've defeated the game through years of dedication and practice. Whether or not you could do it again is irrelevant; what matters is you conquered it in the first place. Beating Ikaruga on a single credit--even just once--is one of the most daunting challenges a video game can offer, and you did it. You were beaten, battered, and shot down lord-knows-how-many-times before you could finally make it happen, and when it did, it was your time. It doesn't get more legit than that.

My 1cc of Ikaruga is like Barry Bond's homerun record. My starting lives and extend settings were artificially inflated. I think I died 8 times or something ridiculous, but was able to earn enough lives to beat it anyway.

Don't judge me.

Good news from Cave, because they love you more than Capcom used to.

DDP DFK v1.5 360 port announced
2010/11/25 (6800y SE/8800y LE)
LE comes with arrange OST (Kenji Ito, Kohta Takahashi...)
1.51 DLC card for those who preorder

Dangun Feveron port by M2
2011
probably XBLA (?)

Muchi Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets 360 ports
released on same disc
Spring 2011

Guwange XBLA slated for October/November release
------------

DDP DFK has been hinted at for a long time. Dangun Feveron is totally out of left field. I'm guessing it'll be XBLA cause it's from the same time period as Guwange. Disco themed shmup with insanely fast bullets. And the Much Pork/Pink Sweets combo is totally unexpected. Those are Yaegawa (Raizing) games, like Ibara, and generally the least popular of Cave's games. I've wanted to play both of those games for a long time (espcially Pink Sweet) since the port of Ibara was so lacking.

Edit: Famitsu page with great screen grabs of DFK, Pink Sweets, and Pork

Here's a shot from the high-res 360 mode on DFK. Gorgeous.

That looks damn nice.

I dig the design of the characters with the disjointed bodies.

Those were the pilots in Daioujou, but now they're actually the bosses. It's pretty wild.

KoF Skystage had its achievement list published. Apparently when achievements for SNK games go public, the release date is only weeks away.

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game ... ievements/