Most people who frequent the site and are anything like me probably look forward to the next snippet of news regarding shooters, maybe it is the next port to XBLA, an original game, indie shooters, the next big arcade hit, a sequel or even oddball stuff like KOF:Sky Stage. Needless to say, I eat up every bit of news I can get. The people who actively follow this stuff are almost certainly aware of the Donpachi series by CAVE, this is their debut game. I remember when I started getting into shooters hardcore I downloaded a LOT of shooters for MAME, I already had Giga Wing for my Dreamcast so that game was like my gateway drug. Of those few titles I downloaded, the one that really grabbed me was Donpachi, I adored this game. It kicked my ass so hard, yet I was utterly addicted to it. It played so differently from the others. It didn't feel like the Psikyo/Raizing/Compile shmups I was used to. Something about it gave it the edge, but what is that edge? Just telling you won't be enough, you will have to download it and play it for yourself. For the sake of this review I will be keeping comparisons between Donpachi and it's sequel Dodonpachi to a minimum. Also, this review will cover my playing experience on the normal/hard difficulties and not the second loop of the game.
Story: You push the shoot button, uh, there is an enemy and you don't like them. They outnumber you 300-1 so it is obvious that you are the good guy in this whole thing. All I really know from the story seriously is that there is some giant robot bee named Hibachi who I guess is a big shot or something.
Gameplay: The gameplay is manic, not as manic as say, Batrider or Mars Matrix but it does a very good job of keeping you on your toes at all times. The controls are simple, tap the shoot button to shoot or hold it down to fire a solid powerful beam. Using the beam cuts your speed by 1/2 or more depending of the ship you choose. There is a bomb button, pressing just the bomb button will drop a weaker screen clearing explosion. Pressing it while holding down the shoot button fires a crazy super powerful beam that only fires straight ahead.
There are 3 ships to choose from, type A, B, or C. My personal craft of choice is type A, it is more mobile and fires straight ahead. B type shoots straight ahead while side guns rotate depending on which way you move. C type is extremely slow no matter what firing type you are using, but it's 3 way shot covers most of the screen. Not worth it in my opinion.
This game is a textbook example of a bullet hell shooter, CAVE would go on to trump this game more and more with every new game they put out. One thing always stayed the same though, that signature gameplay style found in this game. Even when I jump into one of their later games, there is always that sense of familiarity from my time with this game. I guess you could say it gives me confidence.
What I love about the difficulty is that it never feels impossible, I have been playing this game almost exclusively for a few weeks now and with the exception of a few very challenging parts nothing about it gives me a feeling of helplessness. It just takes a sharp eye and a fuckton of practice. Every time I play it I can feel myself improving (despite the countless times I have died at that very same spot).
Graphics: This game looks amazing. While obviously not as crisp and sharp as playing it on MAME it still looks great, bullet patterns are easy to see without straining and that is all I really care about when it comes to stuff like this. Things run at an almost constant smooth framerate, only when the screen is absolutely flooded with enemies and bullets while they are exploding do thing slow down, I would say that besides the slight barely there slowdown when things get hectic it is arcade perfect. There are multiple ways of viewing the game, even giving the option to zoom in, it lowers visibility somewhat but the resolution is higher, making things easier to see. This game set the standard for future CAVE releases, the level of visual polish here is as evident as in any of their other games. A.
Sound: I will be honest, the music in this game while good, can be pretty drab. Nothing about it really grabs me. The harder guitar filled soundtrack of Dodonpachi made me feel more on edge and perfectly complimented the action. Here it just seems...plain. I will forgive it though, while the music doesn't get me as hyped as the sequel it does a serviceable job.
The sound effects are meaty and loud and sound perfect. The gun sounds, the little explosions, the BIG explosions. All of it works together perfectly to give the player a very satisfying feeling when they wade through seas of enemies.
One of my favorite things about this game is the announcer. He is the Wing Leader and I guess your commander. He sounds kinda like Erik Estrada and that makes it so much more awesome. He gives the game its personality, I look forward to hearing him encourage me. Dodonpachi dropped the Wing Leader in favor of the uber-generic robot woman voice, lame. He is probably my favorite announcer in a shooter, ever. Such classic lines as:
"Don't you just LOOOOOOVE the sweet taste of victory!?"
"WHOAAA! Look at the size of that battleship! Keep your finger on the trigger rookie!"
"Well lookee what we got here, a multi-assault tank! Watch yourself kid!"
"This is it, enemy headquarters. Let's blow it and get out of here!"
He calls you kid, like you're the new guy on the team. Rookie? I just destroyed hundreds upon hundreds of enemy ships, dodged thousands of bullets and you call me rookie!? He is clearly a badass. I dare not talk back to him, his wisdom knows no bounds. A-.
Overall:
Overall I absolutely love this game. It is a perfect example of the bullet hell genre and a must play for all shooter fans. For a first game CAVE succeeded in making a game that has style, polish, replayability, fantastic visuals and an incredible challenge. I would say this is the perfect place to start if you haven't explored this style of shooter, along with Giga Wing. It is challenging but by no means hopeless. PLAY IT IMMEDIATELY!
Trapped! Trapped! I am trapped in my routine! Get up, go to work, sulk, leave work, come home, sleep, repeat. After dealing with a retarded breakup I now have considerably more time to devote to my often neglected hobby, videogames!! I live in Illinois, and when I was at work one day thinking "I need to go on an adventure, but where? WHERE!? Hope came to me in the form of a radio advertisement for Disc Replay.
Disc Replay is a chain of resale shops specializing in selling electronics, think Media Recyclery only if they didn't suck balls. They have a truckload of used stuff for sale. Consoles, games, CD's, DVD's, and other items. But for this story to make any sense I need to set the stage.
It was my day off, I was so tired of going to work and pretty much feeling shitty. I needed to get out and see something new. So I saddled up with my buddies Austin and Carie and we set off to Rockford, home of Disc Replay and Nickelworld. What is Nickelworld? Well that is why there will be a part 2. So we all get ready, it is roughly an hour long drive to get there from where I live. I had to use a VERY crudely drawn map to get there, and I had to drive on the freeway. A little something to know about me, I get extremely stressed driving new places for the first time, I have never driven on the freeway before. You can imagine how much I hated it. So it turns out we made a wrong turn somewhere, but somehow we made it to where we wanted to get anyway.
Rockford! These people are fucking maniacs. I believe Rockford is one of the biggest or the second biggest cites in Illinois. I hate city driving. I am experienced in driving through clustered downtown shopping type areas before so I wasn't too bothered by it. We easily find Disc Replay, we walk in and I am suddenly overcome by the urge to SPEND SPEND SPEND! It was beautiful. Everything I could want, well, not everything, but a large sum of what I could want under one roof. There was even a 3DO! With games!! I never wanted it and I could care less about it but hey, it was still cool to see it. I was hoping to see a Turbografx or something but no such luck. As soon as I walked in I examined the glass cases, they were filled with all the retro stuff and bam, there it was, motherfucking SEGA CD! Fuck yes!
I promptly got someone to open the case, got the Sega CD (complete with cables and a model 1 Genesis) and examined all the games. I am a huge Genesis nerd so I am always hunting for new stuff. They had a ton of games, two shelves of games, roughly 100 each. The top shelf had all the good games worth getting, the bottom shelf was nothing but sports games. Nuff said. I will just list off my haul:
-Sega CD w/model 1 Genesis
-Kirbys Dreamland
-Kirbys Dreamland 2
Genesis:
-Ghouls and Ghosts
-Alien Storm
-Phantasy Star II
-Phantasy Star III
-Strider
-Alex Kidd
-Shadow Dancer
-6 pack
-Judge Dredd
-Last Battle
-World of Illusion with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck!! YESSSS
Time for another movie night, this week I present the cult classic animated film Rock and Rule and the first Akakage compilation movie Ninjascope, this is a very obscure movie and the first of a trilogy. Fun fact: Akakage was the first color television series produced by Toei. neat! Before the movie there will be Chojin Sentai Jetman and Kamen Rider Black
I love Rock and Rule, the animation almost melted my eyes at times. It is so good, Mok might be the most expressive animated character ever imo.
couldnt find a trailer or any posters for Ninjascope so I guess the intro will have to do.
WHEN? -Maskman: 8pm CST/9 EST -Muppet Treasure Island: 10pm CST/11EST -Dark Crystal: Whenever Treasure Island is over.
Tonight I thought it would be fun to have a Muppet double feature with some Hikari Sentai Maskman thrown in for no good reason. The first four episodes will be played prior to the movie.
Doing things a little different this week. First up is Golgo 13: The Professional, then capping off the evening with the strange King Kong vs Godzilla.
Time:Thursday, May 21st. 10:00pm CST/11:00pm EST. Summer is here and Movie Night rolls on, this time with something old (Bowie) and something old (Lupin)
First up is Lupin III: Sweet Lost Night from 2008.
Followed by the fantasy masterpiece Labyrinth, David Bowie is so manly.
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