Mushihimesama Futari Ver 1.5

johnny_ultimate

Anyone else here have this fantastic shooter on the 360?

It is a fairly expensive import, but totally worth it. A bullet hell game from Cave, it is just so much fun to play, and ridiculously addictive too. The original arcade game is uber-fun - good luck with maniac and ultra modes though, they will destroy you, repeatedly :pac: However, for the more casual player (myself included) the 360 specific arrange mode is a highlight. One of the most fun high score modes I've played in a long time, which decreases the difficulty of the arcade modes in favour of even more over the top combos and score multipliers. The rules change (auto-bombs, forcefields, ability to shoot back bullets) but there is a strong drive to keep replaying the five-level game to increase your score even further (into the hundreds of millions).

The difficulty is intense (kiss goodbye to months if you wish to perfect Ultra mode), but arrange mode makes it a much-buy for the less extreme players too. It's expensive enough to import - around sixty euro from Play-Asia - but the risk is totally worth it. A very compelling schmup, and region free too (most of the menus are in English, although you'll probably need a quick google to understand everything). For me, this is one of the best games on the 360.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZGax-JpLFE

o1s1n

That screen is in dire need of being rotated into the vertical position!

Is it download only or can you get a physical copy?

johnny_ultimate

o1s1n wrote: »

That screen is in dire need of being rotated into the vertical position!

Is it download only or can you get a physical copy?

No download, 'tis a full retail release (link here). There are two downloadable bits of content though - one limited to the Limited Edition (not region free, alas) and an alternative 'black label' mode which can be downloaded even off the Irish store for some reason (haven't done it yet, as it is around 15 euro).

Also, this game has made my purchase of a Hori Stick entirely worthwhile :pac:

Retr0gamer

Hori sticks are crap. A madcatz TE or a modified madcatz SE are the way to go. Anyway you should be getting used to it from playing street fighter 4.

Anyway I've no interest in this game. I liked the idea of bullet hell shooters when donpachi rolled around. I thought dodonpachi was absolute gold. However the third game in the series took bullet hell to stupid levels and I found it and subsequent Cave bullet hell shooters just not fun at all. Give me Gradius V and Ikaruga any day.

johnny_ultimate

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Hori sticks are crap. A madcatz TE or a modified madcatz SE are the way to go. Anyway you should be getting used to it from playing street fighter 4.

Anyway I've no interest in this game. I liked the idea of bullet hell shooters when donpachi rolled around. I thought dodonpachi was absolute gold. However the third game in the series took bullet hell to stupid levels and I found it and subsequent Cave bullet hell shooters just not fun at all. Give me Gradius V and Ikaruga any day.

I agree with you that some of the more ridiculous bullet hell games take it too far - Ultra mode in this is more a case of learing stupidly difficult patterns off. But this is a hell of alot of fun outside of that mode. Arrange in particular isn't particularly difficult, but compelling as you feel you're getting better and better. The harder modes are there for those crazy folk who have the time and energy to invest, but Cave have done a lot to make their games more accessible too. Ikaruga kicks my ass most of the time, the high score modes in this are a lot more fun to dip in and out of.

As for the Hori stick, I think it was great value for an entry stick - I wasn't interested enough to pick up one that cost more than a hundred euro, so the 50 euro Hori one I picked up in Akihabara (which is now in Game, surprisingly) does the job for my basic needs. As for SFIV, I'm getting used to it with a Madcatz fightpad, will move onto the arcade stick when I've improved a bit.

Retr0gamer

I might actually give this game a go, had a look at that video and it seems that the game is quite manageable unless you crank it up. The hardcore gaming 101 guys are always liking it.

As for street fighter 4 the best advice I can give you is to totally give up on the fightpad. I found it crap. I changed to a stick and was utterly useless with the stick but after a while I eventually got much better. You aren't learning how to use a stick better by using a joypad, a stick is a completely different way to play the game. Just drop the pad and go to stick and just stick with it, you'll be awful to begin with but once you get proficient with it you'll never go back.

Xinkai

MUSHIHIMESAMA FUTARI!?

I have this. Buy it. The most intense game you will ever play, especially on higher difficulty levels. Everything about this game is amazing, the retro mixed with new graphics, the score is amazing, Even some of the patters if you look at them.

brianon

Xinkai wrote: »

MUSHIHIMESAMA FUTARI!?

I have this. Buy it. The most intense game you will ever play, especially on higher difficulty levels. Everything about this game is amazing, the retro mixed with new graphics, the score is amazing, Even some of the patters if you look at them.

Don't forget Espgaluda II. Also region free

johnny_ultimate

brianon wrote: »

Don't forget Espgaluda II. Also region free

My copy is in the post
Death Smiles 1/2 are my most-sought after Cave games though. I thought it was refreshingly fun and exciting when I played it an arcade, am hoping someday I'll get to play through the full games, as they are at the very least the best-looking Cave games.

brianon

My Jap 360 and Death Smiles is in the post as well

o1s1n

That Espgaluda II 360 faceplate looks the business. Shame it's all so expensive.

Anyone know if the 360 release of Death Smiles is also region free?

johnny_ultimate

o1s1n wrote: »

That Espgaluda II 360 faceplate looks the business. Shame it's all so expensive.

Anyone know if the 360 release of Death Smiles is also region free?

Japanese version is not, unfortunately (very unfortunately). I'm hoping the American release in June will be, but since there seems to be a 'process' that has to be gone through to get a game region free on 360, I don't know how likely it will be. The collectors edition (and possibly only edition) looks like one fine package though.

Oh, for anyone curious about Cave games, but unsure about the price, Espagaluda II is out on the IPhone 3GS now for four euro. Note only the IPhone 3GS, since it won't work on earlier models or IPod Touches (yet) I'm a bit weary about whether it would be fully playable on IPhone (less pixels = less precision!) but good to see Cave at least entering the Western market, even if it is a ludicrously limited release for now.

Retr0gamer

There's actually no 'process' to go through to get the game region free. Small japanese developers region lock their games to make it more attractive to small american and european publishers like 505 gamestreet and rising star to pick up their games and publish them in other territories. Good for them, bad for people living outside japan willing to import.

Yreval

o1s1n wrote: »

That Espgaluda II 360 faceplate looks the business. Shame it's all so expensive.

Anyone know if the 360 release of Death Smiles is also region free?

It is not: http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/436/page/2

o1s1n

I hope that American special edition isn't an April fools joke. Seems too good to be true at that price.

Although not like it'll be any use to me if it's region locked

Yreval

o1s1n wrote: »

I hope that American special edition isn't an April fools joke. Seems too good to be true at that price.

Although not like it'll be any use to me if it's region locked

You should see the one that was an April Fools joke.

http://www.aksysgames.com/2010/04/01/deathsmiles-bdsm-uber-edition/

jakeskorpio

So it's basically like Touhou Project then?

safetyboy

It slows down a lot when there is a lot of bullets, is there a way to fix this?

80s Synth Pop

safetyboy wrote: »

It slows down a lot when there is a lot of bullets, is there a way to fix this?

That's done on purpose - how else are you going to avoid those bullets without the slowdown :eek:

safetyboy

seems more like lag though, was just playing 2 player there and the game nearly stopped!

Pyongyang

safetyboy wrote: »

seems more like lag though, was just playing 2 player there and the game nearly stopped!

Nope, it's done purposely.

johnny_ultimate

safetyboy wrote: »

seems more like lag though, was just playing 2 player there and the game nearly stopped!

It's Caves way of going easy on you.

I know some of their games have slowdown off options buried in menus? Not too sure about Mushi...