Been playing this (US 360 version) for the past couple of days and it's fantastic. I had completely forgotten how fun these games are, last Cave game I played was Mushi Futari in 2006 lol. Shit sure seems more complicated now and I am definitely loving it. I am even trying to seriously score lol.
I was confused by the renaming of the modes in the English versions (there's apparently also a PAL version out) so I dived into the Shmups.com megathreads for info, and it appears that Shin mode is called Slash in English (the one I am playing), Zetsu is called Climax, and Arcade is called Origin. They also say that there are "Novice" modes, but I don't know where they are located because they don't appear in my mode select screen.
Some interesting tidbits I managed to salvage from the aspies' forum:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 00#p799300BPzeBanshee wrote:trap15 wrote:Actually, if you watch the credits, Yagawa, Ikeda and Ichimura all worked on the code. So I'd say it's not designed entirely by Yagawa or Ikeda or Ichimura. Which means all of them probably had a say in the mechanics.
This.
Going from the interview that rancor translated (if memory serves), we've got Yagawa to thank for the core engine itself, Ikeda for the idea of Stage 6, and Ichimura for a lot of the initial mechanics with all three of them having inputs on specific parts of said mechanics. Sounds like 'All Star Effort' to me.
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 01#p799401Op Intensify wrote:I don't see how the lasers are that bad. The transparency makes them a little hard to see but I quickly adjusted. They're clearly telegraphed beforehand and they're never made impossible to dodge like in DFK, since you can't simply cancel them with your laser.
Now, I'm with you on the stage and enemy designs being kinda bland on a functional level. Progear had so much more variety and character in how its levels were laid out. So far there's nothing really memorable like the gigantic snowstorm of bullets at the end of Progear's second boss.
I don't know how far this guy had got when he wrote this, but having been up to the stage 4 boss I can safely say there are some cool moments in here. The barrage of enemies as you arrive at the port at the end of stage 4 is pretty damn cool, and the previous stages are no slouches either. It's nowhere near as fancy and distinct, aesthetically, as most other Cave shooters, but it's still great stuff.
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 20#p800820TheSoundofRed wrote:AK Arcade and Zetsu scoring is all about controlling enemy fire, similar to Progear. But with AK you can use the Phantom mode to position bullets more easily and without as much knowledge of enemy placement or attack patterns.
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 59#p800859casualcoder wrote:If those vids that have almost constant slowdown from stage 2 onwards are at all accurate, then I still don't recommend it to a newbie, even if that makes it easier (which I kind of doubt, but whatever), simply because who the fuck would want to play a game with constant slowdown?
You're forgetting that slowdown only really happens whe you are playing for score and know exactly the right time to cancel bullets. Slowdown isn't given, it is earned. A newbie trying to get better eventually seeks out how to create slowdown even if they are not interested in scoring, if only for pure survival.
As in Galuda 2.
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 28#p804928BareknuckleRoo wrote:KindGrind wrote:I'm I the only one completely pissed when I have tons of suicide bullets in front of my ship, lots of katana ready to fire ten slightly top the stick to reposition and fire the katanas upwards? Makes for so much of the score that I have trouble going on without it affecting my game... ;)
You're playing the Type B ship obviously - you need to be aware that each of the different pilots have differing behaviour when using their katanas.
Type A's katanas always fire fowards. They'll be a bit wider if you fire when moving backwards, tighter when moving forwards.
Type B's katanas fire in the opposite direction you're moving. Not moving or holding backwards will shoot them forward, you can fire them in any direction by moving the opposite way and firing them.
Type C's katanas are either tight or spreadshot or depending on whether or not you're moving.