[AC] [360] [PS3] [PS4] [VAR] Ketsui ~Kizuna Jigokutachi~

[Jedah]

The last 12 months I was in military service and unfortunately lost many news and discussions about upcoming titles. Last night I've accidentally discovered that Ketsui, the famous Cave shmup, is heading for 360 and more surprisingly for DS & Mobile phones!! The ports are developed by 5pb.

5pb official page

DS Trailer
Mobile phone video

While to most of you that's old news, I'm wondering why there's no topic in the forum about this event. Is it false? Is it insignificant? Hell no. Why is everyone ignored such a huge event?

[icycalm]

There are two upcoming ports, a DS and a 360 one. The reason I have not yet posted about them (and about the DDP DOJ: Black Label 360 port) is because I have been too busy with other sections of the site, and I was just waiting to find some time to do the news justice. And at the end of the day, it's not as if they are coming out tomorrow. We've got months and months ahead of us.

At any rate, that's why we have the forum -- so that people other than me can occasionally contribute, thus lightening my workload.

Anyways, this is now the official Ketsui thread (for Arcade, 360 and DS versions). I will be posting more info shortly.

As for the cellphone version... That video you linked is from January 30, 2007. Perhaps that version is already out? A quick Google search gave me nothing. I'll have to look into that later as well.

[CosMind]

According to online retailer Play-Asia, the DS rev - Ketsui Death Label - will start shipping on October 23, 2008. Whether or not that constitutes a true and firm release date is another story. But, it does give us something to go by as we prepare to laugh our heads off (presumably).

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-49-en-70-2rh8.html

Unfortunately, the retailer doesn't have a listing for the 360 port at this time. However, Famitsu did run a small preview of the game this past March:

http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/1214031_1407.html

[milkycha]

Why do we presume to "laugh our heads off"? Dude it's not meant to be a serious port, just a boss rush for a bit of fun on the go. I'm actually sort of looking forward to how it will turn out; the vids I've seen dont look half bad, and any stg action on ds is welcomed.

Oh, and if Play-Asia say it'll ship that day, it most definitely will(or earlier). I buy all my stuff there and find them to be quite reliable.

[icycalm]

Why do we presume to "laugh our heads off"?

Let me explain this to you. Because of comments like this:

Dude it's not meant to be a serious port

Also,

the vids I've seen dont look half bad

You have terrible taste in "vids". Watch more "vids" and it will improve.

and any stg action on ds is welcomed.

It is this kind of mentality which FORCES developers to develop ports which are:

not meant to be serious ports

i.e., which are meant to be laughable.

QED

[icycalm]

Not sure if this belongs here or in the lol thread...

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=22397

I skimmed through all six pages. It was alternately amusing, annoying, and slightly depressing. So many posts by so many hardcore STG fans and still not A SINGLE one of them came anywhere near the REAL reason why Ketsui DS is a bad idea. Nowhere near. There's this gigantic nail sitting right there, waiting for someone to hit it on the head, but it sure as hell 'aint going to be anyone posting on Shmucks.com.

Even FrederikJurk, who has written a few things for this website and is clearly a cut above the rest -- even HE is full of shit in that thread.

[ViewtifulZFO]

It's a shame they are putting the name "Ketsui" on either the DS or the cellphone port; unless it's the exact same game, I'd rather they not bastardize it with a $60 boss rush, thanks.

I've never even played Ketsui before, and I know that this is a terrible looking "port", if you can even call it that.

[Jedah]

Actually it's not the bosh rush mode it sucks, it's that Ketsui et al. can only be savoured on big vertical low res monitors. The DS screen is horizontal and small. It's worse than watching Star Wars in a pocket TV....

[icycalm]

Meanwhile, the Real Thing is on sale at the Shmucks.com trading forum for £950 complete:



http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=22067

[Jedah]

I HATE to say it but Ketsui on DS is rather addictive... :P

[icycalm]

You are missing the point, like all the guys on Shmups. I can't believe no one has mentioned this yet. I was saving it for my review, but what the hell.

Look. When you are playing Ketsui DS what you are effectively doing, regardless of how much fun you may be having, is SPOILING for yourself one of the best shooting games ever. Isn't this painfully obvious? Would you watch The Dark Knight on an iPod before seeing it in the cinema?

Now if you have ALREADY played the shit out of Ketsui, and for whatever reason have not yet moved on to other awesome shooting games, then perhaps I would understand it if you decided to spend some time with the ridiculous DS port, if someone gave it to you as a gift or something. But playing it BEFORE the real thing is just stupid.

In my always extremely humble opinion, of course.

[Jedah]

I thoroughly understand your point but it is the only version of the game I have easy access to. I'm not proud of it, but I'm playing the game on a flash card. I wish the 360 version was already out and region-free(I wish!), I would pay for the full price without hesitation. Finally I must admit that I'm was not actually expecting to experience the REAL Ketsui. The game would still be addictive if it was called Helicopter X or SuperChopper or whatever. I was not expecting to play more than half an hour and now I see myself ignoring the 360 just for another go against a minimal Doom boss.

[icycalm]

I must admit that I was not actually expecting to experience the REAL Ketsui.

With me it's like this (and I know I am the exception): I am patient.

I wasn't when I was younger, playing all ports that came my way, regardless of how inferior they might have been, because the idea of emulation had not yet entered anyone's head.

But now, as long as you are patient, and as long as you live long enough, you are guaranteed to one day be able to play EVERYTHING, PERFECTLY. Now I would understand settling for inferior ports if you had NOTHING ELSE to play in the meantime, but dude. There's like a billion amazing shooters available on MAME, RIGHT NOW. And instead of playing one of them, on a large screen with a good arcade stick, you are happily spoiling all of Ketsui's boss fights for yourself on a tiny LCD with a crappy d-pad. I mean, lol.

I understand the reason for this, of course: pure curiosity. The need to try out the latest thing, to be in the loop, etc. -- to do what everyone else is doing at the same time with them. We all have this to an extent. But it's stupid, and it robs you of (at least some) of the pleasure of playing great games. For shit games it doesn't really matter how you play them, but great games should be a near-religious experience for those who enjoy them as much as we do.

Take, for example, Death Smiles. I've yet to play it and right now it's my #1 Most Wanted Cave game. If a DS port came out tomorrow and you came in my house at night and glued it into my DS, so that it would be impossible for me to remove it, I would rather destroy my DS than play the damn game. For reals. This still goes even if no one had ever mentioned a 360 port and if I did not have enough money to buy the PCB. Fuck it. I would rather wait 15 years for MAME than play the DS port. Like I said, it's not as if there aren't enough great shooters out there to keep me busy for 15 years.

So! Delete Ketsui ~Shit Label~ from your flash card right now or I am coming to your house to do it for you! :)


(By the way, I've been waiting for you to call me for over a month, you prick.)

[Recap]

With me it's like this (and I know I am the exception): I am patient.

I wasn't when I was younger, playing all ports that came my way, regardless of how inferior they might have been, because the idea of emulation had not yet entered anyone's head.

But now, as long as you are patient, and as long as you live long enough, you are guaranteed to one day be able to play EVERYTHING, PERFECTLY. Now I would understand settling for inferior ports if you had NOTHING ELSE to play in the meantime, but dude. There's like a billion amazing shooters available on MAME, RIGHT NOW. And instead of playing one of them, on a large screen with a good arcade stick, you are happily spoiling all of Ketsui's boss fights for yourself on a tiny LCD with a crappy d-pad. I mean, lol.

I understand the reason for this, of course: pure curiosity. The need to try out the latest thing, to be in the loop, etc. -- to do what everyone else is doing at the same time with them. We all have this to an extent. But it's stupid, and it robs you of (at least some) of the pleasure of playing great games. For shit games it doesn't really matter how you play them, but great games should be a near-religious experience for those who enjoy them as much as we do.

Take, for example, Death Smiles. I've yet to play it and right now it's my #1 Most Wanted Cave game. If a DS port came out tomorrow and you came in my house at night and glued it into my DS, so that it would be impossible for me to remove it, I would rather destroy my DS than play the damn game. For reals. This still goes even if no one had ever mentioned a 360 port and if I did not have enough money to buy the PCB. Fuck it. I would rather wait 15 years for MAME than play the DS port. Like I said, it's not as if there aren't enough great shooters out there to keep me busy for 15 years.

Laughs. Gotta link this post in Postback's internal subforum. More than a couple of friends of mine there will find those words quite familiar. It brought to my mind the days I got petitions once and again to play the SS versions of many shooting games at home, such as Dodonpachi. We didn't even have a rotatable monitor. Those, of course, not only were not played then, they weren't even tested once in order to not spoil anything, waiting for my ultimate emulation set-up.

I think they hated me a little bit for that. I kept saying to them -- "you know, at the end it shows my love and respect for the games is bigger than yours, doesn't it".

[Jedah]

But now, as long as you are patient, and as long as you live long enough, you are guaranteed to one day be able to play EVERYTHING, PERFECTLY. Now I would understand settling for inferior ports if you had NOTHING ELSE to play in the meantime, but dude. There's like a billion amazing shooters available on MAME, RIGHT NOW. And instead of playing one of them, on a large screen with a good arcade stick, you are happily spoiling all of Ketsui's boss fights for yourself on a tiny LCD with a crappy d-pad. I mean, lol.

The answer to this is:

I understand the reason for this, of course: pure curiosity.

The need to try out the latest thing, to be in the loop, etc. -- to do what everyone else is doing at the same time with them. We all have this to an extent.

I don't thing there is another human being in Greece (besides me and you) to understand that Ketsui is not another Japanese only mini game collection... Thus I most certainly don't have anyone to share, excepting you people right here. I love you!

But it's stupid, and it robs you of (at least some) of the pleasure of playing great games. For shit games it doesn't really matter how you play them, but great games should be a near-religious experience for those who enjoy them as much as we do.

The newer Cave games have hardware encryption, much tougher than CPS-2/3 games. I'm not expecting to play the games in MAME in the next century. BUT even if there was work in progress in these games pure curiosity is simply unbeatable. Will you advise me on how to import the 360 ports?

Take, for example, Death Smiles. I've yet to play it and right now it's my #1 Most Wanted Cave game. If a DS port came out tomorrow and you came in my house at night and glued it into my DS, so that it would be impossible for me to remove it, I would rather destroy my DS than play the damn game. For reals. This still goes even if no one had ever mentioned a 360 port and if I did not have enough money to buy the PCB. Fuck it. I would rather wait 15 years for MAME than play the DS port. Like I said, it's not as if there aren't enough great shooters out there to keep me busy for 15 years.

That's why you are running one hell of a site/community and I'm only a poor old fart of a gamer!

So! Delete Ketsui ~Shit Label~ from your flash card right now or I am coming to your house to do it for you! :)

Will you buy me an arcade cabinet with the REAL thing? I will help for the transportation!

(By the way, I've been waiting for you to call me for over a month, you prick.)

I'm so sorry about this. I work 10am to 7-8pm then return home for a chapter of Ninja Gaiden II and some Ketsui before sleep. When I find some extra time in weekends I usually go out with the girl and friends. I remind you that my place is outside of Athens, 40 km in exact. I tell you what: how about we get in touch when Gears of War 2 comes out next week for a coop. Do you still have that fancy 720p projector?

[icycalm]

That's why you are running one hell of a site/community

And why Recap runs the other, lol. It's funny but it's true.

Will you advise me on how to import the 360 ports?

I get orders in from Play-Asia all the time. I can just add whatever you want to my order and you'll also get them shipped for free. As for customs, out of around a dozen orders they've only taxed me twice, so your chances of extra fees (10-15 euros) are less than 20%. The problem for you is how to play them without a Japanese 360. Either buy one, or play them at my house.

But really, I have a feeling that both Ketsui and Death Smiles (and definitely also Raiden IV) will get US releases eventually. As for EU ones... well, just hope the US discs, if they come, will be region-free (because about half of them aren't).

PS. You've got mail!

[JoshF]

Pro Review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuKu1nPhVA4

[icycalm]

EOJ recently posted a review by one of his forum members, drboom:

http://www.cave-stg.com/reviews/ketsui.html

It is the typical specialized-game-fan-review, meaning it sucks balls because the reviewer misses the point of the review by getting too caught up in regurgitating factoids. 90% of the review then is Wikipedia-style factoids, with a small section near the end titled "Review and Reflection" (lol), which is again mostly comprised of random factoids or else dim-witted and pathetic attempts at criticism. The whole thing is basically at the same level as Shmucks.com forum reviews (which are slightly worse than Shmucks.com reviews), which is to say practically unreadable.

Which all goes to show that knowledge of a game is only ONE of the requirements for writing a decent review, and the one which every human being can, given enough time and effort, eventually acquire. The OTHER requirement, which is a decent critical faculty, you are either born with or not born with, and that's the end of the matter.

[El Chaos]

Looks like, from a "twit" of a 5pb employee, the master copy of the 360 version was sent in for mass production. They'll announce the official release date in next week's Famitsu.

http://twitter.com/chiyomaru5pb/statuses/9048727885

Via http://postback.geedorah.com/foros/view ... 8833#p8833

[Siren]

The 360 port of Ketsui is finally (re) scheduled for release on April 22.

Ça y est, enfin ! Après de nombreuses inquiétudes de la part des fans, doublées de rumeurs d'annulation, l'adaptation de Ketsui sur XBox360 est enfin datée au 22 avril, soit près d'un an après la date de sortie prévue initialement.

Reste à espérer que 5pb, le développeur en charge de ce portage, aura su tirer les leçons du passé en nous proposant une adaptation plus soignée que le très buggé Dodonpachi Daiôjô Black Label X.

http://www.shmup.com/index.php?page=actu&id=269

Looks like I need a new stick.


EDIT: According to NCSX, the port will have some additional goodies.

The First Print Limited Edition of Ketsui Kizuna is bundled with a Ketsui Kizuna Original Soundtrack CD and a bonus "Ketsui Capture Guidebook" in 1:1 ratio. Preorders are welcome to ship on April 22, 2010 at JPY9300 or US$109.90 from NCS.

http://ncsx.blogspot.com/2010/02/x360-k ... extra.html

[ksevcov]

http://gematsu.com/2013/03/5pb-announce ... disorder-6

5pb. announced two new projects in the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu.

The first is a PlayStation 3 port of Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi, Cave’s shoot ‘em up arcade game first launched in arcades in 2003, and then on Xbox 360 in 2010. The PlayStation 3 version will launch on July 25 in Japan and cost 7,140 yen for the standard edition, and 10,290 yen for the limited edition.

[Beakman]

It seems that Ketsui is finally getting a Western release: https://www.gematsu.com/2020/08/ketsui- ... ngs-leaked

The games tracker on Gamstat, which tracks everything that has been added to the PlayStation Store, has added an entry for a North American version of Ketsui Deathtiny: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi, which first launched for PlayStation 4 in November 2018 in Japan.