Gaming History 101

Welcome to import week on Shmuppreciation and what better way to begin than with the quintessential Cave shooter that started it all: the DoDonPachi series.  Those that have been following our “shmup of the day” may have noticed that last week I regarded Raiden as being a primitive version of the “danmaku” (bullet hell) shmup, well the DoDonPachi series would mark the actual beginning of this genre.  You’ll notice with this game that big explosions, massive enemies and large pink bullets are just par for the course in this addicting and animated shmup.  While the story is not any more diverse than any series we’ve discussed, this was probably the first shmup where I followed each iteration’s story.  Although tough as nails, the DoDonPachi series (and pretty much all shmups by Cave) is just so fun and makes you feel so powerful at times that your drive overwhelms the difficulty curve.  You keep failing but you don’t seem to care.

Worldwide Arcade Distribution

DonPachi is the first game in the series, although all sequels carry the DoDonPachi name and thus is the true main title for the series.  It was developed by Cave, the first title since the separation of developer Toaplan (the only game I’ve played by them was the somewhat similar NES shmup Tiger Heli) closed down and spawned 4 smaller dev studios. DonPachi ran first generation proprietary hardware that appears to be specifically designed for dynamic vertical arcade games.  It released in 1995 to a crowded arcade space and thanks to Atlus (a known publisher for localizing and releasing Japanese games in America) even made it to the United States.

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