Posts Tagged ‘dodonpachi’
DoDonPachi Resurrection Review
For whatever reason, the West gave up on the scrolling shooter genre back in the 90s. Sure, games came and went after the 32-bit generation, but for the most part series that had existed for decades like Gradius, Darius, and even R-Type ceased development. In Japan, however, the shooter – sometimes called shoot-em-up or the divisive shorthand of shmup – has evolved along with new franchises and coveted developers. Otaku, weeaboo (foreigners obsessed with Japanese culture), and shoot-em-up fans like myself remain aware and hungry for the new and challenging titles that come from the East. Of those modern franchises, there are few developers more notable than Cave and there are few franchises more recognizable than DoDonPachi. The name is a pun on both the literal meaning, angry leader bee, and the fact that “don” is onomatopoeia with bullet fire in Japanese. The story is somewhat irrelevant at this point, mostly because we never saw a release of any of the DoDonPachi series outside of limited release in arcades, but suffice to say it revolves around fighting various human fighters under the control of a large bee set on world domination. The “don” is fitting as well because your ship will be putting out literally hundreds of bullets every second and a sea of bright pink and blue bullet-fire will be coming back at you in retort. This sub-genre is known as danmaku (“bullet hell”), which is a fitting name given the minute-by-minute gameplay. Why does any of this matter? Because we’re finally getting a Western release of DoDonPachi DaiFakkatsu (aka Resurrection) on Steam that is part of an impressive resurgence of the genre for this region. DoDonPachi Resurrection is gorgeous, brutal, and feature packed to the point that both the veteran shooter fan and newcomers can find plenty to do and enjoy every potentially frustrating second.
DoDonPachi Resurrection Quick Look
DoDonPachi Resurrection will premiere on Steam October 14, a title previously exclusive to Japan. Here Fred takes a look at the initial stages and describes basic gameplay. This footage was captured at 4K/UHD resolution (3840×2160) and then downsampled to 1080p.
This quick look was originally posted on The B-Team Podcast (www.thebteampodcast.com) and have partial co-ownership with this site. This is re-posted with permission.
Podcast: Community PS2 Top 10s and Mailbag
We asked you all for community PS2 top 10 lists and boy did you oblige. In a massive push of lists that takes nearly 2 hours to read off Fred and Jam delve deep into the many games PS2 owners love. It’s a widespread list and a great celebration of Sony’s sophomore console. As a result we’ve pushed a few of the scheduled game nights, but a friendly reminder to get started on Kingdom Hearts if you haven’t already for August’s 2-part game club.
The points totals document can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RuNTDd8ZXTQcvXQJu0wbmZMMZBYJ136qRPK2FoWzgi4/edit?usp=sharing
Podcast: What the Shmup
One of the oldest and most popular genres in gaming is the “shoot-em-up” or “shmup” for short. Whether you’re a space ship, a young girl, or even a winged pod the basic goal is to navigate the screen, rack up points, and don’t die. Fred and Jam dive into the origins of the shmup, the sub-genres that exist, and some of their personal favorites.
Top 5 Shmups Worth Importing
Ah March, shmuppreciation is back and in full effect on Gaming History 101. If this is your first time hearing the phrase, shmuppreciation is for the love of the shoot-em-up genre (shmup for short) and is celebrated all March on the site. If you missed Shmuppreciation 2012 I highly recommend you check it out as we provided more than 30 articles dedicated to introducing you to genre specifics and the myriad of popular series in the most triumphant genre of all time.
This year we’re going past introductions and into the intermediate world of shmups, which requires more skill, dedication, and money than the games covered last year. While I would hardly call the games we will be covering obscure by any stretch, these titles are much less known outside of enthusiastic shmup fans. To kick it off we’re featuring the top 5 games worth importing. Shmups are of the most expensive games out there so you can expect a bit of sticker shock even with the games mentioned here. Just keep in mind that you’re currently dropping $60 for day one releases and sometimes even more if you’re into that special edition stuff. The titles in this list are unique because they have not seen a release, even digital, within the United States and thus require some sort of special circumstances to play today. There’s a great list of import games that have released digitally on PSN, XBLA, and Wii Virtual Console as well so be sure to check out our article on those titles as well. In order to play these games you have to either import them or get access to a digital service outside of your region. The links in each title will take you to the games’ review or video on our site.
DoDonPachi Series (Cave)
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.
Bullet Hell Shmups
This is going to be a really short blog post with some videos, so those of you who like flashing lights and hate these word things will be in heaven. “Bullet Hell” shmups (also referred to as “danmaku” by the Japanese and fans of the genre) usually refers to vertical perspective (based on vertical raster effects from arcade monitors of the 70s, 80s and 90s) where a single ship is more concerned with dodging bullets rather than enemies. Sure, enemies still play their part, but they prefer to do it from a distance. It’s pretty hard to bump into an enemy in early bullet hell titles, but thanks to developers like Treasure and Cave, those rules are quickly broken.
Bullet Hell, get it?
Gaming History 101 