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[BOTEC]

Mine also shipped this afternoon.

Along with a brand new JP 360 and a couple other shoot em ups including the limited edition of Ketsui.

Hoping for a Saturday delivery, but that's a long shot.
Will probably get my box on Tuesday. Damn you Monday holiday!!!
On the positive side, I have the whole week off from work so I'll be able to play as much as I want!

Nice! I did the whole J-360 thing twice, and every time it feels like Christmas. I don't know why, it's just more fun waiting for that big box to show up, and then playing all those cool games one after another. I never felt that way with my PS3 or Wii.

 

[Agent Unknown]

Good grief these are expensive. On NCSX it 's 128.90 for the LE and 96.90 for regular edition? I just dropped a little over 149.00 on a new Futari LE and still need to replace my 360 so this wont be happening for awhile. I really hope RSG ports this someday.

Edit: Plus, I'm NOT trying to dampen the mood of the thread but I gotta agree that Cave deciding to region lock this when Futari was region free really is contradictory, stupid and a complete pain.

 

[iconoclast]

How would you say 1.5's difficulty levels compare to Mushihimesama's?

Difficulty wise, I'd say: 1.5 Original Max >> Original >>> 1.5 Original. There's pretty big gaps between each of them, but they're all fun.

I haven't tried out Maniac yet in any of the modes, but I did play Ultra Max for a while. That mode is awesome and really intense, but I wish they gave you more than one bomb per life. That's just cruel.

 

[StarCreator]

Edit: Plus, I'm NOT trying to dampen the mood of the thread but I gotta agree that Cave deciding to region lock this when Futari was region free really is contradictory, stupid and a complete pain.

It might be a pain, but it makes perfect sense. At the time of Futari and Espgaluda II, there was no sign that anyone was interested in licensing their games for international release, so with a little Internet pressure they released them region free as an experiment. Since then, Aksys and RSG stepped up and started licensing their games for other regions, and we've heard rumors MS has made it more difficult if not impossible to release things region free for the sake of releasing things region free. We received one more region free release in MMP+PS, but arguably because the game is completely unmarketable overseas, but with RSG actively licensing Cave's work, Cave would just be shooting themselves in the foot by even attempting a region free release at this point - since a region free release is essentially giving up on having the game licensed by an overseas distributor.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

It might be a pain, but it makes perfect sense. At the time of Futari and Espgaluda II, there was no sign that anyone was interested in licensing their games for international release, so with a little Internet pressure they released them region free as an experiment. Since then, Aksys and RSG stepped up and started licensing their games for other regions, and we've heard rumors MS has made it more difficult if not impossible to release things region free for the sake of releasing things region free. We received one more region free release in MMP+PS, but arguably because the game is completely unmarketable overseas, but with RSG actively licensing Cave's work, Cave would just be shooting themselves in the foot by even attempting a region free release at this point - since a region free release is essentially giving up on having the game licensed by an overseas distributor.

I really don't understand why Microsoft is being a bunch of twats about region locking. I'd guess it has something to do with the royalties that each regional division of the company gets, which are potentially cut into if a game is region free... but come the fuck on. Most cool stuff simply doesn't make sense to bring out in the US, so people never get it. And the US 360 doesn't exactly have a lot of stuff worth playing... nor has it for years now.

 

[SOME-MIST]

my LE unboxing for anyone interested. sorry for some of the blurriness - I was in a rush to check the game out.

 

[Tain]

This game looks gorgeous with the new assets. I actually think these models suit the high res look better than Futari's do.

edit: forgot how incredible stage 3 is

and the soundtrack

This game is awesome. So thankful it was ported again.

 

[kaioshade]

It might be a pain, but it makes perfect sense. At the time of Futari and Espgaluda II, there was no sign that anyone was interested in licensing their games for international release, so with a little Internet pressure they released them region free as an experiment. Since then, Aksys and RSG stepped up and started licensing their games for other regions, and we've heard rumors MS has made it more difficult if not impossible to release things region free for the sake of releasing things region free. We received one more region free release in MMP+PS, but arguably because the game is completely unmarketable overseas, but with RSG actively licensing Cave's work, Cave would just be shooting themselves in the foot by even attempting a region free release at this point - since a region free release is essentially giving up on having the game licensed by an overseas distributor.

So late into the lifespan of the 360, im wondering what the chances RSG will pick this up for a localization?

Does anyone know any numbers on Akai Katana so far, guess its too early to tell at this point.

 

[Agent Unknown]

So is this for all intents and purposes a perfect port gameplay and graphics wise, just that the sprites are high res? And I assume there's little to no slowdown now? Does it have all the same modes as the arcade and PS2 port?

It might be a pain, but it makes perfect sense. At the time of Futari and Espgaluda II, there was no sign that anyone was interested in licensing their games for international release, so with a little Internet pressure they released them region free as an experiment. Since then, Aksys and RSG stepped up and started licensing their games for other regions, and we've heard rumors MS has made it more difficult if not impossible to release things region free for the sake of releasing things region free. We received one more region free release in MMP+PS, but arguably because the game is completely unmarketable overseas, but with RSG actively licensing Cave's work, Cave would just be shooting themselves in the foot by even attempting a region free release at this point - since a region free release is essentially giving up on having the game licensed by an overseas distributor.

Thanks for the clarification on the ins and outs of the region free option. I guess it's one part MS being stupid hypocrites regarding their "niche/hardcore gamer friendly" policy and then one part Catch 22 regarding RSG bringing over their titles now and then. I just don't know what to do now though. The timing is really weird for me because I finally got around to getting Futari the week Mushi HD is released, so now I'm thinking maybe I should just get a Japanese 360. But then I'd be leaving all my U.S. XBL purchases behind. OTOH I'd get to play both. And who knows if RSG will ever bring it over and if it they do, will it be missing a feature similar to how there's no Ketsupachi mode in their PAL rev of DDP Resurrection? Decisions, decisions. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[mjemirzian]

JP 360 is pretty much a given.. there's no 360 cave games you can't play on it. And you won't miss out on classics like Ketsui.

 

[StarCreator]

Meant to play more Mushihimesama today but ended up watching a stream of Pangya Tomahawk instead... lol

So is this for all intents and purposes a perfect port gameplay and graphics wise, just that the sprites are high res? And I assume there's little to no slowdown now? Does it have all the same modes as the arcade and PS2 port?

Thanks for the clarification on the ins and outs of the region free option. I guess it's one part MS being stupid hypocrites regarding their "niche/hardcore gamer friendly" policy and then one part Catch 22 regarding RSG bringing over their titles now and then. I just don't know what to do now though. The timing is really weird for me because I finally got around to getting Futari the week Mushi HD is released, so now I'm thinking maybe I should just get a Japanese 360. But then I'd be leaving all my U.S. XBL purchases behind. OTOH I'd get to play both. And who knows if RSG will ever bring it over and if it they do, will it be missing a feature similar to how there's no Ketsupachi mode in their PAL rev of DDP Resurrection? Decisions, decisions. Any suggestions are appreciated.

The slowdown is reported to be closer to the arcade, which is the only thing that matters. This is hard to verify though since I don't know anyone who has actually played the arcade version.

I'm not sure why getting a Japanese 360 would mean leaving anything behind. All your purchases are tied to your gamertag and should be usable on any 360 as long as you're signed in to Live, and you can also use the once-every-4-months license transfer to move the licenses to another console if you don't plan to keep both. Roughly 90% of all 360 games released in the US will work on a Japanese console - good enough that I just use a Japanese 360 as my only 360.

 

[Agent Unknown]

Meant to play more Mushihimesama today but ended up watching a stream of Pangya Tomahawk instead... lol



The slowdown is reported to be closer to the arcade, which is the only thing that matters. This is hard to verify though since I don't know anyone who has actually played the arcade version.

Interesting, thanks.

]I'm not sure why getting a Japanese 360 would mean leaving anything behind. All your purchases are tied to your gamertag and should be usable on any 360 as long as you're signed in to Live, and you can also use the once-every-4-months license transfer to move the licenses to another console if you don't plan to keep both. Roughly 90% of all 360 games released in the US will work on a Japanese console - good enough that I just use a Japanese 360 as my only 360.

Whoa cool, I had no idea most U.S. discs and all U.S. XBL content were playable on an import system, that's awesome. Would I be able to buy from both the U.S. and Japanese XBL marketplaces too?

Edit: Will my U.S. Raiden Fighters collection disc work on an import 360?

 

[jooey]

Whoa cool, I had no idea U.S. XBL content was playable on an import system, that's awesome. Would I be able to buy from both the U.S. and Japanese XBL marketplaces too?

technically yes, if you have a way of getting points, but a lot of good stuff is geo-locked.

 

[Agent Unknown]

technically yes, if you have a way of getting points, but a lot of good stuff is geo-locked.

Darn. Well, at least I'd be able to play all my purchased stuff. Could I buy stuff on my brother's american system with my tag then bring it over to my import 360 later to get around this?

In any case, I'm leaning towards an import system now.

 

[StarCreator]

Whoa cool, I had no idea most U.S. discs and all U.S. XBL content were playable on an import system, that's awesome. Would I be able to buy from both the U.S. and Japanese XBL marketplaces too?

Edit: Will my U.S. Raiden Fighters collection disc work on an import 360?

A Japanese 360 is pretty much indistinguishable from an American 360 as far as XBLA goes. Region locking on XBLA content is extremely rare - only game I've ever found not to work is 1 vs 100.

Unfortunately, the US Raiden Fighters releases are in that 10% that won't work on a Japanese system. The NA releases of Deathsmiles and Otomedius Excellent also will not work.

technically yes, if you have a way of getting points, but a lot of good stuff is geo-locked.

As far as I know, there is no such thing as an XBLA release that isn't in the NA market.

 

[Agent Unknown]

A Japanese 360 is pretty much indistinguishable from an American 360 as far as XBLA goes. Region locking on XBLA content is extremely rare - only game I've ever found not to work is 1 vs 100.

Thanks again. But how would I purchase say, Futari Black label later? How hard is it to get Jpn points?

Unfortunately, the US Raiden Fighters releases are in that 10% that won't work on a Japanese system.

Arrrrrrgghhh. Figures. Oh well, is there an import version of Raiden Fighters I could pick up? I'll do whatever it takes at this point.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Arrrrrrgghhh. Figures. Oh well, is there an import version of Raiden Fighters I could pick up? I'll do whatever it takes at this point.

Yeah, of course. Every shmup that came out in the US came out in Japan, as well.

Well, I dunno about Aegis Wing, but uh... yeah.

 

[mjemirzian]

Thanks again. But how would I purchase say, Futari Black label later? How hard is it to get Jpn points?

I'm not sure if they changed it later, but I was able to log into a US Xbox Live account on my JP 360 and buy JP content using a US credit card on that account.

 

[Agent Unknown]

Yeah, of course. Every shmup that came out in the US came out in Japan, as well.

Well, I dunno about Aegis Wing, but uh... yeah.

Yeah, I know it seems obvious but the pessimist in me has to ask. Thanks.

I'm not sure if they changed it later, but I was able to log into a US Xbox Live account on my JP 360 and buy JP content using a US credit card on that account.

Thanks!

 

[SOME-MIST]

I usually just buy codes that are sent to my e-mail online to obtain japanese xbl points. The hardest part about the purchase is actually trying to find what you want on the japanese market place (since I don't read japanese).

games that fall in the 10% (of region-locked in the US) are typically games that are first released in JPN and then localized .. i.e. el shaddai: ascension of the metatron, earth defense force: insect armageddon, deathsmiles etc..

keep in mind that US DVDs are sometimes region-locked too.

---
mushihimesama has been fun so far. I don't have a firm grasp on the scoring yet, but I'll worry about that after I achieve my first 1CC. I've only played about 3 credits so far, but I can tell that I'll be sinking as much time into this as I have futari.

 

[jooey]

As far as I know, there is no such thing as an XBLA release that isn't in the NA market.

I know, I was really referring to Games on Demand stuff, and there's several shooters in the Japan selection.

 

[iconoclast]

Just no miss'd 1.5 Original with 75m.

I didn't realize that you could point-blank enemies to leech gems in this mode, like in Original Max. The main difference is that there isn't a counter (that I know of) to drive up the rank/gem value, so I can see scores going over 100m for people who are serious about it.

 

[danmaku]

Finally got my copy and wow... the backgrounds look amazing in this version, stage 2 and stage 4 are a work of art. I still remember all the patterns I learned on PS2 (I can't believe I was playing this game with a dualshock!), I reached the snakes section in stage 4 on my first credit (Maniac mode). Too bad the scoring system isn't nearly as good as in Futari, but at least I can play Maniac like a more forgiving DDP and have fun.

 

[Muchi Muchi Pink]

Too bad I can't afford a japanese system atm. Hope RSG picks it up.