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[SOME-MIST]

If you have a saturn (and action replay cart if it's not a japanese saturn), I would recommend that you invest what you would've spent on the Ibara port on the Battle Garegga Saturn release. They're about the same price point, the Garegga port is incredible, and imo... it's one of the best games the genre has to offer.

It isn't by CAVE, but it's by Raizing's Yagawa before he moved on to CAVE to create Ibara, Pink Sweets, and Muchi Muchi Pork in addition to some arrange modes.

dat arrange soundtrack too....

 

[LeadenStride]

Better to have a mismatched copy of MushiFutari than no copy.

I'm getting the feeling that now is the time to get any CAVE 360 games you missed.

Any hint where to get Espgaluda 2?
I was just about to buy it from Solaris, but the price went up a lot lately x.x

Edit: Checked again and it wasn't as bad as I remembered, but theres something odd right here. Shouldn't this version also be region-free? Iirc only the limited version is locked. If it's a mistake, I might get it from Solaris after all.

 

[Yes Boss!]

If you have a saturn (and action replay if it's not a japanese saturn), I would recommend that you invest what you would've spent on the Ibara port on the Battle Garegga Saturn release. They're about the same price point, the port is incredible, and imo... it's one of the best games the genre has to offer.

It isn't by CAVE, but it's by Raizing's Yagawa before he moved on to CAVE to create Ibara, Pink Sweets, and Muchi Muchi Pork in addition to some arrange modes.

dat arrange soundtrack too....

This is pretty sound advice.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Garegga is awesome. Pity Batrider and Bakraid never got console ports.

 

[Slermy]

Well... this is disappointing:

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/27/japanese-shoot-em-up-developer-cave-ceasing-western-presence/

 

[Beckx]

Saw Jon Blow tweeting something about Cave moving all focus to mobile/social (that feels like it was old news though?).

Ah well. I enjoyed their games but it looks like we'll need to look elsewhere for this coming gen. :/

I need to grab a couple of demos from Nyu Media, the game they tweeted today looks a lot like Cybernators/Valken.

Edit: yeah, looks like Blow was referencing the old news which is getting picked up in this latest story.

 

[SOME-MIST]

this isn't anything new and probably doesn't mean much other than no more localizations - which doesn't affect many people since most titles are region-free.

I still think we will get some arcade titles/console ports this gen... but it probably won't be anything compared to last gen.

 

[5amshift]

Well... this is disappointing:

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/27/japanese-shoot-em-up-developer-cave-ceasing-western-presence/

Yeah, good job with your mobile games, tons of their fans wanted those.

 

[BOTEC]

Yeah, good job with your mobile games, tons of their fans wanted those.

Mobile games put bread on the table so one can stay alive long enough to make another cool arcade shooting game. Perhaps they were the wrong kind of mobile games for the West. Should have put their resources into Mushihime-sama tower defense, with in-app purchases.

 

[Coda]

Garegga is awesome. Pity Batrider and Bakraid never got console ports.

It sucks that some of my favorite shmups never got a console port. The PS2 should've had Progear.

 

[Ms. Tea]

I'm one of those people who dislikes seeing their game cases not matching. I'd rather buy it used, but thank you! Wow. It's way too expensive in the US. If I do decide to pick up platinum here, it's only ￥２１００ right now.

You can buy a first-print regular edition new from Solaris for about Y6700. A lot more than the Platinum edition, but does include the 1.01 DLC that was only in the first print if you really care about that.

I just bought the Platinum reprint though, it's a great deal at Y2700.

 

[SOME-MIST]

1.01 isn't really worth it imo. I think I've put like 5 credits total into it before shoving it to the side.

 

[Coda]

What's people's opinions on Silpheed: The Lost Planet? Building my PS2 collection but I hear mixed things about that game and it's not expensive.

 

[Slermy]

I always hear mixed things. I've not played it myself though.

 

[sixteen-bit]

What's people's opinions on Silpheed: The Lost Planet? Building my PS2 collection but I hear mixed things about that game and it's not expensive.

It's slow and boring. Treasure did way better with their other STGs in gen 6.

 

[jbueno]

Ibara's PS2 port is so ass. I would put that money toward the arcade PCB and start saving up.

If you can find it cheap like I did (around $70 USD for a copy 2 years back), I´d say it´s worth it for the arrange mode alone, which is kind of like a beta of Ibara Kuro.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

If you can find it cheap like I did (around $70 USD for a copy 2 years back), I´d say it´s worth it for the arrange mode alone, which is kind of like a beta of Ibara Kuro.

Yeah, the arrange mode was kinda neat. Personally, I wouldn't buy the game just for that, in light of it being an otherwise abysmal port... but it's a nice diversion.

Taito really bungled both Ibara and Mushihime on the PS2. Damn shame we never got a 360 port of Ibara.

 

[Yes Boss!]

My BNC/JP21 cable came in today. With all the Ibara talk, I chose that game to test out one of my little 14" PVMs. Looks wonderful, even at the smaller image. Like a little mini arcade. Set it up on the floor with the supergun and everything. Totally cute and great image (I had just tried S-Video on it previously).

 

[Mr.McFist]

Any hint where to get Espgaluda 2?
I was just about to buy it from Solaris, but the price went up a lot lately x.x

I bought a copy of the Platinum Collection reprint a couple of months back for a great price with free international shipping at yesasia - seems it is still available

Although be prepared for disappointment as I bought Muchi Muchi Pork! And Pink Sweets from them and it took them about 2 weeks to eventually tell me that they could no longer source the item and it was now out of print.

Still trying to find a good price for Muchi Muchi Pork! And Pink Sweets

 

[Biker19]

Damn that doesn't sound good, such a shame seeing CAVE reduced to work like that and Don Paccin.

Hopefully they've just gone into hibernation and will return once next gen has established itself. Atm the 360 still remains as the only option for a big budget STG which is just what CAVE want to get away from.

It'll be interesting to see which next gen machine becomes the system for STG that's if devs are willing to move away from the 360/ iphone / 3DS and next gen becomes re-release and indie only

I wonder what in the world was CAVE thinking by putting most of their titles on Xbox 360 in the first place, especially when PS3's more popular in Japan in comparison to 360?

I've would've easily been able to import the PS3 versions of those games & play them, & people wouldn't have to worry about owning a Japanese 360 to play those games.

As a One owner I'd not mind if they released again on the MS box. I had tons of fun (and will continue to have fun) on J-360. But, deep down I'd prefer to see shmups go to the PS4.

I agree, especially when PS4 is more easier to develop for now.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

They still haven't ported ESP Ra.De.

 

[LiK]

I would love Ibara on iOS

 

[Coda]

I remember I bought an HTC One when the phone came out, before they finally ported a few Cave games over. Would have loved to play those on that IMO much nicer and larger screen. I eventually broke the phone by dropping it and eventually just getting an iPhone 5. The screen is just a tad small for that shmup action in my opinion.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

They still haven't ported ESP Ra.De.

Wasn't there some sort of licensing issue there? Last I heard, it was something to do with the specific distribution agreement that Cave had with Atlus... I know that Guwange made it to a console, but apparently that was a different situation.

 

[firehawk12]

Yick, I wonder if they're going to pull all their iOS games altogether. I guess better safe to back them up than to risk losing them for good.

 

[LeadenStride]

I bought a copy of the Platinum Collection reprint a couple of months back for a great price with free international shipping at yesasia - seems it is still available

Although be prepared for disappointment as I bought Muchi Muchi Pork! And Pink Sweets from them and it took them about 2 weeks to eventually tell me that they could no longer source the item and it was now out of print.

Still trying to find a good price for Muchi Muchi Pork! And Pink Sweets

Thank you very much! Seems good, although it also says that it's region-locked. Seeing that it's the case with any Cave title they have on sale proves that it's most likely wrong though.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Wasn't there some sort of licensing issue there? Last I heard, it was something to do with the specific distribution agreement that Cave had with Atlus... I know that Guwange made it to a console, but apparently that was a different situation.

Dodonpachi was also originally distributed through Atlus and that saw multiple ports (Saturn, PSX, 360..well..via Instant Brain). I guess it wouldn't make sense for Atlus to retain the rights to one game out of a series.

Weird that Cave would allow themselves to lose the rights like that. A double-pack release of Guwange/ESP Ra.De. would have been sensible IMO. But eh..doesn't matter now. Guwange XBLA was a bit of a flop, M2s Dangun Feveron was scrapped, and that was the end of it.

Maybe Ra.De. wasn't popular enough to justify the effort. It needed a sequel...but not Galuda...if that makes any sense. Progear seems to be stuck in the same rut, with everyone looking to Capcom to provide a port.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Dodonpachi was also originally distributed through Atlus and that saw multiple ports (Saturn, PSX, 360..well..via Instant Brain). I guess it wouldn't make sense for Atlus to retain the rights to one game out of a series.

Weird that Cave would allow themselves to lose the rights like that. A double-pack release of Guwange/ESP Ra.De. would have been sensible IMO. But eh..doesn't matter now. Guwange XBLA was a bit of a flop, M2s Dangun Feveron was scrapped, and that was the end of it.

Maybe Ra.De. wasn't popular enough to justify the effort. It needed a sequel...but not Galuda...if that makes any sense. Progear seems to be stuck in the same rut, with everyone looking to Capcom to provide a port.

Oh, man... Dangun Feveron... don't even remind me. That game was, as far as I know, totally finished and ready for an XBLA release, and Cave wouldn't do it.


But yeah, I get what you mean about Galuda not really being the sequel Esprade needed. I like Galuda a lot, but I miss the style that RaDe had. I really need to nab a PCB.

 

[Daigoro]

Well... this is disappointing:

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/27/japanese-shoot-em-up-developer-cave-ceasing-western-presence/

it seemed inevitable, but still sad news. i just read Masa-King's tweet about it.

They still haven't ported ESP Ra.De.

and Dangun, yeah. i wanted ports of Donpachi and Dodonpachi as well, but ya know...

 

[Dash Kappei]

Any hint where to get Espgaluda 2?
I was just about to buy it from Solaris, but the price went up a lot lately x.x

Edit: Checked again and it wasn't as bad as I remembered, but theres something odd right here. Shouldn't this version also be region-free? Iirc only the limited version is locked. If it's a mistake, I might get it from Solaris after all.

There's a coupon to get Y600 off Espgaluda 2 on Solaris, that's how I got mine. It was posted earlier in this thread by Ms. Tea (thanks again mate!) it's not clear if the code only applies to the Platinum sku or also the regular one.

Maybe the code is still valid (it was for 5 uses and it's been used at least 2 times so far)

QUOTE TO REVEAL

 

[Mr.McFist]

Thank you very much! Seems good, although it also says that it's region-locked. Seeing that it's the case with any Cave title they have on sale proves that it's most likely wrong though.

It is region free - I can confirm that it works on my PAL system

 

[StarCreator]

I wonder what in the world was CAVE thinking by putting most of their titles on Xbox 360 in the first place, especially when PS3's more popular in Japan in comparison to 360?

I've would've easily been able to import the PS3 versions of those games & play them, & people wouldn't have to worry about owning a Japanese 360 to play those games.

We've been over this already: Cave was not the first mover of the generation, and G-Rev had already gotten the bulk of the genre fanbase on 360. There is also circumstantial evidence Sony was hostile to "older looking games" and games that don't fill a 16:9 screen; it was not until Ketsui last year that we saw a vertical shmup port on PS3 that was not altered to fit the screen. PS3 versions of games also do not fare any better than 360 versions; the one game that attempted a simultaneous release on both systems (Under Defeat HD) ended up splitting the numbers in between versions in a way that both versions failed to chart.

 

[sixteen-bit]

They still haven't ported ESP Ra.De.

Atlus owns ESP Ra. De, right? Maybe it's a licensing thing.

 

[SOME-MIST]

But yeah, I get what you mean about Galuda not really being the sequel Esprade needed. I like Galuda a lot, but I miss the style that RaDe had. I really need to nab a PCB.

yup. Ra.De. has my favorite scoring system of the 3 games. Pepper and spray ^_^

the PCB is awesome too.

 

[LeadenStride]

Just a little PSA: limited coupon code for Espgaluda 2 Platinum from Solaris. I'd asked them why their pricing on Espgaluda 2 was higher than their other Cave Platinum releases, and they told me that a) their distributor charges them Y800 more for that game for some reason, and b) gave me a coupon code for Y600 off that game! They say the coupon is good for 5 uses and I've already used it - no idea if it's expired yet. Spoilered the code (and crossposting in the other shmup thread).

Spoiler

esp2coupon

Solaris's service has been awesome every time I've ordered from them.

Thank you, I used this code as well!

 

[TyrantGuardian]

Ugh, what a shame to see them go down like this. I mean, no one can say for sure - but I bet there would have been a substantial market for these games on PC/Steam. I know I would have bought every single one of them at full price, anyway.

Oh well, assuming they don't make any more proper shmups, at least we got a heck of a legacy.

 

[oneida]

Ugh, what a shame to see them go down like this. I mean, no one can say for sure - but I bet there would have been a substantial market for these games on PC/Steam. I know I would have bought every single one of them at full price, anyway.

Oh well, assuming they don't make any more proper shmups, at least we got a heck of a legacy.

I've heard this song too many times

 

[SOME-MIST]

assuming that each CAVE game would be $35 (platinum ed price) instead of $70 or $90.. and roughly 14 games ported this gen... you'd be spending nearly $500. Why not just by an xbox 360 arcade and a handful of the titles if you're willing to spend that much on CAVE games alone?

they're also probably not done with arcade games... as they've said the same thing for the past 3+ years. But you never know..

 

[TyrantGuardian]

assuming that each CAVE game would be $35 (platinum ed price) instead of $70 or $90.. and roughly 14 games ported this gen... you'd be spending nearly $500. Why not just by an xbox 360 arcade and a handful of the titles if you're willing to spend that much on CAVE games alone?

they're also probably not done with arcade games... as they've said the same thing for the past 3+ years. But you never know..

Because I don't like being tied down by hardware DRM, personally. Also, I love playing these games in bite-sized chunks - call me lazy, but I really don't feel like booting up a console, switching my HDMI cable and switching my speaker setup just in order to play a round or two of Dai-fukkatsu. On the PC, I can just fire a game up, play it, and get back to whatever else I was doing.

That said, I obviously don't expect Cave to base ports on that kind of anecdotal stuff, but it's one of the (many) reasons I'm not interested in playing them on 360.

Also, maybe it's not as complicated as it seems to me, but I really don't like the region locks/specific regional releases and such. Digital releases (well... assuming the devs/publishers aren't insane, which some appear to be) have no reason to have these issues.

About the last part, I certainly hope you are right. Though I vaguely remember reading something about them stopping STG development? I hope I was just being misinformed on that one.

 

[Coda]

My Cave experiences are spread out over my 360 and PC for arcade emulation. I will say that I can emulate most Cave games making the need for the 360 in that department kind of useless. But having and playing an official port always feels better.

 

[SOME-MIST]

On the PC, I can just fire a game up, play it, and get back to whatever else I was doing.

I'm assuming you'd play most games in windowed yoko mode instead of physically tating your monitor every time you wanted to play? unless of course your default PC setup uses a tated monitor. After having a TATE setup, I can honestly say that I will never intentionally play in windowed yoko mode again.

About the last part, I certainly hope you are right. Though I vaguely remember reading something about them stopping STG development? I hope I was just being misinformed on that one.

do you remember reading about how mushihimesama futari was going to be their last console port? then they released espgaluda 2 which was to be their final port. and then after the release of ketsui, deathsmiles II, guwange, and daifukkatsu.... muchi muchi pork/pink sweets bundle was going to be the last. Then Akai Katana was supposed to be one of their last arcade games. Then they ported Akai Katana to consoles and came out with Saidaioujou in arcades. Then they released Mushihimesama HD, and it was to be their final console port. Then they came out with a Saidaioujou port.

What I'm getting at is... it seems CAVE likes use the word "last" as a means of promotion and their word doesn't mean much. I've been saying the same thing every time I see the word "last" in this very thread. Props to them if they never make an arcade game again and stick to their word, but I don't think that's going to happen which is a good thing.

 

[StarCreator]

do you remember reading about how mushihimesama futari was going to be their last console port? then they released espgaluda 2 which was to be their final port. and then after the release of ketsui, deathsmiles II, guwange, and daifukkatsu.... muchi muchi pork/pink sweets bundle was going to be the last. Then Akai Katana was supposed to be one of their last arcade games. Then they ported Akai Katana to consoles and came out with Saidaioujou in arcades. Then they released Mushihimesama HD, and it was to be their final console port. Then they came out with a Saidaioujou port.

What I'm getting at is... it seems CAVE likes use the word "last" as a means of promotion and their word doesn't mean much. I've been saying the same thing every time I see the word "last" in this very thread. Props to them if they never make an arcade game again and stick to their word, but I don't think that's going to happen which is a good thing.

I have no recollection of them ever stating that any of their 360 ports were going to be the last, until Mushihimesama HD. Saidaioujou came after that, but it was specified Microsoft "convinced" them to do it and not to expect it to happen again, and so far, it hasn't. Likewise, I haven't heard anything about Akai Katana nor Saidaioujou being their last arcade game.

 

[SOME-MIST]

I have no recollection of them ever stating that any of their 360 ports were going to be the last, until Mushihimesama HD. Saidaioujou came after that, but it was specified Microsoft "convinced" them to do it and not to expect it to happen again, and so far, it hasn't. Likewise, I haven't heard anything about Akai Katana nor Saidaioujou being their last arcade game.

maybe I'm getting it mixed up with their region-free port status, but I think there were close to a half dozen times in which "this port is the last region-free port" or "this will be the last localized port" and "this will be the last ported game", no? either way, I'm not complaining... more CAVE is good, but it seems with every release following futari there has been some kind of "last" scare in every thread.

also, the newer news regarding arcade development might have something to do with this:
https://twitter.com/shmups/status/340328628766261249

 

[StarCreator]

maybe I'm getting it mixed up with their region-free port status, but I think there were close to a half dozen times in which "this port is the last region-free port" or "this will be the last localized port" and "this will be the last ported game", no?

No.

 

[SOME-MIST]

No.

just a quick google search.

http://www.siliconera.com/2009/09/2...-releases-with-mushihime-sama-futari-ver-1-5/ (testing region free status with futari)

http://www.1up.com/news/espgaluda-black-label-cave-region-free (espgaluda 2 to be the last region-free title for awhile - fyi guwange and daifukkatsu came out less than a year later - I guess daifukkatsu was a special situation with RSG)

http://kotaku.com/5707906/big-ladies-and-shooter-sweets-go-region-free (muchi muchi pork/pink sweets to be the last region-free title)

 

[StarCreator]

just a quick google search.

http://www.siliconera.com/2009/09/2...-releases-with-mushihime-sama-futari-ver-1-5/ (testing region free status with futari)

http://www.1up.com/news/espgaluda-black-label-cave-region-free (espgaluda 2 to be the last region-free title for awhile - fyi guwange and daifukkatsu came out less than a year later - I guess daifukkatsu was a special situation with RSG)

http://kotaku.com/5707906/big-ladies-and-shooter-sweets-go-region-free (muchi muchi pork/pink sweets to be the last region-free title)

I'm not seeing how any of that could possibly be related to your original "every game is the last game" argument.

 

[Banjoman]

Because I don't like being tied down by hardware DRM, personally. Also, I love playing these games in bite-sized chunks - call me lazy, but I really don't feel like booting up a console, switching my HDMI cable and switching my speaker setup just in order to play a round or two of Dai-fukkatsu. On the PC, I can just fire a game up, play it, and get back to whatever else I was doing.

That said, I obviously don't expect Cave to base ports on that kind of anecdotal stuff, but it's one of the (many) reasons I'm not interested in playing them on 360.

Also, maybe it's not as complicated as it seems to me, but I really don't like the region locks/specific regional releases and such. Digital releases (well... assuming the devs/publishers aren't insane, which some appear to be) have no reason to have these issues.

About the last part, I certainly hope you are right. Though I vaguely remember reading something about them stopping STG development? I hope I was just being misinformed on that one.

what is this? I really hope you didn't mean what I think you meant.

 

[SOME-MIST]

I'm not seeing how any of that could possibly be related to your original "every game is the last game" argument.

futari could potentially be last region-free title depending on sales (1), but I guess it sold just enough to warrant espgaluda 2.

espgaluda 2 was to be cave's last region-free title for awhile (2), but they released one less than a year later.

then mmp/ps was to be the last region-free title again (3).

mushi HD was to be the last console port (4).

Then they released saidaioujou which was both a console port and region-free.

I don't feel like it, but I should take the time to pull the threads and responses with people freaking out over these articles. If cave-stg was still around, it probably would've made it 5 times easier. I'm sure I saw something regarding akai katana too.

 

[TyrantGuardian]

I'm assuming you'd play most games in windowed yoko mode instead of physically tating your monitor every time you wanted to play? unless of course your default PC setup uses a tated monitor. After having a TATE setup, I can honestly say that I will never intentionally play in windowed yoko mode again.

Actually, I have a BenQ 120Hz monitor with swivel, so TATE:ing it is very simple. One of the reasons I bought this monitor, and I am in love with it!

Also, the reason behind my somewhat doom/gloomy thoughts on this matter are due to them shutting down the international twitter account. Assuming that will at the very least mean that they won't be making any more English/region free releases. But yeah, time will tell.

what is this? I really hope you didn't mean what I think you meant.

What's the issue? I apologize if that particular statement offended anyone, I just meant it in the sense that the game is tied to a particular piece of hardware unlike a PC which can be anything. Again, no offense meant - just saying I'd rather be able to play the game on any laptop/desktop/whatever than having to make room for a 360 specifically just for these games.

 

[braves01]

1.) Which of these games would be best to snap up on 360 before they get impossible to find or too expensive? Espgaluda II was my favorite iOS release, so I was thinking about starting there...

2.) Related to question #1, which of the games ported has received the best treatment? Are there any that have enough problems that they should just be skipped?