shmups.system11.org

I definitely feel for you guys. It sucks to not be able to play cross-platform games on your favorite console, but the XboxOne was so DOA in Japan it's kinda amazing that anything got released on it. M2 is still relatively small, so it's not hard to imagine why they focus only on the sure bets.

If you want to avoid the up-front charge, Amazon Japan has Switch & PS4 LE preorders open too: Switch link PS4 link. They have separate links for the versions that don't note Amazon exclusive pre-order items, price currently the same but would prob be worth double checking.

Amazon won't charge until it ships, and they do ship this game to the US (though I'm not sure about countries other than US/Japan). Amazon will also give you the lowest price they sold at between the time of your order and release - price on the Switch LE has already changed from the ￥9,981 (~USD$94.24) that I pre-ordered for yesterday, up to ￥10,780 (~$101.78 USD) as of the time of this post. I find Amazon Japan shipping to be faster than Play-Asia too (￥950 Global Priority to US), and cheaper.

Considering getting this for Switch. I've not kept up with the switch, but before I commit to something like that, I'd want to make sure there are at least half-decent input options these days.

Seconding Amazon. The price of the non-Amazon bonus listings will certainly drop to 20-25% off at some point, and orders placed now are guaranteed to get the best pre-release pricing.

Pre ordered my copy of play Asia,really looking forward to this one December realese so a bit of a wait,wish all the m2 ports were available on physical release I live in uk and can’t get dangun feveron,sorcer striker on PlayStation store


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It's pretty easy to set up a Japanese store account. It only took me a quick google search and 15 minutes to get it going. Then you just need a PS Store points card from Play-Asia or other dealers.

This is very true. There's some really good dealers out there that have very minimal markup on Japanese point cards for any gaming platform. SEAGamerMall is my one of choice right now. I've bought a ton of points from there in the last year and they're delivered pretty much immediately every time and the markup is only like 5%-10% on most of their cards, which is way less than most that I've dealt with in the past.

Preordered the LE from Amazon.co.jp after making an account. I never got the option to charge my card in dollars, though. My MasterCard seemed to work...a little worried, with this being my first purchase and all...

Just checking that it's definitely a disc with the game? I remember Garegga came with a digital code.

Should be the Disc or Cart depending on which you purchased. I bought both.

Welp, time to get a console I guess.

...like I have said for past 5 years.

I do wanna know if the plus mode is just visual or possibly has some gameplay changes? Existence of boss milking was huge turnoff for me in the base game.

This hasn't actually been confirmed anywhere though. Nowhere is there a picture of a disc or cartridge.
Didn't the M2 published "physical" release of Battle Garegga advertise that it "includes the game", but just came with a download code?

I'd really like that one physical, but yeah haven't seen confirmation either...

You guys are scaring me here
There better be a physical of the game

I bought multiple copies lol

That hasn't happened since Battle Garegga. And that eventually got a Korean physical release.

Well imagine buying and paying for shipping for a physical only to get digital codes in the mail

For guys who bought multiple copies like me will be pissed.

And then a physical releasing later that would be icing on the cake for sure

Thus whole digital retail thing needs to stop

There’s a picture of an actual physical media case, that would be a first if they didn’t include any physical media inside.

It was announced as a physical print with digital pricing priced differently.

Good point.


Thanks.

Man, the second I get paid...

Except for this is what happened with Garegga on PS4...as everyone was just talking about...

I actually contacted Play-Asia concerning whether this was a bona fide physical release a few days ago, and just heard back:

Good god, I just looked at the prices for the physical version...no thanks. If your obsession with having a game on a physical media drives you to pay double or more of what the digital version costs...I feel sorry for you. Physical versions either need to be cheaper than digital version or contain some kind of unique special content within it to get me to even consider them anymore, but the way the market's going now with artificial scarcity and this limited run/scalper culture, it's very rare nowadays.

And jeez, the $100 version is even more of a ripoff, $40 extra to get an artbook and soundtrack CD.

Depends, when it's niche/confidential material it can be an advantage, there's several games I've missed or lost forever on Android and 360.
Then portability to next-gen console from a same manufacturer has been mostly a joke, so sometimes there's a release you just feel is worth/defnitive and want to keep for good, never to worry about all those issues again.

For now I've had Ketsui, Garegga (LR english), and I plan to get ESP Psi as well, because:
- I was never fully satisfied with the 360 port of Ketsui, I'm reselling it so this is replacement for a better port.
- Garegga either kr or jp menus annoyed me, selling and getting LR release in place which has english of course, and last update patch.
- ESP Ra De because I've always loved the game, curious about the little changes and the M2 additions are always useful, then of course I don't want to miss it, I like to take my time often buying a console near it's end of life and that's why I've missed some digital-only games before.

When it's about select few titles you care about, cherry-picked, if you get them because there's actual improvements to replace previous poorer ports (or you can't buy the pcb or another overpriced older retro console port anyway) then it makes enough sense.

Then of course;
LE release are a waste of money, I never buy them, actually prefer late release like Platinum etc.
And people who seek to buy everything physical even bigger mainstream games that will obviously get re-released several times in the future, waste their money, but it's their money and if some are stupid enough to buy flipped everything later then who cares, it doesn't affect normal customers.

See, physical doesn't mean it's all carboard collectors and sharks out there.

I would love to read what's on the 100 page book that's coming with the LE's, but since it's all in Japanese, it would end up sitting on the shelf.
I'll keep buying the digital releases. This will be the 5th one; it's a pretty nice collection already.

I agree that the prices for the physical copies are a little high, but why would they ever be cheaper than the digital version? IMO, even if the content is exactly the same, it makes sense that a physical copy would cost at least a little more, because you are receiving a physical product (disc, packaging, manual, etc.). Plus, if you are thinking long term, how will you ever be able to transfer the digital content to a new console? Microsoft has a way to transfer content (and I assume Sony does as well), but that will only work as long as the content is available online. At least if you have a physical copy of the game you will likely be able to play the game 20 years from now (assuming you have a working console). Imagine if Saturn games had been digital 25 years ago? Many people no longer have their original consoles, having purchased replacements over the years for various reasons. While I'm sure it might be possible to find disc images or ROMs of the games, I hate to rely on the future availability of downloadable content.

Or maybe I'm just old.

On Play-Asia, it says this:

"A Collaboration between M2 and original creator Junya Inoue to revive the 1998-released arcade shoot ’em up. The complete port adds improvements such as new mode, new visuals, and new voice-overs."

So, what kind of new visuals and voice overs do you think we may get? Is the cover a new piece of art? It seems they are working with Inoue.

You are old... and that's why you make sense

Agree 100%. I'm always willing to pay extra for a physical copy --- especially if its a game that I know I'm going to play.
Then, when I decide to sell it after getting my enjoyment out of it, I can usually make back at least half (in my experience, much more) of what I initially spent.
Digital copies are too ephemeral. They should be 4-5 times cheaper than their physical versions to take into account for all their shortcomings.

But we're rats in a maze.

A couple points here. There's pretty easy workarounds to keep games from iOS/Android, and the most you'd ever really have to do on your part is a jailbreak (iOS) and finding a site, forum, or person who still has the files of the game and you can just put it on the device yourself. I actually kept one of my older iPads around just so it can run some earlier iOS shmups that can't be played on newer OSes.

Also, backwards compatability is becoming more of a standard now thanks to Microsoft's efforts to basically make it the norm over the next few years. PS5 is confirmed backwards compatible with PS4 games (but not PS3 or before) and Microsoft's new Xbox is confirmed to play at very least every single Xbox One game and every previously backwards compatible 360 and OG Xbox game. There's some rumors going around that they might be able to make the new Xbox run every single 360 and OG Xbox game and not just a limited list, but they're not releasing a ton of info on that yet. MS is also working to make at least 360 and OG Xbox games playable on PC as well, which could open up a whole new world of possibilities with keeping older software alive and relevant.


I was definitely never arguing that physical copies of things is a complete waste, as I also own hundreds of physical games, but like you said, it's on a case by case basis and only when I feel the physical copy is close enough in price to the digital version to warrant a few extra bucks OR it's a crazy special edition that actually has really worthwhile and valuable content in it to me, but it seems to be getting less and less all the time with stuff like limited run where you pay double or triple of what the digital version costs and you just get a standard game case with a disc in it. I see no value in that whatsoever when you could have a digital version on your hard drive in minutes for 1/3 of the cost.