Demon Throttle - Nintendo Switch

[Bear78]

Didn't see a thread for this one. Demon Throttle looks to be a platformer / shooter combo coming to the Nintendo Switch next year by Doinksoft / Devolver. It's only coming out Physically (no digital release) and being published by Special Reserve Games who has an open pre-order live now.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMotjq4Dltg

There was a recent twitch stream that had some new gameplay: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1159767488 ... t=6h58m20s

https://www.demonthrottle.com/

[WeedyRainfall]

fuck artificial scarcity. eshop or fuck off.

[Jeneki]

Interesting how the target audience for video games is now shelf collectors, not gamers. Video games are now action figures.

[Creamy Goodness]

During the pandemic I started watching a lot of retro game Youtube shows with hosts that were massive collectors. I'm wondering if others did the same and caught the collectors bug. Or did it simply out of boredom.

[Darkseed_5150]

fuck artificial scarcity. eshop or fuck off.

For real.

[Jonpachi]

It was bad enough with NGDEV playing the eshop victim with Razion on Switch (though they eventually caved) but this is just sad. Nobody cares about your little Ikari Warriors doodle of a game, so making it some sort of physical exclusive is just a ploy to get people to ignore the game itself and fight to put a little plastic box on their shelf.

[Marc]

Shame, as I really liked Gato Roboto, but I'm not buying into this shit.

[Sima Tuna]

Artificial scarcity? Into the trash it goes.

[Sumez]

I don't mind physical only releases, but fuck their $25 shipping fee, that's almost the price of the game itself.

[spmbx]

Order 2, play one and ebay the other. Free game.

[Sima Tuna]

Order 2, play one and ebay the other. Free game.

I understand the logic but hate the mentality of that.

[dai jou bu]

So did anyone here play this game, or is it just a punching bag because it's a physical-only release on the Nintendo Switch? It's a genuinely good shmup that's fairly easy to obtain a copy of in retail stores; this isn't one of those "Cave title that's only available in Japan and region-locked to Japanese Xbox 360 models" scarce, which somehow gets a free pass in this forum.

But what I like about it the most is that it a well-made shmup that doesn't even use much of the design language of a modern (ie- danmaku) shmup, like the traits defined by this video series:

https://www.youtube.com/@boghogSTG

[Strikers1945guy]

I played it and I’m happy I was able to sell my copy for what I paid. The game was underwhelming if not down right bad unfortunately

[miwa]

Played the game in co-op with a friend and we had a ton of fun.

[Sumez]

I picked up a copy locally because its super cheap, but I didn't get around to play it yet.
It's funny how up in arms people were about the "physical only" state of it considering like you say its way easier to get ahold of than thousands of games in the past with only physical releases

[Astro City II]

I picked up a copy locally because its super cheap, but I didn't get around to play it yet.
It's funny how up in arms people were about the "physical only" state of it considering like you say its way easier to get ahold of than thousands of games in the past with only physical releases

This doesn't really work. Back in 2010 the market wasn't heading very quickly towards a digital only future like it is now.

To not allow your game to have an audience in the future through continued store presence and digital backwards compatibility is just stupid.

[Sumez]

Funny considering I'd say games that are isolated to digital platforms are the ones that are going to not have any presence in the future. Several games are already unobtainable today because they never got a physical release.

[BrianC]

Funny considering I'd say games that are isolated to digital platforms are the ones that are going to not have any presence in the future. Several games are already unobtainable today because they never got a physical release.

Not to mention that some mobile games were rendered unplayable when they shut down.

[Sumez]

Nevermind that, this game is best forgotten anyway.

I just played it a bit, and I don't think I'll ever pick it up again. I didn't realise it would be such a "straight up" scrolling shoot'em up, but is is. Well, kinda. It's a shmup, but it's also everything you don't want in a shmup. Exp, a life bar, skill upgrades through hidden pickups, a fucking luck stat which governs the ability to randomly deal critical damage or survive a hit. If a game of this type having damage numbers pop up every time you hit something isn't a red flag, I don't know what is. I can't tell if it actually has inertia too, or if the controls are just laggy.

Also, of all the games you could take inspiration from, I can't imagine who would think King's Knight would be a good one (yes, that Squaresoft game on NES). You spend most of your time digging through scenery hoping to uncover something that will make your guy any less sludgy to control, but it seems every stage also has a (randomly???) hidden stair to a sub-area with its own boss.

Enemy design is awful, instead of simple predictable patterns, enemies are trying to catch you unaware, hide where you can't hit them, shoot at you from above the top of the screen or fly into you from the bottom of it. And every single one of them is, predictably, a bullet sponge. The second stage also introduces ice physics, and it's even worse than you'd imagine. I don't think the boss on that stage is possible to defeat if you picked up more than a couple of speed-ups.


This game is why terms like "euroshmup" exists.

[Sima Tuna]

It's a shmup, but it's also everything you don't want in a shmup. Exp, a life bar, skill upgrades through hidden pickups, a fucking luck stat which governs the ability to randomly deal critical damage or survive a hit. If a game of this type having damage numbers pop up every time you hit something isn't a red flag, I don't know what is. I can't tell if it actually has inertia too, or if the controls are just laggy.

So it's a euroshmup.

[Rastan78]

This dev has another game coming out called Gunbrella. Looks to be a run n gun/ search action thing this time.

https://youtu.be/JzfmffbQ2oI

I don't like to judge by video only, but this looks like a bit too much of a slow burn for my liking. Some charming pixel art and good sound design though.

Is anyone tired of all these indie games relying on Meat Boy style infinite wall jumping? Or in other cases the ubiquitous dodge roll? At some point you just gotta design levels and enemies around a limited moveset.

[Sumez]

So it's a euroshmup.

It's like the blueprint for a euroshmup

This dev has another game coming out called Gunbrella. Looks to be a run n gun/ search action thing this time.

https://youtu.be/JzfmffbQ2oI

I don't like to judge by video only, but this looks like a bit too much of a slow burn for my liking. Some charming pixel art and good sound design though.

Is anyone tired of all these indie games relying on Meat Boy style infinite wall jumping? Or in other cases the ubiquitous dodge roll? At some point you just gotta design levels and enemies around a limited moveset.

Maybe I'm too optimisitic of a person (you know me), but I actually think that game looks like it could be pretty fun. Euroshmup tropes at least function a lot better in a search action type game.

[OmKol]

It's a genuinely good shmup that's fairly easy to obtain a copy of in retail stores

For me it costs at least 46 dollars. I would not call that easy or cheap

[Sumez]

For me it costs at least 46 dollars. I would not call that easy or cheap

Where are you located, and did you check local retailers?
Every webshop here sells the game for the equivalent of $25

Honestly though, don't buy it.

[dai jou bu]

Funny considering I'd say games that are isolated to digital platforms are the ones that are going to not have any presence in the future. Several games are already unobtainable today because they never got a physical release.

Not to mention that some mobile games were rendered unplayable when they shut down.

RIP Wii Virtual Console. You will be missed.

This game is why terms like "euroshmup" exists.

This game wasn’t meant for most of the shmup forum goers here because it lacks all of the traits that make a “good” shmup.

There’s a video stream on youtube where a bunch of guys were playing a pre-release build of this game that had the developers of this game chime in on the playthrough as well. So the TLDR of the idea for this game came up as follows:

- One of the developers was building retro arcade cabinets, and was suggested that they make their own retro-themed arcade game that would fit the style of these kinds of cabinets
- Devolver Digital were buddies of these developers and were like, “hey, let’s make this game idea of yours an experimental physical only release to recapture the feel of an old school arcade release, and have all of the secret info about the game mechanics inside the game manual that comes in the box (which the retail versions don’t have, unfortunately)
- They spent about 2 years on and off the project to get it in this playable state that you see in the stream, which is pretty impressive.
- And the final most important thing that the developers mentioned is that if they were to ever go back to finishing an arcade cabinet for this game, they’d plop it in an barcade.

Barcades shouldn’t have games where being even slightly inebriated will affect your performance drastically. You’re not going to see a Cave game in one of these establishments because nobody’s going to really play them; I know since I looked all over Dave and Busters for a Japanese-styled arcade game and turned up with nothing, and nobody’s going to be drinking alcohol right before they’re going to start playing a rhythm game at Round 1, especially for a session of Dance Rush (and personally I’d rather play a rhythm game over a shmup at a Round 1; I feel sorry for the neglected shikigami no shiro II machine. Sort of. I mean, I could just play that game at home on free play on my Dreamcast). However, a game like demon throttle would thrive in this environment because the game mechanics, as clunky and unrefined to the typical shmups system11 forum goer will point out ad nauseum, don’t seem well thought out. But the game design does elicit this kind of reaction for people who are at the barcade on their first few runs of it (you can stop playback at around the 24:11 mark):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOUu1pXu2bM&t=1415s

This game is also designed to be played with more than one player, because it makes the experience that much more enjoyable, and they even added in a fun mechanic if you’re playing single-player that didn’t need to be there, but it is. Barcade patrons don’t care about score, getting a no-hit, whether the controls feel slightly off, or whether or not some section is BS because they’re too busy laughing at themselves and their friends looking over their shoulders and at their co-op buddy’s misfortune (and maybe even trying to help them recover health so they don’t die). You know, all of the things that a hardcore shmupper cares about. All barcade goers really care about is whether or not some mechanic surprises them in a way that entertains, and if the developers have to screw around with enemy placement, include a life bar, have an XP system, and add literal RNG to damage and avoiding an attack for free to get that result, then they’re all happy about those.

The second stage also introduces ice physics, and it's even worse than you'd imagine. I don't think the boss on that stage is possible to defeat if you picked up more than a couple of speed-ups..

I should make this my mantra:

“Those who enjoy a particular game will find a way to make it work.”

Look at the guy playing the vampress in this part of the stream:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOUu1pXu2bM&t=1600s

If you didn’t catch it, if you want better control of your movement on ice tiles, it’s better to just jump in that direction and leave your joystick in neutral before you land because jumping overrides any sort of movement properties you had on the ground prior to executing a jump, which includes the inertia from sliding on the ice, and you land with literally no inertia because the game’s programming reset your inertia state to zero when you landed, which doesn’t make sense in real life, but it’s a videogame, so whatever. I was catching onto this trick on my second playthrough of the game because I did wipe on the 2nd boss on my first run.

I know, I get it, that’s not an idea found in most shmups. It’ll be alright.

For me it costs at least 46 dollars. I would not call that easy or cheap

I said easy, like, brain dead easy, especially coming from the 7th generation of Xbox 360 shmup shenanigans (Oh sweet! Senko no Ronde is on the Xbox 360! Wait, what, I have to buy a Japanese Xbox 360 just to play the game?! WTF Microsoft)

I never said it was going to be cheap. Nine times out of ten you’re going to be paying a premium for shmup titles unless it’s something made by Treasure anyway. It just comes with the territory. This game is cheaper than one of the standalone DariusBurst retail versions. Which is crazy because cosmic revelation only costs a little bit more and has more value because of it.

[Some-Mist]

I had a lot of fun with it tbh but I mostly bust it out when buddies come over and want to do some quick co-op seshes including this, pocky and rocky, and wild guns
doinksoft seems to be in its infancy still? my buddy gifted me gato roboto a couple years ago which was an insanely short and somewhat medicore metroidvania and to me demon throttle is a step in a better direction with gunbrella looking even more polished. I'm here for it as they continue to push forward

(the full instruction booklet in the strictly limited version of the game was a real nice touch too)

would I recommend it to anyone? probably not unless you were looking for something new to play with some buds, but even solo I still enjoy findingthe secret doors/areas/bosses

[Sumez]

dai jou bu, I can't really figure out if you're saying it's a good game, but it's designed to be played drunk, or it's a shitty game because it's designed to be played drunk?

Also fuck if anyone is ever gonna beat this while drunk. It's not exactly an easy game, but it's also challenging for all the wrong reasons.

[dai jou bu]

dai jou bu, I can't really figure out if you're saying it's a good game, but it's designed to be played drunk, or it's a shitty game because it's designed to be played drunk?

Oh snap, I just pulled a dunkey. I’ll leave that answer up to you lol.

If you look at the later runs in that youtube video I linked in my past post, you’ll notice that they’re almost steamrolling through the challenges they’ve gone through already.

[hamfighterx]

I have Demon Throttle and played it a while last night to refresh my memory. I don't consider it some great STG, but I also have a bit more of a positive take than Sumez. It really does nail the feel of a lost NES game, for better or worse.

Gameplay basics:
The game doesn't necessarily feel like a straight up classic shooter to me, but also not at all like a Euroshmup. The stages actually feel more akin to something like Capcom's Gunsmoke (or a character based vert scroller like Commando or Pocky and Rocky, but with auto-scrolling). The character movement in Demon Throttle is slow enough that it has a different feel than your usual "pure STG", there's a jump button that actually gets a lot of use, and there are environmental features that you need to account for (multiple height platforms, rocks and buildings to avoid, water to slow you down, etc.).

The level up/experience point system is functionally no different than any number of classic shooters that allow you to power up a weapon over time by picking up powerup items. The life bar is essentially just your life count, but the game keeps running and doesn't boot you to the start of the stage or reset your powerups - which is something we absolutely see in other shooters too (Deathsmiles, for example). The item to increase critical hit rate is a bit of an anomaly in the STG world, and more borrowing from RPGs... but IDK, I kinda don't mind it and it doesn't really impact how the game plays to a major degree - it's just a matter of remembering where items spawn to collect it and augment your shot power (but if a random chance of critical hit is a deal-breaker to you, then OK).

Aesthetically, it's a pastiche of NES style aesthetics. In the first level alone, you'll see obvious references to classics including Space Harrier, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Zelda. I'm sure there are probably more little tributes and influences to discover too. Levels are colorful and use a NES-like color palette, and the sprite art is very good. Music is chiptune stuff that, IMO, is largely forgettable but never offensive or bad.

Structure-wise, there are 4 levels, and each of those has a "hidden" (but not that hard to find) entrance to a sub-level within the level, with its own boss that rewards a "chalice" key item. To get an ending you need to finish all 4 base levels and their boss, to get the true ending you have to also complete all 4 sub-levels in that run. There's no procedural generation (thankfully); all of the level and enemy/item placement are designed by the developer and remain the same on each playthrough.

I've only played the game solo, but it seems like it may be designed to be better balanced for 2 players. However, you can play with a single player and control both characters (you swap between them with X button)

Difficulty:
I don't love the difficulty and lack of modern convenience/QoL features. I know they were going for a NES feel, but this just seems like taking some of the worst pieces of that era's game design and keeping them for no reason other than "it's retro". You start from stage 1 every time and have to 1CC the game to finish it: no continues, no stage select, no practice modes, no save states. And it's not easy. Bosses are pretty brutal while you learn them, and it sucks to have to go back to the start every single time to get another crack at learning the boss patterns or figuring out a stage. I've made it to stage 3, and also finished the stage 1&2 sub-levels... the clear feels doable with practice, but definitely not easy.

I wish they had allowed you to continue or practice in some way. Whether via a Mega Man style level select system, a boss practice mode for bosses you have reached in-game, continues (say, maybe an easy mode that allows unlimited continues but gives a bad ending or something)... just some method other than starting every run from the very beginning. I don't find the stages exceptionally difficult, but the bosses present a much stiffer challenge until you learn their patterns. Once you do learn them, it's a lot more manageable - but there is definitely some memorization required to make progress.

There is a code you can input (down, right, up, left, Y, A, A, A, + at the main menu) to make things a little easier. That gives you a shield, a "second chance" (basically an extra life, applied immediately when you take a hit that would kill you), and full bomb stock - if my memory is correct, I think all of that resets on each new stage too. I would find the game significantly less enjoyable without the code.

Overall thoughts:
IDK, I would maybe have made some changes to make things more accessible, but otherwise the gameplay isn't bad and I enjoy playing Demon Throttle. It's obvious that the game was developed with some love and thought - this isn't just a shovelware title.

I get that some people might bristle at the physical only release that was really done just for the novelty and hype. There's no great reason they couldn't have just put the game on the e-shop too. Yes, physical cart will be here and playable long after the Switch shop is gone... but there's no big benefit in physical only, other than the artificial scarcity and being able to charge a higher price (this wouldn't be out of place with something like a $9.99 or $14.99 eShop price, but being cart only means you definitely need to pay more than that).

[dai jou bu]

Difficulty:I don't love the difficulty and lack of modern convenience/QoL features. I know they were going for a NES feel, but this just seems like taking some of the worst pieces of that era's game design and keeping them for no reason other than "it's retro". You start from stage 1 every time and have to 1CC the game to finish it: no continues, no stage select, no practice modes, no save states. And it's not easy. Bosses are pretty brutal while you learn them, and it sucks to have to go back to the start every single time to get another crack at learning the boss patterns or figuring out a stage. I've made it to stage 3, and also finished the stage 1&2 sub-levels... the clear feels doable with practice, but definitely not easy.

I wish they had allowed you to continue or practice in some way. Whether via a Mega Man style level select system, a boss practice mode for bosses you have reached in-game, continues (say, maybe an easy mode that allows unlimited continues but gives a bad ending or something)... just some method other than starting every run from the very beginning. I don't find the stages exceptionally difficult, but the bosses present a much stiffer challenge until you learn their patterns. Once you do learn them, it's a lot more manageable - but there is definitely some memorization required to make progress.

I’m on the other side of the fence: this is designed very well for playing with other people. The feature requests you’re asking for really only matter for single players; I have never used these QoL features you’re asking for when I’m playing co-op with someone else. It’s just never happened. And the difficulty is challenging enough, but doesn’t require that many repeat play throughs to overcome, even if you’re playing with a friend. Look at this video I’ve referred to earlier in this thread where they deal with the stage 1 boss for the first time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOUu1pXu2bM&t=484s

Now watch those same guys just casually talking about other things while they literally obliterate that same boss about 30 minutes later:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOUu1pXu2bM&t=2234s

And they were able to get to third boss while completing all of the secret levels within 50 minutes of playing the game, which is already 3/4 of the whole game. That’s pretty good progression despite not having any of those QoL features you’re asking for; heck, they weren’t even using that cheat you mentioned either.

As for my opinion of a physical-only release: it’s their game, they can do what they want with it (they even joked about deleting the source code once they got that single cabinet of Demon Throttle up and running); why people rage against this idea is beyond me considering that we’re a niche community with a culture of “I will play this game with the best setup to get the best experience no matter what the cost” pretty much ingrained into it. I actually didn’t know it was even possible to release a game on the switch that was only available in physical form. I know accomplishing this feat is impossible on Sony’s platform because their policy demands that the game also be available on their digital store even if there’s physical copies available as well, which is why Demon Throttle is currently only available on Nintendo’s platform. Microsoft probably has a similar policy for Xbox, and PC versions are essentially just a Steam key anyway unless you’re going the doujin route.