In modern gaming vernacular, those who aren't familiar with shoot-em-up conventions often refer to them all as "bullet hell" games. However, the term has a much more narrow scope than all of scrolling shooters. Some consider Toaplan's swansong
Batsugun to be the genesis of the genre, and games developed by companies whose staff was formerly of Toaplan, such as Raizing, Takumi, and Cave, have frequently been given that label. However, one developer stands tall in the crowd, and has worn the danmaku, or "bullet hell" crown proudly. Japanese studio Cave, with development often led by Shinobu Yagawa, has produced some of the most well recognized and respected games in the genre, and certainly continued to wave the flag for shmups, well after their commercial viability as a genre had been called into question. Though they haven't released a new shooting game for several years now, as the shmup genre is celebrating somewhat of a renaissance, they remain relevant as the go-to for many hardcore players, because their games are considered to be of the highest quality.
January 2020 marks the first Cave game explored by the RF Generation Shmup Club, and our debut look at their catalog begins with none other than
Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi. Released in arcades in 2003, the game took the familiar military trappings of Cave's previous
DoDonPachi series of games, but took the game in a different direction, mechanically, and in terms of the specifics for scoring. With a greater emphasis on point blanking enemies, and a limited range focus laser weapon with lock-on capabilities,
Ketsui has a different feel than Cave's previous military-themed shooters, and that makes it fairly unique in the Cave canon. A special boss rush version was made for the Nintendo DS in 2008, called
Ketsui Death Label. The game received an Xbox 360 release in Japan in 2010, and saw release on the PS3 in 2013. In 2018, prolific studio M2 ported the game for their ShotTriggers line, to the PlayStation 4. Not only did they bring the arcade version fully intact, but also included the IKD 2007 soundtrack, and a new mix by famed composer Virt, aka Jake Kaufman. In addition, they created a new mode for the game, titled "Deathtiny" that changes the mechanics and scoring. It gives the game play another dimension, and provides even more replay value to this already impressive game. Come join the RF Generation Shmup Club in January 2020, as we explore
Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi!
We're also starting a new tradition in 2020, as our January title will also be our year-long score focus! We'll continue to play a different game each month, and will tally scores at the end, so that aspect remains. But because of the complexity of a game like Ketsui, which will take players longer to acclimate to, and longer to master, we want to make sure that everyone has plenty of time to get good at the game, and allow for participants to really maximize their ability to score well in the game. Throughout the year, we encourage everyone who is playing the game to continue to post score progress, share strategies, and talk about the game. We hope this will be a fun way to keep everyone engaged throughout the year, and that more people will join in the fun!
Again, the thread to sign up is here:
http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/index.php?topic=19225.0
You can also join the RF Generation Discord server, linked on the front page, and post in the
#shootthecorecast topic to share scores, strategies, etc.