Queen Charlene wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2020 8:10 pm
Gradius is
significantly more recognizable than DDP. most people still don't know what DDP is, but Gradius has a well-known, long-standing legacy, and many Gradius references are packed into all sorts of games. hell, Konami has made the Vic Viper playable in tens of games, one of the most notable being in Zone of the Enders 2 as a transforming mech (and one of the best boss fights of the whole game).
It was the American arcade subsidy, Atlus USA, whom sold/distributed the Donpachi jamma pcb conversion kits stateside back in 1995. They did not sell/distribute the DoDonpachi jamma pcb conversion kits in the USA for the 1997-1998 timeline. So yes, American arcade gamers were quite familiar with the first Cave/Atlus released Donpachi arcade stg back in 1995-1996 indeed.
I've played Donpachi housed in a Dynamo upright cab at a local arcade hangout back in 1995 -- it cost four nickels per credit to play.
I have a hunch/theory that Donpachi didn't sell/fare well enough with the American arcade operators/indy street location routes back in the day for Atlus USA to make the "ultimate decision" not to sell/promote DDP arcade jamma pcb kits in the USA going forward in 1997-1998 (when they were made available to purchase during that particular point in time through Cave Co. Ltd. with both JPN and International versions of DDP pcb kits).
Of course, only Atlus USA themselves would know the "real reason" as to why DDP pcb kits weren't sold/distributed stateside. Hmmm...
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
Cool
