LiveWire ports SaiDaiOuJou to the Switch (all regions)

[Hyperspace]

It's definately playable on the switch. I probably wouldn't notice it as much as someone else. I wish live wire made a physical copy of this. But I guess it's possible with either the LCD or the permanently afixed joycons on the switch lite for a 1 frame reduction.

[Jotamide]

SDOJ is 10% off in the NA Eshop and I read they've added online leaderboards but will this ever get a physical release? I'm allergic to spending more than $20 for digital games, especially since this port will get delisted in the next couple years.

[Ms. Tea]

It's not likely. The other Livewire ports got physical releases mainly via western limprint companies (and Superdeluxe, the Japanese arm of a western limprint company), and I don't see a western company doing a physical release of a game with no English in it.

[CerealPT]

possible but unlikely, 360 import version seems the best bet for anyone wanting this game on physical format.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

SDOJ is 10% off in the NA Eshop and I read they've added online leaderboards but will this ever get a physical release? I'm allergic to spending more than $20 for digital games, especially since this port will get delisted in the next couple years.

Yes, today dated 10/20/2025, LiveWire released a firmware patch that updates the USA region Switch DDP-SDOJ digital download port to version 1.4 = it allows online leaderboard support + the ability to d/l superplays and view them at your leisure -- how cool is that?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Jonpachi]

Seems crazy that LRG wouldn't want THE LAST CAVE GAME or FINAL DDP GAME as something they could market and sell us another paper box full of trinkets. We get a fucking Bubsy Collection, but no SDOJ?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

On the USA region Switch port of DDP-SDOJ's main title screen, it's says "Ver 1.0.1 Rev.1278" if updated to the latest firmware v1.4 as of today, 10/20/2025.

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About damn time that LiveWire added proper online leaderboard support + d/l'ing of Switch DDP-SDOJ superplays & saving them for posterity (through the Switch's on-board microSDHC memory card port with an up to 2TB microSDHC card already installed/formatted) is now a reality/possibility. It used to be that you could only save & watch your own Switch DDP-SDOJ Replays at best -- still better than nothing as it is.
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As of today, 10/20/2025, if you select the DDP-SDOJ "Arcade HD" version and select "Leaderboards," you can d/l a Switch DDP-SDOJ superplay with a final score of 10422600399 using the Type A fighercraft with pilot Shuri "Stage All" 1CC playthrough (isn't my Superplay either). Quite impressive to watch/gloss over and see how all the SDOJ stages come together.

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Now if LiveWire could add "true" scanline options, that'll be the day that the Switch port of DDP-SDOJ is considered better than the Xbox 360 port that it's based on. What's the "hold-up" on doing that particular screen upgrade / functionality anyways?
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[hamfighterx]

SDOJ is 10% off in the NA Eshop and I read they've added online leaderboards but will this ever get a physical release? I'm allergic to spending more than $20 for digital games, especially since this port will get delisted in the next couple years.

That's probably a reason FOR buying the eShop version while you can? While it has happened in rare cases (for example, P.T. on PS4), it is exceedingly rare that delisting on console = unable to redownload if you already purchased it. You just can't purchase the game any more after it is delisted, but can generally still download it fine. And if you already have it loaded locally on your system or SD card, it would be unprecedented that you'd lose the ability to play it (just, uh, don't delete it and hope your system continues to work).

The other Live Wire Cave games that were delisted are still downloadable for anyone who purchased them while they were for sale.

Seems crazy that LRG wouldn't want THE LAST CAVE GAME or FINAL DDP GAME as something they could market and sell us another paper box full of trinkets. We get a fucking Bubsy Collection, but no SDOJ?

Give them time. SDOJ was released on eShop about 10 months ago. Espgaluda II and Daifukkatsu physicals were announced by LRG about 9-10 months after their eshop debuts (Mushi was less, at only about 4 months later). SDOJ might also take longer due to waiting on a more "final" version (and hey, SDOJ just got an update today), or additional time needed if by some chance they're doing an English translation. I wouldn't dismiss the possibility that this gets a LRG announcement some time before the end of 2026.

Heck maybe we'll even see something soon. LRG is having their "LRG3" stream event next week, October 29, with lots of announcements.

Also, feels even more likely that SDOJ Switch will get a region-free physical release in Japan via Super Deluxe Games, just like Live Wire's other Cave ports (and Radiant Silvergun). There would be no issue about Japanese language in that case.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

SDOJ is 10% off in the NA Eshop and I read they've added online leaderboards but will this ever get a physical release? I'm allergic to spending more than $20 for digital games, especially since this port will get delisted in the next couple years.

Considering that the Switch port of DDP-SDOJ is a premium Switch d/l, hence it's initial MSRP of $34.99 during it's initial debut in the USA region Switch eShop. The paltry 10% off discount of paying the bargain price of $31.49 instead of full price is better than no deal at all, truth be told. The Switch port of DDP-SDOJ will eventually get a SuperDeluxe release sometime later down the road whenever that may be (which will be "the special exception rather than the norm" in this particular instance).

PC Engine Fan X ^_~

[Emerl]

Seems crazy that LRG wouldn't want THE LAST CAVE GAME or FINAL DDP GAME as something they could market and sell us another paper box full of trinkets. We get a fucking Bubsy Collection, but no SDOJ?

It'll probably happen. LRG did a CD and LP release of the SDOJ soundtrack 4 years ago, which was kind of out of the norm given that it wasn't attached to a game release. They'd certainly be interested in doing the actual game.

[Ms. Tea]

That wasn't LRG; it was Bravewave, a record label that does game soundtrack reissues. LRG just has a non-exclusive distribution deal for Bravewave's releases. Most of their soundtracks aren't associated with game reissues. (...which is too bad, because I'd have loved for their Panzer Dragoon Saga album to be a sign.)

[CerealPT]

the fact this and previous cave games all got updated is a crazy good sign i think. fingers crossed for physical release and more cave titles.

[hamfighterx]

That wasn't LRG; it was Bravewave, a record label that does game soundtrack reissues. LRG just has a non-exclusive distribution deal for Bravewave's releases. Most of their soundtracks aren't associated with game reissues. (...which is too bad, because I'd have loved for their Panzer Dragoon Saga album to be a sign.)

Agreed. LRG also sold Bravewave's Ketsui soundtrack right around the same time, but no Ketsui PS4 release from them. That was actually a little surprising to me, seeing as how it was already out at that time, had an official western PSN release, and LRG did publish western releases of some other M2 ShotTriggers releases (Garegga, Dangun Feveron, Kyukyoku Tiger Heli)

I still think there's a decent likelihood of LRG doing a SDOJ release though, due to the consistency with which they've worked with Live Wire. And a very high likelihood of Super Deluxe retail release in Japan.

[Faith]

possible but unlikely, 360 import version seems the best bet for anyone wanting this game on physical format.

I had not tried the Switch version ever, but did read of people complaining about lag.

Never did check what the market is like for physical 360 version of SDOJ outside of Japan, but in Japan, it is still quite affordable if you just buy the normal edition. For me I got the giga big box "ultra" edition as my friend had found it for good price and got it for me. But normal edition of course will be cheaper! Anyway, I feel to own the game as 360 version and to play it on Xenia is a very good experience, so, don't really care if they release physical for Switch. But, really do hope one day we get Steam (and even physical for Steam) release!~

[CerealPT]

Dodonpachi SDOJ and Futari JP 360 version can both be found for really really affordable prices amd are both region free, bit of a no brainer for anyone wanting to have some cheap cave physical games, besides Futari hasnt been released anywhere since then. (shame disc version lacks Black label version).

[lastemperorjubei]

I think Mark was mostly annoyed that this wasn't an M2 Shottriggers treatment with a new arrange/rebalancing of what he sees as a flawed game with much potential.

Maybe that will happen one day from M2, former Cave staff, or someone... but it's sort of silly to expect that Live Wire was ever going to be a company that was trying to release an improved and revised SDOJ. And even if they wanted to, they are unproven at best when it comes to original STG design (closest thing would be their PC roguelite twin stick shooter, 9th Sentinel Sisters), so very questionable whether they would be able to pull off an M2-quality arrange/rebalancing.

But I'm very happy with Live Wire doing excellent ports, and the 1ms additional lag on Switch from the source material seems to be a very consistent hardware factor (not a matter of poorly done ports), so I don't find complaints about that extra 1ms to be very fair to Live Wire. They've done nothing but a good job of providing us the 360 versions of four Cave games (and Radiant Silvergun) with great results, and that has value. Maybe there's an argument that a good quality port existing on modern platforms makes it less likely that the M2s of the world will bother trying to do an improved version, but I'm on the side of release the game (and we still see multiple ports - something like Ketsui wasn't exactly unavailable in a quality port, but M2 still did a ShotTriggers release for that one).

Kinda hate how half of the discussion of any new STG now is about input lag, often by people who can't even tell for themselves whether it's good or bad until they read test reports from someone on the internet. It's one thing to make it a big point when it's a serious issue for a specific release that would reasonably be noticeable to a large portion of the audience (e.g., City Connection's Guardian Force/Cotton release), but for most of these games it's a very rare person who can even discern the difference between 5ms and 6ms. Maybe if you're a world record quality player, but for the vast majority of people, I just don't see it as very productive discussion. Tends to detract from actually talking about the game, in favor of nitpicking technical points that most of the players of the game won't appreciate.

Mark has misquoted the input lag count on the M2 dodonpachi reincarnation (doj) as first stating it was only 3 frames of input lag to now being 4 frames of input lag. He tried telling people in the comments that the switch version of under defeat was running at 1 frame of input lag. Which doesn’t make sense coming from a console. It was later determined that the PC version was 1 frame of input lag, and the switch was 3 frames of input lag. Now when it comes to Batsugun he says that it’s 5-6 frames of input lag on all platforms. I don’t see how a modern pc could run this game at a bad frame rate. I would imagine a pc could improve on the input lag even if the game was poorly optimized. I wish I could ask him personally why the PC version of this game has such a bad frame rate for being the platform of choice other than the actual arcade board. I have played the rom version of dodonpachi saidaiojou on an older version of retro arch. And yes it’s probably 1-2 fames of input lag from a PC. But there’s no proper slow downs in the game. I have the Nintendo switch version and I know he said it was also 5-6 frames…no five and a half I believe. But then he mentions his switch lite is miraculously getting one frame less. Which is total BS. I’d say this game is getting about 4 frames. The same as the Xbox 360. And it runs just fine. I’ve never heard him say or recommend anyone buying these games for their consoles that don’t know anything about emulators and trying to hunt down the games for them. I try to tell people to just buy the game if you’re interested in it. One or two frames will not ruin the experience for you.

DOJ on switch had initially 3 frames but they patched out the input lag reduction option so now it has 4. This explains why Mark had it at 3 and later at 4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqCAc6G1-88

Contrary to this Radiant Silvergun had initially 5 and was later patched to 4.

Regarding SDOJ, EOJ (Cave Forum Admin) wrote that the Switch version is closer to the PCB than the 360 version regarding the slowdown.

https://cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=1980.0

[Steven]

Now that this has been out for a long time, does shooting as Type-D cause hilarious framerate problems like it does on 360?

[Marc]

Picked up Dranius. I'm not quite sure what's going on, but the power up system seems a bit over egged, and it's not quite grabbing me.

Tried again with Akka Arrh. Again, the tutorial seems really poorly explained, and I'm just not feeling it.

X-Out Resurfaced, which I think has dated a bit better than comparable Euroshmups of a similar age. Visuals have been given a tasteful lick of paint, soundtracks features arranged, Amiga and C64 versions, and it plays, well, like it did..... No autofire should be punishable by death though.

[Faith]

Now that this has been out for a long time, does shooting as Type-D cause hilarious framerate problems like it does on 360?

Is it "framerate problem" or Type-D generate more slowdown @_@?~

Playing on Xenia, Type-D definitely with main shot you get a bit more slowdown than other ship. But... even with Type-A... sometimes (if screen busy) can get more slowdown with main shot vs laser >.<!~

[Steven]

It's probably the same thing; my guess is that the game lacks frame skipping, so when the FPS suffers, the game itself slows down. If they really wanted to make things slower, there is no reason that they couldn't have just programmed the bullets to move more slowly instead of turning the game into a damn slideshow, but...

[Faith]

I think this is just the emulation of arcade slowdown trying to be like PCB?? It is same even for Mushihimesama on steam >.<!~

And for Mushi Original Max, the arcade slowdnw is very crazy!~

On Xenia, it definitely feels like playing their "proper" ports on Steam... but of course on real 360 maybe a bit different hehe.

[Steven]

The main interesting thing is that Type-D doesn't exist on PCB, so it's a unique oddity of the 360 version and maybe the Switch version. I don't know if it's supposed to have crazy slowdown just from shooting, but it sure does. Unfortunately, I lost Type-D when my 360 decided to kill my save file for some reason, so I can't really go check it in arcade mode... and I don't like the 360 arrange that much.

[Faith]

My theory is that... because Type-D is unique to the ports... maybe they did not consider that Type-D shot graphics (which... is prettier than the rest lol) will add more to the arcade slowdown. You see this a bit with Mushihimesama Matsuri too! Because of the extra detail, some parts the slowdown can be super aggressive... and it not always work in favor because it can be super sudden. I think this makes sense... because... if the port try to emulate accurate arcade slowdown... will make sense if a ship which put more crap on screen will create more slowdown >.<!~

[Steven]

That's probably why, honestly. It's also a perfect example of why the devs should actually program bullets to be slow if they want them to be slow instead of overloading their hardware and making their games run like shit to obtain the same result.

I have no idea how Type-D behaves on exa. I only played that version once years ago and I don't remember what ship I used, but I don't think it should have the same slowdown just from shooting as 360 does.

[Faith]

Well, if I remember, Cave was bad at hardware design and the hardware was slow so convenient to just make use of that.

For port, of course, want to keep as close to that as possible! Otherwise many players sure to complain. Sometimes they make small error, and in 24 hours have superplayer complain about it on twitter hahaha. And, I must say, considering the only player to do ever do Saidaioujou Inbachi clear did all training on 360... and then eventually manage that clear on real arcade cabinet after that... must mean the port arcade hardware emulation was very, very good (even if I think input lag is zzz) >.<!~