Caladrius Blaze is at a record low at 85% off on the Switch eShop in NA and EU

[Hero of Legend]

https://www.dekudeals.com/items/caladrius-blaze

No-one reporting on any Black Friday deals for shmups? Maybe I missed the thread.

Anyways, this one (the Switch version specifically) as folks may know is by Moss' subsidiary Kaminari Games who also did the Dragon Maid and Macross shmups recently. Also the Switch version of Raiden V.

https://kaminarigames.com/works/caladriusblaze/

What was the overall verdict on the Switch version and game overall?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

That Deku deal of paying a mere $3.74 for the NSW port of Caladrius Blaze until the end of 12/03/2025 (when it reverts back to it's original MSRP of $24.99 instead at 12:00am PST 12/04/2025) -- that's an awesome deal as it is.

You might recall that the initial "grand debut" of Calardrius Blaze on Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming console back in 2013 (as shown in this ebay auction here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/356424770105?_ ... BM8pjty9Zm) courtesy of Moss themselves.

There's the Japanese game center release of "Caladrius Blaze AC" released on the Sega ALL Pass arcade platform worth mentioning as a informative tidbit before it was released for the home gaming console platforms eventually later on "down the road" namely the PS3, PS4, Steam cica 2017 & Switch (with the Switch port being released back in 2019).

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CB is also on sale for $2.99 on the USA region Playstation Store for PS4 (circa 2016) as well (until the end of 12/01/2025 when it it reverts back to it's original MSRP of $19.99): https://store.playstation.com/en-us/pro ... DRIUSBLAZE It's well known that the PS4 port of CB has both original CB & CB-AC included together as a bundled set.
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[pja]

No-one reporting on any Black Friday deals for shmups? Maybe I missed the thread.

That's the thread:
viewtopic.php?p=1588032

[AGermanArtist]

It's a little paeodoey.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

On the NSW, Caladrius Blaze features both original CB and CB-AC variant versions as a complete set (the original Xbox 360 port of CB has the old-school full-screen 4:3 aspect ratio setup to be able to play it on an old-school CRT TV via RCA Composite Video/S-Video/Euro Scart {with the rare 1st-party Microsoft 360 Advance Scart Cable setup} or SVGA CRT-based monitor with the 1st-party Microsoft released Xbox 360 VGA cable setup).

CB is one of those yoko-based verizontal based stgs but with a fantasy type of type of visual flair and looks awesome running on a Nintendo Switch Oled setup and is presented in a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio format -- there's no option to play it in it's original 4:3 aspect ratio iteration on the NSW itself though. Online leaderboard support is available from the "get-go" with the NSW port of CB, indeed -- so you can check your overall ranking on the leaderboards if so desired.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[davyK]

It's worth £3 of anyone's money. What a bargain.

[Sima Tuna]

My favorite game by MOSS. I wish the cringe weeb stripping art could be completely removed from the game but you can get rid of most of it. I realize that's the art of the game and the quality of the art is good, but I still feel weird playing Caladrius where others can watch. The stripping element feels extremely out of place in the game outside of just how distraction and weird it is.

As compared to a game like Akiba's Trip, which is about stripping vampires in humorous ways and making fun of otaku culture, Caladrius' ecchi elments feel extremely shoehorned.

But everything else about Caladrius Blaze is great, especially the sheer number of abilities and ships you have to play with.

[Augemitbutter]

From a time when new STG still had some form of production values. Great game. Same price on Euro Playstation stores btw.

[davyK]

Most of the dodgy imagery can be turned off but it remains on the level summary screen which is a lazy oversight given the option is provided to turn it off!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The Switch port of Caladrius Blaze is a 2.6gb digital d/l in it's entirety.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[NeoStrayCat]

Well TC, as someone who has played literally all the ports and versions of Caladrius up to this point, its an alright game. Although you're mostly going to be using your element shots against many enemies to increase your score rate multiplier as much as you can. And yes, it does have fanservice, but that can be turned off completely in the game options.

Most of the dodgy imagery can be turned off but it remains on the level summary screen which is a lazy oversight given the option is provided to turn it off!

Not really, you can, in either 2 ways, lose a life in each stage in either Original or Evolution mode. Or play AC mode which changes the fanservice stage clear images into playable cast group stage clear images.

Either way, the Switch port is basically the same as every other version/port of Caladrius Blaze. No differences other than what's already included.

[mrsmiley381]

Either way, the Switch port is basically the same as every other version/port of Caladrius Blaze. No differences other than what's already included.

I didn't really like Caladrius when I first played the 360 version mostly because I liked the artist's work on the Devil Survivor games. I was annoyed to see the Blaze rerelease not long after, thinking I didn't want to double dip. It's been a while and the Switch has become my go-to machine for damn near everything so I picked this one up. Might get the rest of the MOSS catalog as well, good bad or indifferent. Raiden II and Raiden DX rerelease when?

[davyK]

Most of the dodgy imagery can be turned off but it remains on the level summary screen which is a lazy oversight given the option is provided to turn it off!

Not really, you can, in either 2 ways, lose a life in each stage in either Original or Evolution mode. Or play AC mode which changes the fanservice stage clear images into playable cast group stage clear images.

What do you mean by that - you mean deliberately suicide and that changes the end of stage screen?

[NeoStrayCat]

I didn't really like Caladrius when I first played the 360 version mostly because I liked the artist's work on the Devil Survivor games. I was annoyed to see the Blaze rerelease not long after, thinking I didn't want to double dip. It's been a while and the Switch has become my go-to machine for damn near everything so I picked this one up. Might get the rest of the MOSS catalog as well, good bad or indifferent. Raiden II and Raiden DX rerelease when?

Yeah, but at least the Blaze version is better in every way. And yeah, where is Raiden II and DX? Those are the only Raiden games left without a modern/current gen port. And yeah, the Switch is perfect for on-the-go STG playing.

What do you mean by that - you mean deliberately suicide and that changes the end of stage screen?

Yes, you'll see no background image if you lose a life in any stage.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Caladrius Blaze is also on the Steam gaming platform besides it's usual console ports on the Xbox 360, PS3, PS4 and Switch gaming platforms.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[1000Eyes]

It's having a sale on steam. Guess I can use it as an excuse to talk about the game.

The elephant in the room: I don't mind the stripping art, I find it quite funny and it has a personality Could do without the underage characters though.

Besides that, and that MOSS 3D always looks ugly to me despite having a cool theme and design (it's like a dark and edgy version of Espgaluda), Im enjoying my time with it. It has a similar joy to Radiant Silvergun in that it is an excuse to have you play around with different unique and wacky shot types that the devs came up with, but without the strict color coded chaining. That's replaced with the weapons having a sort regenerating ammo, so it is a lot of fun trying to find out which weapon suits which section so your mind is active constantly. Tying weapon kills to an increasing multiplier threads a nice needle between the mindless kill everything impulse, and having to strategize how best to kill everything. Perhaps a downside is that the scoring depends a lot on no miss. A single death tanking your score feels like it should make learning it quite miserable, and maybe it will be as Im still not convinced about that harshness in theory, but I must admit I havent stopped thinking about it.

I enjoy original mode the best, mostly because I feel evolution mode takes away a bit from learning how to fundamentally use your tools in favor of an extra layer of resource management. Should give them all a try though.