DoDonPachi Resurrection Reignite Announced

[R79]

Cave (perhaps through AMI, SPS or RSG) still need to put out a decent Ibara port, 20 years on

[Jonpachi]

Cave (perhaps through AMI, SPS or RSG) still need to put out a decent Ibara port, 20 years on

AMI died in 2010, SPS in 2020. Not sure what RSG stands for.

[Some-Mist]

iirc DFK Black Label + Ketsui arrange was not DLC for the original 360 release but its own separate game.

yep, it was region-locked to Japanese 360s, and one of the few reasons I had a J360. It's cool they made it more accessible and packaged it in with the later releases, and it wasn't stuck on 360.

I love arrange modes, and even though I really have no desire to buy another version of DFK I'll be buying this to support CAVE on PC

[R79]

Rising Star Games, ie plenty of Cave Eurozone releases winding back a few years, good times, fair prices.

[NeoStrayCat]

Rising Star Games, ie plenty of Cave Eurozone releases winding back a few years, good times, fair prices.

Sadly, the Rising Star Games label ended in 2023, and is now Thunderful Games.

[Sengoku Strider]

Cave (perhaps through AMI, SPS or RSG) still need to put out a decent Ibara port, 20 years on

I'll stick up for DFK on principle, but I'd be lying if I said I'd rather see it reappear than things like Ibara or Guwange which I've never played but look great.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Cave (perhaps through AMI, SPS or RSG) still need to put out a decent Ibara port, 20 years on

I'll stick up for DFK on principle, but I'd be lying if I said I'd rather see it reappear than things like Ibara or Guwange which I've never played but look great.

The Cave CV-1000 jamma pcb of Ibara has an on-board CR-2450 battery that is used for RTC (Real Time Clock) functionality/purposes and will even show the correct time on the Stage 1 demo stage runs. How cool is that?

Give both Guwange and Ibara a spin, they're considered classics nowadays.

----------
It used to be that you could buy a brand new NOS Cave CV-1000 Ibara jamma pcb kit (that came shipped "un-initialized" from the factory and had be "initialized" first beforehand for RTC purposes -- nowadays, such a used Ibara jamma pcb can be "re-initialized" if it needed be) for $350-$400 usd back in 2004-2005 -- but sadly those days of buying an Ibara pcb kit on the cheap are long gone. It was back in those days of buying such arcade stg pcbs and pcb kits for a more reasonable amount of money "without breaking the bank" was truly possible/doable.

If the Ibara pcb's on-board CR-2450 battery is dead, the time shown on the Stage 1 demo runs will be listed as incorrect, thus requiring prompt replacement of said dead battery with a fresh brand new one -- problem easily solved. On the later Cave CV-1000 based pcbs, Cave did away with the CR-2450 battery functionality entirely to save money on pcb production costs -- every yen counts in the long run of pcb production runs indeed. If you look at a Cave CV-1000 DoDonpachi Sai-Dai-Ou-Jou jamma pcb circa 2012, you'll see that there's no on-board CR-2450 battery/battery holder (+ related electronic components to support it) to be found whatsoever.

To see such brand new NOS (New Old Stock) USA region Capcom CPS2 pcb kits of GigaWing and Mars Matrix being listed for a mere $99.99 usd on eBay back in 2002 was plain crazy/insane -- eBay seller gameboardsdoc aka Bill Burger was selling 'em at that low pricepoint indeed. October of 2007 was the last month you could actually pay for a completed/sold eBay auction with a personal check before eBay decided to go with Paypal exclusively as the preferred method of payment from that point on going forward.

Heck, you could even buy a "barebones" Cave DoDonpachi jamma pcb for $250.00-$275.00+ usd back in 2003 on the secondary arcade pcb collector's market as that was the usual going rate for a used one back in those days of lore.
----------

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[R79]

I used to buy games with Postal Orders off eBay around the turn of the century, and you could use cash in an envelope. Many listings had no photos, and sellers could neg buyers, lol
I think I paid around £50 for Ibara JP PS2 from Play Asia, which was a big Hong Kong gaming site back then. But it never really felt or looked right, like Daioujou and Espgaluda did. You could get Mars Matrix for a long time well under that price as well, but both games now seem to be well over 3 figures, which shows the importance of affordable updates on newer systems (Border Down as well crying out for a market reset).

Guwange was on Xbox Live Arcade, and had tate and possibly even filters IIRC (although of course, you can connect a 360 to a CRT via Scart), fairly progressive at the time, and was fairly inexpensive to download (800 MS Points?).

[Emerl]

The obvious reason to do DFK for their comeback is that it's their best-selling game, but part of me also thinks it's them choosing to be thematic and "resurrect" and "reignite" the franchise this way.

[Light1000]

The obvious reason to do DFK for their comeback is that it's their best-selling game, but part of me also thinks it's them choosing to be thematic and "resurrect" and "reignite" the franchise this way.

Their best selling game is Deathsmiles (280k 360 + 25k Steam 2018)
Even just going on Steam, DFK sold only 21k, and the best was Mushi with 42k (all by 2018 again)
It's really interesting to me that they didn't go with Futari instead...

[Bassa-Bassa]

My guess is that Futari is the only 360 port published by Cave but not developed by them.

I'd love to see Futari ported, but since that one was ported by M2 I suspect Cave doesn't fully own the code to the port and it's not as easy to port that from 360 compared to some of their other games.

[Faith]

Their best selling game is Deathsmiles (280k 360 + 25k Steam 2018)
Even just going on Steam, DFK sold only 21k, and the best was Mushi with 42k (all by 2018 again)
It's really interesting to me that they didn't go with Futari instead...

Actually... I think this is all very complicated ~_~"...

Because, from what I can see... especially among Novice players... I think many enjoy DFK more than Mushi... and maybe DFK is a stronger step to getting more player into STG in general? Really not know @_@"... but, definitely, every time you see new player post their "FIRST 1CC!!!!! O_____O!!!~" post, ultra high chance it is either DFK Novice or Crimzon Clover Novice Original lol. And... when you see new player post their first non-Novice "Arcade Original" ALL clear... 99% of time is DFK with Strong Style lol. So maybe Cave see this?

I know, we can all argue until pig fly about non-BL DFK and its default Arcade difficulty being too easy lol... but... no-one can ignore that it really is many player first big step. And, that is also very important!~

But... using this same argument, I also feel Futari BL Original is very accessible for simple survival clear!

Of course BL Original hi-scoring is just psycho x_x"...

[glenjamin]

DFK got a horde of modes in its ports - I can't imagine the world needs another arrange or mode of that game. Resurrection is stuffed full of gameplay as it is.

I'd rather play a simple mode that uses DDPDOJ's hyper system instead of the endless bullet cancelling bullshit Daifukkatsu has going. I get that convoluted scoring systems a la Akai Katana pander to shmup otakus, but I don't see what's wrong with simple stuff like medal (or item) collection or even just simple survival.
/rant over

If you play Arrange L set to normal instead of boost, it uses the DOJ hyper medal system where you can stack hypers, and also hypers don't cancel bullets

[Sengoku Strider]

If you play Arrange L set to normal instead of boost, it uses the DOJ hyper medal system where you can stack hypers, and also hypers don't cancel bullets

I wonder how many people would have a different opinion on DFK as a whole if they'd started with the current version of Resurrection like I did (or if I'd be salty about the game if I didn't). It really seems like Cave spent years taking player criticisms to heart and addressing them with a bunch of variations on the game to give people the game(s) they wish it originally was.

[Weak Boson]

All the bullet cancelling and autobombing gave DFK 1.5 mixed feelings for me at first. CAVE have done a lot of experimentation with different ways to make their games more approachable for less skilled players (e.g., difficulty select in Deathsmiles,forgiving mechanics like ESPGaluda's bullet canceling, and Mushi's Original modes). I think it's fair to say DFK's approach wasn't a case where they got the balance exactly right.

The first time booting up the game it felt like I was hardly playing it. You cancel so many bullets and you can take so many hits, you just sort of fly through the game without it making much of an impression. This is in huge contrast to the other DDP games which all offer a solid survival-only experience that is just immediately viscerally enjoyable to any kind of player.

For me when I started looking into the scoring it all clicked for me and in a way that i find way more appealing than the other DDP games. Farming hits with the hyper then cashing in a huge multiplier for the rest of the stage feels great. The focus is a little less on pure chaining, but it's still there; you have some new strategic considerations with how you use your hypers, and while you are punished for spamming them it's still an option to help you survive, which makes it feel a bit less all-or-nothing.

The abundance of auto-bombs remains the most questionable thing, even if it becomes less relevant as you get better. But while it's arguably too generous when going for a 1-ALL, it gives enough margin for error to make an Omote 2-ALL a pretty reasonable goal to work towards. That was where I left the game last, but I've always had the intention of returning to it and actually executing some of the chains I practiced.

I'm curious what other people's experiences were since the game is in a weird spot. Oddly Black Label ended up becoming less appealing to me than 1.5 because it seemed there was an even greater focus on bullet cancelling - but that could change with time.

[glenjamin]

Yeah when I first played just 1.5 I was sorta mixed on it. I think black label is a lot of fun with auto bomb off. I've also been having a ton of fun with 1.51, the forced ura route, higher cost of auto bombing, plus dramatic rank increases makes it a super fun mode to play. I'm personally really excited to have more DFK content on the way.

[1000Eyes]

The first time booting up the game it felt like I was hardly playing it. You cancel so many bullets and you can take so many hits, you just sort of fly through the game without it making much of an impression. This is in huge contrast to the other DDP games which all offer a solid survival-only experience that is just immediately viscerally enjoyable to any kind of player.

For me when I started looking into the scoring it all clicked for me and in a way that i find way more appealing than the other DDP games.

Same here. I really respect DDP because its scoring ties all the important aspects of stgs together, but I never loved it myself. Doesnt help that even on power style DFK is really flail friendly because easier hyper gain thanks to boost mode, so you can treat hypers like bombs, doing a little left and right sweep with the occasional micro dodge, and you should make it to stage 5 without sweating. It really unlocked with me with scoring, and I still dont know if it is just me being too scrub for real chaining, because it does sound like it dilutes the DDP formula on paper with a bunch of fiddly systems as a result of making hypers cancel bullets (hyper rank, laser generation, etc.). Yet it works.

[Sima Tuna]

I'm a little confused what this release even is. At first I thought it was a new DDP port, but then I remembered "Resurrection" is the english name for daifukkatsu. So I guess this is just a new arrange of DFK? I'm a little curious why I would want to buy that? I mean, I guess it's nice if someone is diehard DFK fan. I enjoyed DFK but not enough to pay, whatever it is, I think $30? For a new arrange.

CAVE should consider maybe porting their other games to Steam, yes? They have many existing old ports they could use as the basis for a steam port if they don't feel like making an entirely new port.

DDP for me has never landed as well as Mushi, Guwange or Espgaluda 2. I guess I like the weirder cave ships.

[Bassa-Bassa]

From OP's link:

Additional stages, a new character, and new music

Without compromising the appeal of the original, they add fresh excitement and broader ways to play.

Additional features hinting at a new battlefield

What lies beyond this reignition has yet to be revealed.

Sounds more like a full-fledged expansion than a mere "extra arrange mode", which they could have easily used if that were the case yet they didn't despite this very thread. Let's move on?

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

DFK got a horde of modes in its ports - I can't imagine the world needs another arrange or mode of that game. Resurrection is stuffed full of gameplay as it is.

I'd rather play a simple mode that uses DDPDOJ's hyper system instead of the endless bullet cancelling bullshit Daifukkatsu has going. I get that convoluted scoring systems a la Akai Katana pander to shmup otakus, but I don't see what's wrong with simple stuff like medal (or item) collection or even just simple survival.
/rant over

If you play Arrange L set to normal instead of boost, it uses the DOJ hyper medal system where you can stack hypers, and also hypers don't cancel bullets

thanks, I'll try it out!

[FunktionJCB]

Well, came across some potentially interesting Cave news today, almost by accident, on Bsky.

I believe this is a post from a fellow forum user, Van_Artic (if I'm wrong, I apologise):
https://bsky.app/profile/vanartic.bsky. ... fa3eufes2k

He linked to this piece of news:
https://gamebiz.jp/news/424266

Translated:
https://gamebiz-jp.translate.goog/news/ ... r_pto=wapp

«CAVE has raised approximately 95 million yen through a third-party allocation of new shares to its Chairman of the Board, Natsuko Yoshinari. The funds will be used for the development of consumer games.

On April 13, CAVE (3760) announced that it would issue 145,000 new shares through a third-party allocation to its Chairperson, Natsuko Yoshinari, and raise approximately 95 million yen.

The company focuses on its gaming business and is working to strengthen the revenue base of existing titles and promote new growth strategies. Currently, the smartphone app game market is experiencing intensified competition, soaring development budgets, and lengthening development periods, which has led the company to consider consumer games in the global market as a potential target.

Under these circumstances, Ms. Natsuko Yoshinari, the company's Chairperson and largest shareholder, offered to contribute her own funds to support the company's medium- to long-term growth, and we determined that implementing a capital increase would contribute to enhancing the company's corporate value.

The funds raised through this capital increase will be used for the development of consumer games. Leveraging the game development know-how and IP utilization capabilities that the company has cultivated through the development and operation of mobile games, it aims to create new revenue opportunities by developing consumer games for the global market.

While the dilution rate from the issuance of new shares will be 2.16%, the company believes that the increase in capital will enhance its corporate value, thereby providing existing shareholders with benefits that outweigh the disadvantages of dilution.

Furthermore, the company states that the issuance of new shares will not have any impact on Cave's financial results for the fiscal year ending May 2026.»

-----

This seems to indicate that they are serious in developing new non-mobile games, and DoDonPachi Resurrection Reignite is just the first stepping stone in their plan.
Cautiously optimistic.

[tzm_rade]

Not really a lot of money in the grand scheme of things especially for game dev. That is probably about one year of salary for all their employees combined I imagine. Maybe less.

Again I think this will all be done on the cheap and is just an effort to get their old games onto digital stores like Steam so that they can sell them in perpetuity. After all, even a few sales of their game is better than the zero they earn now for 90% of their library.

[Faith]

Not really a lot of money in the grand scheme of things especially for game dev. That is probably about one year of salary for all their employees combined I imagine. Maybe less.

Don't forget that this come from country that like to pretend inflation no exist :p lol!!! But, I think it does show, some good confidence from leadership?~

[FunktionJCB]

Not really a lot of money in the grand scheme of things especially for game dev. That is probably about one year of salary for all their employees combined I imagine. Maybe less.

It isn't, but do note that the amount isn't the budget for new productions, it's a capital increase, an "extra" that one of the owners injected to help in the production of new "consumer" games.
I'm sure they have some more funds to invest, from their mobile operations.

At the very least, it shows the intention of doing something outside of the mobile arena, so I'm hopeful something good may come of this.

[Jonpachi]

They might make that back if they’re lucky. They’d need to sell 20k copies at $30 USD.

[Light1000]

They might make that back if they’re lucky. They’d need to sell 20k copies at $30 USD.

I have doubts about this being possible. Only someone who already likes shmups will go out of their way to pay 30 dollars for a remaster of a 19 year old game nowadays, this isn't like back in 2015 where anything on Steam got attention.
If I were in CAVE's shoes I'd put it at 10 dollars (60k req) then try to shill to as many youtubers / streamers as possible. Maybe than ask Dunkey to make a video on it? He's had a small agenda of promoting shmups on his channel (ZR and Monolith)

[glenjamin]

No way is it gonna be 10 dollars considering the existing version on steam is $30. Also with steam taking a 30% cut of every sale they'd make approximately no money at all at that price point. I think they can sell it at $30+, but ideally on more platforms than just steam since steam sucks for discovering games. Like if they managed to put the new version on switch and market it in a Nintendo direct that would get a lot of eyes on it from non-shmup players. Really they need to be doing a big advertising push so people know Cave is coming back, and they need to make a case for why that's exciting to people who have never heard of Cave before.

[Light1000]

I think they can sell it at $30+, but ideally on more platforms than just steam since steam sucks for discovering games. Like if they managed to put the new version on switch and market it in a Nintendo direct that would get a lot of eyes on it from non-shmup players. Really they need to be doing a big advertising push so people know Cave is coming back, and they need to make a case for why that's exciting to people who have never heard of Cave before.

Why should someone who has never heard of CAVE find DFK to be worth 30 dollars? Any of the available marketing, even a Nintendo direct isn't capable of doing that. The Gradius Origins collection with a direct sold something like 40k combined across all platforms (20k Switch Physical JP, assuming about 20k across PS4/5 and Steam) and its one of the most popular shmup series ever. CAVE doesn't have that kind of leeway.

[dmukgr]

Their best selling game is Deathsmiles (280k 360 + 25k Steam 2018)
Even just going on Steam, DFK sold only 21k, and the best was Mushi with 42k (all by 2018 again)
It's really interesting to me that they didn't go with Futari instead...

Actually... I think this is all very complicated ~_~"...

Because, from what I can see... especially among Novice players... I think many enjoy DFK more than Mushi... and maybe DFK is a stronger step to getting more player into STG in general? Really not know @_@"... but, definitely, every time you see new player post their "FIRST 1CC!!!!! O_____O!!!~" post, ultra high chance it is either DFK Novice or Crimzon Clover Novice Original lol. And... when you see new player post their first non-Novice "Arcade Original" ALL clear... 99% of time is DFK with Strong Style lol. So maybe Cave see this?

I know, we can all argue until pig fly about non-BL DFK and its default Arcade difficulty being too easy lol... but... no-one can ignore that it really is many player first big step. And, that is also very important!~

But... using this same argument, I also feel Futari BL Original is very accessible for simple survival clear!

Of course BL Original hi-scoring is just psycho x_x"...

I’ve begun playing shmups properly for the first time this last month or so, having recently retired and I’m trying 1cc Crimson Clover Novice, alternating between original (1 die on the fourth stage) and Boost (I die on the fifth boss), so in reading this I thought I’d try DFK novice and on my second attempt I died literally just before the last boss. I figured I was right at the end so did a continue, which I never do - fired a couple of times and it ended. So, so, close.

Oh well, back to CC now. DFK doesn’t feel as engaging to me, and I’m not sure I’m in control. With CC it feels like all my mistakes are just because I lose concentration rather than just flying around not sure what I’m really doing but somehow muddling through.

[davyK]

I like DFK but the port has been squeezed to death surely? There's thousands of hours of play in it with its modes, ships, shots and styles.