umihara kuwase portable (psp)

DC906270 · Post by **DC906270** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:32 pm

alright, so i ordered this, anyone have any opinions on this version? i think its programmed by 'Marvellous' entertainment, which sounds promising

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:04 pm

It has a bunch of really bad physics glitches, apparently.

Check it out.

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:36 pm

are there any new levels, or are they the same as the psx version?

it seems pointless to re-release games on psp when they can already be emulated.

Etrian · Post by **Etrian** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:07 pm

I tried it and I hated it. You can't aim and move at the same time, it's one or the other, and if you rely on the L and R buttons, which is rather tedious, you're bound to mess up as they shoot in a preset direction.

This game just didn't make sense. It's like you're a Lemming with a rope, and you need to go to a destination in order to clear the level. Not that that will happen, since you will probably mess up due to the PSP's controls and feel of the game.

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:47 pm

I tried it and I hated it. You can't aim and move at the same time, it's one or the other, and if you rely on the L and R buttons, which is rather tedious, you're bound to mess up as they shoot in a preset direction.

I think if you spend some more time with [the ps1 version of] umihara kawase shun you'll realize just how ingenious the controls really are. For reference.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:41 am

I was actually going to buy a PSP for this one

The first two still count as my joint favourite game of all time. Sucks.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:23 am

I got the Tech Playstation issues which have all of the developer replays hammering the game. Now... to find a day I can take off to capture them.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:42 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:I got the Tech Playstation issues which have all of the developer replays hammering the game. Now... to find a day I can take off to capture them.

On that day, I will worship you like a god.

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:57 pm

MX7 wrote:On that day, I will worship you like a god.

Well, he is the saviour, after all.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:36 am

Hehe. I actually hit the beard w/ the clippers. It was pretty out of hand. Took some piectures at hanami. My son is going to lay into me for that one when he's older.

Back when hamako (was that it's name?) was updated all the time, I downloaded the collection. I thought it was some random guy, then realized it was replays from the CDs.

For bonus points, I might rip the 9 extra stages (found on 3 Tech Playstation CDs) which aren't in either version of the game. Of course, it won't look as nice asthe super plays.

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:42 am

For bonus points, I might rip the 9 extra stages (found on 3 Tech Playstation CDs) which aren't in either version of the game.

Oh, nice. Are the stages all whacked out with spikes and moving platforms?

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:10 am

Not completely related, but: SNES Umihara Kawase TAS.
Just wanted to make sure none of you missed it. :)

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:06 am

moozooh wrote:Not completely related, but: SNES Umihara Kawase TAS.
Just wanted to make sure none of you missed it.

I must have watched this 100 times. It's a testiment to how amazing this game is that everyone I've shown this to has been wildly impressed by it, regardless of weather they've played it or not.

Etrian · Post by **Etrian** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:06 am

Zebra Airforce wrote:
I tried it and I hated it. You can't aim and move at the same time, it's one or the other, and if you rely on the L and R buttons, which is rather tedious, you're bound to mess up as they shoot in a preset direction.
I think if you spend some more time with [the ps1 version of] umihara kawase shun you'll realize just how ingenious the controls really are. For reference.

Er... I don't know what this video is meant to prove, apart from the fact that the control system can be utilized in a complicated manner. It still feels awkward on the PSP and I don't really like the game because of it.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:12 pm

Etrian wrote:
Zebra Airforce wrote:
I tried it and I hated it. You can't aim and move at the same time, it's one or the other, and if you rely on the L and R buttons, which is rather tedious, you're bound to mess up as they shoot in a preset direction.
I think if you spend some more time with [the ps1 version of] umihara kawase shun you'll realize just how ingenious the controls really are. For reference.
Er... I don't know what this video is meant to prove, apart from the fact that the control system can be utilized in a complicated manner. It still feels awkward on the PSP and I don't really like the game because of it.

Play it on the SNES or Playstation. Invest at least six months to get good. Thank me later.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:17 pm

Invest at least six months

That's the hard part.

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:21 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:
Invest at least six months
That's the hard part.

No way, that's the fun part!

@Etrian - If you just play the game through until you reach the end or lose all of your lives you will learn alot. Play again and you will learn even more. Soon you'll be flying through the starting levels and becoming more and more adept at the game. It's almost like a puzzle game, because skills do not come naturally, but evolve over time. Trust me, the investment is worth it, because the game becomes increasingly more fun as time goes on.

Also, make sure you are playing the SNES or PS version, the PSP one is broken as hell, they really poerted it shoddily. You might want to use a nice controller, but personally I managed to become quite adept with the PSP d-pad, so anything is possible.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:31 pm

I like the way tasvideos.org compare Umihara Kawase to Ikaruga. It makes perfect sense: It's a game that demands perfection, and the better you get at it, the more fun it gets.

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:39 pm

MX7 wrote:I like the way tasvideos.org compare Umihara Kawase to Ikaruga. It makes perfect sense: It's a game that demands perfection, and the better you get at it, the more fun it gets.

I think that Umi gives you much more chance to be creative, though, because your swing is not always the same and you have to react quickly to dynamic situations.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:03 pm

Yeah, deffo. You can also set yourself little challenges on top of reaching the next door. For example, on the tadpole boss level on the snes, I used to beat the boss, then stand on the edge of the platform at the far left hand side. Then i'd swing to where the extra life is, touch the grass, and swing back to the platform again. Then I'd see how many times i could do this in two minutes. There are shit loads of other little challenges like that you can set yourself all over the game. In effect, it's the ultimate showboating game; it's about playing it in the flashiest and most stylish way possible.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:55 pm

I could never do the one where he sticks the lure in the ground, runs backwards and flings himself forward. Seems to be one of the more basic advanced moves too.

Etrian · Post by **Etrian** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:45 am

Zebra Airforce wrote:
GaijinPunch wrote:
Invest at least six months
That's the hard part.
No way, that's the fun part!

@Etrian - If you just play the game through until you reach the end or lose all of your lives you will learn alot. Play again and you will learn even more. Soon you'll be flying through the starting levels and becoming more and more adept at the game. It's almost like a puzzle game, because skills do not come naturally, but evolve over time. Trust me, the investment is worth it, because the game becomes increasingly more fun as time goes on.

Also, make sure you are playing the SNES or PS version, the PSP one is broken as hell, they really poerted it shoddily. You might want to use a nice controller, but personally I managed to become quite adept with the PSP d-pad, so anything is possible.

"Play a game for 50 hours and you'll find it fun!"

No thanks. If a game doesn't interest me in the first few hour or two then it isn't worth playing. I shouldn't have to be good at a game to enjoy it - it shouldn't be so unwelcoming.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:46 am

GaijinPunch wrote:I could never do the one where he sticks the lure in the ground, runs backwards and flings himself forward. Seems to be one of the more basic advanced moves too. :(

The rocket jump? It's like playing a barre chord on a guitar. You rip your hair out for weeks, then one morning, you can suddenly do it. It's a bit like finding a new item in Zeldar, except you've accieved it through sheer skill, rather than a simple slog.

Etrian wrote:"Play a game for 50 hours and you'll find it fun!"

No thanks. If a game doesn't interest me in the first few hour or two then it isn't worth playing. I shouldn't have to be good at a game to enjoy it - it shouldn't be so unwelcoming.

There is a genre of games called 'shmups'. I'd stay away from them if I were you ;)

Etrian · Post by **Etrian** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:11 pm

MX7 wrote:There is a genre of games called 'shmups'. I'd stay away from them if I were you

Although I'm decent at the genre, you don't have to be good to enjoy them. It sure as hell didn't stop me from dropping coins into the arcade machine back in the 90's. Where's your spirit?

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:18 pm

The PSP version really is pretty broken. Received it today. Even though I've not invested a huge amount of time into the only other version I own - the SNES one - you can tell, almost immediately, that this isn't how it's supposed to be.

Things like the line sticking to the bottom corner of a platform, even though you've got the lure stuck in the top of that same platform, meaning that you can't swing from it at the correct angle. Things like hitting your head on the underside of a platform and then flipping out wildly for no good reason, resulting in the lure coming loose of its own accord and you plummeting into the water below.

Very disappointing.

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:08 pm

I dunno if anybody else really cares about this, but in the interests of fairness...

Initially, I was pissed off. I'd been looking forwards to this game so much, that any imperfection was going to get right on my tits. Faulty physics? Fatal.

After a fair few more hours, it's become clear that it's possible to live with the weird glitches, because once you know where they occur, you can take steps to counter or avoid them.

Somebody on NeoGaf linked to this site, which gives a breakdown of all of the glitches and bugs that are present in the PSP version. But the thing is, as much as I've tried, I simply can't replicate most of them. The 'line passing through platform' thing? It's not happened to me once, not by accident and not when I've purposefully tried to make it happen.

The one thing that really has got in the way is this:

The line reacting to an underside corner when it shouldn't - when it's swinging *away* from that corner. The most astonishing and annoying thing about that is that it happens on Stage 9 - the giant tadpole one, where attaching the line to the top of the platform and swinging underneath it is the basic strategy for clearing the level. And that's where the 'lure flipping out and unattaching itself' stuff happens - when the physics on the line go to shit like that, the lure does too.

And I refuse to accept that Marvellous weren't aware of this, because this very action, on this very stage, is used for screenshots in the manual.

But it's becoming less of an issue to me now. There are ways around it. Drop off the platform and quickly fire the lure to the side of it, instead of attaching it to the topside and hanging off from there. It requires a better sense of timing, but it's pretty easily do-able.

So, yeah - it's broken, but it's not the nightmare that it's been made out to be (or that I made it out to be in the previous post

). It's still a massively entertaining game, once you get used to the new physics on the line (note: new physics doesn't refer to the glitchy stuff, but to the alteration to the line's tension and basic reactions). It's just a bit of a disgrace that it was allowed to be released with *any* obvious glitches and bugs present.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:53 am

It does sound like it can be worked around with a bit of practice, but when it's a flawed port of an absolutely flawless game, then why bother? I had actually got the money together to buy this game and a PSP too, but there's no inclination now. Shame.