Why is Dodonpachi so underground in america?

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Wed May 21, 2008 4:19 pm

Dodonpachi. We all know and love it. Shmup players, that is. From what I've seen, it's generally (always?) at the top of every top 10, top 25 list, etc. It was highly influential in forming the bullet hell genre. And a fantastic game.

But in america, where shmups are relatively underground, Dodonpachi is virtually unknown. I admit to never even hearing of it until last September when I started getting more heavily into shmups.

Really, I think every gamer should be required to play it at least for 30 minutes or an hour before they are allowed to play any other games.

So why is it so unknown in america?
Maybe Cave should release their games in america, and give them bastardized american titles. It could be called "Bang bang kapow" or something like that

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Wed May 21, 2008 4:35 pm

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

DDP's never been released in the U.S. in any form. Of course it's not going to be very well-known. I never heard of it until I started playing shooters heavily in recent years, either.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Wed May 21, 2008 4:57 pm

indstr wrote:But in america, where shmups are relatively underground, Dodonpachi is virtually unknown. I admit to never even hearing of it until last September when I started getting more heavily into shmups.

So why is it so unknown in america?
Maybe Cave should release their games in america, and give them bastardized american titles. It could be called "Bang bang kapow" or something like that

I don't think it is that unknown among Americans who enjoy classic arcade games. Just look at all of the outrage surrounding the DOJ BL and Ketsui XBLA cancellation... loads of people were mentioning how much they loved DDP. Go look on Youtube.. there are loads of videos from people just picking up and playing the game.

Also, there have been a handful of Cave arcade releases outside Japan. Both DDP and ESPRa.De. have international version releases. Progear No Arashi was printed in limited quanities in the US for the CPS2 blue board version (in fact, it has different default settings to the Japanese green board).

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Wed May 21, 2008 5:31 pm

Altus USA was fortunate to have the official U.S. rights to distribute the very first Donpachi PCB stateside back in 1995. As to why it's sequel, Dodonpachi PCB, wasn't given such an American arcade release (despite knowing that Cave had released such an "all-English language" International version of it), only Altus USA would know about that themselves. Could it have been that the licensing & publishing factor for DDP PCB was too high to get it into the USA? Who knows? ^_~

Ever notice that not a single American arcade distributor ever picked up the exclusive rights to DDP PCB (despite the cult following of the first DP PCB)? I'm sure a few asked and nothing came of the deals between Cave as for getting said DDP PCB into the USA...or it could be that perhaps, no one bothered to ask in the first place is another point to consider.

After arriving on my first day in Japan back in the early part of 2000, I was lucky to try out two gaming sessions of DDP at a local Japanese game center. I vowed to myself that I would one of those days get a DDP PCB. It is such a very different experience playing the actual DDP PCB on a real Japanese arcade cabinet as opposed to playing DDP on the console (i.e. -- PSX, SS) or even emulation (i.e. -- Mame, Raine, etc.).....

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Wed May 21, 2008 6:57 pm

"LULZ, j00 r a f@g. Dodonpachi? More like Doo-doo-patchy, lulz. Go play some Hal0rz or Def Jam Vendetta, those are good games made by americun deisgnerz, lulz."

That's why.

Milkgoat · Post by **Milkgoat** » Wed May 21, 2008 7:41 pm

I remember when I was in school, when I played DDP on MAME, anyone who watched was instantly hooked and always played during study hall (no matter how bad they sucked).

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Wed May 21, 2008 7:52 pm

Milkgoat wrote:I remember when I was in school, when I played DDP on MAME, anyone who watched was instantly hooked and always played during study hall (no matter how bad they sucked).

Man, I wish I could have played video games in highschool. Then, I might have actually failed

Mischief Maker · Post by **Mischief Maker** » Wed May 21, 2008 8:28 pm

Because Japan kept nerfing their games when exporting them to the US, contributing to the end of the Arcade, stateside?

I remember reading something by Eugene Jarvis, developer of Robotron, where he said the key to a successful videogame is that the player is constantly threatened by impending death.

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Wed May 21, 2008 9:07 pm

Mischief Maker wrote:I remember reading something by Eugene Jarvis, developer of Robotron, where he said the key to a successful videogame is that the player is constantly threatened by impending death.

*cough*Myst*cough*

Mischief Maker · Post by **Mischief Maker** » Wed May 21, 2008 9:08 pm

*Cough* Dragon's Lair *Cough*

Successful arcade game.

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Wed May 21, 2008 9:12 pm

The only reason Dragon's Lair was successful was because of the grafix. A good game also needs to give the player options.

lgb · Post by **lgb** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:34 pm

Specineff wrote:"LULZ, j00 r a f@g. Dodonpachi? More like Doo-doo-patchy, lulz. Go play some Hal0rz or Def Jam Vendetta, those are good games made by americun deisgnerz, lulz."

That's why.

You've got to look cool, gotta keep an image! (Of a bee, as a poster on your wall.)

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Wed May 21, 2008 10:39 pm

Specineff wrote:"LULZ, j00 r a f@g. Dodonpachi? More like Doo-doo-patchy, lulz. Go play some Hal0rz or Def Jam Vendetta, those are good games made by americun deisgnerz, lulz."

That's why.

Don't forget 'lol TV on it's side? ur a faghomogaywad'.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Thu May 22, 2008 1:00 am

If your an adventurer at heart, you will walk where the masses seldom go, you will find hidden treasures. DDP isn't exactly a game that falls in your lap, you have to go and look for it.

Shmups are about my third favorite genre. However, due to excellent forums like this one its not hard to find the genres best of the best.

Shmups still define (to me at least) the best test of eye-hand coordination. I don't even see them as games, but about ability of ones self. Shmups are as important to the world of masterminds as Chess, or Poker. Win or lose, you find something out about yourself because your reacting in a way the creator cannot pre-determine.

If Western audiences thought like me, DDP would be world famous.

DirtyMonk · Post by **DirtyMonk** » Thu May 22, 2008 2:16 am

neorichieb1971 wrote:If your an adventurer at heart, you will walk where the masses seldom go, you will find hidden treasures. DDP isn't exactly a game that falls in your lap, you have to go and look for it.

Shmups are about my third favorite genre. However, due to excellent forums like this one its not hard to find the genres best of the best.

Shmups still define (to me at least) the best test of eye-hand coordination. I don't even see them as games, but about ability of ones self. Shmups are as important to the world of masterminds as Chess, or Poker. Win or lose, you find something out about yourself because your reacting in a way the creator cannot pre-determine.

If Western audiences thought like me, DDP would be world famous.

I totally agree with you there. Words of wisdom.

KNTain · Post by **KNTain** » Thu May 22, 2008 3:07 am

Go play some Hal0rz or Def Jam Vendetta, those are good games made by americun deisgnerz, lulz.

You keep the Aki Def Jam games out of this.

PROMETHEUS · Post by **PROMETHEUS** » Thu May 22, 2008 9:42 am

neorichieb1971 wrote: Shmups are as important to the world of masterminds as Chess, or Poker.

lol, poker ? this game is way simpler and stupid that the media and hype tries to make people believe. There are way more clever games than poker.

other than that I agree with you shmups are a nice test of hand eye coordination.

Etrian · Post by **Etrian** » Thu May 22, 2008 9:53 am

Specineff wrote:"LULZ, j00 r a f@g. Dodonpachi? More like Doo-doo-patchy, lulz. Go play some Hal0rz or Def Jam Vendetta, those are good games made by americun deisgnerz, lulz."

That's why.

Yeah, I see this kind of thing happening quite often. Americans like American-made games, or at least the vast majority of them do. I don't understand why, because a game's either good, or bad, regardless of which region it was created in.

Maybe someone should tell Valve to start looking into having Japanese stuff on their Steam list.

D · Post by D » Thu May 22, 2008 10:55 am

Mortificator wrote:Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

DDP's never been released in the U.S. in any form. Of course it's not going to be very well-known. I never heard of it until I started playing shooters heavily in recent years, either.

Indeed, anything that is not released in a region will not be well-known
DUH

Crisium · Post by **Crisium** » Fri May 23, 2008 6:02 am

Which version of DoDonPachi would you say is better, Playstation or Saturn? How about for its predecessor, DonPachi?

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Fri May 23, 2008 6:26 am

Crisium wrote:Which version of DoDonPachi would you say is better, Playstation or Saturn? How about for its predecessor, DonPachi?

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=11882

^^^^Read that^^^^

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Fri May 23, 2008 6:32 am

Crisium wrote:Which version of DoDonPachi would you say is better, Playstation or Saturn? How about for its predecessor, DonPachi?

Short answer: Both are better on PS. DP is much better, DDP a little.

Long answer: Read the forum FAQ. It links to severeal threads discussing the merits of both games and their ports.

Or just use the search function.

Talon · Post by **Talon** » Fri May 23, 2008 12:07 pm

Mortificator wrote:DDP's never been released in the U.S. in any form. Of course it's not going to be very well-known. I never heard of it until I started playing shooters heavily in recent years, either.

I was lucky when I picked it up at a local SwapUSA before they went out of business. Some guy traded it in shortly after release and I picked it up for $30. Lucky me

. Before then I didn't know about the game.

Phil12 · Post by **Phil12** » Fri May 23, 2008 12:49 pm

Never heard of it. Then again, I'm a shmups noob.

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Fri May 23, 2008 5:07 pm

Phil12 wrote:Never heard of it. Then again, I'm a shmups noob.

Play it. Love it. It will change you.

Matsunaga · Post by **Matsunaga** » Fri May 23, 2008 10:06 pm

I didn't get into shmups until I was playing 1943 on my NES one day, and thought, "there must be newer games like this", so I did some research and downloaded MAME and Dodonpachi.. the world has never been the same. The smart game players out there will find it, and they will be converted.

Erinu · Post by **Erinu** » Sat May 24, 2008 3:02 am

Dodonpachi never had an arcade release there, nor a console release, is this really that much of a big surprise to everyone?

Etrian · Post by **Etrian** » Sat May 24, 2008 3:10 am

Erinu wrote:Dodonpachi never had an arcade release there, nor a console release, is this really that much of a big surprise to everyone?

Dodonpachi is the game that defines the genre. I think that's why people are wondering why it isn't as highly recognised. But I actually agree - a console release in the US would make it more popular, ala Ikaruga.

Erinu · Post by **Erinu** » Tue May 27, 2008 5:14 am

Etrian wrote:
Erinu wrote:Dodonpachi never had an arcade release there, nor a console release, is this really that much of a big surprise to everyone?
Dodonpachi is the game that defines the genre. I think that's why people are wondering why it isn't as highly recognised. But I actually agree - a console release in the US would make it more popular, ala Ikaruga.

Dodonpachi is pretty fucking overrated even without having a US release.

I think the game is too outdated to be released in the US now.

Asherdude · Post by **Asherdude** » Wed May 28, 2008 6:17 am

Erinu wrote: Dodonpachi is pretty fucking overrated even without having a US release.

I think the game is too outdated to be released in the US now.

So saith Microsoft. But I'd still buy it, even if it only had a WiiWare release.

Why is Dodonpachi so underground in america?

Why is Dodonpachi so underground in america?

Re: Why is Dodonpachi so underground in america?