Death Smiles: Countdown to North America Invasion

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:12 am

I plan on using a modded HRAP2 for 360. It already has a MadCatz PCB in it, but it still needs the parts replaced. For some reason, the person who modded it decided to keep the HRAP2's parts. In reality, I should've just ordered the EX-SE, but I like to be different. At the moment though, the fightpad feels decent enough to use with most shmups, so I'll continue to use that until my stick's finished.

kemical · Post by **kemical** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:34 am

aesthetik wrote: What are you guys using to play: the 360 controller or can you recommend a good stick?

I'm using this.

someday I may get around to filling the autofire stuff in and arting it up.

I recommend HORI anything. DS also includes a game mode that makes use of the analog sticks it seems .

interupt0 · Post by **interupt0** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:26 am

On the topic of Hori sticks and Seimitsu stick mounting for that nice short/fast engage and small deadzone; My solution for the 360 operation has been going to dual PCB route with HRAP2 version A or the HRAP2SA. I believe japanvideogames actually has some of the SAs. The mounting place on the control panel is suited for both a LS-32/LS-40 SS plate or a JLF (which also works for some of the Seimi's). The dual PCB route is not too horrible with something like a Madcatz wired 360 pad's PCB (nice common ground) plus the Hori PS2 PCB or hell, even something like Toodle's Cthulhu (and forgo the Hori PCB) tied to a Euro terminal strip for the majority of the wiring to your stick and buttons. Route out some ports on the back for a DPDT switch, or just use two cables - just don't plug em' in at the same time

.

There's lots of details and drawings and FAQs on this - I'm somewhat positive some of you know, but I'll be more than happy to point anyone in the directions I'm aware of if you wish. Since I'm fairly new to this board, if this I'm parroting info - sorry.

Hell there are even people who make custom CPs for the Hori's just to solve this problem, if you wish to use an EX with whatever stick and button layout you want.

On general post topic,
DS is a great port + to everything that has been said - wish there was the 16:9 if they were going to go the extra mile to do a full 360 freshen up, and I agree I would rather not stretch (how about just a stech to 16:9 Cave). I am thankful they ported this otherwise.
I had a wish the other day that Cave pulled Ketsui from 5pb afer seeing their job on DDP:DOJBL and decided to run it proper themselves. Ah well.

Apologies for the long 1st or 2nd something post BTW...

AraraSPAMWitch · Post by **AraraSPAMWitch** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:26 am

neist wrote:Tournament Edition SFIV sticks had pure Sanwa parts, and all the wires are on quick connects, so you can modify them easily. The stick itself is on a universal mounting plate, so you can put basically anything you want into the sucker with little to no hard modification. Considering how high of demand the sticks were in during the release and their current pricing on the second-hand market, I'm sure Mad Catz wants to make some more bank. I see no reason why they'd change to lesser standards for a premium version of a stick when people still want that premium standard.

As for the art, it's designed to have a removable art. In fact, Mad Catz even released templates to make your own art.

I was a bit peeved with Gamestop canceled my preorder, to say the least.

I know the SFIV sticks are sweet as hell, I've used them myself, I was just saying that every person I've met who plays Marvel as their main game prefers Happ sticks over Sanwa. At all the tournaments I've been to, the vast majority of marvel players use American-style joysticks, so I would guess that any MvC2 stick would try to cater to that fanbase's taste; if not, I'd expect there to be some complaining on the part of fans. Yeah, it would probably be simple to mod, but I'd feel somehow unclean using an MvC2 controller, even if I switched the art to something with anime witches or whatever.

Kaspal · Post by **Kaspal** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:28 am

im sorry for the Off-topic, but, does someone knows of a palce where i can buy a brand new jap. X360?... i wanna play all the shmups released in japan for the 360 (i have a copy of SGnS3 in mint condition... but cant use it yet) but since the games are region lcked, all i can do is either get a japanese console or suck it up...

so any hints? say, an arcade console, with shipping to colombia, how much would it cost?

interupt0 · Post by **interupt0** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:47 am

AraraSPAMWitch wrote:
neist wrote:Tournament Edition SFIV sticks had pure Sanwa parts, and all the wires are on quick connects, so you can modify them easily. The stick itself is on a universal mounting plate, so you can put basically anything you want into the sucker with little to no hard modification. Considering how high of demand the sticks were in during the release and their current pricing on the second-hand market, I'm sure Mad Catz wants to make some more bank. I see no reason why they'd change to lesser standards for a premium version of a stick when people still want that premium standard.

As for the art, it's designed to have a removable art. In fact, Mad Catz even released templates to make your own art.

I was a bit peeved with Gamestop canceled my preorder, to say the least.
I know the SFIV sticks are sweet as hell, I've used them myself, I was just saying that every person I've met who plays Marvel as their main game prefers Happ sticks over Sanwa. At all the tournaments I've been to, the vast majority of marvel players use American-style joysticks, so I would guess that any MvC2 stick would try to cater to that fanbase's taste; if not, I'd expect there to be some complaining on the part of fans. Yeah, it would probably be simple to mod, but I'd feel somehow unclean using an MvC2 controller, even if I switched the art to something with anime witches or whatever.

High probability that you know this, but the large majority of the tourney players Stateside (where I am located) grew up with the rather un-ergonomic Happ American layouts at the arcades. I used to play on the bat top and the straight six buttons all happ/happ knockoff garbage daily while growing up. While all preference, once I swapped to to the curved layout with a balltop I found execution and comfort increase ten-fold. This is a pretty common thing with most people I know, it just takes adjustment, but in the long term, most agree its worth it. Again this is all preference, but executing with your fingers on the stick versus your wrist (ball versus bat) allows much more overhead for reaction in general. The curved layout leaves each finger to execute on a button, starting to use piano stlyle techniques. Its quite eye opening.
I'm not saying there's exceptions...

henry dark · Post by **henry dark** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:41 am

Bic Camera in Nagoya had a stack of LE's on the shelves today.

Dazzyman · Post by **Dazzyman** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:19 am

Mines arrived and just to confirm it aint region free as tested it in my PAL unit to double check incase.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:21 am

Ah, thanks, I didn't trust the other three confirmations in this thread anyway.

Strider77 · Post by **Strider77** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:43 am

I got one of thos TE sticks for 360.

I modded it to hell. It was originally a 360 stick, but I added another PCB and also a neo-geo port.

It also has a small red LED added that lights up when any button or joystick input is made. It comes in handy for any trouble shooting ect.

Long story short I can now use it with:

360
PS3, 2, and 1
Gamecube, Wii
Saturn
Neo-Geo
Super Gun
DC
SNES
Mega Drive

I did cheat a bit with wii, dc, and PS3 adapters

I also cut a sheet of plexi to lay over the control panel. The original art was pressed onto a thin sheet of plastic. If i ever wanted to change it I'd have to remove the plastic and that would have left nothing but the metal control panel. So instead of being cheap with laminated paper for new art I just cut a sheet of plexi to overlay it so I could just print any art i wanted and lay it under the plexi.

I hate those extra 2 buttons so I didn't bother cutting them and used photoshop to fill in the original art's 2 extra holes ect. I like the original art and will keep it for now. I may do a thunder force underlay for the art later or something.

ChurchOfSolipsism · Post by **ChurchOfSolipsism** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:12 pm

Kaspal wrote:im sorry for the Off-topic, but, does someone knows of a palce where i can buy a brand new jap. X360?... i wanna play all the shmups released in japan for the 360 (i have a copy of SGnS3 in mint condition... but cant use it yet) but since the games are region lcked, all i can do is either get a japanese console or suck it up...

so any hints? say, an arcade console, with shipping to colombia, how much would it cost?

You don't really expect any serious replies to this train wreck of a post, do you?

antron · Post by **antron** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:07 pm

Kaspal wrote:im sorry for the Off-topic, but, does someone knows of a palce where i can buy a brand new jap. X360?... i wanna play all the shmups released in japan for the 360 (i have a copy of SGnS3 in mint condition... but cant use it yet) but since the games are region lcked, all i can do is either get a japanese console or suck it up...

so any hints? say, an arcade console, with shipping to colombia, how much would it cost?

http://www.ncsxshop.com/cgi-bin/shop/XGX-00007.html

Guardians Knight · Post by **Guardians Knight** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 5:29 pm

just a final word on the joypad sub topic here - ive been using a Hori turbo pad, cost me £60 and its not wireless but the dpad is immense! the shoulder buttons arent as responsive as the offical pad, but what shmup uses those to much effect?

anyone else not been charged for DS yet btw? ive got my shipping confirmation email from playasia from wednesday but still hasnt charged my account yet.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:06 pm

Yes Boss over at NeoGaf wrote: Reported 62% sell-through rate on first day sales for DS (just under 10K):

[WII] Monster Hunter G (Capcom) - SP 65,000 (60%) / SE 27,000 (30%)
[PS3] Killzone 2 (SCE) - 20,000 (45%)
[PSP] Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3: Kowareyuku Machi no Kanojo no Uta (Irem Software Engineering) - 19,000 (35%)
[360] Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. (Ubisoft) - 6,000 (40%)
[360] DeathSmiles (Cave) - LE 5,000 (65%) / SE 4,000 (60%)
[NDS] A Ressha de Gyoukou DS (Artdink) - 4,500 (30%)
[PSP] Nantama: Chronicle of Dungeon Maker (Global A Entertainment) - 2,000 (25%)
[NDS] Mezase!! Tsuri Master DS (Hudson) - 1,500 (7%)
[NDS] Zaidanhoujin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kyoukai Koushiki Soft: 250 Banjin no Kanken Premium - Zenkyuu Zen-Kanji Kanzen Seiha (IE Institute) - 800 (3%)

Info taken from here.

neist · Post by **neist** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:10 pm

... So the LE sold more copies than the standard edition?

Maybe I'm reading it wrong.

antron · Post by **antron** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:12 pm

Kiken wrote:
Yes Boss over at NeoGaf wrote: Reported 62% sell-through rate on first day sales for DS (just under 10K):

[WII] Monster Hunter G (Capcom) - SP 65,000 (60%) / SE 27,000 (30%)
[PS3] Killzone 2 (SCE) - 20,000 (45%)
[PSP] Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3: Kowareyuku Machi no Kanojo no Uta (Irem Software Engineering) - 19,000 (35%)
[360] Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. (Ubisoft) - 6,000 (40%)
[360] DeathSmiles (Cave) - LE 5,000 (65%) / SE 4,000 (60%)
[NDS] A Ressha de Gyoukou DS (Artdink) - 4,500 (30%)
[PSP] Nantama: Chronicle of Dungeon Maker (Global A Entertainment) - 2,000 (25%)
[NDS] Mezase!! Tsuri Master DS (Hudson) - 1,500 (7%)
[NDS] Zaidanhoujin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kyoukai Koushiki Soft: 250 Banjin no Kanken Premium - Zenkyuu Zen-Kanji Kanzen Seiha (IE Institute) - 800 (3%)
Info taken from here.

so does that mean there are 5000/.65-5000=2692 LE copies still on shelves?

RuffNEC · Post by **RuffNEC** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:53 pm

got my LTD. Edition today!!

my question is:

Is it possible to download the Black Label Content via European Profile or do I have to download it with a japanese account ? If it's downloaded with the japanese account can you use it then with the EU Profile ?

bucklemyshoe · Post by **bucklemyshoe** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 8:09 pm

^^^Is the cover on the game case the same as the slipcase or is just the normal edition tucked in the slipcase?

Chiaroscuro · Post by **Chiaroscuro** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 8:26 pm

RuffNEC wrote:got my LTD. Edition today!!

my question is:

Is it possible to download the Black Label Content via European Profile or do I have to download it with a japanese account ? If it's downloaded with the japanese account can you use it then with the EU Profile ?

No, you have to used a Japanese account. Just sign-up for a free silver account and you can get it. Of course, you have to use Japanese MS points cards, but they can be found easily on ebay (sellers even send the codes by e-mail for faster service). Once you have download it with the japanese profile, the content is available for all the profiles in your Xbox 360, so you can use it with your normal gamertag. But keep the japanese account information written somewhere, because you may need it if you change the console (for moving the DRM to the new console).

agustusx · Post by **agustusx** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 8:33 pm

just got my std copy today and im surprised the voice pack download was only 10 mb? guess plain voice audio + wmx=small filesize.

I'm downloading some of the jpn release vids and gonna hop on for a bit. Woot.

hermosaguy · Post by **hermosaguy** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:12 pm

Played a few games of this for the 360...currently VERY impressed.

agustusx · Post by **agustusx** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:17 pm

my full voice options are still grayed out, ive tried xbox360 mode, 1.1 and arcade. Any idea what you have to do in order for this to work.

EDIT: I deleted my DS save and tried again and its all good now.

hermosaguy · Post by **hermosaguy** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:28 pm

Any idea what the 2 big files are on the marketplace when you try to play MBL?

agustusx · Post by **agustusx** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:58 pm

hermosaguy wrote:Any idea what the 2 big files are on the marketplace when you try to play MBL?

just promo vids from a few weeks ago

hermosaguy · Post by **hermosaguy** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:03 pm

agustusx wrote:
hermosaguy wrote:Any idea what the 2 big files are on the marketplace when you try to play MBL?
just promo vids from a few weeks ago

Thanks! Also thank you for the tip on deleting the profile to get the full sound option selectable!

TodayIsForgotten · Post by **TodayIsForgotten** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:43 pm

I'm jealous of all you guys. When was the official release date of Death Smiles? The 16th? I just realized my order has been on hold due to me being late on ordering the LE. I had to email them saying remove the LE and send me the SE.

^^

Strider77 · Post by **Strider77** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:00 am

^^^Is the cover on the game case the same as the slipcase or is just the normal edition tucked in the slipcase?

I'd like to know the same....

Sonic R · Post by **Sonic R** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:37 am

TodayIsForgotten wrote:I'm jealous of all you guys. When was the official release date of Death Smiles? The 16th? I just realized my order has been on hold due to me being late on ordering the LE. I had to email them saying remove the LE and send me the SE.

I had the same issue

I will now have to wait til the middle of next week to play this

hermosaguy · Post by **hermosaguy** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:54 am

Strider77 wrote:
^^^Is the cover on the game case the same as the slipcase or is just the normal edition tucked in the slipcase?
I'd like to know the same....

Same as slipcase.

bucklemyshoe · Post by **bucklemyshoe** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 1:23 am

awesome! i was hoping for that. would have been disappointing otherwise