More Hope for a Ketsui Port

[Cthulhu]

Since sales have been brought up - DDP DOJ sold "okay," and ESPGaluda sold like crap (just as GaijinPunch said). Gradius V pulled in some acceptable numbers, as did Shikigami no Shiro 2, but those two are probably the most hi-profile shmups to be released in years.

It's hard to say how many sales you need on a shmup to break even though... 10,000 units times 6800 yen (it was 6800 yen, right?) equals 68,000,000 yen / about $680,000 in revenue... but I have no idea what it actually costs to port the game. Normally 30,000 is considered the "break even" point for lower-budget games, but even that is a really arbitrary figure.

[Valgar]

How many JP Players bought EspGaluda for just the arcade mode? How many copies do you think actually stayed in the country?

[Blade]

I'd have to agree with Neojma on this one, not only are they going for fun yet simplistic gaming and working more with Ports, but Nintendo has Sega Backing them too, I've seen more Dreamcast ports on the GC than I've seen on the PS2 or X-box, so I may vote for the new Revolution if they should possibly decide to port good ole Radiant Silvergun to Nintendo's System. I mean, if Infogrames managed to port Ikaruga successfully to GC, what's stopping them...? To say nothing of Cave Games...

I'm guessing this time around, the console wars wil be centered around New School versus Old School in terms of gaming and who sides with what system.

If this were a political debate I'd say "Call your congressman..." if only we could call up Nintendo and get our wishes to come true.

[Ataru]

porting dreamcast to gamecube = easy
porting saturn to anything = not easy.

[Bar81]

Well if they didn't want ESPgaluda to sell like such shit the assclowns should have made it a double pack with the infinitely more brilliant ESP.ra.de as we had asked for. Things sell like crap when an average game is all that is on offer in a limited sales potential genre. I don't know if Ketsui is anything better than average as I've never played it but if it's actually above average or better then the game should sell itself. Worst case scenario, just throw in a no panty female model along with the game.

[Ataru]

i agree that ESP.Ra.De should have been included with Galuda, would have insured significantly more sales. Is there a rights issue here?

I'm thinking about writing to the company that's published Alien Hominid and is publishing Chaos Field here in the usa to suggest a Dodonpachi DOJ / ESP Galuda double pack here in the states. They seem as open to shooters as any publisher.

I feel that PS2 arcade ports will be easier to come by in the states once the PS3 is launched.... history shows that Sony will be less restrictive as the emphasis shifts to the new hardware.

Pity that Ketsui is basically impossible to port to the PS2 without absurd effort, would be nice if it eventually gets ported to something.

[Valgar]

Why would Ketsui sell itself if it is released in Japan to a crowd of players that go to the arcade to play the game already. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Also doesn't Atlus have the rights to ESP Ra.De.?

[Bar81]

Why would Ketsui sell itself if it is released in Japan to a crowd of players that go to the arcade to play the game already. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Also doesn't Atlus have the rights to ESP Ra.De.?

Well, under your theory why would any shmup based on an arcade game EVER sell itself. Your theory doesn't make any sense and history has proven your post wrong time and time again.

[Valgar]

Because they have extra features like level select or replay? Also who knows how many copies are imported.

[highlandcattle]

You guys always have to be cheap asses why didn't they Include this or that.Yadda yadda.
Be glad that we get good ports intead of awfull ones.And cashing out 60 dollars every thee or four months isn't really that expensive I think.
I on't think that if agame like ESPgadula only sells 10K that it sold badly.They still have some good profit. I guess.

[Recap]

if Infogrames managed to port Ikaruga successfully to GC...

Pardon?

[J2d]

The 10k figure is from the first week, though I doubt it sold that much after that but who knows right. There's not that many arcade shooters that have done well if you count that as crap this gen.

It's strange that DOJ and Espgaluda haven't found their way to Europe since just about everything else has btw.

[Blade]

if Infogrames managed to port Ikaruga successfully to GC...

Pardon?

What? It was a good port, wasn't it? I liked it anyway.

[Recap]

No clue. But Infogrames did nothing besides distributing the game in Western countries. How could it?

[GaijinPunch]

Do you guys realize how ridiculously stupid "they should've put ESPRade in" sounds? Why not make all games double-packs then? ESPGaluda was a brand spanking new port when it came out. Just like Mushi is. Besides, Atlus published ESPRade. They own the rights.

ESPGaluda and DOJ were possibly the best packages any shooters have seen in ages. Super Replay DVD, Arrange mode, replay mode, etc. Quality products - period. They didn't need another game to be thrown in.

I on't think that if agame like ESPgadula only sells 10K that it sold badly.They still have some good profit.

Possibly. It really depends on how much they paid for the rights. PRoduction cost was probably pretty low.

It's strange that DOJ and Espgaluda haven't found their way to Europe since just about everything else has btw.

I don't know about Europe, but no way would they be released in the US. They're 2D, and low-res 2D at that. I believe Sony's stance is you can't release a single game like that... has to be a collection.

[Recap]

Do you guys realize how ridiculously stupid "they should've put ESPRade in" sounds? Why not make all games double-packs then? ESPGaluda was a brand spanking new port when it came out. Just like Mushi is. Besides, Atlus published ESPRade. They own the rights.

ESPGaluda and DOJ were possibly the best packages any shooters have seen in ages. Super Replay DVD, Arrange mode, replay mode, etc. Quality products - period. They didn't need another game to be thrown in.

I totally agree. People here still prefers to purchase Trizeal, thoe. "Shooting love", you know...

[Bar81]

Do you guys realize how ridiculously stupid "they should've put ESPRade in" sounds? Why not make all games double-packs then? ESPGaluda was a brand spanking new port when it came out. Just like Mushi is. Besides, Atlus published ESPRade. They own the rights.

ESPGaluda and DOJ were possibly the best packages any shooters have seen in ages. Super Replay DVD, Arrange mode, replay mode, etc. Quality products - period. They didn't need another game to be thrown in.

When Cave releases a hack follow up to a brilliant shooter developers/publishers can't bitch about low sales when everyone's on to the fact that the game is average. The reason I said that ESP.ra.de should have been included is that would have made one good game in the set and made it worth the full price they were asking for. ESPgaluda is a second rate shooter compared to ESP.ra.de and no matter how much lipstick (extras) they put on the pig (ESPgaluda) it's still a pig. I'm sure the game was planned as a part homage to ESP.ra.de, but, at base, it's a piss poor rip-off cash-in on the brilliance of the original. About the only thing that I liked about galuda was the music and even then it's not a patch on ESP.ra.de. So yes, if they wanted sales that didn't suck they should have included a game that was above average or lowered the price to something in the range of $30 which is all the game is worth at most imo.

Frankly, if there wasn't a dearth of shmups at the time I doubt galuda would even have sold 10k in its first week and deservedly so. The bottom line is still that the game sells itself, not the bullshit they pack into the box or extra modes they add, and on that count ESPgaluda is sorely lacking. Here's an idea, how about next time, they leave out all the DVD and associated bullshit modes and just include a game that doesn't suck and is consequently worth the pricetag

If the shmup genre is going to put out retread garbage like galuda and DDOJ as well as pure crap such as Border Down, Chaos Field, etc it deserves to die. Cave lately has been a factory of average retread garbage and the poor sales of ports should hopefully either get Cave to turn it around or stop soiling consoles with the yawn-inducing garbage they've been pumping out of late.

The shmup devs started putting out the same old shit which has caused a cylce of crap sales that result in less funds being poured into new shmups which has resulted in even more retread shit which has resulted in lower sales, and so on. The bottom line is that the genre is dead, not because devs aren't pumping out shitty shmups (sadly, they are) for the starved fanbase to waste their money on, but because there hasn't been any innovation in the genre in years. Fuck that, there hasn't even been a AAA shmup in years, forget innovative shmups.

Bottom line, as a shmup fan I'd be happy to see the genre die a quick death, rather than this period of protracted shit kept going by all the shmup fans who buy games just because they're shmups, and not because they're any good. It's like watching Brando get fat and put his whole life in the toilet. It just would have been better for everyone if he had taken himself out early.

It's sad to see so many fans sitting around like starving puppy dogs, begging for the latest release of shmup garbage (the worst is the petitions) so that they can throw $60+ down the toilet and come onto this BBS and convince each other that they've bought a quality title.

[GaijinPunch]

When Cave releases a hack follow up to a brilliant shooter developers/publishers can't bitch about low sales when everyone's on to the fact that the game is average.

I quit reading the post after this. Sorry, just b/c you don't like the game doesn't mean they should put one of their older ones in. You basically just pissed away any argument you could've made. Don't like the game? Don't fucking buy it.

I guess the irony is after reading what the developers said, they've considered ESPRade the "hack".

[Bar81]

When Cave releases a hack follow up to a brilliant shooter developers/publishers can't bitch about low sales when everyone's on to the fact that the game is average.

I quit reading the post after this. Sorry, just b/c you don't like the game doesn't mean they should put one of their older ones in. You basically just pissed away any argument you could've made. Don't like the game? Don't fucking buy it.

I guess the irony is after reading what the developers said, they've considered ESPRade the "hack".

Well, glad I almost give a fuck what you think

[Blade]

I take it that rant was a long time in coming. But you understand of course that whether Pig or Horse or Dog, a Shmup is still a shmup and a damn fun one, even if there are better out there. It's a game, it's supposed to be fun. Duh. No brainer. Even if it is average.

[GaijinPunch]

Well, glad I almost give a fuck what you think

Well you certainly did get worked up over a bunch games, didn't you?

[Acid King]

They're already dead. They were killed by those who think that Raiden III's visuals are "fine" enough and by those who can't distinguish between fake and true low res displays.

So basically, everyone who is not an anal retentive purist? Makes sense, I mean the anal retentive purists are doing so much for the genre nowadays, what with all the griping on the internet.

[raiden]

When Cave releases a hack follow up to a brilliant shooter developers/publishers can't bitch about low sales when everyone's on to the fact that the game is average.

I quit reading the post after this. Sorry, just b/c you don't like the game doesn't mean they should put one of their older ones in. You basically just pissed away any argument you could've made. Don't like the game? Don't fucking buy it.

I guess the irony is after reading what the developers said, they've considered ESPRade the "hack".

Well, glad I almost give a fuck what you think

you can give a fuck as much as you like, but this was rather concerned with how Cave see their own product than with what Gaijinpunch thinks. But I´d really like to know where ESp Galuda is a "hack". New gameplay, new graphics, new music, new bullet patterns, new characters. Do you mean the first 5 seconds in game with the "Taking of" sequence? That´s surely some indepth comparison.

[Recap]

So basically, everyone who is not an anal retentive purist? Makes sense, I mean the anal retentive purists are doing so much for the genre nowadays, what with all the griping on the internet.

Some "anal retentive purists" have indeed been trying to save the house for some years now by informing others, you know. Lots of these have realized what they were actually missing and are happier people now. Unfortunately, the amount of poor ignorants who thought that they couldn't learn anything new and just limited to use pejorative words like "anal retentive" in a try to hide their own drama was overwhelming.

[system11]

How a 68000-based hardware can be "similar" to an SH3-based one?

Duuh. Indeed you're right, Galuda was one of the modified PGM standalones.

[system11]

They're already dead. They were killed by those who think that Raiden III's visuals are "fine" enough and by those who can't distinguish between fake and true low res displays.

So basically, everyone who is not an anal retentive purist? Makes sense, I mean the anal retentive purists are doing so much for the genre nowadays, what with all the griping on the internet.

"OMG the score bar font is scaled slightly, I'm not buying this shit port!"
"OMG there's no tate, I'm not buying this shit port!"
(and so on)

[system11]

But I´d really like to know where ESp Galuda is a "hack". New gameplay, new graphics, new music, new bullet patterns, new characters. Do you mean the first 5 seconds in game with the "Taking of" sequence? That´s surely some indepth comparison.

I actually think ESPgaluda is the best game Cave have made in years, I never much liked ESPrade though.

[system11]

Well, glad I almost give a fuck what you think

Do you have that one on a hotkey? If you didn't care, you wouldn't respond.

[GaijinPunch]

I actually think ESPgaluda is the best game Cave have made in years, I never much liked ESPrade though.

Word... although I'm coming around to ESPRade.

[MDY]

Hmmm,
I know the XBox (or 360) aren't popular choices around here, but they do have one rather novel games distribution method - XBox Live Arcade.
MS are very interested in getting small homebrew and (what would otherwise be) shareware titles available and are supposedly looking to radically expand this feature for the 360.

Pay around $10 for a title and get it available to download (and re-download) to your machine at any time.
Live will be available to ALL 360 owners out of the box - no subscription fee - so there could be a huge catalogue of interesting little niche titles available to play.
There are a couple of shmup titles on the XBox one - Pompom's Mutant Storm for example.
A lot of smaller companies could do a lot worse than get their stuff available to the public this way...