Xbox 360: Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 (November 2009)

[Devil REI]

There's a Youtube tutorial showing you how to get the "やったー、もういっちょやったー Get an extend by picking up a Bomb or Power-up Item 20G" achievement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N06RoPA7Fes

If you're too lazy to watch:

- play novice original mode
- use all your bombs and get yourself killed immediately so you can pick up the MP powerup
- don't bomb at all afterwards
- get to stage 3 and stop shooting when your score is 34.4 to 34.9 million
- pick up the powerup item and only one bomb before the boss
- wear the boss down until your score is at lease 34.9 mil, then pick up the 2nd bomb

You can do this without dieing to get the full powerup, the only reason to do so if you want to get it by picking up a powerup for 10k points, but having max bombs and picking up another bomb for 100k is easier.

It also seems like far too much effort to expend for a paltry 20G.

[cody]

What I don't get is why I need to zoom. I want this game running at 320x240, then doubled with scanlines, and it should fit perfectly in 640x480 right? I tried going to x2.0 for the zoom, but it was still not the full screen.

Yes, I'm running it in my cab as well, so as my 360 is set to 4:3, I was a bit surprised to find no fullscreen TATE mode was present. I think it looks quite sharp though, as if no blur is added even when zoomed (360 mode, arcade mode does look very soft).

start a game (dont do these settings at the title screen, you won't get correct overscan adjustment).
pause, go to screen setting. choose "maniac" menu mode.
go to layout setting, hit a to get the submenu, rotate in the correct direction, set zoom to 160 (4x dbd). Adjust your monitor's hsize and vsize / hpos and vpos to eliminate overscan, so that it doesn't matter if the background is on or off. exit the submenu.
go to picture setting, hit a to get the submenu, turn off smoothing, choose a filter option that you like with a level of bias that you like. 4x sharp is imho the closest to what you'd normally think of as fake scanlines.

After all that, it looks about as good as RFA.

Honestly, I like low res games, but the 360 mode looks so much better. Espgaluda II had enough visual detail that the low res was really hurting it imho, will be nice to see it at this quality.

[Special World]

Drove 2 hours back from college just to pick this up, and it's completely worth it. Got the DLC card with it too

I only just got this today and it's already my favorite Cave game, and very possibly shmup ever. This game rocks.

Granted the only other Cave games I've played are DDP DOJ, the first Mushi, Ibara, and ESPGaluda. But holy hell I love this game, and it doesn't have any of the problems the other Cave games have as far as I can see.

Not sure about Maniac mode, only played it once but it seemed like some DOJ style restrictive BS. That could be completely wrong... and probably is. I'll investigate it once my boner for original mode goes down. I think my favorite character is abnormal palm followed by normal rico. Does anyone here play the other characters? It seems like they're not as good. Or maybe I'm just not good.

Here's hoping ESPGaluda goes region free, I'll snap that up in a second and make up for all the time I wasted without Cave's games. Hell, I'd probably even buy Pink Sweets and Mushi Mushi Pork even though I hate Ibara and presumably whats-his-face's style in general.

Are all LCD TVs tate-able without worry? I might actually tate mine when I get back to school...

[adversity1]

Maniac is amazing.

I was used to Black Label maniac which is a lot looser in terms of how you can string enemies together to get the chaining bar up, but 1.5 Maniac is interesting in its restrictiveness alone. You really have to piece together how to group enemies and trigger the red bar->golden explosions. It has a slight puzzle element in this sense, which works for me.

[Special World]

I'm still not even 100% on how it works even after reading EOJ's guide, so I'll hold back on any sort of judgment till I sit down with it for a few hours. I did think DOJ was too restrictive so we'll see how I like this. But I do like the idea of having a sweet Mushi and a sweet Dodonpachi all in one game

And then also a weird Mars Matrix. I love the shit outta Mars Matrix.

[EPS21]

Are all LCD TVs tate-able without worry? I might actually tate mine when I get back to school...

There are a lot less problems tate-ing an LCD than there are tateing a tube or CRT monitor, thats for sure.

[CptRansom]

Are all LCD TVs tate-able without worry?

God, I hope so. I started doing it to my 32" LG yesterday and I can't see myself playing this any other way now.

[Special World]

Do you guys have stands or have you just been holding them in place with something heavy?

[CptRansom]

Do you guys have stands or have you just been holding them in place with something heavy?

I just lean mine on the (carpet) floor up against the wall. Oddly enough, it's more stable than when I have it sitting on my TV stand. I haven't seen any issues with it so far. I don't know a damn thing about TVs though, so take my experience with a grain of salt.

It's definitely worth it if it's not damaging to the TV, though. The game looks amazing in 360 mode with the larger play area.

[Acid King]

I'm still not even 100% on how it works even after reading EOJ's guide, so I'll hold back on any sort of judgment till I sit down with it for a few hours. I did think DOJ was too restrictive so we'll see how I like this. But I do like the idea of having a sweet Mushi and a sweet Dodonpachi all in one game

And then also a weird Mars Matrix. I love the shit outta Mars Matrix.

When I started playing Maniac, I just tried collecting gems and saving them to cash in at certain points. If you just focus on that, it's not very restrictive. Obviously, to really push your scores you have to factor the chaining bar into it and when you do that it becomes more restrictive. Even then, I'm seeing my score jump a lot and I've just started working that into my runs. Regardless, it's impossible for it to be as anal as DDP for a person to see big point gains just because of the way you can choose when and where to cash in on your gems and cancel bullets. Though I've never played Ketsui, what I know of how it's scoring system works makes me feel like Futari is kind of an amalgam of Ketsui's short burst/proximity chaining and Espgaluda's bullet canceling.

[gs68]

Responding to a post in the old thread:

What is the default button layout on mushi arcade cabinets?

A B C ?

A B
C ?

Does the arcade version have C button?

For those who have arcade sticks:
What button layout do you use?

I use the latter. I tend to double up my index and middle fingers on A, so I prefer to use my thumb for C. Otherwise I spread myself out too thin.

[Elixir]

What I don't get is why I need to zoom. I want this game running at 320x240, then doubled with scanlines, and it should fit perfectly in 640x480 right? I tried going to x2.0 for the zoom, but it was still not the full screen.

Yes, I'm running it in my cab as well, so as my 360 is set to 4:3, I was a bit surprised to find no fullscreen TATE mode was present. I think it looks quite sharp though, as if no blur is added even when zoomed (360 mode, arcade mode does look very soft).

start a game (dont do these settings at the title screen, you won't get correct overscan adjustment).
pause, go to screen setting. choose "maniac" menu mode.
go to layout setting, hit a to get the submenu, rotate in the correct direction, set zoom to 160 (4x dbd). Adjust your monitor's hsize and vsize / hpos and vpos to eliminate overscan, so that it doesn't matter if the background is on or off. exit the submenu.
go to picture setting, hit a to get the submenu, turn off smoothing, choose a filter option that you like with a level of bias that you like. 4x sharp is imho the closest to what you'd normally think of as fake scanlines.

After all that, it looks about as good as RFA.

Honestly, I like low res games, but the 360 mode looks so much better. Espgaluda II had enough visual detail that the low res was really hurting it imho, will be nice to see it at this quality.

I'm using 16 bias with 2x Scanlines on 4x zoom (160 dbd) and it looks great. Smoothing is off. I can play both 360 and Arcade modes in this. I actually just tried 4x Sharp and it's really nice as well. I might start using this..

Maniac mode is all about getting your gauge up with shot and destroying enemies with laser. Once you have 9999x, cash them in by holding shot and repeat.

[dmauro]

set zoom to 160 (4x dbd).

How did you arrive at this number?

[joeboto]

Sofmap

Oh my God, I love this.

+1000

like what? larsa rushing to high schooler reko and palm with bento in hand?
holy shiet. very amazing. now, any doujin futari themed?

[spadgy]

Awesome work Elixir.

I collect mine from local game store tomorrow, and I am ludicrously excited. New Sony PVM monitor is sat tate'd and waiting!

EDIT: I've had a look about and I seem to have missed the deal with region free relating to DLC. I think I'm right that you can redeem the Futari DLC points card with a non-JPN account, but can you download the 1.01 DLC itself with a non-JPN XBLA account?

Thanks!

[emphatic]

Awesome work Elixir.

I collect mine from local game store tomorrow, and I am ludicrously excited. New Sony PVM monitor is sat tate'd and waiting!

EDIT: I've had a look about and I seem to have missed the deal with region free relating to DLC. I think I'm right that you can redeem the Futari DLC points card with a non-JPN account, but can you download the 1.01 DLC itself with a non-JPN XBLA account?

Thanks!

No problemo.

[brentsg]

EDIT: I've had a look about and I seem to have missed the deal with region free relating to DLC. I think I'm right that you can redeem the Futari DLC points card with a non-JPN account, but can you download the 1.01 DLC itself with a non-JPN XBLA account?!

Use whatever account you wish, it's just an unlock key. But whatever account you use, it'll be tied to. I did mine early on before I knew or I would have used my native account rather than my JPN one.

[cody]

set zoom to 160 (4x dbd).

How did you arrive at this number?

If you set scaling under the maniac layout submenu, as opposed to the regular menu, it will show you the actual scaling factor, not just an arbitrary number. It will also indicate dbd (dot by dot). 2x is way too small, 4x is the right size for 640x480 rotated monitors. They must be referring to the area scaling factor, not linear edge (which begs the question of how 2x could be dot for dot, but whatever). I'm pretty sure it's the right size, because if I set my monitor to eliminate overscan with the futari port at 4x, my pcb of e.g. ESPrade is still within reasonable bounds (a little black area around the edges, but that could be due to lots of factors).

[Elixir]

Sofmap

Oh my God, I love this.

+1000

like what? larsa rushing to high schooler reko and palm with bento in hand?
holy shiet. very amazing. now, any doujin futari themed?

Yes, there is, but since it's fan-made I'm definitely not adding it to the OP. By the way, that telephone card is all over Y!JP if you want it.

http://search.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/sear ... 7&auccat=0

[dmauro]

set zoom to 160 (4x dbd).

How did you arrive at this number?

If you set scaling under the maniac layout submenu, as opposed to the regular menu, it will show you the actual scaling factor, not just an arbitrary number. It will also indicate dbd (dot by dot). 2x is way too small, 4x is the right size for 640x480 rotated monitors. They must be referring to the area scaling factor, not linear edge (which begs the question of how 2x could be dot for dot, but whatever). I'm pretty sure it's the right size, because if I set my monitor to eliminate overscan with the futari port at 4x, my pcb of e.g. ESPrade is still within reasonable bounds (a little black area around the edges, but that could be due to lots of factors).

Awesome, thank you!

[Momijitsuki]

Just wondering, do ver. 1.01 or Black Label have any additional achievements? I haven't redeemed my card yet, and obviously Black Label isn't out yet.

[Taylor]

It also seems like far too much effort to expend for a paltry 20G.

I just did this and entered Stage 3 with almost enough points. Doing a pacifist run of the stage was actually quite fun.

Just wondering, do ver. 1.01 or Black Label have any additional achievements? I haven't redeemed my card yet, and obviously Black Label isn't out yet.

1.01 doesn't but I imagine Black Label will (Deathsmiles: Mega Black Label did).

[Jockel]

Can't wait for Black Label to arrive!
It's gonna be hot shit!

[bcass]

[Kaspal]

Can't wait for Black Label to arrive!
It's gonna be hot shit!

i envy you guys... i cant use any of the goods that are enabled with XBL... effin MS!!!.

[sjewkestheloon]

Gone and ordered it today from videogameimports.com, but won't be allowed to play until Christmas.

This is my first import shmup new release, and I haven't played any worthwhile shmups later than Triggerheart Exelica and I'm expecting far greater things than in that title. I'm really looking forward to getting to grips with the scoring mechanics.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Can't wait for Black Label to arrive!
It's gonna be hot shit!

best net pic ive seen in a long time hahahah

[BrightSuzaku]

Today, I tried 1CC'ing Novice Original. I learned two things: Stage 5 is a PAIN IN THE ASS, and Larsa is an EVEN BIGGER PAIN IN THE ASS.

Although now, I can go through Stages 1-4 on no miss. If I find Novice Mode this hard, then I must be really bad! XD
Haven't tried Novice Ultra yet, I've got an essay to write. Although, the nice thing about Stage 5, is that it's the only stage I ever seem to get an extend in... <_<;

I think my favorite stage to beat is Stage 3, although Stage 5 has some AWESOME music...

[StarCreator]

Ugh, for the second time in a row I've failed a 1CC attempt at Arrange Maniac at Larsa when she's down to her last section of health... I get the feeling I'm getting the mechanics entirely wrong, since sometimes it seems I can reflect without the backup character's counter going down at all, and sometimes it drops thousands within a second.

[Dazzyman]

Ive just had a quick go on mine (got it for xmas from Lee at VGI) and its gone back away again as it just got rid of my worrys about it. Loved it got to mid 3rd level on 1cc on 1.5 original. Im not a massive flying person shmup I like ships for some reason and I wasnt keep on the prequel (I couldnt really get into DS either saying that though I adore Esp R) but it played fantastic sort of fantasy DDPDJ. I knocked it off after that as thought I want something special for xmas day and this is it.

One question though where is the novice mode peeps talking about? Is original novice mode or does certain versions like arrange have a novice mode (I only moved right to either original or xbox360 for 1.1 and 1.5 as well). Just that if original is novice mode then yep Im crap I did try manic mode quickly and that reminded me more of the bend over and eat the bullets of DDPDJ.