Xbox 360: Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 (November 2009)

[Skykid]

Finally got my hands on the port. My thoughts after playing the PCB to death:

Very beautiful port - 95% accurate on 1.5, and the hi-res looks gorgeous. Stage 3 is easier with a little more slowdown in difficult spots, and on the whole the entire game feels a touch easier than the PCB, although I couldn't say why exactly.

Novice is a joke to shmup stalwarts, I finished ultra on my first go without dying - but for newbies it's surely fantastic, immersive fun, and cleverly implemented too.

Arrange is cool, but I'm yet to figure out how to play it. I seem to only be able to reflect bullets after being resurrected from a death?

Will thrash it for a bit and get on black label in the new year.

[apple arcade]

Finally received my copy from PA, stupid holiday shipping.

The first thing I notice is how beautiful the game is, the online videos serve it no justice. I think stage 4 is my favorite.

I'm not the best STG player but I was able to no miss novice original and 1cc novice ultra both on the first go. I think Novice mode is absolutely brilliant, when I show my friends this game I'll put it on Novice and they might stand a chance of getting somewhere and into the game.

I've been sticking to original and now have a goal to 1cc it. I've been able to reach the 4th level and consistently get a 1 up during the 3rd. My highest score is 47 mil at this point which I imagine is rather low compared to some of yours.

Anyway, loving the game!

[yyr]

I seem to only be able to reflect bullets after being resurrected from a death?

Arrange Mode adds a third button: the one that switches characters.

You can only slow down/reflect the bullets if your active character has gems. Collected gems go to your non-active character, save for a random few. So inevitably your active character will run out and you'll need to switch.

Much like in Galuda, the characters' gem values will be reset to defaults after you die.

[emphatic]

Arrange Mode adds a fourth button: the one that switches characters.

^^fixed

[Skykid]

Arrange Mode adds a fourth button: the one that switches characters.

^^fixed

Ah right, I was wondering about that. I think we configured the buttons to the arcade stick, so I must have switched it off. Thanks for the help.

[emphatic]

New CAVE blog entry mentions (as far as I can understand by Googleish) that they are still studying Futari's sales results. "Please be patient."

[orange]

come on cave everyone is rooting for you~

[Lok]

If you haven't emailed Cave yet, now would be a good time.

[orange]

do i need to know moonspeak to email them if not where do i email them

[Aquas]

blog360@mail.cave.co.jp

Use simple english to express your thank you and request as well, is my suggestion.

[apple arcade]

Thank you for releasing Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 region free. I am enjoying the game a lot. I hope in the future more Cave titles are region free. I am really looking forward to ESPGALUDA II.

above is what I said.

[GaijinPunch]

If you haven't emailed Cave yet, now would be a good time.

Yeah, b/c a bunch of emails will definitely make up for less than desirable sales figures.

[adversity1]

New CAVE blog entry mentions (as far as I can understand by Googleish) that they are still studying Futari's sales results. "Please be patient."

Nope, he's talking about the slowdown issues.

I think emailing CAVE would be a good idea.

[emphatic]

New CAVE blog entry mentions (as far as I can understand by Googleish) that they are still studying Futari's sales results. "Please be patient."

Nope, he's talking about the slowdown issues.

I think emailing CAVE would be a good idea.

Thanks for the translation. Was there anything else of interest? How about that Guwange arrange OST CD? Is that some sort of competition, or is Google completely useless?

[gs68]

I have some basic grasp of Japanese; I may be able to email them in that.

Except, I don't know how to say "Thank you for [insert verb here]"; I know how to say "I'm sorry for..." ([thing]てすみませんでした) and I figure "Thank you for..." would follow something similar, but I don't wanna mangle it up and sound like an idiot.

[GaijinPunch]

Except, I don't know how to say "Thank you for [insert verb here]"; I know how to say "I'm sorry for..." ([thing]てすみませんでした) and I figure "Thank you for..." would follow something similar, but I don't wanna mangle it up and sound like an idiot.

Writing a proper email/letter in Japanese is so far beyond common sense, don't even bother. I've lived here 10 years and couldn't do it w/o a template.

[consoleretro]

blog360@mail.cave.co.jp

Use simple english to express your thank you and request as well, is my suggestion.

Done! Hopefully Cave will realise that they have made a lot of us non-Jap360 owners extremely happy by making Futari region-free.

People seem to be getting more pessimistic about the prospect of Galuda going down the same route, which isn't good. It looks excellent from what I've seen and I loved the original.

Back to Futari, it's a great package with all those modes, and I can see myself coming back to it more than any shooter in recent memory.

[Shelcoof]

I'm still wondering why there isn't a thank you thread yet for Mushi?

Requesting shmup fans to e-mail them that is

[Lok]

If you haven't emailed Cave yet, now would be a good time.

Yeah, b/c a bunch of emails will definitely make up for less than desirable sales figures.

I wasn't implying that it will outright but apparently fans were vocal enough before that Mushi was able to become region-free. It's a shame though as most of my friends that actually are interested in Mushi would gladly buy it but not at the price it ends up being after import costs. For games like this, $39.99 is about what they are willing to spend.

[EOJ]

Ver 1.01
Scoring methods are similar to ver 1.5, but in Ultra the overall counter changes color every 500. (Other differences???)

ALL MODES:
-Can't suck in ground gems by pressing laser.
-Current multiplier number doesn't flash-and-fade near your character when you absorb gems
-Bombs do close to no damage (they act mainly as a temporary bullet cancel)
-No (worthwhile) score increase from destroying the lanterns in Stage 5 (they are also grey, whereas in 1.5 they are blue).

ORIGINAL
-Green gems aren't worth more than normal gems (i.e. there's no proximity effect).
-No rank [that increases with your overall multiplier]
-Death reduces overall counter by 50%, but stage counter by 30%

MANIAC
-You can't spawn large gems by hitting laser when the chaining bar is flashing red (this is a pretty huge gameplay difference)
-Gem values are different (takes longer to build up the multiplier, but also longer for it to go back down)
-Chaining bar takes longer to reduce to zero

ULTRA
-Green gems aren't worth more than normal gems (i.e. there's no proximity effect).
-Change shot type every 500 on the counter
-Death reduces overall counter by 50%, but stage counter by 30%

CHARACTER DIFFERENCES IN 1.0/1.01
-Abnormal Palm is weaker, and moves slower
-Normal Palm is stronger
-Normal Reco is slightly weaker

[GaijinPunch]

From what I remember (and this was based only off of what NTSC-J told me) the only differences in 1.0 and 1.01 are a pattern (or two?) on the Stage 2 boss in Original mode. Anyone got anything to add to that?

[EOJ]

Ver 1.01 just adds 2 bomb carriers (one at the end of stage 2, another at the end of stage 3).

[Ben]

In 1.01, as far as I can tell, you don't suck them up. Gotta manually go over them. In 1.5, you suck them up by using your Laser.

Aha, after I read the post asking if there was anything more to add I was just coming in here to note down this fact! oh well
Another thing I've noticed in 1.01 however is that the bullets all seem to have either a very slight trail sort of effect, or they mildly pulse as they fly along. I'm not quite sure which it is as I haven't put a whole lot of time into 1.01, but there is something subtly different about the look of the bullets.

Further to this I've played a bit more Mushi and the bullets pulse as they fly along no matter which mode you play, so there is definitely a very slight trail effect in 1.01 that you don't seem to see in 1.5, though admittedly this could merely be because the bullets are faster in 1.01

[orange]

ghosting maybe?

[yyr]

Arrange Mode adds a fourth button: the one that switches characters.

^^fixed

I wrote this because I've been using just one "fire" button, switching between tapping it and holding it depending on the situation. Is there a disadvantage to doing this versus using separate buttons for A and C shot?

[BulletMagnet]

Is there a disadvantage to doing this versus using separate buttons for A and C shot?

Probably more personal preference than anything else, at least one would assume so, since both do the same thing.

[emphatic]

Is there a disadvantage to doing this versus using separate buttons for A and C shot?

Probably more personal preference than anything else, at least one would assume so, since both do the same thing.

Since the PCB uses three buttons and ONLY the Arrange mode uses the switch character button, it's more natural to call it the fourth button. Or "D" if you prefer that.

Edit: And since the 4th button is "grayed" out in the setting for 1.5/1.01/BL, yet available in Arrange settings, it's quite easy to miss/configure.

[apple arcade]

I never realized how strong abnormal palm is.

I regularly use normal palm and decided to give abnormal a try. I was following the same paths and wasn't even making it to the patterns I usually see. AB Palm just destroys shit!

[system11]

Futari is now my first Cave 1CC in a very long time I used normal Reco, on BL Original. Strangely, Original seems easier than the BL PCB, but Maniac seems harder.

[moonshine]

Futari is now my first Cave 1CC in a very long time I used normal Reco, on BL Original. Strangely, Original seems easier than the BL PCB, but Maniac seems harder.

I got Futari for Christmas and haven't been able to 1CC original 1.5 yet. It's hard. Is BL easier?