Death Smiles: Countdown to North America Invasion

[TonK]

Level 3, canyon...

"Hey, slow down, why is this stage scrolling so damn fast? 30m? WTF?"

Level 3, forest...

"Wow, they really fucked this game up - this stage is flying by"

Here comes the forest boss... you JUST make it past the red apples, then the silver apples come out... you have your pattern ready to go and BAM! you just got hit! "WHY DID THAT GO BY SO FAST?"

Now, you took a hit from a boss, which docks you 1 health and the counter you need to score with drops.

I can go on and on - but its little things like that.

I'm not going to relearn the game, as I'm no expert.

The scores I have are from HOURS and HOURS of practice, yelling and broken stools.

I'm not going to drive myself crazy with a $50 port.

You mean those stages weren't so nightmarish in the Japanese version, and Whroon's silver apples weren't on the level of a Futari Ultra pattern (I can actually dodge those occasionally, I can NEVER dodge that attack)? Can we please have a patch to make the game slowdown more?

Whroon's silver apples came out at near full speed - faster than I've ever seen. (I've owned both PCB's)

You really need to practice that area and about 30 others on the U.S. version.

Ice Palace is fast as well.

[apple arcade]

silver apples always nail me. I have to bomb that section every single time.

BTW, who else plays Sakura just like Lie?

[Zero Gunner]

Did a search and didn't find the answer and since I don't have time to re-read 118+ pages.....Why won't my initials save when completing a run? I enter them and as soon as I confirm them they're replaced by CAV. It's not a big deal but it's kind of irritating. Why even waste my time with entering my initials is CAV is going to be written over them. Oddly enough, my scores remain however...

[Jockel]

Well, is your name Aron Anton Amsterdam?
Or Steven Emil Xianho?

[Strider77]

I would REALLY love to play the game.

You may feel different once you play it. I love DS1 and was open minded about 2... I don't hate it but, you'l see it and make your own call. You could always import it and give it a spin.

[emphatic]

Well, is your name Aron Anton Amsterdam?
Or Steven Emil Xianho?

Or Gerald Arnold Yawser?

[Jockel]

Well, is your name Aron Anton Amsterdam?
Or Steven Emil Xianho?

Or Gerald Arnold Yawser?

Or Allen Stuart Smith?
I dunno about Tim Igor Timber, but Frank Arvid Greenberg is most certainly not the name.

[gs68]

I once tried to input "SHORELINE!!" as a name on Rush 2049. It got censored. That makes even less sense than censoring "AAA", because "TRACK 2 SUX" got past the censor just fine.

[Aru-san]

I once tried to input "SHORELINE!!" as a name on Rush 2049. It got censored.

ACT LIKE YOU KNOW

[njiska]

From the Aksys Forum:

All right, I have a response from Cave. Pardon the literal translation:

Cave wanted to fix some unintended slowdown in the original, which compromised the level of difficulty in those sections. They upgraded the production environment of the graphics engine, so the U.S. version handles the graphic assets better. They're now working as originally intended, so things will be more difficult.

Hope that makes sense.

http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/732

[Octopod]

pretty lame.


It is still an awesome game it just sucks that it is not the same.

[gct]

So is the US version more arcade-accurate than the JP one then?

Also, I don't see Rob's comment on the Kotaku review. What did he say?

[Elixir]

So is the US version more arcade-accurate than the JP one then?

No, it's apparently not as good as the JP version.

[Octopod]

It's better because it is more difficult.

[njiska]

So is the US version more arcade-accurate than the JP one then?

No, it's apparently not as good as the JP version.

I think they were addressing the slowdown of Xbox 360 mode. At least that's what it sounds like since he also talks about the visuals and unintended slowdown. That or the original arcade port didn't run how they always wished it had. See: George Lucas.

[NR777]

So is the US version more arcade-accurate than the JP one then?

Also, I don't see Rob's comment on the Kotaku review. What did he say?

This actually links to my overly diplomatic response, but I had to reply in some fashion for people to see the comment...Kotaku's commenting system is weird like that:

http://kotaku.com/comment/26086065

[TonK]

I would REALLY love to play the game.

You may feel different once you play it. I love DS1 and was open minded about 2... I don't hate it but, you'l see it and make your own call. You could always import it and give it a spin.

My lazy ass has yet to get a j360 - I'd love to give it a go.

[emphatic]

I would REALLY love to play the game.

You may feel different once you play it. I love DS1 and was open minded about 2... I don't hate it but, you'l see it and make your own call. You could always import it and give it a spin.

My lazy ass has yet to get a j360 - I'd love to give it a go.

I think you would really enjoy Ketsui X Mode as well.

[Acid King]

So is the US version more arcade-accurate than the JP one then?

Judging from the comment from Aksys, it's more accurate to what Cave originally wanted, not accurate to the arcade version. Personally, I don't get the grumbling about the speed up. If you're used to the Japanese version or the PCB it's going to throw you off, but to the rest of the players it's meaningless. It's weird to see fans of genre known for its punishing, over the top difficulty whine about a game becoming a bit more difficult. Suck it up already.

[brentsg]

So then I guess we get the best of both worlds. We can choose between a version that's more truthful to the original arcade release, or one with greater difficulty.

[Matsunaga]

I don't see what the problem is, it's still easier than pretty much every other CAVE game.

[roker]

I don't see what the big deal is ... unless we're talking about a game like Ibara

then I'd be pissed.

[evil_ash_xero]

Has the slowdown been reduced in MBL 1.1? In the JP version, it was way too much.

[charlesr]

So, I guess think of it like a "Director's cut"

How the director originally intended. So actually the US version is the best version.

[Daigoro]

now we just have to seperate the leaderboards in the high score topic i assume.

[dan76]

So, I guess think of it like a "Director's cut"

How the director originally intended. So actually the US version is the best version.

Yeah, like Star Wars special editions are the best versions... NO.

The arcade PCB is the best version. The further the ports get away from the PCB the worse they get. The longevity of this game is the scoring, and on the PCB scoring at a high level is very difficult. Increasing the game speed makes a 1CC more difficult but ruins the scoring, ultimately ruining the game. I can't believe Cave doesn't know this, though they did remove the slowdown from Ibara so who knows...

I think this comes down to how you approach games in general. For me, an arcade game is what it is, you have to master it, awkward controls, weird gameplay, whatever - it's an arcade game and you must obey. A console game should make everything easy for you, give you options to tweak, controls, gameplay etc. You've outlaid the cash, you deserve to be pampered. Problem is when it comes to arcade conversions what you want is the authentic arcade experience, not an approximation (even one that the makers think is the ultimate version).

Cave should've kept all the slowdown in the arcade versions, and maybe removed it from the 360 version if that's what they wanted - at the very least you should be given the choice.

[Kiken]

So is the US version more arcade-accurate than the JP one then?

Judging from the comment from Aksys, it's more accurate to what Cave originally wanted, not accurate to the arcade version. Personally, I don't get the grumbling about the speed up. If you're used to the Japanese version or the PCB it's going to throw you off, but to the rest of the players it's meaningless. It's weird to see fans of genre known for its punishing, over the top difficulty whine about a game becoming a bit more difficult. Suck it up already.

I don't see what the problem is, it's still easier than pretty much every other CAVE game.

I don't see what the big deal is ... unless we're talking about a game like Ibara

then I'd be pissed.

So, I guess think of it like a "Director's cut"

How the director originally intended. So actually the US version is the best version.

So all you guys must be rollin' with max rank EX ALL clears, amiright?

Death Mode 2 is pretty much unplayable in the US version... and let's not even start on the joke that is level 999. I severly doubt Ikeda wanted to fuck with the speed to any degree.. especially when he was brought in to initially make sure that all the slowdown was accurate. This has the stench of the GC port of Ikaruga all over it. Remember that? When Maegawa kept saying it was the ultimate version and not once did we actually here from the game's designer/programmer, Iuchi? Yeah... yeah.

[Acid King]

So all you guys must be rollin' with max rank EX ALL clears, amiright?

That's really neither here nor there. If the situations were reversed, with the PCB version running at the same speed as the US360 version and the US version running slower than the earlier 360 release, the bitching would be the same and the US version would be considered the bad one because it's slower and easier and not the same as the earlier versions that everyone was used to. The increased difficulty people are whining about isn't so much that it's hard, but because it's harder than the original. I get the desire for the ports to be as close as possible to the arcade version, but complaining that it's now "unplayable" or too hard is bullshit because if the original ran at that speed no one would have cared and everyone would have made due.

[roker]

Something or other was written above ...

release the Kiken?

[njiska]

So all you guys must be rollin' with max rank EX ALL clears, amiright?

That's really neither here nor there. If the situations were reversed, with the PCB version running at the same speed as the US360 version and the US version running slower than the earlier 360 release, the bitching would be the same and the US version would be considered the bad one because it's slower and easier and not the same as the earlier versions that everyone was used to. The increased difficulty people are whining about isn't so much that it's hard, but because it's harder than the original. I get the desire for the ports to be as close as possible to the arcade version, but complaining that it's now "unplayable" or too hard is bullshit because if the original ran at that speed no one would have cared and everyone would have made due.

History teaches us otherwise. Look at Mushi Futari 1.0. It was way too difficult for normal play and had it's barrages greatly reduced in Ver 1.5. The version the shmups community adores. Yes, the community always prefers an arcade accurate port and 1.5 was an update at the Arcade level, but it still shows balance changes are not always frowned upon.