Death Smiles: Countdown to North America Invasion

[PC Engine Fan X!]

So how well did this sell?

47,499 NA sales after 4 weeks, according to VGChartz. I guess it's almost safe to say that consumers have sucked the LEs dry, assuming that this print run is around 50K.

ok

now bring on the cheap 2nd run!

Just wait a bit and it eventually appear at a cheaper MSRP nationwide. It's a given that Aksys Games has a warehouse full of the 2nd print run of DS on hand ready for initial retail distribution.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Snake]

So how well did this sell?

47,499 NA sales after 4 weeks, according to VGChartz. I guess it's almost safe to say that consumers have sucked the LEs dry, assuming that this print run is around 50K.

I'm impressed and surprised by this. Even if Deathsmiles is not my favorite this is good news for future shmup ports.

[Aru-san]

I'm impressed and surprised by this. Even if Deathsmiles is not my favorite this is good news for future shmup ports.

Who knows? In time....

[NEWS FLASH] Dodonpachi Resurrection to be ported to Xbox 360 by Aksys Games

[bcass]

To be fair to Cave, there's a long tradition of Japanese devs changing the difficulty for Western releases. IIRC there isn't a single non-Japanese player in the Leaderboard top 5 for any of their ports, so I'm not sure why they'd make it harder.

1: While the first part of your statement is "fair", the second is not.

I guess that's why I only used the word "fair" in the first part of my statement and not the second part then.

There's a very small percentage of non-Japanese playing these games. Probably less than a percent.

So less than 1% of an already tiny market was enough to make Cave think that there was a market in the US for their titles (baring in mind that 2 of Cave's own ports are region-free)?

[GaijinPunch]

I guess that's why I only used the word "fair" in the first part of my statement and not the second part then.

I guess that'll teach me to assume there is some type of flow between the two statements. And those devs that change the difficulty for western releases basically died out w/ the 16-bit releases. They were mainly there due to the rental market in the US.

So less than 1% of an already tiny market was enough to make Cave think that there was a market in the US for their titles (baring in mind that 2 of Cave's own ports are region-free)?

Their target market for the western release doesn't buy (and probably don't even know about) region free Asian releases.

[bcass]

IIRC Cave said themselves that they made those two titles region-free to ascertain the level of Western interest, which is what makes me think that your "less than 1% comment" is innacurate.

[GaijinPunch]

which is what makes me think that your "less than 1% comment" is innacurate.

Why not count the non-Japanese names on the leaderboards and see?

[bcass]

To prove you wrong, I don't need to. Cave's actions speak for themselves. The percentage of non-Japanese gamers who play their ports was obviously high enough to make them feel that a Western release was viable.

[Strider77]

What percentage of Black and Mexican folks play shooters? What about lesbians? What about White folks who marry asians? What about white folks who want to marry asians but never get lucky enough to do so so are single?

[Matsunaga]

3.6%, obviously.

[BulletMagnet]

What about white folks who want to marry asians but never get lucky enough to do so so are single?

100%

[GaijinPunch]

To prove you wrong, I don't need to. Cave's actions speak for themselves. The percentage of non-Japanese gamers who play their ports was obviously high enough to make them feel that a Western release was viable.

I think you're confusing yourself. I was only trying to point out that your math in "no non-Japanese players being in the top 5 of any of the leaderboards" and correlating that to some vindication for difficulty changes was totally gay. The statement itself was erroneous to a degree as well, which I illustrated.

[bcass]

I think you're confusing yourself. I was only trying to point out that your math in "no non-Japanese players being in the top 5 of any of the leaderboards" and correlating that to some vindication for difficulty changes was totally gay. The statement itself was erroneous to a degree as well, which I illustrated.

Erm, I didn't try to make a correlation between the number of non-JPN players at the top of the Leaderboards and the increased difficulty in the US release. That was my entire point! If there had been more non-JPN players at the top of the Leaderboards, then there *would* have been a correlation, and their decision to increase the difficulty *would* have made sense. At no point did I ever vindicate the difficulty changes. I even said "I'm not sure why they'd make it harder" in my first post.

The other issue we've been discussing since is a separate issue which you raised in your first reply:

There's a very small percentage of non-Japanese playing these games. Probably less than a percent.

And what I've been saying is that I think that is wrong, for reasons given previously.

[bcass]

And those devs that change the difficulty for western releases basically died out w/ the 16-bit releases.

It was still happening right up to the last generation of consoles (PS2/GameCube/Xbox). Both Konami and Sony were still engaging in this practice. The first examples that come to mind are ICO and the Metal Gear games.

[GaijinPunch]

If there had been more non-JPN players at the top of the Leaderboards, then there *would* have been a correlation, and their decision to increase the difficulty *would* have made sense.

I'm of the camp that tweaking that shit never makes sense. Seriously -- why put in the extra work?

It was still happening right up to the last generation of consoles (PS2/GameCube/Xbox). Both Konami and Sony were still engaging in this practice. The first examples that come to mind are ICO and the Metal Gear games.

Pretty sure it's far less prevelant than it use to be though. But, I'm a bad person to ask as I have no way to play US games (other than PS3) and don't play many new ones either. Now you'll see tweaks, then a re-released "international version" for full milking.

[bcass]

If there had been more non-JPN players at the top of the Leaderboards, then there *would* have been a correlation, and their decision to increase the difficulty *would* have made sense.

I'm of the camp that tweaking that shit never makes sense. Seriously -- why put in the extra work?

I'm not saying I agree with it eitherway, but I think it would make marginally more sense them doing it had the best players been non-Japanese. That isn't the case (yet), so it makes a lot less sense that they did it IMO. At the very least they should have had an option in there to play the original Japanese configurations. I like the Deathsmiles system of "one-size fits all" in that you can make it as hard or as easy as you want as you're going through the game without having to mess about with options, loading other versions, etc. That's part of it's wider appeal IMO.

[Jeneki]

Why not count the non-Japanese names on the leaderboards and see?

I wouldn't assume someone is from a part of the world based on their username. I know plenty of non-Japanese who use a Japanese username online. And then you have people who incorrectly assume a username have anything to do with Japanese (for example, Jeneki).

[bcass]

It would be pretty silly to do it anyway, but a quick look reveals that most Japanese players put "Japan" in their location field in their profile, and they write their Bio in Japanese. Not a 100% foolproof method of ascertaining ones country of origin, but reasonably accurate I would guess.

[msm]

i agree with what someone suggested earlier in the thread, that maybe they got rid of some slowdown because us westerners don't get it (i mean most people have no exposure to manic shmups, and would compare it to gradius/ikaruga or something, and they have no lag, and it's seen as a bad thing in all other types of game), not nececarily to make it harder, maybe it's sort of worked too as i haven't seen a review such as "its only 2D and there's loads of lag - rubbish", although there probably are some out there.

[Strider77]

Yeah I think it might be for that reason. That they were afraid the average user would see slowdown in the game and think it was busted. They would see it as a fuck up and not part of the game, I've seen folks say that about Mushi and Futari who don't have a clue often.

[njiska]

Yeah I think it might be for that reason. That they were afraid the average user would see slowdown in the game and think it was busted. They would see it as a fuck up and not part of the game, I've seen folks say that about Mushi and Futari who don't have a clue often.

This has long been the stance I've taken on why Cave made the change, but what I don't understand is why it isn't optional. Wouldn't it make sense for them to have just added a Wait On/Off option to enable to disable the slowdown?

[bcass]

Someone needs to have a word with Aksys before they (Cave) screw-up any future ports.

[subcons]

This has long been the stance I've taken on why Cave made the change, but what I don't understand is why it isn't optional. Wouldn't it make sense for them to have just added a Wait On/Off option to enable to disable the slowdown?

Absolutely. I remember this option in the DC version of Twinkle Star Sprites. You could play it arcade perfect, or with zero slowdown.

[drunkninja24]

Yeah I think it might be for that reason. That they were afraid the average user would see slowdown in the game and think it was busted. They would see it as a fuck up and not part of the game, I've seen folks say that about Mushi and Futari who don't have a clue often.

This has long been the stance I've taken on why Cave made the change, but what I don't understand is why it isn't optional. Wouldn't it make sense for them to have just added a Wait On/Off option to enable to disable the slowdown?

This would be the preferable thing to do in the future. Just have it "off" by default and then those of us who want it can turn it on.

[Acid King]

Gamespot's review is up. They gave it an 8 and, most importantly, didn't bitch about it not being on XBLA.
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/ ... eview.html
"The good:
* Tight and frenetic bullet-hell action
* Lots of different modes to explore
* Crazy boss fights
* High replay value.

The bad:
* Noticeable lag on highest difficulty settings
* Main game is very short."

[GaijinPunch]

I wouldn't assume someone is from a part of the world based on their username.

It was more of a rhetorical statement.

[Aru-san]

Gamespot's review is up. They gave it an 8 and, most importantly, didn't bitch about it not being on XBLA.
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/ ... eview.html
"The good:
* Tight and frenetic bullet-hell action
* Lots of different modes to explore
* Crazy boss fights
* High replay value.

The bad:
* Noticeable lag on highest difficulty settings
* Main game is very short."

Holy crap a review that's actually sort of decent save the whole continue-spamming comment that's always made when it comes to "games of this nature"...and from a site like GAMESPOT, no less. The fact that he referred to the skull counter as "kills" irks me a bit, but I'll let that slide.

[njiska]

Gamespot's review is up. They gave it an 8 and, most importantly, didn't bitch about it not being on XBLA.
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/ ... eview.html
"The good:
* Tight and frenetic bullet-hell action
* Lots of different modes to explore
* Crazy boss fights
* High replay value.

The bad:
* Noticeable lag on highest difficulty settings
* Main game is very short."

+1 for not bringing up Ikaruga.

This does further reinforce my theory on why Cave changed the slowdown for the US. People just don't get it.

[Chacranajxy]

Sigh... so basically, if I want a copy of Deathsmiles that's enjoyable on the tougher settings, I need to import, don't I? That's more than a little frustrating.

So if I do go the Japanese route and pick up the Platinum Hits version, what DLC will I still have to buy to have everything?

[NR777]

Sigh... so basically, if I want a copy of Deathsmiles that's enjoyable on the tougher settings, I need to import, don't I? That's more than a little frustrating.

So if I do go the Japanese route and pick up the Platinum Hits version, what DLC will I still have to buy to have everything?

MBL 1.1, AFAIK.