Death Smiles: Countdown to North America Invasion

[Anesthetize]

Does the patch only affect the slowdown in MBL, or do the Arcade/360 modes have any added also? (not sure if these were incorrect to begin with)

[Tyjet]

Does the patch only affect the slowdown in MBL, or do the Arcade/360 modes have any added also? (not sure if these were incorrect to begin with)

haven't played regular DS enough to know enough to know what is missing. But I have played the the canyon with follet in training and noticed some additional slowdown in some places. (My assumption is if MBL has added slowdown and looks close to the JP 360 version then DS probably has the correct slowdown.)

[NR777]

I've never played the JP version, so I can't compare the two, but I can say that there is a lot more slowdown and Level 999 in MBL is now actually playable.

[HIGHSPEEDDIRT]

I am so damn happy they finally got around to patching this. I was not even expecting it , as I threw my deathsmiles disk in the 360, I started to play MBL 1.1 ( my favorite) everything seemed normal till I powered up and then O_O whoa !!. MBL 360 mode seems to be the one with the least amount of slowdown to me. Anyway glad to finally be a member , do I get a nametag and free coffee and a donut

[Anesthetize]

I am so damn happy they finally got around to patching this. I was not even expecting it , as I threw my deathsmiles disk in the 360, I started to play MBL 1.1 ( my favorite) everything seemed normal till I powered up and then O_O whoa !!. MBL 360 mode seems to be the one with the least amount of slowdown to me. Anyway glad to finally be a member , do I get a nametag and free coffee and a donut

Not sure about the coffee and donut, but nice username

[Tyjet]

Someone asked about getting the DS theme and gamer pics for the US. And Belisarius on Aksys forums said:

"Yes, we're working on getting some of that Deathsmiles stuff up in the Marketplace. I don't know the actual date, but hopefully within the next month or so."

very nice

[apple arcade]

how many points does MBL 1.1 cost?

[Pharos]

Themes and gamerpics are available now if anyone is interested. The gamerpics appear to be half the price of the same items on the European store hehe.

[StarCreator]

how many points does MBL 1.1 cost?

For Deathsmiles JP, it costs 240 MSP and requires you to have access to MBL (included on-disc in the Platinum Hits release, 1200 MSP otherwise).

It's included on-disc at no additional charge in the NA and EU versions.

[apple arcade]

Yea I have it on the NA release but no longer have a NA 360. I miss playing the mode though.

[apple arcade]

MBL 1.1 is the business

[DrTrouserPlank]

For anyone in the US who might be interested, play-asia are selling the US limited edition with faceplate for $17.90. That's got to be a pretty good deal if you have a US machine and aren't going to get hit with hefty import duties.

Please feel free to use my affiliate link if you choose to order

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-l9g ... -3t89.html

[ZenErik]

Hi. Quick question on the original Japanese version of this game (not Platinum Hits). When I boot it up it says that an update is available. But if I install the update and try to load up 360 mode the system completely locks up (freezes completely, can't even exit to the dashboard). I am not sure if this applies to all game modes because I haven't tried it.

Any way to fix this besides simply not installing the update?

[ZacharyB]

Unfortunately, I cannot answer ZenErik's question, but have a question of my own:

Do high scores save locally? Whenever I re-enter one of the modes, all of the local high scores have reset.

[moozooh]

You might be looking at "today's scores". Or does the behavior persist every time you re-enter a mode?

[ZacharyB]

You were right; I didn't realize there was a "today's" high score board and a persistent high score board. You can even select the character!

[Estebang]

Seriously surprised that the faceplate/soundtrack edition is still available. Was there a reprint of it?

[BulletMagnet]

I doubt it - the local Gamestop here (where I picked up my copy) got an extra one that's still sitting there to this day. Not sure how many others like it are still out there, but something tells me there are enough to justify Aksys not being interested in another shmup project.

[DrTrouserPlank]

It's been on sale on Play-Asia and in and out of stock several times so either they printed quite a lot of them and they sold poorly resulting in loads of warehouse-bound stock, or there has been a reprint. Chances are that it probably didn't attract the attention of the ADD-prone gamers of today who flock to COD like sheep and there were plenty left over from the original runs.

[Estebang]

I had the impression that they were "satisfied" with sales, but I guess that wouldn't cause them to abandon shmups altogether. Was it ever confirmed whether the initial lack of slowdown was Cave's doing?

Rising Star is angelic for announcing AK PAL after DFK obviously tanked (down to 17 pounds already). XSeed is another company that sells games that they know they're going to take a loss on, but go ahead with anyway because they're fans.

Regarding the "flocking to CoD like sheep" thing...now that we've gotten to the point where even venerated Western series like Syndicate and X-Com are rebooted as first-person shooty shooty games, you know the industry is in trouble.

[DrTrouserPlank]

I had the impression that they were "satisfied" with sales, but I guess that wouldn't cause them to abandon shmups altogether. Was it ever confirmed whether the initial lack of slowdown was Cave's doing?

Rising Star is angelic for announcing AK PAL after DFK obviously tanked (down to 17 pounds already). XSeed is another company that sells games that they know they're going to take a loss on, but go ahead with anyway because they're fans.

The reduction in price of DFK is not indicative of poor sales, it's just a symptom of an market where the sheer volume of output from developers is so huge every month that stock needs to be shifted and people move on to the next thing very quickly. Price reduction is the retailer's decision, not the publisher, so RSG will have made there money on what was shipped. The only impact that falling prices could have on them is if retailers are less willing to stock subsequent games if sales were indeed poor.

[StarCreator]

I had the impression that they were "satisfied" with sales, but I guess that wouldn't cause them to abandon shmups altogether. Was it ever confirmed whether the initial lack of slowdown was Cave's doing?

When I spoke to the people manning Aksys's booth at PAX East, they told me it sold "okay, but not to our expectations" and definitely sounded disinterested in trying another CAVE title.

Aksys also had no actual hands-on control over the DS NA release - everything was done on CAVE's end. The only work they may have actually done was provide the English script, with the funky dialects also being a CAVE directive.

[MJR]

Bought my DS disc last week, xbox360 should arrive in mail today (hopefully in working condition) ..getting quite excited.

(I'm always late to the party)

[EllertMichael]

Heads up! Death Smiles LE $15 shipped at Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6874203007

[xbl0x180]

Seriously surprised that the faceplate/soundtrack edition is still available. Was there a reprint of it?

I'm using that faceplate on my old 360, but I think most gamers would have the newer/"slim" 360s for which you cannot remove the faceplate or the old faceplates do not fit since they're larger. There wouldn't be a point to buying the LE version

[shmuppyLove]

Hrmm at .ca it's $30 + $10 shipping ... bastards

[Op Intensify]

If anyone in the US somehow still hasn't picked up this masterpiece, Gamestop has recently dropped the price for both the SE and LE again. $15 for SE, $20 for LE. I don't think they'll go any lower than this. Can't believe the LE is still available.

I'm sure it's common knowledge at this point, but the LE faceplate is not compatible with Slim 360s.

[noiseredux]

sure the faceplate isn't compatible, but the LE also comes with the soundtrack -- totally worth the extra $5.

[Op Intensify]

Yeah, it comes with the amazing arrange soundtrack. Agreed.

A handful of other Aksys games also had their Gamestop prices dropped.

[mr_b]

Newegg has it for even cheaper. $9 and $15 respectively.