Pink Sweets & Muchi Muchi Pork bundle - Xbox 360!!!!!

[Zeron]

MMP seems to have more slowdown than the arcade version.

Ruh-Roh

Well its nice to know if CAVE went lazy ass mode on this port.

[Special World]

MMP seems to have more slowdown than the arcade version.

Ruh-Roh

Well its nice to know if CAVE went lazy ass mode on this port.

Cave went lazy ass mode on this port.

Still having a blast with Muchi Muchi Pork, though. There's not enough time in the day to devote my full attention to both games.

[8 1/2]

Are you seeing more slowdown in 1.0 or 1.01? That might make all the difference.

[-Bridget-]

Ok, so, can anyone give me an idea as to just HOW the scoring works in PS?

Or, to put it better, tell me what overall techniques I should be using to (attempt to) score well?

yes, I had a look at the guide in the strategy section. It made absolutely no sense to me, and merely left me more perplexed.


Just.....aaaaaagh. Confusing. I also havent had any caffiene yet today, which isnt helping at all.


Pork, at least, makes sense to me; very enjoyable, I'll probably be playing this one alot. I sure do die alot in it though, usually while trying to grab items (argh! Same thing I do in Futari Original!)

[OBSCVRA]

Muchi Muchi Pork is fricken fanbloodytastic . Early days with it yet i suppose, but once i got a handle on the scoring i was well hooked. Pink Sweets not so much... atm whenever i play PS I just try and see how far i can push the rank before i die . Not real keen on the arrange versions of each either. And yeah, there is a fair bit of slowdown it feels in both games, I've not played the pcb for either though.

[Frederik]

Hmmm I think I'll start with Pork then try Sweets for desert

Nice one

Hopefully I will be able to play Muchi Pork in the future - still no cash for a J360 I´ve been kinda interested in a lot of CAVE shmups but MMP just looks absolutely fantastic. Especially the boss design - some of the nicest looking machines since Batrider, they really capture the Raizing look perfectly.

Does anybody know who did the design on MMP? ...not the well endowed ladies (by the way, the blue one is my favourite ) but the sprite design? Maybe someone who carried over from Raizing as well?

[Icarus]

Ok, so, can anyone give me an idea as to just HOW the scoring works in PS?

Pick up medals. Kill stuff. Occasionally cancel bullets. How hard can it be?

[-Bridget-]

Ok, so, can anyone give me an idea as to just HOW the scoring works in PS?

Pick up medals. Kill stuff. Occasionally cancel bullets. How hard can it be?

Siiiiiiigh.

For example, does bullet-cancelling DO anything (other than create rank)? Affect score much? Stuff like that? What about all these roses everywhere? Do I need to worry about missing them? And what the heck is with this "fire rate" thing? And what's with these "special" items, what in the heck do they do, are they even worth getting? Should I be using the Rose Cracker alot, or not so much?

I could go on....

[Skykid]

Any of you guys forced the rank up on MMP yet?

Let me know how you handle that (if you can get max piggies by the stage 1 mid-boss it'll turn up the heat. Fried pork.)

[OBSCVRA]

I've noticed definite MMP rank differences by the 2nd stage mid boss, but not the first yet. Will be putting some (hopefully) serious time into it this arvo... circumstance permitting...

[BulletMagnet]

Got this today and spent a bit of time with it: having a good deal of fun just messing around with a semi-idea of what I'm doing, as I love the wacko atmosphere of these two games. A few additional thoughts, for whatever they're worth:

- Very glad they included the tweaked "1.1" variations of each alongside the originals: just being rid of those stupidly long death sequences in PS is a godsend on its own.

- The Arrange modes aren't too bad either - PS Arrange kinda reminds me of Battle Bakraid, which I'm quite happy to see.

- The port quality, while not awful, is somewhat skimpy...adjusting the screen to display "optimally" is a bit of a pain, and the lack of rapid fire or other extra keys (why not a separate speed change or fire rate button for PS?) is quite unfortunate. Not being able to enter one's initials isn't a game-changer either, but does seem like a bit of a "nyah-nyaaah, you can't make us give our full effort" from Cave.

- Only spent minimal time with the arcade versions, so can't comment on the slowdown and whatnot. One question, though: on PS the default Extend setting is "None" - is this the way it was originally?

- Most importantly, ALL HAIL THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF THE RANK-O-METER!

All in all not an earth-shattering release, but considering how long it seemed like these two would never leave the arcades I'm still very glad to own the compilation as a "semi-casual" fan.

[Deca]

I'm digging the collection but bummed on the lack of screen options...Also not sure what the best way to attack PS is, but I'm having fun with both games. I'm very happy to see arrange soundtracks for both games!! Something I've been missing on a lot of releases lately.

It'd be awesome if someone could describe the 1.01 differences, not sure which version of the games I should dedicate my time and effort to :p

[BulletMagnet]

It'd be awesome if someone could describe the 1.01 differences, not sure which version of the games I should dedicate my time and effort to :p

Cave-STG has a short list for PS 1.1 here - not sure if anyone's done the same for MMP.

[Deca]

It'd be awesome if someone could describe the 1.01 differences, not sure which version of the games I should dedicate my time and effort to :p

Cave-STG has a short list for PS 1.1 here - not sure if anyone's done the same for MMP.

Ah nice, thanks. I keep forgetting to check that site for stuff.

[Elixir]

- Most importantly, ALL HAIL THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF THE RANK-O-METER!

...?

Doesn't this break one's perspective of the games and their scoring of? It wasn't available in the arcade versions. Maybe the score threads should be separated.

[BulletMagnet]

Doesn't this break one's perspective of the games and their scoring of? It wasn't available in the arcade versions. Maybe the score threads should be separated.

I'm not sure what you mean, as all it does is give you a general idea of how high the rank is at a given time, same idea as the ones in Ibara Arrange and DFK Black label - in any case, you can turn it off, though I much prefer having a hard-and-fast visualization of what my actions are doing to the rank, as opposed to guessing based on enemy behavior and such.

EDIT - Or were you talking about the "rank min/max" adjusters in the options menu? I was just referring to the meter displayed off to the side during the games.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

If the scoreboards should be separated, it should be for all the screwed up stuff and not because of the rank meter.

[8 1/2]

I can't tell much difference between MMP 1.0 and 1.1 so far. 1.1's hit-box seems to be slightly smaller, and I swear the characters move a bit slower but it's so slight I feel like I'm fooling myself. Other than that, I'm at a loss. My score and performance in either seems to be pretty much identical, though I seem to survive a bit better in 1.1 with the smaller (again, I think) hit-box.


Also, I'm almost embarrassed to admit I've forgotten, but how do you trigger the secret 1-up in MMP? I know it's on the 3rd mid-boss, but I can't remember what the trick is. I swear it was "don't use Lard Shot" but that's not working.

[roker]

so is the DLC card only included with the limited edition run?

[twalden]

so is the DLC card only included with the limited edition run?

I got one with the regular edition.

[BPzeBanshee]

Ok, so, can anyone give me an idea as to just HOW the scoring works in PS?

Pick up medals. Kill stuff. Occasionally cancel bullets. How hard can it be?

Siiiiiiigh.

For example, does bullet-cancelling DO anything (other than create rank)? Affect score much? Stuff like that? What about all these roses everywhere? Do I need to worry about missing them? And what the heck is with this "fire rate" thing? And what's with these "special" items, what in the heck do they do, are they even worth getting? Should I be using the Rose Cracker alot, or not so much?

I could go on....

We need some help guys! We need-

[roker]

so is the DLC card only included with the limited edition run?

I got one with the regular edition.

thank you twalden

you're the best, I mean that!

[charlie chong]

THIS USED TO BE DISINFORMATION

[Icarus]

For example, does bullet-cancelling DO anything (other than create rank)? Affect score much? Stuff like that? What about all these roses everywhere? Do I need to worry about missing them? And what the heck is with this "fire rate" thing? And what's with these "special" items, what in the heck do they do, are they even worth getting? Should I be using the Rose Cracker alot, or not so much?

Don't you think you should just, you know, play the game first and get a feel for basic scoring and stage layout? Pink Sweets does not have a complex scoring system.

To answer your multitude of already-answered questions, though:
1.) Add points and a touch of rank.
2.) Some patterns are worth more than others. Rare cases though.
3.) Yes.
4.) What about them?
5.) No.
6.) "Fire rate" is self-explanatory.
7.) Special Powerups? Boost you to MAX+1 shot strength. Worth it, but don't go out of your way for it.
8.) Use it as much as you want.

[cools]

to get the extra life on the 3rd midboss you need to kill im WITH the lard shot.so make sure you got full bar of lard going into the 3rd midboss

On the PCB it was just kill it with B shot, didn't matter if your lard meter had anything in it at all.

[charlie chong]

yeah just raelized that on my first credit just now WHEN I FAILED TO GET THE 1UP ..
you need to kill with lard shot BUT THE BAR MUST BE EMPTY FIRST
SOWWY GUISE

[-Bridget-]

For example, does bullet-cancelling DO anything (other than create rank)? Affect score much? Stuff like that? What about all these roses everywhere? Do I need to worry about missing them? And what the heck is with this "fire rate" thing? And what's with these "special" items, what in the heck do they do, are they even worth getting? Should I be using the Rose Cracker alot, or not so much?

Don't you think you should just, you know, play the game first and get a feel for basic scoring and stage layout? Pink Sweets does not have a complex scoring system.

To answer your multitude of already-answered questions, though:
1.) Add points and a touch of rank.
2.) Some patterns are worth more than others. Rare cases though.
3.) Yes.
4.) What about them?
5.) No.
6.) "Fire rate" is self-explanatory.
7.) Special Powerups? Boost you to MAX+1 shot strength. Worth it, but don't go out of your way for it.
8.) Use it as much as you want.

Usually I do play these a hell of alot (particularly after I first get them), and I do often eventually understand things on my own, but I usually figure, it cant hurt to ask at first also.... sorta to try to get a headstart on things. Particularly since some Cave games can have complicated and sometimes very confusing scoring systems (thinking of Galuda 2 BL here). I'm not familiar with Yagawa's stuff too much, so didnt know what to expect going into this.

As PS goes, I think I've got the hang of it, mostly; the fact that apparantly the Rose Hips shots give you NO points for killing things is..... well, irritating. Other than that though, I'm actually enjoying Pink Sweets way more than I thought I would.


So far, I'm very pleased with both games. MMP is either harder than it looked, or I'm just stupidly ramming things alot. The scoring in MMP is quite fun, but why is it that the, uh, "level" of the gold/tokens/whatever drops sometimes? I could SWEAR I'm not letting any of the bloody things fall off the screen, but every now and then the level of those will go down anyway....


And I've just tried out the Arrange modes, and am quite pleased with those as well; those will be getting alot of play time from me also.

PS Arrange is pretty easy to figure out, and quite fun, MMP's Arrange is a little more confusing. I think I've got MOST of it down. I love this particular arrange mode already; lotsa bullets everywhere and giant gold pieces and total chaos.

[evil_ash_xero]

I've only had this a day, but i'll give my early impressions.

-to get the game in full screen on a 4:3 is annoying, but not as annoying as Guwange is
-the smoothing is good, and MMP is the first game that I play with no smoothing on, while playing on a CRT. Most other games kind of have shaky backgrounds, while there is no smoothing on, but not this one
-Pink Sweets is genuinely nauseatingly cute. It's a little much for my Western sensibilities. But I knew that going in. I doubt i'll be playing it much. Call me shallow. Whatever.
-MMP is a fun game. I would not put it amongst Cave's or Yagawa's best, but it's fun. I can DEAL with the cutesy-ness of it all, but it is detrimental to my overall experience of the game. Being able to change the songs per stage is very helpful, as I can replace the overly happy songs with some that are a bit less so.
-MMP seems kind of simple, for some reason. I wouldn't mind some shot changes, like in PS.
-Also, the slowdown in MMP is noticeable. I have heard it has more than the arcade release, and then I have heard it has less on some bosses. All I know, is that things get pretty slow time to time.
-Overall, MMP is a fun cute-em-up, that I feel has been overrated by some folks on here. Then again, it may have something to do with how the overall art style is really "not my thing". It's more my thing than PS though.

And that's it.

[dan76]

Also, I'm almost embarrassed to admit I've forgotten, but how do you trigger the secret 1-up in MMP? I know it's on the 3rd mid-boss, but I can't remember what the trick is. I swear it was "don't use Lard Shot" but that's not working.

I'm pretty sure you have to kill it with an empty lard shot. That's how I've been doing it.

After reading a few impressions it seems there is stuff wrong with the port - but that hasn't ruined my enjoyment of either games. I think they're both really good, especially the pork.

After playing DFK Black Label for the past few weeks it's kind of a relief to play something a bit more straight forward (the pork anyhow). May sound dumb but it really feels like an arcade game... Can't put it any other way. It's scoring system is relatively easy to get a grasp of and the difficulty is quite low compared to other Cave games. It's a real piece of Japanese weirdness.

With Pink Sweets I've had a few credits not knowing what I'm doing but it doesn't seems all that different if played like a normal Cave game. Made it to Stage 4 on the first credit - though I did notice a few times where there wasn't much going on which I'm sure there would be if I was scoring.

The only thing I'm not sure about is which mode to be playing. I might stick to 1.01 versions because of the port accuracy of 1.00. And why the hell they haven't stuck to the normal menu system is beyond me. If it ain't broke 'an all that.

[MachineAres 1CC]

And why the hell they haven't stuck to the normal menu system is beyond me. If it ain't broke 'an all that.

This is the first game that actually had 2 in 1 so I think the menu system makes some sense. It would've looked kinda lame having a list when you start up the game that says

MMP
Pink Sweets
Ranking
Options

Having it stylized looks a lot cooler to me.

And am I the only one who is enjoying the shit out of MMP Arrange? Only downside is how utterly useless Ikuo becomes in Arrange, but Momo and Rafute are very good and very unique for the mode. The music is also the shit in Arrange mode. Not liking Pink Sweets all that much. Its alright, but just doesn't seem as lively and fun as MMP, seems kinda slow.