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

[CStarFlare]

As far as I've been able to tell, rank in Arrange is mostly based on survival and even then it doesn't rise very fast. If there weren't a meter to indicate otherwise, I'd suspect there was no rank at all. There's no benefit to cranking it up; medal values from enemy bullets are tiny compared to getting and keeping x64 (even if you're getting the 3k ones with your hadou gun) and you don't get "tick" points for shooting enemies, so enemies who take longer to more damage kill are universally a bad thing.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Who is the best character for Arrange anyway? In terms of survival and in terms of scoring. I know Lace is best for Arcade, but I don't even mess with PS Arcade on 1.00 or 1.01 because the game isn't fun.

[CStarFlare]

Midi&Meidi is good because they have a normal shot type, and it's fairly easy to milk destructibles without hurting an enemy. I think they're pretty weak in the power department, though. IIRC the top scorer uses M&M.

[NTSC-J]

Has anyone got some suggestions for appropriate power-up levels to use for each stage during practice mode? By which I mean levels which are comparable to where you'd be on a normal playthrough.

Do you mean just the shot power level or things like rank and bomb as well? Shot power should be maxed, but the others depend on your strategies. Just make notes of your stats on an average scoring run and use those levels for practice mode.

If you're still having trouble with this game, let me stress that you should be bombing all the time. You don't need full bombs to use them, any juice in that bomb meter is enough to use it, albeit for a shorter period of time, but still good for some invincibility. Mushi Futari punishes you for dying and bombing, but Muchi Pork is the opposite. I suicide on the first boss 3 or 4 times and bomb at least a half dozen times.

btw, what ship are you using? Rafute (the yellow one) is probably your best bet for beating the game.

[Schubert]

It's sold out both on play-asia and yesasia.com. Do you know if they're planning to re-release it? Maybe in platinum collection.

[Aliquantic]

Does anyone else find that version 1.01 is somewhat... lacking in the first loop due to making it so easy to score/wipe out everything with the lard? Maybe it works better if you suicide for milking which I cannot safely do yet, but I'm finding 1.01 fairly weak

1.01 Harahara or the second loop is plenty of fun though, and 1.00 first loop feels more balanced to me as well (of course looping that is... not trivial), so it's only 1.01 I'm not really getting. I don't know if I'm just being weird or what, though

[dunpeal2064]

I've been looking around for an answer for this, but could not find one.

What are the differences between 1.00 and 1.01 in these games? So far I noticed

Mmp: shorter lard meter

Ps: longer death sequence, only 2 rose hips

Is there more I'm missing?

[BulletMagnet]

Here and here ought to give you the general idea.

[dunpeal2064]

Here and here ought to give you the general idea.

Oi, I didn't think to look at Cave-stg. Thanks a bunch!

EDIT: Damn, I was hoping that PS 1.01 was a little closer to the original, as that long death animation is slightly annoying. I'll get used to it though, I'm tired of playing nub mode

[chempop]

Dunpeal, are you able to clear Pink Sweets 1.01? I'm having a lot of trouble with stage-5, scoring just under 4 mil. I am best off using Lace although I have to remember to use her bomb sooner than if I was using another character, since it takes to to grow.

I can see why it's not a very popular game, it's unusual even for Yagawa. I like the whole shield mechanic, and playing defensively using the rose hips to block bullets. Also, the varriety in enemy bullets is genius.

I can clear Arrange mode so I know the stages quite well, but man, I think it's one of the toughest cave shmups out there.

[Casper<3]

Pink Sweets is just not fun :/

[TheSoundofRed]

Pink Sweets is just not fun :/

i find both games to be quite enjoyable. MMP a bit more than PS, but there's an incredible charm to Pink Sweets. There are small things like the enemy ship explosions that I think are amazing and well implemented from a color/design standpoint. Both games have a very distinct art style that I happen to really like. Personal preference, obviously.

[chempop]

Pink Sweets is just not fun :/
Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:04 pm

I used to think think the same thing about Garegga, because I sucked at it.

Honestly, I am amazed at how much fun I have playing pink Sweets. I couldn't handle Ibara on PS2 so I wasn't expecting to like it one bit. But now I think it's better than MMP.

[dunpeal2064]

Dunpeal, are you able to clear Pink Sweets 1.01? I'm having a lot of trouble with stage-5, scoring just under 4 mil. I am best off using Lace although I have to remember to use her bomb sooner than if I was using another character, since it takes to to grow.

I can see why it's not a very popular game, it's unusual even for Yagawa. I like the whole shield mechanic, and playing defensively using the rose hips to block bullets. Also, the varriety in enemy bullets is genius.

I can clear Arrange mode so I know the stages quite well, but man, I think it's one of the toughest cave shmups out there.

I've never cleared stage 5. I think I just need to adjust my playstyle more.

Being a huge Yagawa fan, I love this game. I can see why people arent crazy about it, but any yagawa fan should be pleased with its obscurity

[Casper<3]

I love Garegga (which adds into the disappointment factor of PS) and enjoy Ibara.

Pink Sweets just has too much against it, I hate the aesthetics, it's too difficult, not a fan of the soundtrack, not a fan of the arsenal.

I like the aesthetics of MMP but find it's gameplay just kind of dull.

I mean, I ask myself why would I put this game into my system as opposed to putting in DOJ or DFK. It really offers nothing as an argument. I really haven't put it back in since I initially got it. I only keep it for the sake of owning all the CAVE 360 games. ...but reading this sounds stupid so maybe I'll give MMP another spin today.

[Hagane]

You like the aesthetics in MMP but not in PS? I find MMP to be utterly disgusting in the visual design department.

[Casper<3]

You like the aesthetics in MMP but not in PS? I find MMP to be utterly disgusting in the visual design department.

I like Mecha, I don't like Candy Land gone gay.

[Vamos]

MMP is easily my least fav cave game ever , it looks shit the scoring is lazy and to simplistic its nothing like what i expect from yagawa it sounds horrendous to . Pink sweets on the other hand i like alot the soundtrack is top notch the visuals are nice and its a sort of sequel to recca which also kicks ass.

[dunpeal2064]

Its not about looks to me, its about gameplay, and thats where its at with mmp/ps

I don't really care what they look like. If cho aniki was this good, id play it.

I play mmp/ps way more often than doj or dfk. But, I love those too. Variety is fantastic

[Frederik]

Muchi Pork is the best shmup since Batrider in my heavily biased opinion. I absolutely adore every single bit about this game: The awesome lard lasers, disassembling huge menacing bosses bit by bit (there´s something about Yagawa-style boss design that just fascinates me), huge pointy bullets, sucking in gigantic pig medals, a pumping, abrasive boss theme contrasted with cheery stage themes (very similar to "Stab and Stomp!" in Garegga and the Batrider boss tunes), giant turrets on giant enemies, bombing for score... I would love a bigger selection of ships, but otherwise I love this game.

[NTSC-J]

MMP is easily my least fav cave game ever , it looks shit the scoring is lazy and to simplistic its nothing like what i expect from yagawa it sounds horrendous to.

Muchi Pork is the best shmup since Batrider in my heavily biased opinion. I absolutely adore every single bit about this game: The awesome lard lasers, disassembling huge menacing bosses bit by bit (there´s something about Yagawa-style boss design that just fascinates me), huge pointy bullets, sucking in gigantic pig medals, a pumping, abrasive boss theme contrasted with cheery stage themes (very similar to "Stab and Stomp!" in Garegga and the Batrider boss tunes), giant turrets on giant enemies, bombing for score... I would love a bigger selection of ships, but otherwise I love this game.

[Gus]

Good news: There's a reprint coming
Bad news: It's the same fucking price minus the DLC card

http://www.cave-stg.com/?p=1747

[moozooh]

Reprinting it at the same base price without the best game of the bundle AND without fixing the multitude of problems this port has is saddening.

[Elixir]

Amazon.jp currently says there's 1 in stock, available from an Amazon.jp third-party seller. So no, it isn't a reprint.

[Special World]

Muchi Muchi Pork is awesome, but it frustrates the shit out of me. Why do I even try to milk the first boss? It always ends in failure. I suck.

Also I feel like good players have some trick to whipping out their lard attack faster than I can, but if so I have no idea wtf they're doing.

[DrTrouserPlank]

They need to patch the aspect ratio problem with this game. Having to swap the settings to 480p to get the right proportions is very annoying.

[bcass]

The random local high score resets need fixing too.

[dunpeal2064]

I love Garegga (which adds into the disappointment factor of PS) and enjoy Ibara.

Pink Sweets just has too much against it, I hate the aesthetics, it's too difficult, not a fan of the soundtrack, not a fan of the arsenal.

Ok, I can see some of your points. At first glance, I was not a huge fan of the aesthetics. The game looks so drastically different from most Cave stuff (which, from a different point of view, could all be lumped into Candy Land Gay). However, it definitely grew on me. The variety of bullets is excellent, and the game is insanely colorful.

Too difficult. That just should not be a complaint from a Yagawa fan in my eyes. I mean, the man is a sadist, and his only safety word is suicide... and thats only a temporary reprieve. I think the game is quite managable on 1.01, and I find it to have better pacing than most Cave games.

Ok, the soundtrack. I can't really argue this one. It fits the game, but it sure as hell is no Garegga soundtrack. It does start to pick up later in the game, and the arrange track is pretty sweet, but I can see why some people were disappointed here.

Now, the arsenal. What do you not like about it? I mean, sure, there's no giant laser beam or crazy options, but thats what other Cave games are for. If they were all the same, well, that would be no fun. What this game does have is 4 ships, each selectable in 4 different ways, and each with 4 different speed options. If you actually go through and check out each of the 4 ways you can play each ship, there is quite a lot of variety.

I don't mean to argue, but it makes me sad that someone would not enjoy this game, especially someone who is a fan of Yagawa's previous work.

Have you played Recca? Its almost scary how much that game and Pink Sweets have in common.

[moozooh]

Too difficult. That just should not be a complaint from a Yagawa fan in my eyes. I mean, the man is a sadist, and his only safety word is suicide... and thats only a temporary reprieve. I think the game is quite managable on 1.01, and I find it to have better pacing than most Cave games.

I suggest trying to play 1.0 for survival—it may just make you revise this argument. Make no mistake, this game is one of the hardest ever. In fact, if you look at the scoreboard, you'll see some of the best players of Shmups forum struggling to get past stage 5 on a scoring run. No clears! Look at any other Yagawa scoreboard and you'll see the same people clearing those games more often than not. So, a valid complaint, I say. :)

[Elixir]

Okay, now it shows December 9th. Still, I have my doubts about this.

Maybe they wanted to reprint the game but weren't able to meet the Platinum Collection requirement (didn't sell enough)?