Mushihimesama (Bug Princess) next up for iOS

[Udderdude]

on the other hand, using the touch controls allows impossible maneuvers that border on teleportation.

Not only that, I have no clue how the "Unique" scoring systems of Maniac/Ultra translate to touch controls, but I'm guessing not very well at all.

Looks like they've changed it to basically requiring you to shoot as much as possible using shot to keep the counter rising. There's no tap shooting as everything is autofire.

It's probably better that they realized it wouldn't work on the touch screen controls and simplified it. Doesn't say much for practicing it compared to the arcade version, though.

[Frederik]

On a sidenote, I got to play the lite version of DDP:R on an iPad 1 of a friend of mine, and man, the CAVE ports really shine on the larger screen and the added space for control. I´ve been using an iPod Touch as a poor mans iPad mini for a year now and if the iPad 3 has a retina screen I´m going to be all over that.

In the meantime, I´m happy to play Ultra on the novice setting, everything else gets me a Game Over in about 30 seconds on that tiny screen

[Soldato J]

It still rules

[Skykid]

It's probably better that they realized it wouldn't work on the touch screen controls and simplified it. Doesn't say much for practicing it compared to the arcade version, though.

It's still good for getting a handle on patterns, although I wouldn't recommend playing Original on anything except Hell difficulty.

[MX7]

<superultimatetrollmode>

So now there's two shitty ports of the game! :3

</superultimatetrollmode>

I think if you see the game as a 'port', then you are going to be disappointed. This game has touch screen controls, autobombing, and what amounts to a very different scoring system. It's not the same game. It even has a different name.

I think it works extremely well as an iPhone game, as the controls are far simpler than ESPGaluda 2 or DDP DFK. I haven't had any of these crashes, though I am running it on an iPhone 4 with iOS 5.1, so I'd be bloody annoyed if it did crash. I hope the loading times are decreased in the next update. I think if one enjoys it as a game in its own right, rather than an approximation of Mushihimesama, then one will find it a far more rewarding experience.

[Estebang]

Someone really needs to ask Cave why they haven't done a smartphone port of Uo Poko. The Angry Birds folks would lap it right up.

[Remembrance]

Speaking of all the Cave phone apps, just got an in-game notification that they're having one of those rare sales: http://www.cave-world.com/en/sp/android ... test-sale/

(I'm not actually sure how many folks here haven't already bought all the ones they were interested in, but...)

Oh, and I guess only Bug Princess is not on sale. Not that I'm complaining, since it was nice of them to set it at a lower price point than the other games to begin with.

[Skykid]

Oh, and I guess only Bug Princess is not on sale. Not that I'm complaining, since it was nice of them to set it at a lower price point than the other games to begin with.

They always do that for the first few days of release.

[Remembrance]

Oh, and I guess only Bug Princess is not on sale. Not that I'm complaining, since it was nice of them to set it at a lower price point than the other games to begin with.

They always do that for the first few days of release.

Sure, but this time they clarified on Twitter that $4.99 is the regular price.

http://twitter.com/#!/cave_world_en/sta ... 3740360704

[Skykid]

Oh, and I guess only Bug Princess is not on sale. Not that I'm complaining, since it was nice of them to set it at a lower price point than the other games to begin with.

They always do that for the first few days of release.

Sure, but this time they clarified on Twitter that $4.99 is the regular price.

http://twitter.com/#!/cave_world_en/sta ... 3740360704

Oh, that is interesting. I wonder why the price drop?

If it wasn't so fucking buggy, I'd say this is probably the most enjoyable ios release from Cave so far.

[MR_Soren]

Probably because there is no arrange mode.

[SunJammer]

my impressions thus far:
-scoring: I'm mainly playing Original (Hell) and I understand the scoring is meant to be pretty dry, but still i don't see how people are pulling those 30+mil scores. I must be missing something..?
-no "restart" option in Practice mode? boo to that!
-what the heck is that 3rd stage boss? like a heart, or some weird bug egg-thing?

also feel free to add me on Game Center (Sun_Jammer)

[Skykid]

my impressions thus far:
-scoring: I'm mainly playing Original (Hell) and I understand the scoring is meant to be pretty dry, but still i don't see how people are pulling those 30+mil scores. I must be missing something..?

Don't die!

[Marc]

Loving it. Superb port, with options to tailor the difficulty to pretty much any level. The simpler play suits the platform far more than DDPR and Esp2.

[antron]

so does this port let you zip all over the screen as fast as you want like DDPR?

[Frederik]

-no "restart" option in Practice mode? boo to that!

Instant restart was one of the best options of the PS2 port. Every game should have this, and it´s the main reason MOS Speedrun is so enjoyable.

[Drachenherz]

so does this port let you zip all over the screen as fast as you want like DDPR?

Yes.

[antron]

so does this port let you zip all over the screen as fast as you want like DDPR?

Yes.

so playing it is nothing like the real game at all right? why didn't they just put a virtual gamepad at the bottom of the screen?

[Soldato J]

-no "restart" option in Practice mode? boo to that!

Instant restart was one of the best options of the PS2 port. Every game should have this, and it´s the main reason MOS Speedrun is so enjoyable.

More than likely the reason is the heavy load times.....restarting would have you staring at a black screen most of the time.....I hate obsessive restarting anyway, best to finish all runs in my opinion

[StarCreator]

so playing it is nothing like the real game at all right? why didn't they just put a virtual gamepad at the bottom of the screen?

I don't think they're really after arcade accuracy, especially since on-screen controls don't even come close to actual physical controls. I think they made the right decision in trying to open up the games to a wider market with controls that are very easy to handle on the go - just have to acknowledge that it's not really the same game because of it.

[EU03]

so does this port let you zip all over the screen as fast as you want like DDPR?

Yes.

so playing it is nothing like the real game at all right? why didn't they just put a virtual gamepad at the bottom of the screen?

Have you ever tried playing a shmup with a virtual d-pad? It's the entire reason why I didn't enjoy Bug Panic.
Virtual controls on touchscreen inputs are the worst affronts ever to game design.

[MR_Soren]

so does this port let you zip all over the screen as fast as you want like DDPR?

Yes.

so playing it is nothing like the real game at all right? why didn't they just put a virtual gamepad at the bottom of the screen?

They probably wanted to make a game that was playable and fun rather than arcade accurate.

[antron]

Virtual controls on touchscreen inputs are the worst affronts ever to game design.

have you ever played Metroid Prime Hunters?

[Skykid]

Virtual controls on touchscreen inputs are the worst affronts ever to game design.

have you ever played Metroid Prime Hunters?

Sure, but it doesn't make his statement any less valid.

[chempop]

have you ever played Metroid Prime Hunters?

Have you ever played the iOS versions of Espgaluda2, DDP-R, Deathsmiles, or Mushi?
They play great with touch controls, a virtual D-pad would suck. If I want to play those games without touch controls, then I'll play them on a system that I can use a joystick with.

[antron]

have you ever played Metroid Prime Hunters?

Have you ever played the iOS versions of Espgaluda2, DDP-R, Deathsmiles, or Mushi?
They play great with touch controls, a virtual D-pad would suck. If I want to play those games without touch controls, then I'll play them on a system that I can use a joystick with.

DDP-R, yes. I found it to be almost nothing like the real game. It just looked like it. I'm not even sure I'd consider it a shmup.

so playing it is nothing like the real game at all right? why didn't they just put a virtual gamepad at the bottom of the screen?

I don't think they're really after arcade accuracy, especially since on-screen controls don't even come close to actual physical controls. I think they made the right decision in trying to open up the games to a wider market with controls that are very easy to handle on the go - just have to acknowledge that it's not really the same game because of it.

thank you for giving proper warning to those who are looking to experience Mushi. apparently it can't be done on a touchscreen.

[BrianC]

DDP-R, yes. I found it to be almost nothing like the real game. It just looked like it. I'm not even sure I'd consider it a shmup.

Why not? It still has all of the characteristics of a shmup. Is there a rule somewhere that says touchscreen controls make a game not a shmup?

[Hydeux]

I'm lost.
In Maniac and Ultra, as far as I know, you have to keep your shot on ennemies to make your counter rise.
OK.

Also, the closer you are to the ennemies, the faster your counter rise. Or at least it seems so 'cause if this is the only thing to know, how comes you have different colours on the numbers next to the ennemies ? Even on the first level : after you destroyed the ladybug windmills there are many very little bugs with red numbers besides them, and when I destroy them, even as close as possible, my counter decrease !

Could someone explain this and the different colours ? (Red, White and Yellow I think)
And does the lasers make your counter increase as well, or are they unused for scoring ?

Thank you if you can answer !

[psoslayer]

I seem to like this game more then Futari. Maybe it's because of quite simple bullet patterns, almost psikyo-ish. And the big bug stage is incredible, want this more in shooters.

I only have Original Mode unlocked though. How do I unlock other modes?

[ZacharyB]

I'm lost.
Also, the closer you are to the ennemies, the faster your counter rise. Or at least it seems so 'cause if this is the only thing to know, how comes you have different colours on the numbers next to the ennemies ? Even on the first level : after you destroyed the ladybug windmills there are many very little bugs with red numbers besides them, and when I destroy them, even as close as possible, my counter decrease !

In Mushihimesama Maniac and Ultra modes, every enemy has a red counter as soon as they enter the screen. I think the red counter represents how many gems you DON'T get if you don't destroy the enemy promptly. Those bugs that appear when you destroy the ladybug windmills don't appear immediately, so it only seems like your counter is going down. In reality, you're simply not hitting any enemies at the time and flying idle. It's better to destroy those ladybug windmills and then immediately go to hit some other bugs while they're exploding, then come back to destroy the grubs.

A yellow number simply means that that's the final value of the counter that you got.

And does the lasers make your counter increase as well, or are they unused for scoring ?

The little beetles' lasers are indeed used for scoring. It has to do with a system called "Counter Banking." It's been explained in-depth in the strategy forum somewhere (I'm on an old browser and can't go looking for it at the moment), but the basic idea is that the value of the little counters can be made to add on to the big counter continuously. If the player can time shots precisely, the little counters will keep getting added on, making the big counter rise much more rapidly than normal.

But you don't need to worry about it since it requires precise shot control, something which this new mobile version doesn't offer.

The key to scoring big here is to simply get as close to enemies as you can so that the counter rises as quickly as possible. It's important to get a big counter going on the midboss so you can carry that big bonus all the way through the rest of the enemies of the stage.

I only have Original Mode unlocked though. How do I unlock other modes?

Simply beat Original mode. Then, to unlock Ultra, beat Maniac mode. You can continue or complete them on easy difficulties to unlock them.