Ketsui comes to the PS3

[shirorm]

Is there anyone interested in the actual game and not just in the plastic and paper pieces included in the L.E.?
Is anyone able to notice if the conversion is any good in comparison with the arcade or xbox 360 versions?
Thanks

Word, yo.

When Ketsui EXTRA was released for the Japanese XBox 360, a day before the official release date I uploaded a YouTube video with footage of the first 3 levels, pictures of the packaging, pictures of all the menus & options and a detailed review from someone that knew what they were talking about. All for free, all for the fans, all for the English speaking shoot 'em-up community:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGCet30zSQM

Because of the lack of gratitude and general lack of respect, I thought why should of I bother with this version? So I didn't.

Of course I got this version before anyone else (same with the DS and X360 version) but I thought I would sit back and see how the 'hardcore shumup' English speaking community covered the release this time without me. The result? Total shambles. Confusion over physical content, pre-order gifts, region compatibility of contents etc. At the time of writing (5 whole days after the official release date), there is still no review (in English), video footage of actual gameplay or even any decent initial impressions.

And when I ask ask one simple question - 'How do I buy Instant Brain from my Japanese marketplace?', an extremely rare occasion when I ask for help, nothing.

A fucking joke.

Bring back JAPJAC, all is forgiven.

Well, Ketsui is an old game by now, in both versions (arcade and xbox 360)
So it's not that strange people don't play this new version extensively

In a first moment, I was very surprised by the interest most people took in everything (cards, keychain, OSTs) but the game itself and I thought many were driven by some sort of obsession or "fetishism", instead of an actual passion for games.
But it's probably true that the most of us don't have enough time or interest in playing it again, instead

I already have the xbox 360 version, but I'll buy the ps3 version from the japanese ps store too, just to have it in my digital archive of games I love

And I appreciated your review of the xbox version. Thanks

[Bonus!]

When Ketsui EXTRA was released for the Japanese XBox 360, a day before the official release date I uploaded a YouTube video with footage of the first 3 levels, pictures of the packaging, pictures of all the menus & options and a detailed review from someone that knew what they were talking about. All for free, all for the fans, all for the English speaking shoot 'em-up community:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGCet30zSQM

JAPJAP, your attitude is quite irritating. Your "review" consisted of nothing but a low-quality screencap, so what did you expect? I can't help but have the impression that you certainly have a big mouth, and when there is some criticism, you reflexively bash the "British" shmup scene. For a troll, you are a bit too obvious. I don't quite get why a character like you hasn't been banned yet. Your behavior certainly warrants it.

Of course I got this version before anyone else (same with the DS and X360 version) but I thought I would sit back and see how the 'hardcore shumup' English speaking community covered the release this time without me. The result? Total shambles.

Maybe you should look up what Schopenhauer said about the arrogance of the French.

[Skykid]

All for free

Yet it's costing us dearly.

[JAPJAC]

My XBox 360 review (the eve of the release) just consisted of low quality footage? Are you blind?

'The Japanese X-Box 360 conversion review:

Ketsui EXTRA for the Japanese X-Box 360 is a conversion of the above PCB by 5pb. This title is easily one of the most eagerly awaited Japanese grey imports in recent memory and 5pb. have really done the business with this conversion. Well worth the long long wait. It's the best Cave conversion I have ever played surpassing anything by M2 and Cave themselves included. The replication of the wait/slowdown is nearly perfect from what I have played thus far. There were a lot of doubters but I always had faith that this would be the dog's danglies and it really is. It's the king of Cave games, the king of modern day shoot 'em-ups and the most loved by the Japanese so it was never going to be rubbish. Ketsui veterans and newcomers alike are in for a real treat. Playing Ketsui without* the wait/slowdown (*it does still occur slightly sometimes though which is most bizzare!) is a real joy and something that I asked 5pb for ever since I first played the beta at a TGS a couple of years ago. It doesn't look as good as the PCB does on a Japanese RGB arcade machine but that is the sad reality of the modern home TV-Game system age unfortunately. All those that bought a fancy high res. telly are to blame for that one. However, it plays just as well and removes the graphical glitches which was a must. I don't love the arranged BGM but it's a nice extra for those that might. If the X360 was capable of proper RGB and this game had a raw scanline option then it would of been absolutely perfect. As it stands though, this game is proper mint.
10/10.

Conversion observations (see video for option screenshots):

The menus are very slick indeed. Very well designed and stylish.

The loading times are nonexistent, it's quick as you like.

There is a Vert. (Tate) option.

There is a good selection of display options but no scanline option unfortunately.

Vibration can be turned ON and OFF:

An annoying flaw of the gallery mode which features lots of Ketsui artwork (most of which seems to of been lifted from the PCBs Insanity DVD) is that it can only be viewed in a Hori. (Yoko) orientation. A massive oversight.

Arcade Mode is set to Free Play complete with a attract mode featuring only one demonstration which is of the first part of the first level. This is different to the PCB for some reason. Also, the game is supposed to be set to Free Play but 'INSERT COIN' and 'PRESS START' prompts are shown at the same time which doesn't make any sense.

Record Replay gives you just 1 credit to record a run like in Japanese arcades with the cabinets linked to HDD DVD recorders. This mode is really mint and caters to the hardcore. There are plenty of save slots available and when watching one back one can press the RB button to REALLY speed it up.

Stage Select mode is where one can practice a stage at will.

Config. options. Stereo/Mono Arcade BGM AND Arranged BGM can be selected in both Arcade Mode and X Mode regardless. If one changes the config. of the BGM in any of the gameplay modes it will automatically play the same matching setting in a replay even if the replay was recorded with a different BGM config. originally for both types of gameplay.

The ability to erase the highscore table is a great feature also.

Config. EX options allow wait/slowdown ON/OFF to be selected! These options have to be unlocked as and when.

Pressing the Back button accesses the Config. menu when playing.

If Quick Restart is enabled, one can simply pause the game with the Start button and then press the Back button for an instant restart. Very handy especially in Stage Select mode.'

The state of the British suhmup scene speaks for its self from the state of this very thread. Cave's best game comes home region free (makes no odds to me), complete with a superb Super Play. But times have changed, everyone has played it now for free on their emulations. No one in Japan has helped you all with trustworthy impressions, footage.

Attitude? Who gives a toss! Are you all here to be fwends? Bless.

[trap15]

Pretty terrible review.

[JAPJAC]

Pretty terrible review.

Charming. Who are you? What have you ever contributed? Welcome to the forum.

I'm done, yo.

[Udderdude]

Charming. Who are you? What have you ever contributed? Welcome to the forum.

Maybe you'd know if you didn't spend all day sitting around masturbating about how awesome you think you are.

[trap15]

Charming. Who are you? What have you ever contributed? Welcome to the forum.

Oh, you know. Nothing special. Helped make PGM sound emulation work. Released a bunch of a arrange modes and practice modes for PCB players. Made some from-scratch dev-kits for several pieces of 20+ year old hardware, including Capcom CPS-2.

Obviously nothing noteworthy in comparison to your amazing work on the CPS Changer

[Stevas]

Wait, there's a "Brit shmup scene"?
Am I part of it? Is one part of it by default (if British), or are there some membership hoops one must jump through?
This is all terribly exciting, I must say.

[GaijinPunch]

Over 10 years of contributing to the hobby for free,

Didn't you charge 40 GBP to show tourists around Akihabara?

first CPS CHANGER footage

lol

[charlie chong]

can't believe i missed that thread
i do remember shou's article from back in the days... definitely the first time i had ever heard of the cps changer.

[endoKarb]

There has been no review posted. The assumption seems to be that since the port was directed by the current world-record holder of Ketsui with all ships/loops, it's a quality port. I'd love to read a more detailed review too. It sounds as if it is pretty much identical to the X360 offering.

SPS directed the port? I thought he just made the superplays.
That's pretty cool if it's true. Where did you find this information?

[Skykid]

Over 10 years of contributing to the hobby for free,

Didn't you charge 40 GBP to show tourists around Akihabara?

first CPS CHANGER footage

lol

Gold.

Trap15's a useless contributor though. Only managing to create two stellar Ketsui arrange modes and get them running in a Japanese arcade doesn't qualify as a contribution in my book.

Edit: He's shit at getting around to Aliens romhacks too.

[Bonus!]

SPS directed the port? I thought he just made the superplays.
That's pretty cool if it's true. Where did you find this information?

It was posted right in this thread some pages ago. I found the info on NeoGAF, and then it was confirmed by another user (i.e. the guy who made the post on NeoGAF).

[Phellan Wolf]

There has been no review posted. The assumption seems to be that since the port was directed by the current world-record holder of Ketsui with all ships/loops, it's a quality port. I'd love to read a more detailed review too. It sounds as if it is pretty much identical to the X360 offering.

SPS directed the port? I thought he just made the superplays.
That's pretty cool if it's true. Where did you find this information?

SPS might have directed the port, but as far as I know Mihara helped 5pb with the 360 port. So I'll take Mihara in first place. Thanks to him DOJ BLEX was finally patched.
Anyway, I am sure this version is jut a copy&paste, just like they did with DOJ, but without all his flaws.

[MrMonkeyMan]

So has anyone actually watched the superplays? I just watched the the highest scoring run, and I don't know if superplays are something people are worried about being spoiled, so I'll just make this really small and blue.

His death on Doom is heartbreaking. He was unbelievably close to clearing the game without dying. And the way he died, I don't even understand why. Why would you do that, you were clear of the bullets? His score would have been insane, probably about 600 million if my simple math is correct.

I haven't really touched the game yet. Played it once and my usb Saturn pad didn't work for some reason, but I booted it up a second time and it worked fine. Only played the first level and it plays just like the 360 version as far as I can tell.

[Bonus!]

Anyway, I am sure this version is jut a copy&paste, just like they did with DOJ, but without all his flaws.

You can't just copy and paste code when it targets different hardware architectures.

[rancor]

You can't just copy and paste code when it targets different hardware architectures.

PS2 and X360 use the same hardware architecture?

[Bonus!]

You can't just copy and paste code when it targets different hardware architectures.

PS2 and X360 use the same hardware architecture?

Weren't the issues of DOJ due to an attempt at emulating the PS2 code? This is a big difference.

[nasty_wolverine]

You can't just copy and paste code when it targets different hardware architectures.

PS2 and X360 use the same hardware architecture?

Weren't the issues of DOJ due to an attempt at emulating the PS2 code? This is a big difference.

From what i heard, they copy pasted the code from the PS2 version, only changed parts of it specific to the PS2 over to XBOX360. So it was like code written for a win95 pIII program forcibly made to run on win7 c2d by only changing the operating system calls. Something called "coding by exception".

[Bonus!]

Solaris is still listing the LE for 9800 ($100) plus 1100 for EMS. Looking at $110 there.

http://www.solarisjapan.com/ketsui-extr ... ition-ps3/

Not a lot of folks on these leaderboards yet. Less than a 100. Hopefully picks up in the next week or so.

Again thanks for the hint regarding Solaris! I just ordered my copy of Ketsui LE from them. I didn't like that they have no proper credit card integration, so I had to go through PayPal, which added another 4% or so to the final price, but it's still cheaper than with the other options, so all is well.

[Dracuify]

Finally got my copy of Ketsui regular edition yesterday. First time playing it and atleast the arcade mode is hard as balls, managed to get to stage 3 once or twice.

Also had a few runs of X-mode and i kinda like it better than arcade, it feels more accessible.

Also dat lock-on sound.

[denpanosekai]

Also had a few runs of X-mode and i kinda like it better than arcade, it feels more accessible. Also dat lock-on sound.

Agreed. I spent about 1 hour with each mode. I'm no expert, nor did I play the 360 version, so I can't comment on authenticity, but I couldn't find anything to bitch about either. Seems extra solid.

This game reminds me why I love/hate SHMUPs so much. It's mostly brilliant, plenty of great "in the zone" moments, but tons of seemingly unfair parts and mini-bosses. The soundtrack will keep me coming back for more.

I know this is most likely unfeasible, but I really wished they threw in the boss rush mode from the DS version. The art gallery should have been made unlockable as well. There's a good chunk of trophies that require pure grinding (such as getting XX,XXX X-chips). The rankings seem totally messed up at the moment, only about 96 listings and no matter what I tried (w/ or w/o replay upload), couldn't get mine in there despite confirmation message. Common theme with freshly-released console SHMUPs these days I suppose.

[Skykid]

It's mostly brilliant, plenty of great "in the zone" moments, but tons of seemingly unfair parts and mini-bosses.

There's nothing unfair about Ketsui.

[Bonus!]

The art gallery should have been made unlockable as well.

...so that only the absolute elite of players will be able to see all images like on Ketsui: Death Label? Personally, I find not much motivation in simply unlocking stuff or collecting virtual trophies.

Also, please reconsider your notion of "fairness" in shmups. What you perceive as "unfair" are merely patterns you haven't figured out. That's part of this genre.

[bcass]

And when I ask ask one simple question - 'How do I buy Instant Brain from my Japanese marketplace?', an extremely rare occasion when I ask for help, nothing.

I answered this question for you a couple of posts before your post. To reiterate - Instant Brain has NOT yet been released on the GoD service.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

It's mostly brilliant, plenty of great "in the zone" moments, but tons of seemingly unfair parts and mini-bosses.

There's nothing unfair about Ketsui.

There's that thing where the 1-up helicopters in stage 1-5 and 2-5 can just fly off the screen right away for some reason denying you the 1-up.

[denpanosekai]

Fair enough, poor choice of words on my part. brutal and unrelenting. though I suppose you may disagree with this as well.

[drunkninja24]

It's mostly brilliant, plenty of great "in the zone" moments, but tons of seemingly unfair parts and mini-bosses.

There's nothing unfair about Ketsui.

There's that thing where the 1-up helicopters in stage 1-5 and 2-5 can just fly off the screen right away for some reason denying you the 1-up.

Really? I don't think I've ever had that happen on all the hours I've put in on this game....

[Chaos Phoenixma]

It's happened to Aquas in 1-5 and I think Emuser/Resumed in 2-5 of his 2-all. I've never actually seen it in a run of my own.