Death Smiles: Countdown to North America Invasion

[CStarFlare]

25) The True Tyrant - Defeated Bloody Jitterbug. MBL

fuck you aksys

[drunkninja24]

Yeah, I always thought playing up the loli aspect was a really bad move on Aksys's part.

[dan76]

In support of those of us who are against Aksys's horrible localization of the game, I went to my local Play n Trade store today and was talking to my friend who owns it. The US version is the first time he's gotten to play it since he doesn't import games and he said he's enjoying it quite a bit, we talked about strategy for a few minutes, etc. In walks a group of what would be the absolute TARGET audience for this kind of Aksys fanboy shit. Kids in their late teens/early 20s who are in love with anime and Japanese video games (mostly for the wrong reasons, etc.) They all walk up and see the box for Deathsmiles and the one guy says "oh, there's Deathsmiles, it came out already. They sounded pretty interested in it and said the box looked really cool and wanted to take a look at it from behind the counter. My friend hands them the box and after about 5 seconds of looking at it, they all say "oh my god, I'll give you this back now, I can't buy something like this." They were all referring to the "Loli's smile back" line on the back and frowning away from the box for the sole reason that they would be embarassed to buy the game. I'm going to bet there was a good chance those guys may have actually bought the game with how interested they are and how inclined they are to liking shit with anime artwork (the one guy even knew who CAVE is), and based on how bad the packaging was, they walked away from it almost instantly after reading the back for a few seconds. Good job, Aksys. "Knowing your audience" sure pays off, huh.

- quit complaining and enjoy the game. What were they supposed to do with the packaging anyhow. From what i can tell they've stayed pretty faithful to the Japanese release and I'm sure if they'd have got away from that (mobile light force anyone?) the world would have imploded with the complaining on this forum. So a couple of nitwits don't like the box - big fucking deal.

I'm not hating on the game, mostly just on Rosa since before the US version came out I probably hadn't used her in like 8 months and now I see just about anyone who has played the game on Xbox Live has the achievement for 1cc with her and no one else. It's just weird and I really don't like using her cause there's not really a challenge

I don't see you lighting up the hi-score thread. It's always there if you want a challenge.

[Zigfried the Trizealot]

In support of those of us who are against Aksys's horrible localization of the game, I went to my local Play n Trade store today and was talking to my friend who owns it. ..... based on how bad the packaging was, they walked away from it almost instantly after reading the back for a few seconds. Good job, Aksys. "Knowing your audience" sure pays off, huh.

I don't see anything inherently wrong with the "Death smiles at us all. Lolis smile back." line, considering it actually is attached to a game that stars lolis. So I wouldn't lump this with their other localization foibles, as the line is keeping with the game's original spirit. Aksys's miscalculation was in underestimating Western anime fans' hypocrisy. They admire gothic lolita artwork, but they aren't ready to be told that they admire such things. Or, perhaps more accurately, they're not ready for other people to pick up the box and know about it.

The safest route would have been for Aksys to change the character artwork entirely -- both in-game and on the packaging. That's what would have happened back in the 16-bit (and possibly even 32-bit!) era. Aksys probably figured "well hell, we're keeping the lolis in there, and it's obvious that they're lolis, so there shouldn't be a problem with saying so." But I guess sometimes it's better to pander to a hypocritical -- possibly even self-loathing -- audience and ignore the elephant in the room to sell extra copies.

[MachineAres 1CC]

I don't see anything inherently wrong with the "Death smiles at us all. Lolis smile back." line, considering it actually is attached to a game that stars lolis.

You miss the entire point by even using the term "loli." The term itself is utterly stupid jargon and shouldn't be used in the English language for any reason. On top of that, it has a stigma with it that relates to fat, disgusting anime nerds. Who wants to be a part of that boat?

- quit complaining and enjoy the game.

I enjoyed the game as much as I could having already played it for hundreds of hours in the last year and a half before the US version came out. I'm not complaining with any hope of anything to change, I do so to incite discussion of like-minded people and to express my opinion. We have just as many "stop complaining" posts here as we do of people complaining, and us complainers are obviously not going to stop.

[roker]

like-minded people

there's only one of you ...



thank god.

[PepsimanVsJoe]

I was planning on writing a review of this game for Giantbomb
Turns out one was already posted.

http://www.giantbomb.com/deathsmiles/61 ... w_id=15220

Don't read it if you're wearing a mud-mask or have a pretty crazy sunburn on your forehead.

[evil_ash_xero]

Mine came in today, and i'm pretty pleased with the packaging and everything. Can't say much about the translation, since my US 360 is still broke down(never got it fixed when I got my J360 in September).

I was totally against the faceplate, since i'm pretty anti-loli...but it was so nice and shiny...and well, I put it on my Xbox. Shame!

[evil_ash_xero]

I was planning on writing a review of this game for Giantbomb
Turns out one was already posted.

http://www.giantbomb.com/deathsmiles/61 ... w_id=15220

Don't read it if you're wearing a mud-mask or have a pretty crazy sunburn on your forehead.

GAH! If I hear one more "I finished this game in under and hour" and "this should be a downloadable game", i'm going to kill someone. These games are supposed to be done in one sitting! That's how it is! And some of us like the physical packaging!

Oh well. Maybe if they released them for 20 bucks, people wouldn't complain.

[xris]

It's too bad this doesn't have a wacky arrange mode on it. I just watched the DS IIX video of the wtf is going on arrange mode for that one. I like the strange rule bending that Cave comes up with.

[Zigfried the Trizealot]

On top of that, it has a stigma with it that relates to fat, disgusting anime nerds. Who wants to be a part of that boat?

Whether you call the girls "lolis" or "lolitas", Cave intentionally used loli-goth art designs. If only fat, disgusting anime nerds like that kind of stuff, then fat, disgusting anime nerds were the audience that Cave was trying to attract. I just don't see why Aksys should take the blame for calling a spade a spade. Catering to hypocrisy may be smart, but honesty in advertising is hardly a localization blunder. If we go all the way down that line of thought, their blunder would have been localizing DeathSmiles in the first place.

As for the word "loli", from the perspective of whether or not it belongs in the English language, I would liken it to "shmup".

[tearsofash]

I'm pretty anti-moe and anti-loli since it's overrun a few of my favorite mediums. However, the juxtaposition of it with this kind of game is somewhat gratifying.

It's like a troll attempt to get those stereotypical moe/loli (so-called fat and disgusting) fans to play it, and I approve.

[Jockel]

I was planning on writing a review of this game for Giantbomb
Turns out one was already posted.

http://www.giantbomb.com/deathsmiles/61 ... w_id=15220

Don't read it if you're wearing a mud-mask or have a pretty crazy sunburn on your forehead.

GAH! If I hear one more "I finished this game in under and hour" and "this should be a downloadable game", i'm going to kill someone. These games are supposed to be done in one sitting! That's how it is! And some of us like the physical packaging!

Oh well. Maybe if they released them for 20 bucks, people wouldn't complain.

Especially awesome how he considers himself a shooting veteran.
Credit fed it once, didn't even try any other mode... the IGNorance is strong in this one.

Reminds me of that one hilarious Gradius V review.

[gs68]

Although I could see why some people let loose at the sight of moe or gothloli, I don't really mind either. This is a good game and if anyone looks at me funny because I play a gothloli shooter, well, this is all I have to say to them:

[moozooh]

I don't see anything inherently wrong with the "Death smiles at us all. Lolis smile back." line, considering it actually is attached to a game that stars lolis. So I wouldn't lump this with their other localization foibles, as the line is keeping with the game's original spirit. Aksys's miscalculation was in underestimating Western anime fans' hypocrisy. They admire gothic lolita artwork, but they aren't ready to be told that they admire such things. Or, perhaps more accurately, they're not ready for other people to pick up the box and know about it.

Catering to hypocrisy may be smart, but honesty in advertising is hardly a localization blunder. If we go all the way down that line of thought, their blunder would have been localizing DeathSmiles in the first place.

Cleverest words seen in this thread since the whole localization discourse. Seriously.

[KindGrind]

I was thinking exactly the same. Very well said, and very true, too.

[MachineAres 1CC]

If we go all the way down that line of thought, their blunder would have been localizing DeathSmiles in the first place.

I wouldn't be against this at all, I would've been just fine if they never did localize it and am of the belief that maybe it shouldn't have been done, so if you're using this as a recourse, try again.

As for the word "loli", from the perspective of whether or not it belongs in the English language, I would liken it to "shmup".

I'm not against this either. I think saying "shmup" or "shoot-em-up" out loud sounds ridiculous and avoid it whenever I can, except when talking about this forum, since that is the actual name of the forum.

[ubersaurus]

If we go all the way down that line of thought, their blunder would have been localizing DeathSmiles in the first place.

I wouldn't be against this at all, I would've been just fine if they never did localize it and am of the belief that maybe it shouldn't have been done, so if you're using this as a recourse, try again.

I disagree on the grounds that had it never been localized, I wouldn't be able to play it. I don't own a JP 360, it's more cash to burn than I have available for a console that I technically already own, so by all means, they should localize as many of these types of games as they can. Not all of us fans of the genre have the ability to run region-locked Japanese 360 games!

[AraraSPAMWitch]

In walks a group of what would be the absolute TARGET audience for this kind of Aksys fanboy shit. Kids in their late teens/early 20s who are in love with anime and Japanese video games (mostly for the wrong reasons, etc.) They all walk up and see the box for Deathsmiles and the one guy says "oh, there's Deathsmiles, it came out already. They sounded pretty interested in it and said the box looked really cool and wanted to take a look at it from behind the counter. My friend hands them the box and after about 5 seconds of looking at it, they all say "oh my god, I'll give you this back now, I can't buy something like this." They were all referring to the "Loli's smile back" line on the back and frowning away from the box for the sole reason that they would be embarassed to buy the game. I'm going to bet there was a good chance those guys may have actually bought the game with how interested they are and how inclined they are to liking shit with anime artwork (the one guy even knew who CAVE is), and based on how bad the packaging was, they walked away from it almost instantly after reading the back for a few seconds. Good job, Aksys. "Knowing your audience" sure pays off, huh.

The people are clearly cowardly faggots, we all know they jack off all over their suzumiya-haruhi-in-a-school-swimsuit PVC figures every night without fail but, being raised by Evangelical christians, they believe paedophilia is only acceptable in pastors of megachurches and don't want to infringe on church authorities by liking adolescent cartoon girls becae that would mean they covet their pastos' power and prestige (whic they do , as entitlement to paedophilic tendencies has always been associated with church authorities, see Thessalonians 5:20) and thus in an effort to hide their ambitions form tthe church they pretend that they don't like lolicon, a clear sign of underdevelopedamygdala, the courage and manliness center of the brain, and scientists have proven that those with underdevelopedamygdala are PHYSICALLY INCAPABLE OF playing gaems fro score, and since playng games for score is, as we all know, the only way to enjoy a good shuutingu geemu, clearly these cowardly little terds would have, like our friends at giantbomb, returned the game within hours of buying it anway like the evangelion little pricks that they are, but not before wanking all over the face plate in the privacy of their own kitchen, in other news, my gamestop has yet to fulfill my preorder demands, this is a good thing because I can't afford the game at the moment, also paragraph breaks are for nerds, STFU

[TLB]

In walks a group of what would be the absolute TARGET audience for this kind of Aksys fanboy shit. Kids in their late teens/early 20s who are in love with anime and Japanese video games (mostly for the wrong reasons, etc.) They all walk up and see the box for Deathsmiles and the one guy says "oh, there's Deathsmiles, it came out already. They sounded pretty interested in it and said the box looked really cool and wanted to take a look at it from behind the counter. My friend hands them the box and after about 5 seconds of looking at it, they all say "oh my god, I'll give you this back now, I can't buy something like this." They were all referring to the "Loli's smile back" line on the back and frowning away from the box for the sole reason that they would be embarassed to buy the game. I'm going to bet there was a good chance those guys may have actually bought the game with how interested they are and how inclined they are to liking shit with anime artwork (the one guy even knew who CAVE is), and based on how bad the packaging was, they walked away from it almost instantly after reading the back for a few seconds. Good job, Aksys. "Knowing your audience" sure pays off, huh.

The people are clearly cowardly faggots, we all know they jack off all over their suzumiya-haruhi-in-a-school-swimsuit PVC figures every night without fail but, being raised by Evangelical christians, they believe paedophilia is only acceptable in pastors of megachurches and don't want to infringe on church authorities by liking adolescent cartoon girls becae that would mean they covet their pastos' power and prestige (whic they do , as entitlement to paedophilic tendencies has always been associated with church authorities, see Thessalonians 5:20) and thus in an effort to hide their ambitions form tthe church they pretend that they don't like lolicon, a clear sign of underdevelopedamygdala, the courage and manliness center of the brain, and scientists have proven that those with underdevelopedamygdala are PHYSICALLY INCAPABLE OF playing gaems fro score, and since playng games for score is, as we all know, the only way to enjoy a good shuutingu geemu, clearly these cowardly little terds would have, like our friends at giantbomb, returned the game within hours of buying it anway like the evangelion little pricks that they are, but not before wanking all over the face plate in the privacy of their own kitchen, in other news, my gamestop has yet to fulfill my preorder demands, this is a good thing because I can't afford the game at the moment, also paragraph breaks are for nerds, STFU

This is quite the impressive paragraph, were you under the influence when you wrote it?

[roker]

I wouldn't be against this at all, I would've been just fine if they never did localize it and am of the belief that maybe it shouldn't have been done, so if you're using this as a recourse, try again.

that's the dumbest shit I've ever heard.

[CStarFlare]

This is quite the impressive paragraph, were you under the influence when you wrote it?

There's a little thing called divine inspiration

[CStarFlare]

OK serious post time

Has anyone play MBL 1.1? Is it just me, or is slowdown almost completely missing? It almost feels like things are speeding up when I'm in powerup mode, which is absurd.

[dan76]

I wouldn't be against this at all, I would've been just fine if they never did localize it and am of the belief that maybe it shouldn't have been done, so if you're using this as a recourse, try again.

Make a sentence out of the folowing:
your mouth sodding shut

[Kiken]

Hey all -

Didn't see this posted yet, but this should be the full list of secret achievements for the US version of Deathsmiles. Credit goes to Dcrvx2k over at GameFAQ's, not the best source but I know for a fact that at least 7 out of 10 are real so there is no reason the other 3 shouldn't be.

05) I Can't Hurt a Friend! - Waited for Sakura to explode while playing as Windia. (Secret Achievement) Xbox 360 / Arcade

05) Everything's Stopped! - Pressed the pause button during a stage. (Secret Achievement) Xbox 360 / Arcade

10) Sweet Tooth - Picked up 4 life-recovery items in one playthrough. (Secret Achievement) Xbox 360 / Arcade

10) Just Barely! - Cleared any stage with 0.5 lives and 0 bombs. (Secret Achievement) Xbox 360 / Arcade

15) Mother... - Chose to stay in Gilverado with Sakura.(Secret Achievement) MBL

10) Hundred Millionaire - Score has reached 100,000,000 points. (Secret Achievement)

20) Double Hundred Millionaire - Score has reached 200,000,000 points. (Secret Achievement)

50) Triple Hundred Millionaire - Score has reached 300,000,000 points. (Secret Achievement)

50) MBL 1.1's Hidden Challenge - Score has reached 10,000,000,000 points in Mega Black Label 1.1 mode.

25) The True Tyrant - Defeated Bloody Jitterbug. MBL

8 of these are confirmed. Triple Hundred Millionaire is a pretty safe bet. "The True Tyrant" for only 25g sounds unlikely... unless Aksys just decided to be total assholes. I'm more inclined to think that it's another original achievement like the "Mother..." one.

[TaygetaVendetta]

The people are clearly cowardly faggots, we all know they jack off all over their suzumiya-haruhi-in-a-school-swimsuit PVC figures every night without fail but, being raised by Evangelical christians, they believe paedophilia is only acceptable in pastors of megachurches and don't want to infringe on church authorities by liking adolescent cartoon girls becae that would mean they covet their pastos' power and prestige (whic they do , as entitlement to paedophilic tendencies has always been associated with church authorities, see Thessalonians 5:20) and thus in an effort to hide their ambitions form tthe church they pretend that they don't like lolicon, a clear sign of underdevelopedamygdala, the courage and manliness center of the brain, and scientists have proven that those with underdevelopedamygdala are PHYSICALLY INCAPABLE OF playing gaems fro score, and since playng games for score is, as we all know, the only way to enjoy a good shuutingu geemu, clearly these cowardly little terds would have, like our friends at giantbomb, returned the game within hours of buying it anway like the evangelion little pricks that they are, but not before wanking all over the face plate in the privacy of their own kitchen, in other news, my gamestop has yet to fulfill my preorder demands, this is a good thing because I can't afford the game at the moment, also paragraph breaks are for nerds, STFU

Someone build this man a church so we may gather and listen to his brilliance weekly.

8 of these are confirmed. Triple Hundred Millionaire is a pretty safe bet. "The True Tyrant" for only 25g sounds unlikely... unless Aksys just decided to be total assholes. I'm more inclined to think that it's another original achievement like the "Mother..." one.

I wouldn't doubt its tied to Bloody Jitterbug. Deathsmiles NA probably has the most bipolar achievement list I've ever seen. 40 of them just fall in your lap for nothing, while a select few are near impossible.

[Exarion]

http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/53714/De ... on/review/

Score: 3/5 "Deathsmiles's challenge and complexity will be instantly appreciated by the shoot-em-up faithful, but the uninitiated may have a hard time grasping its subtleties."



The Pros

* Faithful recreation of cult arcade game
* Wildly imaginative setting and enemies
* Subtle innovations to the shooter formula


The Cons

* Outside the arcade there's no motivation to play flawlessly [see notes]
* Deeper gameplay elements aren't well explained
* Xbox controller doesn't cut it - you'll need an arcade stick

The review is generally positive. He mentions this forum, and is quite clear on how the game is supposed to be played, but says the game doesn't do enough to make that clear. I can see one minor error (he forgets to mention that right analog stick only controls your familiar in 1.1 mode), but other than that I can't really fault anything.

[GaijinPunch]

8 of these are confirmed. Triple Hundred Millionaire is a pretty safe bet. "The True Tyrant" for only 25g sounds unlikely... unless Aksys just decided to be total assholes. I'm more inclined to think that it's another original achievement like the "Mother..." one.

Isn't that what it is in the JPN one or is it less? They might have decided to disperse points in lamer achievements since some people or some unknown reason really like those things.

[iluvmonsterz]

i am just glad i didnt have to pay 70+ dollars for this game and that it made it to the states. localizations have been mishandled since the earliest of gaming days and will continue this way for a long time.i honestly cannot believe there is an ongoing argument about the goth/lolli theme and its influences on new players or people currently playing it. its beautiful, it plays well, i personaly dig the music..so i could give two shits about the socio-shmuping impact of a chosen theme.

[MachineAres 1CC]

Isn't that what it is in the JPN one or is it less?

Its actually 500 million on the JPN version, and I'm guessing it may be exactly the same on the US one, unless they decided to lower it for whatever reason.