Death Smiles: Countdown to North America Invasion

[dannnnn]

The PSX port of DDP isn't quite accurate, but I prefer it over playing on mame.

Mind explaining why? I'm just curious as I've only played it on MAME.

[Zeether]

If you pick TATE you have to select a ship on the options screen or something.

[Matsunaga]

The PSX port of DDP isn't quite accurate, but I prefer it over playing on mame.

Mind explaining why? I'm just curious as I've only played it on MAME.

MAME has input lag, that's pretty much the only reason.

[Kiken]

I'm pretty sure MBL 1.1 speed up at certain (bullet heavy) points.

On the plus side, I'm pretty sure the graphical glitches are gone because there's not as much stuff on the screen at once.

Nope, the graphical glitches can still be triggered in the US version, particularly in the Ice Palace stage. Get enough bonus items and suicide bullets on screen and watch the entire display flip out (flashing HUD, the playfield turning black and white, character sprite and enemy bullets disappearing for up to 2 seconds, random sprite garbage like elements from the stage boss flashing on screen, etc).

[CStarFlare]

Huh, didn't notice them when I played through 1.1. But I wasn't really doing too well, so maybe that's why.

[hail good sir]

peep

[CStarFlare]

IIRC your counter goes down faster as rank rises, and rank is going to be at its highest at the castle. It doesn't help that for the entire first half of the stage there's very limited opportunities to let items break.

Try to stay in powerup mode as much as possible (this isn't too difficult since enemies shed gold crowns when you're powered up) for the first half and make sure you're letting everything break in the second half of 4-1.

[GaijinPunch]

The PSX port of DDP isn't quite accurate, but I prefer it over playing on mame.

Mind explaining why? I'm just curious as I've only played it on MAME.

MAME has input lag, that's pretty much the only reason.

No, the PSX port has differences from the PCB. NTSC-J (Kaneda) made a good post about it at Cave-STG a while back but the software there lacks an advanced search (or I'm too dumb to find it -- probably the latter).

[BIL]

http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=271

Went looking since I'm a port accuracy geek.

[Matsunaga]

No, the PSX port has differences from the PCB. NTSC-J (Kaneda) made a good post about it at Cave-STG a while back but the software there lacks an advanced search (or I'm too dumb to find it -- probably the latter).

I meant that's the only reason I prefer to play the PSX version.

[drunkninja24]

Looks like Aksys got a response from Cave with regards to the slowdown differences in the US version:

http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/732

Cave wanted to fix some unintended slowdown in the original, which compromised the level of difficulty in those sections. They upgraded the production environment of the graphics engine, so the U.S. version handles the graphic assets better. They're now working as originally intended, so things will be more difficult.

That's....interesting to say the least.

[Zigfried the Trizealot]

That's kind of funny. We're irritated that the US version isn't arcade-perfect (and we've got valid reasons to feel that way) but then Cave comes out and says the US version is the one that's closest to perfect. It's the totally anti-hardcore response to a totally hardcore complaint.

[GaijinPunch]

That's kind of funny. We're irritated that the US version isn't arcade-perfect (and we've got valid reasons to feel that way) but then Cave comes out and says the US version is the one that's closest to perfect. It's the totally anti-hardcore response to a totally hardcore complaint.

That's hard-fucking-core.

[spl]

http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=271

Went looking since I'm a port accuracy geek.

The stuff Kaneda says in that thread is the most truthful.

The PSX port feels a little bit faster and also the chains break where they don't break in the PCB version. I tested it on the 1st and 2nd stage where I can do all the chains on PCB about 8 or 9 times out of 10. On the PSX version I did not get the full chain once using the same route.

Graphically it is very accurate but gameplay wise it is slighly different.

In regards to DeathSmiles US release - the post appears that Cave did not make the original arcade game as they intended and they say the US release is the way it was intended from the beginning.

Alot of people have said how easy DeathSmiles is and how it is the easiest Cave 1cc. This is probably the reason why - because it had too much slowdown that Cave did not intend in the arcade release. This came straight from the horse's mouth and not speculation!

[zakk]

So they're trying to say they somehow accidentally produced a nearly 100% accurate 'arcade' version in the japanese port and then suddenly decided this was all too easy and unintentional and fixed it for an NA release? Especially when the mode that would have been the perfect one for 'removing all the slowdown' in the JP port (the 360 mode) had slowdown specifically coded in by Ikeda?

So is there a traditional time in Japan where companies hire interns? I'm just asking....

[spl]

So they're trying to say they somehow accidentally produced a nearly 100% accurate 'arcade' version in the japanese port and then suddenly decided this was all too easy and unintentional and fixed it for an NA release? Especially when the mode that would have been the perfect one for 'removing all the slowdown' in the JP port (the 360 mode) had slowdown specifically coded in by Ikeda?

So is there a traditional time in Japan where companies hire interns? I'm just asking....

Could be they are full of shit of course - or maybe they had different priorities when making the port originally?

Basically you'll never know the true story so if you want the slowdown just import the J version.

[GaijinPunch]

So is there a traditional time in Japan where companies hire interns? I'm just asking....

All hiring is done in April across the board. Not sure if interns fit in there. Do we specifically know it was an inter/Asada/whomever that made these changes? I find it a bit suspect... the port was touted as dope, even though the arcade resolution is pretty useless.

Could be they are full of shit of course

Far more likely. The true victim of this all is whomever maintains the high score table. There's already a million -- now you have do 2x.

[gs68]

So if Cave means it when they say that they altered the US version to be closer to what they wanted, shouldn't it follow that they apply a patch to the JP version too?

[bcass]

To be fair to Cave, there's a long tradition of Japanese devs changing the difficulty for Western releases. IIRC there isn't a single non-Japanese player in the Leaderboard top 5 for any of their ports, so I'm not sure why they'd make it harder.

[StarCreator]

I say it's more likely they treated the US ver as an experiment, slapping DS's assets onto Espgaluda II Black Label's engine (thus the appearance of the "smoothing" option), with the "more accurate" quip stating belief the Espgaluda II engine produces results closer to SH3 than the original DS 360 engine did.

That's just my personal speculation though.

[Acid King]

So they're trying to say they somehow accidentally produced a nearly 100% accurate 'arcade' version in the japanese port and then suddenly decided this was all too easy and unintentional and fixed it for an NA release? Especially when the mode that would have been the perfect one for 'removing all the slowdown' in the JP port (the 360 mode) had slowdown specifically coded in by Ikeda?

Though if they were going to attempt something like that, it would make sense they'd do it to the NA release and not the Japanese release. Japanese players have far more experience with the arcade game and are much more likely to bitch about port accuracy because it affects their the ability to practice the game at home. I'd call bullshit on them, but obviously there has to be a reason the NA release runs faster than the Japanese port, otherwise they would have just translated the text and menus and left the game alone. It's totally plausible that the given reason is the reason they did it. Are there any other logical reasons why they'd take the effort to make the changes?

[subcons]

I say it's more likely they treated the US ver as an experiment, slapping DS's assets onto Espgaluda II Black Label's engine (thus the appearance of the "smoothing" option), with the "more accurate" quip stating belief the Espgaluda II engine produces results closer to SH3 than the original DS 360 engine did.

That's just my personal speculation though.

Interesting theory.

[Zero Gunner]

Wait...so the first ever US release of a Cave shmup is made more difficult that it's Japanese version (and improved in the process) and the "hardcore" are complaining? Talk about ironic....

[NR777]

Wait...so the first ever US release of a Cave shmup is made more difficult that it's Japanese version (and improved in the process) and the "hardcore" are complaining? Talk about ironic....

Ummm, I think people are complaining because the changes break scoring.

[njiska]

Wait...so the first ever US release of a Cave shmup is made more difficult that it's Japanese version (and improved in the process) and the "hardcore" are complaining? Talk about ironic....

High difficulty does not automatically equal better design.

[GaijinPunch]

To be fair to Cave, there's a long tradition of Japanese devs changing the difficulty for Western releases. IIRC there isn't a single non-Japanese player in the Leaderboard top 5 for any of their ports, so I'm not sure why they'd make it harder.

1: While the first part of your statement is "fair", the second is not. There's a very small percentage of non-Japanese playing these games. Probably less than a percent.

2: I don't know about now, but a few players have been in the top 5 at some point (and not just a day after). I had the top Follet 1.1 score at one point. I think it's still in the top 20 overall (I've not logged in in months). One of the Italian members raped ESPGaluda Black Label (that was top 5). EOJ has had at least a couple, and I think Elixir's MBL 1.1 score is top 5 material.

Ummm, I think people are complaining because the changes break scoring.

I think you're right -- and I think that's a legitimate complaint. These games are built on scoring.

[Dale]

So how well did this sell?

[Aru-san]

So how well did this sell?

47,499 NA sales after 4 weeks, according to VGChartz. I guess it's almost safe to say that consumers have sucked the LEs dry, assuming that this print run is around 50K.

[roker]

So how well did this sell?

47,499 NA sales after 4 weeks, according to VGChartz. I guess it's almost safe to say that consumers have sucked the LEs dry, assuming that this print run is around 50K.

ok

now bring on the cheap 2nd run!

[Bay78]

AWESOME game! If anyone is looking to play it online add me. I'm Bay78 and send me a message.