Illvelo Swamp

[dmk1198]

How can I buy/play this? Where the new radirgy game at to?
Same question
How can I buy/play it? Thnx in advance
I have jap switch account
And USA ps store

[Jonpachi]

There's still physical copies around if you look, but do mind that it will all be in Japanese, which will make the game quite a bit less fun as it is very text heavy.

https://www.play-asia.com/illmatic-enve ... /13/70eqk1

[Ms. Tea]

The Japanese download release is still out there too. The download releases of Illvelo Swamp and Radirgy Swag are sold separately, unlike the physical bundle.

[dmk1198]

Only on Japan eshop? Thnx guys

[BulletMagnet]

Seems an enhanced/expanded version is in the works.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Old fashioned official webpage thing for the geezers

[Ms. Tea]

Ooh, this is exciting. I'll miss the original format with a switch to a stage format, but looking forward to seeing just how different it is. Now I'm wondering if the reason a localization hasn't happened yet is because they were holding off for this...

[Kiken]

Superfluous double-post.

Illvelo Swamp Happy Together

Illvelo Swamp Happy Together, scheduled to release June 5th 2025 (only available in Japan).

Illvelo Swamp Happy Together is the new and evolved version of the previous title, Illvelo Swamp.
Swim through 100 stages of happiness via two unique modes - Regular mode, and Dev mode, equipped with multi-ability weapon, the Doll.
Be prepared for endlessly happy Shoot'em up experience.

[mojilove]

a few thoughts after pausing the video a million times to look at the details

- one stage has a gimmick where the screen is dark except for a spotlight around the ship. maybe other stages will have other gimmicks
- you have a huge bomb stock in this game - i wonder how that's gonna work
- there's a gacha mode called "happy gotcha" - looks like there are multiple gacha modes? you presumably use some kind of in-game currency to pull the gacha like in esprade, and you get pictures of the enemies and maybe music as well
- there seems to be some kind of unlockable minigame in the gotcha mode (based on the real-world debug instructions left in the trailer)
- the doll girls on each side of the screen have updated designs. there's also a big wifi symbol that probably indicates what type of doll attack you're currently using
- there's an in-game message from cheepo saying that brain 07 has appeared in stages 11 and 20 - still no idea what the brains in jars are for at the left-hand side of the screen
- speaking of which, the brains in jars have a label saying "Who in heaven is the greatest? If one of your hands or one of your feet causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away!" which is from Matthew 18:1 and 18:8, as well as "Holly Ent.", the name of the company running DEF (the in-game virtual world)

looking forward to it!

[m.sniffles.esq]

I woke up and saw both of these topped and was like "uh... did someone die?"

Anywho:

the brains in jars have a label saying "Who in heaven is the greatest? If one of your hands or one of your feet causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away!" which is from Matthew 18:1 and 18:8

And here I thought "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out" was from X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes...
(dope movie, btw)

But 75 SMACKERS for a LE with a remix soundtrack and art book?????? That better be a coffee table book...

[mojilove]

if the japanese economy tanks within the next few months, you might get a better deal with the exchange rate
might also be worth mentioning that the booklet is likely to be about the same as the one that came with the LE of the original illvelo swamp, and the cd will probably only have a few tracks rather than being a full soundtrack

anyway, mebius is demoing happy together in osaka at the end of the month (https://x.com/digitalmebius/status/1899281227716390997), so I will report back here after i've played it

[m.sniffles.esq]

if the japanese economy tanks within the next few months, you might get a better deal with the exchange rate

That's assuming the US economy doesn't beat it to the bottom.

But I digress...

[mojilove]

Happy Together was showcased in a stream the other day. Check out the remix of the Swamp menu screen track at this timestamp before the actual showcase begins - it's a good remix: https://www.youtube.com/live/KGXq4kQmKnE?t=9618
I also played a demo of the game today at an event - here's what I have noticed so far:

- There are four buttons: shot, attr, mgdoll, and megalo
Attr changes your attribute (attack type) in a clockwise direction (from the top: shot, spread, shield, shuriken). You can change your attribute with the right stick, too
Press the shot button to attack using your current attribute
Mgdoll does a special megalodoll attack based on the current attribute (which constantly depletes the gauge, like in og swamp)
Megalo is for the bomb
- Noticeably, there is no "doll" button. You can't move the modules independently from the ship in this game. The positions of the modules can be controlled to some extent - all four modules move in different directions if you move the ship without shooting. They don't move parallel to the ship though. I think they spread out if you move forward, cluster around you if you move back, and veer slightly to the sides if you move horizontally. It will take me a bit of getting used to how they move
- Each of the four girls at the edges of the screen corresponds to an attribute. After some time, one of the girls will demand attention and start emitting black hearts. If you switch the attribute to that girl, you will level up that weapon more quickly. About every 20 seconds, a new girl demands attention, so you need to keep your eyes on the edges of the screen while playing (there's a large black wifi icon that is easier to notice as well). There are enemies that can only be hit with a certain type of attack like in OG swamp, and there are also enemies with a pink/red shield that can only be hit by the attack of the girl who currently wants attention. I think the later levels will require a lot of attribute switching (I am happy about this, personally)
- Unlike OG swamp, the bomb and megalodoll attacks use different resources - the bomb stock is separate from the megalodoll attack gauge, so bombing doesn't use up the meter, and keeping a megalodoll attack activated won't burn through your bomb stock. This allows for more liberal bombing than in OG swamp. It seems like you can only build up your bomb stock by collecting bomb items. If you have enough bombs in stock, you can deploy multiple bombs in one go (like kojirou's bombs in radirgy 2)
- apart from the 100 short stages, there are apparently 20 long stages that start off very hard and gradually get easier as you play them repeatedly

Also, the amazon listing shows a screenshot from the main menu with multiple colour options that you can select before starting the game. I am guessing that these options lock you into one of the colour-coded routes, as opposed to OG swamp giving you the choice of where to go at each fork in the road. There's also a "none" option, which might let you choose your path at each branch like the OG though, as well as a "boss" option which I would like to think might be a boss rush, but who knows.

[m.sniffles.esq]

there are apparently 20 long stages that start off very hard and gradually get easier as you play them repeatedly

And now I have tea on my monitor and keyboard

PS I can not make heads nor tales of the Amazon listings. They have two limited editions priced ¥2000 differently, even though the descriptions are identical.

[Samuray]

So this is not a new game but kind of an expansion to the previous one, right? The one I've got this wildly beautiful pink collector's edition of.

[mojilove]

PS I can not make heads nor tales of the Amazon listings. They have two limited editions priced ¥2000 differently, even though the descriptions are identical.

The more expensive one comes with a downloadable wallpaper as an amazon exclusive bonus - that's the only difference. Usually it's only a difference of 1000 yen but this time it's 2000 yen cheaper for the limited edition without the wallpaper

So this is not a new game but kind of an expansion to the previous one, right? The one I've got this wildly beautiful pink collector's edition of.

They're positioning it as something like an upgraded version, but they have switched up the mechanics a bit, so yeah, I think you could call it an expansion. No way of telling for sure until it comes out though

[m.sniffles.esq]

The more expensive one comes with a downloadable wallpaper as an amazon exclusive bonus - that's the only difference.

So it's a vendor exclusive they're charging $14 extra to get?
Don't know if I love that...

I'll just do play-asia, as the whole Under Defeat experience with amazon kinda rubbed me the wrong way (pre-ordered, was "ready to ship" for like two weeks, then the actual shipping date suddenly changed to a month after that. In other words, they took WAY more pre-orders than they could cover, which (under) defeats the whole purpose of pre-ordering). Besides with free shipping and loyalty points, I can get the LE for only like $5 more than amazon is charging for just the game (including amazon's $15 shipping)

BTW, after reading the impression of the demo, then watching the stream, I was (more or less) able to decipher what was happening (which was more than I could say for Swamp). So I'm optimistic.

Edit: June 5th?? Switch 2 launch title confirmed

(personally, I would loved if they would of ran the Happy Together trailer during the Switch 2 direct just to see the "uh, wtf is this???" comments in the chat. Speaking of which, there's now a second trailer that actually shows some gameplay)

[m.sniffles.esq]

I'm double posting so this will top (sorry), but Happy Together is up, shipped, and all is right in the world.

[Ms. Tea]

Hearing from a reliable source that Happy Together is in fact getting localized - after the years-old tease from the original Illvelo Swamp! It's finally happening!!

[Jeneki]

Swamp Happy Together has to be the best shmup suffix I've heard in a long time.

[dmk1198]

I've got all these games but they nigh on impenetrable
In Japanese lol
For quick recap what are the best roughly in order?
Radirgy best?
And what ones play in Tate? Cheers I just love cel shaded graphics

[dmk1198]

Got all the switch games I meant not korous etc
Radirgy 1 is hidden In radirgy 2 I think?
Then I've got illvello swamp I guess
What's the 3rd one?
They all from Japan store so I got no clue lol

[m.sniffles.esq]

What's the 3rd one?

Radirgy Swag (which is probably the most the most non-Japanese friendly other that the original Radirgy. Which isn't very hidden, btw. You just start Radirgy 2, and it's the second option in the main menu)

[dmk1198]

You star thnx pal

[m.sniffles.esq]

In an up to the minute, breaking report: I have finally busted the shrink-wrap on the game on that gives this thread it's title (I figured since it's sorta/kinda sequel was en route, I should play the original)

It's both confounding and not as bad as I thought it would be (if that makes any sense).

I'm guessing you're supposed to play the first seven levels over and over until you eventually fill the orders, and then things will open up from there. Some of the orders are very mysteriously worded (according to the google magic translation machine), but I guess that's 'on brand' as the kids say. But seeing that they dole out a little more information every time you do that seven stage run, makes me think it's what I'm supposed to be doing. (edit: right after posting this, I opened up levels 8-12. There's a list of orders for every level! Oy vey...)

The seven different weapons filled me with dread (flashbacks of Radiant Silvergun) but it's really only shot, shield, bomb, and doll thingy, which is pretty much the same set-up as Radirgy 2. And while my fumbling is enjoyable thus far, I'm certainly I'm going to have to watch that tutorial at some point.

[dmk1198]

Or pray for cheap England release...

[m.sniffles.esq]

Or pray for cheap England release...

Mebius said it was happening... (3 1/2 years ago)

Okay, the tutorial makes much more sense now that I've putzed around with the game, and the game makes much more sense now that I've looked at the tutorial.

It all comes together.

(breaking update edit: okay, now that I sorta/kinda know what I'm doing, and have spent some quality time with the game. I dunno about this one... I mean, I guess I admire it for how completely right-brained and zany it is, but it's not particularly fun to play. There's a lot of mechanics to fumble with in pursuit of chasing around a popcorn wearing a little ribbon while making absolutely sure not to so much as graze any other popcorn. And man... I just wanna blast shit. Not to mention, it's all so squishy and imprecise, yet expects the player to do a never ending list of precise things. I'm supposed to kill an aforementioned ribbon wearing popcorn with my shield, yet my shield is going straight through them because I'm apparently not making contact with whatever pixel makes it go boom. I won't even go into the fact it's made for the Switch, but you can't see what you're supposed to be doing on the Switch's screen without pausing because the icons are so small

I know this probably makes it sound like I hate it, but I don't. It has a lot of neat ideas, they're just not implemented in the greatest fashion. So if anything, it intrigues me about the sequel/spin-off more, as I'm curious to see if the screws have been tightened)

[mojilove]

I'm glad the tutorial made sense! I should have called it "rough" rather than short, come to think of it.

I've been playing Happy Together a lot the past few days. I still haven't figured it all out but I'm enjoying it.

The regular mode seems to be virtually identical to the original swamp, apart for the new ship. I haven't done a close comparison but I think the orders have been made easier. The routes might be identical, but I haven't checked that too closely either. They originally announced that happy together would be in a bundle with the original swamp for the physical, but I guess they decided to let you play the old stages with the new ship instead.
The really nice thing in this game is that there are leaderboards for score/level/keys for each route, so there is more incentive to replay the routes in all colours rather than solely playing the blue, yellow, and red routes for optimal score, levels, and keys respectively.

The new "dev mode" gives Donpachi HK vibes with its ridiculous bullet speeds at the start, but it gets more mellow as you progress through the regular mode and complete "debug reports" in the dev mode.
To complete debug reports, you need to do a specific action for a set number of times. This might be erasing bullets or defeating enemies with a specific weapon, or even just staying still for 30 seconds (basically the same kinds of things that you'll see in the orders in the regular mode). The game doesn't tell you what you need to do, so you have to just try different things and see what increments the counter in red text on the side of the screen.
There are 10 debug reports for each brain in a jar (there are 7 of those, and each brain is tied to a handful of the 20 stages in dev mode). Progression in the regular mode and in debug reports lets you increase a value from 0 to 3 and this makes the stages a lot easier - putting the value at 3 pretty much removes the stage gimmicks like the spotlight seen in the trailer. However, you can't clear debug reports (or see the true ending) if you put the value too high. I haven't figured out everything about the dev mode yet, but I'll do a video on that once I have got a grip of it.

[m.sniffles.esq]

I'm glad the tutorial made sense! I should have called it "rough" rather than short, come to think of it.

Well, the game is kinda rough, so it's apropos
At the very least, explaining the icons meant I could stop pausing and hovering my phone constantly. This was super appreciated

btw, I wrote my above 'take' while I was perhaps a bit frustrated and grumpy. Not only was I compelled to leave the game in my switch this morning, but I found myself... enjoying it? At any rate, I've started be less punctilious about the whole thing. Do my best, and if that fails, just blow shit up and hopefully good things will happen. That seems to be a much better way of approaching it

Speaking of which:

The game doesn't tell you what you need to do, so you have to just try different things and see what increments the counter in red text on the side of the screen.

This could very much be my jam, as it sounds like the very definition of "just blow shit up and hopefully good things will happen"

They originally announced that happy together would be in a bundle with the original swamp for the physical

Maybe they're still planning to do this for a western release (since mebius is allegedly releasing both)? Not for nothing, it did occur to me that you seem to have a knack for explaining these crazy fucking things to non-japanese speakers (I tried to explain it to my co-worker who was looking over my shoulder earlier, their response was "nothing you just said made any sense to me, whatsoever." Evidentially, I do not have this knack). And since they allegedly want non-japanese speakers to play these things... Just a thought.

[mojilove]

Oh yeah, it's a lot more fun to just take it easy. You do need keys to progress, and you will need to get keys from specific stages in some cases as well (sorry, i got the branch unlock thing all wrong in the guide but the pinned comment has more accurate information) but in general, it's more enjoyable to just have fun blowing stuff up - if you get orders done in the process, then that's a plus.

Maybe they're still planning to do this for a western release (since mebius is allegedly releasing both)? Not for nothing, it did occur to me that you seem to have a knack for explaining these crazy fucking things to non-japanese speakers (I tried to explain it to my co-worker who was looking over my shoulder earlier, their response was "nothing you just said made any sense to me, whatsoever." Evidentially, I do not have this knack). And since they allegedly want non-japanese speakers to play these things... Just a thought.

funny you should say that because my name is actually printed in the LE booklet of Happy Together as a localiser - I wrote a little bit about what I like in the original swamp! I haven't made a whole song and dance about it much yet because I was thinking of saving that kind of fanfare for when any sort of EN release date is announced