Castle Shikagani (sp?) 2 port by XS Games

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Thu May 26, 2005 3:49 pm

Saw this at Gamestop the other day for $9.99, but passed it up because it was published by XS, who we all know, butchered Gunbird and the first Shikagani and turned them into the horrers we know as Moblie Light Force. I'm a bit suprised that the original cover is intact on this one....where's the Charile's Angels ripoffs?

So I wondered, if they didn't touch the cover art, did they leave the game alone? Or is this another Moblie Light Force 3?

P.S. I know my spelling sucks, I'm not wide awake yet.

jpolz · Post by **jpolz** » Thu May 26, 2005 4:19 pm

The game itself is fine. Jus make sure to skip past the cut scenes with the HORRIBLE voice-overs.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Thu May 26, 2005 4:20 pm

FatCobra wrote:Saw this at Gamestop the other day for $9.99, but passed it up because it was published by XS, who we all know, butchered Gunbird and the first Shikagani and turned them into the horrers we know as Moblie Light Force. I'm a bit suprised that the original cover is intact on this one....where's the Charile's Angels ripoffs?

So I wondered, if they didn't touch the cover art, did they leave the game alone? Or is this another Moblie Light Force 3?

P.S. I know my spelling sucks, I'm not wide awake yet.

Honestly, they did a very admirable job with Shiki 2. They left in Tate, left in the story cut-scenes (although, they're dubbed... and laughably bad), and didn't mention MLF3 anywhere (except in the Manual, where they refer to the charge shot as the MLF3 Attack).

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Thu May 26, 2005 4:26 pm

okay... Shikigami no Shiro 2 wasn't butchered as badly as, say, Gunbird or Shiki 1, but they did completely re-voice the dialogue scenes with no-talent asshats trying to sound dramatic. (over-the-top cue-card acting) i'd say buy it, it's definitely worth the $9.99, but the first thing you need to do is go into Options and turn the voice ALL THE WAY DOWN. after doing that, i found the game a lot more enjoyable. ^^; btw... this game is fucking hard on the later levels. you have been warned...
EDIT: if you choose 'demo off' when you start a new game, it'll also skip the dialogue scenes. which are horribly translated (roughly 2-3 words per sentence) and not really worth sitting through. ^^;

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Thu May 26, 2005 4:50 pm

Woah, they left in TATE mode? That's unexpecited of them. You'd think they take the effort to take it out.

Ataru · Post by **Ataru** » Thu May 26, 2005 4:53 pm

they did a fantastic job on this one. For a $9.99 game, that they even bothered to dub it at all is amazing.

The dub is very bad but the dialog is effing HILARIOUS.

Luckily, once you tire of the dialog, you can play in a mode without any of the cut scenes... so when playing on my own I keep them off, but with friends we like to watch the cutscenes and laugh our asses off.

If XS Games wants to bring over any more ps2 shooters in this state at $9.99-$19.99, I'd buy anything they put out. They obviously listened to the feedback they got from
"Mobile Light Force 2".

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Thu May 26, 2005 5:02 pm

FatCobra wrote:Woah, they left in TATE mode? That's unexpecited of them. You'd think they take the effort to take it out.

Yep, they actually listened to the fans who were annoyed with the treatment of Shiki 1.

BTW, unlike Shiki 1 (MLF2) the dubbed voices are ONLY during the cutscenes... all in-game speech (like attacks and yells and stuff) is still the original Japanese.

black mariah · Post by **black mariah** » Thu May 26, 2005 5:07 pm

FYI, you'll find a copy at almost EVERY Gamestop. Seems Gamestop decided to put a copy in every store to see what happens. They're marked as used, but most are actually BRAND NEW. Great game for $10.

Soldato J · Post by **Soldato J** » Thu May 26, 2005 5:14 pm

quick sort of on topic question:

How badly was Gundbird butchered?

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Thu May 26, 2005 5:15 pm

FatCobra wrote:Saw this at Gamestop the other day for $9.99, but passed it up because it was published by XS, who we all know, butchered Gunbird and the first Shikagani and turned them into the horrers we know as Moblie Light Force. I'm a bit suprised that the original cover is intact on this one....where's the Charile's Angels ripoffs?

So I wondered, if they didn't touch the cover art, did they leave the game alone? Or is this another Moblie Light Force 3?

P.S. I know my spelling sucks, I'm not wide awake yet.

You should definately get this-it's not as perfect as an import version, but all the gameplay and characters are ALL intact, and it certainly isn't a Mobile Light Force 2 job. And considering the fact that it's about 1/6th the price of any import version, for me getting this one was a no-brainer.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Thu May 26, 2005 6:44 pm

go buy it, as it contains great fun. tate intact, cutscenes are skippable, in-game jp dub left alone. $10, can't lose.

also, it whomps all over MLF2.

kong · Post by **kong** » Thu May 26, 2005 6:45 pm

XS was forced to redub the voices by SOA. It's a budget title and you can't dump tons of cash on top flight voice acting. I'd rather listen to the laughably bad voices in shiki 2 than listen to hollywood actors dropping a million f bombs in gta:sa.

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Thu May 26, 2005 7:32 pm

Soldato J wrote:quick sort of on topic question:

How badly was Gundbird butchered?

The urban legend here is that XS took out tate for the US release, but the truth is that the Japanese PS1 Gunbird lacked tate as well. So aside from killing the artwork (which is certainly a shame) the game is the same as its Japanese counterpart.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Thu May 26, 2005 8:13 pm

8 1/2 wrote:
Soldato J wrote:quick sort of on topic question:

How badly was Gundbird butchered?
The urban legend here is that XS took out tate for the US release, but the truth is that the Japanese PS1 Gunbird lacked tate as well. So aside from killing the artwork (which is certainly a shame) the game is the same as its Japanese counterpart.

Actually, they took out the cutscenes in Gunbird too. There is a wierd pause in their place. The funny thing about Mobile Light Force is that it still has the word "Gunbird" on the high score screens.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri May 27, 2005 4:39 am

Also the endings...you just get the dreaded "The End" (not even a "Congraturation!") and that's it.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Fri May 27, 2005 4:53 am

For 10 bucks, you can't lose, go get it.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Fri May 27, 2005 5:27 am

If XS was forced to dub the voices, couldn't there have been selectable audio instead..? It's probably just a tiny bit more work in comparison to doing the dubbing itself.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 4:28 pm

I went and got it yesterday. I'm very suprised at the quality of the port. They left in the TATE mode (which is pretty much needed anyway, otherwise it's too small to see most stuff in Yoko mode), and even the gallery!

The cutscences are well....really bad like some people said, but at least you can turn them off. They left the Japanese voices in for the in-game action..nice. This ain't no Moblie Light Force 3 I can tell you that.

Very fun game, and it makes me want to do an experiment: Buy a $10 game each week. Maybe I'll buy all my PS2 stuff second-hand and stick it to SCEA.

Metal Gear Okt · Post by **Metal Gear Okt** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 5:34 pm

Supposedly, the XS staff themselves did the voices

shmups.system11.org

Castle Shikagani (sp?) 2 port by XS Games

Castle Shikagani (sp?) 2 port by XS Games

Re: Castle Shikagani (sp?) 2 port by XS Games

Re: Castle Shikagani (sp?) 2 port by XS Games