Castle of Shikigami 2 coming to Switch and Steam in Dec 2021

[xxx1993]

Because the third game is my favorite of the trilogy. Not just with the improved English voice acting, but also the visuals and artwork.

[Herr Schatten]

On Switch April 13

Finally! I had already given up on the Switch port and assumed it would never get released. This is fantastic news.

[NeoStrayCat]

Well, even though how long it took the Switch port to finally arrive. Though yeah, for some reason, it costs around double than what it goes for on Steam normally, lol. (lol Switch tax), and I'm like...Why is it $35 on the E-Shop, when Steam has it for $20? (Outside of sales...)

But hey, at least there's a physical Switch release that P-A is selling for $28 US. But yeah, looking at the E-shop listing though, there's no mention of Degica/Komodo anywhere, and it just seems to be self-published by Alfa-System/Cosmo Machia.

[cj iwakura]

Official link:

https://www.nintendo.com/store/products ... i2-switch/

And Japanese screens, lol.

[xxx1993]

I do kinda wanna see my boy Kohtaro again, but not in a re-release, but a sequel. I mean, his ending in Castle of Shikigami III felt unfair to end on due to its bitter note.

[NeoStrayCat]

Well, in good news though, a western physical Switch release is planned by Red Art Games. https://twitter.com/REDARTGAMES/status/ ... 2323929093

Details coming soon.

[kid aphex]

35 dollars for the digital version…? That’s completely ridiculous.

[hamfighterx]

35 dollars for the digital version…? That’s completely ridiculous.

Well, in good news though, a western physical Switch release is planned by Red Art Games. https://twitter.com/REDARTGAMES/status/ ... 2323929093

Play-Asia is currently selling the Japanese physical multi-language cart, which comes out the same day, for $27.99 + $7.90 economy shipping to the US. No additional wait for a future western release, same price as digital = no brainer to me.

[xxx1993]

A part of me kinda wanted the release date to be April 18th, in time for Kohtaro’s birthday…

[kid aphex]

35 dollars for the digital version…? That’s completely ridiculous.

Well, in good news though, a western physical Switch release is planned by Red Art Games. https://twitter.com/REDARTGAMES/status/ ... 2323929093

Play-Asia is currently selling the Japanese physical multi-language cart, which comes out the same day, for $27.99 + $7.90 economy shipping to the US. No additional wait for a future western release, same price as digital = no brainer to me.

Awesome, thanks for the heads up. Snagged one.

[Jonpachi]

I picked this up just because I was getting the old shump collector's addiction shakes, and thought it would at least be a visual upgrade to my PS2 copy. And it is that indeed. The graphics are super crisp, and the performance seems stable and snappy. It's a great, maybe the best, way to play Shiki 2.

BUT, fuck all that, because I didn't even know about Dramatic Change Mode before finally booting this up last night, and now I feel stupid for letting this sit unopened on my shelf for the last couple weeks. Here, the game lets you pick two characters, and you can swap between them at the touch of a button throughout gameplay.

One of the best parts of the Shiki series is how diverse its cast is. Everybody has a unique shiki, unique shot, unique bomb, and there's a ton of variance in play-style based on character choice. This new mode lets you break the game wide open, and create a custom move-set to dominate areas you may have once struggled with. I've been enjoying a Kuga/Hyuuga combo, which lets me use Kuga's lazy screen-cleaning Shiki on mobs in the stages, and then Hyuuga's electo-orb lock-on to methodically pick large enemies, stage hazards, and bosses apart.

In addition, there are unique, fully-voiced dialogue sequences between the two characters throughout. It's nothing amazing lore-wise, but it's fun to get some bespoke interactions based on your choices.

The mode is a little hacky. The character switching doesn't work if you have a Shiki active, forcing you to let go of the button and then tap Swap, which works but takes some getting used to (Ideally, tapping Swap would just cancel the Shiki attack and swap characters). Additionally, swapping only works in live gameplay, so you can't change during a cutscene and get ready to attack right as it ends. Both are somewhat minor. I got used to the let-go-and-press-change motion pretty quickly, but it's worth noting.

This release seems to have been overlooked. I mean, this thread is not exactly buzzing (no pun intended). But if you've played this game before and struggled, I'd say it's well worth taking a look at this new mode. It's a fresh way to play through a mid-level classic as well.

[Sima Tuna]

Didn't this release ruin the original bad translation though? I love Shiki 2. It's one of my favorite games. But the awful english translation was part of its charm. The underlying game is top notch, but the bad translation puts that extra bit of spice on top. Sort of like TCStrikers.

If there's an option to switch the bad translation back on then I'd consider buying the new version. *sniff's haughtily*

My sister used to watch me play Shiki 2 when we were kids, and we frequently quote Shiki 2 lines to this day.

[EmperorIng]

"ruin the original bad translation" by actually having a good translation... Just watch all the funny dialog combos on youtube if you need them, you have literally the best way to play an excellent game at your fingertips since the arcade release - I'll take that over having some funny memeshit 0 effort stuff any day.

It's not like the original dialog isn't charming, I recorded a run with all the cutscenes playing just to show it -referring to stage 3 and 4 bosses. (and got a good score to boot)

Comparing a 10/10 game like Shikigami 2 to shit like TCStrikers is shameful. Maybe stick to that series instead, lol.

[NeoStrayCat]

Didn't this release ruin the original bad translation though? I love Shiki 2. It's one of my favorite games. But the awful English translation was part of its charm. The underlying game is top notch, but the bad translation puts that extra bit of spice on top. Sort of like TCStrikers.

If there's an option to switch the bad translation back on then I'd consider buying the new version. *sniff's haughtily*

My sister used to watch me play Shiki 2 when we were kids, and we frequently quote Shiki 2 lines to this day.

It didn't ruin anything though, that's just your basis. All that the new modern release did translation/script wise, was to make it faithful. Either way, if you want to listen to the vintage English voices, you can do so, if you have the PC/Steam version, of course (this too also works on the old PC CD-Rom release as the file structures [for audio clips] are both literally the same). -> https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2681282751

Sadly, to this day still, I have no idea on how to edit the game's script to match the old hammy translation of the PS2 version.

[jandrogo]

I downloaded Shikihami I steam version and ingame sprites are a blurry mess... I have tried various resolutions, yoko and tate orientation and in fullscreen mode seems there’s no solution.
Game does not have any option for scaling or filters, at least from the options menu.

Is there any chance to improve it?

[Jonpachi]

The original Shiki is a pretty ugly game, with a weird mishmash of pre-rendered and polygonal elements. Those sprites have always had a fairly "soft" look to them, so I don't know if it's a setting so much as just an artifact of their art style/process.

[EmperorIng]

Those sprites have always had a fairly "soft" look to them, so I don't know if it's a setting so much as just an artifact of their art style/process.

The prerendered sprites look sharp and clear on mame, where the game can look pretty good for a ps1-era game. While the game was never a showstopper it didn't start out as ugly.

When Alfa System did the PC port, they put a forced bilinear filter over everything and changed the color grading to make everything more significantly brown/gray, and all the sprites now look muddy. It's a bad choice that is baked into every port of the game and cannot be removed no matter what.

Once you get over the ugliness of the filtering you can start enjoying the game, but the visuals were kneecapped significantly in the transition from arcade to PC/console.

Compare these mame shots (that have a nice HSLS filter) to what's in game and you'll see what I mean:

Spoiler

[professor ganson]

That’s very interesting what Jonpachi mentions about being able to switch between two characters. Sounds like fun and potentially useful. I’ll order this from Play-Asia at some point. I've got so many versions of this game already, but can’t get enough. An all-time favorite that I haven’t played in years. Got to get back to it.

[EmperorIng]

The new port is probably definitive for Shikigami 2. The new arrange mode is pretty good and way, way harder than the base game (which is a nice change for arranges being braindead piss easy, see M2 arranges) so it offers a good challenge. The character swap, on top of getting to hear the 2P dialog variations, also makes for some nice mix-and-matches, and has its own dedicated leaderboard, which is a good touch for people who care about mastery/competing in shmups.

[professor ganson]

Wow, sounds like a fair amount of work went into this. Not just another port but as you say something definitive on the subject. Really pleased to hear!

[cj iwakura]

It also has a really good story, though not as full as mind-f'ery as the original, so it's good to see it get a proper localization(and they did a MUCH better job than they did on Shikigami 1).


And yeah, as said, the games have always had tongue-in-cheek humor, like Kohtaro still literally tells Alara that "I like women, but this is about justice".

[NeoStrayCat]

The overseas physical release by Red Art Games will be available Q2 2024, and will also include additional languages in French, Italian, and Spanish. (Unsure if they will update the already existing digital versions on PC/Steam and Switch with the additional languages down the line.)

https://www.gematsu.com/2023/08/castle- ... n-the-west

An ESRB/US copy can be bought from Video Games Plus (Standard only). While a PEGI/PAL copy can be bought from the Red Art Games store and various other (PAL region) retailers. Available in 3 editions, Standard, Deluxe [limited to 300], and "Dream" [limited to 500] (Dreamcast inspired).
---
Update 8/24/23: Pre-Orders are now up at Best Buy and Amazon. $40 US, with a 4/26/24 release date (still techincally around Q2 timeframe.)

[ASDR]

Is there a proper review of the Switch version? Can't seem to find any input lag figures :/