Muchi Muchi Pork! & Pink Sweets [February 24, 2011, JP X360] REGION FREE

[Sapz]

Hahahaha, oh wow, I tried actually controlling my rank in MMP, staying at 3 lives or less for the first four stages or so. First time beating the 4th boss and breaking 70m... which turned into reaching 2-2 and hitting 138m. Stage 5 was pretty much at max rank the whole time, but I get the idea it's designed to be played like that. Absolute goldmine. The new stuff in the loop really caught me out, though.

[EOJ]

I ignore rank in MMP. I only suicide when I have five spare lives and am coming up on an extend (so as to get a fresh bomb stock while maintaining the maximum live stock), or on bosses to milk them (I suicide 2-3 times on the first boss, 3-4 times on the third boss, 2-4 times on the fourth boss). Other than that, I try to have as many lives in stock as I can at all times. A difference in difficulty in the later levels is hardly perceptible if you have 1 spare life or 5, and you need to have at least a few lives in stock for the last boss fight.

A trick to get by the tough sections is to use short lard attack bursts followed by short bomb bursts (pick up the bomb fragments as you sweep across the screen, then release a small bomb to clear away the bullets: rinse and repeat). Pretty easy when you get the hang of it.

[Special World]

Is there some way to accidentally stop the game from autosaving? I swear it won't save any of my Pink Sweets Arrange scores.

[NR777]

My copy arrived yesterday and I think it's great fun.  Haven't played around with the 1.01 versions yet, but I'm loving the arcade originals...never played the PCBs, so the inaccuracies don't really bother me all that much.

[EOJ]

There is a huge programming error in the second half of stage 5 - after the section with the groups of planes that loop down then around the top of the screen and down again (right before the last 1/4 of the level), there should be a few waves of suicide planes. These planes never appear in the port. I've tried it a few times and it's always the same - just a few seconds of complete emptiness on screen. A few guys on 2Ch have similarly commented on this. This costs me a few million points. I hope they will patch this somehow.

To be clearer, I'm referring to the waves of small planes that can be seen in 6:03-6:10 in the below video from the Arcade version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIHFqB51sjU&playnext=1&list=PLF84BA9676E58F983

They are simply not in this port.

Following up on this: I've discovered the "missing waves" ARE in the port, they just occur simultaneously rather than in sequence, and they occur in a different spot:

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm13724924

The waves of ships at 5:21-5:25 in the above video are supposed to come down in the section of inactivity before, and they are supposed to come down in two swoops (one from the left, and then one from the right), rather than all at once.

I had thought the waves in the above video were in the PCB version, but upon checking the video, I see this is not the case. Hence they can only be the "missing waves", or what I should more accurately term the "misplaced waves".

[StarCreator]

I guess they forgot to disengage the parking brake before setting off for their demise.

[Shalashaska]

Finally got hands on my copy and surprisingly been playing PS 1.0 the most. Is it weird that I miss the "please continue" audible from the PCB?

[emphatic]

I tried to run this on my buddy's JTag 360, and it doesn't run but DEMAND the 360 to be updated first.  It seems there's some "pretty clever" copy protection, as when I first put the game in my own NTSC-J 360, it was displayed as a DVD, not a game disc. So there seems to be some "first play" check that when you eject the game will let the console know that it's actually a game disc. 

[cstarflare]

Is there some way to accidentally stop the game from autosaving? I swear it won't save any of my Pink Sweets Arrange scores.

I've had this problem too. It's too bad, PS Arrange is the one thing I'd really like to score attack vs. just learn to survive.

[Dave_K.]

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm13724924

Is rank a little pissed off or what in this video! 

[EOJ]

It's Harahara mode.

[Dave_K.]

Haha, no wonder! 

[MikeNeko]

I just noticed two things, one funny (sort of) and one puzzling

The funny one, in attract modes, you see difficulties... medium is midium, that s cute xD

The puzzling one... it seems CAVE outsourced all PR work to SEGA for MMP+PS 360 ... (cf credit roll)
Is there any insight that CAVE might be bought by SEGA soon ?
I find that odd considering CAVE made a strategic alliance with Electronic Arts for mobile/online content.

Anyway, the more i play the games, the more i like them :p rosy future bosses in matsuri i had a really tough time... (they quickly go down but i die often...)

[crackfox]

I am waiting for my copy of this game to arrive.....
I am hoping it will come today....
I am really looking forward to trying Pink Sweets, MMP i played one credit of last year at R3play and really enjoyed 
Will just have to carry on with dFK BL if it doesn't arrive!!! 

[Killer French Bread]

Pink Sweets can be quite an exhausting game to play. Feels like an old school hori at times because of the length, speed changes, different weapon choices and having to remember so much.

[EOJ]

I've been looking for sales reports and could only find vgchartz.com reporting 5,303 sales the first week, ranked #38:

http://www.vgchartz.com/weekly.php?reg=Japan&date=40601&console=&maker=

Neogaf's media create chart lists MMP/PS at #38, just like vgchartz, so the vgchartz numbers are probably close to accurate.

Keep in mind Media Create does not track online sales (amazon.co.jp, etc) and excludes all foreign sales too. I'd guess around 7000~8000 is what actually sold in total. Not bad for a game Cave seems to have slapped together in a couple weeks.

[bitkid]

Hey, I am wondering if you have to put in valid credit card info on a Japan XBL account to download DLC codes.
I created a Japan XBL account and entered my Matsuri DLC code but it just takes me to a screen that says "An error has occurred." and nothing else.

[EOJ]

My JP XBL gamertag doesn't have any credit card info connected with it. I downloaded the Matsuri Ver just fine. All I did was log into my JP gamertag with the MMP/PS game in the disc drive, then I went to the "redeem code" option in my account settings.

[Special World]

Man, Stage 4 is absolutely villainous. Midboss after midboss after midboss. I guess that makes them quarterbosses (in more ways than one). But that's not even the hard part. Towards the end of the stage... I think I have post-traumatic stress disorder. Bullets are just coming from everywhere, I don't even know if they were aimed shots because they filled the screen so tightly. No idea how I'm gonna beat this one without bombspamming, not to mention stage 5. Granted, my rank had skyrocketed, but dividing my attention to suicide when I gain too many lives is its own problem.

What a harsh mistress. I'm loving it.

[EOJ]

I guess you're talking about MMP? Don't suicide at all during the stages, just plow through and keep as many lives in stock as possible (suicide on the bosses, not in the stages, unless it's a midboss). Use your bombs whenever things get hectic, pick up small bomb shards on the ground and release quick bombs to clear away bullet spam when you don't have full bombs in stock.

[antares]

I've been looking for sales reports and could only find vgchartz.com reporting 5,303 sales the first week, ranked #38:

http://www.vgchartz.com/weekly.php?reg=Japan&date=40601&console=&maker=

Neogaf's media create chart lists MMP/PS at #38, just like vgchartz, so the vgchartz numbers are probably close to accurate.

Keep in mind Media Create does not track online sales (amazon.co.jp, etc) and excludes all foreign sales too. I'd guess around 7000~8000 is what actually sold in total. Not bad for a game Cave seems to have slapped together in a couple weeks.

Have the sales numbers for DFK BL retail been released?

[EOJ]

This thread lists it at #28 for the week of its release. No numbers are given, but #20 sold about 5,500, so it was probably around 5,000.

[lam47]

If they sold around 5000, why are there only about 800 entries on the leaderboard? Not saying anyone is wrong just curious.

[moozooh]

Because not everybody has access to XBLA, I presume.

[njiska]

If they sold around 5000, why are there only about 800 entries on the leaderboard? Not saying anyone is wrong just curious.

Also not everyone plays score attack. Look at any Cave game and you'll see the leaderboards are always far less than sales.

[emphatic]

If they sold around 5000, why are there only about 800 entries on the leaderboard? Not saying anyone is wrong just curious.

Also not everyone plays score attack. Look at any Cave game and you'll see the leaderboards are always far less than sales.

Yeah, I never play Score Attack as I'm afraid that when I have a good run going, the connection will terminate and kill my game. I get the "Disconnected from XBox Live" notification more often than "*** is online".

[idc]

I tried to run this on my buddy's JTag 360, and it doesn't run but DEMAND the 360 to be updated first.  It seems there's some "pretty clever" copy protection, as when I first put the game in my own NTSC-J 360, it was displayed as a DVD, not a game disc. So there seems to be some "first play" check that when you eject the game will let the console know that it's actually a game disc. 

Mine did exactly the same on a PAL 360. Quite peculiar. Thought I had a faulty disc at first, but it's been fine since.

[Special World]

Been trying to milk MMP, but it's so damned hard. I can't even do the first boss. I can manage to take everything apart, and then I get taken out by an EXTREME spray of bullets. Sometimes I'll be on the wrong side (the boss moving towards me), and I'll have to try and maneuver over which is sure death. It's a hell of a thing. For the all green spray I try and hide near the propellers, but that doesn't even work sometimes. I really wish this had a "boss" setting for training mode.

What a game.

[EOJ]

Been trying to milk MMP, but it's so damned hard. I can't even do the first boss. I can manage to take everything apart, and then I get taken out by an EXTREME spray of bullets. Sometimes I'll be on the wrong side (the boss moving towards me), and I'll have to try and maneuver over which is sure death. It's a hell of a thing. For the all green spray I try and hide near the propellers, but that doesn't even work sometimes.

It does take some time to learn, but once you get it down, it's a breeze. The Stage 1 boss milking is so easy for me now I could probably do it in my sleep.

I really wish this had a "boss" setting for training mode.

Gotta agree here. They had it in Espgaluda II and the DFK ports, but not MMP/PS? Makes no sense. MMP/PS are all about boss milking for points.

[Bartlebooth]

@Brentsg
A little bit late, but thanks for the answer, maybe I was not clear, was actually wondering about the graphical accuracy of the MMP port with arcade (playing on a good 29" CRT in TATE smoothing off, in game zoom at 100%)  beside the slowdowns at stages beginning.

I had to notice also many times a very very weird thing, playing MMP 1.01 recorded it (unfortunately not in score attack), replayed it 3 times with the zoom minimized to be sure that nothing stayed unnoticed, here is the drill :
- Spamming a lard attack and having 10K medals popped everywhere
- Dying, with medals still on screen
- Respawning, and taking the last 10k medals on screen, without sucking them up (I replayed it 3 times to be sure there wasn't any left)
- The following lard attack drops to 1K pig heads...

I'v done that many times before without having my chain broken but this happened more than once and I could swear also that sometime a pig head medal is weirdly popping although I m using the A shot (not speaking about the Stage 4 Windmills of course)

Sorry if it has been mentioned before, or if I maybe wrong although I triple checked but is it a bug ? Is there a mechanic I'm missing?  Was it on arcade too ?