Deathsmiles II X [JP X360, May 27th, 2010 | US X360 GoD, May 17th, 2011]

SuperPang · November 21, 2010, 07:28:24 AM

I'm still rather bemused by the Christmas theme. As I recall neither the arcade or home release was anywhere near the festive season, whereas Deathsmiles released a fortnight before Halloween. Delays in development perhaps.

Anyway, I've decided that if I can sell some stuff I'm going to buy myself a v4.00 for Christmas. I'll post some hardware impressions if and when.

brentsg · November 21, 2010, 09:26:34 AM

Where would you even source it?

SuperPang · November 21, 2010, 09:52:44 AM

G-front

brentsg · November 21, 2010, 12:15:43 PM

Oh cool. I suppose you need a Japanese speaking proxy then? (for those that can't do that themselves)

What are they selling for? Did they drop below $2k?

I had thought the normal vendors weren't selling them due to that revenue sharing situation/failure.

SuperPang · November 21, 2010, 12:21:26 PM

105,000.

It was available for rental or purchase, most went with rental but the Tokyo shops seem to have a few. And yes I'll make sure it's v4.00 first.

dorakyura · November 26, 2010, 03:51:40 AM

Thanks EOJ for bringing DSIIX back to my attention ? I was almost decided to sell my copy (which has been sitting in the shelve since right after release more or less).

Reading your review (please keep them coming, they are insightful reads) and about the hiscore competition made me pop it in once more ? shame on me for not doing this earlier! I had a lot fun yesterday evening and for sure: The graphics (backgrounds) may seem subpar at first, but this completely changes once the screen is filled by enormous amounts of bullets and rings.

I almost wished that DFK would take a little longer to arrive since it will surely divert some of my attention

EOJ · February 17, 2011, 04:58:07 PM

SIN got 1.5+bil with Casper in the X360 port (Arcade mode/Ver 4.0) today:

http://sinmoon.blog.shinobi.jp/Entry/215/

He says that while there are still some points to be had, he's reached his limit, and will not try to increase this score. This score is higher than the WR on the arcade version of 4.0, which is 1,452,223,256 by WSM-MKZ.

The best news is he plans to upload the video to his site some day soon.

EOJ · February 20, 2011, 08:46:33 PM

A translation of Famitsu X360's DSIIX review from last year:

http://www.cave-stg.com/?p=706

EOJ · March 07, 2011, 06:36:19 PM

Quote from: EOJ on February 17, 2011, 04:58:07 PM
SIN got 1.5+bil with Casper in the X360 port (Arcade mode/Ver 4.0) today:

http://sinmoon.blog.shinobi.jp/Entry/215/

He says that while there are still some points to be had, he's reached his limit, and will not try to increase this score. This score is higher than the WR on the arcade version of 4.0, which is 1,452,223,256 by WSM-MKZ.

The best news is he plans to upload the video to his site some day soon.

Video is up on SIN's site:

http://sinmoon.sakuraweb.com/movie.html

It's the top link on the page, 664MB.

lam47 · March 08, 2011, 08:02:03 PM

Just read your review EOJ. There was so much negativity when this game first came out, almost enough to stop me from buying it. But something about the colours and all the purple rings made me want to play it.
I was initially not happy with the rather chunky polygon graphics. After playing for a few days however I started to really love the game. Unlike ESPgaluda II - which to me feels like hard work - getting a load of point scoring, garish crap on the screen is fun and rewarding. The DLC soundtrack is also one of the very best.
I am going to have to play it again now. It's been a while.
Book; cover, etc.

EOJ · March 08, 2011, 08:10:19 PM

Another man to see the light.

Special World · March 08, 2011, 11:05:27 PM

I was also converted by your review, tbh. Up until that point I had only heard people trashing the game, and I didn't really like Deathsmiles that much (this has since changed). The graphics are pretty bad, but the amount of stuff onscreen fills me with joy. The widescreen allows for so many tiny bullets it's unreal, and the amount of points items onscreen at once is totally awesome. I also really love the soundtrack; the carnival theme in particular is quite memorable and very cool. I also find it interesting that, though it's Christmas themed, DSIIX manages to be MUCH more creepy looking than the original. That gross bug boss, the grimy, rusted carnival with its sickly elephants, and the youngest girl's HORRIFYING familiar: even disregarding the 3D, these graphics are a whole new style for Cave.

I can see why people are down on the 3D, but I don't see how anyone in their right mind could hate the game. It really ramps up the somewhat slow pace of Deathsmiles, and I'm a big fan. I guess you can constantly be in fever in Deathsmiles once you know the game in and out, but I'm just not that cool.

Let's just hope they make a third one someday, as I'd love to see a return to graphical form merged with the ramped up speed. Here's rooting for a Valentine's Day theme, though I have no idea what enemies could possibly relate to that. I guess they didn't seem to care much when they had giant snakes and bugs for the Christmas theme, but ghost stories are apparently an old Christmas tradition so whatever.

lam47 · March 09, 2011, 04:47:19 AM

Valentine's theme is an awesome idea! It would fit well with the colour palette.
Lot's of flowers and hearts flying about!

SuperPang · April 24, 2011, 07:10:39 AM

According to the ESRB, Cave are publishing this in the US (Reported by Siliconera)

lam47 · April 24, 2011, 11:37:38 AM

Cave are? Not Aksys?

SuperPang · April 24, 2011, 12:02:00 PM

Nope, Cave themselves

lam47 · April 24, 2011, 12:45:53 PM

Cool! Possible that it could be RF then.

emphatic · April 24, 2011, 12:54:00 PM

Let's hope this means a patch for NTSC-J with added WIDE MODE at the least, and preferably also fixed replays for Arcade mode.

Chempop · April 24, 2011, 02:50:25 PM

Nice, Cave's first US self published game right?

As for Deathsmiles 3, what if every stage was a different holiday...

EOJ · April 24, 2011, 04:29:20 PM

Surprising, but great news! I am betting this will be an Xbox live download, at 2400MS points. Cave has no US office, so I don't see how they could do a retail release, or why they would want to bother with such a big investment of time and money. As an Xbox live download, they can do all the work from their Japan offices, like they did with Guwange and all their iOS stuff.

Daverost · April 24, 2011, 04:31:18 PM

I'm so excited about this. I just can't wait. No word on a release date from what I've seen but if the ESRB's already rated it, I can hold on to the sliver of hope that we'll see it this year.

I was heartbroken when Aksys indicated that they had no (immediate) plans to bring over DS2, so this is just fantastic news for me.

Quote from: EOJ on April 24, 2011, 04:29:20 PM
Surprising, but great news! I am betting this will be an Xbox live download, at 2400MS points. Cave has no US office, so I don't see how they could do a retail release, or why they would want to bother with such a big investment of time and money. As an Xbox live download, they can do all the work from their Japan offices, like they did with Guwange and all their iOS stuff.

There's been speculation that it could be a download title because of Cave's self-published stuff all being on the Arcade so far, but 2400 points? Is there anything that's actually that high? Or would it be an On-Demand title with a fixed price in actual money?

EOJ · April 24, 2011, 04:33:24 PM

You can go up to 2400MS points. Cave initially was going to make the Deathsmiles Mega Black Label add-on 2400MS points, which is why I chose that number. I thought it would be the perfect price point for them to make profit for this game, but not have it negatively affect Japanese sales of the game (as Japanese players can easily make a US Xbox Live account and download the digital version).

bcass · April 24, 2011, 04:42:19 PM

Publishers can charge whatever they want on the Games On Demand service. For example, Halo Reach is (incredibly) ?49.99 on the UK GoD. Cave haven't released any of their games on the GoD service yet, so it's possible they are preparing to start releasing older titles internationally via that route. There are already examples of this happening before (publishers releasing retail games on GoD in regions that they were not originally released in) so it's a definite possibility.

Quote from: Daverost on April 24, 2011, 04:31:18 PMThere's been speculation that it could be a download title because of Cave's self-published stuff all being on the Arcade so far, but 2400 points? Is there anything that's actually that high? Or would it be an On-Demand title with a fixed price in actual money?

You can pay for GoD titles with MSP or credit/debit card.

Daverost · April 24, 2011, 04:44:42 PM

Well the game's not going to be dubbed, so I'd see little point in reverse importing unless it was way cheaper, and if it's going to be an Arcade title, it should be a global release, right? Makes more sense to me for it to be an On-Demand title, that way it won't compete with the Japanese disc version at all. Of course, I'm not really sure if Microsoft's policy allows you to do an On-Demand release for a game that didn't already have a disc version.

Just seems like Cave's going to be losing some money on this as an Arcade title no matter what unless IIX is completely out of production and they're not making profit on it anymore anyway (which it very well could be for all I know, but there are still copies available for sale online).

Quick edit while I was about to submit this:

Quote from: bcass on April 24, 2011, 04:42:19 PM
There are already examples of this happening before (publishers releasing retail games on GoD in regions that they were not originally released in) so it's a definite possibility

Oh, well there you go.

EOJ · April 24, 2011, 04:53:29 PM

Ah, I wasn't aware some games have been released as GoD without having a disc release in that region. Maybe Cave will go that route.

lam47 · April 24, 2011, 05:50:12 PM

Have there been any other live arcade titles to be released in the US but not in Europe? I only have UK and Japanese accounts.

SomeMist · April 24, 2011, 06:52:41 PM

I wonder if they will add a 4:3 resolution mode to fix the forced letter box that's been complained about since release. If they add that I may consider purchasing the US release (already own japanese release).

brentsg · April 24, 2011, 10:51:55 PM

Hopefully they'll dick up the slowdown and give us something to talk about for a year.

lam47 · April 25, 2011, 06:16:26 AM

Last week in the UK (here) Game were selling Deathsmiles for ?2. That's right just two pounds. Including all of the DLC and extras that the release has.
And what hurt the most was the official forums attitude: 'It's a crap game but you can trade it in at CEX for more'
It hurts you know, inside. After we all paid upwards of ?80 for the Japanese release. If the same thing happens with DSII in this country I may well cry.
I can't see the moronic general public seeing past the rather outdated 3d to the superb game that is underneath.
It's been bothering me is all.

Daverost · April 25, 2011, 09:21:27 AM

Quote from: lam47 on April 24, 2011, 05:50:12 PM
Have there been any other live arcade titles to be released in the US but not in Europe? I only have UK and Japanese accounts.

As far as I'm aware (though I've been wrong before), only junk like advertisement games stay region-exclusive. Everything else is worldwide.

Quote from: SomeMist on April 24, 2011, 06:52:41 PM
I wonder if they will add a 4:3 resolution mode to fix the forced letter box that's been complained about since release. If they add that I may consider purchasing the US release (already own japanese release).

I really doubt we're going to see anything that doesn't already exist in the JP version.