Deathsmiles

[EOJ]

Released October 2007

http://www.cave.co.jp/gameonline/deathsmiles/index.html

[EOJ]

Arcadia Magazine has updated its site with new rules for the Deathsmiles ranking (submission deadline for the next issue is this monday). First, they will have 6 different rankings:

Windia Normal
Casper Normal
Folette Normal
Windia Canyon
Casper Canyon
Folette Canyon

The Canyon ones involve the optional extra stage. Also, there seems to be some bug on the "Today's Ranking" page where the EX display cuts out sometimes. So, they require you to take a picture of the TOTAL ranking to submit your score.

[EOJ]

Cave has updated its Death Smiles page with character bios.

The interesting thing is they have the three playable girls there (Windia, Casper, and Folette), plus Sakura, and two empty slots to the right of her. One is likely that other girl in the poster, but what about the last? And will we be able to play as Sakura as well? It would be really great if Cave had a bunch of hidden, unlockable characters in this game. I don't believe they've ever done that before.

[KOMA]

My first post here.Glad to see you make a forom EOJ

I'll wait for a while the DS update.I think the last slot is for the 4-1 Boss(don't remember his name)
I hope they will be playable

[EOJ]

Yeah, you may be right about the 4-1 boss. Perhaps all the 'character' sprites in the game will be playable then? If so, that will increase the longevity of this game a lot.

[KOMA]

About the 4-1 boss and Sakura,they're both a boss in game so i doubt they will be playable finally but who knows.

During this time after watching www.alpha-st.co.jp  the guys told us Rosa is available,i check the DS thread in 2chan and someone put the code to unlock her:

CBACB?A?C?B?CBAAA
Put 1 credit and stay push on ABC 2P

Personal pictures:
Same skills than Kasper(stronger),the "striker"(an Angel) turn around Rosa when you maintain  A or B button.He launched Roses.

Rosa 1

Rosa2

[GaijinPunch]

I have a "confidential" project proposal of Death Smiles which was given to operators pre-release.  It has all the details currently found on the website, plus a blurb about Gerabado (sp?) which is not released on the page.  Folette's profile has no text and only features a silhouette of her.  That's the only one like that.  So, kind of iffy whether the other characters are unlockable or not.

EDIT: But, I guess there are pictures to prove otherwise.

And I also updated this.  New interview.

[EOJ]

And I also updated this.  New interview.

Awesome interview, thanks for posting it.

[EOJ]

New Extra stage (4-1) superplay vid from Tsumanne (340+MB file):

http://www.filebank.co.jp/guest/tsumannne/fp/deathsmilesexcastle

Password is 5963.

Really awesome strats in this one. High score in the vid is 380mil, and the guy gets about 340mil by the end of 4-1.

[gsl]

So is the general consensus among the hardcore fanbase that DeathSmiles is one of the easier Cave titles?  I ask because I've managed to come within a hair of a 1CC the past few days (granted, I get the closest when I play a stage or 2 on the 2nd rank as opposed to 3rd), whereas a credit will occasionally last me as far as the third level on most of the company's other titles.  I'm certainly finding it a bit more accessable than some of the company's other titles with regards to the scoring system.

[GaijinPunch]

I think it is regarded as their easiest game... even easier than Mushihime-sama Futari Original & ESPGaluda.

[gsl]

Yeah, I wouldn't at all call those two pushovers in the least.

Made it to Tyrannosatan today, that was quite a adrenaline rush knowing I'd got that far.  Of course, I completely botched it when I got him down to about half life having unnessicarily used all but one of my bombs on Jitterbug, but hey, it was close to a 1CC.

[rtw]

Anyone care to translate what is written on this guys armband ?

http://www5.airnet.ne.jp/jokerjun/index.html

rtw

[EOJ]

The armband says hodouin, which means "protective custody (or 'guidance') staff member".

[rtw]

The armband says hodouin, which means "protective custody (or 'guidance') staff member".

Thanks but I still don't get it... assuming it's supposed to be funny.

rtw

[GaijinPunch]

Those are Otogi Matsuri characters.  It's just the teacher looking over their shoulders.  Nothing too crazy/funny.

[gsl]

So I've got a few questions pertaining to DeathSmiles.  Other than GaijinPunch's (slightly old) guide on Shmups and a few Youtube videos, my main education on the game has come from the time-honored tradition of peering over the shoulders of other players in the arcade.  This has allowed me to get an idea of how a fair amount of gameplay works, but I'm a little unclear on a few other issues:

-First, I am not yet to the point where I can play the entire game through on Level 3.  I usually drop to down to Level 2 for the railway (?) level because Mary the cow is such a bitch to fight on Level 3.  I usually also go Level 2 on the swamp just to avoid the cat food bullets and make Sakura a little easier on the end.  Assuming I get out of my recent rut of making it to Tyrannosatan with only one life left and doing something boneheaded within the first minute of the battle, is this technically a 'true' 1CC because I didn't play on Level 3 the whole way through?  It seems a bit like cheating somehow.

-Speak of the cat food bullets, I just learned today that the familiar apparently can block them, and not only that, but it looked like they add to the item counter as well?  Or was I just imagining that?

-Is the Canyon level simply not accessable with Rosa?  I was able to get there wil Folette just fine (and was then butchered by said cat food bullets), but it doesn't seem like Rosa has that option.  Also, when Canyon is cleared, does the player go on then to the Final level, or does the Canyon lead to an alternate ending?

-Finally, I know that a few of the stages have places that are especially worth kicking off the 'fever mode' (or whatever it's called) for mega-points.  The beginning of the volcano stage and near the house in the graveyard are excellent scoring opportunities, but do all levels have a similar 'gimmick' where it's possible to rack up the mega points?

[GaijinPunch]

I would say it's technically a clear.  Your score will show if you did level 3 all the way or not.  It's an easy one, but still a clear.

-Canyon w/ Rosa: Possibly not.  I wasn't able to go there with her.
-The return bullets are supposed to be absorbed by your option.  In Fever Mode, they add 100 to the counter.
-Not each stage has a Gimmick.  The idea is to get the counter to go off right as you jack the shit out of something like the house, the flying rocks on the volcano stage, or the the long things at the end of the swamp.

[KOMA]

Two videos of DS spécial version [cave matsuri]

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HubkaaZsqE

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=6zIGbUWNzfI

[EOJ]

Just got the new Legend price list and Death Smiles kits are still selling for $2158, same price as when it was released 3 months ago (and the same price as a Futari BL kit). I had thought this one would fall in price quickly, but it seems to be holding its value better than any other Cave game before it. Seems wildly popular in Japan.

If it ever gets to the $1000-$1200 range I'll pick up a kit.

[GaijinPunch]

I'm curious about the print run.  Cave seems to be holding back these days.  Galuda 2 seems to be the first one where the printed far too many, and even that held it's value, all things considered.

Pretty interesting though.  Forgot who it was, but someone at KC predicted it would be the fastest to depreciate, and he'd pick it up for $1000 or so early Spring.  Haha.

[Sperrfeuer]

i got the info (2 weeks ago) it is already low stock :?
fujita will have it for 200 or 205k on the new price list

[EOJ]

If that's true then they only did one print run so far. They may announce another print run later this month, as that's exactly what happened with Futari (released Oct 2006, second print was announced at the end of January 2007).

Death Smiles is still very popular, I can't see why they wouldn't do a second print, but who knows.

[GaijinPunch]

Seems to make sense to print up more and sell them for anything down to 100,000 yen.  Probably just trying to get all they can.

[gsl]

Then again, the prices indicated by the secondary market (basically, any reseller that isn't AMI directly) are of course not entirely indicitive of the profits earned by Cave.

Okay, here's a question regarding music.  I was dumb enough not to bring any headphones with me in the first few weeks Deathsmiles was at Game Magma and so missed out on the ability to listen to the music while they still had a headphone jack installed in the machine.  One of the stage videos I found a while back, I think on shmups.com, included a rip of the Halloween Town music with it.  Have there been any other music rips of this sort for the game?  Or is that a taboo question?

[EOJ]

Have there been any other music rips of this sort for the game?  Or is that a taboo question?

It's not taboo here. You're free to discuss such things on this site.

[Sperrfeuer]

still 218K :confused:
PS sold out again
no price drop @ Futari BL (and also on other cave games i think)

[gsl]

Okay, this is really irritating me:

How the hell do you get Jitterbug to drop the super Life Up item when he gets snatched by Tyrannosatan?  Every player I've watched manages to get their life back up to full for the final battle, but each time I play I end up getting balls-all.  What's the catch?

Also, is there any possible way to play the Canyon (which can be done with Rosa!) without the cat food bullets?  The level's difficult enough, and if I have one complaint with DeathSmiles it's the arbitrary way the difficulty is increased by simply adding suicide bullets.

Speaking of the Canyon: Christ, the dragons are hard.  What's a good strategy to keep in mind?

[KOMA]

Does not use the bomb on Jitterbug to get the superlife.The easy way to beat him is to shoot with the "fevermode".I mean,it's not necessary to get 1000 to the counter,just lock him with A+B when the fight start and stay to the left on the screen.2 minutes job to beat him with Rosa.

Canyon can only be play in rank 3.When you choose 4 times Rank 3 ,the fifth will be always a rank 3(castle by exemple)

[gsl]

Yeah, I usually play two levels on rank 2--the swamp because Sakyura is really bothersome on rank 3, and the rail car level, because I can't yet beat Mary without taking a hit on rank 3.  Plus, like I said, I hate the suicide bullets.  I was just wondering if the canyon too could be played without them, as they never show up for me in the final level even though it's technically my 5th rank 3 level.

Ah, no bombs on Jitterbug.  I always end up using a desperation bomb or two on him, so that could be my problem.  Is it just on him, or that entire final level that you can't bomb?  I often find myself bombing to avoid the hit on the section about a third of the way through the level just to get past the part with the multiple green dragons.

Also, what's this about A+B even though the item meter is not yet at 1000 and locking on to an enemy?  Have I completely missed some important gameplay strategy?