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CAVE's best year

Started by EOJ, November 02, 2008, 08:04:10 PM

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EOJ

What was their best year for you? For me, it was 2006. They released Ibara Kuro, Pink Sweets, Futari 1.0, and Futari 1.5. Futari 1.5 is their magnum opus for me. Pink Sweets and Futari 1.0 pushed the difficulty to new extremes they never attempted before, so I think they reached their peak here, at least in that regard. From 2007 and on, the difficulty of their games has been severely reduced.
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innerpattern

Having only been aware of Cave for about a year now I'm hardly experienced enough to say for sure but 2002 stands out right now, Ketsui and DOJ/DOJ BL in the same year...amazing!

EOJ

Ketsui was actually released in January 2003.
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innerpattern

ahh, 2002 on the title screen is quite misleading  ???



EOJ

Yes, you should trust the 2003/1/1 Master Ver on the bootup screen instead, and the fact it was released in the arcades a few weeks later.  ;)
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PROMETHEUS

I guess I agree as I see Futari 1.5 as the best Cave too.

markedkiller78

2007 could also be a shout:

Muchi-Muchi Pork
DeathSmiles
Mushihime-sama Futari Black Label

It?s really close for me as MMP & DS are incredible, but MF1.5 just pips them in fun terms. If I had played MFBL I?m sure 2007 would be my fav, but since I?ve not, I have to go with 2006.

SuperPang


drboom

Whatever year they release Ketsui 2 in.

markedkiller78


jpj

PGM era of 2002 - 2003

dai-ou-jou / black label
espgaluda
ketsui

:o

KOMA

Hard to say,i bought Mushi futari (almost release) and pink sweets in 2006 and Futari BL and DS at released in 2007,so both for me! :righton:

zlk

Jpj is absolutely correct. :righton:

markedkiller78

Quote from: zlk on November 04, 2008, 11:06:24 AM
Jpj is absolutely correct. :righton:

Pity he cheated & took 2 years  :P


EOJ

Quote from: markedkiller78 on November 04, 2008, 12:27:27 PM
Quote from: zlk on November 04, 2008, 11:06:24 AM
Jpj is absolutely correct. :righton:

Pity he cheated & took 2 years  :P

Yeah, you need to choose one year. Still no real competition for 2006 (well, 2007 is close).  :righton:
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gsl

I think I'd have to go with 2007, first for all of their excellent releases that year, and second since it was the first time I'd ever gotten to play a Cave game in a real arcade.   :laugh:

The releases in 2007 were quite excellent.  While I'm not sure whether or not Futari BL is better than Futari 1.5, I think it really shows Cave's ability to remix one of their games and make it completely new, instead of just repackaging the same version.  I only played Ibara a handful of times and I don't think I ever even saw an Ibara Kuro machine (maybe at Hey?  I didn't notice one) so I can't really talk about the differences there, but DOJ Black Label simply felt like the version of DOJ that should have been released in the first place.  The futari Futari versions, however, both stand on their own as seperate gaming experiences.  From the sounds of it, this has continued in Deathsmiles Mega BL as well.

Deathsmiles was the crowning title of 2007 for me, though.  While Futari BL and MMP are a lot of fun, I still think they sit at that upper level of Cave difficulty, where lots of credit feeding (or owning the PCB) and lightning reflexes are needed to improve.  Granted, I spent a lot of 100 yen coins on Deathsmiles last winter when I would hike to the next train station to escape the very Japanese housewife I was staying with and so might remember it in a more rosy light than it deserves, but it feels instantly a lot more accessable than most Cave titles, while retaining the difficulty advanced players would want.  In fact, I love how you can customize the difficulty level of the game to a point.  If you can breeze through a few stages on Level 3 but have a hard time once the suicide catfood starts flying, you can kick a stage down to Level 2, no sweat.  I won't say it's Cave's greatest game, but it's a lot of fun, has a lot of replay value, and was my first 1CC, which counts for something.

innerpattern

Quote from: gsl on November 04, 2008, 10:55:17 PM
Deathsmiles was the crowning title of 2007 for me, though.  While Futari BL and MMP are a lot of fun, I still think they sit at that upper level of Cave difficulty, where lots of credit feeding (or owning the PCB) and lightning reflexes are needed to improve.  Granted, I spent a lot of 100 yen coins on Deathsmiles last winter when I would hike to the next train station to escape the very Japanese housewife I was staying with and so might remember it in a more rosy light than it deserves, but it feels instantly a lot more accessable than most Cave titles, while retaining the difficulty advanced players would want.  In fact, I love how you can customize the difficulty level of the game to a point.  If you can breeze through a few stages on Level 3 but have a hard time once the suicide catfood starts flying, you can kick a stage down to Level 2, no sweat.  I won't say it's Cave's greatest game, but it's a lot of fun, has a lot of replay value, and was my first 1CC, which counts for something.

Everything you said makes me happy that I'll have the PCB soon.  =D

zlk

I will go with 2002.  The DDP DOJ start screen says 2002, the DDP DOJ BL start screen says 2002, Ketsui says 2002, and I say 2002 was the best year for Cave.

EOJ

Right, so DDPDOJ and DDPDOJ BL were the 2002 releases.

I don't know why people keep trying to force Ketsui into 2002, as it wasn't released until jan 2003. It doesn't matter what the copyright is on the title screen (as another example, Ibara Kuro says 2005 and it was released in feb 2006). We are talking about RELEASE DATES. If you need help, use this as a reference:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=11597&start=0

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jpj

zlk, do you have any scores for DOJ black label?  my score thread is very empty  :)

zlk

EOJ: I reject your reality and substitute my own.  (quoting from mythbusters)

All kidding aside, I will still pick 2002 as Cave's best year, with 2003 a close second. 

JPJ: My BL DOJ died, so I have no scores unfortunately.  Unfortunately, I have only one day a week to potentially play games and I am usually so exhausted that I just don't play. 

ave

2002/2003 were definitely the best for me. Ketsui, DDP DOJ, Espgaluda... wow. I liked Mushi futari and MuchiMuchi, but they weren't the same generation as 2002/3 and you notice it. I always prefer hard mercyless shooters over any slowdown filled shooter with shitloads of vanishing bullets (I also think Daifukkatsu is nice, but miles away from the class of a DOJ).

I also didn't like the 'Caving' games like Ibara or Pink Sweets too much, although technically they were absolutely stunning.
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Gwyrgyn

2005 easily for me. Ibara and Galuda 2, my two favorite Cave shooters period.

2003 would probably be second since Ketsui and Galuda 1 are both also good games that I enjoy.

EOJ

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markedkiller78

I voted 2006, but I am certain I?d have gone for 2007 if I had the chance to play MFBL.