Mushihime-sama Cave Matsuri Ver 1.5 PCB

[HVL]

The cave shop page is still there.
My japanese is not so good...but is it still available then to buy?

I hope its still there in a month, then I can prolly afford a copy.

Nope, the sale's over.

[Monouchi]

Thanks.

...

[emphatic]

Apparently, this is at Hey! now according to rancor @ shmups.

[EOJ]

Yeah, this guy says Hey has two of them:

http://jbbs.livedoor.jp/bbs/read.cgi/game/44689/1257526849/377

They'll probably pop up at some other arcades. Nice you can try before you buy.
That guy mentioned the following about Original mode:

-He played Original mode at MAX power and got up to stage 3
-Enemies have increased in number
-Enemy bullets have increased
-Scoring system is somewhat changed (not greatly). Proximity based bullet shedding seems to be the main thing.

[EOJ]

A writeup from a Japanese guy that bought it:

http://sigrsw.blog.shinobi.jp/Entry/16/

Original plays a lot like Futari BL original, with bullet speed increases when you pass certain levels of the counter. When you hit 10K, the bullets speed up and have a green outline. When you hit 50K, they get even faster, and have a yellow outline. The guy wonders what happens when you hit 100K (red outlines and super fast?) It seems rapid fire isn't needed for high scores now (which would mean fast C tapping is also out), but this isn't totally confirmed yet (more testing needed). Ultra MAX has tons of slowdown, making it manageable.

[Chempop]

Bullets getting faster when multiplier increases!?  Sounds awesome, sounds like a new way for them to implement rank,  I wondering if it has been "Yagawafied"...

[EOJ]

Not really new, Futari 1.5 and BL both did the same thing (bigger multiplier = faster bullets). It would be neat to see if Yagawa worked on it, but from what I've read about it, it doesn't really sound like his style.

[eckart]

A guy on shmups post this link:
http://livetube.cc/%E3%81%BF%E3%81%93%E ... %8Aver1.5+
I downloaded it, but  from my system it is unable to watch, guess the size is to big.- Better see it live.

I like those max modes and i think the ultra max mode is a bit easy than the original ultra mode.
The soundtrack fits great, imo. Charming to the original tracks.

Good upgrade cave!

[EOJ]

Yeah, I watched a bit of the vid. Neat that you can suck in ground gems with the A shot, just like Futari 1.5.

[GaijinPunch]

Yeah, this guy says Hey has two of them:

They're weak. I have 6 on my floor.   >

[SinHo]

Yeah, this guy says Hey has two of them:

They're weak. I have 6 on my floor.   >

[eckart]

So we have two versions of the pcb? One with battery and one without?
I mean the one in the unboxing link has a battery
and the one displayed at the caveshop has no one.

[brentsg]

So we have two versions of the pcb? One with battery and one without?
I mean the one in the unboxing link has a battery
and the one displayed at the caveshop has no one.

The one on YAJ has a battery.

[TonK]

http://tinyurl.com/438d5ve

[Monouchi]

http://tinyurl.com/438d5ve

Interesting that so many bought this for resale.

"IT SHOULD BE THE LAST CAVE SHOOTING GAME RELEASED AS PCB / ARCADE GAME"

...oh, really..

[hermosaguy]

http://tinyurl.com/438d5ve

Made extra special being sold by lil.tupac.  Thug Life to all the PCB owners out there.

[GaijinPunch]

Haha.  Lil Tupac. 

Anyhoo, I played the game at Taito Station last night, as I'm a gentlemen and want everyone who got one through me have that "new" feeling.   I only played Maniac.  From what I can tell the only thing that's the same w/ the real Matsuri version is the laser colors.  Plenty of other stuff different, including the palette upgrade.

For what it's worth, I got to stage 3, and I'm WAY out of practice.  Don't quote me on it but it looks like there's been some enemies added, and the counter gets pretty high.  I jacked it up to 30,000 on stage 1 and played awful.  Wasn't even at the top of the screen for most of it.  Fun stuff!

[TonK]

Haha.  Lil Tupac. 

Anyhoo, I played the game at Taito Station last night, as I'm a gentlemen and want everyone who got one through me have that "new" feeling.   I only played Maniac.  From what I can tell the only thing that's the same w/ the real Matsuri version is the laser colors.  Plenty of other stuff different, including the palette upgrade.

For what it's worth, I got to stage 3, and I'm WAY out of practice.  Don't quote me on it but it looks like there's been some enemies added, and the counter gets pretty high.  I jacked it up to 30,000 on stage 1 and played awful.  Wasn't even at the top of the screen for most of it.  Fun stuff!

What if lil tupac is a short Asian rapper that collects Cave kits?

[eckart]

Hope nobody buy his expensive stuff! Cave feed the traders...

GP, sounds good that you like this game. Hope there is a way to deselect the autobomb modus. But, maybe it is allright with autobomb.
Guess maniac max mode is a step more difficult than version 1.0.

Brentsg, thanks for the info!

[SuperPang]

Finally got around to playing a few credits. The three standard modes feel very much like a v1.5. Maniac/Ultra's DDP-esque hit counter and kill speed thing remains but with added Futari gem sucking mechanics. There are a few more enemies too. The Max Power modes are like a steroid injection. The counter flies up and the bullets kick up a gear at certain points. It's really, really fun. You only get one bomb which is purely there as an autobomb. There are colour palette changes and the up-tempo arranged soundtrack suits the game well. The game throws extends at you left right and centre. Also, original MP's counter climbs by itself.

[Shalashaska]

The game throws extends at you left right and centre.

Point based yes? Also, when you choose Max Power is there a way to switch your "options" (not sure what they're technically called in Mushi) from formation to trace? Or do you just have to wait and pick up the corresponding powerup like in vanilla Mushi?

Thanks for the quick impression. Keep them coming as you spend more time with it.

[GaijinPunch]

I played Maniac (not full) and didn't have autobomb.  In fact, in the first 15 seconds I did a really , really stupid death.

[EOJ]

Autobomb is only when you start with Max power, from what I've heard.

[SuperPang]

Correct. And as you only start with one bomb and bullets get fast, it's welcome.
Extends are score based, yes. I don't think you can swap options. They're still collectable and there are only 3 buttons but I'll check.
I've had a nasty chest infection and have only stopped coughing long enough for a few credits That said, it feels immediately more exciting than 1.0 and I'm not a fan of Futaris counter colour system so this could well be my favourite Mushi.

[SuperPang]

Seems there is a bug where you can't enter your score if Continues are turned off. I have had two people PM me asking if I have the same problem so it's not just my PCB. 

[eckart]

That`s a realy shit bug would i say. Let`s hope this is the only one.

-Will get my copy hopefully next week.

[SuperPang]

Enjoying Original Max at the moment, that's the one with the coloured bullet trails and speed that changes gear with the counter. Maniac/Ultra Max just seem to be Maniac/Ultra with added bullets and speed, presumably because the counter speed system would get a bit out of hand here. Ultra Max is perfectly playable. They really did go too far with Futari Ultra didn't they 

[ProMeTheus]

They really did go too far with Futari Ultra didn't they  

I think it was really great that they dared release a version that is unplayable until you memorize it, because that is pretty much the only way to make a shmup very very hard from start to finish, which is what the best players enjoy most !

(Since a shmup always become way easier once you have memorized it precisely, it can't be extremely hard unless it is entirely unplayable until memorized)

[TimingTripod40]

Yeah, good point. Plus it's not like those older games where you can't even see your hitbox and every dodge feels like a gamble so it's a pretty fair mode in that respect.

[moozooh]

I think it was really great that they dared release a version that is unplayable until you memorize it, because that is pretty much the only way to make a shmup very very hard from start to finish, which is what the best players enjoy most !

(Since a shmup always become way easier once you have memorized it precisely, it can't be extremely hard unless it is entirely unplayable until memorized)

This is definitely a subject for a different topic, but I disagree it's the only way. There are scoring systems that, with the core game not being overly hard survival-wise, demand such finesse and stamina at world-class competition level it remains a continuous challenge irrespective to memorization, as no matter how precisely you memorize your route the level of challenge won't drop, as it's (often entirely) dependent on your current skill level. In this respect memorizing it precisely is actually counterproductive as new tweaks must be made as soon as you become skillful enough to take advantage of them.

Cases in point:
? Ketsui (the core game is not easy by any extent, is long, and scoring over 400 million, let alone 500, puts you under ridiculous pressure);
? Futari BL Original (lightspeed bullets + constant point-blanking) and God (scoring above 5 billion is about no-missing/no-bombing while constantly filling the screen to the brim with bullets);
? Galuda II (has it all in various proportions, but 800+ million scores are also about constantly filling the screen with bullets and no-missing for the huge endgame bonus);
? most Yagawa games (manageable with proper rank control, very challenging at high-level play, especially Harder/Extended modes);
? many games revolving mostly around grazing or an otherwise similar interaction with bullets, as it incurs constantly finding more bullet-heavy spots to take advantage of.
These games all become harder the better you play them because you play them better, which is most often not the case with survival/memorization-based difficulty.