Mushihimesama Futari ver 1.5 [JP XBOX 360, 2009] REGION FREE W/ SCANLINES

[adverse]

I've seen the video on youtube already, it's harder than it looks because there are a lot of random elements at play.  I thought maybe it could be unlocked in Training mode, but no.

[gsl]

How so? They did the initial 20k print, then realized the demand is higher and printed more in order to fill all orders. Isn't that basically the same thing?

Sure, except this is happening within the week of release, and it's people who've had preorders for the title for a while that are getting screwed (okay, this is partially Play-Asia's fault not sticking to any sort of first-come, first-served order with the first print).  It's one thing to only go for a certain number of limited editions (hence the name), but it almost seems like they just settled on an arbitrary number for the first print of the regular edition and then scrambled to a second printing when their first print numbers didn't match up with order numbers from distributers.

[bcass]

Has anyone compared the bug-fixed 1.5 PCB to the 360 version(s)?

[adverse]

Just a warning to folks, according to the achievements Wiki, achievements do not unlock in 1.01 mode.  Be advised.

[CRI]

here are pics from the stickers if anyone care:

[gsl]

Not bad looking.  Are they regular stickers with some sort of adhesive, or more of a removable vinyl cling sort of affair?  It's a moot point, but if I had one I could see myself royally screwing up the application what with the curve of the faceplate and all.

[EOJ]

Has anyone compared the bug-fixed 1.5 PCB to the 360 version(s)?

Yeah, that's what I've been talking about a lot in this thread. When I talk about slowdown emulation and so forth. No one really knows exactly what bugs were fixed in the bug-fixed 1.5 PCB, but I already offered my theory. The only bug I ever experienced in the PCB was the hit-detection bug in Stage 5.

[bcass]

Is there any difference in slowdown between the original 1.5 PCB and the bug-fixed 1.5 PCB?

[EOJ]

No, there's never slowdown differences between bug-fixed and non-bug-fixed SH3 PCBs. They just fix bugs.

[EOJ]

SIN got his copy of the game, and has posted his impressions of the slowdown:

http://sinmoon.blog.shinobi.jp/Date/20091202/1/

He says there is more a bit slowdown than the PCB, for example you can trigger slowdown on the Stage 4 boss in Maniac that you can't do on the PCB (I've also confirmed this, it makes the fight easier). Basically, Normal Reco's shot has more slowdown-triggering power than the PCB. Overall though, he's pleased with it and doesn't think it's anything to fuss about. His main complaint seems to be he finds the training mode in Arrange quite flawed and disappointing, due to the lack of options regarding fever mode.

[EOJ]

Alright, I think this will be my last post on the slowdown issue. I've tested all the modes enough, and read enough comments from top Japanese players. Here's what I've concluded:

-This port of the arcade game is not perfect, and it is not as good as Deathsmiles. Deathsmiles is 99%~100% accurate*** (in other words, about as perfect as you can get really), while this port is about 93%~95% accurate overall.

All the fancy menus and HD graphics and arrange modes and options are great, but I'd trade all of that (except the scanline options, keep those in!) if I could have the port as accurate as Deathsmiles Arcade mode is. I'm quite worried about the accuracy of the upcoming Black Label port too, as they apparently did that in 2 months, and I'm not sure if Cave or M2 did it.

It's quite painful that Deathsmiles' perfect Arcade mode looks like ass on an HDTV (no scanline options), while Futari's imperfect Arcade mode looks lovely. I guess we can't have it all in one game.  

I guess this is good news for Espgaluda II fans, as Cave is doing that port, so we should expect an accuracy in Arcade mode on par with Deathsmiles. If they can do that while using M2's visual options, we should finally get a truly "perfect port".

The end.


***I should clarify that I am only referring to Deathsmiles' Arcade mode. Deathsmiles' 360 mode is horrendous in terms of slowdown and game speed replication (only about 80% accurate overall), it is so bad I cannot even play it anymore. Deathsmiles Mega Black Label (both Arcade and 360 modes) is a similarly horrendous port.

[EOJ]

So what kind of scores are you guys getting in ver 1.5? Or are you all playing only Novice and Arrange?

As for achievements, somehow I've racked up nearly 900 without even trying to get specific ones (I don't really care about this stuff). Looking them over, I think the two 1CC achievements for ver 1.5 Maniac mode and the clear Ultra stage 5 with 9 credits or less achievement will be unattainable for 99% of the people who bought this game.

[Ast-Kot]

Also my japanese friend that are playing the game on 360 told me about these kind of non accurate slowdown Maybe a patch could fix it?or this slowdown is acceptable for a maniac player?
Talking about the novice mode, there are only a difference with the quantity of bullets on stage?

[Kaneda]

So what kind of scores are you guys getting in ver 1.5? Or are you all playing only Novice and Arrange?

Not too good myself, but I'm blaming the analog stick. I'm mainly enjoying 1.01 Original and almost beat it just now but died going for the 1up, having forgotten that it was in a different spot in this version . Not too many people on the leaderboards yet; only one ALL and I'm in 4th place after just a few runs.

Edit: Looks like the 360 mode board is the popular choice. Lots of ALL clears.

[fuse]

here are pics from the stickers if anyone care:

Not so fussed about the actual faceplate, but I'd love one of those small Cave stickers for my laptop. Dayum.

[adverse]

Just got a 213 mil all clear with Abnormal Palm in Original Arcade.  Best I've done in Original so far. : /

[GaijinPunch]

Just can't get into the top 10 in Arrange Maniac.  12 is my best (3.13 bil)

In regards to bugs (or just plain shit) I'm curious to see how Original 1.01 Stage 4 boss plays.  Those pink ball things are just dickheads. 

[cstarflare]

On day one I played a ton and pulled a 233 mil on Original with Abnormal Palm, but I haven't been able to replicate it. Would have done better and probably gotten to the stage 5 boss, but the 1 up didn't appear. :/

I hit 150 mil on Maniac yesterday; Maniac is considerably more awesome than I expected from videos. Harder than Mushi's Maniac, too. Makes me really look forward to God Mode.

I can't seem to get Arrange down which is fine because I don't like it all that much. Got no interest in novice.

[adverse]

Just got the achievement for getting either an extend by picking up a bomb or power-up item. 

There is an easier way to do it than that video shows.  Hint: bomb items are worth 100k when you have 6 in stock, power-up items worth 10k when at full power.

If no one guesses right I'll just post up tomorrow.

[Moskovskaya]

Alright, I think this will be my last post on the slowdown issue. I've tested all the modes enough, and read enough comments from top Japanese players. Here's what I've concluded:

-This port of the arcade game is not perfect, and it is not as good as Deathsmiles. Deathsmiles is 99%~100% accurate*** (in other words, about as perfect as you can get really), while this port is about 93%~95% accurate overall.

All the fancy menus and HD graphics and arrange modes and options are great, but I'd trade all of that (except the scanline options, keep those in!) if I could have the port as accurate as Deathsmiles Arcade mode is. I'm quite worried about the accuracy of the upcoming Black Label port too, as they apparently did that in 2 months, and I'm not sure if Cave or M2 did it.

It's quite painful that Deathsmiles' perfect Arcade mode looks like ass on an HDTV (no scanline options), while Futari's imperfect Arcade mode looks lovely. I guess we can't have it all in one game.  

I guess this is good news for Espgaluda II fans, as Cave is doing that port, so we should expect an accuracy in Arcade mode on par with Deathsmiles. If they can do that while using M2's visual options, we should finally get a truly "perfect port".

The end.

Could you specify it for each Mode? Is only Ultra concerned or Original and Maniac, too?

[adverse]

As for achievements, somehow I've racked up nearly 900 without even trying to get specific ones (I don't really care about this stuff). Looking them over, I think the two 1CC achievements for ver 1.5 Maniac mode and the clear Ultra stage 5 with 9 credits or less achievement will be unattainable for 99% of the people who bought this game.

I'm up to 790, but it'll take me some time to get the Maniac ones since I got so used to Black Label.  

I don't think the Ultra 9 (or 10) continues achievement is that crazy myself.

If you can get your continues down like so:

Stage 1: 0
Stage 2: 1
Stage 3: 2
Stage 4: 3
Stage 5: 4

It should be doable.  There is also the chance (albeit small) to get an extend with every continue, but that takes some smart scoring.

Achievement-wise, these are the online leaders at the moment (although this gamercard site is a a few days lagged it seems):

http://www.mygamercard.net/leaderboard.php?gt=&g=1029&z=&c=&x=43&y=19

Looks like "stgpo" is the only one who has comped the game as of these rankings.  There are very few people with 900+ achievement points.

Edit:  One bullet pattern that I think got totally botched is the second phase of the last boss on Ultra, where the tight "woven" pattern appears and you have to dodge very precisely.  If you bomb or die, the danmaku literally appears on top of you, it seems to scale way too fast to player movement.  Anybody else notice this?

[adverse]

Ok, so the Japanese achievements wiki is saying that the last 50 point achievement is not to no-bomb or no-miss a mode, but instead to kill Spiritual Larsa's final form in 1.5.

This requires an Ultra clear without continuing, but it is possible to get this via "every extend".  Is that the extend every 80 million setting?

[EOJ]

[

Could you specify it for each Mode? Is only Ultra concerned or Original and Maniac, too?

The good news is Maniac has all of the slowdown of the PCB, except maybe a few small spots. The bad news is Maniac has more slowdown than the PCB - I've confirmed this. Spots I confirmed last night include:

-Last phase of Stage 3 boss with Normal Reco (use shot and you'll induce slowdown that lets you get through the pattern without a bomb. Even TAC on the superplay DVD uses a bomb in the PCB version in this spot because there's no slowdown and a ton of bullets)
-Big dragons in Stage 5 with Normal Reco (again, just use shot and you'll get helpful slowdown that let's you do TAC's pattern on the superplay DVD much easier than what he had to deal with)
-Last phase of Stage 4 midboss
-Second phase of Stage 4 boss (makes this crucial scoring spot easier)

Some timing differences in Maniac:
-Stage 2 midboss dies a little too quickly with Normal Reco
-Stage 2 boss expanding balls take a little too long to destroy (like .5 sec more time)

I haven't tested differences between Arcade and 360 Maniac in detail yet, but overall I think they're pretty similar. So far I only noticed the following difference:
-Arcade maniac is missing some slowdown on the last icicle in Stage 2, whereas 360 Maniac has this.

@AST-KOT: so far I think Maniac is acceptable in the port, but scores should be marked with an asterisk or something because the added slowdown occurs in a few big scoring spots. It's pretty unfortunate the added slowdown mainly occurs in these spots, otherwise we could discount it as insignificant.

ABI says there's more slowdown in Stages 3 and 5 in Original mode. More info to come when I've confirmed it.

Bottom line:
-the port is basically the same difficulty in terms of a 1CC, as compared to the PCB, but it is easier to score in due to these added slowdowns.
-Normal Reco's shot has added slowdown-inducing abilities in the port that are not present in the PCB

@adverse: I haven't noticed any differences in the Stage 5 boss (in any mode). Every extend hopefully means every 80mil, as otherwise it'll be impossible for all but 3-5 people on the planet.

I got the clear stage 5 achievement in Ultra last night. I think I used 10 or 11 continues, but I wasn't keeping track exactly. Pretty easy really, if you make good use of your bombs and don't start using continues until the end of stage 2 (or later). I still don't think most people will be able to get this one, you have to be pretty good at these games.

Nice scores all around from you guys, I'm looking forward to see your progress in ver 1.5.

[Third_strike]

1 -Last phase of Stage 3 boss with Normal Reco (use shot and you'll induce slowdown that lets you get through the pattern without a bomb. Even TAC on the superplay DVD uses a bomb in the PCB version in this spot because there's no slowdown and a ton of bullets)
2- -Big dragons in Stage 5 with Normal Reco (again, just use shot and you'll get helpful slowdown that let's you do TAC's pattern on the superplay DVD much easier than what he had to deal with)
3 -Last phase of Stage 4 midboss
4 -Second phase of Stage 4 boss (makes this crucial scoring spot easier)

Some timing differences in Maniac:
5 -Stage 2 midboss dies a little too quickly with Normal Reco
6 -Stage 2 boss expanding balls take a little too long to destroy (like .5 sec more time)

I have any question:

1, 2 and 5 happen only with Normal Reco. OK?
3,4 and 6 happen with any character. OK?

Sorry for my English and waiting for reply.
Cool!

[EOJ]

Good questions. I haven't tested this with the other character types yet, but I will do that tonight and post the results. I'm pretty sure 5 only occurs with Normal Reco, though. Both 5 and 6 aren't really important though, if everything else was perfect I'd say these were insignificant.

[Third_strike]

Thanks for reply, I will waiting for results.
Let put one last question: Can one patch solve this problems?
Cool!

[EOJ]

Japanese players have said that the Deathsmiles patch added/fixed slowdown in the Deathsmiles Mega Black Label 360 mode (only this mode, not Arcade mode, and they didn't add/fix it nearly enough), so I guess it's possible.

BTW in spite of the inaccuracies, I still love this port. I had a great time practicing stage 3 in Maniac mode last night, for example. The training mode alone is worth the price, IMO, and the slowdown in the stages themselves is basically 1:1 (well, I can only confirm this for Maniac mode). Nearly all the added slowdown is only in some boss/midboss fights (again, I can only say this for Maniac mode).

M2 had a lot to deal with in this port, so when all is said and done they still did a great job (and went above and beyond in many respects). Keep in mind they had to try to get the slowdown replication correct in SIX modes (original, maniac, and ultra in both arcade and 360), and 12 if you count ver 1.01 (which I have not tested yet). While Deathsmiles Arcade mode is a perfect port, that's only one "mode" to deal with, and they royally fucked up Deathsmiles 360 mode (as well as both DSMBL modes).

[EOJ]

Talking about the novice mode, there are only a difference with the quantity of bullets on stage?

Forgot to answer this. Bullet quantity and speed are both different, but many patterns are totally different too.
Novice is a fun, stress-free score attack.

[adverse]

So I'm trying to envision how one would approach the final Ultra mode achievement.

Basically you're going to need to, at the least, learn how to survive managably up to stage 5 by passably scoring and earning extends along the way.  There was an every 80 mil thread on the forums where EOJ made it up to the stage 5 boss, so if we add training mode into the equation, it's probably possible for people that really practice.

Stage 5 itself will be the key to getting the achievement, you will have to hit almost every Taulon (lantern) correctly, and try to somehow scrape together 5 lives by the end of the level (what are the max lives for every 80??).  Then, you're going to have to push through the dragon boss, dying maybe twice?  Then blow three lives/bombs on Larsa.

If you practice Larsa in practice mode, you could probably get down the superplay pattern enough to beat her.  And if the max lives goes over 5, it might be easier...but still...

[EOJ]

I never got to the Stage 5 boss, but I got to stage 5 a couple times. With practice mode and a couple months, I think I could do it. I don't think I want to put in the time/effort though.

Max lives at one time are 7 with the "every 80mil" setting.