Dodonpachi Saidaioujou exA Label [exA-Arcadia, developed by Team EXA-AM2, 2020]

Started by EOJ, March 18, 2020, 10:39:27 PM

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EOJ

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RandomRetro

Question: is the LE version really worth it if you have an existing Motherboard? Looks like the only way to get the POP.

SuperPang

That is the question. I've gone for it, despite the fact that I'll have a regular motherboard to shift. It's going to get a bit silly if every EXA Label has one, obviously I won't be collecting them all! SDOJ is one of my favourites so what the hell.

Quote from: Shou
You can be sure that many people including IKD are closely watching this release. Most of the original staff are still there but Cave is a publicly traded company with obligations to shareholders.
Any product needs to be worth their time (ie makes real money). Make it worth their while and more will come.
https://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?p=534409#p534409

Naturally a brand new CAVE release would be a must.

EOJ

Another location test happening soon, from Oct 23-29th at Gunma Leisure Land:

https://twitter.com/lltakasaki/status/1318819634854780930

Judging from the POP it may be the X360's Arrange mode version?
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SuperPang

4 location tests planned. All modes. The other two are Xbox 360 Arrange and Inbachi. It seems all four characters are playable in all modes.

https://www.4gamer.net/games/500/G050059/20201021085/

EOJ

The in-game description of X-Arrange says it's the home version (X360) arrange mode but with an adjusted difficulty. This, plus the ability to play as all four ships in the mode (in the X360 Arrange you could only play as Type D), will make it a unique experience.

The Inbachi boss-fight mode is an interesting option. Of course the X360 port lets you practice Inbachi too, so that's nothing new really, but the ability to have an arcade scoreboard for such a boss fight could be quite neat, and maybe someone will finally beat the boss in the arcades now!

The release of this game is planned for the end of November.
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EOJ

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el_rika

Looks great, kind of like a mix between Sdoj and DaifukkBL.

It's funny how back then, many were criticising the Sh3 boards for not being able to handle the games, hence the massive slowdowns, and now, on this cutting edge hardware, that could probably play the game perfectly full speed, they programmed the exact same slowdowns.
Let's be honest, they always were a big part of the appeal  :righton:

EOJ

In exA label mode most of the slowdown looks like it was removed outside of Hyper mode (even here there is far less than in the original game) and some midboss patterns. It runs very fast overall. It reminds me of Futari Arrange mode in this regard.

The comparison to DFK BL is apt, with bees (and bomb items) cancelling bullets for score and hypers cancelling bullets (and a dedicated hyper button too). It also reminds me of the DOJ BL X-Mode on the X360 port.

In exA label mode, interestingly, hyper and bomb stock are not tied to your lives. So if you die, your hyper level and bomb stock do not go down. On the flip side, you only get one additional bomb when you die, so if you use up all your bombs early on (You start the game with 3 bombs), when you die you only have one bomb in stock. This is essentially the Ibara Kuro bomb replenishment system, with extra bomb carriers thrown in instead of bomb fragments in the stages. This and the bullet grazing are obvious features borrowed from Kuro, so this mode is basically a mix of DFK BL and Ibara Kuro overlaid on the SDOJ system. This reminds me of how CAVE overlaid Ketsui's system on DFK BL for Ketsui Arrange.

I've enjoyed watching the stream, and I saw a very good player get 85 billion up to Inbachi, but so far exA label mode doesn't interest me that much. But as always, the proof is in the pudding.
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EOJ

I saw one person play Original mode in Expert. The slowdown accuracy was much improved over the X360 port, about 90% accurate to the original PCB, which is similar to the DFK 1.5 port on the X360. I could tell the player was surprised at some bits of missing slowdown in ST3, as their movements suddenly became erratic around these parts. Simply getting used to these very minor differences will make it easy for players to transition to this version, however.

The best news is they removed all that horrible extra slowdown in the X360 port and reduced the input lag to an acceptable level.
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EOJ

PEK has made a list of some possible bugs in ORIGINAL mode:

-Inbachi appears if you die twice and get 4 stages with perfect bees (on the PCB, you need to no-miss/no-bomb the whole game, get perfect bees on every stage, and have rank over 30 at the end of ST5).
-When not in hyper you get 10 hits added to your counter when you collect large stars.
-Type D's bomb duration is shorter than the other ships (though maybe this is intentional?).
-The voices are very loud and it's hard to hear the BGM (perhaps this is tweakable somewhere?).

https://twitter.com/peketti/status/1319655041972670465

He also says playing at HEY, with the Viewlix cab they are using, is very bothersome due to the severe input lag and image ghosting on the LCD:

https://twitter.com/peketti/status/1319652326743838720

This worries me a bit, because it seems like to get low input lag like the original PCB you need to hook this up to an old-school 15khz cab, but how many arcades are going to do that?
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RandomRetro

Interesting on the lag, and it seemed like there was enough discussion about this not going to be an issue I would think the Hey setup is as ideal as possible to show it off.

EOJ

Aren't Viewlix cabs known to be laggy? I think I read that somewhere.
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Shou

Quote from: EOJ on October 23, 2020, 03:27:19 PM


He also says playing at HEY, with the Viewlix cab they are using, is very bothersome due to the severe input lag and image ghosting on the LCD:

https://twitter.com/peketti/status/1319652326743838720

This worries me a bit, because it seems like to get low input lag like the original PCB you need to hook this up to an old-school 15khz cab, but how many arcades are going to do that?

Your translation and facts are a bit off.

PEK actually QAs the game at our office. You can see his name in the credits. He's never highlighted input lag as an issue. For some of the bugs he highlighted, fixes have been already deployed.

He is complaining about the streaming setup at Hey. He's clearly talking about the glare on the screen from the lighting in Hey (you have translated it as ghosting for some reason) and the lag caused by the streaming setup. Digital signals are not what arcades are used to for streaming and we stressed that it is not the same as splitting analog signals to Hey multiple times. The Vewlix that is being used has a Diamond Black monitor in it which we have tested with a Leo Bodnar at 8ms. Given that the game is running at an "acceptable" 3 frames or less. The original CV1000 also runs between 2-3 frames depending upon where in the video refresh cycle you are calculating from. We spent excessive time testing this on a Blast City with the original PCB and the new version. The main difference on the Vewlix is the proximity and angle of the monitor positioning relative to what players are used to on a CRT cabinet.

exA-Arcadia does not work on 15kHz, only 31kHz. There are arcades who have it on a CRT due to player preference.

Vewlix cabinets have many variations on monitors.

Fastest
Vewlix with the 2020 Taito Tech replacement monitor we clocked at nearly 1ms on 1080p
Vewlix Diamond Black (1080p@8ms)

Noticeable Display Lag
Vewlix F/C/VS - 1+ frame lag 16:9 1360x768
Vewlix 1st gen - runs at an odd native resolution of 16:10 1280x768

Slowest
Vewlix Diamond - Closer to 2 frame lag 16:9 1360x768
Vewlix L - very very slow, do not use this



EOJ

PEK's tweet can be translated as "Anyhow, the lag and ghosting (or glare) were too severe so I thought playing in that environment was rather bothersome".

Utsurikomi can mean 'ghost image' or 'glare', but 'ghost image' is written 写り込み while 'glare' is written 映り込み。PEK wrote 写り込み which is why I translated it as 'ghosting'.

I am glad to hear he is a play-tester, that should ensure Original mode is as accurate as is possible on the hardware. And thank you for the info about the cabs and input lag.
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RandomRetro

Thanks for the details Shou and validates the attention to detail. Loving the stream from Hey and the discussion about the tweaks and testing. Good open dialog.

EOJ

Some thoughts and observations on the slowdown accuracy of Original Mode by PEK:

https://twitter.com/peketti/status/1319808925655461890
https://twitter.com/peketti/status/1319809945684983808

-By and large the slowdown is the same as on the SDOJ PCB.
-The phenomenon of the game speed quickly increasing after the slowdown ends has been reduced (I take this to mean transitions out of slowdown are smoother).
-The game speed is a bit faster in tempo because the appearance of (lots of) Star items and the destruction of enemies that trigger bullet cancels (that spawn Stars) do not overload the CPU to produce slowdown (like on the PCB).
-There is no slowdown during the appearance of the bosses, so they appear quicker than on the PCB.
-Slowdown is missing in ST5 during the zako rush after the midboss rush until the appearance of Dogaku (one of the hardest parts of the game), making this part a lot harder than on the PCB.
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EOJ

Scores are getting up there in exA label mode. RMY got a 139bil Inbachi ALL the other day with Type D.


https://twitter.com/rmy_stg/status/1320664494800916481

Most comments I've read from the location test have been positive, so it sounds like this game will do well in the arcades. Some high level players have complained that the combos cut too easily in exA label (apparently the combo gauge decreases faster in this mode), which makes it frustrating to try and score in hyper mode while simultaneously trying to keep the combo from cutting. Maybe they'll tweak that prior to release.
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EOJ

My score archive
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EOJ

My score archive
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EOJ

My score archive
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EOJ

My score archive
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EOJ

Japanese players are hard at work on exA label. After the first day LEN has nearly reached 300 bil:

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SuperPang


EOJ

Nah, I've got an SDOJ PCB that I am quite happy with, the new arrange modes don't interest me much, and in general I am not interested in buying an exA system (trying to get it working with my supergun would be too convoluted).


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SuperPang

I think it should be quite attractive for home users considering the current PCB price. It's as close to a perfect port as we'll see. Players outside Japan can pick up A&B as well (now with v1.2 update for reduced lag amongst other things). Private sales should certainly help Exa navigate Covid.

Quote from: EOJ on November 30, 2020, 02:17:29 PM
trying to get it working with my supergun would be too convoluted.
One of these and a USB cable is literally all you'd need with your setup.


EOJ

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SuperPang

Who knows. I'm not chasing them. Japan comes first. I went for the LE and motherboards are in demand at the moment even if the carts are ready. Patience paid off when A&B launched as that got a v1.1 update before the overseas orders shipped. Besides, I'd like to 1CC Shikhondo RP first.

EOJ

355 bil ALL in exA label mode by LEN on day three after release:


https://twitter.com/LEN21746060/status/1334102311732350979

I wonder how much higher scores will go.

Also, here's an official promo video for the game: https://youtu.be/yEVP4pbGDm8
(Source: https://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?p=536699#p536699)
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