Mushihimesama Futari version 1.0

Started by EOJ, September 10, 2008, 03:42:33 AM

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EOJ

I recently found a Futari 1.0 kit and quickly bought it. Much to my shock, it looks like it is a revised version, as there is a period before and after the MASTER VER.
Pics to confirm (note there is an extra period after the date even on the startup screen):




Unfortunately, Ultra is not playable on my PCB, even though the auction guy said "of course, Ultra is playable". I will try emailing CAVE to see if they will tell me how to unlock it. Mikado seems to imply it's a time-release thing:

http://blog.mi-ka-do.net/?eid=431384#comments

But if so, I suppose you'd need to have it running everyday for a good amount of time.  :-\

One thing I will say is ver 1.0 is way better than I remember (I will probably have to redo my review on that!). The bullet patterns in Maniac are a lot different and much faster than ver 1.5, and it feels more like Ketsui than anything released since Ketsui. It's also a lot harder than I remember. Harder than God mode, for sure.

Some stuff about ver 1.0's Ultra I found from 2Ch:
-You change shots every 500, like in Original. In Ver 1.5's Ultra, you change shots every 2000.
-Extends are at 100mil and 400mil. Ver 1.5's Ultra has extends at 250mil and 650mil.

UPDATE: It doesn't look like anything is revised on this PCB.
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bitkid

I've always been a bit confused on the whole Mushi-Futari relases. So the bullet patterns are changed quite a bit between 1.0 and 1.5, but is the scoring system pretty much the same or is that different too?


EOJ

Cave didn't respond, but I asked AMI how to unlock Ultra on a 1.0 PCB, and they gave me the code.

For anyone interested, as the code is nowhere to be found online, here it is:

1) Insert a credit at the title screen
2) Hold A+B+C on P2
3) Press → C B ↑ ↓ ← B A C A on P1
4) You should hear Reco's "Iyaan" if you did it correctly
5) Ultra will be unlocked permanently

I'm off to try it out!  =D

EDIT: I tried it, and it doesn't work on my PCB.
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GaijinPunch

Normal & Maniac's bullet patterns aren't substantially changed on the whole, but they are harder.  Kaneda can comment best on Original mode, that's for sure.  The fact that Ikeda's last two games had their 1.5 versions gimped doesn't bode well with me.

EOJ

Actually the bullet patterns are quite different overall in both Original and Maniac in ver 1.0 in every stage except Stage 4 (where there are only very minor differences). I could make a big list of all the bullet pattern differences (and bullet-canceling differences). Maybe when I get some time. One of the nastiest parts is in Stage 5 when the big purple dragons are on the screen. There are little snipers throughout this area that shoot Ketsui-style small slim red bullets at you. It's really hard to dodge with all the bullets coming from the purple dragons. They totally removed this in 1.5 and BL.

Original is really like a whole different game in 1.0. The stage 2 and 3 bosses are a royal pain in the ass. I've played the 3 original modes (1.0, 1.5 and BL) more than anyone here probably.

Another thing I haven't mentioned is Abnormal Palm is a lot weaker in ver 1.0, and he moves noticeably slower with his C shot as well (I actually like this, I feel he's a bit too fast in 1.5).

BTW that Ultra code doesn't work (I've tried it like 20 times), so I've asked AMI again. Perhaps they mistyped the code.
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Kaneda

It's been so long since I've played 1.0, but I remember the bosses being harder and stage 5 being easier than 1.5.

Is the stage 4 boss bug fixed in your version, EOJ? I recall it being literally impossible to dodge that bosses' final pattern.

EOJ

1.0's Stage 5 is easier in Original (actually just the final part), but much harder in Maniac.

The high score display glitch is still in my version. I don't see any other improvements either. The stage 4 boss pattern seems a bit easier to manage, but maybe my memory is off. I have gotten through nearly to the end of the last phase without bombing, but I don't recall ever being able to do that in my old 1.0 PCB.
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GaijinPunch

I played Maniac 1.0 a bit... the main difference of course is the lack of gold (what the fuck were they thinking?).  Boss patterns (first one, especially) different.  I remember everything as "thicker"... with some annoying pea shooters coming out of nowhere.

EOJ

I actually really love 1.0's Maniac now. There is less gold, but there are ways to get a lot of gold (ways that require a lot of skill) that make it a really fun challenge. I also like how your multiplier does not go down as much as in ver 1.5 when you absorb the blue-tinged gems, allowing you to score multiple times in a row if you start off at 9999.

Overall I prefer the bullet patterns and bullet speed in 1.0 Maniac over 1.5 Maniac. Basically all the bullets are faster throughout the first 4 stages, and (off the top of my head) the bullet patterns are different at the end of stage1, the stage 1 boss, the first half of stage 2, second and third phases of the stage 2 boss, parts of the second half of stage 3, last phase of the stage 4 boss, and in lots of parts in stage 5 (the armored turtles, purple dragons, the whole final section, etc). There are also parts where destroying a large enemy will cancel all the bullets on the screen in ver 1.5, but not in ver 1.0 (this is found in many sections of stage 3, and a few parts in stages 4 and 5).

Another change of note is the chaining bar goes down slower in ver 1.0 than in 1.5. This makes it harder to trigger the multiplier in 1.0.

In a Maniac run w/ Reco last night I ended stage 2 with 75mil yesterday (I think this is rather good for ver 1.0), and stage 3 with 106mil. Stage 4 is the wall right now. I always seem to die on that first big flying bug that swarms in. It was hard enough in 1.5, but its bullets are a bit faster in 1.0, making it a real pain in the ass.

TAC's 1.0 Maniac WR w/ Reco is 381,076,267 (Palm WR is ~369mil). That's really impressive, especially because he did it in only 2 months after the release and went on to ver 1.5 from there. I'd love to see someone break 400mil in this game, as it's most likely possible. Too bad no one plays it anymore. :(
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EOJ

Another thing of note: I don't think there's any rank in 1.0's Original mode. At least nothing noticable. When I had the counter up to 30,000 in Stage 5, the bullets didn't seem any faster than when the counter was near 0. It looks like Original has an overall set difficulty like Mushi's Original, whereas 1.5's original has rank that speeds up the bullets as your counter increases.
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caincan

hi to hell & hellas.     matter of evangelisation to put envy on players =D

hoping they give you back another answer for the Ultra mode,  that interests few people   :righton:

EOJ

No reply from AMI. I'm going to wait a bit, pretend I'm a Japanese guy in the email, and ask for the code again.

Quote from: caincan on September 22, 2008, 05:23:12 PM
hi to hell & hellas.     matter of evangelisation to put envy on players =D


Huh?
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caincan

often...  the more people talk with love for a game, the more it spreads among forums and others want it too  ;).   

EOJ

Gotcha.

Back on topic, I played a round of Original mode with Abnormal Palm, and he completely sucks. I mean, really, really sucks. He's too slow for the later levels, and the bizarre thing is there are only a few parts in the game where he is stronger than Normal Palm. It is slightly easier to use him in Maniac mode due to the different bullet patterns, but he still sucks there. They really beefed him up in ver 1.5.

I think the other 3 (normal & abnormal reco, normal reco) are usable, but not Ab palm. So that's a definite weakness in ver 1.0. Then again, in Ultra mode in 1.5 Normal Palm is just as useless and Abnormal Reco is unfairly disadvantaged in Maniac mode in scoring, so both versions have weak points like this.
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caincan

i'll check this week my 1.0 to see if the ultra code goes ok.  (perhaps yours refuse the code, due to the master version).  oops you upgraded the first post.  well perhaps in 10years it will unlock  :whyioughtta:

EOJ

Thanks, that would be great. Do you have a different master ver?
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caincan

 :righton:  :cool:  okay from the first try. the legend was true !

so there a few pics on the net finally !.   didnt play much on mushi futari  (few games of futari BL thanks to sven666 meeting),   but sure i appreciate more this ultra from few attempts  (my cab here in Paris has no sound and i must adjust brightness)    than the 2 other modes i played few coins ("seemed much more quiet on the first stage")














EOJ

Wow. What is your master ver? I don't know why this doesn't work on my PCB.  :whyioughtta:
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rtw

Quote from: EOJ on September 27, 2008, 03:37:03 PM
Wow. What is your master ver? I don't know why this doesn't work on my PCB.  :whyioughtta:

Have you verified that all your P1 & P2 inputs are working correctly ?

rtw
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caincan

forgot.  reboot it.    it's  same as yours ?!   2006.10.23.

EOJ

Quote from: caincan on September 27, 2008, 03:54:43 PM
forgot.  reboot it.    it's  same as yours ?!   2006.10.23.


Does it show [2006/10/23.MASTER VER.] at the copyright screen right after boot up? Look for the dots before and after 'MASTER VER'.

@rtw: yes, I have verified that all buttons and inputs work properly, via the test menu.

This is really puzzling.
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EOJ

Caincan: what's the serial number on your PCB? This is important to the discussion, so please let me know. Thanks!

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caincan

sorry. had wifi heavy slowdowns...(and went to see finale tv show Jericho postnuke...)

made a little jerk video  trying upload at this time.    it's not same as your "special"  i guess.  it's labelled without the dots :  2006/10/23 MASTER VER

number :  CA-21105

so you were able to play the 1.0 ultra in arcades ?

EOJ

Quote from: caincan on September 28, 2008, 05:47:09 AM
it's labelled without the dots :  2006/10/23 MASTER VER


Aha! As I suspected. But the dots usually indicate a later revision, so why would they remove Ultra mode? I've read on 2Ch that two 1.0 PCB versions exist - one where you can
unlock Ultra via the above code, and one where you cannot. I guess on my version you cannot, but the dots indicate it is a later revision. Weird. Maybe there is a different code or method to unlock it on my PCB. I hope so, at least.

Quote
number :  CA-21105

Thanks. Mine is CA-21703. Some on Japanese boards said the 20000 series PCBs didn't have Ultra, while the 70000 series did. I guess this proves them wrong.

Quote
so you were able to play the 1.0 ultra in arcades ?

No, not me, but GaijinPunch played it a few times at Mikado arcade in Japan.

Would love to see some video! Thanks a lot for that.
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caincan

thanks for infos.

bitch to upload,  hope it's good.  captured in DV and put on .wmv at 1mb.  video isnt top accurate (or bullets too fast?)  and had nothing to telesync. so it's one hand...

http://rapidshare.de/files/40567938/futari_1.0_ultra_demo.wmv.html

EOJ

Thanks a lot for the video!

Unfortunately, everything I saw there was exactly the same as ver 1.5's Ultra. Same bullet patterns and bullet speeds. So, I'm not very excited to get 1.0's Ultra now. I was hoping it would have a lot of different patterns (and maybe it does, in the later stages, but I'd bet it's very minor stuff). But as is, it's just 1.5's Ultra with less bombs, a weaker Abnormal Palm, and less bomb damage on the bosses. Not something I'd play very much!
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EOJ

So, since AMI won't respond to me, I asked Tops and they said they would be the middleman for getting my 1.0 PCB "repaired" to have Ultra mode unlocked. They said AMI told them there is something wrong with the program IC, and they will fix it and unlock Ultra for me. Total cost is 29,400yen. I'll do it, I guess.

Will keep you updated.
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PROMETHEUS

isn't that like 300$ ? would you pay that much just to play a very slightly different, probably inferior version of this game ? @_@

EOJ

It is a lot. But I'm curious, and I'd like to describe all the differences between 1.0 and 1.5 in detail. I think it would be good to have this info on the web, since I cannot find it anywhere right now.
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rtw

Quote from: EOJ on September 29, 2008, 02:41:57 PM
It is a lot. But I'm curious, and I'd like to describe all the differences between 1.0 and 1.5 in detail. I think it would be good to have this info on the web, since I cannot find it anywhere right now.

I admire your dedication EOJ  :D, it's important to get this stuff documented.

rtw
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