Shmups on the 360

[isfet]

which mode?  Black Label?  if so, yea, that's all i've played.  i definitely don't get it; getting 13 million on stage 1 doesnt seem feasible to me.  i've had some great chaining moments, but i can't figure out why i did and why i can't do it again.  we'll have to talk a bit and demonstrate, because online descriptions are escaping me.  unless you have a link to a decent superplay video that i could get a better idea from?

[isfet]

ok like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t4xt8S2mvk

how is he doing this?  are you invincible in the transgender mode?  because how is he just floating up into those bullets like that?

second, after you make the huge bullet spiral by killing enemies in the other mode, how do you cash in?  kill another enemy or, something else?

[dmauro]

I was referring to the original 360 mode, which is what I've been playing. Black label is pretty weird. What that guy is doing in the video is going into kakusei to pop the guns off those flying things (killing things in kakusei causes them to spawn bullets), once you pop the guns off they spawn many more bullets, so he then goes back to normal mode, then goes into zetsushikai and rubs all the bullets because you have a certain amount of invincibility (player 2 bomb gauge) and it causes the bullets to split in two. To cash them in, he simply kills the enemies that spawned the bullets in normal mode.

If getting the extend in stage 1 doesn't seem feasible, you're probably not killing those flying things properly. Just before they die, they have an explosion which takes the guns off of their sides, stop shooting them and shortly after that they will start spawning several hundred bullets in an easy to dodge radial pattern. It's essential in white label, although in black label it seems you have other methods of spawning bullets too.

[dmauro]

Apparently this is official and from Cave's website:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scVhoSl6tZw

lol

[dmauro]

I think you guys should know that I'm kind of a badass at Deathsmiles.

I played an excellent game (well excellent until I choked in the last level) the other day that got me at the #8 spot on the shmups forums.

[dmauro]

Classics from the shmups forum. If I didn't like this Josie avatar so much, I'd be using one of these:

[FortNinety]

If I'm not mistaken, this forum has the option for signatures, and even though I generally loathe them, in this instance, I'm more than willing to make an exception.

[dmauro]

I think we disabled them because they're kind of annoying.

[FortNinety]

Yeah, they totally are. But again, if you want to make it so you're the absolute only person to have one, I have no issues with that.

[dmauro]

Joe, I'm destroying your score in Black Label. You better get on top of that. Maybe you and Dongle should come over Saturday afternoon so I can show you how the systems work. Have you played Omake! yet?

[dmauro]

Some new Mihara blog posts. He says "those who didn't have complaints about the Futari port won't have complaints about the Ketsui port either." He also says there will be a recorded event Thursday with him and IKD talking about the Ketsui 360 port. He will try and upload it soon after, but he'd also like to stream a portion of it live, as it is being recorded (he's not sure he'll be able to do this yet).

Over at the Cave-STG forums, they're under the impression that Ketsui will probably have scanline options like Futari because of this quote.

If Ketsui looks as good as Futari's arcade mode I will be very psyched.

And I nearly 1CC'd black label today with almost 700 million points. I had a couple of really stupid deaths so I got to the last boss with only 1 life :/

[dmauro]

http://www.aksysgames.com/2010/02/18/look-who-dropped-by-our-office-to-say-hello/

I really like the plain white of the 360, and I wouldn't want a bunch of goth lolis out where anyone could see them, but I'm such a Deathsmiles fanboy that I kind of want to get the LE Deathsmiles US release now.

[dmauro]

I have the ESPGaluda II Black Label soundtrack (the one you only get the tracks for the first stage and boss music with the OST that comes with the game) if anyone is interested.

[FortNinety]

BTW, my copy finally arrived today! And...I have absolutely NO idea what the hell is going on, what the rules area, how to properly play, etc. So much so that I'm finding myself... not enjoying it as much as Futari. Any advice would be super appreciated. Though you kinda predicted this, right?

[dmauro]

My advice to you: novice mode. That's how I got started and it helped immensely. Also, Black Label is much, much easier than the regular game. Here's a quick rundown:

In all game modes you're generally going to want to build up your gems and gold to score. You build up gems by killing enemies. If you shoot them point blank with the shot you get x4, if you shoot them from far away with the rapier/laser you get x2, if you shoot them from far away with the shot you get x1. You get gold by canceling bullets, which changes depending on the mode.

Black label: build up your gems and gold and then go into kakusei (press the button once) and kill some enemies, when they die they will spit out a bunch of suicide bullets. Now exit kakusei back to normal mode (tapping the button again) and go into zetsushikai (by holding the kakusei button down for a moment rather than tapping it, you will hear and see the difference), no you are invincible and you want to rub the bullets because this will make MORE bullets. Before your invincibility runs out (the player 2 bomb meter), or your gems, make sure to get to safety because if you do run out of invincibility or gems while rubbing the bullets you'll auto-bomb. Once you're out of the bullets, go back to normal mode (just tap the kakusei button again) and kill some enemies.

In Black Label killing any enemy cancels out their bullets and any suicide bullets on the screen while in normal mode. In kakusei mode it causes them to spit suicide bullets, in zetsushikai actually I think it just kills them (you don't generally kill enemies while in this mode, just rub the bullets)

White Label:
This mode is COMPLETELY different, so I don't recommend going back and forth right away or you will confuse yourself. In this on normal mode is just for getting gems, then in kakusei mode when you kill enemies their bullets will cancel and give you gold and when in zetsushikai when you kill an enemy it will cancel their bullets into new suicide bullets that come straight at you. Zetsushikai is where the money is at but there are two problems with it, it uses up both gems AND gold, and you have a screen full of bullets that are coming for you.

Basically what you want to do is get some gems, then kill some enemies in kakusei to get gold, then wait for some enemies that spit out a bunch of bullets to go into zetsushikai and make the bullets respawn over and over. Just keep moving around the screen so they can't get you. You can move through the bullets when they are in their respawn animation (when they are a circle shape) but be very careful.

It's complicated enough that this might not help you at all, but if you read this, then go watch some replays, then come back and read this again, it might make some sense.