Holding the Guinness World Document for “Most prolific developer of danmaku shooters” — a tenuous plaudit seemingly concocted fully for his or her receipt — Cave’s 5 DonPachi entries type bullet factors within the firm’s evolution, from Toaplan-esque beginnings to a full-blown, bullet hell renaissance.
SaiDaiOuJou, the collection’ remaining entry and Cave’s final arcade capturing sport, makes the clear stylings of its predecessor, DaiFukkatsu, even cleaner; a shiny blue aesthetic wrought from 3D renders and a billion pixels. It additionally carries over adjustable issue choices and an auto bomb on/off function. Its core, nonetheless, is much like DoDonPachi DaiOuJou, the best and most lovely of Cave’s work.
SaiDaiOuJou, regardless of its saccharine anime facade, is pure, unadulterated rage. And whereas that’s the motif of most bullet hell video games, right here it may be felt as early because the stage one boss. The place DonPachi was measured, DoDonPachi gas injected, DaiOujou a symphony of homicide, and DaiFukkatsu precariously experimental, SaiDaiOuJou is plainly vicious. It’s additionally notorious for having the toughest hidden boss ever dedicated to circuit board within the type of Inbachi, unlocked should you obtain a nigh-on excellent, no-bomb run. For the file, she has solely ever been crushed as soon as in a single credit score try by Japanese participant Sairyou, 12 years post-release.
Outdoors of arcades, DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou was solely ever beforehand accessible on the Xbox 360, making its Swap look celebratory. Infamously, the 360 port suffered from inexplicably stunning enter lag that was solely ever rectified by a fan patch. We used the identical testing strategies as utilized to the 360 model, and are assured the difficulty has been quashed. With the TV’s Recreation Mode on and in handheld, it feels tight and responsive throughout the board. And, whereas lag can’t be eradicated fully — and particularly not on a flatscreen — with the correct setup that is by far the superior model.
It additionally carries over all of the Xbox 360’s bells and whistles within the type of shop-based unlockables, together with wallpaper, manufacturing artwork, and in-game modifiers that serve to melt and create new methods to expertise the sport. There are additionally satisfying mini-challenges to tackle, like defeating sure mid-bosses with a set variety of lives or bombs.
SaiDaiOuJou’s authentic arcade launch was really barely damaged by exploitable scoring bugs. These have been ironed out for the house launch in a brand new 1.5 model that rebalances the sport right into a fairer, extra polished product, with the potential for elevated Hyper instances. Within the bundle are 4 distinct modes, all upscaled in excessive definition: HD arcade, Ver. 1.5, Novice mode, and a “Saya Ver.” association that permits you to play as an authentic character beforehand confined to the plot line.
In all modes besides prepare (the place solely Saya could be chosen) you select from three Elemental Dolls: girls who pilot ships, every with distinctive shot sorts. You may choose auto bomb should you’re a newcomer, though this kills scoring makes an attempt useless; and every doll has three states of configurable undress that alter the emphasis between your shot and laser. Warning want be utilized right here, as stripping your Doll right down to her requirements will max each your shot and laser energy, however in flip make the sport considerably tougher.
SaiDaiOuJou’s scoring coronary heart is much like DaiOuJou. It is advisable to chain into oblivion, snag hidden bee icons all through the stage, and use the Hyper operate at key moments to drive rating and bridge all of it collectively. Hypers permit you to briefly unleash devastatingly amped firepower, to the detriment of dashing up incoming bullets. In SaiDaiOuJou, Hypers are earned by filling a gauge within the HUD and could be stacked to increase their period and improve rating potential. In flip, this will increase the sport’s rank, which suggests elevated issue, and the one method to convey this down is by both bombing or dying.
Whereas its full-on nature calls for a special self-discipline from each DaiOuJou or DaiFukkatsu, scoring remains to be a phenomenal, bewitching factor, drawing you into an aggressive marketing campaign of fireside, shrapnel, and digit-chasing. Whether or not taking part in for rating or focusing solely on survival, it’s fairly the spectacle, perpetually igniting in a hailstorm of bullets and rating ingots, and satisfying pyrotechnic blasts.
Model 1.5 is, for our cash, the best choice by way of total polish and balancing, however Novice and the Saya prepare mode are additionally extremely enjoyable to sit back with. Saya’s Prepare, particularly (and should you flip off the incessant chatter) incorporates a very fascinating single-life run the place you may near-constantly have interaction Hypers, reaping inexperienced rating icons to maintain your multiplier from falling from the ten,000 most. It presents an authentic danger and reward system that rookies will actually get pleasure from stepping into, and veterans will adore mining for rating.
Whereas it’s vital to recognise that vanilla SaiDaiOuJou isn’t a straightforward sport, and has a steeper studying curve than even DaiOuJou, it’s additionally a masterpiece in its personal proper. It adapts and reassembles issues seen in earlier entries to really feel much more bombastic and livid, however makes Hyper utilization much less harmful and extra often accessible. There are occasions once you’re threading the attention of the storm, pink and blue bullet waves combing the display screen, the place you obtain a near-clairvoyant sense of readability: that second the place you see the trail.
It takes a superb whereas and a superb understanding of bullet hell video games to attain this sight past sight, but the accompanying adrenaline rush of pinging Hypers at essential junctures, momentarily cancelling on-screen bullets, or efficiently networking a boss’s diverse assault patterns, gives a excessive like few others. And, whereas Cave went all out, with situations for true-last-boss Hibachi after which Inbachi geared in the direction of shoot-’em-up maniacs, SaiDaiOuJou is the primary of the DonPachi collection to solely require a single loop run of the sport.
Slight unevenness retains SaiDaiOuJou from being the collection’ very best, however it actually comes shut. Hit-box parameters are notably unforgiving, particularly when in comparison with the likes of DaiFukkatsu, making fortunate escapes much less frequent; and aesthetically it is so overwhelmingly blue that each one the phases appear to mix into one. A number of the achievements aren’t doable by mere mortals, however everybody else will probably be content material to take the sport on their very own phrases, to reshape it round newfound techniques and deeper understandings.
The bundle itself is extremely complete, bursting with choices to configure, permitting you to outline all the things from display screen rotation and sizing to replay recordings and on-line leaderboard achievements. With so many variations to experiment with and so many avenues of method, one may doubtlessly lose a number of superb years to it.
Conclusion
Whereas a fine-looking affair, DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou’s anime stylings are frankly unremarkable, and the incessant chatter will probably be turned off by many. However these are minor, skin-deep critiques of what’s an unimaginable piece of labor by the masters of the Danmaku: a collection finale that showboats and frequently boils over in countless hails of gunfire, tugging you from side to side amid the center of the storm as you forge a path to victory. There’s a magnificence right here that solely Cave may obtain; a concord of scoring and surviving; coasting on sheer adrenaline as you thread hit-boxes by way of pixels, hammering out routes amidst dizzyingly spectacular orchestrated chaos. It will not be straightforward, however oh is it price it.
