DoDonPachi DaiOuJou
| DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Cave (arcade), Arika (PS2) |
| Publisher(s) | AMI (arcade), Arika (PS2) |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 |
| Release | 2002 (arcade) 2002-10-25 (Black Label) |
| Genre(s) | Manic shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player or multiplayer (Up to 2 players simultaneously) |
| Arcade system | PolyGame Master |
DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou (怒首領蜂 大往生) is the fourth game in Cave's DonPachi series. They are not connected by any story, but only by gameplay. It is considered to be a truer sequel to DoDonPachi than DoDonPachi II: Bee Storm. Dai Ou Jou is renowned for its almost ridiculous level of difficulty and refined gameplay. The "Dai Ou Jou" portion of the title translates as "peaceful death", which is a pun on how you die in the game.
Gameplay
Game System
The controls in Dai Ou Jou are identical to the previous games in the series. The joystick (or controller on the PS2 version) move the ship. Tapping button 1 fires standard shots, and holding button 1 fires the laser weapon. Pressing button 2 activates a hyper if one is available, or uses a bomb if no hypers are in stock. If the laser is active the bomb is an amplification of the laser weapon; otherwise it is an explosion that covers the screen. In all cases the player becomes invincible for a short period. There is also an option to enable button 3, which automatically fires only the standard shots, otherwise known as "auto(matic) fire".
Dai Ou Jou follows the conventions of the previous game with only a few changes. The chaining system is intact and works in much the same way. Causing an enemy to explode fills a meter, and every enemy destroyed before the meter depletes adds to the current chain and again refills the meter. Holding the laser weapon over a large enemy will hold the meter steady and slowly accumulate hits. In this way it is possible to create a single chain out of any of the 5 stages, although this requires much practice and skill.
New is the addition of "hyper" items. A hyper meter is incorporated into the upper-left status display and is filled by chaining, collecting bees, and dying, amongst other things. When the meter fills a hyper items falls from the top of the screen, unless the player is currently in a boss fight. Up to 5 hypers can be held at any one time. When a hyper is activated, all are used at once, with an effect proportional to the amount of hypers consumed (duration and power are both affected). A hyper makes the player invincible for a short while and amplifies the power of both normal fire and the laser weapon. Once the timer runs out the player's ship returns to normal. As a side effect, all enemy bullets move faster when the hyper is activated, increasing the "RANK" difficulty level of the game, until a bomb is used or you die. This effect does not disappear when the hyper wears off. Using a bomb during a hyper will end it immediately; dying will cause the player to lose any hypers he or she is carrying. Using a hyper while one is on screen (i.e. not collected yet) will transform it into a large star.
Dai Ou Jou has also been made much more difficult than the previous games in the series.
Player Ships
The ship selection has completely changed from the previous game. The three ships from DoDonPachi have been reduced to two, the Type A and Type B. Type A is equivalent to the Type A from DoDonPachi, while Type B is equivalent to the old Type C. Once a ship is selected, an Element Doll is also chosen, similar to the selection of Shot Type or Laser Type in its predecessor. The first doll, Shotia, powers up the ship's standard shots. The second, Leinyan, powers up the ship's laser weapon and slows down the ship less while the laser is activated, at the cost of a lower stock of bombs compared to Shotia. The final choice is Exy, which upgrades both the Shot and Laser, but is offset by an even lower bomb capacity. Upon dying, the power level is reduced by one, while the other weapon is reduced to its initial strength; in the case of Exy, both weapons only lose one power level.
Levels
Dai Ou Jou has 5 levels, and a second loop is available if the player manages to complete the first loop and satisfy certain criteria. The requirements are any one of:
- Less than 2 deaths
- Less than 3 bombs used
- Collecting all 10 bees in at least 3 stages. The bees in each level must be collected without dying.
If the player then succeeds in completing the second loop, they face the true final boss of the game, Hibachi.
The music titles are puns of shooting game companies. Toua, Saikyou, Seibu, Sakusetsu, Taitou are named after Toaplan, Psikyo, Seibu Kaihatsu, Success Corporation, Taito Corporation respectively.
Variants
Death Label
Death Label was included with the PS2 port of Dai Ou Jou. Death Label sets the player against each of the game's bosses in order, with maximum power at all times and a full stock of hypers provided before each fight. Death Label's difficulty is roughly equivalent to that of the normal game's second loop, with a number of alterations made to the bosses and their attack pattern. The most notable change is made at the end of Death Label, where the player fights two versions of the final boss simultaneously.
Black Label
This variant was a limited edition release. The game can be identified by the black title screen. There were minor changes to gameplay.
Playstation 2 version
This version added following:
- Death label arcade mode.
- No bullets mode
- Simulation (training) mode, with replay feature.
- Gallery.
- High score DVD video from 4 players completed 2nd loop of the game.
Xbox 360 version
2008-03-07 issue of Famitsu Weekly magazine reported that 5pb.Inc.'s 5pb.Games Division #2 would bring this game to Xbox 360 platform as Xbox Live Arcade titles. However, 5pb representative Masaki Sakari claimed Microsoft rejected 5pb's proposals and 'decided to cut down faithful arcade ports.'[1]. Instead 5pb has considered releasing Black Label and Ketsui on a retail DVD instead.
On September 26th 2008, Famitsu has announced the official title of the Xbox 360 version of the game, DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label Extra (怒首領蜂 大往生 ブラックレーベル EXTRA), scheduled for a release on December 25th, 2008. The port would include the original and Black Label editions of the game, as well as online score ranking, replay, enhanced graphics, Xbox Live Marketplace contents. There is an Xbox 360 original mode for beginners named the "X Mode", where a new Element Doll named Baiba is introduced.[1]
References
- ^ http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/1218286_1407.html 新エレメントドールが登場するオリジナルモードを搭載 『怒首領蜂 大往生 ブラックレーベル EXTRA』 - ファミ通_com