- Deathsmiles
-
Deathsmiles 
North American box artDeveloper(s) Cave Publisher(s) - JP Cave (Xbox 360)
- NA Aksys Games
- EU Rising Star Games
Designer(s) Junya Inoue (graphic) Composer(s) Manabu Namiki Series DeathSmiles Platform(s) Arcade, Xbox 360, iOS Release date(s) Arcade - JP October 19, 2007
- JP October 10, 2008
Genre(s) Manic shooter Mode(s) Up to 2 players simultaneously Rating(s) CERO: B
ESRB: T
PEGI: 12Cabinet Upright Arcade system CAVE CV1000 CPU Hitachi SH-3 (133 MHz) Sound Yamaha YMZ770C-F (APU) Display Raster, horizontal Deathsmiles (デススマイルズ) is a horizontal side scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game by Japanese developer Cave, released in late 2007. It is notable for its aesthetic style, featuring heavy occult and gothic influences. It is the second Cave shoot 'em up to be played using a horizontally-oriented monitor (the first being Progear, followed by the recently released Akai Katana). It was the first Cave shooter released in North America on a console,[3] and the first one in Europe.[4] Cave have also released it to the iOS market.[5] A sequel, DeathSmiles II, was released to Japanese arcades on May 14, 2009.
Contents
Gameplay
Instead of the typical lives in traditional shooters, the player is given a pool of life points (initially 3). The player loses 1 point if they are hit by a bullet, 1/2 point if they collide with an enemy or are hit by a non-bullet attack. The game ends when the player has no more life points. Life points can be restored by items, and the maximum life point is increased when reaching certain scores (default 20 and 45 million points).
When an enemy is destroyed, it fires a yellow "counter bullet" that is smaller than the regular bullet fired from an enemy. If the player's familiar is hit by a "counter bullet", the player's item counter is increased, which leads to an increased score. Stage bosses do not fire counter bullets.
Characters
- Windia - 13 year old English redhead girl, dressed as a gothic lolita. She is the last one to be adopted by Dior. She has ability to use wind.
- Casper - 11 year old German blonde girl. She has ability to use phantoms.
- Follett - 14 year old French brown haired shy girl, dressed as a nurse. She has ability to use fire. Her familiar is a dragon.
- Rosa - 17 year old American brown haired girl. She has ability to use fairy powers. The other characters treat her as an older sister.
- Sakura - 15 year old English blonde girl. Usually dressed as a witch. She is the boss on Stage B-2. In Mega Black Label, she is also a playable character. Sakura is Windia's friend from the real world. She is the only unplayable character from the original game in DeathSmiles II.
- Tiara - The princess of Gilverado announced to appear in the iOs version of the game, for a special iPhone mode.
Familiar
Each player has an accompanying familiar, which can fire its own shots and chooses target in auto lock shot. It can also block enemy bullets. Its movement is opposite to player's.
Items
Jewelry can gain points. "Life Up" items recover life points. Magic gains 1 bomb.
Item counter system
When player obtains an item, or when the familiar touches a counter bullet, the item counter is incremented (maximum 1000).
When the item counter is full, pressing the A and B buttons simultaneously causes both player and familiar to fire more powerful shots than normal, while the item counter begins to decreases. The player does not lose life points for colliding with enemies in this state. The enemies drop more items when destroyed by the powerful shots. The power-up effect finishes when the item counter reaches 0.
Stages
Stages are arranged in a chapter and scene format, with 3 chapters and 2 scenes per chapters for the first 6 stages. The Player can choose the order of stages by arranging the A, B, C at the start of the game. The stage order within A, B, C cannot be changed. When choosing a stage, the player can choose difficulty levels between 1 to 3 (or 999 in MBL).
After completing 6 stages (Chapter 3 Scene 2), the final stage (Chapter 4) begins, which is organized in 2 parts. The, player can choose to play an extra stage if certain conditions are met at the end of Stage Chapter 3 Scene 2.
Releases
Mega Black Label
Mega Black Label is a limited (150 copies total) edition of the game released in Japan. It added Sakura as playable character, as well as the Crystal Shrine stage, and Level 999 difficulty level.
Xbox 360 version
In the August 25?31, 2008 issue of Famitsu Weekly, Cave announced an Xbox 360 port of the game. New game modes include an Xbox 360 mode and Ver 1.1 mode. The player can also adjust the screen brightness, background frame, game screen position and zoom level.
Downloadable content for the Japanese market included the Mega Black Label features (1200MSP) and a full voice download card for preorder and limited edition users.
The Limited Edition in Japan includes a Manabu Namiki Selection Deathsmiles Premium Arrange Album soundtrack CD.
Hori produced a controller for the Xbox 360 game that was an Amazon Japan exclusive.[6]
On April 8, 2010, the Platinum Collection re-release came out in Japan, containing both the main game and the Mega Black Label downloadable content on the disc.
Aksys Games has released the game in North America on June 28, 2010. A Limited Edition was released that includes, along with the game, an exclusive Xbox 360 faceplate and a "Premium Arrange Album" soundtrack CD. As with the Japanese Platinum Collection re-release, the North American port integrates the Mega Black Label (MBL) content, providing a total of 6 game versions selectable from the front-end menu: Arcade, Ver 1.1, Xbox 360, MBL Ver 1.1, MBL Arcade, MBL Xbox 360. The additional playable character, Sakura, is available in the MBL versions.
Ver 1.1
In Ver 1.1 mode, players can independently control familiars via the Xbox 360 controller. Lock shot and powerup shot are located on different buttons.[7] Other changes include:
- Item counter is powered when it reaches 100.
- Item score limit is increased to 99999 points.
- In boss battle, counter bullets are fired during power up mode.
- When stage difficulty is set to 2 or above, counter bullets are fired during power up mode.
- When stage difficulty is set to 3, death mode is automatically triggered.
- When attacking a boss with auto lock shot, item counter increases.
- Extra lives are granted at 30 million and 1 billion points.
Xbox 360 mode
It includes following changes:
- Non-background graphics are redone
- Except EXTRA (valley) and FINAL (castle) stages, all stages have selectable difficulties of 1 and 2, and can be selected multiple times.
iOS Version
Cave has announced the release of the Game on the Apple iOS App Store, following the trend with Espgaluda II and Dodonpachi Resurrection. The changes known so far:
- Special controls using the touch screen
- iPhone mode featuring new character "Tiara" incorperating RPG elements including equipment that can be bought from a store, will feature a story that runs after the original events of the game.
- New BGM exclusive to iPhone mode.
- Game Center and OpenFeint support.
Marketing
On the back of the arcade game poster, there is a template for a skirt blowing game. In the game, the player attempts to blow up the skirt or petticoat of the model to see her underwear. The player scores 30 points for blowing up a skirt and 50 points for blowing up a petticoat. Points are deducted if a pumpkin or tombstone is knocked over.[8]
Adaptations
- A series of 2 drama CDs were published by Cave.
- Official guide book includes comic drawn by game designer Junya Inoue.
Soundtracks
- deathsmiles original sound track includes 23-track soundtrack CD with music from the video game (including voices, image song), Windows-compatible data CD including desktop accessories, 8-page booklet. The title track,
- Burning Halloween Town, contains uncredited excepts from an edited-for-content version of the 1966 movie Mondo Keyhole. These excerpts were also used in the track Brain Freeze from Red Alert 2.
- Manabu Namiki Selection Deathsmiles Premium Arrange Album is a 15-song soundtrack CD based on the video game, included with the limited edition of Xbox 360 game.
- Deathsmiles Arrange Album includes 16 tracks with musical arrangements of the original soundtrack from the game, the last 2 tracks being part of the soundtrack that was not included before. It also contains an arranged version of Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach, which serves as the game's Final Boss theme.
Reception
Reception Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 79.70%[9] Metacritic 76%[10] Review scores Publication Score Edge 8/10[11] GameSpot 8/10[12] GameZone 8.5/10[13] Japanese video game magazine Famitsu's "Famitsu Xbox360 monthly" awarded the game a score of 8/9/7/8. Weekly Famitsu gave the game a score of 7/7/7/8. Edge Online gave the game a score of 8 out of 10. GameZone gave the game an 8.5/10, saying "Shmups are slowly making the journey back into the hearts of westerners, but I fear that Deathsmiles may ruin it for other games to come. From the numerous modes and adjustable options, to the beautiful artwork and masterful touches, Deathsmiles is the new shmup to be reckoned with."
NTSC-uk praised the game's approachability, writing that "it gently eases in newcomers yet underneath has an incredibly sophisticated set of scoring mechanics and level layouts", further stating that the title was "proof of the continuing viability of the genre". GameSpot wrote in their review of the American release that "Deathsmiles is a top-notch shooter that brings the crazy Japanese arcade action in spades with a great presentation and a lot of options for bullet-hell buffs".
See also
References
- ^ http://www.risingstargames.com/games/deathsmiles-xbox-360.html
- ^ "Cave's Next Game for iPhone/iPod Touch". Cave (Company). http://www.cave-world.com/en/games/deathsmiles.html. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
- ^ Deathsmiles Magically Gets Stateside Release
- ^ Cave bringing boxed shooter to West
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFnjcaKamp8 Deathsmiles trailer for iOS
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [Cave bringing boxed shooter to West|http://kotaku.com/gaming/afas/arcade-flyer-art-saturday-death-smiles-318582.php]
- ^ http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/952641-deathsmiles/index.html
- ^ http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/deathsmiles
- ^ http://www.next-gen.biz/reviews/review-deathsmiles
- ^ http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/deathsmiles/review.html
- ^ http://xbox.gamezone.com/reviews/item/deathsmiles_review/
External links
- Cave Deathsmiles Homepage (Japanese)
- Cave Deathsmiles Mega Black Label page (Japanese)
- Cave Deathsmiles Drama CD page (Japanese)
- Cave soundtrack page
- Cave guidebook page
- Strategy wiki (Japanese)
- Famitsu preview (Japanese)
Categories:- 2007 video games
- Arcade games
- Cave (company) games
- IOS games
- Scrolling shooters
- Xbox 360 games
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