Deathsmiles Limited Edition

Hi there humans! I have come upon this earth to share a message from outer space..

..ok not really. I'm actually here to share with the good old community (we are all so old) the crazy Cave Shooter that Deathsmiles is, my latest purchase for Xbox 360. Before continuing the blog with pictures and a badly done video, I will start by saying that I am finalizing my latest review and it should be up any moment now, or in a couple of days.. or weeks.. or months.. but rest assured that I am finalizing it! The review will present itself as a monster edition for NoobFeeders following my blogs as I will also write up a blog to promoted an upcoming independent release in the gaming industry, giving you twice the amount the read! Now, some of you may know which game I am speaking of as well as which game I am reviewing, but those still trapped in the unknown will remain trapped in the unknown for now, unfortunately.

On to other news, the next installment of The Blog of Love for Megaman is slowly shaping up and will eventually come to life. To the contrary of my previous feature in the series, this one might need to be posted into different parts. The more I write for it, the more I realize the complexity it has become, thus requiring a lot of explanations in the form of elaborate texts and of course, let's not forget, the beautiful images. For now, let's all smile for Deathsmiles (cheesy pun intended)!


The box which contains the Limited Edition of Deathsmiles.

Cave shooters are similar to every other arcade shooters from back in the days, or shoot 'em ups if you prefer. "Cave Shooter" isn't a real genre, however, it is merely used to represent the games released by the developers Cave, which are known for their bullet hell, or curtain fire type of games, or if you have followed my previous blogs, they are danmakus. For those who may be new, danmakus, in all its simplicity, are games in which you fly either horizontally or vertically while shooting at enemies, which in turn shoot beautiful bullet patterns at you. It may sound like 1942, one of Capcom's classics, but they are much more brutal than any regular arcade shooters that could be found in our area of the world. Cave are popular for titles such as DoDonPachi and Mushihime-Sama, some of the greatest shoot 'em ups out there.


The game box itself, in all its flowering glory. From left to right: Rosa, Windia, Casper and Follett.

Since the largest market for danmakus is in Japan, rarely do we get a taste of their craziness over here in North America. However, Cave decided to put us to the test by releasing Deathsmiles overseas. The game itself contains three different modes, with two variations of each modes, adding up to a total of six modes made available to the player. These modes being: Arcade Mode (the original), XBOX 360 Mode (like arcade, but with better visuals), and the Ver 1.1 Mode (a mode made specifically for X360, with alternative controls). Each of these modes also a MBL (Mega Black Label) version, allowing for the selection of a fifth character and also including an entirely new bonus stage to play through, along with some different mechanics.

Each of the characters have what is called a Familiar. These little guys serves as an ally to you by shooting their own weapons. When focused, their attacks also become stronger, although the player sacrifices movement speed for it. In Arcade and X360 modes, the familiar cannot be controlled and will move on its own according to your actual movements on the screen, while in Ver 1.1, the player can control the familiar movements by using the right analog stick on the controller.


The beautiful face plate that comes with the Limited Edition of the game.

By defeating enemies, the player can collect what resembles skulls, which serves as filling a meter in the bottom left corner of the screen. Upon reaching the number 1000 (varies depending on the mode), you are able to active some sort of power mode where you are less vulnerable and deal massive damage to everything that touches your deadly bullets. Also, upon selecting a high difficulty a number of times in a row, Death Mode is triggered which causes enemies to unleash counter bullets when destroyed. These bullets can and will harm you, though your familiar can "eat" the bullets and transfer them as points.


The complete set of the Limited Edition, containing the beautiful box, the game and Premium Arrange Album soundtrack, along with a nicely themed face plate for the Xbox 360.

Overall, despite being a short game as it takes roughly 30 to 45 minutes to reach the end, you can find plenty to do in Deathsmiles, whether it is enjoying the different modes or playing through with every character, perfecting your method for a 1 Credit Clear playthrough, or enjoying the ridiculously hard Level 999 difficulty in the Mega Black Label version of the modes. Since we rarely get such an opportunity as gamers in this continent, buying Deathsmiles will show Cave and other developers alike that there is, indeed, a market for these type of games over here, and perhaps one day I won't have to import them anymore, eliminating the often ridiculous price of shipping for items coming from japan.

Despite not owning a capture card yet, I wanted to be able to show some footage of the game to all of you which in its turn, will make it a lot easier to understand what I've been talking about throughout the blog. Of course, I could of simply taken a pre-made trailer video made for the release of the game, but it just didn't feel the same as making my own video. Therefore, I went took the cheap, dirty road and recorded my very own TV screen with a video camera. Fortunately for you people, it actually didn't turn out to be that bad. I even included the NoobFeed introduction, along with a watermark this time around. I tried making this video feel as much as possible as a trailer of some sort, but my footage was limited and so it may not give the best impression.. but it is, however, good enough for me. Enjoy and remember.. support these crazy Japanese developers for me :]


[NF] Deathsmiles - Custom Trailer