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Bangai-O HD delayed until spring, Treasure adding multiplayer
Okay, we have some bad news and some awesome news. First, the bad news: you won't be blowing up robots, houses, mines, and everything around you with bajillions of projectiles in Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury this fall. D3 Publisher announced that the XBLA title has been delayed until spring. How can a delay be awesome? Developer Treasure is using the extra time to add multiplayer gameplay, including both cooperative and competitive modes. Despite Bangai-O Spirits on the DS having wireless local multiplayer capabilities, Missile Fury was originally announced without any. We suppose we can wait a few months if it means we can share Bangai-O with our friends. Find the statement from D3 after the break.%Gallery-102643%
Deathsmiles standard edition available next week from GameStop
If you want to play Cave's Xbox 360 shmup Deathsmiles, but don't need a big box or a faceplate, you'll be able to pick it up cheaply next week. A listing on GameStop.com revealed a standard version of Deathsmiles, coming out for Xbox 360 on September 28 for $29.99. A representative of Aksys Games confirmed the release to Joystiq, saying that "the Deathsmiles Standard Edition will be $29.99 at GameStop for now." If you buy this and then something falls on your Xbox 360, cracking your current faceplate ... be sure to tell us. We'll do our best to be sympathetic while marveling at this unlikely, ironic happenstance.
Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury preview: the tension is getting good
It was an amazing feat on Treasure's part to fit Bangai-O, a game about intentionally letting the screen fill with bajillions of bullets, onto the DS. I was then extremely interested in seeing how the developer would fare with Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury, an updated sequel to the N64/Dreamcast/DS series on a system that is, for all intents and purposes, free of technical restrictions. As it turns out, despite having much more screen area to stuff with robots and missiles, Bangai-O HD is actually a bit less insane than its DS predecessor.%Gallery-102643%
Cho Aniki, Gaia Seed hit new PSN import store Sept. 21
MonkeyPaw Games, how did you know? Seemingly in honor of a certain blogger's birthday, the upstart developer/publisher will release two PSOne Classics on the North American PlayStation Store on September 21. The identity of the two games, Cho Aniki and Gaia Seed, isn't a surprise, but the games have interesting implications (beyond the implication that you'll be able to play Cho Aniki). The two games are the first offerings in a service called Imports on the Playstation Store, on which unaltered Japanese games will be released. "Classics like Cho Aniki and GaiaSeed," according to MonkeyPaw, "will be followed by a steady stream of untouchable titles you dreamed of playing but were relegated to reading about." A steady stream of PSOne titles, period, would be noteworthy for the North American PSN service.
Radiant Silvergun shining on XBLA
Was Bangai-O HD not enough Treasure XBLA awesomeness for you? How much awesomeness can you endure? During Microsoft's TGS keynote, the company announced an XBLA version of the developer's beloved (and expensive) Saturn shooter, Radiant Silvergun. The new version features online co-op, upgraded graphics, and a new "Ikaruga" mode, as well as a mode wherein you save a couple of hundred dollars by playing it on Xbox. It'll be out in 2011, exclusively on XBLA. %Gallery-102402%
Give Grasshopper your best 'pew pew pew' for a Sine Mora t-shirt
To celebrate its collaboration with Digital Reality on Sine Mora, Grasshopper Manufacture printed up some shirts. To celebrate the fact that Grasshopper's handling the sound for the new downloadable shooter, the developer is giving those shirts away in exchange for shooter sounds ... made with your voice.
Fast Striker is the new Last Dreamcast Game Ever
The Dreamcast continues to cling to the barest sliver of life, thanks to the work of NGDev Team. The developer and publisher announced that it's porting Fast Striker, a vertical shooter made for (fellow dead system) the Neo Geo, to the Dreamcast, with a scheduled winter 2010 release. If you want to buy a new Dreamcast game (and doesn't that sound great?) you can pre-order Fast Striker from NGDev directly, in either a regular edition or a limited edition that includes a soundtrack. If you're really enthused about Fast Striker, you can buy a pack containing both editions. The Neo Geo MVS version is also available. Check out a trailer after the break. A trailer for a Dreamcast game.
ESRB rates KOF Sky Stage for Xbox 360
[GAME Watch] You have to be just a little curious about a vertical scrolling shooter, starring a bunch of flying King of Fighters characters. According to the ESRB, those of us in North America will soon have the opportunity to experience the bizarre KOF Sky Stage for ourselves -- the ratings board has evaluated the Xbox Live Arcade port of the arcade shmup, making an American release likely. Meanwhile, in Japan, SNK released a PSP game containing the entirety of KOF Sky Stage as just one mode of another shooter. The XBLA version's compensation? A "still-frame image of a female character" wearing "a revealing outfit that accentuates her buttocks and displays large amounts of cleavage."
Bullet Soul to show Japanese 360 owners what's shmup
We know the idea of a current-day shmup where the player spends more time firing bullets than avoiding them is pretty crazy, but that's actually the gameplay mechanic of 5pb's Bullet Soul. The look of this retail Xbox 360 title is the work of Bakemonogatari character designer Akio Wantanabe (any anime fans guess that before reading this far?), while on the soundtrack side, the team of Kenji Ito (Romancing SaGa) and Kouta Takahashi (Klonoa) are composing and arranging the tunes, respectively. Bullet Soul is due out in Japan this winter.
Cave adds three more shooters to the Xbox pile
We'd say Cave is putting more bullet-hell shmups on the Xbox 360 than we can handle, but that's hardly descriptive, since one is more than we can handle. The developer has announced ports of three more of its classic shooters for Xbox, including one two-game collection. Dodonpachi Resurrection will be released in Japan on November 25, with new graphics and new gameplay modes, and will include a voucher for Dodonpachi Resurrection 1.51, the latest version released to arcades. In 2011, Cave is planning to release a two-pack of exceptionally weird games: Pink Sweets and the all-pig-girl Muchi Muchi Pork.
The Xbox 360's latest shmup: Radio Allergy Noir Massive
The Xbox 360 has turned into a lively destination for scrolling shooters, thanks mostly to the efforts of Cave. An Amazon Japan listing found by Siliconera suggests that Milestone is going to join the shmup party, with a port of Radilgy: Noir, released on the Wii in Japan this year. The Xbox version, according to the listing and the associated image, will be called Radilgy Noir: Massive. Noir is itself based on the cel-shaded shmup Radilgy, which actually made it onto the Wii in North America (called Radio Allergy) as part of UFO Interactive's Ultimate Shooting Collection, after a long-delayed GameCube version was finally cancelled. Which means that UFO (who cancelled another localized Milestone shooter this year!) might have to think really hard before it decides to pick this one up.
Mediatonic's new PSN Mini asks: Who's That Flying?!
Mediatonic, developer of Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess, has announced the second PSP game to use "WTF" as an abbreviation: Who's That Flying?! (The first was Work Time Fun, of course!) This upcoming Minis game (playable on PSP and PS3) is a horizontal shmup in which the "Guardian of Earth" uses its "HYPER-POWERED LASER ARM" to protect the world from "Doom Beasts." The game also includes a tower defense element: rather than simply avoiding enemies and shooting what you can, you must limit the number of flying enemies that get past your invulnerable character, in order to stop them from destroying cities. We'll be able to play this bizarre hybrid-genre game ("with courtroom drama and intrigue!") in early September.
Treasure hiring for a new 3D shooter
Fresh off the North American release of Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, Treasure is beginning work on another 3D shooting game. If you live in Japan and have strong programming skills, perhaps you could be among the first to find out what it is. By making it! The news comes from a job listing on Treasure's website, seeking a programmer for a "new project '3D action shooting game.'" In addition, a cryptic image on the front page, advertising the job listing, looks like it might be some kind of hint. Treasure has made four games in the past that would fit in this genre: the PS2's Silpheed: The Lost Planet, the licensed Dragon Drive: D-Masters Shot on GameCube, and the two Sin & Punishment games. It is, however, a company that usually expresses more interest in original games than sequels, so past games are not necessarily any indication of future plans. Perhaps it's the company's long-awaited Xbox 360 shooter -- although that one was originally meant to be 2D.
Please publish Fractured Soul on DS
This message is for the many Joystiq readers who are also in charge of business development at game publishing companies -- or for those few impulsive, wealthy Joystiq readers eager to start a new business venture at the drop of a hat. You see, there's this DS game Fractured Soul. It takes the "two worlds on two screens" concept (as seen in titles like Reflection and Chronos Twins) and makes a fast-paced arcade experience out of it, with the player shifting back and forth at high speed in both platforming and shmup levels. Unfortunately, we can't play it, because developer Endgame Studios needs a publisher. N3V Games has already signed on for Australia, so that leaves ... everywhere else in the world. That's where you come in. Watch the trailer after the break and give it some thought.
Cave announces two more shmups
Now that Cave shooters like Deathsmiles on Xbox 360, the upcoming XBLA release of Guwange and the iPhone's EspGaluda 2 are being made available to gamers worldwide, the announcement of a new Cave game is less depressing and more exciting -- because no longer do shmup fans have to assume they'll be paying $100+ to import them. The next slice of bullet hell from the developer is Akai Katana ("Akai" meaning "red," and "katana" meaning ... "katana"). The teaser trailer doesn't do much to teach us about the game, instead showing anime characters looking pained. It's safe to assume that some of those characters will be able to fly and fire upgradeable weapons while dodging screen-filling bullet patterns. Cave will hold location tests for the arcade game in Akihabara next week, so there will be more information (and probably off-screen footage) then. The company also announced (PDF) an iPhone port of DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu for this summer. You can see an intense trailer for that after the break, as well.
Cave shmup Guwange to be released worldwide on XBLA
Cave, famous for its insane bullet hell shmups, is taking full advantage of the reduced risk of self-publishing downloadable games. Following the worldwide iPhone release of Espgaluda II, Cave's Makoto Asada announced that the company is planning to release the 1999 shmup Guwange on Xbox Live Arcade worldwide. In a separate post, Asada showed some work-in-progress screens. "The release date and price are not yet decided," Asada said, but the game will receive an English localization for the XBLA version. In the meantime, if you crave Cave, Deathsmiles is in American stores now, published (and put into a really big box) by Aksys. [Thanks, dirtybeefz!]
Soldner-X 2 DLC writes 'The Last Chapter' later this year
Proving that the original release was more "prototype" than "final," a downloadable expansion is in the works for eastasiasoft's PSN shmup, Söldner X 2: Final Prototype.
PSN's Retro/Grade is progressing, but not coming in 2010
In an interview with PSNStores, 24 Caret Games' Matt Gilgenbach offered an update on the development of the time-reversing rhythm shmup ... thing, Retro/Grade. Most obviously, the PSN release is getting a nice visual boost over what has been shown: "We've redone pretty much all the graphics to make the game look really snazzy on your HDTVs," Gilgenbach said, "especially because Retro/Grade runs at Full HD (1080p) at 60 fps with anti-aliasing." Power-ups (and power-downs) have also been added, as have "some epic reverse boss fights" that the team isn't talking about yet. If you want to try out the odd guitar-controlled PSN game (and there will be a demo!) you'll have to jump forward in time to next year: "I am confident we will release it sometime in 2011," Gilgenbach said, "but I can't really narrow it down too much further."
'Otomedius Excellent' brings cute bullet hell to Xbox this winter
Fans of parody shmups like Parodius, take note: the impossible has happened, and Konami has announced a new shmup for North America. Otomedius Excellent, an Xbox 360 exclusive due this winter, is the first localized iteration of Konami's weird shooter franchise featuring anime girls in the form of classic Konami ships. Like a girld dressed up as Gradius's Vic Viper. There's even a Belmont for some reason.
Space Invaders Infinity Gene XBLA, PSN versions confirmed
According to Siliconera, the latest issue of Famitsu confirms what a source (and the OFLC ratings board) told Joystiq: Taito's ever-adapting shooter, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, is being released on Xbox 360 and PS3. The game appears in the magazine's table of contents. Additionally, 1UP reports that other Japanese game magazines have confirmed the Infinity Gene console release, which is said to be a downloadable port of the iPhone game for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Even if it's just a direct port, we relish the opportunity to play this already-great game without covering up any of the screen with a big fat finger.
