Repeatedly Listed As One the of Best Shmups of All Time | Mushihimesama Review
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- Produced by Cave in 2004, Mushihimesama came at a time when the company wanted to expand their reach. While they had fans that reveled in their trademark intensity and difficulty, there was a segment that preferred a different experience in their STGs. Having formed by several members of Toaplan, Cave took to their legacy for next effort--embracing fantasy and a new take on their challenge. The game is now hailed as one of the best of all time; with its sequel, Mushihimesama Futari, joining it as a separate entry.
#shmups
Your shmup content is excellent. You speak in short declarative sentences-- like verbal bullets. Love it.
I cannot express how much I like this comment or the flood of imagery that came to me when I read "bullets". Thank you, man!
Great review and subbed
I appreciate it, thanks-this comment as well as the other. It’s been a while since I released something, but I intend to return to the rhythm with the next video I have planned on Dodonpachi DaiOuJou. At the very least I can say I designed a thumbnail I’d adapt to a poster or arcade stick.
As a relative novice to the danmaku side of the force, I also really appreciate how lean Mushihimesama is. Bullets are very simple and readable, as opposed to something like DoDonPachi where I struggled to process the different shapes and colors. There's little in the way of gimmicks. I never hear anybody talk about advanced topics like rank manipulation around it. None of those things are strictly bad, but Mushi eschews the added complexity and I think really shines through its elegant simplicity. I've come to really appreciate a subgenre I initially considered "not for me" through it.
I like how the comment concluded, as there is much fun to be had in bullet hell. Mushihimesama offering both a simpler approach along with a distinct challenge does make it special. I’m a fan of each mode of the game, but I do favor the original due to how well it blends the classic style of shmup. The bullet speed keeps me on my toes.
The Mushi games are really among my favorites, as are Cave games in general. I'm glad I got on the bandwagon early enough - I was able to get all of the NTSC-J PS2 ports, and while many criticize the flaws of those Taito/Arika ports, I'm just glad that I got them all while you could still import them used for about the same price as a new retail copy. I've also got the Japanese/PAL Xbox 360 versions of the non-region locked Cave games (Futari and DoDonPachi Resurrection), except for Muchi-Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets... Man, the times that game has slipped through my fingers...
Anyway, I do hope they port more Cave titles - not all of them are straight up A+ winners, but for the most part, they are all worthy of play by Danmaku fans. I can only hope for 3 things: that Cave opens up the floodgates a bit with more releases (especially the remaining HD remakes currently trapped behind the JP Xbox360 wall), and that they port this game to the other consoles! It's a shame that this is kind of locked down to the Switch (even though Mushi is also on Steam/PC). Finally, I would humbly ask that M2 be contracted to work on these. Not that the other developers necessarily do a bad job (though I have heard some criticism about recent releases handled by City Connection), but M2 really knows how to breathe life into these arcade classics.
Growing up in the era of arcades, the notion of bringing the experience home has always appealed to me. I recall how impressed I was with ports that looked 1-to-1 on PlayStation versus the 16-bit era. Reading and imagining all those Cave games you've assembled, man, that makes me smile. I got into Cave’s catalog late, so the fact you discovered them when you did is even more impressive.
The feeling of a game slipping past, I can relate-- and heavily with JRPGs. I stopped gaming late in the PS2 era, but rekindled my interest with a backward compatible PS3 when Metal Gear Solid 4 launched. The internet had become more of a community at that point, so I began consulting guides for what games to pick up. The console only emulated PS2, though, so I had to follow yet another guide to see what I could play. Wanting to also form a PS3 collection, though, I focused on the cheaper games I could buy; even if some real 0.0 were before me. The best shmup I had was Raiden 3.
I hope for the same. When I bought Ketsui for my PS5, I was curious why M2 hadn't ported their work to PC. I found it odd that my platform/console lineup had to be so diverse to experience Cave's portfolio. Reading that slowdown on Windows 10 was the culprit, that they hadn't found a solution to address it was disheartening. Like you said, they breathe life into their ports. Every video I've seen about them conveys a passion for accuracy, but also for taking things further. When I compare ESP Ra De Psi to Mushihimesama on Switch, for instance, there seems to be far more love. Having easier access to Cave's library would be such a service, where you could freely play on the whatever platform you wanted.
Mushihimesama Futari was the first game I ever imported from Japan and wow what a game it was. I never got good enough to one credit it but I've been out of practice for years. I still have my original copy that came with the 1.5 dlc add-on card.
Wow, that’s a game to start with! I read gaming magazines all the time growing up, later the internet, so I was frequently exposed to cool-looking games I wouldn’t get to play. This goes as far back as the PS1. Not all of them were great, but Futari is the real deal. I can boot that game up and murder time. The fact that you have something rare-that only a fan would have domestically-is awesome, man 🤘 It must have put you on an eager course to import more.
@@solojonathan I did later import Espgaluda 2 and Muchi Muchi Pork and Pink sweets. I bought muchi muchi pork at a precarious time when I was not really gaming but picking up games I was speculating would be hard to find and i was right. I got muchi for $40 sealed and still have yet to open it and the prices are crazy. I play it now on my RGH 3.0 modded console because I don't want to break the game from the seal since it's soo expensive now.
Pink Sweets has always stood out to me, even if I haven’t spent much time with Ibara. It must be the name: I would expect it to be a puzzle game, not a shmup.
The going prices on eBay are insane. You made a good call, but also in getting your 360 modded. Even now it’s paying you dividends. I’ve tried to emulate them, but I get crashes.
Espgaluda 2 was a game I wanted to session this weekend, aiming for 1CCs, haha. Man, it would have been nice to experience the game as far back as the 360.
@@solojonathan I got a retail corona v1 xbox 360 s console with a Halo Reach shell - sadly the trinity board that was originally in the console failed (dead gpu) so I had to board swap.
My friend had a phat model Falcon V2 that he gave me that was sitting in his closet he didn't use anymore and felt the hassle of selling a phat console wasn't worth the return. I did an RGH 3.0 (2 wire mod) on the console he gave me. I mostly did the RGH because I really wanted to play Otomedius G and that game isn't region free and it was more cost effective to do mod an american console than buy a working japanese console and deal with shipping. The nice thing on RGH consoles is you can play the game with the fan translated english patch for the menus.
It's a real shame we never got Otomedius G state side because I like it more than it's sequel. It's not like Konami couldn't have done a digital US release for it like Cave did with DeathSmiles II X where the game got released for Games on Demand and was left untranslated.
I’d forgotten that 360s came in variants: I always envision the phat model. That’s a good friend you have; there are people that no matter how small the profit, will seize it. I was never one for console modding-in that era, I lacked the technical skill; even if I did softmod many things, though-but reading your comments makes me want to attempt it. Modded 360s aren’t too expensive, but the idea of achieving the result myself is more attractive. PC emulation can’t play everything well yet, and there are real gems to be explored.
The number of elements portrayed in English in Japanese exclusives never fails to surprise, akin to how it sucks that it doesn’t extend to story elements. It's better than nothing, that’s for certain. I’m a fan of Monster Hunter and sought the first opportunity to jailbreak a PS3 to play Portable 3rd HD. The English patch for items was the cherry on top, so I can identify with how cool it must have been for Otomedius. I wasn’t familiar with the series but reading Gradius and Vic Viper as soon as I began my research, my eyes widened. I’m glad you brought it up, as I’m keen on checking the franchise out. From the gameplay I've seen, the game looks fun.
When it comes to Konami, I expect to be disappointed now: they make moves that I don’t understand.
What music plays before "on the verge of madness"? having some difficulties with recognising it
No problem, it's:
Like a Night of Falling Stars - Stage 4 Arranged
@@solojonathan Thank you so much !
Looks great. Will be giving it a try definitely
I hope you enjoy it as much as many of us already do. The game is amazing.
My first 1cc of a cave game love the channels
You don’t forget the rush, right? I know whenever I get to a final stage, especially the boss, my heart is racing-praying I don’t mess-up, lol. Thats awesome, man: your 1CC shows commitment 👍
Great review man! Short but complete 👍.
Are you speaking in Alexandrine? That's so cool, bit like a poem ;).
I wasn’t familiar with alexandrine, so I started delving into research. Man, I found it so cool. Any semblance in my writing is coincidental, but it had me consulting every script I’ve written: once your familiar with the flow, you start seeing it everywhere. Thanks, your comment opened my mind to something new.
@@solojonathan I'm happy to read that! You have your own style that's so cool, love your channel btw, and we have same opinion about Gunvein, such a blast! 😉
I appreciate it, thank you! Gunvein truly is. I can't wait for the switch release so it can get more exposure.
I enjoyed the review and just had one note about the intro. As someone that’s worked with natural media, 3D modeling and pixel art, you’re fundamentally misrepresenting the work that the art team did when you emphasize “hand-drawn graphics” for a game that is primarily using pre-rendered 3D graphics. Hand-drawn graphics would be more like the art in Legend of Mana and pixel art would be the earlier style seen in Cave games like DonPachi for instance.
I appreciate, man, sincerely. One thing I strive not to do is misrepresent a game: I can relate my subjective experience with it, backed by gameplay, but I don’t want to illustrate it for what it’s not. Even though I think it sucks I got it wrong, I’m glad you pointed it out to avoid the same thing in the future. Plus, it has me keen on doing some reading, especially since I do plan to cover more shmups and 2D games.
It feels understated to say how cool I think it is that you’ve been involved in those fields. For me, creative work has changed how I perceive the world-you become aware of texture, patterns, order, etc. I can only imagine when what’s being made is interactive.
@@solojonathan Thanks for taking it as intended - I’m looking forward to more of your coverage. :)
Out of the three, I’ve done the least work with pixel art which is probably why I have a lot of respect for the people that do it so well. Before I got into predominantly doing music work, I had a ton of luck in terms of being able to get into 3D animation in the 90s really early. By the time I had my first laptop in 1995 and was raytracing in POV-RAY I’d already been doing vector art and raster art on my dad’s desktops for years. So by the time I got into middle school the CTO for Alias|Wavefront (whose customers were animating for Star Trek: Voyager) was already trying to recruit me for their high school program.
It’s really wonderful to see how much more new artists today have access to, in terms of both free tutorials and tools. :)
Anyway, it’s been nice getting back into it more again recently after decades of mainly working in the music industry and composing music for indie game developers like One More Story Games (great people). Apologies for the long ramble but if you ever want any thoughts, I’m more than happy to talk about the old days. Wish I had musical stories to share about shmups but other than Virt (Jake Kaufmann, 360 arrange for Ketsui, etc.) the people I interacted with haven’t done a lot of shmup work.
I don’t mind in the least, nor I do I regard it as rambling. It reminds me how I wish UA-cam had a chat function or message system in place-sometimes you do want to have long-form discussions. It’s easy to supply thought when the topic is something of interest.
To be acknowledged so early on, and by someone notable, too, it’s a crazy thing to think about. Like you said, it’s a stroke of luck to have already been playing around with the tools in the epoch. The difficulty you must of had to achieve the results you wanted when the tools were so primitive, by contemporary standards. In middle school and receiving recognition?🤘
The first time I used Photoshop, for instance, was with version CS1 and cropping out hair-while retaining individual strands without artifacts-was a dream skill. Now it’s been reduced to a few clicks and resources to learn how are torrential. Moreover, what’s long been seen as industry secrets have been laid bare, made digestible. Creativity has truly flourished since. I’m grateful for the resources.
Haha, that’s awesome. Virt actually produced my favorite version of Ketsui’s Stage 5 theme. No matter the genre of game I’m reviewing, when the time draws for its thumbnail/wallpaper, I tend to play shmup music-and it’s a song I loop. In fact, I’ve long planned to cover the game with it being my foremost choice for the video. I’ve desisted since I wanted to get to a point that I could capture the coolest footage possible to honor them, so the aim has long been an organic 1CC. With the release of DaiOuJou Re:incarnation, though, I’m changing stance. It’s a reason why I’ve appreciated your correction yesterday: I want to keep evolving how I cover things and topics like Cave, I want to ensure I get it right. Being aware of when you’ve erred makes you more fault-finding.
Awesome As Always!!
You're the best, man, thanks. Mushihimesama has been a game I’ve been wanting to cover for a while, but it having so many modes and versions made it intimidating. Now, I can’t wait to cover more Cave ports-with the one I’m currently eyeing being Akai Katana Shin.
Nice review. What music is that at 6:14?
Thanks.
Mushihimesama Futari - On the Verge of Madness
I see this game being recommended to me way too often. As good as the game sound, it would rather play something more unusual or gimmicky
I know where you're coming from, where you want to play something more niche or not as well known. There are two games I want to cover: Like Dreamer and Mecha Ritz (2.0). Both were on top shmup lists for 2022, and, man, are they fun. Have you checked them out?
@@solojonathan this Mecha Ritz is interesting. People say that it got a weird dynamic difficulty that makes it both easy and tough.
While most games have a rank system, Mecha Ritz feels like its never stops scaling. You can get to a point where bullets are so dense they feel unavoidable by anything other than a bomb. Each time you get hit you lose rank--the game uses a shield system--and throttles down with a lost life.
If you play on defaults, starting at rank 0, a 1CC wouldn't be hard to get, even if it may come close. Set that starting rank higher, though, and strive to keep raising it, that's where the game really shines.
Great
This game was on the PS2. It was a great Shmups but no way is it the best. The PS2 had the biggest library for Shmups especially from Japan.
The collection on PS2 is staggering. I recall having a discussion with someone who actively imported around the era, and thinking how cool it was to have something you couldn’t just come across locally, but more so to be in-the-know about shmups so early on.
I agree, while excellent, it’s not the best. I can see why it holds the position for many people, though- and I think its great. If others find something perfect, I’m always curious for the rationale, how it ticks all the boxes for them. The subjective nature of things makes nothing right or wrong, just open for exploration.
I’ve been recently getting into Cave shmups being relatively new to the genre and everyone told me to start with Mushihimesama since it’s an “easier” Cave game but the bullet speeds seem to be harder for me to handle than something like Akai Katana or DFK. Why do people think Mushi is a good beginner Cave game?
Mushihimesama has a good amount modes, but also a solid novice version that reduces the difficulty just enough to keep things fun, while forming expectations of what normal can scale to. Also, for both mechanics and score, it keeps things simple (excluding maniac and ultra).
There are a couple other reasons I often read, though: it’s a recommendation based off version 1.5 (DLC on Steam), which does rework many of the bullet patterns, becoming easier to read and react to. The other is that the game was designed to try to appeal to people that liked shmups but not bullet hell, a game to bridge the gap. The old school Toaplan roots of the dev team shows, feeling like the next step after Batsugun.
@@solojonathan Interesting, I might have to try out 1.5 or novice mode then. I usually prefer sticking to the original experience and difficulty with other genres, but shmups seem to be a different type of animal
That makes sense that it was intended to bridge the gap, it feels like a hybrid between a bullet bell and a traditional shmup. Thank you for the response that was very informative
No worries, man 👍 Any time.
Haha, I’m the same way but with hard modes. It definitely is a different beast. I’ve been humbled so many times, especially by older arcade shmups, that I wouldn’t feel bad if I had have to drop things even below normal. That constant challenge is part of what makes the genre so appealing: each new run, your put to the test, no matter how many hours of practice you’ve done. The adrenaline and sense of reward of a 1CC never goes away. Before you realize it, you’ve made progress in every game.
You mentioned Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu: I always have to brace myself for the spinning lasers in stage 5. Those things have ruined so many runs.
@@solojonathan Yeah I guess I gotta put my ego aside if I really want to improve haha. You’re right though, for me the thrill of chasing that 1CC and improving little by little feels very rewarding and what keeps me going, even if I haven’t gotten a 1CC yet (hopefully with enough practice I’ll eventually do it).
I can’t even get to the fourth stage in Daifukkatsu without credit feeding lol. It’s always stage 3 for me in shmups where I fall apart 😅
The design philosophy of easing you in, then casting you into the deep end took me off guard the first time in Daifukkatsu. Up to stage 3, I didn't think things were too bad--"perhaps the difficulty was exaggerated". The level hit like a cinder block, life after life lost, lol.
Trust me, you'll get there (1CC) 👍 Your heart will race like crazy on the final stage and the sense of euphoria when you do achieve it will commit you to chase everywhere.
The biggest eye opener I've had in shmups was something I began intuiting in Ketsui, but was explained in Gunvein: bullet streaming. Guiding enemy bullets to create opening changes everything. The second biggest is if the game has mechanics, you should use them. Ego can be hard to set aside, for me the struggle often takes the form being reluctant to use bombs. Like in FPS with headshots, I try to dodge everything. I once had a run in Mushihimesama where I made it to the final boss on normal, 2 lives, 3 bombs. Dude, I ended up with a game over when it had about 3 seconds of health. I was so demoralized, I just turned the PC off; laid in bed and stared into the ceiling; mulling over how stupid I felt. To this day, I still feel the pang of that moment. I eventually got the 1CC, but it didn't feel like redemption.
I have a review suggestion, Bloodborne.
If you own a ps4, I would like to see your thoughts on the game and the differences between bloodborne and elden ring.
Bloodborne is third to Sekiro and Demon’s Souls as my favorite Fromsoft game, and it’s been a while. I more or less have videos in order, but I want to make the time 👍 Right now, the idea would be to chip damage through as I also play other things, but I know as soon as I start I won’t want to stop.
@@solojonathan Glad to hear that, will be looking forward to upcoming reviews
What is 2/3 of the screen were actually used.
The reason vertical shmups fail.
Is this a review or you reading from your diary.
Good times 🍻
Definitely 🤘