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Castle of Shikigami III


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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
PostPosted: May 19 2008 03:20 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Holy fucking shit this game is awesome.

It's a

Japanese (!)
Shmup (!!)
with Terrible Voice Acting (!!!)
and it's a total Bullet Hell (!!!!)

This game makes me happy on so many levels.
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StompStomp
Joined: Mar 03 2008
PostPosted: May 19 2008 06:51 pm Reply with quote Back to top

wouldn't 80% of console games qualify as japanese? and you can probably lump the voice acting in there as well
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Syd Lexia
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Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
PostPosted: May 19 2008 06:59 pm Reply with quote Back to top

It's Super Japanese-y though. Instead of a ship, you guide a flying psychic through an illusionary castle. And the characters are all anime-y.
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StompStomp
Joined: Mar 03 2008
PostPosted: May 19 2008 07:12 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Is this out yet though? I haven't looked into it at all since I usually just write off doujin bullet hell games as unplayable, but when they get a console release that says something, much less a stateside console release.

Is it multiplayer at all, and full price or budget?
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Syd Lexia
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Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
PostPosted: May 19 2008 07:26 pm Reply with quote Back to top

It's out on the Wii. It came out on May 12th. I picked it up on Saturday. A 360 version has been announced, but I don't think it's out yet.

It was originally an arcade game, so yeah, it has a two player mode. The game starts you off with 5 credits and additional credits are time released until you get to free play. If you leave it on Practice Mode overnight, you'll probably unlock free play. The MSRP is 29.99. Since full price top-tier games go for $49.99-59.99, I'd consider it a budget title. Oddly enough, several reviewers have complained about the price. They don't seem to realize that the era of $20 budget titles has come to a close.
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Laminated Sky
Title: Extra Crispy
Joined: Feb 25 2008
Location: Etobicoke
PostPosted: May 21 2008 04:49 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Shikigami seriously?
I think that word means "paper mat...."

It must be a great game (not being sarcastic)


I'm so bananas I'm showing up to your open casket,
to fill it up with explosive gases,
and close it back,
with a lit match in it,
while I sit back, and just hope it catches.

Blow you to fragments,
laugh,
roll you, and smoke the ashes.

http://history.sydlexia.com/index.php?title=Laminated_Sky

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Douche McCallister
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Title: DOO-SHAY
Joined: Jan 26 2007
Location: Private Areas
PostPosted: May 21 2008 05:01 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Syd Lexia wrote:
It's Super Japanese-y though. Instead of a ship, you guide a flying psychic through an illusionary castle. And the characters are all anime-y.

I haven't seen this game yet, but it reminds me of Mobile Light Force for PS and MLF 2 for PS2. Damn fun...


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Syd Lexia
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Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
PostPosted: May 21 2008 05:25 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Douche McCallister wrote:
Syd Lexia wrote:
It's Super Japanese-y though. Instead of a ship, you guide a flying psychic through an illusionary castle. And the characters are all anime-y.

I haven't seen this game yet, but it reminds me of Mobile Light Force for PS and MLF 2 for PS2. Damn fun...

Funny you should say that. MLF and MLF2 aren't actually sequels.

Mobile Light Force is actually a Japanese arcade game called Gunbird that was made by Psikyo, one of the greatest shmup developers of all-time.

Mobile Light Force 2, on the other hand, is a port of an unrelated arcade shmup developed by Alfa System. The name of that game? Shikigami no Shiro, aka Castle Shikigami aka Castle OF Shikigami.

Castle Shikigami 2 was released on the PS2 in America in 2004. It received Japan-only releases on the XBox, Dreamcast, and Gamecube as well.
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Tyop
Title: Grammar Nazi
Joined: May 04 2008
Location: Sauerkrautland
PostPosted: May 21 2008 06:09 pm Reply with quote Back to top

With CoSIII being a bullet hell game, I'll ask here: What do people like about bullet hell games? Because I can't understand it. I'm not very familiar with the genre, but to me it seems like all you do is try to dodge the bullets. Since they're so densly distributed, they only leave one or two safe paths for you to fly, which pretty much predetermines where you will fire at (unless you have self-aiming missiles or some such). All you do is keep on shooting and if you happen to be in the right position while trying not to get hit, you'll do some damage to your opponent. There's no aiming involved.

Of course this holds true for most Shoot 'em Ups. Infinite ammo and the requirement to hit your enemies multiple times to destroy them pretty much means you will end up firing constantly. But whenever a game allows it, I try to only shoot when I think I'll hit, even if I have infinite ammo. It's much more fun for me that way. Kind of reminiscent to WW1 dogfights. That's probably why I like gallery shooters better than scrolling ones: They have a bigger emphasis on aiming than dodging.
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Douche McCallister
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PostPosted: May 21 2008 06:13 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Syd Lexia wrote:
Douche McCallister wrote:
Syd Lexia wrote:
It's Super Japanese-y though. Instead of a ship, you guide a flying psychic through an illusionary castle. And the characters are all anime-y.

I haven't seen this game yet, but it reminds me of Mobile Light Force for PS and MLF 2 for PS2. Damn fun...

Funny you should say that. MLF and MLF2 aren't actually sequels.

Mobile Light Force is actually a Japanese arcade game called Gunbird that was made by Psikyo, one of the greatest shmup developers of all-time.

Mobile Light Force 2, on the other hand, is a port of an unrelated arcade shmup developed by Alfa System. The name of that game? Shikigami no Shiro, aka Castle Shikigami aka Castle OF Shikigami.

Castle Shikigami 2 was released on the PS2 in America in 2004. It received Japan-only releases on the XBox, Dreamcast, and Gamecube as well.

Well now I feel stupid. Embarrassed


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Syd Lexia
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Location: Wakefield, MA
PostPosted: May 21 2008 06:14 pm Reply with quote Back to top

What makes them appealing is that they're visually stunning and they have a high learning curve.
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Douche McCallister
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PostPosted: May 21 2008 06:18 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Syd Lexia wrote:
What makes them appealing is that they're visually stunning and they have a high learning curve.

That and it's insanely satisfying to beat one.


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Char Aznable
Title: Char Classicâ„¢
Joined: Jul 24 2006
Location: Robot Boombox HQ
PostPosted: May 22 2008 10:53 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Wow. I'm sad that I never tried MLF 2 now. The fake Charlie's Angels picture threw me.


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Douche McCallister
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PostPosted: May 22 2008 11:08 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Char Aznable wrote:
Wow. I'm sad that I never tried MLF 2 now. The fake Charlie's Angels picture threw me.

Laughing SAME HERE! I never even bothered to look at the back until much later. Fun game...


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Mr. Bomberman
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Title: (still) token black.
Joined: Jan 27 2006
Location: Home of the lost towers
PostPosted: Jun 03 2008 08:16 pm Reply with quote Back to top

I just torrented the Japan-only PC version of this (along with CoS 1 and 2) and everyone should try at it, whether it's my way or the fucking highway or getting the English Wii version.

It's fucking crazy though... It seems impossible to me right now to get past level 3 =/


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Not Sure
Too Good At 2D Games
Too Good At 2D Games
Title: Master of the Universe
Joined: Dec 03 2007
PostPosted: Jun 03 2008 09:28 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Damn... I have to look into this one.


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Syd Lexia
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PostPosted: Jun 03 2008 09:49 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Mr. Bomberman wrote:
It's fucking crazy though... It seems impossible to me right now to get past level 3 =/

Level 3 is a bitch. Luckily, it's the only level with moving platforms. I don't know how the PC version works, but in the Wii version, you eventually unlock unlimited credits.

Does the Japanese version have English voice acting or subtitles? Because the in-game dialogue is hilarious. It's one of the big draws and adds to replayability.
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Mr. Bomberman
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Title: (still) token black.
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PostPosted: Jun 03 2008 11:21 pm Reply with quote Back to top

No english voicing or text in-game, just English text only in the menus.

There is a rearranged soundtrack in it though, and a "Director's mode" which makes the levels different from the arcade version. Good enough for me.


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Char Aznable
Title: Char Classicâ„¢
Joined: Jul 24 2006
Location: Robot Boombox HQ
PostPosted: Jun 04 2008 01:27 am Reply with quote Back to top

On a related note, I just grabbed Ikaruga on XBLA. Great game. I suggest it to everyone who is a fan of shooters that wants something innovative.


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Syd Lexia
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Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
PostPosted: Jun 04 2008 06:02 am Reply with quote Back to top

Mr. Bomberman wrote:
There is a rearranged soundtrack in it though, and a "Director's mode" which makes the levels different from the arcade version. Good enough for me.

I actually haven't played the arcade mode yet. The Director's Mode is the default in the Wii version. I'll have to check it out now.

Does your version have Dramatic Mode?
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