Topic: Castle of Shikigami 3 (A Hell Shoot em Up For Wii)

a Bullet Hell Shooter for the Wii made by AKSYS Games (same people responsible for the Guilty Gear series and i believe the same for the BIT.TRIP. Series as for publishing i mean of course) but has anyone played this hell shooter it looks very intresting and for it to have 55 different Storylines must mean lots of game time ^^

@Tails86 I have this one on Wii, I have not played it in a while, but funnily enough I was just tweeting about it yesterday.
To cut a long story short I was thinking about Dreamcast's 10th US birthday & I decided that in respect of the fact that I never owned one, I would play lots of games (Ikaruga (GCN), Crazy Taxi (PS2), Power Stone Collection (PSP) Marvel Vs Capcom 2 (PS2), Chaos Field (GCN) etc), to reminisce as though I had not missed out the 1st time around.
It was at this point that I thought that I'd boot up Castle of Shikigami III (Wii), to honour that the second game was on DC.
I'll have a play of CofSIII today, but to be honest I am more of a fan of slower shooters and less bullets (Gradius and R-Type).
I do not really understand the intricacies of bullet hell shmups, plus I am rubbish at them

I only learned of this game recently by chance. Why is this not in the UK already??!! The import price from Japan is quite high, but that's my option if I want it (and I do...so pretty).

It's an impressive game. The story is hilariously nonsensical, and each character or character pair has a different story. It's the first shooter I've played with different characters who have different shooting abilities, which I thought was very cool (though I know this isn't new). The look of the game is great, and the difficulty (which has a lot of options) was just perfect for me. Levels just the right length. 2P co-op. If you like this type of game, there's really no reason not to get it because it delivers on every front.

Take all of my Castle of Shikigami III impressions with a pinch of salt, I am a rookie bullet hell player:

• Lots of options, director's mode, art gallery, story recollection (re-watch cut scenes), practise, boss attack/rush.
• Different levels of extreme mode going up to third level for hardcore, expert players.
• I played Story Mode (Normal) 5 credits, I found it challenging. I suck, big time. lol
• Colourful graphics, simple polygon backgrounds are apt (palace gardens, river valleys) whiz past fast, nice effects (foreground clouds, water rapids, explosions). Mist level was lo def/ bit blurry on screen.
• Music is upbeat & arcadey, but not Japanese/ Asian in its flavour, as I presumed from screenshots.
• Bullets are clear and distinguishable (big rotating cubes/spheres/arrows etc).
• My characters hit box seemed fair, I did not die for any other reason than being a poor player.
• Some enemies fly in as shadows from distance, so you can prepare for their attack.
• Boss battles have diverse attack patterns, break down their blue spherical shield 1st (some bosses took away my ability to fire).
• Nice variety of bosses, manga lady, large knight fella etc.
• Expected Daft story, destroy the castle, ninjas, elders, 1st kisses! @Adam "nonsensical" is perfect description.
• Lots of cheesy speech/ translation in cut scenes, US/ Western accents promise to bosses that they will "kick your ass!" lol
• Two types of mine to release, which I did not play enough to understand the different benefits of. Doh!
• One level (I think level 3) flashes up scenery to be dodged and avoid, dodging plays a teeny bit like Ikaruga Chapter 3, but not nearly as sophisticated (obviously no enemy colour matching).
• Well drawn, manga character side border wallpapers fill up extra 16:9 screen real estate.

I had lots of fun I like the setting and characters, it is arcade gameplay all the way and I really should spend time to learn more about the real depth & subtleties of bullet hell shooters. Double Doh !!

I'm probably getting this tomorrow. My mom's gonna pick this (along with many other games, including Little King's Story!) up for me at Gamestop on the way back from an appointment with $92.56 in Gift/EDGE cards I have.

@Jamie0- I wonder if the released that #2 in the US?

@longtimegamer I had a little scout around to see if I could find out for you, although take into account that I am not especially an authority on Dreamcast releases and DC imports.
All I could find was the Dreamcast 'Castle of Shikigami II' Japanese release, I found the Japanese DC Shikigami no Shiro 2 (Castle of Shikigami 2) Limited Edition, for sale on the internet costing $60.
However, apparently there is also a Japanese GCN version, for those with modded GameCubes and who are able to find it.
As far as I can tell the easiest way to play the second game in the US and Pal territories is by hunting down the PS2 version. The second game was released for US PS2, by 'XS Games', at the bargain price of $10 in 2004/2005 and received a 7.8 score off GameSpot. The Pal box art is awful considering the plethora of great Manga designed characters that 'Play It' could have put on the cover. The Pal release also has a daft 'War of the Worlds' sub-title.
Play Asia has the US PS2 version which is able to be sent out within 5-15 days for US$ 24.90 (£15.17 GBP), but this will not include shipping (US$ 3.90). It looks like the US box art is much better than the Pal atrocity
I found a Pal PS2 copy of Castle of Shikigami II, released by 'Play It' for £20. It has 16 days left on ebay. Does anyone know if this is a rare and valuable purchase? I’ll try to get it if it is.
I wish I knew more about the Dreamcast in general.

i'm glad everyones getting this game i may look it up and see if my gamestop carries it for a little cheaper as amazon wants $15 for it but wants 7 bucks for shipping um sorry to say i'll pay 19.99 at gamestop if i can find it ^^"

It's a really good game...I've had it since it came out and still can't take 3x/hard/firebacks...the run of final bosses are just insane unless you spam Roger Sasuke's overpowered held-button bomb.

I have just seen this is being released finally in the UK on 30/09/2011.

Really? Where did you hear that? Thats awesome news!

I stumbled upon the pre-order, while shopping at the hut.
It is around £17, you can also order from asda, zavvi etc.
I was pretty surprised seeing it too and had lost hope that it would ever see a uk release.
I have not heard anything about it being released from any of the usual sources, considering this was released 2/3 years ago in the other regions.
So If you like shmups get your order on, the game is a niche genre and will probably have a small run.
So glad it coming out,

I had almost lost hope of it ever getting an EU release too but its good to see that its finally happening but I'm not sure if I'll buy it yet as my wii is about to be sent to Nintendo to be fixed and I'll want to get back to Xenoblade chronicles when it comes back but I'll definitely get it at some point.

Sorry to hear about your wii, if it is just not reading XBC dual layer disc.
Get the official wii lens cleaning kit, which cleared up the unrecognised disc on my 2006 wii.

@nix Did you get it? I'm asking as I just wanted to make sure that it came out today as it still seems unlikely as most of the usual sources aren't listing it.

@Mariofanatic128, still waiting for stock pick. Yeah I have not seen anything about it coming out either. Keep you in loop when I hear more.

I have seen this has been put back to 2012, gutted.

Seriously? America got this in 2008! Why is it taking so long? How annoying.

I Admit Defeat - Order cancelled by supplier.
Dear N*******************
Thanks for placing your order with TheHut.com Online, order number
We are sorry to advise that your order for Castle of Shikigami III (3) is no longer available at our suppliers. Please be assured that we have contacted alternative sources and regrettably we were unable to obtain your item.
Your order has been cancelled and no payment has been taken for the cancelled items.
This product will be removed from our website in due course.
Thanks for your patience, should you have any further questions please contact us through your online account message centre and we will be happy to help you.
Many thanks
TheHut.com

So there you go... End