Cave's DoDonPachi series really pushed the 'bullet hell' shmup style back in the '90s, and the company has kept the franchise going over the years with sequels and ports – including the 2002 arcade release DoDonPachi Blissful Death, known as DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou in Japan.
The good news is that the Switch is about to get its first helping of DoDonPachi – the bad news is that it's DoDonPachi Blissful Death DX, a 'feature phone' port of the game that was available on the G-Mode service in Japan.
For those who don't know, 'feature phones' are basically what we had before smartphones came along, and that should give you enough information to sufficiently recalibrate your expectations for this particular release. While western consumers quickly ditched feature phones (or 'dumb phones' if you prefer) the moment Android and iOS-based devices became available, in Japan, the quirky nature of feature phones kept the market alive for longer, and there's a lot of nostalgia for such devices.
The game is being released on the Japanese Switch eShop as part of the ongoing G-Mode Archives series, which PlatinumGames' Hideki Kamiya has praised in the past. DoDonPachi Blissful Death DX launches on May 20th and will cost 500 yen.
The G-Mode Archives series has seen other 'feature phone' titles come to Switch, including Flyhight Cloudia, Sorcerian, ZANAC, Glory of Heracles III Silence of the Gods and Hero Must Die., the latter of which was resurrected on Switch as Hero Must Die. Again in 2020.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 31
These G Mode games seem pretty quirky. I'm sure we will see a proper version at some point.
Oh look, another shmup for Switch....
Seriously, these shmup announcements are becoming as exciting as Kemco RPG announcements
Considering the amount of JAVA-based flip-phone games lost to the ether, it's cool to see these types of games get preserved like this. It doesn't look bad for what it is, either! I might give it a look.
Yeah, so... preserving games is important, but a console port of a game previously confined to an old Japanese mobile service is "bad news"?
500 yen for what it is, I'll take it. I wish more of the G-Mode Archive games made it to the west. So far all we got is Zanac.
@GamingFan4Lyf I'll take a shmup over a Kemco RPG sale announcement any day of the week.
Ooooh!!! Excellent. It may not be some of the other heavy hitters from their library (CMON MUSHIMIMESAMA) but hopefully they are using this and Death Smiles to test the water and drum up hype for future releases.
NINJA APPROVES BLISSFULLY DYING IN BULLET HELL
I'd say for the simple fact of making these obscure versions more available, it's worth it ^^
But come on...DoDonPachi Collection?
Yeah, this is not the Cave news I would’ve hoped for. But hopefully it’s just the start of something!
This is just a crappy G Mode game that you have incorrectly hyped to make it sound negative.
We already have ESP. ra.de psi and Deathsmiles is on the way. Also Progear on Capcom Arcade Stadium. I reckon it's just a matter of time until the majority of Cave's library finds its way to Switch.
G-Mode? How did I not see these before? These are exactly the kind of weird, quirky ports that I absolutely adore. NOW WHERE'S THE I-MODE, DAMN IT?
Does praise from Kamiya just mean he didn't block it on Twitter?
@Darlinfan Sure, I am not a huge fan of shmups; but it just feels like there are a TON of shmups getting released on the system. Like the Switch is just a shmup machine. Seems every day there is a shmup announcement for Switch.
I am happy for fans of the genre, but there is such a thing as too much of one thing.
I would complain if there were too many back-to-back-to-back releases of any particular genre - fan or not. It just starts to feel stale.
If we could only get this and Zanac for real, at 60fps, on Switch! and GunNac, and all Aleste games!
@Steel76 this is the funniest example of a mobile port i can think of, i wish people had been complaining about old japanese java-based flipphone games as opposed to iphone games this whole time
Cool! I will pick this up. More games for everyone!
@GamingFan4Lyf There are definitely a ton of shmups coming out recently. Personally, I say bring'em on. I am very much down for the shmup revival. I've been wanting some of these games for multiple console generations.
This is not at all the version of this game that I wanted, but I'm happy it's out, and hope it's a good sign for the fans.
@GamingFan4Lyf it's not like they are causing you problems or anything. Let them be...
@60frames-please Zanac X Zanac is awesome. I have a PS1 import copy of it.
Now we need the Doom RPG and DOOM RPG II.
I'll stick to playing the Saturn version
@eatdogs Yeah, it is awesome. I have it digitally on my PS3. It's so awesome being able to play one of the best NES games (I love that the original Zanac is included with the PS1 remake) on PS3 with it basically running exactly as smoothly as it did on NES. I wish we could get Zanac on Switch.
If I switch my account from American to Japanese and buy some of these games, can I still play them on my account when I switch it back to American? I have an extra account set to Japan but I'd rather have all my purchases on one account.
I might get this if I still have Japanese gold coins kicking around. Been looking for something to spend them on and I almost bit when the g-mode Tetris came out.
@Diogmites
What could be worse:
Not having Guwange?
Buying an Xbox One X and finding that Guwange is the only backwards compatible Xbox 360 Cave port you can get ahold of? :0
Seriously, what is with the dearth of Cave ports?
@Darlinfan
You say that the Switch releases are available as if I don't have to jump through hoops to get them from Japan. :0
@Darlinfan
We both agree that Manfred Trenz is a hearthrob, and that counts more than anything.
I wonder what Cave owns of Cave (and is Cave really active anymore? As a business, they've been around, I suppose). How much does one have to deal with Sega (Atlus) and Taito to get some Cave goodness out to the world? M2 seems to be working on it. But it's M2, and their perfectionism can take forever. Have they released any of the Toaplan ports yet? They acquired the rights two or three years ago it seems.
More importantly, why did I keep passing on DonDonPachi when the Saturn was relevant? Radian Silvergun too. I had the Psikyo and Taito and Irem titles. I was dumb.
@Darlinfan Deathsmiles won't come to the Switch until this December, it's not out yet.
@GamingFan4Lyf That... doesn't make any sense whatsoever, especially when it comes to a genre like shmups, which are quite niche outside of the Eastern regions. There is nothing wrong with giving a particular genre like this a lot more attention on a particular platform. It neither overshadows any of the other things it will usually get nor will it ever be a reason to be pushed away from being a platform for the other genres.
@Slowdive
Tap here to load 31 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...