
If you're one of the people who ordered the physical edition of The Game Paradise / Tengoku: CruisinMix Special from North American company Dispatch Games, then you're no doubt awaiting some kind of confirmation of when the product is going to arrive.
Dispatch Games hasn't got the best track record for this kind of thing, with poor communication and repeated delays souring an already fractured relationship with its customer base. However, City Connection President & CEO Nobuhiro Yoshikawa has now issued a statement that aims to shift responsibility for the Game Paradise delay from Dispatch Games onto his own company. City Connection, in case you were wondering, is the Japanese company that published the game on Switch digitally.
Here's the statement from Yoshikawa:
Dear Customers,
This is City Connection CEO Yoshikawa.
We've been receiving a lot of questions and messages about "The Game Paradise: Cruisin Mix Special" from Dispatch Games in North America.
I'd like to answer the most frequently asked questions: "Is Dispatch Games a group company? Is it a subsidiary?" Dispatch Games is a partner that handles our game titles in North America, and we have no capital relationship with them. However, this does not mean that we are avoiding responsibility.
As the rights holder and developer of the game, we regret that our products have not been delivered on time, and we would like to apologize for this.
After a long period of discussions and providing as much support as possible, we are now on track to release the game. Once again, we would like to ask our customers who have purchased the product to please wait for a while. Dispatch Games will make an announcement regarding the details and release date.
We hope that you will continue to support us with the titles released by our current partners, the digital versions we release, and the expansion of our U.S. operations.
We appreciate your continued support.
The game launched in Japan way back in December 2019 and was released digitally on May 28th, 2020 in the west. The original Game Tengoku: The Game Paradise! was released in arcades in 1995 by Jaleco.
We reviewed the Switch version back in June, saying:
It's easy to see why Game Tengoku CruisinMix Special is so beloved by Japanese shmup fans, but it's equally easy to understand why it's not as well known in the west as Parodius, despite being very similar in tone. The levels are inventive and the action is reasonably compelling, but it's overshadowed by better examples of the genre – especially in 2020, when Switch owners have games like ESP Ra.De. Psi and Ikaruga to keep them busy. It's by no means essential then, but if you're a hardcore shooter nut, then this is still well worth a look.
Comments 16
Very respectful action to take, but I think it's obvious this is all on Dispatch Games and City Connection just made a bad choice in who to partner with for a western retail release. I guess now they probably won't work together again
I don't take this so much as him taking responsibility, more of "we had to step in and help Dispatch Games get their act together on this."
I've ordered 3 games from Dispatch and they have fulfiulled all 3. Whatever issues are plaguing this release have obviously not been helped by the events of the past 2 years. I do trust them and I do think they are working to get the game released.
@Hck That's a good point - I've edited to the title to make that more clear.
They take the money up front every time yet still fail to deliver. Why people still keep supporting them is beyond me.
Yeah, the wording seems more in line with saving face on their brand than admitting fault on behalf of Dispatch. Hopefully there will be positive results from this but yikes, Dispatch has dug themselves a hole.
At least he addressed the delay with this title, I have three pre-orders from Strictly Limited games from the UK and it's been months with nothing from them and constant delays, I will never purchase another item from them again and I'm still wondering if I will even receive any games at all at this point.
Is this shmup worth getting? Digitally at least.
@StormyDaze Not sure about this one, but both Gunbird games, Dragon Blaze and the first two Sengoku Ace entries (Samurai Aces & Tengai) are mandatory if you like fantasy shmups.
@rushiosan
Thanks! I have all them and love them. Appreciate the response. I will pass.
I had no idea I was paying for lifetime apologies when I ordered this game. Kind of a good deal I suppose, if you really like being apologized to.
I'm holding onto my preorders for this and Radirgy Swag. I'm not holding my breath, but if they ever do get released, you can bet your bottom dollar these physical copies will be orders of magnitude rarer than anything Limited Run will ever put out.
@StormyDaze It's old-school hard, made a little harder with their shot power-up system that only powers up after collecting 4 power-up items (up to two times). You can also get up to 2 wingman options in the form of smaller Jaleco/City Connection characters flying beside you. Other than that it's a busy, kinda weird, but pretty straightforward shmup.
For me, my favorite part is the voiced character bios and story (of the original/Saturn mode). I mean let's be real, Jaleco games sits on the higher end of the mediocre pile. But whoever wrote those scripts is Jaleco's biggest fan, Lol. And at the same time they're not afraid to get a little savage punching holes through the deep-cut Jaleco lore. Like one of the characters breaking the bad news to the baseball guy that his Bases Loaded game was horrendously broken; they even mentioned the bio-rhythm gimmick from The Second Season, like who would reference stuff like that but a superfan? LOL
@fragranthills They won't be as rare as you think they will be.
https://www.play-asia.com/radirgy-swag/13/70eqkd
https://www.play-asia.com/the-game-paradise-cruisinmix-special/13/70cwyj
@masterLEON
LOL! Appreciate the explanation. I like pretty much any shmup so may give this a chance.
@Emob That's true they can be imported, but for those weird-beards who want specific versions, or want to collect a full NA set, these may certainly be hard to come by if they ever come out.
FWIW, not holding my breath and glad that Ivello Swamp's JP release comes with Radirgy.
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