Bangai-O Spirits [DS]

[Dogg Thang]

Wow, that's pretty amazing. I'm well impressed with that feature. Totally old school and yet very clever.

[importaku]

Once your new stages are downloaded goto 2nd option in menu (freeplay mode) then istead of selecting the top option (ROM stage) select the 2nd option instead (Backup stage) the levels you have downloaded are stored in there.

[yosai]

For those interested I made a quick vid showing the Soundload.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N5jRp7K_rE

[J0e Musashi]

Still don't get this title at all. It's just not clicking with me. I got 2k+ high score for one stage, but I'm still getting 0 for lots of them. It reminds me of Bushido Blade in that you can steam through the game if you wish. There's no challenge unless you make it so.

[msm13579]

got this today and am baffled by most of the stages, even struggled on some of the training ones, and ones i did finish i'm not sure how. all the different weapons seem to add to the confusion, and the directional firing sometimes locks when you hold the button, and sometimes it doesn't, guess this depends on the weapon?

The translations on the first page have been a great help though, thanks!

[Oh! My Car!]

yeah got this last week too but only had a quick play.

As I understand it rather than having 2 weapons you can switch between and shoot in any direction as in Bangai-o N64/DC they've changed it up so that you can have more weapons, which you choose beforehand, however you can't shoot it any direction at once. It means the game plays very differently to the original and seems to be more like a puzzler but I think it's a good system, especially for quick plays on the DS, and I'm looking forward to getting into the system properly because it seems quite deep.

At the moment I'm unsure of the difference between some of the weapons - like I'm not sure what Napalm has over normal missiles - but the way you can combine weapons is probably the key.

Like J0e I'm also confused by the scoring system but I think maybe it relates to how many fruits you pick up??

[Oh! My Car!]

some good discussion going on at neo-gaf forums, including some menu translations if you're having trouble.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=258152

Treasure have also released some new stages to download - awesome!!!

http://www.esp-web.co.jp/products/bangai-o/special_download.html

[sadat]

Just got this, and I get the feeling there's an outstanding game in here buried under another language. The first seventeen levels are like a straightforward tutorial from what I can tell with a bit of random Treasure'd story, but the bulk of the game is open to being played in whatever order you like. Controls are well honed, with little touches like double-tapping a fire button to enable a secondary shooting mode working well. The main mode includes a time and score attack mode for every level, which is compulsive.

The big barrier is the weapon select screen. There are lots of options to pick, with several types of missile, a few close-range attacks, and a few different types of bomb. One freezes the enemies, another repels them, and there is the screen-filling KABOOM from the Dreamcast version. Different combinations can make more than the sum of the parts. A superficially basic but layered system, which allows for a great deal of experimentation - BUT IT'S ALL IN JAPANESE! The translations for all the weapons and bombs are up on the previous neogaf post, which is all well and good for a console game where you're playing at home and have the internet to hand for reference but just doesn't work on the toilet / tube.

Cannot wait for a comprehensible version of this, and actually putting this Jap copy on ice as I don't want to spoil the surprise of playing through it for the first time. Preorder now, NTSC!

[Dogg Thang]

I'm really not getting this at all, even with the translations by Importaku and Joe (thanks for those). I never played the previous version so I guess I don't even have a starting point and there is so much Japanese text that's it's not so import friendly. It seems quite bizarre. Is there a reason the mech thing leaves a trail like a drawing? I'm wondering if I should be making patterns out of it or something.

[calciobit]

custom stage

This is my first stage and it's pretty "extreme", hope you like it!:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/504aa2/n/Bangai-o_30_wav

http://www.esnips.com/doc/67dd5e11-b7af-40...509/Bangai-o-30

[HHarm]

BTW. What does the T stand for in the enemies that you have destroy to complete the a level? Feels silly not knowing what it is you're destroying!

[JamesS]

I got the US version of this today, and I don't have a clue what I'm supposed to be doing. What's the main game mode? Is it the puzzle mode or the Treasure's best mode or what? I feel like I must be missing something, as I seem to blow up within about 2 seconds of starting any given level in the Treasure mode. I did the first puzzle level, but the second one appears to be a Sokoban clone, which was a rubbish game even in the 80s.

I liked the DC game, but so far the DS one has been completely baffling. The tutorial is a wall of text, and there seem to be roughly a million weapons in the game, and I've no idea how you're supposed to know which ones to take into a level. What am I missing?

[mr_woo]

I got the US version of this today, and I don't have a clue what I'm supposed to be doing. What's the main game mode? Is it the puzzle mode or the Treasure's best mode or what? I feel like I must be missing something, as I seem to blow up within about 2 seconds of starting any given level in the Treasure mode. I did the first puzzle level, but the second one appears to be a Sokoban clone, which was a rubbish game even in the 80s.

I liked the DC game, but so far the DS one has been completely baffling. The tutorial is a wall of text, and there seem to be roughly a million weapons in the game, and I've no idea how you're supposed to know which ones to take into a level. What am I missing?

Knowing what weapons to take into a level is the puzzle element of the game, as if you don't pick the right weapons you are dead in seconds. Working that out is the big thing of the game. I've only started my copy and have found it rock bloody hard, it's kicking my ass all the way

[Sketcz]

I've been ranting over on RLLMUK, but I thought I'd post here to say I hate this game.

http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?showtopic=167760

Devoid of charm, no story, no spoken dialogue like the last game, and no design/challenge structure at all, because every level is unlocked.

So, without a plot, story, ending, or anything else, and with every level unlocked, what exactly is the point of playing?

I see all these levels, but just can't be ****ed to finish any of them. Since if I do, it's not like I unlock the next level. It's just boring.

I really wanted to add this: If you've not bought it, be wary. I'd say it's one of Treasure's worst games. Bloody terrible. It's not often I hate a game so passionately, but this is one of them - I gave my copy away I was so disgusted.

[JamesS]

I'm yet to extract any enjoyment out of the game. I've tried level 3 about 30 times now, and I just don't see what I'm supposed to be doing. I shoot the crates and sometimes they blow up, but then other times they don't, or they do, but the wall blows up as well and kills me. It just seems completely random.

Seriously, am I missing a big chunk of beginner levels or something? At the moment, I genuinely don't see how anybody could enjoy this, but lots of people seem to which makes me feel like there's something obvious I'm just not getting.