Cave titles confirmed for 360

[chopemon]

I'm snowed under with shmups after not playing them for a while.

I recently finished up on Raiden Fighters Aces, now I'm working on Ketsui and sitting on my pile are Espgulada, Otomedius G, DDFK and Muchi Muchi is on order. I also need to revisit Ikaruga and Trigger Heart Excelica on XBLA.

I'm getting through them all too slowly as life is so busy at the moment.

[Salsa Party Animal]

How many cave games is released now for XBOX 360 (I am interested in Japanese Region locked titles) and non cave shooters

I already got Death Smiles, 2 region free games and 1 off xbox live and 2 to come in the post this week. (Plus PS2 games)

[nuskool]

Copy pasted from excellent article over at shmups forum (http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=23501)

Retail releases:

Shikigami no Shiro III - Dec 12, 2007
Raiden Fighters Aces - Mar 25, 2008
Raiden IV - Sep 30, 2008
Otomedius Gorgeous - Nov 19, 2008
Dodonpachi Daioujou Black Label Extra - Feb 19, 2009
Shooting Love 200X - Feb 19, 2009
Death Smiles - Apr 24, 2009
Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete Shimatta - Jun 25, 2009
Raiden Fighters Aces - Nov 19, 2009 (Games on Demand)
Mushihimesama Futari - Nov 26, 2009 *
Raiden IV - Jan 14, 2010 (Games on Demand)
Shooting Love 200X - Feb 14, 2010 (Games on Demand)
ESPGaluda II (region free) - Feb 25, 2010 *
Ketsui - Apr 22, 2010
Death Smiles II X - May 27, 2010
Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete Shimatta - Jun 29, 2010 (Games on Demand)
Strike Witches Shirogane no Tsubasa - July 29, 2010
Otomedius Gorgeous - Oct 6, 2010 (Games on Demand)
Radirgy Noah - Oct 28, 2010
Mushihimesama Futari (Platinum Collection) - Nov 11, 2010 *
Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu - Nov 25, 2010
Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu: Black Label - Feb 3, 2011


XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) releases:

Aegis Wing - 2007 (US Marketplace only)
Ikaruga - 2008
Triggerheart Excelica - 2008
Omega Five - 2008
R-Type Dimensions - 2009
Raystorm HD - 2010
Space Invaders: Infinity Gene - 2010
King of Fighters: Sky Stage - 2010
Guwange - 2010

Upcoming:

Muchi Muchi Pork & Pink Sweets - February 2011 - REGION FREE
Eschatos - March 2011
Bullet Soul - April 2011
Dangun Feveron XBLA - TBA 2011
Radiant Silvergun XBLA - TBA 2011
Bangai-oh XBLA - TBA 2011
Otomedius Excellent - TBA 2011

[Decider-VT]

I'm semi-curious about Eschatos as it contains Judgement Silversword and the sequel. Could be a nice way of finally playing it without resorting to daylight robbery on eBay.

[InvisibleKid]

Akai Katana Shin is now available for pre-order over at Play-Asia, limited edition version too.

[charlesr]

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-c9m-71-99-49-en-15-akai+katana-84-p-18-2.html

Can't for the life of me get through to the actual products though. Anyone else?

[charlesr]

I've preordered Eschatos because it looks a bit different.

[fuse]

I thought after DFKBL & MMP/PS last month I would have it easy for a bit, but now I'm umming and ahhing over both Eschatos & Bullet Soul. Soon as Akai Katana is available on VGI I'm going to be all over that, though.

[Kubrick]

Same here, plus there's Otomedius X!

[eastyy]

have to say i have been really getting into deathsmiles II recently at first i didnt think much of it but it has really grown on me

[analog dog]

Yeah I love it - It's so full on!

[englishbob]

Not sure if this has been posted before, mentions that Akai Katana will be region locked for Japan.

http://twitter.com/cave_world_en/status/39509793789972480

Gives an interesting insight into their attitude to region free-ness. To quote "Hopefully one of our publisher friends will be interested as it looks grand." meaning that it probably won't be and that there isn't anyone currently interested in it!

Also Aksys, the US publisher of Deathsmiles comments about future Cave releases...

"We were reasonably satisfied with the performance of Deathsmiles, but we are not currently pursuing any other similar games."

http://www.aksysgames.com/forums/topic/1111

which will also translate to no more UK releases either, as I cannot see Rising Star Games releasing any english language versions without piggy-backing on the US version first.

I've enjoyed all the Cave releases that have been region-free, and the Deathsmiles UK release. But I am optimistic that they will appear on the Playstation 4 or some other future device that isn't as obsessed with region coding as Microsofts console is.

[Kaosu]

I don't think RSG will piggyback, as there isn't really much to do in terms of translating for a western audiance, and the amount of info within the DS manual is more than enough to show that they put in a lot of effort to explaining the mechanics to newcomers, but also providing tips to advanced players. I doubt Aksys would have done that.

Also, if this is anything to go by, I'd still see there being a good chance of seeing more Cave games in the west.

[Kubrick]

I doubt Aksys would have done that.

They did. The PAL manual is pretty-much a verbatim copy of the one in the US version. Actually, choosing between the two, the PAL one is worse as some of the content like the character profiles have been condensed into fewer pages.

[bcass]

The trouble is, the PAL release didn't sell anywhere near the same numbers as the US release.