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The Mega-Cave Shooter Post, because they're totally awesome and sweet

Yes Boss!

Member
It's like you're trying to rub it in! That said others took a while, and there's still no Mushi HD versions. Depending on the ROI I don't know if history will necessarily repeat.

Nah, I just really, really, really like the iOS ports. Play them way more than every other version, PCB or 360 or PS2. Part of it is my transient lifestyle (iOS device is often the only thing I have), part of it is that they are easier. Totally waiting for the SDOJ iOS port...hope it happens!

For Maximum I've been using the first ship. Unlocked the Ketsui helicopter and that ship makes the chain counter go up much more rapidly.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
It's more a matter of Deathsmiles II's graphics - it's the only Cave game this generation to not use prerendered graphics and Cave hasn't done anything to suggest they'd have any success porting a fully 3D game to iOS.

It's probably not that hard... but it seems unlikely that Deathsmiles II alone would motivate that kind of new port job. The point of these iOS ports is that they're supposed to be quick n dirty... easy money.
 
Cave made me take Smartphone gaming seriously. I really do love the sheer responsiveness of the touch screen. It could be that my 360 controller's analog sticks' deadzone is expanding....

It's not exactly a fair comparison. The iOS games are designed in such a way that the ships can maneuver faster than possible the arcade/console originals to make up for the intrinsic differences in input method.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Also, credit does not really ever be given to Cave iOS team on the other extreme of movement...micro-movement. In addition to flying through bullets at break-neck speed they also programmed the touch screen so that miniscule movement is possible not via swipe but buy a simple rock of a planted finger in any direction. Very good and highly accurate method of the slow step-like movements the pros in the arcade use to get through thick patterns.
 

jbueno

Member
It's not exactly a fair comparison. The iOS games are designed in such a way that the ships can maneuver faster than possible the arcade/console originals to make up for the intrinsic differences in input method.

Indeed. They feel like Danmaku with training wheels, I never get the same satisfaction from them as I get playing in a proper setup with a nice arcade stick. The mobile games are nice distractions of course, but I feel Cave should develop more original smartphone games like DDP Maximum and less arcade ports, leave those for consoles/PCs.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Knocked out all the achievments for DDPM, except the secret ones which seem pretty tough. I've settled on different ships for different tasks. Delta Sword for no-missing and no bombing tasks because it is strong and is very clean, hitbox is easier to see; Tiger Schwert for scoring tasks.

Cat and Akai Katana ship seem like novelties. Starting to hit a wall against the C levels so if anybody has some advice please share!
 

japtor

Member
I think the Akai Katana ship recharges the bomb faster but I'm not completely sure on that, also the bomb itself might run up the chain counter faster than the others as well. It's useful on the stage 5 turrets cause I think if you use the bombs just right you can get out of most of the harder parts with a bomb, and get a big chain out of it too.

Otherwise I guess remember the levels, particularly with the laser ship (second one) since you can take them out pretty fast with how powerful the laser is, if you're just trying to survive at least. If you want to chain it's a bit harder cause you can't just kill stuff immediately. Otherwise again the Akai Katana ship's bombs can be useful both for survival and score.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
I've fallen into using the Laser ship the most. Yeah, the chaining sucks but it is the speediest. I've not really worried about score other than the 2 Billion achievement, which is easy enough if you go for it on 5B or higher.

I'm truly in love with this game and hope they go back to the Sim mode for another game down the line. I will 100% this game.

Sadly, I was hoping for something if all obligations were fullfilled in easy mode but there appears to be nothing.

Here is where I stand after 8 hours of play logged. Finally opened a D!

FE896081-F9D5-418F-A0DA-B1EDE14CBF20-4224-00000493127BC53B.jpg
 
Good job! I'm also in the same boat as you in terms of needing only 2 more achievements (the secret ones).

I still need the 3 last stages to unlock and that's proving to be difficult at the moment.

This really is a great game and probably my favorite Cave iOS game.

Going after scores and climbing the leaderboards is too much fun.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Secret ones seem doable. At least the first one. Not sure about the TLB one...guess it is next to impossible. I'm also wondering for the Beat Every Stage achievement if you just have to beat them or if you have to beat them all with all three conditions satisfied. I'm hoping it is the latter for a true challenge.

I've now got it all unlocked except for 5E but 4D's challenges seem quite doable, so 4D will fall in the next few days for me. I'm gonna start hitting the leaderboards once I unlock 5E. There is only about 10% of the online population at the higher levels so I should be able to make my way up it pretty high.
 
I've been concentrating more on unlocking new stages, so I'm at the same point of having only 5D and 5E locked after 3 hours of playing. I'm lacking some of the score achievements though. Might go for them first before unlocking the remaining two (or trying to do that).
 
Whew...just unlocked 4D and 5D. 5E will take some time but I'll work on it in the next few days. Going to go back to past stages and try to increase my score some more.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Whew...just unlocked 4D and 5D. 5E will take some time but I'll work on it in the next few days. Going to go back to past stages and try to increase my score some more.

That is what I'm saying! Wiped me out. Gotta take a few days break before tackling the unlock for 5E. I'm going back to clean up...got most of the conditions satisfied on most of the levels but I've got a whole wall of Level 5s to work on. Of all the levels, that big long beast is the most played, ugh.

The cummulative Leaderboard seems lame...anybody can grind that one and get up near the top at 50 Billion.

Btw, in the shmups thread a dude mentioned a secret level that opens on the Easy Mode at the end! Something to shoot for.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Take that back, the cummulative leaderboard is in fact solid! I was mis-reading it.

Also, was gonna take a break but it called me back. Unlocked the final 5E and also the Special Round. Condition to unlock Special Round is to simply unlock all 15 stages, you don't have to have beat them. Both are fricken' tough. No leaderboard for Special Round, though.
 

japtor

Member
Take that back, the cummulative leaderboard is in fact solid! I was mis-reading it.

Also, was gonna take a break but it called me back. Unlocked the final 5E and also the Special Round. Condition to unlock Special Round is to simply unlock all 15 stages, you don't have to have beat them. Both are fricken' tough. No leaderboard for Special Round, though.
Sure there isn't something else to it? I unlocked all 15 a while ago but never saw the special round, is there some trick to playing it or does it show up on the level select screen?
 
Take that back, the cummulative leaderboard is in fact solid! I was mis-reading it.

Also, was gonna take a break but it called me back. Unlocked the final 5E and also the Special Round. Condition to unlock Special Round is to simply unlock all 15 stages, you don't have to have beat them. Both are fricken' tough. No leaderboard for Special Round, though.

Okay time to grind 4D.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Sure there isn't something else to it? I unlocked all 15 a while ago but never saw the special round, is there some trick to playing it or does it show up on the level select screen?

You have to go back to Easy mode then select the 5E (underneath the static area, highlight wheel will show up). It is totally tough! It is the 5E of the final Hacking Stage from Easy. Check your Data Log and it will be listed as 5 SR with 0/0.
 

japtor

Member
You have to go back to Easy mode then select the 5E (underneath the static area, highlight wheel will show up). It is totally tough! It is the 5E of the final Hacking Stage from Easy. Check your Data Log and it will be listed as 5 SR with 0/0.
Awesome, I was actually hoping the special stage was...well, exactly that really.
 
What ships did you guys use to clear 4D to open 5E? I can't seem to get 100% Destroy even though I think I'm killing everything spawned, and that last section where millions of enemies spawn always forces me to bomb there. Do I need to destroy those pylons the midboss sends out to get the bonus?
 

Yes Boss!

Member
What ships did you guys use to clear 4D to open 5E? I can't seem to get 100% Destroy even though I think I'm killing everything spawned, and that last section where millions of enemies spawn always forces me to bomb there. Do I need to destroy those pylons the midboss sends out to get the bonus?

Delta Sword (ship 2 with the cutting laser). It mows down all those sweeping enemies that go left to right and right to left. You might be missing one of those. Sometimes you just gotta go all up inside the bullet patterns so you don miss the tail-end enemy. And it knocks out other enemies before they have a chance to shoot.

Remember you only have to pass two of the challenges. I put it on autobomb and just plain survived. If you are lucky enough to get hit then you don't lose a life. I went for 100% clear and No Miss. Those were the easier ones. I don't think you have to knock out the pylons on the boss...but if you stay front and center with the laser it will hit them no problem.
 
Unlocked 5E yesterday. I think what I was missing for 100% Destroy in 4D was some of those slow moving tanks on the edges of the screen in the first half of the level.

Man is IMR Hacking 5E hard...
 

ghibli99

Member
Damn it, pretty pissed that I missed out on the DDPM sale. These games are great, but expensive. I feel like I'd need a new iPad to make myself feel like I'm getting my money's worth. On an iPod Touch, they just don't feel right to me, especially with my finger taking up so much of the bottom part of the screen.

That being said, it's kind tough looking back and seeing how many $80-90 Cave purchases I've made from P-A. :p
 
Unlocked 5E yesterday. I think what I was missing for 100% Destroy in 4D was some of those slow moving tanks on the edges of the screen in the first half of the level.

Man is IMR Hacking 5E hard...
I think I'm close to unlocking 5E now. I'm going for no bomb and no miss and am currently losing only one live during the part with the sailing ships.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Just going for the level 5 challenges now. Got everything else unlocked. Except the IMH 5E which I'm saving for last.

I've got no TV now till mid December so I've got a good month+ to work on it.
 

Zeth

Member
Cave should really run with Maximum, make it a series on mobile. Surprised by how much I like it.

Diving back into Futari Black Label this weekend. Hoping to make some progress in Maniac and improve score in Original, best 1CC is 650-700mil.
 

SOME-MIST

Member
Diving back into Futari Black Label this weekend. Hoping to make some progress in Maniac and improve score in Original, best 1CC is 650-700mil.
what always messes me up in Maniac black label is the boss 2 patterns, and then stray bullets in stage 4. I swear I never have more than 1 life in stage 5 if I make it there.
 

Zeth

Member
what always messes me up in Maniac black label is the boss 2 patterns, and then stray bullets in stage 4. I swear I never have more than 1 life in stage 5 if I make it there.

Yep. Stage 2 boss is the first that forces me to bomb. Then if I make it that far, stage 4 always throws me off with all the sweeping and stray bullets/getting trapped on the edges. Stage 5 is similarly difficult. A 1cc is probably unlikely for me but it's still fun and always gratifying to make progress.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Cave should really run with Maximum, make it a series on mobile. Surprised by how much I like it.

I'd like to see them up-port it to the consoles. It would actually kinda count as a new title rather than just the ports like they've been doing.

Arcade purists would probably call foul but Cave could string the levels together, do away with the three free 1Ups at each start, carry over score, and let you chain through bosses and they would probably be happy.
 

japtor

Member
I'd like to see them up-port it to the consoles. It would actually kinda count as a new title rather than just the ports like they've been doing.

Arcade purists would probably call foul but Cave could string the levels together, do away with the three free 1Ups at each start, carry over score, and let you chain through bosses and they would probably be happy.
Yeah there's no reason they couldn't do a straight full run mode with another leaderboard, could even keep the branching in tact to really punish screwups (even though it's essentially just a normal rank system separated by level). And the little goals for each level and the branches might satisfy completionists beyond just credit feeding to the end and being done with it.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Just found out they snuck him in as the final boss in 5E. Why am I not surprised ._.

I'm working hard to beat 5E, just very, very difficult. It takes intense concentration to get the bullets where you want them to go and survive.

Other than that I've been working my way up the cumulative leaderboard. Trying to break the top 100, and close, but you have to have some amazing runs at the later level 5s to chunk off huge scores. Some of those 6-8 billion scores are freaky.
 

CAVE343

Member
Oh my, DDPM is truly glorious! I'm kinda blown away, it looks so good on the iPad mini. I love the big bright bullets and their patterns.

Just unlocked the Ketsui ship and playing stage 3 with the remixed Ketsui bgm was an indescribable experience, I adore Ketsui and I got a very pleasant warm feeling inside while dodging those bullets. Moments like these remind me why I truly love gaming.

Also instantaneously justified my purchase of the iPad mini
 

Yes Boss!

Member
It is the best iOS game Cave has put out by a long shot. I thought that belonged to Espgaluda 2, but nope, this one is leagues better. Game has actually gotten me interested in the Dodonpachi series now, which is my least favorite franchise of theirs. I adore DDPM. I been playing it every day since release.

Finally smashed through the top 100 Overall at about 20 billion and 71 out of 5000 players. Seems like to get in the top ten you need about 35 Billion, which I'm going for. Yay! Any names from here in the top 100 whose score I should be chasing?

1560D6AE-85C1-42E4-985B-2EF4BC03D6B0-3549-000004C9663073C8.jpg
 
It is the best iOS game Cave has put out by a long shot. I thought that belonged to Espgaluda 2, but nope, this one is leagues better. Game has actually gotten me interested in the Dodonpachi series now, which is my least favorite franchise of theirs. I adore DDPM. I been playing it every day since release.

Finally smashed through the top 100 Overall at about 20 billion and 71 out of 5000 players. Seems like to get in the top ten you need about 35 Billion, which I'm going for. Yay! Any names from here in the top 100 whose score I should be chasing?

Good job!

I haven't played since last week. Currently 131 on the leaderboards with 13,899,093,230..but now that I have a score to chase, I expect to play much more often lol.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Good job!

I haven't played since last week. Currently 131 on the leaderboards with 13,899,093,230..but now that I have a score to chase, I expect to play much more often lol.

It goes quick. As soon as you start linking those higher level 5s you are shooting for 6 BILLION or more. I was in the 130s this morning. There is a ton of room for me to score...not the least of which is actually making it to the end of 5C, D, and E. Actually beating 5E will likely net a huge, huge score.
 
I'm ranked 108 overall right now, and am ranked 60 in 5-E from doing nothing but Orchid bombing the turrent section with room for improvement. Soooo many points from one bomb in the -E variation.
 
I'm at #90 with 11 bil right now, add me I'm "skyengines".

Need to play some of the other stages to get my overall up.

Pretty confident in my 5-D and 5-E scores, but haven't beaten Hibachi yet. Got him down to halfway through the second form.
 

hongcha

Member
Is there some reason why I can never access the leaderboards on DDP Maximum (iOS)? It's always greyed out on my game and if I touch it nothing happens. All of my other games work fine.
 

Kandrick

GAF's Ed McMahon
For info, Akai Katana on Games on Demand is on sale, price varies by region. I believe it's 1200/15$ in the US.

It's actually 960 allards here, which is kinda cheap considering our retail prices.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Is there some reason why I can never access the leaderboards on DDP Maximum (iOS)? It's always greyed out on my game and if I touch it nothing happens. All of my other games work fine.

I get that occasionally. But then it just pops live after a minute or so. I also get this weird glitch where it redisplays all the acheivements again occasionally on startup.

Also, Orchid is indeed a recharging freak. If you can get good at him then he is clutch for high scores on level 5s. I've switched to him from the Ketsui copter.
 
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