Wasshoi archive vids are up for those folks interested:
http://www.dailymotion.com/user/3hitcombo/1
The Futari God mode run is my personal favorite
Sorry if this has been covered (I'm a bit behind), but has there been any mention of a home version of the Nesica Crimzon Clover?
No and there probably won't be for awhile I imagine. This game is already tearing up the remaining shooter arcades, it is very popular. Apparently it's going toe-to-toe with Saidaioujou in terms of people waiting to play it at HEY in Akihabara. Given that, Yotsubane and Bouken Kikaku would be best off financially keeping it an arcade exclusive as long as possible.
I don't think this game has been praised enough, so let me explain what's so amazing about it.
Reasons why Crimzon Clover arcade is already my GOTY and will probably have an effect on how the genre evolves
1. 4 different modes that play very differently
The simplest way to explain it is that it's basically Mushi Futari all over again, with an Original (Boost), a Maniac (Original) and an Ultra (Unlimited). Plus you get Time Attack mode, which I believe has all original stages.
2. Boost Mode
is all about speed, and it is one of the most intense arcade games I have ever played (and I've played tons of them), with possibly more manic rapid chaos than Dangun Feveron and Futari Black Label Original. The rules are simple. Kill enemies, collect stars. The stars drive up your multiplier. When you reach a certain threshold, BREAK MODE. Kill enemies with shot to drive up your star-based multiplier, and then occasional kill groups of them with lock-shot to drive up your secondary multiplier (in green). You can grind on enemies not yet on screen to leech stars off of them (sort of like Futari Original).
Here's the thing. As your multiplier gets higher and higher, so does the bullet speed. The longer you stay in Break Mode (which is basically a Hyper mode), the speed will relentlessly climb. AND certain enemies will drop suicide bullets once the rank gets high enough.
So why stay in Break Mode? It gives you a massive multiplier AND helps you kill enemies much quicker than normal. Also, as you stay in Break Mode, you earn big bonus points about every 30 seconds. This bonus also steadily climbs the more times you earn it, and is key to scoring well.
The only thing that can save you is your one (rechargable) bomb, which you can use at moments of crisis to bring down the rank. There is no "capacity" to your bomb, instead you can use it when your Break meter gets high enough. However the more bombs you use, the higher the threshold gets to use them, meaning that if you bomb say 3 times in a level, it will take you about a minute to earn back another one, which may be fatal in such a hostile environment.
In this way, the mode is eloquently balanced. There is the constant feeling of fighting to the top of a room filling with water. But oh, all that gold you're collecting.
I haven't even played the other three modes, I've been absolutely obsessed with this one. A Japanese scorer friend of mine said the following about Boost Mode: "I can feel my brain fluid coming out when I play it."
3. Online scoreboards
Yeah we've had that for 360 for years now, but NESiCA has it now, and Yotsubane has done a really impressive implementation of it. First, your personal best is constantly saved at the top right of the screen. Specifically, it's saved to your NESiCA card, so it's always with you.
Next, a breakdown of all the top scores on a national and local (your arcade) basis are accessible from the Title Screen, which lets you browse through and see who's on top for each mode and ship type extremely easy. No page navigation, it's all in one scrolling table.
4. In-game achievements
Yes, Crimzon Clover arcade has achievements (saved to your NESiCA card). Something like 25 of them, and they level up. So when you beat the first stage, you get a bronze medal, but when you beat the third, you get a silver one etc.
What's so good about achievements? Well first they give a little bit of motivation. Second, when you see a person at the arcade with a ton of achievements stacked up, you know they kick ass at the game. At HEY, everyone migrates over whenever someone with a lot of medals sits down at the machine to check out their strategies.
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So yeah, not only do I think Crimzon Clover for arcade is the best game of the year already, I think it's also going to change the way shooting games are released. If a small doujin outfit like this can make such an impressive game, one that will define the genre at least on the NESiCA platform, other devs like CAVE and Grev will have to follow suit if and when they do more arcade releases.
Edit: bonus shot of my friend NTSC-J playing CC on a white vertical NESiCA cab (apparently less than 10 nation-wide):