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[Lazy Jones]

I don't know all of 'em, but I do know that the one that has the operator's face crossed out only makes her invisible, not shuts her up.

Is that in the 360 mode? Only played the Arcade and 1.5 modes and in those she isn´t too annoying.

It all lines up with the option menu options if you go left to right, row by row. From Shmups:

Nice! I´ll definitely unlock the "invisible after image". Weird how it´s enabled by default and even weirder that it´s an unlock to turn it off.

 

[Yes Boss!]

Louder sound effects fix is going to be welcome. The mix is shit out-of-the-box. Even after adjusting within their parameters.

 

[japtor]

One other thing I saw over there, translation of story/dialogs in arcade/1.5 (although some issues according to a later post):
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=919541#p919541

The costume select dialogs are pretty funny if accurate:

Shuri
Dress setting {normal} Decided to go flashy!
Dress setting {plain clothes} I’ll show my ability!
Dress setting {swimsuit} Let’s go to the extreme!

Hikari
Dress setting {normal} Yes, at your service.
Dress setting {plain clothes} It’s all right, doing my best, I…
Dress setting {swimsuit} Is this appropriate for you?

Maria
Dress setting {normal} Putting in my fighting spirit…
Dress setting {plain clothes} Well then, going along…
Dress setting {swimsuit} Seeing Mari like this… it’s embarrassing…

 

[StarCreator]

One other thing I saw over there, translation of story/dialogs in arcade/1.5 (although some issues according to a later post):
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=919541#p919541

The costume select dialogs are pretty funny if accurate:

I took Hikari's swimsuit quote as more of a "Does this suit me..?"

 

[Lazy Jones]

Seems like the 360 port of Saidaioujou has some input lag. Playing on a CRT and if I paus the game while moving then release the stick and unpause it the ship keeps moving for a tiny moment.

Tried doing the same in Mushihimesama Futari and there the character is completely still after unpausing.

 

[BOTEC]

Is that in the 360 mode? Only played the Arcade and 1.5 modes and in those she isn´t too annoying.





Nice! I´ll definitely unlock the "invisible after image". Weird how it´s enabled by default and even weirder that it´s an unlock to turn it off.

Those unlocks only affect Arcade (and 1.5) Mode I believe. It's not annoying, but I'd like to have the option anyway. The only dialog I need in my DDP is "Are you ready?" and "BOMBER."

I played through Xbox Mode once, and never again. Good gravy. I realize that anime seiyuu crying is the whole damn point of that mode, but gaoddamn. I barely made it.

That said, Mamiko Noto doing the "Do-do-do-do Don Pachi" at the title screen is the best thing ever. /hipocriteanimenerd

 

[Yes Boss!]

After playing a few hours this weekend I probably just going to stick with Novice Mode and then go for 360 mode after. I tried Bikini Novice and that is plenty of challenge to keep me occupied for the next year. Regular and 1.5 seem like the harder type of Cave game in which I never get beyond the 3rd Stage.

Game seriously has the best Boss Music ever. And Stage 4's music is gorgeous.

 

[depths20XX]

After playing a few hours this weekend I probably just going to stick with Novice Mode and then go for 360 mode after. I tried Bikini Novice and that is plenty of challenge to keep me occupied for the next year. Regular and 1.5 seem like the harder type of Cave game in which I never get beyond the 3rd Stage.

Game seriously has the best Boss Music ever. And Stage 4's music is gorgeous.

I feel like this is possibly Cave's hardest game (just for default arcade mode). I can even do better in DOJ and I'm not even good at that game. The 3rd stage in this the game just throws it all at you I feel like. Combined with little slowdown and huge bullets it gets chaotic pretty fast.

 

[LiK]

Nippon Yasan shipped SDOJ today. Fucking finally.

 

[Lazy Jones]

I feel like this is possibly Cave's hardest game (just for default arcade mode). I can even do better in DOJ and I'm not even good at that game. The 3rd stage in this the game just throws it all at you I feel like. Combined with little slowdown and huge bullets it gets chaotic pretty fast.

I´d say it´s on par with Ketsui but below Ibara in terms of difficulty.

 

[japtor]

I feel like this is possibly Cave's hardest game (just for default arcade mode). I can even do better in DOJ and I'm not even good at that game. The 3rd stage in this the game just throws it all at you I feel like. Combined with little slowdown and huge bullets it gets chaotic pretty fast.

I´d say it´s on par with Ketsui but below Ibara in terms of difficulty.

Heh, I think this is one of those things where perspective matters. I'm finding this a lot harder than Ketsui, but I've played the hell out of that and have almost 1CCd it (...literally a few pixels away on the last boss life bar). I always thought DOJ's difficulty was kind of overstated, while this is in line with what I'd consider pretty damn hard.

 

[danmaku]

Heh, I think this is one of those things where perspective matters. I'm finding this a lot harder than Ketsui, but I've played the hell out of that and have almost 1CCd it (...literally a few pixels away on the last boss life bar). I always thought DOJ's difficulty was kind of overstated, while this is in line with what I'd consider pretty damn hard.

DOJ's reputation mainly comes from its insane second loop that takes aways all of your spare lives. Even expert players didn't like that because it required a ton of time and money just to practice the second loop (and even if you credit feed through the second loop you still can't fight Hibachi iirc).

SDOJ feels a lot like Ketsui to me, difficulty wise. And they both have a stage 3 with a giant battleship as a midboss that takes forever to kill! :3

Now that I think of it, does SDOJ has a second loop?

 

[LeadenStride]

DOJ's reputation mainly comes from its insane second loop that takes aways all of your spare lives. Even expert players didn't like that because it required a ton of time and money just to practice the second loop (and even if you credit feed through the second loop you still can't fight Hibachi iirc).

SDOJ feels a lot like Ketsui to me, difficulty wise. And they both have a stage 3 with a giant battleship as a midboss that takes forever to kill! :3

Now that I think of it, does SDOJ has a second loop?

I've been wondering this myself and the last time I tried to find out, there apparently was at least not discovered one yet. There don't seem to be achievements attached to one either, but I'm not sure about that. Maybe someone with better japanese skills than me might want to look into it.

I think it would be nice to have one, but maybe expert mode has covered it for those looking for a greater challenge?

 

[danmaku]

Well, I asked on AEX and nope, no second loop. Hibachi / Inbachi appear at the end of the first loop if you're good enough. Bikini mode is basically the 2nd loop difficulty.

To unlock the TLB:

Hibachi: 1 miss, all bees in 3 stages (at least)
Inbachi: no miss, no bomb, all bees in all stages (good luck with that one)

 

[catstronaut]

SDOJ doesn't need a loop - the first loop is insane even on shot/laser. I'm taking people's word that Pink Sweets arcade is the hardest Cave game, but I'm fairly certain this one comes in second.

 

[japtor]

DOJ's reputation mainly comes from its insane second loop that takes aways all of your spare lives. Even expert players didn't like that because it required a ton of time and money just to practice the second loop (and even if you credit feed through the second loop you still can't fight Hibachi iirc).

SDOJ feels a lot like Ketsui to me, difficulty wise. And they both have a stage 3 with a giant battleship as a midboss that takes forever to kill! :3

Now that I think of it, does SDOJ has a second loop?

Heh, I can see with DOJBL is so popular.

I think SDOJ feels a lot denser in terms of bullet spray, Ketsui feels more open to me in comparison (at least in 1 to 3). Like it throws a lot of bullets of course, but it's difficulty feels more from its unorthodox patterns rather than volume of bullets.

And SDOJ's ship feels like a goddamn eternity! Ketsui's is like front, back, middle, boom, 1up! I haven't figured out SDOJ's yet, I'm on survival mode at that point and it just keeps going and going until it just eventually explodes.

Very cool, keep us posted with the results on the viletim turnkey solution. I have cruised those threads in the past. Another thing holding me back is I have an Egret 3 here with direct VGA input which I've always wanted to put a DC and J-360 into. But it is having some sync issues where the screen image cycles. I reckon it is a quick fix but is difficult to pinpoint.

Digged up this older post cause it showed up today, it's turnkey as promised, even came with the PS2 controller board already attached to the main board. Just had to connect the ribbon cable for that, hooked up the controller cables to PS2-360 adapters, plugged the SCART cable in, then connected the JAMMA harness, and I think that was basically it other than turning volume and contrast knobs up from 0 on the first use. Well controller configuration too, but that was easy. And the config thing is cool, I mapped a regular profile for tate games, but I also mapped another for rotated screen/stick use, so stuff like Pac-Man CE is playable too. I'm gonna test that out with some other horizontal games tomorrow.

The biggest pain in the ass was just sticking the stuff in the cab. The 360 is in the back empty area, which is fine...except it blocks my PCB holder board from going all the way back, which blocks the door in front. And I need to keep one of the doors open anyway for the power cable, debating a few ways around that one, can't think of any non destructive options though.

Only issues I've noticed is that the top (left in tate) has like a 1-2px line of some random white garbage, not sure yet if that's just a bug or something I can fix (other than stretching the screen to block it). And the guide button mappings don't seem to work, although I think that's more the PS2-360 adapter's issue.

 

[Yes Boss!]

Thanks for the impressions. Going to have to do something like that.

Is your cab up against the wall? If so just remove the back plate. That is what I do, and leave it off permanently. I wired the cab into a little power strip (which can also just exist outside the cab if need be) for connecting a DC/360 some time down the line.

 

[oneida]

I own this game now!

I've gotten to a point where I can make it through Stage 3 without getting hit - the boat and one of the boss' last few patterns are pains in the ass, but they're not unmanagable. Destroying the turrets near the boat seem to cancel its shots sometimes, and using hypers to cancel bullets on screen helps too.

Stage 4 miniboss destroys me. I don't think I've seen the Stage 4 boss at all.

What is Rank? It seems to accumulate when I activate hyper and decrements when I autobomb. I've made it up to Rank 8, but I don't know what that means.

I seem to be cashing in my hypers around level 4 - 7, usually in sticky situations. Is MAX practical?

 

[SOME-MIST]

iirc, there are 3 buildings with 2 turrets a piece. When you destroy both turrets, the building explodes cancelling all bullets on screen.

Rank is "difficulty". The more you hyper or the larger your hyper is, the higher the rank and more difficult the game will become. The only way to reduce rank is to bomb or die, which in turn ruins your chain/scoring.

 

[oneida]

So Rank = bad? Sounds like Garegga.

 

[SOME-MIST]

not necessarily bad... just more difficult. if your rank is high, it probably means your scoring well and you have a higher scoring potential.

for the sake of a 1CC based on survival.. rank = bad.

here's a video which shows the extreme differences
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn7deJ6-pRA

 

[adversesolutions]

Rank is almost universally a bad thing, i.e. pure difficulty, in SDOJ.
Unlike DDPR Black Label for instance where the higher your rank gets, the more bullets enemies will spit out, SDOJ rank is speed only. Since the scroll rate is fixed, that may mean there are technically more bullets on screen as they are spat out at you with greater frequency, but even if that difference exists, it's negligible for high scores.

Good SDOJ players save their hypers all for stage 5 to keep the rank down, then activate them there to try to trigger the overflow bug.

I still haven't gotten to sit down and open my SDOJ, so there are probably some significant changes in 1.5, but the above will be true for Arcade (1.0).

 

[SOME-MIST]

Since the scroll rate is fixed, that may mean there are technically more bullets on screen as they are spat out at you with greater frequency, but even if that difference exists, it's negligible for high scores.

so if your rank is too high (even if you save all hypers and use it on the 5th stage) to manage and you bomb or kill yourself to reduce rank - therefore breaking your chain - that won't affect your high score?

I would think that holding a chain throughout the entire stage would allow you to score better.

 

[adversesolutions]

so if your rank is too high to manage and you bomb or kill yourself to reduce rank - therefore breaking your chain - that won't affect your high score?

That would affect your high score.
If the rank starts climbing up, especially past 10, it's already going to get slightly hectic so it's a good idea to find a place to drop some bombs to reduce the rank. Like a boss, or the transition to a boss.

 

[HitokiriNate85]

Still waiting on my PA shipment. For anyone living in the US who ordered SDOJ from them, about how long did it take for delivery with their free shipping?

 

[SOME-MIST]

for sure. that's all I really meant by having a higher rank would = a higher scoring potential - regardless if you use your hypers in stage 3 or stage 5. reducing rank would affect your chain, but I'm sure it's not easy maintaining rank. tho I'm not a pro by any means, and definitely not nearly as good as you at shmups.

I love how the game displays rank - whereas in something like muchi muchi pork or yagawa games I have no idea to tell what rank I am.

 

[Beckx]

Still waiting on my PA shipment. For anyone living in the US who ordered SDOJ from them, about how long did it take for delivery with their free shipping?

It can take 3 weeks or more, and there's always a chance of getting hung up in customs. I mentioned it on the prior page, but it used to be that you could track the package using Hong Kong mail's site, at least until it cleared customs.

 

[LiK]

i think Nippon fucked up my order again. I thought I had chosen FedEx as my carrier but they shipped it by Ferry aka Registered SAL. I am pretty ticked off right now.

 

[Mikhal]

Wow. Sucks seeing all the issues people are having with getting the game. Especially the ones that ordered the faster shipping. I ordered the regular SDOJ from AmiAmi using unregistered SAL and it came in on Monday.

 

[mullet2000]

Still waiting on my PA shipment. For anyone living in the US who ordered SDOJ from them, about how long did it take for delivery with their free shipping?

I live in Canada, but it usually takes about 3 weeks for me to get a game.

The longest it ever took for me was...4 weeks and a couple days I think.

 

[Himself]

Got SDOJ!

Messing around with it, having fun.

Is there an English translation somewhere of the game's booklet or an explanation of the basic scoring mechanics?

Also this weird thing keeps happening when I start 360 mode and it automatically selects a character for me. Then the difficulty seems to change at random. I'll play one go and don't see a single enemy bullet for 30 seconds or so and then play again and be bombarded instantly. What the heck is going on?

 

[Beckx]

360 mode is limited to that character. Dress selection alters difficulty.

 

[Himself]

360 mode is limited to that character. Dress selection alters difficulty.

Everything makes sense now!

 

[japtor]

Thanks for the impressions. Going to have to do something like that.

Is your cab up against the wall? If so just remove the back plate. That is what I do, and leave it off permanently. I wired the cab into a little power strip (which can also just exist outside the cab if need be) for connecting a DC/360 some time down the line.

Up against a half wall, might be able to pull that panel out without looking too bad. Otherwise I was looking at that black stopper plug on the power panel, wondering if a plug would fit through that, and if it'd be safe, seems kind of tight with the other wires around there.

Got SDOJ!

Messing around with it, having fun.

Is there an English translation somewhere of the game's booklet or an explanation of the basic scoring mechanics?

Someone over on the Shmups forums has translated some stuff, I think in the scoring thread there.

 

[Yes Boss!]

Up against a half wall, might be able to pull that panel out without looking too bad. Otherwise I was looking at that black stopper plug on the power panel, wondering if a plug would fit through that, and if it'd be safe, seems kind of tight with the other wires around there.

It would be safe. Looking at it the stopper it does seem pretty wide...at least enough to get a 360 plug through (they are pretty low profile). Alternately you could find an extension cord that can fit or open up a power strip to fit it through then reassemble. Or just switch out the plug entirely after getting it though. I redid the plug on my Egret 3 with one with a better ground I bought at Home Depot like below:



Also, you were looking for room for the systems, I'd put them all behind the coin box on the right side. There is a huge empty space there. You would just have to built a make-shift shelf to elevate it properly.

 

[danmaku]

Rank is almost universally a bad thing, i.e. pure difficulty, in SDOJ.
Unlike DDPR Black Label for instance where the higher your rank gets, the more bullets enemies will spit out, SDOJ rank is speed only. Since the scroll rate is fixed, that may mean there are technically more bullets on screen as they are spat out at you with greater frequency, but even if that difference exists, it's negligible for high scores.

Good SDOJ players save their hypers all for stage 5 to keep the rank down, then activate them there to try to trigger the overflow bug.

I still haven't gotten to sit down and open my SDOJ, so there are probably some significant changes in 1.5, but the above will be true for Arcade (1.0).

They fixed the overflow glitch in the port, so this strategy is no longer viable. You can still choose to activate it from the options menu, if you want, but I think it just makes the game worse.

1.5 is kind of a "Black Label", it's the same game with some tweaks to the scoring system that allows higher scores. At the end of level 1 in 1.5 I had 3x the points I had in 1.0 doing more or less the same things.

 

[japtor]

1.5 changes: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=45983

It would be safe. Looking at it the stopper it does seem pretty wide...at least enough to get a 360 plug through (they are pretty low profile). Alternately you could find an extension cord that can fit or open up a power strip to fit it through then reassemble. Or just switch out the plug entirely after getting it though. I redid the plug on my Egret 3 with one with a better ground I bought at Home Depot like below:

http://s246.photobucket.com/user/gregbuczek/media/a36aee6f-7a20-45c4-8e5d-c674c06aa447.jpg.html

Also, you were looking for room for the systems, I'd put them all behind the coin box on the right side. There is a huge empty space there. You would just have to built a make-shift shelf to elevate it properly.

Got it through, just barely. And yeah I have the 360 back there already, pushing it more towards the side wall got the board holder to clear, just a massive pain in the ass to change games this way. My plan for a while has been to build a little horizontal shelf that fits in the board holder slot so it's more easily accessible from the front, 360 just barely fits horizontally in that space.

 

[StarCreator]

They fixed the overflow glitch in the port, so this strategy is no longer viable. You can still choose to activate it from the options menu, if you want, but I think it just makes the game worse.

1.5 is kind of a "Black Label", it's the same game with some tweaks to the scoring system that allows higher scores. At the end of level 1 in 1.5 I had 3x the points I had in 1.0 doing more or less the same things.

I thought the overflow glitch is now an option to be toggled, and the default for that option is to replicate the arcade behavior.

 

[BOTEC]

Ketsui PS3 limited edition extras: super play blu-ray, two soundtrack discs, OST and AST.

http://www.famitsu.com/news/201306/13034949.html

 

[sixteen-bit]

I'm thinking about getting Ketsui PS3. Is 5PB any good at these STG ports?

 

[Yes Boss!]

I'm thinking about getting Ketsui PS3. Is 5PB any good at these STG ports?

Yeah, port is fantastic. And Ketsui is the far better port of the two. You are not going to get up-rezzed graphics like a lot of the Cave ports but the disc is just as good as anything Cave puts out. Worth it for X-Mode alone (assuming it makes the PS3 set).

One of my top Cave discs.

 

[BOTEC]

Yeah, port is fantastic. And Ketsui is the far better port of the two. You are not going to get up-rezzed graphics like a lot of the Cave ports but the disc is just as good as anything Cave puts out. Worth it for X-Mode alone (assuming it makes the PS3 set).

One of my top Cave discs.

X Mode should be in this port. The AST disc is called "Extra X-Mode Soundtrack."

 

[Yes Boss!]

X Mode should be in this port. The AST disc is called "Extra X-Mode Soundtrack."

Cool. I was wondering if it was going to be renamed. Figured it was X-Mode after XBOX.

I've played dozens of hours of X-Mode. Got me most if the cummulative achievements.

 

[depths20XX]

Still waiting on my PA shipment. For anyone living in the US who ordered SDOJ from them, about how long did it take for delivery with their free shipping?

I used free shipping and got the game in 6 days. Usually doesn't take much longer than that.

 

[Tain]

Yeah, the 360 Ketsui port is fantastic.

One thing to note is that you won't get perfect scaling with the graphics because the game uses VERY non-square pixels.

 

[StarCreator]

Yeah, the 360 Ketsui port is fantastic.

One thing to note is that you won't get perfect scaling with the graphics because the game uses VERY non-square pixels.

Indeed. I think 94% is the sweet spot for getting dot by dot accuracy horizontally?

 

[hongcha]

I thought the overflow glitch is now an option to be toggled, and the default for that option is to replicate the arcade behavior.

Correct.

 

[dog$]

OK, I'm dumb.

Saidaiojou. I selected 360 - Score Attack Team Mode to try out a few times. I pilot the D girl a few rounds with the modified rules. Fine.

Now, every time I select any of the 360 Score Attack modes, I'm forced to choose her.

How do I prevent this from happening?

360 mode is limited to that character. Dress selection alters difficulty.

I think this is different though? I was able to select the standard three girls before choosing Team Mode the first time.

 

[oneida]

OK, I'm dumb.

Saidaiojou. I selected 360 - Score Attack Team Mode to try out a few times. I pilot the D girl a few rounds with the modified rules. Fine.

Now, every time I select any of the 360 Score Attack modes, I'm forced to choose her.

How do I prevent this from happening?



I think this is different though? I was able to select the standard three girls before choosing Team Mode the first time.

She's the only playable character in 360 more afaik.

 

[Beckx]

Per shmups twitter, SaiDaiOuJou didn't sell enough in second week to even crack the top 30. :/