Posts from ‘Doujin’ Category

Cave Story: Developer’s Voice

By: Derek Yu

On: March 15th, 2010

If you’re a Cave Story fan I think you’re going to enjoy this video! The game is coming out for WiiWare (North America) on March 22nd. Check the Nicalis blog for more information and other goodies, like fan art.

Rules

By: ithamore

On: February 28th, 2010

Rules

Rules starts off as a Space Invaders clone but doesn’t stay that way for long. Every 10 seconds, it will change into something different by randomly remixing the rules unless you clear the screen of enemies or lose 3 lives before then. It can become a “Breakout Invaders” mashup, the ship’s movement be changed (1D to 2D, reversed, sliding, etc.) or its firing (use X instead of C, the firing rate, etc.), the borders can become deadly, the ship can function as a battering ram, and more. Different combinations of the rules are chosen for each stage, which can result in a great, ok, or bad mix. Defeating all the enemies quickly enough will net a 10 second time extension and being able to loose 3 lives to end a stage helps to compensate for having to play a bad mix of rules. Space is the start button, the game starts with a 60 second countdown, and the first level is always the same and relatively easy to clear.

In all, Rules can be a quick dose of fun for those who might enjoy its novelty, and it is a nice improvement over Hideki Kubo’s older games. It’s brevity, however, is also its greatest shortcoming. All of its replay value can be used up in less than 30 minutes.

(Source: Windows Forest)

Actions of the Main Character and Akantares

By: Derek Yu

On: December 10th, 2009

Lemeza Sprite Sheet

Here are a couple of small bite-sized updates from Japan, suitable for snacking.

First, here’s a sprite sheet that NIGORO posted on their La Mulana Wii blog. I dunno, I really like looking at stuff like this.

Akantares

Second, for you Pixel fans: he’s released a tiny new game that you can download from the front page of his website. It’s called Akantares (?) and the goal is to shoot your opponent five times. The gray orbs create gravity wells that bend your shots. That’s about it.

The first window asks for your name. There might be some multiplayer options, but I’m not sure. The AI is only so-so, but it’s still strangely fun to play. (Thanks, R. D. Ein, for the heads-up.)

Update: The lovable, huggable Shih Tzu was kind enough to post a translation in the comments. Apparently, the second window is a lobby that lets you connect to other players via the web. Making this game a lot more interesting, indeed.

Okay, that’s it – see ya!

Nanosmiles

By: ithamore

On: July 2nd, 2009

Nanosmiles01

Nanosmiles has been long overdue for a review on TIGSource, especially since Dong was considerate enough to have it translated by Siiseli from Japanese into English for us. The game pits the player against microbes in an arena shmup with a twist: the unarmed player must collect and guide attack units in order to clear each level of enemies. This gives Nanosmiles a blend of direct and indirect control, and it helped to generate enough innovation within the game for it to have been showcased in last year’s Sense of Wonder Night at the Tokyo Game Show. (In case you didn’t know, the deadline for SOWN 2009 is August 16, and there is no entry fee.)

Overall, Nanosmiles is a well rounded game with enough levels to explore the basics of its gameplay and a challenging final level to cap the experience. The darting nature of the directional controls can be annoying at times, but it’s also fitting.

Edit: Dong recently updated EngRish Games with a post about Exelinya Burst, which is a cartoony Every Extend variant with a grappling claw that is now in English.

Arte.tv – Chris Crawford and Jason Rohrer. Also Perfect Suguri Pre-Orders!

By: Xander

On: June 27th, 2009

Game creators Chris Crawford and Jason Rohrer will be the main focus of the new episode of “Into the Night”, a joint French/German documentary series. The five minute preview above has been released to give you a taste of the full hour-long documentary that will be aired on ‘ZDF’ and ‘ARTE’, both available free on Astra on July 2nd. Not to fear everyone else outside of europe, as according to Play This Thing! who previously posted a flattering preview also announce that there’ll be an online version streamed much like the preview. Hope you’ll all catch it then when it’s released!

Bonus News: Pre-orders for Perfect Suguri on Rockin’ Android have begun, with a special sale price of $16.99 instead of the regular $19.99, which also includes free U.S shipping. They’ve got my money at least, but then again they probably already did…

(Thanks to Jsticker in tigIRC for the Arte.TV news!)

Rockin’ Android

By: Xander

On: April 7th, 2009

RockinAndroid

Rockin’ Android is a recently formed company who are apparently planning to sell Japanese indie games to a US market. Currently only four titles are confirmed for the coming months, which include Suguri in June and Gundemonium in August but so far these appear to be pretty fantastic deals. The ‘Gundemonium’ release will feature ‘Gundemonium Recollection’, ‘GundeadliGne’ and ‘Hitogata Hapa’ for $19.99 as either a digital download or DVD (No annoucements on shipping costs or international shipping yet though).

More information and a gameplay video of ‘Suguri’ in the extended!

The ‘Suguri’ collection however will feature ‘SUGURI’ and ‘The acceleration of SUGURI’ partnered with its expansion pack, which may seem like less value at $19.99 but to sweeten the deal Rockin’ Android will be putting both OST’s in as part of the deal. There’s even some hosted on their site to sample ahead of release, though it’s clearly not up to ‘Touhou’ standards. Sadly this one looks to be DVD only as a counter-balance

I’m not quite sure how well this will work out for them, or whether they’ll be selling outside of the US (If not for the DVD editions then at least for the digital versions I hope) but I’m pretty excited about this idea. In the past it’s been pretty hard to play some of these great games (Engage to Jabberwock was from the same developer ‘Gundemonium’) without entering morally grey areas, so I really wish them the best of luck!

They’ve also produced a nice article on The World of Doujin if you’re new to the Japanese Indie Gaming scene, or alternative you can check out the TIGSource feature here!

(Thanks to GameSetWatch via Destructoid. And Jsticker for finding the video!)

Blocksum Omake

By: ithamore

On: March 15th, 2009

Blocksum Omake

Back in September, Circle Infotech released an omake (bonus) version of Blocksum as a thanks to all their fans (addicts). There are some slight differences between the original and Blocksum Omake (direct download) such as the omission of the erase blocks and of online ranking. Yes, you read correctly: there are no more bombs. However, as the screenshot reveals, that is because of a major change in how blocks can join. If you haven’t played the original yet or if you would like to take on the new challenge of the omake version, now would be a good time to give the Blocksum games a try.

Also, Circle Infotech announced they plan to release a new game at the end of this summer. The most I could get out of their description was it won’t be another Blocksum, but it will be another action puzzle game. (If anyone who can read the Japanese in the omake.txt file that is included with Blocksum Omake would be willing to help clarify or correct what I said about the next game, I would greatly appreciate it).

Cloudphobia

By: Derek Yu

On: December 16th, 2008

Cloudphobia

Cloudphobia is a gorgeous horizontal shoot ‘em up from Marsbound that’s been in development a few years and just came out yesterday. As MischiefMaker (thanks!) pointed out to me, it’s one of the few doujin shareware titles that comes as a download rather than in a CD (for 1575 Yen or around $18). And since the game and its website are in English, it’s pretty accessible to non-Japanese.

CP is broken up into five 3-minute stages (two included in the demo). There are three ways you can lose in each stage: 1. by losing all your health, 2. by letting too many enemies get by you, and 3. running out of time before you defeat the end boss. To succeed at the game, you have to balance the use of your boost, which lets you get to the boss faster, but makes it more difficult to destroy the enemies who are after you and your mothership.

Like many good shoot ‘em ups, you have to play each stage over and over to get a feel for your abilities and the enemy patterns. But with the life bar and short stages, Cloudphobia pretty forgiving for beginners. And did I mention that it’s a really pretty game? The illusion of speed that CP manages to pull off with relatively minimal production is pretty astounding, in my very humble opinion.

To top it off, there’s a second character option that uses a “vibroblade” instead of a gun. His name is Núllpunktur. Wow.

TIGdb: Entry for Cloudphobia

Hey, It’s ZUN!

By: Derek Yu

On: December 5th, 2008

ZUN

Earlier this year the shmup god ZUN, creator of the incredibly popular Touhou series of doujin shoot ‘em ups, was interviewed (YouTube, 8:30 in) on NHK’s The Net Star, a Japanese television show about internet culture. (NHK is Japan’s big public broadcasting network.) So if you ever wanted to see the face of the man behind “Team” Shanghai Alice, here you go. Nice hat!

And for those who are unfamiliar with the doujin shoot ‘em up scene, check out our Introduction to Doujin Shmups article, written by Shoot the Core’s Postman in ’07.

TIGdb: Entry for Team Shanghai Alice

(Source: Zepy, via Canned Dogs)

Melbius

By: Derek Yu

On: November 4th, 2008

Melbius

Arma Eater is hands-down one of my favorite artists, so finding this game on his site was a nice surprise, and I will eagerly and unabashedly take this opportunity to introduce you to his artwork. Melbius, which is on the front page of his website, is a horizontal-scrolling shoot ’em up starring Melby, a character from one of his upcoming projects. In the game you can collect and switch between one of four weapons, which charge over time.

To be honest, what I’ve played of the game thus far is slightly underwhelming. Not bad, by any means, but nothing special, in my opinion. That eyeball/crab monster is pretty awesome, though!