Retro Reboot SHMUPtember | Deathsmiles (Xbox 360)

• Developer: CAVE Interactive

• Published by: Aksys Games (NA)

• Release date: June 28th 2010 (Xbox 360 version)

By the mid-2000's, as video games were growing more in popularity, some of the genres I grew up loving like SHMUPs were being regulated to the "niche" genre, as the conventional mindset for game design was cultivated to appeal more to the growing casual audience. While I can understand the repetitive nature the games provide, Shoot'em Ups (and fighting games) served as a brilliant cornerstone for my view on game design and philosophy. They combine the proper balance of tools at your disposal to defeat what you need to, while you're heavily reliant on hand-eye coordination, quick thinking, sharp muscle memory, and keen reflexes to make you a better game player.

This is probably one of my more snobby, elitist takes, but this made video games worse on a mainstream level, and by 2005, I really hit burnout once I noticed the shift. It took me a long time to show genuine interest in the modern games during that stretch. it was when I started to notice titles like Bayonetta, and the subject of today, Deathsmiles.

CAVE Interactive is the grandfather of Danmaku shooters (the DonPachi series, and their style remains heavily influential. Needless to say, at a point where I was deciding if I was even interested in a Wii, PS3, or Xbox, learning this one was a 360 exclusive console release gave me the incentive I needed. The game came pack with not only the arcade version, box a beautifully spruced ep Xbox 360 edition that gives the sprite work a magnificent HD overhaul and crystal clear audio. It ALSO comes with the Mega Black Label Edition, that adds Sakura as a playable character.

Suffice to say, Deathsmiles is what the doctor ordered for me. With its smooth gameplay, gorgeous visuals, and amazing music, without this game, my delay to current era of gaming would have taken longer. Very much like Ikaruga, the curtain bullet design keeps you locked in to your location while balancing where your firepower is directed. That also relies on which character you chose to play.

The for main girls, Windia, Casper, Follett, and Rosa, sport different attack/elemental styles. They each fire straight ahead, assisted by an auxiliary pet that provides secondary fire with unique characteristics, like enemy tracking or rotating around the player in various patterns. for instance, Casper has a piercing lightning strike that goes through opponents, while Follett covers the screen more. Rosa moves the slowest, but deals a ton of damage. And Windia has fairly decent balance all around. It puts me in the mind of how R-TYPE established its weaponry and ship variations. While the goth thing was something I was never too fond of, I like their designs. They seem like Touhou style characters. Given the plot of the game, I remain surprised an anime OVA was never developed. This came out years before Puella Magi Madoka Magica hit the scene and helped pull anime out of the financial rut it was in with the subgenre I like to call "adorable girls in terrifying situations". There were Drama CDs, which is cool. But there's no localization, so...

Getting used to shooting behind me took a little getting used to, but it becomes second nature very quickly. The waves can be generous, but the screen becomes filled with projectiles super fast, so there will seldom be a time to rest. This places great importance on how to attack: holding down the fire button will sustain a heavy stream, but you'll move noticeably slower. This also applies when utilizing the area targeting, where the girls can lock onto an enemy for as long as you hold down the button, or sustain damage. It's a useful skill for boss battles, yet can be a little tricky to pull off, especially if you're playing Casper, who has the highest skill ceiling.

Despite the daunting wave of enemy fire, Deathsmiles has a very polite hitbox, indicated by a red and yellow glowing heart that emanates from the center, so the girls may look like an overly huge target, but there is room to be very nimble and doesn't sacrifice the art detail. The wave of enemy bullets are a bright purple, with hard outlines to indicate their damage point. Everything possible was done to give the player the clearest view of what's safe and what's hazardous.

I was never a true KILLER in Deathsmiles, and I'm terribly out of practice. But the longer I sat and played, the better I got. Sure, you have infinite continues in this release of the game, but I began to make a challenge to clear each route while dying as little as possible. The Mega Black Label version comes with the Level 999 difficulty, so if you wanted to turn your senses on Ultra Instinct, by all means, go for it.

Going back to the visuals, GODDAMN, this game is still beautiful. There is so much dynamic animation going on, and there's a ton of life in the backgrounds, foregrounds, and from the enemies, it's easy to get lost in Deathsmiles. With its freakish bosses and elaborate sprite work, it's one of the most gorgeous SHMUPs with enough depth to rival a Dali painting.

Especially the crystal clear Xbox 360 version. I do love revisiting the Arcade version, for a game developed on a single monitor, it's quite impressive. In both versions, there is a tremendous amount of slowdown and dropping of frame rates, which can be a little annoying (depending on what kind of SHMUP player you are). In Deathsmiles, it can save my life from time to time, I'm on record for stating that.

While the endless waves of bullets can seem intimidating, Deathsmiles is very good at being an entrypoint for people that may want to dabble in the Danmaku style of SHMUP. It's beginner friendly enough to not overwhelm players, as the lighter difficulties are perfect for getting the feet wet. Not too unforgiving for its time, and the charming characters make it approachable. The lore isn't super deep, it's straightforward enough to give one a read on each of the girls' personalities (Sakura is my favorite, I find her the most interesting). It's just enough to add interest in a genre that did not try too much to get plot-heavy. Not that it necessarily needed that, but developers like CAVE and Treasure like to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Just playing it for the last few weeks, I got hooked. Deathsmiles is a treat for anyone that appreciates a solid SHMUP, and while it wasn't the grand innovator, it certainly piqued enough interest to breath life in a genre, and may be attributed to being a game that inspired a generation of independent creators to play their own hand in developing a Danmaku.

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Verlane@gamefixshow.com

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