Bangai-o Spirits (nintendo Ds)

[meppi]

First post shamelessly stolen from another board. :fear:

JPN Release Date: 03/19/2008

Price: 4,800 yen

Players: 1-4

Genre: Exploding Missile Action

USA Release Date: (1up) 05/15/2008 / (IGN) 06/24/2008

Price: $29.99

Official Site: (does not work in Safari)

http://www.esp-web.co.jp/products/bangai-o/

Official Trailer:

Screens:

Characters:

BANGAI-O

Ruri (girl) - Masato (boy) - Hakase (meaning: Doctorate) (old man)

Weapons:

Homing

Bound

Napalm

Break

Sword

Bat

Barrier

Edit Mode:

Lets you create and share your own levels using the DS speaker and mic.

Level Editor Screens:

http://dol.dengeki.com/data/news/2008/2/29...5f61314e18.html

http://dol.dengeki.com/data/news/2008/3/7/...4ced665197.html

http://dol.dengeki.com/data/news/2008/3/14...75509032ce.html

IGN Interview with D3 the US Publisher

http://ds.ign.com/articles/855/855028p1.html

[meppi]

Not sure how many have played the original on N64 or the semi-remake on the Dreamcast, but there's finally a sequel released of this incredible game! Well in Japan anyway.

Since I couldn't wait for a European release date and as I'm home right now for a whole week, I decided to order my copy from Play-Asia and pay a bit extra for express delivery.

The best thing is, I just got a call from FedEX asking me if they can deliver it to me tomorrow around noon.

For the people not knowing what this is all about, here's a couple of vids:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v7dCioi4&NR=1

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=8kOTZFRI2eE

If there's anyone out there who is also ordering this game and wants to share self made maps (yeah, i know it's a long stretch. ;P ) let me know.

[Gnash]

Looks really cool but what's up with those pixelated graphics on some of those images. Kinda stinky if those are the actual graphics.

[meppi]

Looks really cool but what's up with those pixelated graphics on some of those images. Kinda stinky if those are the actual graphics.

Don't worry about the pixelated crap.

You won't have time to notice it when you're playing the game.

It happens when you've just countered a bunch of enemies firing about 80 bullets and rockets at your head and you explosion of counter rockets goes up to 200.

So at that moment there are about a gazillion bullets and rockets on the screen at once, along with plenty of enemies as well.

The game is simply crazy like that.

I got the game yesterday and have been playing non-stop. (Between scanning the first Mean Machines magazine )

At first it's all a bit confusing since the game is so different from the originals, but slowly everything starts falling into place once I started getting my head around the new weapons and the new gameplay options.

There are so many different ways you can tackle a level, it's all a bit overwhelming really.

That being said, ever since the game clicked with me, I'm loving every second of it.

Just had a quick look at the edit mode and it seems to be put together with lots of care and attention to detail.

Very easy to use and yet has lots of options to create just about any level you'd like.

I can see myself losing many months on this game already.

The games only been out for a week in Japan and there are already 5 official downloadable Treasure levels on their site (which you save on your pc as sound files):

http://www.esp-web.co.jp/products/bangai-o...l_download.html

A very nice addition is the bat and sword close range weapons, especially the bat.

When you hit an enemy with the bat he goes flying across the screen and whatever he touches received damage and if it's a non static object, it is hurled alongside it.

I'm loving the way you can catapult enemies and objects and thus slingshot them into each other, using them as projectiles.

Didn't understand from the movies how the bombs worked, but now I do.

Very smart to keep the regular circle pattern when simply letting go of the bomb button, but when you want to specifically target certain enemies, you can press towards them, release the bomb and you missiles will move that way in a much denser pattern.

Lots of depth in this game, I love it!

If you've never played a previous Bangaioh, it might take a while longer to get the game to click, but it's so worth it. Pure arcade style action with so much diversity in the stages.

There's even a Super Mario Bros Stage in there. :laughing:

And I've heard there's also a Tetris and pacman stage, but I haven't played those yet.

There are 160 stages in total, along with 24 free spots for self created or downloaded stages.

But like I said before, you can save extra stages on your PC or even an iPod as MP3 files and load them into the DS by using the microphone.

I'm having a blast trying to beat my own score and times on certain stages.

And I've was up till 2AM last night working on my own stage, which is far from done, but I want to get everything just right so that it's as good as a regular professional stage, and that takes a lot of play testing. :wink:

This is my game of the year so far.

[puslar_t]

I'm waiting for the English version because I don't want to miss out on this game's zaniness!

[robin911]

It looks like a crazy shoot game. I download it some days before,maybe I should try it now~~

[Phillyman]

I just started playing it tonite, Cant do too much since I dont understand Japanese.....but fun none the less

[wazzal]

This game is indeed quite fun, yet some stages seem fairly frustrating at times. the small screen is a bit buggard, but overall I enjoy it much. Though the language barrier does get me stuck at times in the game. but i Will continue playing it until a US version is released.

And due to the language barrier, the dreamcast version seems much better to me at this time, which btw I plan on completing this summer! the "data" part on the disc started peeling off a couple years ago :( hope i can at least complete it though!

And I have yet to play the N64 version...someday

[meppi]

I was just about to start on translating the menus, when I remembered that I'd seen a couple of translation posts of Bangai-o Spirits before where people have translated parts of the menus, so I can just as well copy those and fill in the rest myself..

When you have clicked Free Play and entered or confirmed your name:

1P モード (1 Player Mode)

ワイヤレスモード (Wireless Mode)

When you have clicked 1 Player Mode:

ROMステージ (ROM Stage): To play the regular 160 stages in the game.

バツクアツプステージ (Back-Up Stage): To play a downloaded or self-created stage.

プレイデータロード: To watch a replay of a certain stage.

REGULAR WEAPONS:

ソード (Sword): Just like it says. A sword that can be used to attack and also cut down enemy missiles.

バット (Bat): Similar to the sword in that it is a close range weapon, except it is able to reflect enemy projectiles instead of cutting them down.

シールド（Shield): A shield that allows you to block incoming attacks. However it is weak against attacks from all sides.

ホーミング (Homing): Normal homing missiles. Can either be fired one way by holding a direction and fire button or left on auto by just holding the fire button.

バウンド（Bound): Shots that can bounce off of walls and other obstacles. Do not home in necessarily but are made to bounce in an enemy's direction.

ブレイク（Break):Shots that have high penetration. Allow you to destroy 2 enemy missiles with one shot.

ナパーム（Napalm): Have high power and blast radius, and will still damage surrounding enemies when shot down. Are easy to shoot down and have low penetration however.

EX WEAPONS:

ダイレクト（Direct): Good weapon against tough enemies. Missiles fly out and focus on certain enemies, directly attacking them head on.

フリーズ（Freeze): In a radius that extends just beyond the screen you are able to freeze enemies and their projectiles. The long you hold it before releasing the longer it lasts. Player is also invulnerable to projectiles while they are frozen.

リフレクト（Reflect): In a radius that extends just beyond the screen this attack sends enemies and their projectiles flying backwards. Can also send items flying.

The normal missile types have the same properties when used as an EX weapon. Just on a larger scale.

Also mixing different bullet types will combine their abilities into one missile type.

I believe this should cover all the most important parts, if I should have missed a part and you want a translation of something, let me know and I'll do my best to translate it.

[Guest thefunkyredcaboose]

Is the DS version worth it? I love the old ones but haven't had a chance to pick it up yet.

[meppi]

Absolutely. One of my favorite DS games without a doubt.

I'm even going to be the European version as well when it's released to support Treasure in making this little gem, and hopefully send a message that we want more of these kinds of games.