G-Darius HD Steam version

While the game performs faithfully to the arcade original with accurate emulation, the game name is still misleading as the visuals are more or less the same with the player ship being updated and the edges no longer looking jaggy in HD Mode so it's basically G-Darius in upscaled high-res glory. The Steam version of G-Darius HD has on more game mode exclusive to it, G-Darius Exhibition, which is an experimental game mode offering ultrawide gameplay experience with the HUD and in-game UI re-positioned. That game mode puts Playstation emulators with widescreen feature to shame with more accurate emulation M2 has come up with so far.

Some of the SNES and Genesis emulators have the widescreen feature but the games were designed with original aspect ratio in mind so there may be issues with that emulation feature. To get a true widescreen experience for SNES/Genesis games on those emulators, the games will need to be modified with widescreen in mind with the modification saved as a patch for the roms. But in case of Darius 1 & II, why would you want to come up with a widescreen patch for Genesis version of them when you can experience the arcade version instead? Just buy the compilation game or something like Darius Cozmic Collection for instance.

Like the previous M2 Shot Trigger games, some of the game modes for G-Darius HD are exclusively new which included M2 modifying the games with their own feature additions and other stuffs. As G-Darius Exhibition is an experimental game mode on what it's like to have a dual-screen game just like the other Darius games in the arcades excluding Darius Gaiden, only the boss battle feature made the cut although not all bosses are present in that mode. It's an awesome addition but if only it includes the whole game.

There was even a campaign taking place at Tsukumo PC shop's second floor at Akibahara where the Steam version of the game was being demonstrated there in G-Darius Exhibition game mode, allowing people to experience the ultra-wide gaming with sub-woofer installed in the seats. Sub woofers installed in the player's seats of the arcade cabinet have been a thing ever since the original Darius hit the arcades. Darius Burst Another Chronicle is the latest to have the similar cabinet setup. Like Darius I, II and Darius Burst Another Chronicle (Part of Chronicle Saviors) PC versions, there will be support for multiple monitors for G-Darius Exhibition game mode for G-Darius HD.

Mikado's Shooterfes event of this year

This one's a different story and something I don't blog about but from the list of games that will be displayed in Shooterfes event from Mikado that will take place this April, the game based on Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid franchise as published by Bushiroad and developed by Kaminari Games happens to be part of that list and that is reasonable for me to blog about since the game caused a controversy-to-be recently. The philosophy against such disturbing stuffs like those depicted in that game is stricter than before ever since I discovered a disturbing Netflix movie that caused a similar controversy two years ago but I don't know for sure if anyone is going to call out Kaminari Games and Bushiroad in a harsh way for that or not.

I should have been reminded earlier of a similar controversy SNK caused at a time when they released a series of those games for DS in the late 2000s although SNK was already given proper chances when they went back to producing good games again starting from King of Fighters XIV onwards. The concept of those games released on DS was about investigating and conducting checks on the subjects to determine if there's a mark on them somewhere and it was sickening and disturbing. At that time, SNK got away with it and we can recall some western reviewers giving the first game an instant 0/10. If that's the case, the ones who gave that game a 0/10 may as well criticize the game Kaminari Games developed based on Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid franchise in such a harsh way for repeating that same controversy SNK and Omocat caused. There's no realization on what Kaminari Games had done and the same can go for SNK for those games they made for DS at the time. At least, SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy's story acts as a proper message although the character customization feature has made it hypocritical quickly. It's a disappointment due to questionable graphics and gameplay style with the game's ending where the pocket dimension collapses and the game presentation having a lack of potential. It's better to be mediocre or mixed bag than being scored less than 5/10. However, this is not the case of the Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid shmup game for having more flaws than what KOF Sky Stage and SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy have.

Other companies like Platinum Games, Granzella and the one behind G-Mode Archives to name a few will be involved besides Bushiroad and in case of Platinum Games, they have Sol Cresta to be shown at the event with Granzella showing R-Type Final 2. Game center Mikado already made livestreams of those two games as well as the Cave shooter games ported by Livewire for Switch. Other recent games include Cotton Reboot and Cotton Fantasy as well as recent ports of existing games to Exa-Arcadia platform such as Crimson Katana Exa Label, Cotton Fantasy Exa-Arcadia version, etc. Other upcoming Exa-Arcadia games are off-topic to this upcoming event as they are not shmup games.

There are many interesting and good contents from Netflix and Bushiroad with some Korean dramas and movies recently released on Netflix being a massive hit for instance. Those are what you should watch instead. There are also interesting shmup games out there in this April's Shooterfes list and M2 Shot Triggers, Arcade Archives, R-Type Final 2, Sol Cresta, Cotton Fantasy and Cotton Reboot to name a few are what you should take a look at instead of some disturbing shmup game Kaminari Games developed. You can buy that disturbing shmup game if you want but the filthy and sickening influence that caused many developers including Kaminari Games to make such a disturbing shmup game cannot be thrown away easily.

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid shmup game controversy?

If "fan-service" is the only thing Kaminari Games had without anything else like a message or mistake realization when making a shmup game based on Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid franchise, perhaps, I sense a bigger gaming controversy drawing near. Back then, during the game development of Omori from Omocat and her team, there were already some controversies including the one involving some indecent words on the main character's T-shirt. She already realized her mistake at the time and fast forward to when the game, Omori, was finally released, it was quite successful with positive reviews. This one from Kaminari Games will put the previous gaming controversies I discovered to shame. Of course, there are other shmup games out there that are more disturbing than this and they happened to be released in recent years.

These are the following reasons on how the controversy-to-be regarding the game based on Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid franchise could happen:

1. Damage portraits taken from Caladrius - The bosses have multiple phases and when you complete one phase like that, a portrait of the boss character can be displayed. For the player character's side, the same thing can happen if you lose a life in Caladrius. In the Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid shmup game, you can switch between three active characters and each character has her own health gauge. Taking damage decreases health and triggers such portrait taken from Caladrius. For boss battles, the same thing applies to some of the bosses. Needless to say, the game consists of the characters of multiple age-ranges with some of them looking like pre-teens or something. It's basically a gaming controversy waiting to happen since even the pre-teened characters are put in the mix for the gameplay with Caladrius elements.
2. Questionable character design and hybrid - We can complain about weird character hybrids all we want but rather than complaining about it countless times, why don't we redo something with more decent character design unofficially? The character concept from the source material is already questionable enough and Kaminari Games had made things in the game quite disturbing.
3. Worst way the enemies and bosses are defeated in a shmup game - We thought that Natsuki Chronicles had the worst explosion effects when enemies are defeated in the land of 8th-Gen console era but this one from Kaminari Games goes in an unusual way. The enemies are blown away with trails of static smoke when defeated like you're playing a modern Bomberman game or Super Smash Bros and the bosses retreat upon defeat like you're playing a platformer game or something. At least, in Sisters Royale, the enemies explode upon defeat and the boss characters blow into large amounts of particles, pieces of crystals and other effects upon defeat while the game still resembles Castle of Shikigami series. Even KOF Sky Stage has the modern boss defeat effects that slow down the game.

The first reason as described above is the most obvious one on how the gaming controversy could happen for real but as this is the game based on Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid franchise, it's not like Kaminari Games or Bushiroad is fully to blame for such controversy. The others' opinions on the game may be positive just because it's based on Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid franchise like they can dismiss my thoughts on how controversial it is as something bullshit and whiny.

A game like this that's disturbing and released on Switch had become one of the reasons on why Tommy would make offensive remarks on that console on the forum while manufacturing the Amico. Indeed, the Switch has tons of mature games besides the family-friendly games and the games with ESRB T ratings but the real offense from him is the lack of research and labeling the Switch in such an ignorant way that the Switch owners would get offended by him. The recent crowd funding from Intellivision at Start Engine also had a share of ignorant remarks about how such games like the one developed by Kaminari Games had divided families apart.

For the game center Mikado's part, I think that their support streams for Raiden IV are the final straws for MOSS and Kaminari Games after the Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid shmup game's release.

Controversies regarding Intellivision Amico

It's quite a long time since I last blogged about the TRDR Pocket which had its own share of gaming controversies. They even attracted other content creators like Yongyea & Angry Joe who could be last straws for Soulja Boy's gaming controversy history. I had worked on some 3D animation and computer graphic stuffs which were seriously time-consuming as well as worked on the Phosh Shell theme which can be applied to whichever Linux OS that uses that desktop environment.

In case of the Intellivision Amico saga, the controversy started with many problems including the main problem starring Tommy's horrible and disrespectful attitude towards gamers, critics and content creators. When the Amico was being criticized, he had the audacity to label gamers, critics and content creators various things. He even insulted the Nintendo Switch console on the online forum, AtariAge, by calling it some disturbing term I won't mention here. There happened to be a series of drama surrounding the Amico like he established a cult of Amico shills or something where they made positive and defensive opinions on the console that still has yet to be released. Criticizing the Amico console doesn't make us the "haters" or something. Indeed, I have both the positive and negative opinions about it but with the amount of drama and controversies that affected Intellivision's reputation, I probably have more negative opinions.

Here are the opinions in regards to the Amico:

1. Remakes: Some of the remakes define the term completely with sufficient potential although it's not quite the same for some other games like Finnegan Fox for instance, which has the background blurred out or something as if pixel art style is disallowed.
   
2. Questionable control schemes for some games: The Amico controller has four trigger buttons with two of them accessible depending on how you hold it, a disc for directional controls and a touch screen feature. Battle Tanks has a questionable control scheme in which you use the touch screen as a virtual analog stick or something and that makes the controller look like an unusual way to play twin-stick shooter games.
3. Lack of progress for games: The new trailer has some additions and edits but the rest is still the same. Not to mention that Flying Tigers on Amico has the worst explosions when the enemies are destroyed. They make the game look like some free hobbyist-indie game you could discover from Newgrounds or maybe Shoot The Core website.
   
4. A game box with RFID card and NFT coin: The presence of the NFT coins signals the start of the greed but things about the Amico are already fishy enough.
5. Game Development Rules: Some of the rules reminded me of the ones for Exa-Arcadia platform in which the Amico version must have something exclusive although there's no easy telling of the amount of exclusive differences/additions other games have on Amico and Exa-Arcadia.
6. Stolen assets used in some Amico games: As if Rangok Skies or some other mobile games didn't cause controversy enough for using stolen assets, some of the Amico games would, like Battle Tanks & Moon Patrol for instance with Battle Tanks looking more obvious. A stupid defense from Tommy, "Placeholder". It's kind of like saying that it's surprise mechanics when it's still clearly gambling with real money in video games in various ways.
7. Financial disadvantage for game developers

From the list of opinions above, things are not that good for Amico. And if that's not enough, Intellivision of today has recent financial trouble and even their crowd funding at Start Engine failed. Who would want to buy the Amico console, anyway? Also, the weirdos had a treacherous way to tell the others that they're not allowed to have opinions about the Amico until they've played some games like Shark Shark. Like what kind of idiot would tell you that? And what's the point of making a rant video before the product's release then? Do you even tell Angry Joe stupid shit like that before whatever game comes out? With a weirdo-style attitude you show towards such content creators like him, maybe it's best that they either ignore you or block you.

Another disrespectful problem from Intellivision was that they boldly called the popular game controllers from 8-Bit and 16-Bit eras complicated when the original Intellivision and Amico controllers ARE TRULY the OPPOSITE OF EASY. An NES controller looks simple for anyone to pick up and play and the same can go for the SNES, Genesis and PC-Engine controllers. Even the modern game controllers nowadays are having a common layout but not every game makes use of every portion of them. Even the arcade controllers from the 8-Bit and 16-Bit eras were labeled as complicated by Intellivision through their failed Start Engine crowd funding campaign.

Prior to the new Intellivision and Amico stuff, Tommy even had offended the fighting game fans back then as if he expected every fighting game to be played like Tekken/Virtua Fighter. His reviews on 2D fighting games back then were ignorant and I've figured that supporting those games at this time may be a key although the victory against the Amico console is already drawing near. Even if the victory reaches us for real, we're already off with something else as if the victory means nothing to us as many gamers are already interested in other game platforms instead of the Amico.