En Eins Perfektewelt Anastasis

Similar to how the prequel had the major update, making it a complete game, En Eins Perfektewelt Anastasis, is said to be the complete edition of the second game, to accomodate with the celebration of the game's second version release 10th anniversary. The first arcade release was on System Board Y2 with the second one released on Nesica X Live 11 years ago. However, because of the delay for quality improvements, the game was released recently this year.

The game had a location test last year and when it was shown in action, its presentation still resembles the previous releases and future arcade games are released on the arcade systems of the generations later than the Taito Type X2's generation. Speaking of the Type X2, the OS running it had completely ended support but the original Nesica X Live service is still on-going to this day and it's strange to see one more major game update arriving to that platform way too late. The last game update to be released on that platform was Blazblue Central Fiction 2.0, the same update that is available on consoles, PC, and Nesica X Live 2 for the arcades.

Unlike the prequel, En Eins Perfektewelt never had a console/PC release at all. There may be rumors of a PC release but I don't want to speculate about it. Some of the articles about the updated game, En Eins Perfektewelt Anastasis, have inaccurate information about the arcade platform it's released on but some of the official tweets from certain Japanese arcade centers will prove otherwise.

Windows 10 IOT in arcades

A few years ago, Taito started using Windows 10 IOT on the on-going Type-X3 machines running the Nesica X Live 2 service before other companies started using that OS on their newer arcade systems. Konami's already doing that with the new Bemani PC for Beatmania IIDX Lightning Model cabinet, Namco's already doing that with BNA1 ever since two years ago and Sega's already doing that with Sega ALLS. The strange thing is that there are two different versions of the same game by Bandai Namco in the arcades with one of them being on the newer machine with newer contents.
Tons of games have been doing that and the same may go for some of Konami's rhythm games in the arcades in a different way in which new arcade systems apply to the new cabinets while the game is more or less the same with the one on the new cabinet having new features and its own exclusive songs. DDR A20 and DDR A were on-going simultaneously although DDR A20 is a sequel. At that time, DDR A20 was Japan-exclusive until it was released on the previous arcade cabinets and the arcades outside Japan although the palette is blue-ish instead of gold.
Then, about Nesica X Live 2 and All.NET P-Ras Multi 3, certain fighting games are re-released for those services with minor changes although the ones on All.NET P-Ras Multi 3 will have additional characters to match the console/PC releases or something like the upcoming Under Night In-Birth Exe:late [Cl-r] which will be released on PS4 and Switch as console releases with one additional character. There are even indie games that will be released in the arcades via All.NET P-Ras Multi 3 like Sound Shooting and Rolling Gunner to name a few.
There's also Exa-Arcadia which welcomes indie games although All.NET P-Ras Multi 3 may or may not take advantage of their capabilities for indie games on it. The rules are that games released on Exa-Arcadia must have exclusive contents. Anything that's exclusive to the arcade version cannot be implemented back to the previous versions. Somehow, the mobile version of Aka-To-Blue won't be discontinued after all although it won't have any support whatsoever. They had plan to discontinue the game on mobile in favor of the arcade version but that plan was scrapped. I guess that scrapping the mobile version of the game after the arcade/console/PC version is a sellout idea or some sort. The cartridges have some proprietary connection although nobody knows if there will be security features inside them.
I don't know if I get to see Exa-Arcadia games in the local arcades but if I happen to find them, I should be able to play them.

Blazblue Cross Tag Battle arcade version controversy

Ever since the release on consoles and PC, there have been flaws plaguing the game such as the lack of Arcade Mode, incomplete character roster, recycled assets and lack of proper opening in terms of animation.
If you've known the entire main series of Blazblue that started out in the same arcade system, you can probably suspect the fact of recycled assets. The character sprites from Blazblue series and Persona 4 Arena are in 720p although there are newer ones exclusively for Blazblue Cross Tag Battle. The backgrounds from Blazblue series and Persona 4 Arena are more or less the same. Even the effects are recycled from Blazblue series of games as well although some of the effects are redone exclusively for Blazblue Cross Tag Battle such as the new slash effects, the knock out effect, etc. Even the Distortion Drive backgrounds and Super Finish backgrounds are new as well, so are the new stage backgrounds. What people didn't know is that the stage backgrounds from Under Night In-Birth are redone or something in addition to the character sprites from that game.
In regards to the game opening, it's fully animated but it uses the opening theme that is suitable for arcade opening. Blazblue Continuum Shift II has one opening as its own which is the console opening and it's the same exact opening sequence for the arcade version. Well, I don't know if there will be an arcade opening for Blazblue Cross Tag Battle with Ver 1.5 update or something since the update has the altered HUD and balance changes or whatnot. There are rumors of the additional character, Naoto Kurogane, being added to the game as part of the update but for now, nobody knows if he'll be playable or not.
If there's no Arcade Mode for the arcade version, perhaps, the Training Mode is one of the free timing Single Player modes as the workaround for that absence. Also, like other fighting games in the arcades that offer nationwide online matches and local network matches, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle has those modes that cost the respective session points kind of like Sega's Border Break series.
The choices are as follows:

• The Nationwide Battle mode has four choices:
• The one that costs 50pts but I don't know the description of that feature.
• 3 matches for 100pts
• 6 matches for 200pts
• 9 matches for 300pts
• The local network match/Shop Battle costs 50p.

You can even buy additional points, customize controls and choose the characters from the main menu.
For the location test, the Nesica X Live 2 version will be used but the interesting thing about the game is that it is released for both Nesica X Live 2 and All.NET P-Ras Multi Version 3. All.NET P-Ras Multi Version 3 is Sega's superseding answer to Nesica X Live 2 with headphone volume adjustment, touchscreen for UI interactivity and support for external game controllers. Even Street Fighter V arcade version will have support for external game controllers although presentation-wise, it may fit Nesica X Live 2 platform even better instead of being a standalone arcade game. Also, regardless of the arcade platform, you can even view your combat data if you have played the game with the player IC card. Obviously, an universal player IC card seems to be recommended to avoid confusion but it appears that Street Fighter V arcade version is the first one to support that card with the Nesica logo on it so the confusion is assumed to be there as of this writing.
Speaking of the arcade game released on multiple arcade systems, the ones of the past were already released on multiple platforms with minor difference of graphics, sound and music. And no, I'm not talking about the arcade game having two versions with the latter one having additional stuffs or  with the player IC card support as that doesn't count here.
The arcade version will be released in Spring this year in Japan and who knows if things are linkable between two arcade platforms for this game? Will there be a cross-play feature in between those two?

Ikaruga on Switch

Zero Gunner 2 on Switch has widescreen support, altered explosion and smoke effects as the game was like remade from scratch by Zerodiv but the way they ported it to Switch caused more minor flaws. Ikaruga falls on the same era as Zero Gunner 2 as they started on Sega Naomi in the arcades before getting console releases on Dreamcast. Ikaruga was also released on other gaming platforms and the Xbox 360 version via XBLA enhances the graphics with Nesica X Live version enhancing the game even more. The Steam version is like definitive if you ask me as it is based on Nesica X Live arcade version which is based on XBLA version. The Switch version is commonly comparable to the Steam version. Like other versions of the game, you get vertical screen orientation support as well as various modes.
I hope the conversion for the Switch version is a decent one when it comes out at the end of this month as from what I saw of gameplay videos of Zero Gunner 2 Switch version, I was disappointed from the way that game was ported with strange way of objects falling for instance.

Million Arthur Arcana Blood by Square Enix & Examu

As we probably know, Million Arthur Arcana Blood is more or less the forth game to come out on Nesica X Live 2 service in the arcades. It is the second major one besides King of Fighters XIV. There might be releases of other games on that service like Ultra Street Fighter IV and Blazblue Central Fiction but that doesn't count as they were originally released on the previous-gen arcade system so to Playstation 4 and Xbox One, they are one-generation behind as if they can be ported to their predecessor consoles.
Originally, the Million Arthur series started off as the card battle game on mobile devices and the first one happened to be released outside Japan although the later ones had some Asian releases. The series is so popular that it has other media contents like the short-animated spinoffs which can be viewed on Square Enix's official account or something and especially the upcoming spinoff arcade fighting game. Similar to Nitroplus Blasterz and Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, you can summon Knights through their corresponding commands in addition to using special and super moves belonging to the playable character. Some of the characters don't have the actual names and are therefore, named as the type of Arthurs. You'll rather want to go for the good type of Arthur although the Thief Arthur is somewhat one of the fan favorites.
There are several game modes so far like the Local Network Match, Online Match, Story Mode/Arcade Mode, Training Mode, Tutorial Mode and even the Friend Match which is something I don't know of. And since this is the first arcade-exclusive on Nesica X Live 2, it can be more a challenge for players going for Single-Player modes. I don't know if you'll get interrupted by other players jumping in during those modes or not.
From what I saw from Baba Game Center Mikado's official YouTube channel, the interface of Nesica X Live 2 game selection screen has some elements similar to the Steam game page. There may be videos and screenshots to preview of course. I'm not sure if Steam TV Mode or Steam OS has similar stuff like that like you can see videos and screenshots of whatever game you're looking at. Right now, the game still has yet to be released and hence, the location test progress according to the latest update. Normally, during game location testing, the game is still in prototype form and video filming and phototaking of those games are not allowed. Not even video capture is also allowed as well but somehow, that arcade center has the rights to show the location test version in action. There are other gameplay videos of the game prior to the release date in Square Enix's official YouTube channel. Even the opening video from that channel has a confirmation that Team Arcana of Examu is the actual developers of the game. Before that video existed, I already had a guess that Examu might have developed it with Square Enix being the publisher probably due to the fact that the game has the word, Arcana, in the game title and it's a fighting game. Other fun facts included the assets and elements taken from other Examu games as well like Nitroplus Blasterz, Arcana Heart, etc.
The graphics are more or less better and on par with Arc System Works fighting games with 3D backgrounds and 2D sprites although the overall mixture makes them one generation behind like the game could have been suited for Playstation 3 and Vita releases. Blazblue Cross Tag Battle is also guilty of having previous generation era graphical assets but from the recent character reveal video from Arc System Works' official YouTube channel, the Distortion Drive/Super background is changed. Like Arcana Heart 3 Love Max, pressing ABC activates something similar to Extend Force which changes background.
The release date for the game will be 21 November in Japan.

Blazblue Central Fiction Ver 2.0

As announced from this year's EVO, the update would have Jubei as the playable character in Version 2.0 onwards along with the new stage and new intro music. If my guess was right about the game's trailer's end part after the introduction of Jubei, that music turns out to be the new arcade opening of Blazblue Central Fiction. The new opening features characters that are not shown in the previous opening. Not to mention that the intro is redone as well and so is the title screen. Other changes include the different HUD along with the balancing changes.
As this has TWO arcade versions, there are things to take note of:

• The Nesica X Live 2 version has online matches similar to Tekken 7 arcade version in addition to local network matches where machines running this game can be linked around the game center. Online matches connect the current machine to the machine from another video arcades.
• The Nesica X Live 2 version has machine grouping similar to today's modern Namco arcade games including Tekken 7.
• Some of the modes are ABSENT in Nesica X Live 2 version.
• You get to customize the system voice in Nesica X Live 2 version similar to the console versions of the game provided that you have the Nesica card and account.
• The title screen will have the Nesica X Live 2 logo at the bottom right if the game is on Nesica X Live 2 service.
• Machines can be linked locally regardless of which Nesica X Live service the game is running on.
• When you lose the match, you have the option to retry or quit. However, retrying the match requires an additional credit and there's no Character Select option. This applies to Nesica X Live 2 version unlike the original Nesica X Live version where the game goes back to whichever mode the winning player was in or the game goes straight to Game Over screen depending on the operator settings.
• The network icon is smaller in Nesica X Live 2 version and the HUD message that displays player name/shop name changes every time during the match.

My point for fighting games in the arcades is that some of the Single Player game modes shouldn't be interruptible if the cabinet is Single Player mode in which the machine would be connected to another machine for local network match. That can be a problem if you get interrupted on the local network in the middle of the Single Player mode at anytime. The training mode is fine and the best way to wait for some random opponent to pop up. At least in Street Fighter V, you have the option to turn on or off the random player encounter although the Arcade Mode is still absent to this day which may be a shame like it is one of the main modes that should be present in the game for consumer systems. So, I don't know if there will be a way to get around the random encounter thing for Nesica X Live 2 fighting games in the arcades as you're going to be interrupted even worse. Thankfully, the consumer system version may come in handy if you want to go for various Single Player modes.
For Nesica X Live 2 version, when you start the game, you have the option to go for Online Match or Local Network Match. If there's a player in the encounter list, you can choose to deal with that or search for another player through List Refresh option. If there's no one in the list, you can safely go for the Single Player Mode.

Blazblue Central Fiction

Well, this is the latest in the series and said to be the final chapter released on the consoles a year after the arcade release. The console release is based on the recent arcade update which contained all the acts along with more characters being playable. It also featured additional characters as DLCs which were also playable in the arcade version as the update so they were no longer console-exclusives. What is still console-exclusive is the Story-Mode along with some other modes you won't find in the arcade version.
And somehow, if the console-release isn't quite enough, it seems that Arc System Works had the guts to re-release the game for the arcades, this time, for Nesica X Live 2 service which obviously has online-match support similar to console releases of fighting games with Network Mode. Plus, the games running on that service will be in 1080p similar to Playstation 4 version of the Blazblue Central Fiction although there won't be so much differences whatsoever. It might be a strange move but certain things had to be done as needed for newer platform releases. Not to mention that the re-release of Blazblue Central Fiction to a newer service for the arcades is a core reason to keep the series alive ever since FK Digital having released Chaos Code on Playstation 4 based on the recent update of Nesica X Live arcade version which already had two additional characters way before the Playstation 4 version was announced. Sure, the Taito Type X2, Nesica X Live 1 and Playstation 3 are already quite old and the support for Windows XP Embedded for that Type X2 system had ended last year in which migration of the games on Nesica X Live 2 service and console releases for both Playstation 3 and 4 might be the reasons to keep the game going.
My better point is that Arc System Works should be making and publishing new fighting games for the Nesica X Live 2 service for the arcades if we want to see them getting a console release in the future after that besides re-releasing Blazblue Central Fiction. Do you expect other developers to migrate their popular fighting games to newer arcade platforms like that ever since Ultra Street Fighter IV on Taito Type X3?

The King of Fighters XIV

Well, it was really impressive to the fans of the genre when it was released with sufficient content to fill the goddamn Blu-Ray disc with the sufficient amount of playable characters, an Arcade Mode which is more or less the Story Mode along with other modes that increase the replay value.
Unfortunately, there may be flaws as well. The 3D background graphics are probably fine as well but the effects don't seem to cause the surrounding glow effects. Also, the character models are step backwards so to speak although the Ver 1.10 patch improves the shading with self-shadow effect. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be the same for the effects as they still don't cause surrounding glow effects. Even worse is that the effects are becoming a little bit blurry or something.
Plus, there may be an arcade version on the way coming in this year for Nesica X Live 2 which is the successor to the original for the Taito Type X2. The upcoming Nesica X Live 2 service runs on Taito Type X3 but unlike the original Nesica X Live, this one doesn't need connection to the local servers. Instead, the client machine gets a different setup for a different game. Plus, the Nesica X Live 2 service gets online match support for fighting games and its games will be running in 1080p. As The King of Fighters XIV uses Unreal Engine 4, obviously, a more powerful machine is required to meet the system requirements of that engine. Basically, a Core i5 along with 8GB RAM should be enough but the thing is, we NEED to know what the on-screen system specs are when booting up a Taito Type X3 game. On Type X2, you can see the graphics card model along with the amount of RAM but somewhere on the machine, you can see a sticker of the actual system specs. On Type X3 however, you can see the on-screen system specs whenever the game starts after going into desktop mode.
In the meantime, people can enjoy playing KOF XIV on Playstation 4 and it looks like SNK had done the right thing with it unlike Street Fighter V whose initial launch was missing tons of core stuffs and it already attracted disappointed fans along with those whiny gamers who don't care about those core stuffs like the Arcade Mode, Single Player Campaign Mode, etc. You've better jolly well be glad that King of Fighters XIV has Arcade Mode which is called the Story Mode. There isn't so much story contents going on in Story Mode like it may as well become an Arcade Mode which it already does to please the fans. The arcade version's existence is due to the success of the game on the console. So, let the Steam version exist one day based on the arcade version just like King of Fighters XIII Steam version and other Nesica X Live games posted to Steam.

Groove Coaster EX first-time play

Seems that Level 8 and above is already that difficult for me when I tried this game for the first time. Luckily at that time, there weren't so much people playing those games non-stop at the Bugis Virtualand arcade. Unfortunately, the coin mechanical problem is bound to be targeting the left Groove Coaster machine this time while the LCD Beatmania IIDX machine has the fixed coin mechanism. Perhaps, they repaired it according to some complaints from the players. However, what did they not fix though was the network connection for that machine and the router there was getting lazy or something and it TOOK A LONG FUCKING SWEET TIME TO SAVE MY GOD-DAMN NESICA DATA after finishing my first-play.

Crimzon Clover for Steam

This one's based on Nesica X Live arcade version similar to what Ikaruga was ported to Steam based on that as well. Ikaruga for Nesica X Live and Steam has additional enhancements as seen in Chapters 3 and 5 as well as the re-changed Game Start screen and the achievements. Crimzon Clover on Nesica X Live has the achievements, improved graphics in HD with newer sprites, as well as new music that isn't heard in the original version when in Unlimited Mode. Other major changes include the game ending, the UI as well as the new fresh Game Start and Title screens. The game ending surely has the simple 3D plane of the sea with some fog effect but other than those simple 3D graphics, the rest is 2D. And of course, the sound effects are changed as well as if the game is going beyond the doujin game quality.
The Steam version has the Training Mode as well as the Novice Mode and other stuffs that are beginner friendly and is based on Nesica X Live version. The trailer was first seen at Stunfest which was the shmup related event that already took place before it was made available for online public viewing via Steam client/website. Lastly, the game resolution. I don't know what the configurations for game resolution are like.
The Steam version of Crimzon Clover will be released sometime in June and be on the lookout for idiotic reviewers out there. We had already seen one doing such a bad review on Ikaruga Steam version and it looked like we might have hated that video.

Ikaruga for Steam Update

This one may look like an interesting reason to use Steam but that's not enough games ported to Steam from the arcades. It is somewhat likely that most of those games have been ported to the consoles from the arcades for some reason and PC gaming is somewhat a different story. There are also games in the same style as well but they are actually in the consoles and mobile devices, not Steam. Also, recently, it seems that Arc System Works had also joined Steam in addition to Capcom and SNK Playmore doing so for their upcoming fighting games released for the service, be it the old one or the new version of the old game.
For Treasure, it might be their recent entry to Steam with the first game for it being Ikaruga. It is based on Nesica X Live release as we saw from the screenshots such as the in-game interface, the title screen, achievements and so on. There's even the vertical and horizontal screen support as well as multiple screen ratios. The major enhancement in HD is probably from XBLA port which has better lightings, different colorization for the models and the sprites that are said to be taken from Gamecube version. From the Nesica X Live version, there are additional programming stuffs done to Chapter 3 and 5. Also, the game start screen is completely different compared to the original arcade version which displays the ship along with the pilot.
The Steam version is likely to be released this month and that took the small developer team the longer time to improve the quality of the game like porting from Nesica X Live version to Steam. If only the XBLA version has the patch to match the Nesica X Live version in the future, then we can see additional programming enhancements done to the game.

Magical Beat for PS Vita obtained

Originally in the arcades two years ago, the Playstation Vita release took place this year and after some time the Japanese version was released for the console, there's even the Asian release on Asian PSN in which I was finally able to play it and get the Nesica X Live like arcade experience.
Unfortunately, it looks like there isn't the online play feature for this version and instead, we get the ad-hoc feature in which it will disconnect the console from the network and perform ad-hoc connection. What a shame. I can assume that the arcade version has local network battle but then the game isn't that popular by then.
Firstly, the idea of putting Vocaloid music in a video game is a good thing but too bad it is done in the wrong way that the music sounds freaking repetitive compared to the rhythm games containing Vocaloid music I had ever played in the arcades such as Sound Voltex, Maimai, Project Diva, Groove Coaster, etc. The workaround is the alternative to this repetitiveness by putting in the music from other Arc System Works games such as Gulity Gear, Blazblue and so on. They sound even better and they are the better reasons to play this game.
Secondly, is the controls. Pressing down does nothing so you may have to use one of the buttons for instant drop. Also, there's another technique where you can scatter the pieces of the dropping block and placing them in specific location. I don't know how to do that and besides, I don't know how many buttons are there for the arcade version, is it 3 or 4? If it uses 4, things may have made more sense as if the forth button does something else to the dropping block.
Gameplay is something like Lumines but the way you merge the blocks is the use of Puyo Puyo method which means merging the blocks in any shape where-else in Lumines, you form a large rectangular shaped block by forming 2x2 of the same color. There can be 2x3 or 3x2 if you will for example but the minimum area you must form is 2x2. Just like Lumines, the merged blocks don't go off immediately once they are merged but unlike Lumines, you must time correctly when dropping the blocks instantly as the game is both the puzzle and rhythm game. Be on the lookout for nuisance blocks as well and the way you eliminate them is similar to the ones in Puyo Puyo series.

Groove Coaster Arcade

Originally an IOS game where you tap anywhere on the screen to the beat provided that you’re reaching those glowing notes. It may be like Audiosurf where you’re riding through the track but actually, you’re flying through the course of the song and you’re approaching those glowing notes. There are also hidden notes known as the Ad-Lib and you can’t see them unless you use the Ad-Lib item to turn them visible. The Ad-Lib notes are bonus notes and if you’re familiar with Rhythm games a lot, you can try to do the Ad-Lib sort of thing.

Control-wise, it is easy. You tap anywhere on the screen when you’re approaching the notes so think of this as Taiko No Tatsujin game but on the ride. For the arcade version, get the controller in which we have no idea what it is until the game is location tested sometime later this month.

Magical Beat for Nesica X Live

After the blog report on Jubeat Plus's Nico Pack which contained four Vocaloid songs, we had stumbled upon this arcade game with the Vocaloid music. This is Magical Beat for Nesica X Live by Arc System Works. That's right, you might have known the company that was the makers of Blazblue series. It turned out to be a puzzle game + rhythm game which may be comparable to Lumines series but unlike Lumines series, you can merge the blocks of the same color regardless of the shape where-else in Lumines, you are supposed to form a large block so that it can be eliminated by the vertical line which is going in the Right direction. In Magical Beat, you get three pieces of a block to drop compared to Lumines which has four pieces of the block which is a square shaped group of blocks similar to Tetris but the pieces of the block may be the same in color or different. Also in Magical Beat, you're supposed to drop the blocks to the beat for some kind of bonus and like Lumines, you're supposed to defeat your opponent to move on. Comparing to Lumines VS CPU Mode where you can have more space in which more parts of the board belong to you if you overpower your opponent, there will be nuisance blocks dropped onto the opponent board from the top similar to Puyo Puyo franchise and like that franchise, you can clear the blocks near the nuisance blocks to clear them as well. And be careful, if you over-reach the top of the board without any sign of block elimination whatsoever, you're considered defeated but before that, the cross marks on the top of board may indicate that you' re going to overreach soon that you may want to do some elimination and the cross marks are applied to all the top columns of the board. Indeed, you don't even see the warning signs on top of the board in Lumines in case you're reaching the top so be more careful.

Hell, the game was already out in late May and hopefully, people may get to enjoy it despite the music being done by the Vocaloid producer, KikuoP. In addition, you also get to play as the Blazblue characters as well as the music from Blazblue series which may be cool enough to get around the problem in case you're not comfortable with the default music that is in the game. Once again, it seemed that Arc System Works and the developers of this game had done right.

Akai Katana Shin for Nesica X Live

Ha, take that, stupid catastrophic judgment rumors of last year that were happening in May and October last year! It looked like nothing catastrophic happened in either months. In late May last year, there was an Xbox 360 version of Akai Katana as Akai Katana Shin. Originally an arcade version of the game two years ago, the Xbox 360 version is in full HD and widescreen. The backgrounds are no longer pixelated compared to other Cave shmup games as the game itself is in 16:9 just like Deathsmiles II and Otomedius G. In the Xbox 360 version, there’s also an exclusive level in addition to the additional modes. The Shin mode is quite deadly to me as you get to launch the deadly swords at the strong enemies. That looks pretty badass like causing lots of bloods from the boss characters.

This year, there will be the international release of Akai Katana Shin by Rising Star Games and the names of the game modes are changed in English language and the tutorial in English makes more sense for non-Japanese players. For me, I still don’t have this game as the only way to play this will be Games on Demand or the arcades. In addition, there will be Nesica X Live version which is based on Xbox 360 version but if there are bound to be Cave shmup games on Nesica X Live, there will be signs of pixelated graphics for sure in addition to the hi-res ones. Even the non-pixelated backgrounds don’t use full color for sure and for slowdowns, they have to be re-adjusted to fit the Taito Type X2 system specs. This is all taken from Arcadia magazine. Right now, there’s no release date for the Nesica X Live version but in the meantime, you can try the Xbox 360 version and especially for the international release in May this year.

Crimzon Clover for Nesica X Live

After Adventure Planning Service had completely finished their work on Trouble Witches for the arcade, Xbox Live Arcade and and Nesica X Live, they are planning to port the next doujin shmup game to Nesica X Live, Crimzon Clover. Crimzon Clover is basically the Dodonpachi clone that uses the graphics that match the graphical level of Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu. The controls are not like playing Cave shmup games however so you have to hold down both the Shot and the Focus keys to get the straight shot. In addition, you can use homing lasers at the enemies that are surrounding you and unlike Dodonpachi series, you can use Hypers like twice. While in the first Hyper Mode, you can activate the second one for twice the power. However, unlike Dodonpachi Daioujou, this one has like two levels of Hyper Mode power. Lastly, the pre-Hyper Mode is the bomb mode, that is before you reach the Hyper Level on the Hyper Bar.

The control layout isn’t that friendly enough on the keyboard so the best bet in playing this game will be via the game controller. Just remember, this game genre will not die. We’ll keep on seeing more shmup games in the future.

What’s new in the Nesica X Live version is that there will be two player support but right now, the site for that version had just opened via the teaser site style so we get to see more of the information after this blog post.