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.

Ray'z Arcade Chronology

Just how many re-releases are there? Many Psikyo classics were released on mobile like more than once with later releases being based on the Zerodiv ports. The same can go for Taito's Rayforce on modern consoles and Deathsmiles on PC with the City Connection port being part of the compilation with DLC characters for the first game. Even the original Darius is guilty of the same thing, one that is Arcade Archives version and the other being part of the compilation made by M2. A regular audacity ever since the past times is how overpriced Taito games are.

City Connection has plans for modern console releases of several Taito arcade classics although Puzzle Bobble 2 was already in Arcade Archives under ACA Neo Geo but that was a little bit graphically inferior to the other arcade version of the same game whose hardware is 32-Bit. A cool thing about the S-Tribute release of Rayforce is that you can set the in-game screen orientation without setting the external UI to be in the same screen orientation as the in-game. Since the game is based on the Saturn version, you get superior soundtrack although the graphics are inaccurate in horizontal screen mode and the S-Tribute version doesn't fix the flaws the Saturn version has. The real concerns are the input-lag and screen shimmering and City Connection was aware of the input-lag issue.

What can the upcoming M2 version do besides the fact that all the games in the upcoming compilation game, Ray'z Arcade Chronology are based on the arcade versions? Will there be a consumer mode for the all games that have different game modes? G-Darius HD had Ver. 2 and Consumer Mode you can choose from in addition to the initial arcade version. Like G-Darius HD, Raystorm and Raycrisis will have a similar treatment from M2, so other than the games being basically upscaled, the rest of the graphics are the same. The mobile version of Raystorm is said to have Hi-Res HUD and rearranged Stage 1 BGM as the exclusive additions but it's a shame that the upcoming compilation game will not have that Hi-Res HUD for Raystorm Neo HD.

One exclusive bonus is that you'll be able to try out the prototype, R-Gear, which has only one stage. Suffice to say, it's something as experimental as G-Darius Exhibition from G-Darius HD Steam version, the deepest part of the compilation.

As for the choice of modern console ports of Taito's arcade classics, you can choose to go for either the City Connection port or the M2 port of Rayforce. It's unexpected for the upcoming compilation game, Ray'z Arcade Chronology to be the next project from M2 and it's going to be released in March next year. Only time will tell what else will they work on in the future.

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.

Darius Cozmic Revelation - Mixed Impressions

Man, you call that HD when only the jagginess of the edges is gone without other enhancements in HD Mode of G-Darius in the compilation through upscaling? At least the other PS1 games that are ported to other modern platforms have remastered graphics whether they're standalone or part of the compilation. Even as an arcade shooter, the HD Mode should have REDONE graphics with true Hi-Res textures, various shaders and the explosion effects having Add/Screen type Alpha Blending. Raystorm HD already has remade graphics although something's off with the in-game aspect ratio and the remade graphics are not that great. The price is what turned many critics off the most as a result.

Recently, there was a PS1 emulation core in Retroarch that allows custom textures in PS1 games but until the recent time, having something like custom textures or hi-res textures on PS1 emulators is no easy feat due to the way the PS1 performs. The N64 emulators already allow that opportunity probably due to the fact that the N64 console has the RAM expansion stuff. Even the Dreamcast emulators have that same opportunity as well. The screenshots of the N64 and Dreamcast games on emulators I saw had the sharp looking textures with that mod. Perhaps, anyone can try having Hi-Res textures with the use of Beetle PSX HW core for Retroarch and there's even the Widescreen option in the emulators as well although not all games may look like that and there will or will not be inaccuracies depending on the setup. There are ways to make Hi-Res textures for Beetle PSX HW core.

I don't know if the HD port of G-Darius in the compilation is emulation-based or some sort but M2 surely specializes on the emulation quite well and especially for a 32-Bit console-era game like G-Darius which performs well in the compilation. The one in the compilation is based on the arcade version whether you choose HD Mode or Original Mode which is kind of like the Arcade Mode of various Cave arcade shooters on Xbox 360. The resolution is like extremely low, around 240p for those games but it's basically what the arcade version of those games is like originally.

Another game in the compilation is Darius Burst Another Chronicle EX+ which actually has its own additions like additional stages and additional music in Event Mode. It's the same repetitiveness as Chronicle Mode but Event Mode seems a little bit more reasonable like getting your score recorded for instance. The additional music that's exclusive to EX+ is what I anticipate the most upon hearing it from ZUNTATA's live stream of the compilation game and the music from the upcoming album CD being shown.

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.

Tetote X Connect ripoff game, Fantasy Partner?

The upcoming rhythm game from Taito is still in development and there's a game in China called Fantasy Partner which is blatant plagiarism. Pretty much most of the stuffs are similar but there are differences in UI skin, characters, song list, background and even the cabinet. Like Tetote X Connect, the ripoff game's machine is seen running Windows 10 IOT or something.
As if those nerds' behavior isn't creepy enough, a ripoff game of Tetote X Connect exists to spread it around all over besides the genuine one that is bound to be released in the arcades in Japan although I don't know if it will be released outside Japan or not.
Further updates about Tetote X Connect include changes in the gameplay like the addition of the special notes and the removal of poses as well as the fact that the game will be playable in JAEPO event. I forgot to mention that it uses the GP system similar to what Border Break uses. After the song, you return back to the Menu screen where you can customize things or proceed to the Music Select again.

Some Bilibili video of this is the comparison video of Tetote X Connect & Fantasy Partner in this link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av84116398.

As well as various tweet links I had seen:
https://twitter.com/T1ca1m/status/1218521215876255745
https://twitter.com/Xiao_ye_P/status/1219586114870079488

Tetote X Connect for arcades

I don't know if I'm going to have a mixed or bad impression about the upcoming Tetote X Connect from Taito that will be coming out in the arcades this year after seeing the preview video of the gameplay in action from 4Gamer's Official YouTube Channel. It's quite concerning to me when it comes to the gameplay concept like who's going to it when it comes out sometime this year? Also, the location test will be taking place late this month as of this writing.
From the game's official website and Wikipedia article, it mentions something like Ballroom Dancing as the implemented concept technology-wise but this kind of dance is more difficult to replicate than the standard dance that is doable in dance games using the Kinect. Is the partner character doing all the spinning for you when you're holding that Hold Note without release? Well, that's my imagination as I don't know if there's a special Hold Note like that or not. I also don't know if the body turning is recognizable by the Kinect or something. Will that count as a miss if you don't turn your body around to the Body Turn Note?
Then, there's what going's to turn the others off, the game where you dance close to the screen with the partner character like you're doing Ballroom Dancing. The game uses touch screen feature along with some technology that detects your posing. There may be times throughout the song where you're supposed to strike a pose and even before the song starts, there will be calibration tests that require that you strike poses as well. It's kind of comparable to the Yankee Doodle/Patty Cake minigame from Project Diva F series on PS Vita except that the on-screen arrows/circles are not on-screen notes whatsoever in that minigame.
I don't know if there will be people doing the Ballroom Dance in the arcades to whatever Groove Coaster song that is playable in Tetote X Connect or not. As of this writing, there's the preview video from 4Gamer's YouTube Channel of Taking Off by Sato which you can play in Groove Coaster in the arcades, mobile or PC.
In Fit Boxing for Switch, you're doing the boxing moves to the beat according to the on-screen notes and the vocal guides by the coach, INDIRECTLY using the Joycons. You don't need to play that close to the TV or the tablet unlike the upcoming Tetote X Connect where you have to play close to the screen as it uses touchscreen for the notes.
You know what else is controversial? The usage of GP system similar to the one in Sega's Border Break and you have the options to go for higher amount of GPs for more credits. In fact, I don't know if there's a Continue box telling you if want to continue the game or not that brings you to the Main Menu screen. By continuing, I mean inserting additional credits and answering "Yes" and then selecting the amount of GPs.
As of this time, it seems that Arcade Heroes already had an article about this upcoming game although things seem to be quite deep for me. Taito will have a livestream on the day the location test takes place.

Even if the game comes out in the arcades, I have no plans to play it as there may be concerns about how gross I can be if I play it.

Groove Coaster on Steam

As a celebration to Space Invaders 40th Anniversary, the Steam version of Groove Coaster is based on Groove Coaster 3 in the arcades in terms of the interface and stuff. You get Linka/Linker the only navigator so far ever since her debut in Groove Coaster 3 in the arcades as well as the initial songlist which is quite good with paid DLCs songs to follow in a similar vein to Groove Coaster Zero and 2 on mobile.
There are tons of differences between the Steam and arcade versions. Firstly, the game supports multiple aspect ratios in addition to the aspect ratio that matches the arcade version although this is one game that isn't anything intensive whatsoever since it's arcade version runs on the machine with 1-cored Intel Atom CPU with the NVIDIA branded modern graphics card with 1GB of system RAM. Not to mention that the game uses simple graphics and even the FMV for some Groove Coaster games in the arcades runs smoothly as well. Indeed, there is an FMV video for Groove Coaster EX which is processed without any lag. The second thing is, the theme music is changed for Steam version along with the Credits music which still uses the original Groove Coaster credits music, not the one from Groove Coaster 3 since that song is counted as one of the songs from the initial song list. The third difference is the interface design difference as well as the fact that you can turn off/on the navigator and switch the navigator voice if you'll like.
One thing to take note is that the English version of Groove Coaster 3 and later for arcades has the English voice acting for one of the characters only. The other characters don't have the English voice acting whatsoever.
Like some other rhythm games that were ported to PC from the arcades like Beatmania IIDX Infinitas and Sound Voltex III with the former being the spinoff, not from the arcades although it has the elements from the arcade version of Beatmania IIDX series, Groove Coaster on Steam has both controller and keyboard support although the Steam controller is used for reference when it comes to controller tutorial dialog box, not the gameplay tutorial. As of this time, it appears that Sound Voltex III E-Amusement Cloud is linkable to Sound Voltex IV in the arcades but not Groove Coaster Steam Edition for whatever reason. To offer Nesica support for Groove Coaster on Steam and mobile so that it can be linked to Groove Coaster in the arcades is one silly idea as the control method of playing it is already different in the first place even if there's an unofficial Groove Coaster arcade-style controller.
In a sea of Groove Coaster games on consumer systems in the series, this is more or less Groove Coaster 3 on consumer systems after Groove Coaster 0, 1 and 2 on mobile and the game's interface is based on Groove Coaster 3 in the arcades.

Groove Coaster 4 First Play

Well, that's that. There's still no English Dub for the other two default navigation characters from Groove Coaster 3 EX and 4 but this is going to be more than the first time play of Groove Coaster 4.
So I made a visit to Century Square as it had made a recent return after a long time of renovation although there are tons of stores related to house stuffs like those for kitchens and bedrooms to name a few. The arcade there had made a return as well although the Beatmania IIDX machine was located elsewhere. The other rhythm games that remained there were probably Maimai, Sound Voltex, Jubeat, Drummania and of course, Groove Coaster. I believe that Dance Evolution Arcade machine was already relocated to other location in the past in favor of more active arcade games but there are other arcade games that happen to be placed in that arcade center such as Tsum Tsum Arcade version along with Initial D Zero which runs on the newest Sega arcade system.
One serious downside of this move from Virtualand is that although the arcade center in Century Square has the same card and card reader for inserting coins as the one in Bugis+, you can't use the card from the other arcade center for inserting coins in the arcade center you're currently in. It's ridiculous not to make the quarter-insertion card universal when compared to the past times where you can use the same card in the other arcades run by the same company. As I had the card that was for Bugis+ arcade center, that would throw me an error when inserting that card in the reader as if it isn't compatible. So, I was supposed to use the card that was for the Century Square arcade center as a result since I was at that arcade center. Sure, things were still working fine for other people despite having inserted the card supposed to be for the other location that threw me some error like the reader showed me some garbage on display. Have you ever seen an arcade center where only tokens/coins/cards for credit insertion are acceptable there but not other locations despite the fact that all those locations are run by the same company? From what I saw in the revitalized arcades in the US, even the Round 1 arcades there are using the card reader stuff as the replacement for coin slot for inserting coins. Question is, I don't know if the same card is acceptable through multiple Round 1 arcade locations there.
Then, about the machines' conditions. The one on the left has some technical problem regarding one of the booster buttons. Someone already reported that to the staff and the staff eventually covered the card reader for inserting coins with something made out of paper to indicate that something is wrong with that machine. What an useful indication but there should be a plastic cover or some sort. The one on the right as I played on had some kind of delay as it took time to initialize some stuffs.
Needless to say, I had already attempted the song, Echo, on the other rhythm game before this one but I forgot that I did that in the past. At that time, I didn't know much about that song until the recent time, I discovered a Virtual YouTuber cover of it. The song originally came out like several years ago and it is one of the Vocaloid songs to make use of English language entirely. Unfortunately, from the music structure, it's not easy to put the song in rhythm games without screwing it up.

Groove Coaster 4 Starlight Road

From what I had seen, some parts of the interface are still based on Groove Coaster 3 as if they look exactly the same or some sort. Like Groove Coaster 3, Groove Coaster 4 for the arcades will have the new nagivators, songs and even other stuffs to take a look at.
What's new in Groove Coaster 4 is the modification of the difficulty range similar to what other rhythm games do as well as the stage unlocking system and various online functions. Like Sound Voltex IV, you should be able to purchase/unlock items during the game using the in-game currency. To unlock additional songs will be to go to the game's player site provided that you have your Nesica account and that your account is linked to the Nesica card containing the play data for the game. The shop for unlocking songs is still there although there are changes to the song list. Needless to say, each song is quite expensive to unlock and it takes tons of runs to reach the sufficient amount of in-game currency known as Groove Coins. By taking tons of runs, you are consuming so much money for coins/quarters.
It was a great time regarding the crossover campaigns that happened in Groove Coaster 3 like those using songs from various Taito games or various shmup games which I already attempted in the arcades at that time. Lightning Strikes from Raiden III was one of the songs I attempted like I had a nostalgic memory of having played Raiden III in the arcades. One thing to note is that many of those shmup games involved in those events for Groove Coaster 3 already had the console ports although certain of them started off on the consoles, not the arcades, like Raiden V started off on Xbox One two years ago.

Space Invaders Extreme and Groove Coaster on Steam

This is originally on XBLA, DS and PSP and the Steam version is likely to be based on XBLA version or maybe something else. The release for Steam is part of Space Invaders 40th Anniversary celebration although Taito could have come up with a new Space Invaders game for the celebration instead. Back thnen, I had gameplay videos of the game that was played on my Playstation Portable although the videos were seriously blurry and choppy. Fast-forward to the recent time where I've been using the Lifecam webcam for clearer and smoother video although having HD video may mean the drop in framerate.
Another announcement from Taito is Groove Coaster Steam version. How do you play that when you know the controls for the mobile and arcade versions? Obviously, when it comes to playing Groove Coaster on Android emulators, the only way will be the mouse and that can be difficult that way. However, a standard game controller should be handy enough for the console/Steam versions of Groove Coaster although a console/PC version of today's rhythm games won't be easy to be frank as the rhythm games on mobile and arcades nowadays are being updated on a regular basis with new songs.

Densha De Go Reboots

The reboot took place last year with the release of the game on IOS and Android while the arcade game being released this year. Obviously, the arcade game of the same name as part of the franchise reboot is the most anticipated one with the cabinet design being modeled after the driver car of the specific train. The screens may represent the windows of the train car but that doesn't seem to be the case. Also, the fourth monitor is used for the touchscreen giving you virtual controls of the train in addition to the main physical controls like setting the train to accelerate or brake. The pedal is for horning and you use it for incoming bridges, incoming workers as well as the part where someone freaks out while you arrive at the station. Other on-screen settings include some brightness, the wiper as well as the upcoming objectives to appreciate and adhere by sliding the bar to the right and then adhering to the next speed limit for the orange box or the exact speed for the blue box. There's also the button that should be toggled on only after the doors are closed before you start driving the train.
Like the previous games in the series, you're supposed to drive to the next stop in time while obeying the rules. For the previous games, you get the schedule time and the main time. If the main time is reduced to zero, it's game over although this doesn't seem to be present in the reboot. The schedule time is still in the reboot though. It's just that you're presented on how much time left in moving from one stop to another. Getting negative time left means that you're seconds late. Also, the distance left value can turn negative if you go over the end spot. Go over that too far and you may have missed the station which gives you serious consequences. You can also be penalized if you accelerate after the train halts completely while on the next station like trying to arrive as the exact spot. The exact spot at the end of the next station is indicated by the glowing exclamation sign.
In case of the arcade reboot, you get points for doing well but you get deducted of points for incompetence. Each mission consists of few train stations similar to previous games and higher difficulties mean lesser room for mistakes. Plus, the game will be updated with additional contents like additional train stations, missions with different weather conditions although I don't know if there will be missions where in the middle of the tracks, there will be traffic lights to keep a look out for. If there's something ahead in the traffic area, you'll be notified by the ATS alarm to stop the train immediately. Bumping into something results in an accident.
Other Densha De Go games may involve driving the train on road similar to western countries where train tracks take place on the road so the same rules apply there.
Needless to say, the rules are unspeakably strict for the first game and they are less strict for the later games but even then, high amount of guts and competence are required if you want to get through without any single trouble caused.
For the reboot, the game utilizes Unreal Engine 4, Taito Type X4, multiple monitors and next-gen graphics cards to provide realism in the graphics. The mascot character for the series is replaced with a new support character as if the characters look Square-Enix style or some kind. But this is a better game than say, Summer Lesson by Namco which also uses the same graphical style and same game engine. The only time the adviser says in the previous games is that if you do something bad or poor that you'll be nagged. In the reboot, the new adviser says out praises or criticisms depending on your performance. Not to mention that there will be text boxes on top popping up, saying that you have passed that point above the speed limit or you have to stop at 4m or below at the end of the next station as indicated by Distance Left. Getting negative values on Distance Left or Time Left is a bad idea.
Lastly, for the arcade reboot's target audience. It is suited for children, teenagers, adults and even those who are train drivers as well. Even the fans of public transports are included as well. This is a closer simulation to the train driver job than the previous games in the series over the cabinet design.

Raycrisis for mobile obtained!

One thing you should know before buying the game for your Android device, I recommend that you play it on a device that runs Android 4.2 and above but the thing is, some description says that the game can work on an Android 4.1 device but guess what, the game didn't work on my main tablet at all that I might have to switch to another one that actually runs Android 4.2.
It wasn't easy getting the game to work probably due to the limited specs and the worse thing was that the main app data is stored on the system storage which is quite limited compared to the data storage of the tablet device which has tons of capacity as advertised. Another unfortunate thing was that I made one part of the game unplayable after all such emergency maintenance about cleaning things up that I wasn't able to move the game app to the data storage that acts as the SD card. Another annoying experience was that some USB mouse caused that tablet to act up like a retard when hooked up to it that I switched to another USB mouse. It was troublesome and I don't know if this same technical problem may spread to other Android devices like the Set-Top-Box I have sitting in the living room.
Problems aside, I managed to get through the game in both modes. The Remix Mode is sort of like the Special Mode from Playstation/PC versions except that you can continue the game in case you run out of lives and that the game is closely based on the arcade version. The third ship, WR-03, is available at the start, unlike the arcade version where you have to unlock it. Note that the Remix Mode has multiple endings similar to the Arcade Mode but the conditions are obviously different of course and the information about this is scarce as of now. I managed to get through the Remix Mode with several continues, faced the True Last Boss and saw the True Ending but if you take too many continues, this is where you'll face a different ending. The Arcade Mode has slow ship movement when dragging it and this has been there on purpose throughout the series on mobile. Like Rayforce and Raystorm, only one of the stages is remixed when it comes to in-game music. To hear it, you will need to set the Area/Stage 1 Music to Arrange, that is for Rayforce and Raystorm. In Raycrisis, this is a different story as the stages are randomized in order. The track, Lavande Bleu, which is the theme for Intelligence and Consideration Parts, is the track that has both the original and arrangement versions. The improvement may be a little in Raycrisis I should say as adding one arrange track for other games is not enough for me. In fact, such plans like that should have been suited for Groove Coaster, not the existing games.

Raycrisis in Remix Mode

When you proceed to the main menu of the game, you get to hear an awesome medley of the entire series. This is something exclusive to the mobile version and I don't think it is listed in the upcoming album CD of the entire series that will be out next month. Speaking of that album, it consists of the soundtrack CDs of the entire series including the tracks taken from the console versions of the games. Bonus tracks are probably from some Superplay discs or whatnot and especially the mobile versions. Will there be Groove Coaster arrangements in those bonus CDs? I don't know. But I don't think that the medley is being previewed whatsoever. Even Neo-Penetration is there which is said to be from the prototype version of Raystorm that was being location tested back then as R-Gear 1.5 or something. There is a trailer video like that from Ray-Ray CD-ROM which contains Raystorm and Ray-Tracers.

Ray'z Music Chronology Preview (From Zuntata's Official YouTube Channel)

Raycrisis Mobile Version - Main Menu BGM

Flaws so far:

• The Arcade Mode's ship movement is wack on touchscreen but you can use the Bluetooth controller which is the only workaround/savior against control crappiness. (Flaw partially solved as it supports Bluetooth but not the other.)
• For increased replay value, only a few stages are playable between the first and last stage out of all available ones but the bad way is the amount of stage sets of randomized stages. About 40+ stage sets available to choose from. This repetitiveness is made even worse for Darius Burst Another Chronicle and Chronicle Saviours.
• Only one stage BGM is arranged for the entire series and Raycrisis makes things a little bit better or worse as if the arrangement shifts back to the original track after a while should you take too long to defeat the bosses. Before the patch, the music fades out after a while and the arrangement music is played on first two stages, Beginning-Intelligence/Beginning-Consideration.

Other improvements include the translucent laser effects from your ship, the improved suction effect from the final boss and translucent explosions. That may supersede the arcade version a little bit.

Raycrisis on IOS and Android

It had been years since Raystorm was released on IOS and Android and Raycrisis is the final addition to the series for mobile. Before the IOS and Android releases of Raycrisis, the mobile versions of Rayforce and Raystorm were updated again with widescreen support, bluetooth controller support and the arranged music for Stage 1 which may seem to be a strange and incomplete move for me. The same can go for Raycrisis in which one of the stages will have its track arranged although the original version is still there if you ask me.
Most of the gameplay videos of Raycrisis aim for the true ending so to find the ones with bad ending and good endings may be rare whether it's the arcade version or the Playstation/PC version. The mobile version is based on the arcade version minus the 2-player support similar to other shmup games ported from arcades.
The future plan will be to buy the game for my Android tablet from Google Play Store as my Ipod Touch had its screen damaged even worse. Maybe I used it while it was being charged and no wonder it took up so much power than ever. However, I don't know if Raycrisis is going to work well on my Android tablet as this is released this year but my guess is that it uses the same porting engine as Rayforce and Raystorm as indicated from the similar interface and walllpaper.
One thing to keep in mind is that the ending is different between the arcade and the Playstation/PC versions and the true ending leads to the beginning of Rayforce as Raycrisis is the prequel.

Groove Coaster 3 EX Dream Party First Play

The Japanese version of Groove Coaster 3EX Dream Party has its own voice acting for other navigators besides Linka/Linker although not all navigators have their own corresponding voices but the English version only has one and that is Linka/Linker. What a shame! The new default navigator, Yume, should HAVE the English voice acting but no, there ISN'T ENGLISH VOICE ACTING for her whatsoever. At the Navigator tab, you can choose whichever navigator character you want and on the text box on the right side of the screen, you can clearly see if there's a voice actor involved for the corresponding character or not. For example, Linka/Linker apparently has her own English voice actress as credited but the new default navigator, Yume, doesn't. So, if you choose Yume instead of Linka/Linker in the English version, you get the default announcer that is recycled from Groove Coaster 2 except the English pronunciation isn't native. It's like Linka/Linker takes over the English version as the main navigator of GC3EX Dream Party when Yume is SUPPOSED to be the main navigator.
Also, WHAT IS THE POINT OF PUTTING OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE GAME AS NAVIGATORS WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE THEIR CORRESPONDING VOICES? This is like putting custom costumes in a game with no corresponding purposes whatsoever. The same thing may or may not go for cosplays depending on the character you're dressing yourself as. Certain games already have the costume-specific special skills, moves, attacks, etc. but to put something like a custom navigator may or may not require voice acting at all. There should be no such thing as partially voiced list of navigators when the others don't have ones at all.
One special idea I have in my mind is that for every different costume the character wears, the character should have their own moves, quotes, poses, motions and other stuffs related to the corresponding costume worn but it may mean the replacement of some default stuffs the character normally does. So, what about the announcer/navigator part? Will the announcer/navigator wearing different costumes affect the way they announce?
Lastly, to unlock additional navigators will mean the contribution to the in-game events by adding tons of event points which is a money-consuming idea compared to doing the same thing on other platforms since it's an arcade game and I'm already lagging behind as if the players are seriously hardcore at the rhythm game genre and especially for Groove Coaster series. They may be tons of times better than me but if the song is manageable enough, it's a sign of relief.
Imagine the Vocaloid characters doing the navigation of Groove Coaster... That will turn us off when that happens if done incorrectly. For Voiceroid, the limitations so far are the expressions and emotions and the EX-voices for some characters are not quite enough. Even if you make various adjustments on how the Voiceroid characters say certain things, things may still sound robotic and asking for Voiceroid characters to be in Groove Coaster as custom navigators without knowing their technical limitations is an absolute face-slap!
By the way, I had already changed my player name again as it appears that my nickname is too long to fit.

Gunslinger Stratos series

Perhaps, Gunslinger Stratos series is the true demonstration of what Taito Type X3 system can do. The actual specs used for the series are Core i5, 8GB RAM along with Windows Embedded Standard 7 64-Bit and 1080p arcade gaming. What's less difficult is that you can see the on-screen specs of Type X3 system instead of the sticker of the Type X2 actual specs. You can see the graphics card along with the amount of RAM the Type X2 uses when booting up but that's not enough.
The game itself is the online 4vs4 third-person-shooter where you use dual gun controllers like it's a combination of the arcade rail shooter and actual controller elements. You're supposed to defeat the opponent team to win the game by emptying the opponent team cost. The way you decrease the opponent team cost/health gauge is to defeat one of the opponent team members. The gameplay may be comparable to other TPS games on consoles and computers but the rules here may be different as you're supposed to decrease the opponent team's health guage to win by defeating opponent team members. Knocking one opponent team member out causes that opponent player to respawn at a specified position similar to how TPS and FPS games work in multiplayer modes.
Story-wise, it's about two dimensions trying to collide with each other, causing mysterious disappearance and the only way to prevent this is to send the participants back to the year 2015 for VS-team battle. There happens to be two versions of the same team except that they belong to different dimensions. Defeating alternate selves is the way to prevent that serious catastrophe from happening but at the cost of the disappearance of the defeated team's dimension. A simple story like this along with the gameplay rules is one effective strategy.
The second game has the Overdrive-like feature and the third game has the Cross-Link System which enables the entire team to activate it together. There's also the PC version, Gunslinger Stratos Reloaded, which was discontinued. It is a fun answer to the arcade version but I guess that the even PC version is for use in Japan only. The only thing the US website of the franchise offers is the animated adaption which is kind of awful to be frank as the gameplay of the series is extremely effective and fun to the core that the story is less important. If the game's important factor is the gameplay even though it has story with animated cutscenes and such, depending on the game genre, an animated adaption may or may not happen.
If you come across and watch the animated adaption of the franchise before discovering the games themselves, shame on you. You should know that it is a game franchise that started 5 years ago for the arcades unless you want to be ignorant about this introductory part of it.

Love Live School Idol Festival After School Activity for arcade

As a rhythm game, it looks quite suited for me to play on like I treated it as an arcade game of some kind when playing on my Android tablet ever since its international release 3 years ago. Unfortunately, there have been problems with this kind of games on IOS and Android that altered players' behaviors negatively.

• Microtransactions - A DLC-like item that can be spent in unlimited ways, allowing you to get premium currencies and other premium items you can't get normally. It can result in an unnecessary waste of money, putting buying a normal game to shame. You could have used thousands of dollars to buy something else.
• Gatchas - A luck-based feature that draws random items including super and ultra rare items through premium Gatcha features using premium currencies. There are tons of ways to get premium currencies but that depends on the game.
• Performance perfection - A torturous behavior coming from the player no matter how technically competent the device is.
• Frustration factor
• Grinding

The amount of grinding in the game is another torturous one as a way to gain access to additional chapters in the story as well as to unlock additional songs in the main section in the Music Select screen. I had already seen some players raising the player rank too high like I don't know if they have anything else to do besides playing the game. Even the in-game events are becoming worse that such grinding may require microtransactions and usage of premium currencies.
In the case of the arcade version, it has elements from the mobile version like drawing cards from the machine representing characters in different dresses, team set-up and other stuffs. During gameplay, there will be card effects although in different ways than in the mobile version and the arcade version uses physical controls and is more difficult in gameplay. Like other rhythm games on the arcades, you will need the Nesica card if you want to make the progress count. Also, the arcade version features in-game graphics for gameplay in a similar vein to Project Diva series. Certain songs in the arcade version have the new dance choreography you can't see elsewhere. The others already have their own via the animated music videos as well as the ones taken from the TV animated series and the animated movie.
Unfortunately, the information for the arcade version may be scarce when trying to use the keywords in English in the search engine as if there's no English speaking wiki for that version. But, from what I know is that there may be Challenge difficulty in addition to Expert difficulty and the notecharts are obviously superseding and different than the mobile version. The UI engine seems to be at the same level as Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage or something in which other idol-themed music games on mobile follow with the same kind of UI layout for gameplay. Like Beatstream and DJ Max Technika series, the arcade version of LLSIF has double screens and the one on top is for seeing the dance thing in action while the bottom one focuses on gameplay.
Lastly, if you want to know about the system specs of the machine the arcade version uses, you can look it up in Wikipedia or something. From what I saw on social media and video sharing sites, the arcade version uses dual graphics cards and the graphics card is different than the one the Taito Type X3 machine uses and it turns out that the game uses Taito Type X4. Like Taito Type X3, Type X4 has different spec options. Unfortunately, the amount of information about Taito Type X4 is kind of small not because things are so technical or something but it seems that ignorance about the arcade version's existence is a problem. If the arcade version makes it to the US via Round 1, it may solve that problem but it's not the same for other countries although it's already better for the arcade version to stay in Japan as there are already tons of idol-themed music game and animated franchises which are outnumbering everyone non-stop like hell. I think the over-popularity of Idolmaster and Love Live franchises is the reason for such existences of other franchises but it may seem that certain fans' behaviors had been altered so negatively that they did certain things in public that landed themselves in serious trouble. Examples included threats of stabbing, being a public nuisance via delusion, showing off too much fan-tribute accessories in their possession or even suicide attempts over disbandment or retirement of a group or something. Those are NOT how you become a fan of a particular idol group or individual you like.
The arcade version is more or less published by Square Enix and it may mean that it runs on a Taito-branded arcade system with the Nesica service, similar to other Square Enix games on the arcades that make use of it although one of them uses the Playstation 4 based arcade hardware instead of the Type-X series system.

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 3

So, how is Groove Coaster so far for me? It is kind of fun and good ever since I played the Groove Coaster games on IOS. Now, a summary of impressions will be as follows:

• The navigator is quite polite when speaking in English and quite cheerful when speaking in Japanese. She may be speaking those stuffs on Title Screen, Demonstration, Ranking, Game Entry, Main Menu, Results and Game Over screens. Depending on the country, the game is either called Groove Coaster or Rhythmvaders when it comes to English language so Japan doesn't count in this sentence as the game in Japan uses Japanese voice acting and language anyway.
• Using music panels to unlock songs is made obselete in Groove Coaster 3 as you may have to use GCs to unlock the songs in the game's official Mypage provided that you have your Nesica account like I already have.
• Event Mode is a major challenge to say the least and especially for Multiplayer Mode probably because I'm not at the expert level in rhythm games in terms of skills that I may get outscored by other players.
• And of course, the flaws. Why are there the shirt, long knee socks, gloves and shoes and that's pretty much that for the nagivator? What were they thinking when designing a character like that? For the sake for fan-service bullshit or what? It's unbelievable that even Taito and Sega had become a little bit spoilt over stuffs like that. Even if the arcade rhythm games are made in Japan originally, there should be songs that fit some Asian countries exclusively like the Chinese version of Beatmania IIDX where some song happened to have the Chinese cover. Hell, even Dance Evolution Arcade had some songs originally sung in Chinese language.
• Unlike other rhythm games in the arcades, your failure of whatever song in any stage doesn't mean Game Over. Instead, you move on to the next stage whether you fail or pass the song. There were cases where I failed some songs in Groove Coaster 3 and I was told that I should make less mistakes.
• Like other Nesica X Live arcade games, there is a message on the Game Over screen telling you not to forget your Nesica/IC Card and your belongings.

ITunes Gift Card obtained for ITunes music

Having bought the ITunes gift card again, I should be able to make more purchases from the ITunes store but instead of downloading those paid apps, I downloaded some tracks from Groove Coaster 3 OST or Groove Coaster OST Boost. It may be handy for planning to rearrange/remix them when possible as well as to find out on what Groove Coaster 2 & 3 System BGMs are like completely.