Dodonpachi Resurrection is a late entry in the series of 2D shooters developed by Cave of Japan called DonPachi. The 2nd game in the series, called Dodonpachi was released in the late 90s and is a highly influential game that more of less set the template for the modern 2D shooter genre featuring lots of bullets and a ship that has to be hit dead centre to be destroyed, making way for clouds of bullets that can be navigated through via seemingly impossible tight squeezes. The game also introduced clever scoring rules that force the player to strike a balance between risk and reward which makes for a highly compelling experience to the devoted player. Since then the game has steadily evolved with more gaming features and scoring rules being layered upon the basic game.
The primary challenge of these games is called the "1CC" - or 1 credit clear - meaning finishing the game without losing all of your lives and using the "continue" feature to carry on. To the uninitiated this looks impossible but the games are cleverely designed allowing a practiced player to achieve that. This means that these games require repetition in order to glean any value out of them ,but I have yet to experience a genre of game that rewards that effort with a better sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. Once the 1CC is achieved devotees will then start playing for high score which is when the risk/reward nature of the scoring rules kick in delivering extra value,
This game comes packed with different modes and options that allows the player to tailor the game to their tastes. They can make it easier or harder but they also offer different tweaks to the scoring rules that extend the life of game well beyond that your expectations might be of a game with "only" 5 levels. There's novice mode and the main arcade ("1.5") mode which are supplemented with Arrange A and Arrange B modes - which are significant tweaks to the basic game that make it a quite different experience. Then there is DLC - extra modes that can be purchased at a very reasonable cost. You can also get Black Label Mode, Black Label Novice Mode and 1.51 mode which is a further tweak to the main game. Black Label Mode adds on yet more complexity to the game which makes it feel an all new experience.
On top of the range of modes you can also select from 1 of 3 different ships to pilot - each with different strengths and weaknesses - significant enough to force you to play the game differently. And then for each ship there are 3 different "styles" - Bomb, Strong and Power which change up how each ship uses its weapons.
The game looks manic but spectacular - it's a real graphical firework display. And the soundtrack is of high quality when you can hear it above the constant explosion and weapons sounds. :) This Deluxe version of the game comes with a bonus CD featuring the game's soundtrack. The display options allow you resize and rotate the game screen to fit any TV and orientation.
It's not an expensive game. This does not reflect its quality, more the niche that the genre sadly occupies. If you are looking to dip your toe into the genre then this is as good a place to start as any. And if it all feels overwhelming, there are excellent guides and information available from healthy online communities.
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