DonPachi
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| DonPachi | |
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| Developer(s) | Cave, Falcom (Saturn) |
| Publisher(s) | Atlus (Arcade, Saturn) SPS Co.,Ltd. (PS) |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn |
| Release date | November 1995 (arcade) |
| Genre(s) | Manic shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, 2 player Co-op |
| Input methods | 8-way Joystick, 3 Buttons |
| Cabinet | Upright |
| Arcade system | Cave, 1st generation |
| Display | Raster, 240 x 320 pixels (Vertical), 2048 colors |
DonPachi (首領蜂?) is a vertically scrolling manic shooter arcade game, the first game developed by Cave, and released by Atlus in 1995. Literally the title means "leader bee", but it is also an onomatopoeic expression associated with the sound of firing guns. It is one of the first manic shooters.
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[edit] Description
The player assumes the role of a pilot who is sent by their squadron to fight their former allies until one side destroys the other, all of which is a part of a mission to strengthen the military power that controls each side. The player flies their selected fighter over various terrains, encountering a number of land, sea and air enemies. The player's ship has two modes of fire: by tapping the fire button, shots are fired; holding it down produces a concentrated vertical beam, but also reduces the ship's speed.
[edit] Fighters
The player can choose one of three aircraft at the start of the game, or upon continue:
- A red (or yellow, in case of the second player) fighter, which fires a narrow stream of shots
- A green (or purple) helicopter, which fires its main guns forward, but has side guns that rotate in the direction of movement
- A blue (or black, in case of player two) fighter, which fires a wide, three-way spread of shots
[edit] Weapons
[edit] Guns
Each aircraft has a main forward-firing gun, and two small, floating guns, which it deploys at the start of the game. The placement of the guns is different on each craft, which affects their firing style:
- On the red fighter, the guns circle in front of the craft, combining their firepower with the fighter's main guns.
- On the green helicopter, the guns (which, like the helicopter, use blades to hover) keep position directly to the left and right, and can rotate to provide sweeping fire.
- On the blue fighter, the guns are near the rear, and angled outward, providing diagonal fire.
[edit] Beam
If the fire button is held down, the floating guns combine in front of the ship to produce a vertical beam. This also makes the ship move more slowly.
[edit] Bombs
The ship has a limited number of bombs, which are activated by pressing the bomb button; they produce a large explosion which damages or destroys all enemies on screen, and makes all enemy projectiles disappear for the entire duration of the explosion.
If the player presses the bomb button whilst firing the beam, the ship unleashes a high-powered beam instead, which does more damage to a specific target.
[edit] Power-ups
There are three power-up items in the game, identified by different letters:
- P: Makes the player's guns stronger and beam thicker. Two of these items must be collected for one level of power-up; when the first is collected, the player's shots turn darker in color.
- B: Adds one bomb to the player's supply. The player can hold a maximum of three bombs at start. This number increases as the player loses lives. At the end of a stage, the player's bomb supply is fully restored.
- MP: Appears after the player has lost all their lives; if they continue, then collecting this powers up the player's weapons to full strength.
[edit] Trivia
- DonPachi is one of only two Cave shooters to get released in the USA. The other game was Progear. Both USA versions of these games are extremely rare and sought after since only a small handful were made for the American market.
- The name of the game is a pun; the kanji for DonPachi literally means "leader bee", but the word "don" is also a Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of a gun firing. There are a number of references to bees in the game: the most obvious is the bee icon that can be picked up for high scores. In between levels, there are red hexagons falling down the screen, which resembles a bee hive.
- After finishing Area 5, players will be put through the stages again, in what appears to be a hard mode. With no apparent drop in weapon power, the difficulty of this mode lies in the enemies, which now explode into bullets when destroyed (sometimes called 'suicide bullets' or 'ricochet effect'). If the player gets through the final stage in this mode, he/she will face off the real boss in the game, which is a mecha bee.
- When the player is about to encounter a boss, the "Warning" signal will begin flashing. During this time, there is a panel of Engrish text appearing intermittently. The text reads: "This is not similation. Get ready to destoroy the enemy. Target for the weak points of f**kin' machine. Do your best you have ever done."
- If you read high score table vertically, the initials will read, "TOAPLAN FOR EVER". Cave is one of the four offshoots of Toaplan (along with 8ing/Raizing, Takumi, and Gazelle), which closed its doors in 1994.
[edit] External links
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