Non-Credited: Bullet Hell Shooters

With arcade games struggling to find their place in the Console & Smart-phone world, it is worth one's time to observe the works of former arcade-dependent companies actually attempting to adapt. The genre of Bullet-Hell shooters, a niche within a larger genre, seems to be particularly willing to change for the new wave of games. In particular, "Cave", the Guinness-World-Record holder for Bullet-Hell games (otherwise known as "Danmaku"), has done exceptionally well with adapting their products to new markets. They've adapted their most successful franchises and games— Espgaluda II, Deathsmiles, and Mushihimesama (for the last of those they created an entirely new game)— for play on the iOs, one of the rising stars of gaming (from, perhaps most surprisingly of all, Apple, a company which up until very recently cared very little for games and gaming).

However, even with these adaptations, Cave may find its products at odds with their new home. While bullet-hell shooters have traditionally been the fare of Japanese arcades, which still flourish on one-token mastery and dedicated time out for gameplay, these games now find themselves for sale to a market that likes to begin very quickly and end just as fast without losing progress. While Deathsmiles in particular is best adapted to fit the needs of the smart-phone gaming generation, with such add-ons and bonuses as in-game purchases of continues and power-ups with "Gold" or actual US dollars, and a mode dedicated entirely to better suit the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad touchscreen, the fact that the game requires a relatively large slice of time to play puts it at a disadvantage against such games as, say, Tiny Wings or Bejeweled Blitz. While none of these games are at a lack for their challenge or difficulty, the latter two are better suited for the casual, on-the-bus or on-the-way-to-class customer who, if there IS a continued string of play for later, wants progress saved. This simply isn't available in bullet hell games as of today.

I am currently working on a game design document that will address the creation of such a bullet-hell shooter that will be best adapted for Smart-phone customers, with applications towards arcade adaptability as well as console ports. The game will allow for continued gameplay lengths of time, without requiring gamers to start over every time they have to answer a call or switch to, say, Microsoft Word for an hour or two, or decide mid-way to play Fruit Ninja instead.