Mushihimesama Futari version 1.5

Posted by John as Shmups

Mushihimesama the shooting action is here on Xbox360. The wars between the beetles and the humans have started again.

Release Date Nov 26, 2009

Language English, Japanese

Genre Shooting

Version Japan

Mushihimesama Futari Version 1.5 is one of the latest arcade ports of Xbox 360. If you can spare some cash to purchase the game price of $ 74.90 then what are you waiting for? Go ahead and order Mushihimesama Futari HERE..

Read on to know why this shooter deserves your money and attention.

If you have played a Cave shooter like DoDonPachi before, you wouldn’t be sure what to expect. The shmup earns good reviews but is only validated once you played the game.

The insect-themed Mushihimesama Futari, means “together with the bug princess, allows you to choose either of the two characters: Reco, the cute, purple-haired girl, or Palm, the little, dragon boy. The characters play almost identical except their movement types are quite the opposite based on your selection of normal or abnormal shot type.

The first thing you will notice when you actually started playing is how tight the controls were. It feels so right when you glide through the air and dodge enemy fire. The thing that separates great shooters from the rest of the average shooter are how well-designed the patterns are. Things maybe daunting at he start of MushiFutari but continued play will uncover passage ways designed in the patterns. It is a matter of some trial and error so don’t lose hope when you fail at the first try.

There’s only two buttons in game play, shoot and bomb. However, if you tap the shot button you get a spread shot that covers the screen. If you hold shot then you get a concentrated laser. It also depends on which character you choose to play along with the play style you choose. Holding down the shot button will either make your player slow down or speed up when you tap the button.

Earn multi colored gems when shooting down enemies can be collected to increase your score. Wisely choose the right time to use an appropriate attack which will yield more gems and larger-sized gems.

Mushihime-Sama Futari: Reco PVC Figure 1/7 Scale

Speaking of visual appeal, the game is stunning. Beware of getting distracted from the beautiful background scenery and fantastic animations. There is no obvious way to tell you’ve been hit when bullets come in the flavor of bright purple projectiles when the scenery just look breath-taking.

The music is also a high point. Sure it’s standard Japanese techno-pop, but damn if it isn’t catchy as hell. And it definitely has that old-school flavor.

You get your money’s worth with the number of modes available. You have two modes to choose from: 1.5 and Arrange.

The first mode 1.5 offers 3 challenges namely Original, Maniac, and Ultra. However, these aren’t just difficulty levels. Every mode offers a new scoring method and way of playing the game. In the Original mode, your rank increases based on how well you do in each stage. It will also determine the speed and density of bullet patterns in later stages. Maniac offers a counter that keep track of your multiplier that will affect the number of gems dropped by your enemies depending on how high the number is. Ultra mode and Original are scored in the same way. The rain of death coming down on you at this point is enormous. Before you begin playing in this mode, a warning pops out of the screen to ask if you won’t mind being murdered every second. Your answer will be a definite “yes” of course.

See a unique twist from the original game on the Arrange mode. In this mode, you control both Reco and Palm. One character serves as a shield while the other acts as an offense. You can choose to let bullets slow down around your characters by tapping the shot button. When you hold down shot the bullets, they will deflect back at enemies. The number and size of the gems are available only after the bullets are deflected. Thus, the more bullets you “collect” by tapping shot the greater number and size of your gems. You’ll need to strategically switch between characters to recharge your shields.

Now we go to Black Label which weakness is being an on-disc DLC. It is possible that Cave placed the option on the main menu and when clicked, takes you to Xbox Live. We can’t help but think that what we paid is only to get the download code to unlock the mode.

The lucky few shooter fans who got the first-press copies of the game came with a DLC code lets them download Ver. 1.01. Version 1.01 is a tweaked version of the very first arcade version of the game. It offers a pretty good challenge since it came before the more manageable Ver. 1.5. But don’t let this fool you. This version is equally tough to play too. The Novice mode can even make the bullets difficult to slow down. Of course, that’s the beauty of shmup. You play them over and over and memorizing the patterns so you finally get the feeling of accomplishment when you successfully 1cc original and proceed advanced modes with higher difficulties.

Mushihimesama Futari is one of the best shmups out there in the market. A perfectly designed, meticulously detailed, and a very absorbing shmup that you can lay your hands on. Don’t wait any longer and play this lovely shmup!

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