DoDonPachi

MIND THE GAP(s)!






DoDonPachi, or, what this Japanese title roughly and playfully translates to: Angry Boss Bee - you know from this point on that you have to play this effort - is a manic sci-fi shooter developed by the Atlus and Cave corporations, also is the direct descendant of Don Pachi, a game that hit arcades and grew quite popular two years prior our delicate subject matter would have had claim rigorous shoot' em up dominance in 1996. This game knows no jokes at all, and has 0 intention pretending it does, hence the consensus decision to regard similar outputs as manic shooters. Bid farewell for relief and pleasant moments of inhalation upon mission completion, and set all your cybernetic reflex-enhancing neurocircuits to the "Temporal Overdrive" position instead, as DoDonPachi is quite the grouchy and elegant game, deeply dedicated to the delicate art of dodging enemy projectiles while still trying to deconstruct hostile alien formations. An immensely demanding title, DoDonPachi guarantees that it will keep your senses and reflexes steadily occupied via a pace optimized for living beings with two pairs of eyes. At least, that is.

Enjoy and Read on!




The game is composed of six levels, delivering an increased difficulty with each section you freshly fly on. Respecting rigorous, yet nice and clean traditions, every level will put you against a Boss fight as a conclusion, though you will need to perform superbly in order to emerge worthy enough to gain the interest of the True Final Boss.

Gameplay is both very fluent and intact, and - this is the bizarre case, folks - wonderfully masochistic, as well. While DoDonPachi is kind enough to let you render relatively peaceful sessions of destruction - great source is the world of videogames if you plan to find exquisite oxymorons - on the first and second levels, those portions are but to get you and your trigger fingers in the mood. Target practice with immense stakes, that is all. From the third level on though, the game gets quite serious: constant survival becomes extremely demanding, yet constant survival is the thing you are looking for and try to master.

You have three selectable ships at your disposal, each with slightly different speed and firing capabilities. Considering the number of enemies you will face on the maps, it is always good to know that the player ships are capable to destruct matter filling out space not just in front of them, but around them, as well. Greet the two little mechagizmos beside the hull: those are called "Option"s, and you can set them either to represent double punishment power, or you can select them to be indestructible against smaller enemy classes.



In this here game, firing occurs in a relatively frequent manner: tapping the attack button will start a burst that can be maintained fluently if you keep on tapping, there is not even need to go Metal Slug Psyhotic this time around, either. Pressing and holding the attack button will unleash the lasers: this is Pure Mayhem Potential baby, never subject your staggering haircut to THIS stream of ruthless devastation. Though relying on the lasers is great fun for the whole family, there are drawbacks you got to deal with. First and foremost, delivering this constant attackfoam slows your ship down, and you won't have too much of a chance - because 0 is exactly THAT much, too - to take out your surroundings at the sides. Surely, the lasers represent impressive punishment power, but you need to introduce the enemy to them in the frontal manner so your cannons can recite a truly warm welcoming.

Bombs are offered and usable, too: use your alternate fire to unleash one of those. Bombs are little helpers you can rely on in case the DoDonPachi experience would prove to be way too much to handle. Whether this will happen or not - you must find out on your own. Suffice it to say that Bombs do clear the screen pretty much 100%, including enemy projectiles that will get converted to collectible Bonuses upon Bomb contact. You can store a maximum of six Bombs at a time. Or you cheat, or you hallucinate. Or both. The Bombs- and five levels of Power-Ups can be obtained by collecting the letters you see flying around: once you reach the maximum Power-Up and/or Bomb level/number, consecutive letters will get you Bonuses.

We have a little no! no! here, as the individual Power-Up states are not represented visually, or at least I did not notice. I am not sure which of the latter two possibilities is the more catastrophic. Either way, once you are on a higher Power rank, your ship deals more damage. A nice minigame is kindly, subtly offered as far as collection of Extras go: they have a tendency to fly around in an easygoing, bohemian way, one that is quite funny to watch, but making it a definite pain in the definite butt to collect them. Simply put: DoDonPachi invites you to take risks if to go for the Extras - and you WANT to go for the Extras, trust me. And now, for something completely different: the game has a truly brilliant soundtrack. Nuclear guitar warfare with pretty solid, complex, catchy compositions - an evident classic.



DoDonPachi will keep your senses relatively occupied, indeed.

A nice Hit system is implemented in the game, quite similar to a combo method: once you deliver a kill, a little meter fills up hastily, starting to count down in an abrupt manner. In case you manage to deliver yet another kill before the meter empties: a Hit combo occurs. You want to keep this meter immensely entertained, as doing that will give you both massive Bonuses and optional means to reach the True Final Monster. Hit Bonuses do not conclude the Extras you can go for. Throughout the game, you will see Bees lying around. It is a nice Bonus subsystem: the more Bees you collect without a death, the more they will worth in points to the maximum of 13 Bees. This subsystem also is an optional method to gain the attention of the Final Boss, for example. For all the other means, please consult the great Guide I link you to at the bottom.



Now is the time to account on the very core- and very grouchy kinna' fun DoDonPachi delivers. This is the Gap Seeker kind of fun. From the third level on, the title will subject you to pretty much obscene enemy onslaughts, there are times when laying down yet another hostile projectile would be near impossible without intersecting an existing one. These immensely vicious waves are results of multiple projectile patterns. Your only way out is through nevertheless, so you are either to find the gap(s), - thus, MIND THE GAP(s)! - or you could always use a Bomb in case you have some yet. But, to be honest with you, I have the impression that the game could be beat without using a single Bomb, though I realize that you either need Superhumanic abilities or a blatant Fortune Boost - or, granted: both of the latter - to accomplish this. I would urge you anyway to try and go for survival without Bombs. You can always use one when you are absolutely sure that otherwise your butt would be dead meat. Dead meat butts are not very efficient here - avoid ending up as one at all costs.

The necessity and inherent-, though vicious fun of finding gaps in enemy patterns is an aspect of the game that - sorry 'bout that, Ladies - simply loves to break a man's balls. Waves have a pretty decent length to them, so surviving those is not just a matter of dancing skillfully around with your ship, now that you can do that so elegantly, the game will kindly invite you to demonstrate your readiness for 8-10 hellish seconds in the company of Mr. Death - Imminent. It is also worth mentioning that firing your weapons naturally will intersect with incoming hostile projectiles, making it pretty much impossible to see what is going on - so you will need to balance out efficient aggression and efficient evasion with rock solid skills. I don't know about you, but there were times when I died by the VERY LAST projectile of a wave. Oh, you got to LUV those vibes, baby. And there is little if any doubts that you got to love this game, being one which is not afraid to push your abilities to the limit - and beyond.



If you enjoyed this here article, check out my comic: Planetseed
If you are to circulate magnificently pleasant vibrations: Buy me Beer

related recommendation:
DoDonPachi Guide