Today i will review another
vertical shooter game on arcade. But there's a bit twist. It's not about modern
aircraft or stuff like that. It takes place in Medieval Fantasy setting. It's Dimahoo (2000)!
Or Die-mahuu as the announcer
said. Whatever the case, it's unknown word for such a title of shmup game. To
be honest, i'm not a fan of Eighting/Raizing in shmup genre. But at least
they're slightly tolerable than Psikyo. Also Capcom happen to
endorse/publish their particular game here. Capcom can be considered of my most
favorite game company. Not because Resident Evil series, mind you. So what can
go wrong? [Maybe Pre-emptive Sarcasm]
As per usual, i want to tell you
slightly about the story behind the game. All of sudden, the once-peaceful
kingdom is invaded by Gobligan Empire from underground! Invasion from
underground creature? That reminds me of that One Punch Man episode. Also i
though i never to see another robot with *ehm* "certain male part" so
early besides in that review but here it is.
The anonymous kingdom may have
outdated technology to fight against The Gobligan Invaders but there's 4 bounty
hunters who are up to task! They are Solo Bang the Warrior, Karte the
Sorceress, Miyamoto the Dragon, and lastly Grimlen the Necromancers. They all
have flying machine, well except the Dragon. He flies by himself, because he's
dragon with wing obviously.
Upon inserting credit, i'm
presented by this character selection screen. We're presented by quite
functional status panel. Speed, power, and bomb are self explanatory. But i
don't understand what 'range' implies. As far as i know, everyone can shoots
projectiles across the screen with no problem. My first pick is obviously the
warrior because he's on the most left of the selection, not because he has
pompadour hairstyle and cool longsword-like hair comb. Although i like his
awesome hair comb. Anyway, let's start
with a bang!
Every stage start with the
picture of the boss. So the 1st boss is a giant turtle with castle on its shell?
Engineer_cheers05.wav
The control is as basic as you
get: Joystick to move your aircraft/dragon around, 1st button to shoot main
weapon, and 2nd button to unleash bomb. As you can see there's no bomb counter
in HUD. Instead you can see how many bomb you have by the number of crystal
behind your aircraft/dragon. You get 3 bombs in every live, like usual. You can
see that there's a big tome that about to flies in my plane and that will
increase my magic power. It doesn't increase my main weapon, mind you. Instead,
it will enable options in my side and further tome collecting will increase
their power.
To increase my weapon power, i
have to collect this coins with 'P' letter engraved on them until the announcer
says "shot level up!". I have just a slight idea about the bigger bar
on bottom HUD. It will be filled by collecting score items. Once it's filled,
there's extra bomb item to pick up that comes up from top side of the screen. Or
is it? By the way, my options are these flying big daggers that can shoot thick
beam. What else the best companion for warrior besides flying dagger? Fairy?
Get the real thing, guy!
When the game said that The
Warrior is the standard type, the game means it. That's obviously the standard
big explosion for bomb like in other arcade shmup. You see those goblin like on
left side? That's certainly the gobligans. They're in the middle of fast
barbecue party but suddenly interrupted by my bomb. Such pitiful end for them.
You can also see some cows not far from the gobligans. They're unharmed by the
bomb because they're just decoration it's heroic bomb that can only
destroys the villains and not the innocent NPCs. But you can use it to demolish houses to reveal artifacts.
Now that's amazing warning sign
of upcoming boss stage unlike dull ones in Fighter
& Attacker. We all know that crossbones and skull are common for danger
sign and Eighting/Raizing implement
them well here especially that clattering skull. But there's something off that
accompanies the awesome warning sign and that is the announcement. You know the
usual "Warning!" or "Alert!" voice that usually heard when
warning sign is out? Dimahoo doesn't
have that. Instead, it's "Worry! Worry! Be careful!". That's more
like in case of voice inside your head that warns you that your
ex-girlfriend/boyfriend are about to ruin your new first date instead of signal
for incoming colossal enemy.
As in the picture on the start of
the stage, the boss is indeed a huge turtle with fortress on its back. This is
the most awesome mobile fortress design that i ever see!
Medic_positivevocalization01.wav
After taking a lot of damage, the
turtle's feet turn into jet thruster. Flying giant turtle?
Engineer_autodejectedtie02.wav
With the giant turtle destroyed,
the game begins to judge me for scores. Besides extra score for stage
completion and remaining bombs, there's also extra score based on collectibles
that i got. They're usually generic stuff from RPG like sword, shield, armor,
etc. I manage to get some foot guard but no matter how many armor equipment i
obtained, my plane will be destroyed by only single hit.
There's also dragon shield and
cartoon meats that you can pick for score. And there's dragon with jetpack as
enemy too. Also naked cherubs that deliver magic tome at you if you shoot them.
Speaking of magic, there's another thing that you can do besides shooting or bombing
and that's charged attack. If you hold shoot button and release it, you can
order your options to unleash powerful attack. You can also switch your element
(red for fire and blue for ice) while holding the shoot button. The Small bar
on the bottom HUD will be filled if you keep charging the shoot. The longer you
hold it, the stronger the charged shoot. What's the purpose of elemental
affinity? I will tell you much much later. From now on, i can tell that charged
shot of the warrior is considered not good. Not because it's weak, no. It deals
quite hefty damage but its range is the problem. The daggers will be united in
front of the warrior and creating short-range blast and later they travel
slowly while emitting short plasma as you can see here. But what did you expect
from The Warrior that has low magic aptitude? But again his charged shot is
powerful, mind you. I just don't like its slow travel and cumbersomeness, that
is.
Due to nature of the game for
being hectic and such, it's unsurprising that i lose credit quite early and
frequent. But this is good opportunity for me to switch character quite often.
The sorceress is better than the warrior in my opinion. Her options has homing attack,
for starter. Calling it homing, perhaps inaccurate as their bullets don't
travel relative to enemy's position and travel straight to the enemy instead
(not turning or what have you). I like to say that her options has strong
tracking aim plus the bullets travel very fast that their shoot is very
accurate. Also, the sorceress unleash "Master Spark" as her bomb.
Excuse me to call every giant-laser type bomb in any shmup as "Master
Spark". :p
Her charged attack also good,
which turns her sentient rods (her options) into magus that swiftly park to
nearest enemies and spray them with magic. Heavy_sf13_influx_big05.wav
This time the boss is Dragon Bomber Dratrion. I thought the dragon part on its name only refer
to that giant dragon. Turns out, it also refers to those dragon heads that act as jet engine on the
"main" dragon's wing. This fact is both awesome and scary. Speaking
of dragon, this time i become the dragon. He's fast and has ninjas that throw
Yin-Yang orb, as options. Touhou Project series will be cooler even it's already
cool.
So 3rd stage boss is a Golem. Not
made of stone and such, more like made by elixir. So elixir golem, then?
There's the child of the first
boss here: smaller giant turtle that carries big cannon. It goes without saying
that you will often meet this kind of tough minion in this game but i'm not
complaining because their design is awesome.
His charged shoot is: summon 4
ninjas in front of him and throw shuriken rapidly in diagonal angles. I also
happen to obtain ultimate rod while infiltrating a moving fortress tank. Of
course you don't care about me getting highest-grade magic stick, right?
Good God! I finally confront the giant
robot with drill for its arm and "some protuberance" and definitely
different from golem in the picture. Anyway, let's rumble!
Sniper_battlecry01.wav
This giant robot shoot bullets very
fast that you have barely any time to dodge them, just like every boss stage in
this game. So it's another opportunity to change character. This time i'll be
The Necromancer. His power stats is 4 stars, which is the maximum but his other
stats are 1 star including his bomb, meaning his bomb deal the least damage.
That's quite shame as his bomb looks fantastic where he erase all of the
enemy's bullets and send zounds of ghost to haunt the enemies. Engineer_sf13_midnight02.wav
Next stage introduces us with
mimics that are perhaps the most dangerous type in gaming history, besides Dark
Soul's ones that can instantly kill you. Once it reveals to be monster, these
mimics spits spread-way fast-moving bullets in an instant. To make it worse,
they are stationed in a group thus dodging their become nigh-impossible unless
you unleash bomb that is.
There's also Beholders which are
staple to any medieval fantasy setting. Goddess/fairy also there too, she can
be considered mandatory to this kind of setting too. She releases a flying bag
full of Power-up coins, which is helpful.
For some reason there's King
Ghidorah inside of this river/sea but it only shows its head. Perhaps, it's in
the middle of relaxing bath and feels lazy to come out from the river/sea and
fights me on full force. The lazy sod.
I was kind of worried that the
boss is different from the picture again. But this time, it isn't. It's giant
spider although in the picture it looks like carries chest or coffin, not
rocket pod like this. Besides firing bullets, the spider can also shoot webs
and summon its dozen youngsters at you as you expected from a spider. This
battle can be a nightmare for those who have Arachnophobia.
What's the boss in this stage? A
triplet of flying Ichtyosaurus? That will be very interesting! Speaking of
interesting, The Necromancer's options are grim reapers and they shoot creepy souls!
You can rotate their shooting angle by moving back or forward but they do it in
the opposite direction of your movement. For example: They will rotate their aim
to back if you move forward. Also they're the only options that can shoot
backward in this game. Any shmup game that allow me to shoot backward, will get
medal of valor immediately. Soldier_thanksfortheheal01.wav
Yes, they're other giant turtle
with cannon but there's variation on their design that i don't feel bored to
fight them over and over again. Maybe that's just me. I also encountered giant
snail enemies as you can see its shell on my back. That's quite something, right?
The stage boss is: High Speed
Bomber Infernon which is just a huge ship with 3 heads. The picture at the
start of the stage, tricks me again! The boss has 2 sides obviously: its right
wing has ice element property while its left wing has fire element property. It
takes me very long time to understand what the element's role in this game as
there's no in-game instruction like other arcade game. If your element is the
same with some enemy's or bullet's, your options will level down when you get
hit instead of losing a life. The worst case is your option will gone forever
but that's still better than losing your life. If your element is the opposite
of enemy's, you inflict more damage but you will lose a life if you get hit by
them. Any projectiles with other color than red or blue (usually yellow) are considered
neutral element and lethal to touch in any case. The element feature can
facilitates more strategic play but sadly it doesn't change the gameplay that
much as the enemies attack very fast that you have barely time to think about
it or even dodge their attack. Such a pity.
Thankfully, this boss attack
pattern is quite well designed in my opinion. There's enough gap between the
bullets. Later the boss change all of the bullets angle bit by bit, forcing you
to either move forward or backward step by step. I consider this part is
adequate for smart play.
Next stage's boss is: some
western wind god or Unzan, maybe?
Turns out, stage 6th fills with
boss rush fight including rematch with the giant turtle and the giant robot
with drills. So this stage is final ones, maybe.
At least the boss rush takes
place in stadium where the gobligan audience looks very eager to watch our
bullet hell match. That's quite interesting to me. There's "-R" on
the boss's name. Maybe it stands for Rematch, Redux, or something like that. Does
that mean they're harder than the "original"? I can't tell.
But, wait! This one isn't boss
that i fought before. He's Ninja Master, Tumuji Maru. As you expected from a
ninja, he's fast and throws shuriken or kunai tons of time. Also he takes lots
of punishment. That's certainly not ninja's defining trait. He's supposed to be
fragile! :/
Once he's moderately wounded, he
hops into his samurai robot! That also not ninja's defining trait! Anyway, you
can guess that he will shoots shuriken and kunai more than ever as if he didn't
shower me with them already. I mean look at that! There's just little safe zone
between the projectiles. You can increase your survival chance by changing you
element affiliation with fire. That way, you can only be killed by the giant
shuriken (which are neutral element)
Finally, there's the Gobligan
king! I'm pretty sure he is because he wears cape and much fatter than other
Gobligan. He's surrounded by quite fragile turrets. But once i clear them
out...
... he hops into this ship named Gigafacer. If you look
more carefully, you can see that that it resembles a metallic face. The back
end is its chin and those 2 thin grey blades are its moustaches. While that 2
thin gray parts above the moustaches are its eyes. Can you see it?
As you expect from the final
boss, it shoots a thousand bullets at alarming rate. But there's this one part
of the battle that's interesting. It shoots a swarm of bullets as usual but
they stop and move back and forth slightly, to catch you off guard. Demoman_sf12_badmagic11.wav
As the Gigafacer lose 60% part of
the face, it deploys these robot hands. I entirely didn't expect this. I
thought it was only big headed boss.
Heh, big headed! Get it? ;)
With the Giga Facer destroyed
along with the Gobligan king, the Gobligan invasion is over as if it never
happened before. The prologue is kind of off here, what's with this poetry with
some breathtaking pictures besides it. Seriously. The pictures look like for landscape
photography contest! Greenery, houses, and flowers. That kind of picture. It's
really weird. There's no telling about what happen to the Bounty Hunters. One
can only assume that they collected the big-fat bounty from the human king then
leave and never be seen again. By the way, i stitch the 4 prologue screen
together like this because i don't want to write the poetry but that leaving 2
photos unseen. Sorry for my limited picture editing.
After the poetic epilogue, the
game judges on how many collectibles that i got. I can make some comment on
this especially in food row. For starter, is that stick supposed to be the
lowest-tier magic wand? That look something that you like use to play fetch
with your pet dog instead what you carry while LARP-ing or cosplay. Corn soup?
I'm not fan of it. Why the hell there's curry rice in Medieval setting?
Although, Ciel will digs that for sure. Lobster? That's Tempura, buddy. And
lastly the champion beef. No! It's not your ordinary comic meat. It's from the
winner of cow contest on whole kingdom last month. Not to mention, the champion
cow is very willingly to go to slaughterhouse on its own. Such noble cow!
There's so many blank on the
bottom part of the list! Don't tell me that the only way to get those divine
artifacts is to play the game in 1 credit because i can't do that! >:I
On the contrary with the epilogue
screen, the 'game over' looks horrid as if from Ghost n Goblin game. :o
Eighting/Raizing 's Dimahoo (2000) is fast-paced vertical
shooter game with great Medieval Fantasy setting. But it's quite jarring to
play especially in later part what's with the fast projectile and enemy's
relentless shooting so you need to rely on well reactive dodging instead of
strategic dodging. The element affinity part doesn't help much especially when
it takes long time to begin charge your shoot and change your element property.
The casts are well distinguished and unique on their own. You go with the
warrior if you like the most conventional shooter. You go with the sorceress if
you like homing shoot. You go with the dragon if you like fast-moving shooter
(and hopefully you can evade those bullets with such speed instead of colliding
with them swiftly). You go with the necromancer if you like undead or grim
reaper. I mean, if you favor firepower over anything (including bomb which
doesn't sound right). The necromancer's charged shoot is boomeranging giant
scythe, by the way. It potentially deals
huge damage but flies slowly. The music are great. Some of them like in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, Knights of the Round or 19XX: The War Against Destiny. I think
Capcom not only take the role on publishing but also the music. The graphic are
detailed and wonderful. There's some detail where some Gobligan fall after his
aircraft destroyed or civilians greet you. Gathering the collectibles of
RPG-ish (or food) items, kinds of fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment