Mushihime-sama Futari confirmed to be region free!

[Ack]

Thank you Cave! Lets hope this sticks, and all future 360 releases are the same!

So, you guys are excited to play it on the 360's d-pad?

Any arcade loving, XBox 360 owning folk are already going to have an arcade stick at their disposal. Nobody in their right mind plays fighters or shmups with a d-pad.

Especially the 360 D-pad. I played VF5 a lot with the controller for a while, and there are moves that I just can not do on that D-pad, even moves with characters that I'd been performing for years.

[jfrost]

I'm cool with playing fighters and shmups with d-pads (and 2D fighting games are probably my favorite genre). Just not the 360's.

[peace4myheart]

I still don't know if I want to buy a Japanese Arcade which is $335 with shipping or buy an USA Elite for the same price or 50 dollars cheaper with the coupon from Microsoft if I buy now. I already have Raiden Fighters Ace, Raiden IV, Deathsmiles, and Otomedius, and pre-ordered Mushihime-sama already. All are the JAP version. I am a big fan of shmups and will probably buy xbox360 exclusively for them. just worried that there might be some shmups game that might not be region free or not get ported to the US in the future. I have been waiting patiently for a stable xbox 360. now they have the jasper chips, I am ready to buy one. however, they are not making it easy on me with this region free business. if i buy a jpn arcade, i know i will have to buy a used HDD, which will cost even more money. I hate microsoft for that, esp it's pricing on the HDD. what to do??? =I

[dlmvii]

I was sold on this when I realized it was the shmup made famous by that crazy-ass Youtube boss video.

I *think* the video you are thinking of is just of Mushihimesama, which has been out for the ps2 for some time (still major expensive though)

[elvis]

I'm cool with playing fighters and shmups with d-pads (and 2D fighting games are probably my favorite genre). Just not the 360's.

I make custom sticks for all my consoles. That goes right back to the 8 bit era for me.

On topic, I pre-ordered the game from Play-Asia today:

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-2oa ... -3cq6.html

Looks like a lot of westerners are getting behind this. With any luck, Cave will get the message. It's highly unlikely, but I can only pray for a region-free re-release of existing titles too.

[edit] Mushihime Sama Futari is currently the third most popular title sold on Play-Asia by referral stats!

[shallowgamer]

I went through Play-Asia. It'll be my first time going through them, but I have never heard anything bad about them (plus they seem to have been around for a while) so I'm confident they're reliable.

I read elsewhere that the first print runs of both the normal and Limited version of the game will include a code that allows you to play Mushi 1.0. A feature that'll probably be DLC for later purchasers of the game.

I'll vouch for both play-asia and yes asia. Never had a problem with either one. The advantage to play-asia is that they send $5 off coupons for your next order. That covers some of the shipping

One disadvantage is that certain credit cards (or the banks that run them rather) charge fees for international transactions.

If you want to give some love to a US distributor, please try NCSX.com as well. I will say that their prices are usually higher though, as they probably have to deal with one more middle man in the process.

[hashiriya1]

I'm on it, set to be delivered November 24th. Two days before release.

[DrCirno]

Preordering like the fist of the north star.
and finishing my arcade stick like crazy now too.

[elvis]

Stolen from the shmups.com forums:

Here's CAVE's snail mail address:

株式会社ケイブ　CAVE CO., LTD. Attn: Makoto Asada
〒160-8581 東京都新宿区内藤町87番地

CAVE Co Ltd. Attn: Makoto Asada
〒160-8581 Tokyo-to Shinjuku-ku Naitou-cho 87 banchi

For those who want to just email them and let them know your appreciation:

[email protected]

Feel free to cross-post this info.

I've emailed them a big soppy fanboi love letter already.

[LoneCynic]

I don't have an arcade stick yet (Really need one though), yet I found a suitable alternative for the Xbox 360 controller. There are six button Street Fighter IV controllers available through Best Buy stores that have an excellent D-Pad on them. I bought mine for Street Fighter IV (Obviously) but I found that the controller is ideal for DeathSmiles as well. Having six face buttons allows for much better control over the game. X and Y as shot left and right, A and B as laser left and right, and two face butons left for Target Shot and Avatar control, then just set the right shoulder button for bomb. I couldn't play the game well otherwise. If you don't have access to a fighter stick, at least this is a doable option for some. Thought I'd throw that out there.

Can't wait for this game, glad I got my pre-order in awhile back.