Let's explore the world of Japanese doujin games together!

[MrPopo]

<watches a youtube video>

Looks like rancor gets another sale.

[J T]

Crimzon Clover is not only one of the best doujin shmups ever made, but one of the best shmups ever made, period. Every one who is even slightly a fan of the genre owes it to themselves to try it. Demo here: http://www.vector.co.jp/download/file/w ... 02734.html

This looks cool! I'd never seen it before. I'm downloading the trial now. Will post impressions later.

[Opa Opa]

I'ma hop on this doujin train.

[dsheinem]

Crimzon Clover is not only one of the best doujin shmups ever made, but one of the best shmups ever made, period. Every one who is even slightly a fan of the genre owes it to themselves to try it. Demo here: http://www.vector.co.jp/download/file/w ... 02734.html

This looks cool! I'd never seen it before. I'm downloading the trial now. Will post impressions later.

It is high in the running for GOTY for me so far. It is certainly the best 2D game from this year.

[J T]

I had a bit of a laugh when I booted up Crimzon Clover and the title screen busted out with some transposed rendition of Robert Miles- "Children", but the game itself is good fun. It took me a while to get used to the gameplay. Your ship is large with a small hitbox and I didn't realize at first how to use the homing missiles because I wasn't holding down before releasing the button. Once I got accustomed to all of that though, yeah, it's a real good shmup.

It's the homing missile weapon that really makes it work. Giving the homing missiles a limited diameter around your ship in which they will work, but also making them much more powerful than your normal shot motivates you to move around the screen and try some risky maneuvers up close to your enemies, which makes for a more high stakes and exciting game. It's a good example of how a unique weapon can change the experience of a tried-and-true genre.

[dsheinem]

I may as well repost this older interview largely about doujin games with Adam Milecki, Kurt Kalata, and I as it is apropos to this thread: http://www.rockinandroid.com/podcast/?p ... ineman.mp3

[isiolia]

I had a bit of a laugh when I booted up Crimzon Clover and the title screen busted out with some transposed rendition of Robert Miles- "Children", but the game itself is good fun.

I guess they figured if Mark of the Wolves could do it...

( about a minute in for the reconizable riff, if you aren't already familiar)

[J T]

Katawa Shoujo



This isn't exactly a Japanese game. Oddly enough, this resulted from a discussion on 4chan (I know, I know...) about this sketch. A group of people from around the globe got interested in making a game around the concept of a dating sim that is set in a school for children with various disabilities.

The topic has been criticized as being inappropriate or perverse, but they have also been praised for dealing with the issue of disabilities in a mature way. It's an unusual visual novel and worth looking into if you are comfortable with the unusual. The first chapter is free and the full game is unfinished, but will eventually be free as well. The first chapter doesn't have any sex scenese, though the full is planned to have them (though they are planned to be optional).

Here's a longer analysis on Kotaku:
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/02/romanc ... ame-to-be/

[AmishSamurai]

Kawata Shoujo part 2 is in full vaporware territory. What I've played of part 1 I've liked so far.

Adding to VNs, I guess I would put in Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night. Both are by Kinoko Nasu- the latter may not fully qualify as doujin, since at that point Type-Moon became commercial, but the first basically kick-started the VN market.

The When They Cry (Higurashi and Umineko, the former moreso) are also very good VNs, though they are strictly novels and don't have branching paths. They're pretty interesting, and have excellent plots and soundtracks, but the art is laughably bad. Like, nearly ZUN-levels bad.

download-drop time

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1610653/Momodora.zip - Momodora

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1610653/cavestory.zip - Cave Story

[t0yrobo]

Gigantic Army



If you were fortunate enough to have played Cybernator or Metal Warriors for the SNES, then you will recognize Gigantic Army's influences right away. This is a side scrolling mech shooter that puts you in control of a well armed mech.

This game is a great fun, you can get the full version from rancor's store also.


And my contribution to the thread; Blue Wish Resurrection Plus.

It's not terribly hard from the beginning and has a nice difficulty curve. The dev's site also has a handful of other shmups, though I haven't played any of them much I've heard good things about Edens Aegis.
http://www004.upp.so-net.ne.jp/x_xgamer ... works.html