It’s all well and good visiting Japan and doing the touristy things like visiting shrines, temples, taking pictures of Engrish on sweet wrappers and riding a bullet train. But if like me you like to club it out at home, then you have to do the same in Japan. It’s the law in my eyes. I just had to do it. I needed to know how the Japanese get down.

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If Raiden Fighters Aces wasn’t enough to quench your appetite for fast-paced twitch gaming and mind blowing bullet hell action then fear not shmup fans as the time to rejoice is near. In exactly two months time, on September 8, 2009 UFO Interactive will be blessing Xbox 360 owners will Raiden IV. Fans of the series can expect to see new stages, exclusive weapons and bosses along with online features that include leaderboards, replays, downloadable themes, art and even unlockable ships (Fairy, Raiden Mark II)! That should be more than enough to keep your thumbs mashin’ away.

We’ll have more on Raiden IV soon, so be sure to keep it tuned to DDN.

Music Catch 2 is further proof that original gameplay and enthralling gaming experiences dont have to come from multimillion dollar blockbuster games featuring 10 new shades of brown. Sometimes all it takes is a simple game with no pretentions to return a smile to our bitter faces.

Part bullet hell, part puzzle, part music game, Music Catch 2’s premise is obviously simple. You have to catch the music! Collect shapes to earn points, yellow notes are good, red notes are bad, purple notes are POWER!

Before you know it you’ll be immersed in a wonderful world of glowing shapes and gentle, intriguing music. Hit the jump to play it and remember a bit of why you used to like videogames in the first place.

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It is safe to say that Ultimate Shooting Collection from UFO Interactive is far from the Ultimate Shooting Collection that most shoot ‘em up (shmup) fans dream of (a compilation disc that features Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga and Mars Matrix to name only a select few). However, in a time where most shmups seem to be XBLA or PSN bound it is nice to see a publisher paying some respect to the genre starved Wii. Even if those shmups just so happen to have been previously released on last generation consoles.

Ultimate Shooting Collection for the Nintendo Wii features three top-down shmups from Japan-based developer Milestone: Radio Allergy, Karous and Chaos Field. Chaos Field as some may recall was previously released a few years back on the Nintendo GameCube, whereas Radio Allergy and Karous; this is the first time they are setting foot on US soil…’er flying around in US air space. But like Chaos Field, all three have been previously released in Asian territories on the Sega Dreamcast. So in essence, it really should be called Milestone Shooting Collection. At any rate it is what it is so let’s move on and take a deeper look into the depths of bullet hell.

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EXT. SKYSCRAPER ROOFTOP – DUSK

DAVID
You know, Faith, from this height… you could really hock a loogie on someone. (V.O)

FAITH
… [Rolls eyes and shakes head]

If from 39 floors above ground looking down at the scattered groups of pedestrians sends chills down your spine then imagine bounding from rooftop to rooftop without the luxury of harnesses, wires or a safety net and having bullets whizz by your head. You’re running because it is your duty, your job; you are a Runner, and this is Mirror’s Edge.

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Year Released: 1992

Platform: Sega Megadrive/Genesis

Developer: Interactive Designs (Their first and last game)

How does one make a mediocre platform game interesting? By adding a bit of Tiki flavor into it! Made by Interactive Designs from Sega, this little ditty had to compete with the likes of Sonic 3, Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country and Earthworm Jim.

Needless to say, the fight was, for lack of a better term, one-sided.
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As dry and near dead as the shooter genre is in the west, its still a thriving genre in Japan, like that DoDonPachi Daioujou bullet hell we had some months ago. Another immensely popular shooter (and a fan-made game) is the Touhou series of shooters. And its about to become an anime series!

It makes perfect sense since Touhou has a high emphasis on character backgrounds and overall story. It makes no sense in that watching a 20 minute episode of pretty laser beams and energy orbs sweeping across the screen might not be that fun, unless you’re stoned. You aren’t stoned, are you?

Thanks Dark_Mercury

Japanese Shooters are known for being ridiculously complex. Hell, before them shooters where easy arcade games with 5 bullets on screen at most. Today I was shown this video of DoDonPachi Daioujou, one of the worse offenders of bullet curtains, its so ridiculously difficult legend has it no one in Japan ever beat it on the arcade. To reach the final boss you had to play a second run of the game. This video shows a run of all of the game’s bosses. The final boss is the very definition of bullet hell. Oh, let me correct, final bosses, thats right you fight two bosses on the last stage. Simultaneously.