The Delight of DoDonPachi Democratisation

This is unlikely to be the first place that you are hearing this, but it was just announced that DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou is coming to Switch (JPN eShop) on the 19th of December.

Moments like this one are definitely some of the most delightful when you are a shmupper - a game long with a prohibitive legitimate entry point (a v. expensive 360 copy or a trip to Japan basically) now very soon to become widely available. No waiting, simply joy. It makes us imagine what other amazing announcements that we know nothing about could be just around the corner; this feeling of endless possibility can even be better than booting up the game itself for the first time.

These moments also link into a wider wave of gratitude that I have around the democratisation of shmups, that is, making the genre more available to everyone. While of course there is a monetary benefit for the producers, its nice to live in a world where we will be able to readily be able to play Under Defeat, TriggerHeart Exelica, DDP DOJ, Batsugun or another game locked behind a prohibitive wall. So while there might be a range of 'yeah, but...' comments that circulate with a new release like this, I just think about the future designers and conversations we will all be able to have because this is no longer an island experience (I want more designers to use the damage/recovery mechanic from the 360 mode). We need to be cognizant that shmup fan culture is to an extent built around cultural capital (what do you know, what experiences have you had, what collection artifact you possess, what number of lag frames you can inherently feel), and this will have a natural tension with this broader access.

So while I've always taken personal shmupper pride and had as a sign of my commitment that I paid a silly amount of money for a 360 copy, I'm happy to accept that this release will dissolve a bit of my cultural capital - because in the end it makes us all that bit more powerful.

_DYR

PS. Also because stuff like this happens(terrifying XB360 glitch) that give you a DoDonPachi MomentoMori moment and I need a version I can keep playing when some part of the old tech properly dies 0_0 .