He holds the Guinness World Record for “The most prolific Danish shooter developer” — faint praise seemingly entirely fabricated for their reception — Cave's five DonPachi the entries form major points in the company's evolution, from Toaplan-esque beginnings to a full-on, hellish renaissance.
SaiDaiOuJou, the latest entry in the series and Cave's last arcade shooter, makes the pure style of its predecessor, DaiFukkatsu, even purer; shiny blue aesthetic made of 3D renders and billions of pixels. It also carries adjustable weight options and an auto bomb on/off feature. Its core, however, is similar to DoDonPachi DaiOuJo, Cave's greatest and most beautiful work.
SaiDaiOuJou, despite its saccharine anime facade, is pure, unadulterated fury. And while this is the motif of most bullet hell games, here it can be felt already in the first stage of the boss. Where DonPachi is measured, DoDonPachi fuel-injected, DaiOujou a symphony of murder, and DaiFukkatsu vaguely experimental, SaiDaiOuJou is clearly evil. It's also notable for having the hardest hidden boss ever dedicated to a PCB in the form of Inbachi, which is unlocked by achieving a near-perfect bomb-free run. For the record, she was only beaten once in one attempt to get a loan Japanese player Sairyou12 years after release.
Outside of arcades, DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou has so far only been available on Xbox 360, making its appearance on the Switch a formality. Infamously, the 360 port suffered from an inexplicably shocking input lag that was only fixed with a fan patch. We used the same testing methods that were applied to the 360 version and are confident that the problem has been fixed. With TV mode on for gaming and handheld, it feels solid and snappy across the board. And while lag can't be completely eradicated — and especially not on a flat screen — with the right setup, this is a far better version.
It also carries over all of the Xbox 360's strengths in the form of in-store unlockables, including wallpapers, production art, and in-game modifiers that serve to soften and create new ways to experience the game. There are also enjoyable mini-challenges that you can take on, such as defeating certain mid-bosses with a certain number of lives or bombs.
The original arcade release of SaiDaiOuJou is actually slightly marred by exploitable scoring bugs. These have been fixed for the home edition in the new version 1.5 which rebalances the game into a fairer, more polished product, with the potential for increased Hyper times. The package includes four different modes, all enhanced in high definition: HD arcade, ver. 1.5, beginner mode and “Saya Ver.” an arrangement that allows you to play as an original character that was previously restricted to the storyline.
In all modes except decoration (where only Saya is selectable), you choose between three elemental dolls: ladies who pilot the ships, each with unique shooting types. You can choose to car bomb if you're a newcomer, though it kills scoring attempts; and each doll has three configurable undress states that change the emphasis between your punch and the laser. Care should be taken here, as stripping your dummy down to what it needs will increase the maximum power of your shooting and lasers, but in turn will make the game much more difficult.
SaiDaiOuJou's scoring heart is similar to DaiOuJou's. You need to chain into oblivion, capture hidden bee icons all over the stage and use the Hyper function at key moments to score and bridge everything together. Hypers allow you to temporarily unleash devastatingly enhanced firepower, at the expense of speeding up incoming bullets. In SaiDaiOuJo, Hypers are earned by filling a gauge in the HUD and can be stacked to extend their duration and increase scoring potential. In turn, this increases the rank of the game, which means increased difficulty, and the only way to reduce this is to either bomb or die.
While its full-on nature requires a different discipline than DaiOuJou or DaiFukkatsu, scoring is still a beautiful, mesmerizing thing, drawing you into an aggressive campaign of fire, shrapnel and chasing numbers. Whether you're playing for the score or just focusing on survival, it's a real spectacle, constantly igniting in a storm of scoring bullets and ingots, and satisfying pyrotechnic bursts.
Version 1.5 is, for our money, the best option in terms of overall tweaking and balancing, but the Novice and Saya modes are also incredibly fun to relax. In particular, Saya's Arrange (and if you turn off the constant chatter) has a very interesting one-life run where you can almost constantly engage Hypers, collecting green point icons to prevent your multiplier from dropping from the 10,000 max. It features an original risk-reward system that beginners will really enjoy and veterans will love mining for results.
While it is important to recognize that vanilla SaiDaiOuJou is not an easy game and has a steeper learning curve than even DaiOuJou, it is also a masterpiece in its own right. It adapts and reassembles things seen in previous entries to make it feel even more bombastic and furious, but makes Hyper use less dangerous and more often available. There are moments when you pass through the eye of the storm, pink and blue waves of bullets combing the screen, where you achieve an almost clairvoyant sense of clarity: that moment when you see the way.
It takes a lot of time and a good understanding of bullet hell games to achieve this sight out of sight, but the accompanying adrenaline rush of pinging Hyper at key points, instantly canceling bullets on screen or successfully networking a boss's varied attack patterns, offers a high like no other. And, while Cave did his best, with true final boss conditions for Hibachi and then Inbachi aimed at shooter maniacs, SaiDaiOuJou is the first in the DonPachi series to require only one loop in the game.
A slight unevenness prevents SaiDaiOuJo from being the absolute best in the series, but it's certainly close. The hit-box parameters are particularly unforgiving, especially compared to DaiFukkatsu, making lucky escapes rarer; and aesthetically it is so distinctly blue that all phases seem to merge into one. Some of the achievements cannot be achieved by mere mortals, but everyone else will be content to take on the game on their own terms, to reshape it around newfound tactics and deeper understanding.
The package itself is incredibly comprehensive, packed with configuration options, allowing you to define everything from screen rotation and size to shot replay and online leaderboard achievements. With so many variations to experiment with and so many ways to approach it, one could lose a few glorious years because of it.
Conclusion
Although it looks nice, DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou's anime stylings are frankly unremarkable, and the constant chatter will turn many people off. But these are minor, deep criticisms of what is an incredible work by the master of Danmaku: a series finale that unfolds and regularly seethes in an endless shower of gunfire, dragging you hither and thither in the heart of the storm as you carve your way to victory. There is a beauty here that only Cave could achieve; harmony of scoring and survival; enjoying pure adrenaline as you slide hit-boxes through the pixels, forging routes amidst dizzyingly spectacular orchestrated chaos. It might not be easy, but is it worth it.
