DoDonPachi DaiOuJou

Arcade game

DoDonPachi DaiOuJou (怒首領蜂 大往生, Dodonpachi Daiōjō) is the fourth arcade game in Cave's DonPachi series. The history section of DoDonPachi Resurrection on iPhone calls it DoDonPachi Blissful Death in localisation. CAVE later ported the game to iOS under this localised name.

DaiOuJou follows the conventions of the previous game with only a few changes. The chaining system is intact and works in much the same way. Causing an enemy to explode fills a meter, and every enemy destroyed before the meter depletes adds to the current chain and again refills the meter. Holding the laser weapon over a large enemy will hold the meter steady and slowly accumulate hits. In this way it is possible to create a single chain out of any of the 5 stages. The controls in DaiOuJou are identical to the previous games in the series, and the same shot laser dynamic as seen in Donpachi and Dodonpachi are also present, with spread bombs and laser bombs also making a return. However, there are only 2 ships, a narrow shot ship (Type A) and a wide shot ship (Type B). In addition, the game introduces Element Dolls, which will power up the player's weapons. The element dolls are:

Shotia: Powers up standard shots and has a less powerful laser. Can carry 3 bombs at the start, and holds a maximum of 6. Leinyan: Powers up laser shots and has a weaker shot attack. Can carry 2 bombs at the start, and holds a maximum of 4. EXY: Powers up both shot and laser weapons, giving them intense power. Can carry 1 bomb at the start, and holds a maximum of 2. Piper: Exclusive to the Xbox 360 in X mode, Piper will fire hyper versions of the shot and laser, rapidly increasing the combo gauge. The player can still gain and activate hypers, but they make the shots green and give the player the ability to cancel bullets with their shots. To compensate, the player cannot use bombs (although the MAXIMUM bonus for obtaining bomb items is still intact). Introduced in this game and carried on in later entries is the Hyper system. By gaining large combos, attacking enemies at close range, and collecting bee medals while a large combo is active (Bee medals now give score based on how large of a combo is racked up), you build up a hyper meter at the top of the screen. When the meter fills up, a hyper powerup drops from the bottom of the screen. Activating the hyper will cancel all bullets currently onscreen and increases the firepower of your shot and laser. Hypers also increase the rate of which combos are built up, as small enemies will give more hits on the combo gauge, larger enemies will add to the current combo chain much faster, and combos on bosses build up at a much faster rate. In addition, if a hyper meter is filled during a boss fight, all bullets on screen are cancelled and turned into score bonuses.

This variant was a limited edition release. The arcade board includes the original and Black Label games, which can be selected during boot time. The Black Label game can be identified by the black title screen. After the release of the Black label, the original version is called White Label, particularly for clarification. A prototype export/overseas version of the Black Label edition named DoDonPachi III was discovered in 2016.

The music tracks are puns of shooting game companies. Mukei, Toua, Takimi, Torejya, Saikyou, Seibu, Sakusetsu, Taitou, Raijin, and Awaremu are named after NMK, Toaplan, Takumi Corporation, Treasure, Psikyo, Seibu Kaihatsu, Success Corporation, Taito, 8ing/Raizing, and Irem respectively. As often pointed out by fans, Manabu Namiki confirmed that the tracks from the game are the shooting game companies stated above he wanted to show respect for.

With Junya Inoue still a graphical designer, the serene steampunk world of Progear has been replaced with hard sci fi. The graphic style, especially the ships were drawn so as to resemble the original Dodonpachi. Bullets are drawn in blue and pink, and many of the backgrounds are deliberately flat so as not to distract from the on screen action.

This edition is aimed at the Taiwan Chinese market and some in game text has been translated in Chinese. It features an easy mode for beginners (not Black Label). It was published by IGS on April 20, 2010.

The 2008 03 07 issue of Famitsu Weekly magazine reported that 5pb. Inc.'s 5pb. Games Division #2 would bring this game to the Xbox 360 platform as an Xbox Live Arcade title. However, 5pb representative Masaki Sakari claimed that Microsoft rejected 5pb's proposals and 'decided to cut down faithful arcade ports.'. 5pb considered releasing Black Label and Ketsui on a retail DVD instead. On 2008 09 26, Famitsu announced the official title of the Xbox 360 version of the game, dodonpachi DAI OU JOU Black Label EXTRA (怒首領蜂 大往生 ブラックレーベル EXTRA), scheduled for a release on Christmas Day of 2008. The port includes the original and Black Label editions of the game, as well as online score ranking, replay saving, enhanced graphics, and Xbox Live Marketplace content. There is an Xbox 360 original mode for beginners named the "X Mode", where a new Element Doll named Piper is introduced. The pre order also includes a guidebook. Arcade mode Old Version is a port of the original "White Label" arcade release. Arcade mode New Version is a port of the newer "Black Label" arcade release. The X Mode features a 1 loop, 5 stage layout with a new game system. The game's music can be changed from Mono (from the arcade), Stereo, or X Mode, which features rearranged music. Xbox achievements feature 50 categories for 1,000 points in total. The player can get extra credits, X mode, and unlock Config EX options that alter gameplay mechanics by playing the game for a specific amount of time or earning achievement points. The Xbox 360 version was plagued at released with bugs and problems that rendered the game highly inaccurate and glitchy. It was eventually found that 5pb had, without permission, lifted the source code from the PS2 version of the game and slotted it in for the 360 version while making adjustments as needed. Patches were eventually made with Cave and Microsoft stepping in to aid the patching process.

In Japan, Game Machine listed DoDonPachi DaiOuJou on their June 1, 2002 issue as being the third most popular arcade game during the previous two weeks. DaiOuJou was met with positive reception from critics since its release in arcades and other platforms. Both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 versions sold approximately 53,881 copies combined during their lifetime in Japan.