The original DoDonPachi is one of the most legendary and popular of modern shooters, and has a huge cult following around the globe amoung shooter fanatics, with the actual arcade PCB being highly prized indeed going by prices I've seen on the internet! This sequel was recently licenced (I hope) to and developed by Taiwanese outfit IGS, running on the company's own PGS arcade system (which is also host to the extremely popular Knights of Valour scrolling beatemup games). I'd been very interested in seeing this being a big Cave/Pachi fan and I finally got the chance to play this game recently on a trip to Singapore. Yup.. they still play shooters in the arcades there you see. So.. whats's it like then I hear you ask?

Well first off the bad news.. compared to the original game there's really not much happening here progression-wise. What we have is Cave's original DoDonPachi, cloned pretty much down to individual level designs and graphics, by a company that obviously doesnt have nearly as much experience in the genre as the Japanese arcade firm.. For a start I found the graphics to be decidedly amatuerish looking in comparison to the original, they just don't cut it compared to the level of visual craftmanship seen in any of Cave's games. What's there is akin, possibibly even sub-par to the level of graphic flair seen in fan-made Pachi clones I've seen available for free download on the internet! The player ships look decidedly ugly and badly drawn in particular compared to the sleek designs found in Cave's creation. Wheres my funky green helicopter? Awww... Bosses are OK, but hardly spectacular, and what I saw were basically almost identical re-hashes of the bosses seen in the original game .. where's the creativity in that? Likewise the levels themselves are so-similar it's untrue.. looking like they have been ripped and transplanted from the first game to the new one with hardly any thought at all.. the first few levels in particular are almost identical clones of the corresponding first few levels of the Cave game down to an almost uncanny similarity of enemy and background graphics (on level 1's background those crashed ships are still there and look exactly the same!). Yup.. you heard it right.. these are to all intents and purposes the SAME levels folks, (at least for the first 2 or 3 stages of the game)!

Above Left: 'How to Play'.. oo thanks for that! Below Left- First 'level'. Its the same boss! Again! And it dies straight away..! Pointless.

Graphics are OK but not
as good as Cave's..

Sub-par graphics and un-original level design are one thing (ok make that two things) but the thing that lets DoDonPachi 2 down most of all, at least when compared with the original, is the fact that gameplay (and technically) wise it simply isnt as good. At the start of the game as you choose between 3 rather dull (and as previously mentioned rather ugly) ships, you are asked to select you super-weapon. Charge Beam or Blast Bomb.. just like the first two games. But what's this.. I can only use one of 'em from now on..? Coudnt you choose which to use depending on whether you were holding down the charge laser button or not before? Hmm.. it doesnt seem to work any more. I'm stuck with just the one type of super weapon I selected at the start. Aww.. shucks.. there's half the entertainment and gameplay in terms of choosing how to finish off those big bosses in style down the tubes. Regression then.. oh dear.

You can have thisor this

..but NOT both in the same game :(

Having said all this.. it's basically still DoDonPachi (even if it's actually Dodonpachi's hard-up brother). It's still reasonably good fun to play. Its still hilarious watching your score multiplier go berzerk and it's still entertaining enough shooting down those enormous floating ships on Stage 2 (I think), even if they are exactly the same ones we shot down in the original game and we've seen it all before. But it aint as much fun as DoDonPachi (1), or indeed the first DonPachi game. In fact after my original exitement at seeing this game lurking in the corner of a nosiy arcade in Orchard Road, and 15-20 minutes of play followed by watching someone credit feed through it in entirety, I wandered off to play Strikers 1999, and Dragon Blaze instead. Much more entertaining..