Mushihime-Sama Futari Ver 1.5 Hands On Impressions

For me, as far as shooters go, there is Mushihime-Sama Futari and there is everything else.

I'm not saying that Cave's arcade shooter is the best, but it's a title I'll always pop into an arcade to play, a title that I have some sort of connection to, a title that I can enjoy.

The recent spate of Cave bullet hell shooters that have been ported to the Xbox 360 by developer 5pb have not lived up to the standards Cave has for its games—and that Cave players have for Cave games.

There have been ports from 5pb — ports so buggy that apologizes had to be issued.

For Mushihime-Sama Futari Ver. 1.5, Cave is handling the development internally. And it shows. The Xbox 360 demo looks crisp and runs smoothly with updated art and tweaked animation.

As Cave has done with other shooters, it has released on the Xbox 360, there is a safety net of sorts, providing players with co-op bots play of sorts as they find their footing. On Original Mode, the Xbox 360 version is more forgiving than the arcade version. Of course, the 360 game has harder modes as well.

As someone who plays and has played the arcade original on a joystick, the Xbox 360 controller's thumbstick is responsive, and while not a replacement, it does the job.

Mushihime-sama Futari Ver. 1.5. will be released on the Xbox 360 in Japan on November 26.