Cave Shooting Collection Complete Releasing May 22
By Erik Sugay
I love the challenge of shoot ‘em ups and Cave is one of the finest purveyors of the genre, so it’s wonderful that its pioneers are aiming to release an upgraded bundle of its finest titles with the Cave Shooting Collection Complete.
If you happen to be one of those clever folks who snatched up the previous limited edition to then turn it around for profit (they have sold on eBay for around $700 recently), you might want to offload your copy of the original Cave Shooting Collection soon, since it’s about to become obsolete.
The updated bundle will come with 11 games and seven playthrough DVDs:
- Deathsmiles
- Deathsmiles IIX
- Bug Princess
- Bug Princess 2
- Espgaluda II Black Label
- Dodonpachi Resurrection ver 1.5
- Dodonpachi Resurrection Black Label
- Muchi Muchi Pork & Pink Sweets
- Akai Katana
- Guwange (Xbox Live Arcade)
- Dodonpachi Saidaioujou
- Bug Princess 2 Official DVD
- Bug Princess 2 X Deathsmiles Mega Black Label Extreme Black Official DVD
- Dodonpachi Resurrection Official DVD
- Dodonpachi Ressurection Black Label Official DVD
- Espgaluda II Official DVD
- Deathsmiles Official DVD
- Akai Katana Official DVD
Considering that earlier this year the developer ceased operation of its English-language website and Twitter account, it’s safe to assume that this upgrade won’t get the localization treatment. Even if those Western-facing outlets still existed, as the previous bundle didn’t get localized, it would be a shock to see this one find its way stateside.
It’s rare that shoot ‘em ups have stories too difficult to follow or menus too haphazard to navigate, but you should still be wary of importing. While several of Cave’s non-localized games have been compatible with American Xbox 360s, some reprints, like for DoDonPachi Resurrection, are region-locked.
It is unclear which titles in this package are region-free, if any.
If you have a Japanese Xbox 360, however, and want to partake in some intense video game action, you can hardly go wrong with this bundle. The Cave Shooting Collection Complete can be yours on May 22nd for 26,784 yen ($259), which is kind of a steal. If anything, you’ll be able to make a nice profit off of the secondary market.