Games-db / Arcade /

DonPachi (US)

 
Arcade
Arcade
Platform:

DonPachi (US)

| 1995
Genre:
Style:
Theme:
Description:


Notes:
Release type:
Developer: Atlus/Cave
Controls/Input Device: Control(joy8way), Buttons(3)
Number of Players: 2
Rating:
Creator:
More Creator:
More Coder/Software:
Publisher:
Manufacturer:
:
License from/Copyright:
Graphics/Artwork:
Music:
SoundFX:
System/ConversionClass:
SoundMix: Stereo
Coder/Software:
More Graphics/Artwork:
More Music/Sound:
Acting Talent involved:
:
:
More Machine Details:
More System Details:
Game Awards Nominations:
Game Awards Won:
Title a.k.a.:
Slogans:
Avg. Playtime:
Mameinfo.dat entry:
0.37b10 [Yochizo]


WIP:

- 0.147u2: hap fixed clone Omega Fighter Special. The game fails to boot or finish post. After showing bad rom errors, the game resets.

- 0.147u1: Fixed maincpu rom loading.

- 0.122u7: Fixed gfx1/2/3/4/5 rom loading.

- 0.89u3: Changed Z80 CPU2 clock speed to 5MHz.

- 0.37b10: Yochizo added 'Omega Fighter' (UPL 1989) and clone Omega Fighter Special.

- 21st November 2000: Yochizo fixed some graphics bugs in the Omega Fighter / Atomic Robo-kid driver.

- 8th November 2000: Yochizo sent in a driver for Omega Fighter and Atomic Robo-kid.

- 25th April 1999: Dumped Omega Fighter Special.


LEVELS: 8 (restarts once)


Other Emulators:

* FB Alpha

* JFF

* Raine


Recommended Games (Star Force):

Catacomb

Vega

Espial

Night Star (DECO Cassette)

Nova 2001

Star Jacker

Stunt Air

Zodiack

Star Force

Alpha Mission / ASO

Alpha Mission II / ASO II

Astro Warrior (Mega-Tech)

Mission 660

Rafflesia

S.R.D. Mission

Truxton / Tatsujin

Tatsujin (Tourvision PCE bootleg)

Truxton II / Tatsujin Oh

Blast Off

Blazing Lazers

GunHed (Tourvision PCE bootleg)

The Next Space

Omega Fighter

Super Star Soldier (Tourvision PCE bootleg)

Lethal Thunder

Pollux

Strike Gunner S.T.G

Vimana

Explosive Breaker

Final Star Force

Galmedes

Gunlock

GunNail

Nebulas Ray

Super-X

Gekirindan

Viper Phase 1

Fever SOS

Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid Shooting


Romset: 2016 kb / 8 files / 457.8 zip


Credits Mameinfo and Mametesters Project Robert J. Rabgno et al.
History.dat entry:
DonPachi (c) 1995 Atlus.

An excellent vertically scrolling shoot'em up. The player assumes the role of a pilot who is sent by their squadron to fight their former allies until one side destroys the other, all of which is a part of a mission to strengthen the military power that controls each side. The player flies their selected fighter over 5 areas of various terrain, encountering a number of land, sea and air enemies. The player's ship has two modes of fire : by tapping the fire button, shots are fired; holding it down produces a concentrated vertical beam, but also reduces the ship's speed.

The player can choose one of 3 aircraft at the start of the game, or upon continuing :
Type A : A red (or yellow/orange, for player two) fighter, which fires a narrow stream of shots
Type B : A green (or purple, for player two) helicopter, which fires its main guns forward, but has side guns that rotate in the direction of movement
Type C : A blue (or black, for player two) fighter, which fires a wide, three-way spread of shots

- TECHNICAL -

Game ID : ATC01DP

Cave 1st Generation Hardware

Main CPU : MC68000 (@ 16 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Zilog Z80 [Optional]
Sound Chips : Yamaha YMZ280B (@ 16.9344 Mhz) or OKIM6295 x (1 or 2) + YM2203 / YM2151 [Optional]
Other : 93C46 EEPROM

Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 3
=> [A] Shoot, [B] Bomb, [C] Full-Auto

- TRIVIA -

Developed by Cave, this is their first game (released in May 1995).

DonPachi is one of only two Cave shooters to get released in the USA, the other being Progear no Arashi. Both US versions of these games are extremely rare and sought after since only a small handful were made for the American market.

The name of the game is a pun; the kanji for DonPachi literally means 'leader bee', but the word 'don' is also a Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of a gun firing. There are a number of references to bees in the game : the most obvious is the bee icon that can be picked up for high scores. The transition effect between levels is tiled, made up of red hexagons, which resembles a bee hive.

The plot of this game is quite 'cheesy' : you fight your own comrades in order to become the ultimate fighter, the 'DonPachi elite team!'.

Kenichi Takano and Tsuneki Ikeda (see Staff section) were ex-Toaplan employers. It seems that Tsuneki Ikeda was one of the programmers behind "Truxton", hence the red/blue/green ships colour (for player1 of course). He should also be the 'Ikeda in Maeba' guy appearing in "Batsugun"'s credits.

The default high score table contains a hidden message : read vertically, the initials will read, TOAPLAN.FOREVER.

The 'English' text that appears against the 'WARNING' message upon approaching a boss reads : THIS IS NOT SIMILATION. GET READY TO DESTOROY THE ENEMY. TARGET FOR THE WEAK POINTS OF F**KIN' MACHINE. DO YOUR BEST YOU HAVE EVER DONE.

Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Donpachi - G.S.M. 1500 / PCCB-00184) on 21/06/1995.

- UPDATES -

The US version is slightly different, it has the "Winners Don't Use Drugs" screen.

- SCORING -

DonPachi features a scoring system known as Get Point System (GPS). By destroying large groups or chains of enemies in a short period of time, you can build up a number called a combo, similar to the kind found in fighting games. You receive an increasing number of points with every enemy you shoot down; the more enemies you hit in one chain, the more points you receive. You can break the chain by waiting to shoot an enemy; the combo number will turn blue when your chain is broken. This system brings a new challenge after the player has cleared the game; plot out the stages to achieve a high score.

After completing an area, player gains following scores based on performance in the completed area :
Star : 10000 points per item collected in the area using current live.
Bombitem : Player gets additional points for having less than 7 maximum slots. Player initially gets 100,000, 60,000, 30,000, 10,000 points for 3, 4, 5, 6 bomb slots respectively. If player manages to complete successive areas with only current life, the bombitem bonus increases, up to 5,000,000 points.

If 2nd loop is completed with 1 credit, player gets 1 million points for each reserved fighter.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Bee Medals : there are 13 bee medals hidden in each stage. If you cross the location of a hidden bee medal with your bullets or your laser, it starts to blink. Only the head of the laser weapon frees it, so you can capture it after.
1st medal is worth 100 points, 2nd medal 200, 3rd 400, then 800, 1,000, 2,000...
If you miss a medal, the chain breaks and counting restarts. In case you manage to collect all bee medals of a stage, the 13th medal increases it's value stage by stage up to 1,000,000 points.

* Hits : if you destroy multiple targets within an very short time range (indicated by a green colored bar), a hit counter starts and after 10 hits it will be visible in large letters. Once your hits are too slow, the counter stops and disappears.

* At the 2nd loop, all targets destroyed releases bullets towards your ship.

- SERIES -

1. DonPachi (1995)
2. DoDonPachi (1997)
3. Bee Storm - DoDonPachi II (2001)
4. DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou (2002)
5. DoDonPachi Dai-Fukkatsu (2008)
6. DoDonPachi Saidaioujou (2012)
7. DoDonPachi Maximum (2012) [Apple App Store]

- STAFF -

Producer : Kenichi Takano
Programmers : Tsuneki Ikeda, Toshiaki Tomizawa, H. Uchida, Ryuichi Yabuki
Graphic Designers : Atsunori Aburatani, K. Asaba, J. Fujisaku, Riichirou Nitta, Naoki Ogihara
Sound : Ryuichi Yabuki
Special Thanks: N. Kaneko, Satoshi Kohyama

- PORTS -

* Consoles :
Sega Saturn [JP] (April 26, 1996; "DonPachi [Model T-14405G]")
Sony PlayStation [JP] (October 18, 1996; "DonPachi [Model SLPS-00548]")
Sony PlayStation [JP] (August 30, 2001; "DonPachi [Model SLPS-86855]")
Sony PlayStation [JP] (May 12, 2010, PSOne Classics)

- CONTRIBUTE -

Edit this entry: http://www.arcade-history.com/?&page=detail&id=670&o=2


Licensed from Alexis Bousiges under a CC Attribution 3.0 License
cheat.dat entry:
00000000 10139B 00000009 FFFFFFFF Infinite Credits
60000000 000000 00000000 00000000
00000000 101A2F 00000007 FFFFFFFF Infinite Lives PL1
00000000 10217B 00000004 FFFFFFFF Infinite Bombs PL1
00000000 102196 00000002 FFFFFFFF Invincibility PL1 Enable when you have a shield
00000000 102179 00000004 FFFFFFFF Maximum Fire Power PL1
60000000 000000 00000000 00000000
00000000 101A31 00000007 FFFFFFFF Infinite Lives PL2
00000000 1021BB 00000004 FFFFFFFF Infinite Bombs PL2
00000000 1021D6 00000002 FFFFFFFF Invincibility PL2 Enable when you have a shield
00000000 1021B9 00000004 FFFFFFFF Maximum Fire Power PL2

Credit Pugsy's MAME Cheat file
Advert

Submit Data
You are a game nerd?
You are interested in
sharing your knowledge?
Submit your data here:
email

Top contributors