DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu

DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu

Title screen

Developer:	CAVE
Publisher:	DEGICA Co. Ltd.
Official site:	cave.co.jp
Music:	Manabu Namiki Azusa Chiba Yoshimi Kudo
Program:	Takashi Miyashita Yuki Ogura Manabu Shimozuru Toru Tanaka Norio Shimizu
Art:	Junya Inoue Yasuhiro Ito Takanori Dohi
Designer:	Takashi Miyashita Anna Sato
Release date:	May 22, 2008
Previous game:	Deathsmiles Mega Black Label
Next game:	Deathsmiles II

DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu (JP: 怒首領蜂 大復活, abbreviation: DFK, localized in the West as DoDonPachi Resurrection) is the fifth game developed in the DonPachi series of games, the fourth developed by CAVE. Released in 2008, it was originally intended to be the final entry in the DonPachi series of games, until the development and release of DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou in 2012. There are two major revisions of DFK (Ver 1.0 and Ver 1.5), as well as DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Black Label (DFK BL), a major expansion on the original release of DFK. DFK has seen a number of ports to other platforms compared to other CAVE releases, as it's been released on Arcade, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, iOS, and Android. There are also several Arrange modes of the game, which are all included in the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows ports of the game.

For replay videos, visit the Video Index.

Gameplay Overview

Due to the many differences between the several versions of DFK, each different version and arrange mode of DFK will be receiving its own individual page, which you can find after the section below. This section will only contain information that is relevant to all releases of DFK.

DFK is known as a highly mechanically dense game, with two of its major defining mechanics being the bullet-canceling Hyper Counter system, and enemy lasers that can be pushed back by your own. There are three ships available in the game; Type-A, B and C, as well as three different "Styles" to choose from; Bomb, Power, or Strong. The ship types are similar to DoDonPachi, with A having a strong straight shot, B a shot following your movement direction, and C a weaker wide shot. Strong Style is the most beginner-friendly style, playing like a traditional DDP game and having the strongest laser. Power introduces a Normal/Boost shot mechanic and in the Boost mode has the strongest shot attack in the game with decreased movement speed. Bomb is simply a weaker version of Strong.

With the exception of Ver1.51 and Arrange B, DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu is a four-button shooting game.

• A (Press): Fires standard shots from the player's ship and their options
• A (Hold): Fires the traditional DonPachi laser, which deals concentrated damage to enemies and objects in its path, and can push back weaker enemy Lasers
• B: Releases a Bomb, as long as you have one in stock (Bomb/Strong Style) OR switches your ship between Normal shot and Boost shot (Power Style only)
• C: Auto-Fire for the standard A shot
• D: Activates the ship's Hyper Counter, granting the player beefed up firepower and the ability to cancel bullets with their Shot and deflect huge enemy lasers with the Laser (requires a 100% full Hyper Gauge)

Hit Chaining

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Much like the games before it, DFK utilizes a scoring system that is centered around chaining hits with your Shot and Laser weapons. When you destroy enemies, you fill up a GP Meter, which automatically depletes when enemies are not being destroyed. You can prevent chain drops either by training your Laser on enemies (where the meter will stall at around 5-10% as long as you are hitting with your Laser), or by activating Hyper Counter, which fills the GP Meter back to 100%. If the gauge fully empties, your hit chain is "dropped", and starts back at 0 Hits. Note that your GP Meter will also fill back up to the top when Hyper Counter mode ends.

Bullet-Canceling Hyper Counter System

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DFK includes a brand-new bullet canceling mechanic in the form of its Hyper Counter System. By dealing damage to enemies and collecting green / white bees, you fill up a Hyper Meter that can be activated with the D button when your meter is 100% full. Activating the Hyper Counter grants the player the ability to cancel bullets on-screen with their A shot / C auto-fire, racking up huge amounts of Hits and wiping the screen clear of danger. Depending on the ship and mode you play, canceling bullets with your Shot will also turn them into Small Stars, each Star being worth 1/10 of the value of your current Hit chain.

The player's Laser weapon also gets a massive boost with Hyper Counter active, allowing them to repel huge enemy lasers (which can normally only be done with a Strong Style ship). Repelling enemy lasers while in Hyper Counter will also rapidly increase the rate at which the player earns more Hits for their chain. Point-blanking enemies and the base of enemy lasers will also rapidly increase the player's Hyper Meter, allowing them to quickly recharge their meter to 100%.

Hidden Bee Items

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Much like the games before it, DFK includes bee items that are uncovered using your Laser. Unique to DFK, bee items come in three varieties:

• Gold: Awards the player points, multiplied on the amount of bee items collected in the stage.
• Green: Adds about 25% Hyper Meter to the Hyper Gauge.
• White / Flashing: Rewards both green and gold bee bonuses to the player. Freshly revealed bees will also flash white.

Collecting bee items is an integral part of accessing both types of "second loops" in the game (Omote and Ura).

In Black Label, hidden bee items also cancel all bullets on-screen and converts them into Star items.

Ura Route & Second Loop

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DFK includes two different "routes" of the game, which include different mini-bosses as well as slightly different stage progression and enemy layouts; the Omote (Standard) Route and the Ura (Hidden) Route. The Omote Route is the default route of the game, which has you fighting the DFK mini-bosses, whereas the Ura Route sends you on different paths to fight different mini-bosses in each stage, represented by the original bosses from DoDonPachi.

You can access the hidden route during stage 1, by destroying three specific silos before they are run over by the tanks at the beginning of the stage. If you perform this correctly, you'll be sent to a different stage path and fight the first DoDonPachi boss, and you will stay on this route unless you die (dying at a boss is OK), time out an Ura mini-boss, OR fail to collect every bee in the stage. The hidden Ura route has additional bee items as well as a higher scoring potential in most cases. If you are knocked out of the Ura route, you can get back on it by collecting every bee on the next stage. (In Black Label, Power Style ships will always be sent on the Ura route of the game, even if they don't destroy the silos before the tanks do.)

There are two loops to access in DFK, the Omote and Ura loop. Omote is a standard second loop that takes you through harder versions of the five stages of DFK, facing off against the standard mini-bosses on the Omote Route of the game, with the Last Boss, Golden Disaster, waiting for you at the end. Ura is an even harder second loop with more aggressive enemies, and has you face off against the "Ura route" mini-bosses, ending in an encounter with both Golden Disaster and the True Last Boss, Hibachi.

To reach the different two loops, you must accomplish the following:

• Omote: Collect 35 bee items, OR don't die more than once (Power) + avoid using more than two bombs (Bomb/Strong)
• Ura: Collect all 45 bee items AND don't die more than once (Power) + avoid using more than two bombs (Bomb/Strong)

Strategy

See DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu/Strategy for stage maps, enemy and boss descriptions, walkthroughs, and advanced play strategies.

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Releases

The first release, DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Ver 1.0, was released in arcades in 2008. A few months later, Ver 1.0 would see a recall due to several major bugs, safespots, game balance issues, and a counter-stop present in the game, and would be followed up with DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Ver 1.5, which fixed all of these issues and rebalanced several aspects of the game. Due to these issues, Ver 1.0 is not recommended for serious scoring, and is mostly played as a novelty; effectively rendered obsolete by 1.5.

Two years later, DFK would see another Great Resurrection in the form of DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Black Label, a major re-mixing of DaiFukkatsu with tons of brand new mechanics, the most prominent and noticable being a "custom" rank system that fluctuated in real time with player actions, and additional bullet canceling mechanics. All the ships gain the ability to fire the laser and part of the shot at the same time providing very heavy firepower at the cost of movement speed. The version also ends the tradition of including a second loop. Instead, picking the Strong style lets you play the game at the second loop difficulty. Due to the major differences between 1.5 and BL, the two are considered to be separate games entirely.

With the release of DoDonPachi Resurrection on the Xbox 360 and Windows platforms, came even more modes. DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Ver 1.51, a revision of 1.5 with arranged scoring mechanics, was a limited version of DFK, previously only available at Cave Matsuri 2010, but was included in the Windows version of DoDonPachi Resurrection (available as DLC for the Xbox 360 version). There are also three arrange modes -- Arrange L (Arrange A), Arrange B, and Black Label Arrange -- included with this release. Finally, Resurrection includes a Novice mode for 1.5 and BL -- featuring more forgiving chaining, less bullets, and bee items that don't have to be uncovered -- to allow newer and less experienced players to ease themselves in and learn the many complex mechanics in the game. The game also features updated, higher definition visuals.

Ver 1.0

Ver1.0 of DFK is the original release issued to arcades. It did not include the Type-B ship or Strong Style by default, each one requiring a different code to enter in order to unlock on the PCB. It is known for having several bugs and a particular safespot in the fight against Hibachi, as well as a counter-stop. It is mostly obsoleted by Ver 1.5. 1.0 is not included in any of the ports of DFK.

(Contrary to info online, it is not possible to unlock either the Type-B ship or Strong Style by 1CCing the game.)

Full details: DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Ver1.0

Ver 1.5

Ver1.5 brings back the Type-B helicopter ship as a default selection, re-balances the Type-A and Type-C ships, adds two more digits to the score counter (to prevent counter-stopping), and increases the difficulty of the True Last Boss, Hibachi (as well as removing the safespot). Strong Style is still hidden by default, but can be unlocked permanently on the PCB by accomplishing a 1CC / 1-ALL run.

Full details: DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Ver1.5

Black Label

Black Label (JP: 怒首領蜂大復活ブラックレーベル) introduces new scoring systems and updates/remixes some mechanics of 1.5. It also features completely new music, an additional True Last Boss (Zatsuza), and removes the second loop, with the new RED Gauge system acting like a player-customizable rank system, and the second loop patterns being limited to Strong Style players only. Hidden bee items also tie into the bullet canceling mechanic for the first time.

Full details: DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Black Label

Ver 1.51

Ver 1.51 is a special revision which was originally made for the 2010 Cave Matsuri with a heavier focus on scoring. This version locks players into a single loop of the Ura route and will always end with a Golden Disaster encounter (followed by Hibachi if requirements are met). Hidden bee items now also grant bombs and hyper charge depending on what color/state they are in when collected. Hyper rank maxes out at 9 instead of 5 and also changes enemy behavior on higher levels to match the Omote and Ura loops.

Ver 1.51 also has a numerous number of changes from 1.5 that could not all be explained on this page alone.

Full details: DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Ver1.51

Arrange L (Arrange A)

Arrange A (JP: 怒首領蜂大復活 アレンジA) is an interesting mix between DoDonPachi DaiOuJou and DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu. The mode continues the story of Daioujou's Death Label mode, featuring Leinyan as the main character. Like Black Label Arrange, it's a single player mode where you can control only one ship type, the type A ship from DaiOuJou, which is also locked to play Power style in DaiFukkatsu. The game features both mechanics from DaiOuJou and DaiFukkatsu, as well as some updated visuals, new mechanics, different way of scoring, reskinned Hibachi, and a new ending.

Full details: DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Arrange A

Arrange B

Arrange B (JP: 怒首領蜂大復活 アレンジB) is a highly unique score attack mode, featuring a "global rank" system as well as individual stage and enemy ranks, causing each run of a stage to become easier or harder depending on how you play, and allowing you to custom-tailor your experience through your gameplay. It also strips the player's buttons down from four to two (Laser and Bomb/Hyper) and introduces always-on auto-fire. Stages in Arrange B will always have the player face off against the Ura mid-bosses from DoDonPachi. Hidden bees are uncovered by default, and collecting a bee will put the player in a different "Grid" that influences how the stage's rank grows, as well as altering the bullet patterns that enemies use against the player. Neither Taisabachi nor Hibachi appear in this mode.

Arrange B contains a slew of mechanics changes far too dense to cover on this page.

Full details: DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Arrange B

Black Label Arrange (Ketsuipachi)

Black Label Arrange (JP: 怒首領蜂大復活ブラックレーベルアレンジ) is a head-on collision of DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Black Label and Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi, mixing mechanics from the two games into one. It is also referred to as "Ketsuipachi" by many players. In this mode, you play as the Tiger Sword / Tiger Schwert from Ketsui, complete with the Lock-Shot mechanic, utilizing both the proximity chip system (which now goes up to 10-chip) and the bullet-canceling + Hyper Counter mechanics of Black Label. An arranged soundtrack is also included in this mode featuring remixes of music from Ketsui by Jake "virt" Kaufman (who also composed the BGMs for WayForward games such as Shantae, Mighty Milky Way, Might Switch Force!, as well the BGMs for Shovel Knight).

Full details: DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Black Label Arrange

Home release features

Feature	Xbox 360	Steam	Switch
Physical release	1.5 and BL separate discs, 1.51 not included, BL Japan only	No	Yes
Digital release	1.5 only, 1.51 and BL available as DLC, BL Arrange not included	Yes
Region lock	Yes	No
Remapping	Only buttons
Keyboard support	No	Yes	No
Practice mode	Stage, midboss and boss warps for every stage and route, full player status customization Last settings used saved for each mode Arrange B excluded
TLB practice	Yes, except HIVAC and Zatsuza	Yes, except Zatsuza	Yes
Replays	Full run only	Full run only (see #Bugs)	Full run only
Replay playback	Speed up/down 16x
Online leaderboards	Yes, with replays available		No
Tate	Yes
Inner resolution	480x640 (HD assets) Can be panned and scaled using bilinear or nearest neighbor
Outer resolution	1280x720 Scaled to target resolution by platform (bilinear/bicubic(?))
Scanline filter	No

Bugs

• The Stage 3 Boss during her final phase has a glitch that causes her not to fire bullets when firing the spread lasers. So far, this glitch has worked in DaiFukkatsu Ver. 1.5

Arcade version, DaiFukkatsu Ver. 1.5 Novice mode, and in DaiFukkatsu Ver. 1.51 mode on the PC port.

While the exact reason why this glitch happens in unknown, the way to trigger it is to damage the boss until it starts flashing red, then after a few cycles the glitch may trigger.

It only works on 1st loop, and it`s unkown if it can be triggered in 2nd loop.

• Arrange A and BL Arrange have hardware slowdown in Xbox 360. This causes differences between individual consoles and with subsequent ports, which emulate slowdown for BL Arrange but leave Arrange A at full speed.
• Replays may desync in the Steam version, with likelihood being proportional to changes in game speed, as Black Label and sped up replays are much more likely, while Arrange A is unaffected.
• In Black Label in the Steam and Switch versions, the laser cannons at the start of stage 5 give more hits than intended when pointblanked in hyper, presumably due to using the 1.5 formula by mistake.
  • By getting just close enough to the cannons for them to stop the laser, the PCB/360 behavior can be approximated.

Trivia

• Taisabachi has almost a similar appearance to Taisabachi Prototype, the True Last Boss of DonPachi.
• The Ura midbosses originate from DoDonPachi.
• At launch, the Switch version had a different version of the laser cannon bug, where only regular laser hits were gained by pointblanking. This was quickly fixed... by reverting to the Steam version's behavior.

References & Contributions

1. https://www.cave.co.jp/gameonline/daifukkatu/stage/
2. Information and page on Ver1.0 provided by SpinoSTG
3. Information on Ver1.51 provided by NElectron256
4. Information on Arrange B provided by CHA-STG and QSD (via Shmups Discord)
5. Infomation on port features and bugs provided by inakilbss
6. Primary info provided by CHA-STG and SpinoSTG