Death Smiles (Cave, 2007)

One thing I liked about 1998's ESP Ra.De. was that it was set during Christmas, with the final boss battle being this epic showdown over the snowy skyline of Tokyo. Cave's latest entry, Death Smiles, takes place during Halloween in what seems like an alternate-reality, 19th Century England. The main characters are these cute little girls dressed as loli-goths who are from the present and have found themselves with the task of saving the world from a satanic doom. Judging from their character designs, I wouldn't be surprised if some pornographic doujinshi surfaced soon.

I thought it was fitting to do a post dedicated to this game on Halloween night. I just felt like it. It is Cave's second horizontal shooter with multiple paths to choose from, and it has many secrets. It is also incredibly easy from what I read, and some people have cleared it within their first couple tries. What's also interesting about the game is that you can fire backwards, like in Capcom's Sidearms, so there will be enemies coming at you from both sides.

I haven't played Death Smiles yet, but judging from the videos I've seen, it looks so fucking cool. That final battle in the last level is truly epic, and makes me feel as though some magical kids really did travel back in time to stop some summoned evil from destroying the planet ages ago. And all this supposedly happened tonight. This very night!

Little do we know, while we are all sitting peacefully on our couches tonight or out partying in major cities without a worry on our minds, that if it weren't for a handful of brave souls who were willing to risk their lives in an apocalyptic battle against Tyranno-FUCKING-Satan (summoned by some psychotically-deranged gaijin), we wouldn't be alive tonight. To me, that thought just makes this game so much more cooler. It kind of reminds me of the Cthulhu mythos.

Death Smiles also marks the return of Junya Inoue, a.k.a. "Joker JUN", the artist responsible for adding so much breath and character to ESP Ra.De., Guwange, and Progear no Arashi. And it shows. I just love how it is presented, from the rock/opera music to the way the characters are unveiled from the curtains in the selection screen as a thumping soundtrack with ghoulish laughter plays in the background--all with roses tastefully scrolling away to the next screen. For some reason, the game makes me think of the title Something Wicked This Way Comes, which then reminds me of Bradbury's Halloween-themed stories.

**Credit goes to GaijinPunch for providing the poster above.
**Special thanks to ExGoku from AEX Shooting Team for uploading those replays to YouTube for mass consumption.