Trouble Witches Origin - Episode1 Daughters of Amalgam - [トラブル☆ウィッチーズ-アマルガムの娘たち-] Game Sample - PC

Channel:

Vysethedetermined2

Subscribers:

42,200

Published on October 11, 2019 3:57:58 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgVtkG5PEsU

Game:

Trouble Witches Origin (2016)

Category:

Show

Duration: 21:40

1,644 views

37

It's good to know that Doujin Games are starting to get more world-wide recognition, and the Doujin scene is responsible for a disproportionately large number of GREAT SHMUPs as well as strange hybrid shooters as Arcades slowly started to lose mainstream appeal after the turn of the millennium; Ether Vapor, Soldier Force, AIRRADE -AIR-, Witch In Wonderland, Graze Counter, Kamui, Crimzon Clover, Almost Countless Touhou Projects, etcetera. Among the Doujin circles of the early 2000s, "Studio SiestA" were amongst the top rated circles of the day (known for titles such as "Pocket Kanon & Air", "Soldier Force", "AIRRADE", etc.), "Trouble Witches" was the team's first original title under their Studio SiestA brand and a game they took tremendous pride in.

Originally released in 2007 under the title "Trouble Witches -Daughters of Amalgam-", the game would get remade three more times ("Trouble Witches AC" for Arcades, "Trouble Witches Neo" for Xbox Live, and "Trouble Witches Origin" for Steam) with various tweaks, omissions and revisions over the course of over ten years. The original game was quite impressive like pretty much all of Studio SiestA's titles and while the Steam game is the definitive version to get (especially now that you can no longer get the X360 version), it's interesting to give the older versions a whirl for the cosmetic differences and significantly different story (the original game had much more dialogue... too much for an Arcade-style shooter, so several CGs and much dialogue was removed from each character's story in subsequent versions... TWAC removed almost all the plot in general).

TWO introduces many new characters with their own stories including the legendary "Cotton & Silk" from Success' classic cute-em-up series (she's OP and even has her own soundtrack and "Tea Time" mini-game which is even more nostalgic for fans savvy enough to own the cup that was sold alongside "Panorama Cotton"), updated character artwork, new spell cards, TWAC for those who missed out, and (most importantly) a rewritten script. While the plot is not very important for most SHMUPs, the X360 version was notorious for its Engrish and laughable dub (if you haven't heard it, you owe it to yourself to give it a listen) so the game features Japanese voices and English text. To its credit, the game is (almost) fully voiced and has a great soundtrack as well (Cotton's music could've been better, but I appreciate what they were trying to do).

Artistically speaking, I think the game has a lot of style and dazzles the eyes with constant explosions and loads of colors without skipping a beat on a good rig, though the characters could've had a few more frames of animation. Everything is easily identifiable and your character's hit area is displayed as long as you're shooting, which is a nice touch. The game's length is about par the course for the genre weighing in at six stages and roughly 30 minutes, but (particularly the first three) levels are visually pleasing with lots of moving objects and a few psuedo-3D effects.

The gameplay isn't anything you haven't seen in a shooter before barring one or two minor aspects, but it incorporates common genre traits quite thoughtfully and encourages frequent use of special weapons. Players can choose between a variety of characters who vary in speed, power and shot pattern, while spell cards are limited-time abilities that characters all share. These abilities can be accessed by entering shops that appear periodically and bought with gold you rake in from enemies. The prices and frequency of shops depend on different things such as who is serving you, how many times you buy the same power up, and whether you "touch" characters when shopping (they enjoy it up to a certain extent, but it can backfire if done too much, causing you to forcefully get kicked out and extend the duration of a shop appearing... in the original, hearts appeared in the corner that showed their affection levels). Weapons do not get periodic upgrades.

The best and most fun feature of the game however is the "Magic Circle System" that practically stops most projectiles and turns them into cash! If you destroy the enemy whose bullet is stuck in your barrier, you'll get cash, but you can also get cash if your barrier goes down, they turn yellow, and you deploy a second barrier. In older versions of the game, the barrier system was difficult to utilize as you held down a button which determined its size and potency, but this game takes the guesswork out, making it much more user-friendly. Cotton also has twice as much barrier by default than other characters! Another great thing for score attacks is making the most use of every shop and barrier opportunity (entering a shop refills your barrier, so get it as low as possible before entering). You also get star coins for scoring.

Overall, it's an excellent shooter (though deceptively pricey) which I recommend. This is a video of the game in action. Enjoy.