While Deathsmiles was released as a retail game, Cave decided to release the sequel Deathsmiles IIX as a digital download. The idea actually came from Microsoft who wanted to dabble with digital imports.
"Microsoft approached us with an offer where they wanted to take a Japanese Xbox 360 game and as an experiment put it on Games on Demand," said Makota Asada, Game Development Manager, in an interview with Siliconera. "Because our titles are shooting games, language is not that important, so we decided to try it along with Microsoft."
Deathsmiles IIX is the only untranslated game available on Games on Demand, but since it’s a horizontal shooter with mostly English menus its way more import friendly than only Japan-only releases like 5pb’s visual novels. The story text is still in Japanese.
"As an experiment, it was pretty good for what we were expecting," Asada added. I followed up and asked if he thought about releasing any more of Cave’s retail titles via Games on Demand. "Yes, we do think we might do it again in the future," Asada answered.
Good news for Cave fans who only own American Xbox 360 consoles. Akai Katana seems to me like the only likely candidate for another Games on Demand release. All of the other shoot 'em ups Cave have released for Xbox 360 are playable either on American consoles or in MAME.
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