CAVE
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CAVE Co. LTD.
CAVE Interactive Co., LTD (CAVE) is a game developer that specialized in making bullet hell STGs for the arcade. Established in 1994 by former Toaplan employees, they would go on to create many iconic STG franchises, such as DonPachi and Mushihimesama, as well as one-off games such as Ketsui and Guwange.
"CAVE" is an acronym for "Computer Art Visual Entertainment".
General Play Style
CAVE games have become very well-known and synonymous with the bullet hell sub-genre of shooting games, with their later games especially pushing huge bullet counts and dense, complex patterns.
CAVE games are also well-known for having highly esoteric scoring systems, and small player hitboxes, with some titles such as Mushihimesama Futari and DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu featuring hitboxes as small as one pixel, allowing them to weave through massive brain-bending patterns.
Earlier CAVE titles featured basic power-up systems, downgrading the player on death, but their later work often put the player at a fixed power level throughout the entire game.
Shooting games developed by CAVE
DoDonPachi II: Bee Storm is not on this list as it is not a game developed by CAVE. Bee Storm is listed under the DonPachi series.
Game | Year | Publisher(s) |
---|---|---|
DonPachi | 1995 | Atlus |
DoDonPachi (DDP) | 1997 | Atlus |
ESP Ra.De. | 1998 | Atlus |
Dangun Feveron / Fever S.O.S. | 1998 | Nihon System |
Guwange | 1999 | Atlus |
Progear | 2001 | Capcom |
DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou (DOJ) | 2002 | AMI |
Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi | 2003 | AMI |
Espgaluda | 2003 | AMI |
Mushihimesama | 2004 | AMI |
Ibara | 2005 | AMI |
Espgaluda II | 2005 | AMI |
Ibara Kuro: Black Label | 2006 | AMI |
Pink Sweets: Ibara Sorekara | 2006 | AMI |
Mushihimesama Futari | 2006 | AMI |
Muchi Muchi Pork! | 2007 | AMI |
Deathsmiles | 2007 | AMI |
Deathsmiles Mega Black Label | 2008 | AMI |
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu | 2008 | AMI |
Deathsmiles II | 2009 | AMI |
DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu Black Label (DFK BL) | 2010 | AMI |
Akai Katana | 2010 | CAVE |
DoDonPachi MAXIMUM | 2012 | CAVE |
DoDonPachi Saidaioujou (SDOJ) | 2012 | CAVE |