Game Projects Update: August 2025

I’ve been on the hunt for the next couple games I want to dig into. The top two contenders are DoDonPachi: Daioujou and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. A shmup 1CC is long overdue so I’m itching to find one to grind and I’ll take any excuse to do speed runs with the new Castlevania Dominus Collection. I plan on playing on both of their more recent ports done by M2, and any game port they touch is gold. They are the definitive versions and both play exceptionally well.

DoDonPachi: DaiOuJou

I have done runs of 2/3 Arranges included with this version, Arrange S and L. I want to go for a 1ALL of the Black Label version of the game. I have yet to properly 1CC/1ALL a Cave game, and I want this to be my first. The more I play this game the more my appreciation grows, the visuals, sound design, level design, game play fundamentals are just so damn good. DOJ is brutal but all the more satisfying to make progress. I have stages 1-3 down fairly well for survival and stage 4 I’m almost there on…just figuring out “the rails”, if you know what I mean. I’m playing on the PS4 version of the game that I downloaded from the Japanese store. You can buy a physical version on PlayAsia as well. Using my good-ol’ PS4 controller.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (yes I know that’s the Ecclesia cover)

Again, allow me to praise M2 in all their game porting glory. They are THE standard when it comes to ports, and the Dominus Collection is the most recent example of their attention to detail. Let me say this right off the bat, these games play like they have 1 frame of input delay. They are a dream to play and absolutely the best we could have asked for. I have my eye on a speed run category for Dawn of Sorrow, any% glitchless. Dawn is already a tough game, as the weapon selection isn’t nearly as good as Aria’s, and the any% route is even more limited. Farming the required souls to get to Paranoia adds a bit of RNG to the run, which I think can help keep a category fresh. I highly recommend watching Jupiter Climb’s world record run to get an idea of how the route works and how awesome the movement tech can get. I’ll be playing on the Steam version of the game with my PS4 controller.

This are the latest video game challenge projects I have on my radar, and I have my work cut out for me (especially DOJ). It’ll take some time but I’ll be stoked to get some runs recorded hopefully soon!