History YMMV / DonPachi

* ThatOneRule: The ''[=DoDonPachi=]'' series' most prominent scoring mechanic by far is its combo system; destroying enemies within a sufficiently short interval of each other accumulates combo, and to oversimplify, the higher your combo, the more points you get from destroying the next enemy. At first, this seems like an interesting concept, but it becomes apparent that the best way to score is to build stage-long chains, which require extreme levels of memorization of where each enemy is, far beyond what is needed in a survival-based run, because destroying enemies ''too'' quickly will leave you without any enemies to combo off of before the combo timer runs out, breaking your combo and hurting your score, and depending on where the combo breaks you can lose ''tens of millions'' of points (''[=DoDonPachi=]'' and ''Dai Ou Jou'' top-level plays end in the hundred-millions).

* ThatOneRule: The ''[=DoDonPachi=]'' series' most prominent scoring mechanic by far is its combo system; destroying enemies within a sufficiently short interval of each other accumulates combo, and to oversimplify, the higher your combo, the more points you get from destroying the next enemy. At first, this seems like an interesting concept, but it becomes apparent that the best way to score is to build stage-long chains, which require extreme levels of memorization of where each enemy is, far beyond what is needed in a survival-based run, because destroying enemies ''too'' quickly will leave you without any enemies to combo off of before the combo timer runs out, breaking your combo and hurting your score.

* ThatOneRule: The ''[=DoDonPachi=]'' series' most prominent scoring mechanic by far is its combo system; destroying enemies within a sufficiently short interval of each other accumulates combo, and to oversimplify, the higher your combo, the more points you get from destroying the next enemy. At first, this seems like an interesting concept, but it becomes apparent that the best way to score is to build stage-long chains, which require extreme levels of memorization of where each enemy is, far beyond what is needed in a survival-based run.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The ''Black Label'' edition of ''[=DoDonPachi=] Dai Ou Jou'', which is an UpdatedRerelease of the original game with balancing tweaks to make the game a bit easier or more fair, is more widely-played in the West than it is in Japan, where the original [[FanNickname "White Label"]] edition is more frequently played. This is because the ''Black Label'' arcade board was a limited-print release unlike the White Label edition, and as such is not as easy to find in Japanese arcades, and until the ''Re:incarnation'' port in 2023, the only way to legally play ''Black Label'' was via a [[PortingDisaster poorly-handled port]] on Xbox 360 whereas the White Label version has a [[PolishedPort highly-acclaimed port]] on [=PlayStation=] 2, so most people who played ''Black Label'' until then did so via MAME. Western shmup players are often surprised to find out that emulation is more criminalized in Japan than in most Western countries, which explains why Japanese shmup players don't simply emulate ''Black Label'' and just make do with White Label.

* SalvagedGameplayMechanic: The original version of ''dai ou jou'' takes away all of the player's lives upon entering the second loop, and they can only get one extra life per stage by clearing the stage without dying ''or'' without bombing. Furthermore, continues are disabled entirely for this loop. This was disliked because it teased the player with a harder set of stages only to throw them off the machine. The ''[=DoDonPachi=] III'' build allows players to carry over up to three lives to the next loop, while ''dai ou jou Black Label'' not only allows carrying your entire life stock to the next loop, but continues remain allowed until the very final stage.

* PolishedPort: The UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 port of ''Dai Ou Jou'' by Creator/{{Arika}} was quite groundbreaking for its time and introduced a lot of useful training and quality-of-life features. It features a Simulation Mode that serves as a stage practice mode, and you can adjust various parameters such as which portion of the stage to start at, how many Hyper stocks to begin with, how much [[DynamicDifficulty rank]] to begin with, and so forth; furthermore, this mode has pre-installed replays by top players, allowing you to study their routes. Not only does this game allow you to save replays, you can actually take over a replay while it's running by performing any gameplay input. This version also adds a No Bullet Mode, intended to help players learn combo routes, and the infamous Death Label, a BossGame mode [[NintendoHard on horse crack]].

%% * Porting Disaster

** Are the second loops a rewarding challenge for experts? Or are they an unnecessary form of FakeLongevity?

** The Windows port of ''[=DaiFukkatsu=]'':
*** Is the 30 USD price tag of the Windows port a ripoff given that ''VideoGame/{{Mushihimesama}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Deathsmiles}}'' before it were only 20 USD each, or is it justified due to the number of modes available?
*** Is the game a PortingDisaster considering Arrange A's [[GameBreakingBug game-crashing bug]] still exists and has no slowdown, with the ''Ketsui'' arrange mode also having too much slowdown, or are fans just being too SeriousBusiness about these changes?

* ItsHardSoItSucks: ''dai ou jou'' is criticized by some shmup fans for pumping up the difficulty but without doing much to make the game more fun or accessible for people who may not be highly-skilled at BulletHell games. The game's Hyper mechanic certainly doesn't help, as the player is forced to use a Hyper if they have one in stock, and using Hypers raises the game's rank, something that can only be mitigated by bombing or dying. The ''Black Label'' revision fixes up some of the rank-related criticisms, but the [=PS2=] port of ''DOJ'' is based on the original "White Label" instead and it took years for ''Black Label'' to be released legally (and even then the sole port of it ended up being regarded as a PortingDisaster) and to be emulated in MAME (alongside the original "White Label" build).

%% * Base-Breaking Character

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The ''Black Label'' edition of ''[=DoDonPachi=] Dai Ou Jou'', which is an UpdatedRerelease of the original game with balancing tweaks to make the game a bit easier or more fair, is more widely-played in the West than it is in Japan, where the original [[FanNickname "White Label"]] edition is more frequently played. This is because the ''Black Label'' arcade board was a limited-print release, and as such is not as easy to find in Japanese arcades, and until the ''Re:incarnation'' port in 2023, the only way to legally play ''Black Label'' was via a [[PortingDisaster poorly-handled port]] on Xbox 360, so most people who played ''Black Label'' until then did so via MAME. Western shmup players are often surprised to find out that emulation is more criminalized in Japan than in most Western countries, which explains why Japanese shmup players don't simply emulate ''Black Label'' and just make do with White Label.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The ''Black Label'' edition of ''[=DoDonPachi=] Dai Ou Jou'', which is an UpdatedRerelease of the original game with balancing tweaks to make the game a bit easier or more fair, is more widely-played in the West than it is in Japan, where the original [[FanNickname "White Label"]] edition is more frequently played. This is because the ''Black Label'' arcade board was a limited-print release, and as such is not as easy to find in Japanese arcades, and until the ''Re:incarnation'' port in 2023, the only way to legally play ''Black Label'' was via a [[PortingDisaster poorly-handled port]] on Xbox 360, so most people who played ''Black Label'' until then did so via MAME. Western shmup players are often surprised to find out that emulation is more criminalized in Japan than in most Western countries, which explains why Japanese shmup players don't simply emulate ''Black Label''.

** The original edition of ''[=DoDonPachi=] Dai Ou Jou'' is commonly referred to as "White Label" after its white title screen, as opposed to the distinct black title screen of ''[=DoDonPachi=] Dai Ou Jou Black Label''. Contrary to [[CommonKnowledge popular belief]], "White Label" has never been used offically; this version is instead typically called "Old version" instead.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The ''Black Label'' edition of ''[=DoDonPachi=] Dai Ou Jou'', which is an UpdatedRerelease of the original game with balancing tweaks to make the game a bit easier or more fair, is more widely-played in the West than it is in Japan, where the original [[FanNickname "White Label"]] edition is more frequently played. This is because the ''Black Label'' arcade board was a limited-print release, and as such is not as easy to find in Japanese arcades, and until the ''Re:incarnation'' port in 2023, the only way to legally play ''Black Label'' was via a [[PortingDisaster poorly-handled port]] on Xbox 360, so most people who played ''Black Label'' until then did so via MAME. Western shmup players are often surprised to find out that emulation is more criminalized in Japan than in most Western countries, which explains why Japanese shmup players don't simply emulate the game.

** During a pre-release M2 livestream of ''dai ou jou Re:incarnation'', it was revealed that the "White Label" edition of the game will serve as the main version of the game, featuring leaderboards, M2 Gadgets, and Arcade Challenge, while the ''Black Label'' edition of the game gets relegated to the "Extra" category, meaning it won't receive the same treatments. This disappointed a fair number of players who prefer ''Black Label'' for what they consider to be an easier and more balanced game, especially since ''Black Label'' was made by the programmer of the game, Tsuneki Ikeda, and touted by him as the "corrected" version of the game. While most of those critics are glad to at least have ''Black Label'' playable, it still stings a bit that it's treated as a side dish rather than the main event. Many of these fears died down once the game came out, since ''Black Label'' does come with Gadgets and leaderboards, although Arcade Challenge, Arcade Osarai, Luna Tour, [[EasierThanEasy Super Easy]], and the {{Arrange Modes}} are still based on the "White Label" edition.

** During a pre-release M2 livestream of ''dai ou jou Re:incarnation'', it was revealed that the "White Label" edition of the game will serve as the main version of the game, featuring leaderboards, M2 Gadgets, and Arcade Challenge, while the ''Black Label'' edition of the game gets relegated to the "Extra" category, meaning it won't receive the same treatments. This disappointed a fair number of players who prefer ''Black Label'' for what they consider to be an easier and more balanced game, especially since ''Black Label'' was made by the programmer of the game, Tsuneki Ikeda, and touted by him as the "corrected" version of the game. While most of those critics are glad to at least have ''Black Label'' playable, it still stings a bit that it's treated as a side dish rather than the main event. Many of these fears died down once the game came out, since ''Black Label'' does come with Gadgets and leaderboards, although Arcade Challenge is still based on the "White Label" edition.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The ''Black Label'' edition of ''[=DoDonPachi=] Dai Ou Jou'', which is an UpdatedRerelease of the original game with balancing tweaks to make the game a bit easier or more fair, is more widely-played in the West than it is in Japan, where the original [[FanNickname "White Label"]] edition is more frequently played. This is because the ''Black Label'' arcade board was a limited-print release, and as such is not as easy to find in Japanese arcades, and until the ''Re:incarnation'' port in 2023, the only way to legally play ''Black Label'' was via a [[PortingDisaster poorly-handled port]] on Xbox 360, so most people who played ''Black Label'' until then did so via MAME. Western shmup players are often surprised to find out that emulation is more criminalized in Japan than in Western countries, which explains why Japanese shmup players don't simply emulate the game.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The initials for the default high scores for ''[=DonPachi=]'' read "TOAPLAN FOREVER" when read top to bottom then left to right, as a tribute to Creator/{{Toaplan}} which had just gone bankrupt. About 25 years later, ports of Toaplan games started gracing modern platforms, with former Toaplan employees assisting in their developments. "TOAPLAN FOREVER" indeed.

** During a pre-release M2 livestream of ''dai ou jou Re:incarnation'', it was revealed that the "White Label" edition of the game will serve as the main version of the game, featuring leaderboards, M2 Gadgets, and Arcade Challenge, while the ''Black Label'' edition of the game gets relegated to the "Extra" category, meaning it won't receive the same treatments. While M2 did announce that it will have Gadgets, it will not have leaderboards or Arcade Challenge. This disappointed a fair number of players who prefer ''Black Label'' for what they consider to be an easier and more balanced game, especially since ''Black Label'' was made by the programmer of the game, Tsuneki Ikeda, and touted by him as the "corrected" version of the game. While most of those critics are glad to at least have ''Black Label'' playable, it still stings a bit that it's treated as a side dish rather than the main event.