Castle of Shikigami II 1.0

What's Changed​

Below is a high-level list of changes implemented for this English translation patch.

• A new variable-width font has been implemented, and the game has been modified to natively interpret ASCII-encoded text in addition to the original Shift-JIS text encoding.
• All on-screen text has been translated and appears in English (story dialogue, menus and help text, tutorials, results and ranking screens, VMU save/load messages, and the staff roll).
  • Story dialogue is based on the Steam/Switch re-release localization with numerous fixes and improvements, rather than the original 2004 PlayStation 2 localization, and all dialogue missing from the re-release has been translated from scratch for this patch.
  • The story dialogue box has been expanded from two lines to three to hold more translated English text.
• All textures and graphics have been translated into English, including a brand-new "Castle of Shikigami II" logo for the title screen, arcade title screen, and in-game displays.
• Menu labels have been cleaned up for improved grammar and consistency (e.g., "OPTIONS" instead of "OPTION", "STORY REPLAY" instead of "STORY RECOLLECT", "BUTTON CONFIG" instead of "BUTTON ASSIGN").
• Character names use a consistent romanization throughout (e.g., "Kohtaro Kuga", "Gennojo Hyuga", "Daejeong Kim").
• Internet Ranking text has been translated to future-proof this patch for a potential online restoration in the future.
• VMU save file metadata has been translated and appears in English when viewed in the Dreamcast BIOS file manager, along with a brand-new English VMU icon and LCD artwork.
• A brand-new invincibility mode has been added to the options menu (see the Invincibility Mode section).
• Analog stick support has been added for both players, with accurate 8-way movement and separate sensitivity tuning for gameplay and menus.
• Chibi Fumiko, originally selectable only through a hidden button combination, now has her own slot on the character select screen with a new name banner.
• Fixed broken 50hz mode on PAL consoles when not using VGA.

About the Game​

"Castle of Shikigami II" (式神の城II) is a vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up developed by Alfa System. Originally released on Sega NAOMI arcade hardware in 2003, the game was subsequently ported to the Sega Dreamcast and released in Japan on March 25th, 2004. A limited edition of the Dreamcast release was bundled with a soundtrack CD.
The story takes place in December 2006, when a massive flying castle appears in the skies above Tokyo. Players choose from eight characters, including newcomers Niigi Gorgeous Blue and Roger Sasuke, each with their own reasons for storming the castle. Every possible pairing of characters in two-player mode features its own unique story dialogue between stages.
Central to the gameplay is the Tension Bonus System, which rewards players for flying dangerously close to enemies and their bullets with stronger attacks and a score multiplier of up to x8. Each character also wields two shot types and a unique shikigami attack. The Dreamcast version supports vertical (TATE) display modes for rotated monitors, along with Story Replay, Practice, and Gallery modes unlocked through play.
The game was also released on the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows. Only the PlayStation 2 version was released outside of Japan, published in North America by XS Games in 2004 as "Castle Shikigami 2". In 2021, Degica Games released "Castle of Shikigami 2" on Steam with a brand-new English translation, followed by a Nintendo Switch release in 2023.