Cave has always been on top of the heap of shooter developers in Japan, and their fervent fan following illustrates that enthusiastically. Unfortunately, getting the latest manic 2D vertical shooter can be a pain at times for us overseas gamers, especially if there aren’t enough potential buyers to justify the risk for publishers.

In Japan, Cave has done the next best thing by making some of their titles region-free. That way, even if you can’t buy a localized version, you can at least take the plunge and import without having to own a Japanese console. They last did this with Mushihimesama Futari (an excellent game that Heidi Kemps reviewed in the latest issue of Otaku USA) on Xbox 360, and are looking to do it once more with Espgaluda II Black Label.

Not all news can be good news, though, as they’ve also stated that this will be their last region-free release, for the time being at least. That’s a bit of a bummer, but we’ll simply have to wait and see what they have planned next. For now, shooter fans, mark your calendars for the date of Espgaluda II‘s Xbox 360 debut, February 25.

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