What don't you like about how they do things/the culture they've helped foster?
What are your thoughts on this game overall?
The game itself is great. I have a soft spot for parody shmups like Parodius and Star Parodier and Game Tengoku is good goofy fun. If it looks like something that would appeal to you, then it most likely will.
As for LRG, they have developed this hype culture around their releases that is just generally bad for the games and the hardcore fans of those games, I think. For a lot of their special editions they manufacture scarcity to drive up hype, fervor, and scalping. I say it's manufactured scarcity because it literally is -- while many of their standard games are available for longer periods under a pre-order window where print run sizes are determined by amount of pre-orders, their special editions like this one already have determined print run sizes. The little notice that says it's "currently in manufacturing" plus the fact that they do larger pre-order windows to satisfy demand for other games (like Celeste right now) makes it seem to me that they could do the same for special editions, but they don't. People should not miss out on a special edition of a game they like because they happened to be busy at 10am on a weekday. I've seen special editions sell out in seconds, and then people will turn around and sell their pre-orders on eBay. In contrast, the Japanese special edition of Game Tengoku is still widely available online.
LRG has built this premier, limited vibe that feels anathema to what is ostensibly their goal of releasing physical copies for gamers who like physical copies of their favorite games, because I don't know how many of these copies are actually getting into their hands. They sell these display cases and stuff just for displaying the games which just feels kinda ridiculous to me. Back when LRG was first starting I listened to a podcast interview with one of the founders and he came off pretty arrogant, and I think that attitude has translated into how they do things.
I might be too hard on them -- it's not like every special edition gets super expensive if you want to buy it on eBay. I just think they get away with some bullshit and having to plan your day around getting one of their limited products is dumb -- and frustrating if you don't end up getting it in time, especially when the stakes include actual game content as they do here.
Honestly, Degica's handling of Game Tengoku has been consistently rough too though. They accidentally released the game before they intended on PSN (?) and then told people to please not buy it yet (???), then later they released the updated version as a patch, and now they've got a physical version coming in limited quantities. I bought the digital game day one because I was excited for the game, but they didn't make it clear that digital owners would never ever be able to get the Tatsujin ship DLC which is exclusive to the 1400 LRG special editions.