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Akai Katana |OT| Experience the Other Kind of Hell on May 15th

I

iconoclast

Member
uaKPb.jpg

Title: Akai Katana
Genre: Horizontal Scrolling Shooter
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: CAVE
Publisher: Rising Star Games
Players: 1 or 2
Rating: T for Totally Awesome
Release Date: May 11th (Europe) | May 15th (North America)
Official Website: http://www.risingstargames.com/game.aspx?sku=akai-katana-xbox-360
Price: £29.99 / $39.99​

About:
Experience sensory overload with CAVE's latest addition to the shoot-em-up arena, Akai Katana.

Set in a parallel world resembling Japan's Taisho period, the people have discovered the powerful Blood Swords. Requiring human sacrifices to unleash their immense destructive power, these swords have been used by the empire to crush neighbouring countries. However, all the bloodshed and power gained through sacrificing close family members has made some of the swordsmen reconsider. With new fighter planes and the powered up swords at their disposal, this small band of rebels now fight back against the tyrannical empire.

Created specifically with the Xbox 360 in mind, Akai Katana is the first CAVE release to feature horizontal combat in sumptuous HD and eye-watering full 16:9 support.

Prepare for a new definition of 'bullet-hell'!​

Trailers:

Reviews:
http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/akai-katana-shin
9 out of 10 shooting game reviews are terrible and you shouldn't read them.​

Modes:
FFDf1.jpg

Origin (aka Arcade)
A direct port of the original arcade release. In this mode, the main mechanic is cancelling enemy bullets and turning them into gold. To do this, you must first collect energy from enemies in plane form. You'll then be able to enter Ninja Mode (aka nenshin), in which the ship transforms into the ninja character, and its two shot types (spread and focused) are replaced by an offensive and a defensive mode. In offensive mode, the character fires an extra powerful shot. In defensive mode, your character becomes invulnerable and will begin to reflect all enemy bullets. To turn the bullets into gold, you must destroy an enemy with your offensive shot - when you do so, all bullets near the defeated enemy will be converted into gold that will begin to circle your character. You must then wait a few seconds for the gold to increase in value (up to a maximum of 10,000 points each) before returning to plane form to collect it. You can only have up to 256 pieces of gold circling your character at any one time, so there will be lots of switching back and forth in a high scoring run.

sTobe.jpg

Slash (aka Shin)
This mode is a complete reinvention of the arcade game. The playing field is now 16:9, character balance has been adjusted, many bullet patterns have been altered, and there is an extra stage and boss. The invincibility and bullet reflection mechanics have been removed as well, and in their place is the ability to build up and unleash a wave of gigantic katanas. Once launched, they will do massive damage to everything in their path, all the while causing enemies to shed tons of scoring items. There is also a chaining meter (similar to the Dodonpachi games) that increases the value of the gold as your hit count increases.

w7KLA.jpg

Climax (aka Zetsu)
The "unlimited" version of the arcade game. This mode has the same mechanics as the arcade game, but it includes all of the changes and additional stage from Slash mode. There is also no limit to the amount of gold you can have circling your character at any one time, so you can really go all out with scoring opportunities here.​

Strategy:
Unfortunately, no one has put together a comprehensive guide for the game, but there are a few discussion topics around that have some good information in them:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=36910
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=40730
http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php?topic=1351.0​


GAF Leaderboards:


Origin:​

Type 1
  1. 301,775,117 - ALL - iconoclast
  2. 162,268,300 - ALL - adversesolutions

Type 2
  1. 308,612,760 - ALL - iconoclast
  2. 119,100,188 - ALL - adversesolutions
  3. 71,254,464 - 4 (Boss) - danmaku
  4. 35,873,293 - 4 - DimmuBurgerKing

Type 3
  1. 369,215,790 - ALL - iconoclast
  2. 309,002,272 - ALL - adversesolutions
  3. 40,061,979 - 3? - meppi



Climax:​


Type 1
  1. 881,441,947 - ALL - iconoclast
  2. 267,935,290 - 6 - danmaku

Type 2
  1. 795,737,397 - ALL - iconoclast
  2. 244,678,354 - 5 - danmaku
  3. 147,361,214 - 5 - DimmuBurgerKing

Type 3
  1. 829,889,399 - ALL - iconoclast
  2. 350,531,604 - ALL - adversesolutions
  3. 320.462.983 - 6 - danmaku
  4. 143,017,457 - 5 - meppi



Slash:​

Type 1
  1. 2,513,583,324 - ALL - iconoclast
  2. 853,358,609 - ALL - adversesolutions

Type 2
  1. 3,117,198,720 - ALL - iconoclast
  2. 518,983,480 - ALL - adversesolutions
  3. 168,216,786 - 4 - DimmuBurgerKing

Type 3
  1. 2,291,700,693 - ALL - iconoclast
  2. 350,531,604 - ALL - adversesolutions
 
K

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
Gosh the art in this game would've made for some amazing RPG. rofl. Still looking forward to this shooter.
 
J

jbueno

Member
Sadly I won´t be there day one to receive my preorder. I´m looking forward to play this on my CRT displays if they indeed corrected the 4:3 display issue.
 
R

RoryDropkick

Member
I just recieved Dodonpachi Resurrection in the mail today from thehut.com and I have this up for preorder next week.. arrrrrghghhhh!!! *lol*
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
It's nice that, for once, I can just pick this up locally. It's been awhile since Deathsmiles! (the last domestic Cave release)
 
H

hipgnosis

Member
Preordered. Shit will be so good.

Played the demo and the game looks absolutely stunning with it's 16:9 HD 2D. Can't wait to plunge deeper into the scoring system. Loving the music as well, nice old school guitar rock.

Hopefully this does well and we'd had a chance to get Mushihimesama HD to the west also.

Oh and really great work with the OT Iconoclast!
 
Riposte

Riposte

Member
I guess I should mention I'll be stuck playing this with a controller since my stick is for PS3/PC lol.
 
S

Semblance

shhh Graham I'm still compiling this Radiant map
So is Gamestop the only sure bet for retail next week? I'd rather go, well, anywhere else, but I don't want to drive all over the place after work either.

Riposte said:
I guess I should mention I'll be stuck playing this with a controller since my stick is for PS3/PC lol.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat, heh.
 
S

Semblance

shhh Graham I'm still compiling this Radiant map
vall03 said:
wait, whats the problem playing this with a controller?
Click to expand...

Well, it's just preference. I think an arcade stick is much more comfortable for these games, but the other Cave games I've played were fine on the 360 pad.

Radiant Silvergun was kind of harsh though, imo. I really wish I had stick when I played through that.
 
I

iconoclast

Member
Preference aside, GFA2-ISO got 6 billion in Shin with the default 360 controller, so don't be concerned about it holding you back!

(On a side note, I've mentioned that SIN was the one using the 360 controller in the past - that's incorrect, I mixed him up with ISO. Shamefur dispray.)
 
D

danmaku

Member
Double-dipping! I'll hit Gamestop during lunch break and see if they have the guts to put it on shelves (with Daifukkatsu, they had).

Fantastic game, if you loved Progear this could be considered a spiritual sequel.
 
D

Dachande

Member
I'll get this... eventually. I've got everything on iOS and all of Cave's other EU 360 games so far, and I was a bit bummed that Dodopachi crashed in price so hard what seemed like so quickly. I'll wait a month or so as a pallete cleanser after Payne 3 - but I'll definitely be getting it.
 
J

Jockel

Member
Apparently you still get the shirt if you order the game from shop.to. I just did and the shirt was magically appearing in my shopping cart.
 
H

Himself

Member
Yes! Forgot this was coming next week even though I've had it on pre order. And i was just thinking yesterday how bad I wanted a new shmup...

I really hope this does well for rising star.
 
SOME-MIST

SOME-MIST

Member
Will be double dipping too. If not for the new 4:3 support and US leaderboards, then to support RSG in hopes that you guys get mushi hd. AKS was by far my favorite game of 2011.
 
Y

Yes Boss!

Member
Double-dipping as well.

Mainly for the english menus, support for RSG/Aksys to bring other Cave games over, and the photoshopped airplanes on the cover.

Never really played the Japanese version, but the thing is amazingly beautiful. Good news on the 4:3 as I ordered a VGA cable a few months back and will be spooling this on a 4:3 CRT monitor.
 
S

StarCreator

Member
Yes Boss! said:
Double-dipping as well.

Mainly for the english menus, support for RSG/Aksys to bring other Cave games over, and the photoshopped airplanes on the cover.

Never really played the Japanese version, but the thing is amazingly beautiful. Good news on the 4:3 as I ordered a VGA cable a few months back and will be spooling this on a 4:3 CRT monitor.
Click to expand...

The 4:3 overscan issue was never a problem on displays that have adjustable screen size, like CRT monitors do.
 
SOME-MIST

SOME-MIST

Member
StarCreator said:
The 4:3 overscan issue was never a problem on displays that have adjustable screen size, like CRT monitors do.
Click to expand...

I have my CRT monitor set to one screen size for all shmups - I like to adjust ingame - maybe that's not the right way to do it though? Isn't it easier to manage by having a 4:3 option ingame now?
 
J

JustAnotherOtaku

Member
Great to see this get an OP :)

Bought the Japanese version when it came out so just chiming in to say that this indeed is really great. One of my favourite Cave shooters.
 
S

Saroyan

Member
I'm looking forward to this, plus I have Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 coming in today so I'll have plenty of Cave awesomeness.

My new Qanba stick will be put to good use too!
 
S

StarCreator

Member
SOME-MIST said:
I have my CRT monitor set to one screen size for all shmups - I like to adjust ingame - maybe that's not the right way to do it though? Isn't it easier to manage by having a 4:3 option ingame now?
Click to expand...

Easier, but not optimal - software resizing always produces passable output at best. Optimally, for any game that uses fixed-pixel assets, you want the game outputting as close to its native resolution as possible and adjusting on the display end if the display is capable.
 
M

MjFrancis

Member
Preordered this just a few weeks ago. I look forward to playing it immensely. I've purposefully kept myself from being absorbed in anything else at the moment so I can enjoy Akai Katana more thoroughly.
 
L

Lambtron

Unconfirmed Member
I paid my copy off at Gamestop, I'm ready for Tuesday. The guy working the register had never heard of the game and had no idea what it was. Something tells me it'll be the only copy they get!
 
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