Akai Katana Shin PAL confirmed!

[StarCreator]

Arcade Mode Included. For those who enjoy the game system of the arcade version, a 4:3 HD version of the Arcade game is included as well."

Aspect ratio fix

Sorry to say, but don't get your hopes up... that's in the JP release. It's not good; it just forces the game fullscreen and cuts off the sides. You can move the ship completely offscreen.

Edit: just had a quick re-check and it's a bit better than I remembered. You can move the ship offscreen in the left-hand corners, and you lose the hitbox if you move it all the way to the left, and the boss healthbars are barely visible, but it does get a bit more (i.e almost all) of the play area onscreen than I remembered.

How much of the play area will be visible on a 4:3 screen in Arcade mode will vary based on how much overscan is on your display. Most CRT displays cut off between 5 and 10 percent from each side.

Would be nice to finally get a fix for this issue. As far as I know the issue was never patched out of the Japanese version.

[torisuRSG]

Some of us are still waiting for DDP:R to be released in our PAL regions.. any news about this torisuRSG?

Just order it from ozgameshop or something like what I did.

I ordered it from Zavvi in the end.

Still funny that RSG had no problem with getting KOFXIII out to Australia which got sold before it's release date meanwhile people who pre-ordered DDP:R were messed around.

Two questions for torisu:
1. Will we see Akai Katana in Australia?
2. Will Rising Star fix the 4:3 zooming issue? (I've mentioned this several times on here and the Facebook page to no avail)

1. AFAIK, you will see it in Australia.

2. I've asked about 4:3 and am awaiting a response. Will chase.

[BPzeBanshee]

Yay. Thanks torisu.

[1up]

Rising Star Games have updated their website with an Akai Katana page.

It's also available now to pre-order on Amazon UK for £22.79, with a release date of April 27th.

Wow, can't say no to that.

[Estebang]

Any idea of when it'll show up on US sites?

[torisuRSG]

Any idea of when it'll show up on US sites?

Not yet - we're working on that.

[R79]

I've just had a sealed Akai Katana turn up from Amazon UK, and it has a "REGION FREE PAL / NTSC COMPATIBLE" white sticker on it. Looks like it's been shipped out from Canada.

Bit of a surprise.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

At under £6 new on Amazon UK Akia Katana has gotta be the cheapest 360 game I've ever seen, still it's good to see the other RSG shmups aren't quite so cheap at £13+.

I've even thought about getting my CoD and Fifa loving friends copies of AKS, but I doubt they'd even bother taking the wrapper off, as nowadays they automatically dismiss my taste in Japanese games as wacky. A word of warning for folk trying to introduce Japanese games to mainstream gamer friends, don't lend Deadly Premonition out, it's prologue will give you a bad rep for life!

Lol @ the Raiden Fighters pre order still on there

[Tigershark]

£5.98 plus delivery. Bargain. Purchased.

[R79]

Under Defeat went down to about £13 the other week, but then slid back up. When GAME took a nose-dive, you could get Death Smiles for about £2.50.
Hopefully I can find a pre-owned PAL AK dirt cheap somewhere offline, and just add this NA one to the sealed pile. Noticed Cash Converters were churning out PS2 and Xbox1 games all a quid each yesterday. Found plenty of £10+ eBay enders. All going into the Pink Sweets credit union fund lol, shame that one never got a shot here, or region free.

[Klatrymadon]

All going into the Pink Sweets credit union fund lol, shame that one never got a shot here, or region free.

The Muchi Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets double pack on the 360 is region-free, mate! You'll be able to grab it for about £25 soon; the budget release is available to pre-order here.

[Skykid]

£5.98 plus delivery. Bargain. Purchased.

It's a sad thing what happened to this fine game.

[Alfred]

£5.98 plus delivery. Bargain. Purchased.

£5.98 + £2.03 = £8.01

I hope it's 2nd hand eg no factory sealed and your Xbox 360 RROD's.

[Tigershark]

£5.98 plus delivery. Bargain. Purchased.

£5.98 + £2.03 = £8.01

I hope it's 2nd hand eg no factory sealed and your Xbox 360 RROD's.

Now now!

[BPzeBanshee]

Wow, haven't seen this thread in a while.

1. AFAIK, you will see it in Australia.

2. I've asked about 4:3 and am awaiting a response. Will chase.

Well, you got 1 right. Displays in 4:3 - not available anywhere locally at retail.

On a more positive note: now that it is going bargain price there's no excuse for anyone to NOT buy it - and it is definitely a worthwhile purchase. Shin mode is amazing with a HDMI cable and decent flatscreen, while Arcade mode is perfect with a 4:3 CRT.

I've yet to remember what they renamed the modes to in this. I was quite fine with the original names, and although the replacement names aren't too bad per say it gets me a bit muddled up. I'm sure newcomers will figure it out in 2 seconds though so don't let that stop you from buying it.

[AntiFritz]

As I've said before you can get akai katana locally. I've seen it for sale at atleast 3 ebgames stores here.

[R79]

Sounds great there's an old and new TV mode. I mainly game in razor sharp ultra low ping HDMI 720 these days ever since the new VF came out. Seems a long time now since I first flipped a small, almost square '80s TV to play the Jap Layer Section on Saturn.

Laugh at that PlayAsia banner. Been a while since I've had anything from there, wow, looks like they have some Cave 360 games cheaper new than the used imports on eBay

[BPzeBanshee]

As I've said before you can get akai katana locally. I've seen it for sale at atleast 3 ebgames stores here.

And as I've said before I didn't and still am not seeing it anywhere here. We have 2 EBGames stores where I live and none of them have it, yet KOFXIII appeared here *before release date* at JB-Hifi with plenty of stock and front-shelf display.

Missed the point though: saying it's "getting distributed in Australia" and missing whole capital cities of said Australia is a complete joke no matter how you look at it. I'd be more inclined to understand if it were a small town with a single store, but not a capital city. It's like saying "Hey let's bring a new brand of cheese to France and ignore Paris!".

[Tigershark]

Arrived today. Absolutely no idea what I'm doing.