Upcoming Cave arcade title (Akai Katana)

[clp]

Ketsui Guwange and Pink sweets are caves finest hours regarding music i think .

[TLB]

Not much Ibara love 'round these parts :/

DOJ, Ketsui, Ibara, DFK, DFKBL,

[kernow]

ESPGaluda !

[emphatic]

All of the PGM soundtracks are excellent. ESPGALUDA II really was a disappointment for me though. The Arrange OST on the port was however excellent. I'm curious on Pink Sweets, Muchi Muchi Pork and Mushihimetama, as I've not heard it enough. I'm looking forward to turning off the MMP sequels. Those piglets need to STFU!

[Dave_K.]

Ok, I thought it was cool when the boss started summoning submarines to poke out of those teleporter holes as weapons against you, but WTF are they then flying around the sky (sans-teleporters) along with planes on stage 5!? Design seems kinda random.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

From a visual design point, it's cool to see Cave utilize an alternative 1950s period with the state-of-art mecha and weaponry from the WW-II era. Yes, it seems that Cave forgot to use the the multi-dimensional warp gates with those huge submarines endowed with flying propellers on Stage 5. Could it be a momentary lapse or a slight "game continuity error" (kinda like those small but very noticeable film continuity errors that pop up in those big-budgeted Hollywood films)? This small but very noticeable game continuity errror could be fixed in a BL or 1.5 variant AK PCB re-release. Or perhaps not.

Such aforementioned dimensional warp gates are put to good use in Taito's G-Darius PCB with the Dimensional Diver end-stage boss. Even Taito gave proper credit to Toho Pictures for it's usage of the Dimensional Diver facial/character likeness/portaryal (aka Mecha Godzilla) character taken from the Gojira/Godzilla films as listed in the Staff Credits roll of G-Darius PCB.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[croikle]

I'm not sure how much benefit you get from lower lives; while it might be nice to be able to store more ninja energy, a chain break isn't particularly damaging to your score, and you can just milk some more energy and go back to it. We'll see eventually.

[Udderdude]

Ok, I thought it was cool when the boss started summoning submarines to poke out of those teleporter holes as weapons against you, but WTF are they then flying around the sky (sans-teleporters) along with planes on stage 5!?

They have little wings on them, problem solved.

[evil_ash_xero]

This game does seem too short though. It has DeathSmiles size stages, but is missing a few that DS had. Maybe there will be some unlocked stages later, or maybe they'll add some with a BL.

[njiska]

Ketsui Guwange and Pink sweets are caves finest hours regarding music i think .

I'd like to add Mushi Futari to that list. It's got a beautiful organic quality the blends nicely with the game's art style and setting. Plus 泣け! わめけ!! (Cry!Roar!!) is one of my favourite non-DDP boss tracks.

Think i'll need to listen to a proper Akai Katana OST before I can pass judgment on where it belongs.

[clp]

Ketsui Guwange and Pink sweets are caves finest hours regarding music i think .

I'd like to add Mushi Futari to that list. It's got a beautiful organic quality the blends nicely with the game's art style and setting. Plus 泣け! わめけ!! (Cry!Roar!!) is one of my favourite non-DDP boss tracks.

Think i'll need to listen to a proper Akai Katana OST before I can pass judgment on where it belongs.

I havent had the pleasure of trying mushi futari .

[dmauro]

I got to put several credits into this at HEY Arcade yesterday. I really enjoyed it, though it might be a little too easy. I wouldn't be surprised if I 1CC'd while I'm here in Tokyo.

[kemical]

it is starting to seem like making the first revision easy is a business strategy for Cave.

[evil_ash_xero]

I havent had the pleasure of trying mushi futari .

It's not my favorite Cave game, but it's one of them. I think it's the perfect entry point for anyone who is interested in Cave's vertical shmups. 1.5 is fast, attractive, and VERY fun. And it's not so hard to frighten people off, but does provide a challenge. It's a blast.

[rancor]

Just got back from HEY a few minutes ago. They have FOUR Akai Katana cabs now. All were being played with a lot of onlookers, so I didnt bother. I watched a guy 1cc it today, and immediately after the last shot on the last boss, he got up and did a fast-walker lap around the arcade, then took his place amongst the onlookers to watch the countdown to enter his initials. I seriously thought about jumping on and putting my name in just to be an ass.. hee hee..

I went to HEY because I wanted to play Ibara before I decide to purchase it or not - unfortunately they didn't have it, so I ended up playing Muchi-Muchi Pork ( I LOVE that game) and a few of the many varieties of Dodonpachi.

Anyhow, whats the deal with Area 88, Final Fight, and Under Defeat CONSTANTLY having people on those machines? Theres no way I'd pay more than $1.00 per credit to play Final Fight..

[Van_Artic]

1CC run with TLB, about 290mil, the player is unknown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX81ZCk2kBY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooje-3Q8I_M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQktz0_JKKQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbRyIOaZ9T0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95B0LutDzpA

[dmauro]

Where is this fourth Akai Katana cab? I saw that they moved everything around, but I still only see three.

[Ghegs]

The very promising discussion about quirky japanese arcade players has been split to its own thread.

[moozooh]

EOJ found some high-level scoring vids, much better than those linked to previously.

Stage 1: 22mil: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/video/niconico/sm11930402

Stage 2: 64.5mil: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/video/niconico/sm11930714

Looks like I was mostly correct with my previous assessment. The difference seems to be in the fact that ingots aren't multiplied by hit count, but represented by it. There are three multipliers: x1, x?, and x10, represented by the ingot's size and the radius of its orbit. The amount of ingots seems to be capped (in order to prevent abundant slowdown, perhaps? I envision a Futari-style x360 arrange mode taking advantage of this; here's to hoping it will be outsourced to M2) and connected to the amount of bullets canceled by the explosion when killed in the offensive mode, that's why the player waits between each kill and lets large enemies live longer to cash in on the surrounding popcorn. You can also see that the cycles of <gathering energy — getting ingots — cashing in> are optimized by both time and hit count, so the more aggressive the player is, the more they will spend time as a ninja, and less time will be spent recharging energy. That 600+ million score reported during the loke test days is definitely possible without abusing bugs or somesuch. There are also several things that are making high-level scoring a lot more difficult compared to playing for survival:

— suiciding has proved to be of benefit, so the game has to be one-lifed (that's what the autobomb on the last life is for!), riding on lasers in fighter mode may be required to recharge quickly on later bosses where point-blanking will be harder or impossible;
— point-blanking in fighter mode is required in order to recharge the ninja energy quickly, good option control is in order (see also: DeathSmiles v1.1, Guwange Arrange);
— point-blanking in defensive mode is required to quickly increase the size of ingots and convert more bullets circling around you into ones by canceling them with enemy explosions (that's what they're circling you for!);
— using offensive mode has to have high precision and good timing, because a single hit would deprive you of all your energy → less ingots of lesser value, potentially a significant scoring hole in the stage route considering the end-of-stage bonus.

Still don't see Yagawa's sadistic hand in there? :D I think it's a great game, though. Music, graphics, art direction, difficulty, scoring system and length are all excellent and right up my alley. Will buy a port for sure.

[Dave_K.]

1CC run with TLB, about 290mil, the player is unknown

Anyone else find it strange that the TLB comes out after the score tally for the stage?

[moozooh]

Not really strange, it was the same in all DonPachi games except DOJ.

[TonK]

Any other feedback from Japan on this?

I'm guessing since this thread was at the bottom of page 3 when I found it, not a lot of people are that interested in it anymore. (myself included)

I'll admit, it looks great.

But I doubt the game a little bit.

Anyone besides Pang have any other opinions?

Will this game go the way of Ibara?

Or is it a solid title?

[kernow]

Will this game go the way of Ibara?

Or is it a solid title?

heyy

[brentsg]

Will this game go the way of Ibara?

Or is it a solid title?

heyy

DFK has melted his brain.

[kernow]

He just likes the easy ones

[Trevor spencer]

Im interested in any up coming cave title and i thnk this looks great

Hopefully it does go the way of ibara as then ill be able to pick up a brand new kit for £150 , suits me

[SuperPang]

It's a solid game alright. Gorgeous art direction and level design. Well thought out and addictive system. It's a lot of fun. It is one of Caves easier titles (sits somewhere between Deathsmiles and Futari orig).


Not as good as Ibara though.

[cools]

I'm curious on Pink Sweets, Muchi Muchi Pork

Pink Sweets pwns all in terms of soundtrack. MMP is nice and lighthearted in the levels (particularly level 5) with some stonking 4/4 stuff during bosses.

In terms of soundtracks they're the best I've heard out of Caves stuff.

[Strider77]

It's easier than Futari's original? That's pretty easy... more than I expected. Deathsmiles was really easy to but with the stage level choices that could be fixed, just like Futari's maniac modes ect.

Still I had fun with those modes also, along with strong in DFK. I've never met a cave game I didn't like though... I just like some a lot more than others.

[Skykid]

Ketsui Guwange and Pink sweets are caves finest hours regarding music i think .

I'd like to add Mushi Futari to that list. It's got a beautiful organic quality the blends nicely with the game's art style and setting.

Mushihimesama OST > Futari OST