Upcoming Cave arcade title (Akai Katana)

[GaijinPunch]

VGMdb seems to agree on those being drama CDs. I sort of want to pick those up actually...

The hint would it saying, "Drama CD" all over the place.

[StarCreator]

The hint would it saying, "Drama CD" all over the place.

If "all over the place" is "once in tiny letters near the top", sure.

I was already looking up Akai Katana stuff on VGMdb so I didn't take a close look at the banner ad.

[TonK]

Did Cave say something about them being done with 360 ports after Muchi/Sweets, or was that just fanboy panicking?

Sounds closer to one of TonK's wetdreams than fact.

?

[GaijinPunch]

If "all over the place" is "once in tiny letters near the top", sure.

Well, it's kind of the title of the banner. And it's mentioned many times on the product page.

[sven666]

lulz so much for the "limited" version.. readily available again

[brentsg]

lulz so much for the "limited" version.. readily available again

Yeah but now it's prob bug fixed.

Akai Katana LE..

[rtw]

lulz so much for the "limited" version.. readily available again

Yeah but now it's prob bug fixed.

Akai Katana LE..

Any links ?

[brentsg]

lulz so much for the "limited" version.. readily available again

Yeah but now it's prob bug fixed.

Akai Katana LE..

Any links ?

Nope, just half speculating and half joking. That's just what it'll take to add insult to injury for anyone that thought this would really be limited.

And it still probably will be pretty scarce, but for now fairly easy to obtain.

[TonK]

Where is it for sale?

[brentsg]

Where is it for sale?

Cave is having a walk-in event at Hey arcade in a couple of weeks and they will sell some of the LE kits there.

[BulletMagnet]

As was just confirmed in the "Cave Fest" thread, Akai Katana's getting a 360 port in May!

[stryc9]

With 16:9 support and full HD graphics. Whoa mumma!!

[moozooh]

As was just confirmed in the "Cave Fest" thread, Akai Katana's getting a 360 port in May!

HD graphics

YES!

[Udderdude]

If it has the special version included, I'm game.

[moozooh]

I think it doesn't, but it's not completely unlikely they'll include it as a DLC later. At least I hope so. :(

[ZOM]

With 16:9 support and full HD graphics. Whoa mumma!!

What does that mean, game scaled to "full HD graphics" or what? Changing the aspect ratio shouldn't be too
hard for a hori, but changing the assets' resolution is a different story. Or am I missing something?

[rancor]

Changing the aspect ratio shouldn't be too
hard for a hori, but changing the assets' resolution is a different story. Or am I missing something?

Take my word for it, it looks amazing. I'm thinking what happened is that they knew this would be a 360 release all along. Most likely the game was programmed in HD and scaled down for the arcade. What we're seeing now is how it was originally made. Just a theory. I think someone above said it as well.

[moozooh]

Not "full HD" as in 1920x1080; rather, all of the assets are HD this time, not just foreground sprites as previously.

[Udderdude]

Preview vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRrVTR0GbgM

They spend all that time upgrading the graphics and it still has that wierd perspective problem. Oh well.

That is the hottest option screen ever though, goddamn :P

[Trevor spencer]

Looks lush , Shame my JP 360 packed up today

[Skykid]

Preview vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRrVTR0GbgM

They spend all that time upgrading the graphics and it still has that wierd perspective problem. Oh well.

You really don't notice when you're playing it. Game is lots of fun.

[ptoing]

Preview vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRrVTR0GbgM

They spend all that time upgrading the graphics and it still has that wierd perspective problem. Oh well.

You really don't notice when you're playing it. Game is lots of fun.

Yeh, I have not played it but I do not see how it would be a problem at all. I think it is a design decision they made and while looking kinda funky I think it works well enough and kinda creates a slight feel of vertigo in a way, which I like.

[bcass]

Looks lush , Shame my JP 360 packed up today

Get it fixed with a new x-clamp then. Many RROD consoles can be fixed.

[Trevor spencer]

Looks lush , Shame my JP 360 packed up today

Get it fixed with a new x-clamp then. Many RROD consoles can be fixed.

Yeah ive ordered one , Ive also ordered a new talismoon fan and 2nd gen GPU heat sink , With a bit of luck this will sort it

Ta

[sven666]

so finally played both versions of this game this past weekend, thought id let you guys know what i think of it (if anyone gives a shit).

Akai Katana - It really looks fantastic, the only tiny flaw is the "ninja" style things your ship turns into, it really does look out of place in an otherwise flawless universe, it is not as apparent while actually playing the game tho.
Gameplay is very solid in this one, not quite as easy as we have been lead to believe altho nowhere near DOJ difficulty.
still i made it to the last boss a few times and put up a HS of about 88million in my first night with the game, id say its on par with vanilla deathsmiles in terms of difficulty and in terms of difficulty of scoring aswell.
scoring is quite similar to progear in that you extract "energy" from regular enemies to charge your ninja gage, quite similar to collecting rings in progear.
you can charge the "energy" by passing it thru enemy fire before sucking it up.

to score you have to change to ninja mode, in this mode instead of "energy" you collect gold, bounce the enemy fire by tapping A then destroy the enemy while holding A while there are as many bullets as possible in the proximity of the enemy to turn it into gold, your hit-counter only goes to ~250hits and you have to change in and out of ninja mode before your counter zeroes to increase the max-hit and thus increasing your score.

the main part of scoring was sadly from end of level bonuses tho, but nontheless the system felt like alot of fun.

akai katana LE - presentation is pretty much the same as AK altho here it is somewhat sped up, the LE is noticeably faster.
two mode with as far as i can tell identical scoring systems just different ammounts of bullets.
the scoring system is also sped up in this game, your ninja gage does not last even nearly as long but you recieve more "energy" aswell so its faster to recharge, however here it is more important to have as many bullets as possible onscreen when you destroy an enemy to raise your hit counter, there is no max level and it never drops during a stage so the scoring potential is really thru the roof, scored about 188mil in my 5-6 attempts at the game, main part of score is obtained during the levels thankfully.
there is also a guwange-like effect in that when you hold A all the bullets that run thru your option are slowed down temporarily which is nice since all patterns are both beefed up and sped up (most noticeable at bosses).

red mode really pours on the bullets as expected, however difficulty is nowhere near lvl999 or godmode or such, still quite a challenge, id say on par with futari maniac or MMP..


all in all i have to say this game really took me by surprise, i wasent expecting to like it nearly as much as i did, great fun.

if you're looking at a PCB id say the regular edition is proboably the most accessible but in the long run the LE might be more bang for your buck, for a first night with both games running side-by-side i certainly enjoyed the regular edition the most anyways.
Or just wait for the port and get both for a fraction of the price.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x00K0HNt8_Q