Shin Akai Katana Confirmed for North America

[dunpeal2064]

I tried to see if I could find a 4:3 mode but alas, no such mode is available with the JPN 360 version of AKS.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Ah, that is too bad! I was hoping I could play this on that sweet NEC monitor, but it looks like I am out of luck there.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Oh, it's still playable on a 4:3 aspect ratio RGB monitor setup, it's just that you'll have the usual top & bottom black bars though. Still looks mighty impressive on a low-res 15 kHz arcade monitor setup (even though it's running in 480i mode).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[dunpeal2064]

Oh, it's still playable on a 4:3 aspect ratio RGB monitor setup, it's just that you'll have the usual top & bottom black bars though. Still looks mighty impressive on a low-res 15 kHz arcade monitor setup (even though it's running in 480i mode).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Ah, good point, I suppose with a screen that size, I can live with some black bars to enjoy this awesome game.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

You'll be in for a treat playing AKS with an 360 VGA cable hooked up to your NEC monitor + it'll be in super crisp 480p mode FTW. How cool is that?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[ZenErik]

I can't remember which mode is which. I own the game but just switched to a CRT. Still waiting for my 360 VGA cable. Will the 4:3 modes work fine with no bars on the sides? It'd be a shame to have to play the game letter boxed with bars on all 4 sides.

[StarCreator]

I can't tell you the specifics of how the game has to be set up, but Arcade mode (the only 4:3 mode in the game) will fill the screen just fine.

[BPzeBanshee]

Is an arcade 4:3 zoom fix ever going to come along or have I missed the news when that got patched?

[StarCreator]

No patch as of early January (the last time my 360 was plugged in).

[StarCreator]

Via NeoGAF, this article seems to explain why RSG is suddenly in the US market - they're taking over Marvellous's US publishing branch and rebranding it with their own name.

They also mention an iOS-only venture.

[Estebang]

Confirmed for a simultaneous US/PAL release over TWO THOUSAND, NINE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT YEARS FROM NOW. I hope those cybernetics researchers are coming along pretty well...and my 360 will probably be not in the best of shape then. It will likely be up to my distant descendants to enjoy the game with English menus for me, if they're not nuked into oblivion first.



http://www.risingstargames.com/game.asp ... a-xbox-360

[BulletMagnet]

Make sure to pre-order!

[Deca]

Holy shit they didn't change the name :O

[Special World]

April fools!

Rising Star never planned to release Akai Katana at all.

[Estebang]

It's the new L is Real 2401, except with something much better than Luigi after those centuries of waiting.

And yes, they're keeping the name Akai Katana, which I really don't think is the best decision. Crimson Katana would at least have a chance of catching the eye of someone who didn't already know about Cave.

The April Fools' date isn't a great idea either.

[AntiFritz]

Confirmed for a simultaneous US/PAL release over TWO THOUSAND, NINE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT YEARS FROM NOW. I hope those cybernetics researchers are coming along pretty well...and my 360 will probably be not in the best of shape then. It will likely be up to my distant descendants to enjoy the game with English menus for me, if they're not nuked into oblivion first.



http://www.risingstargames.com/game.asp ... a-xbox-360

RFA might actually beat a shmup release for once.

[BPzeBanshee]

You guys are funny.

What's even more funny is that I pointed this out in another thread and torisu stated why it was like this:

In terms of the website, we moved hosts and in doing so had to export / import our data into a new database. There were a few errors during the transfer - I think all the products listed as "coming soon" were assigned 1/4/2099 (or April Fool's Day - not sure if that was a joke by the coder or just accident), and AK was assigned 1/1/2012 instead of Spring 2012. Thanks for pointing it out, anyway.

I'm hoping RFA beats this regardless - I'm very keen to see that finally come to light (not that I don't like AK either but I think it's probably coming out in May anyway).

[torisuRSG]

It's coming out in Q2 2012 - not on April Fool's Day.

[BPzeBanshee]

So we don't have a specific date yet? Being in the second quarter does give a bit of credit to my May theory, but I've got a 2/3 chance of being wrong....

[torisuRSG]

hi all,

So, some UK online retailers have their pre-order pages up:

http://www.risingstargames.com/game.asp ... a-xbox-360

I don't have the same info for the rest of Europe or US yet but we're chasing that.

Thanks,

torisu

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Im not a pre-order kind of guy, instead ill pick it up the first week it launches.

Im looking forward to this as Deathsmiles didnt really gel with me (it was ok but nothing special imo) and ive been wanting to play another CAVE horizontal.

I wish you all the success in PAL and the NA, that way you can continue localising other region locked STGs for us western fans to enjoy

[Thjodbjorn]

I will preorder the hell out of this as soon as I can!

[Bee Cool]

Any guess on the pricing of this release? I never bought AK for my Japanese 360 so I may want to pick this up if it's the right price.

[Estebang]

It'll quite likely be $40 for the US, and in Europe, whatever DFK PAL's launch price was.

Torisu, I will preorder this as soon as it goes up on Amazon US. I assume you haven't set plans for any Gamestop exclusivity nonsense.

[StarCreator]

So I guess the "Shin" is being dropped from the title entirely? How will the modes be labeled in game?

And whose idea was it to paste fighter planes on top of the moon? I'm not sure if it really gets the intended point across (and please don't add bullets to it oh god), and just serves to detract from the artwork.

[AntiFritz]

So I guess the "Shin" is being dropped from the title entirely? How will the modes be labeled in game?

And whose idea was it to paste fighter planes on top of the moon? I'm not sure if it really gets the intended point across (and please don't add bullets to it oh god), and just serves to detract from the artwork.

Wouldn't surprise me if it was caves, the dfk pal artwork is the jp limited edition artwork with extra ships added in aswell (which in my opinion looks better then without).

[torisuRSG]

So I guess the "Shin" is being dropped from the title entirely? How will the modes be labeled in game?

The title is Akai Katana.

The game modes are Slash, Origin and Climax.

[BPzeBanshee]

So I guess the "Shin" is being dropped from the title entirely? How will the modes be labeled in game?

The title is Akai Katana.

The game modes are Slash, Origin and Climax.

D:

What are those ones meant to go with? I'm guessing Origin is like Original, Climax being Zetsu and Slash being Shin mode? (sorry Japanese speakers I'm ignorant)

[AntiFritz]

So I guess the "Shin" is being dropped from the title entirely? How will the modes be labeled in game?

The title is Akai Katana.

The game modes are Slash, Origin and Climax.

what

EDIT: Doesnt "arcade" and "true" make more sense? Dunno what you would call zetsu though.

[torisuRSG]

Origin or 'arcade' - a "faithful port" of the arcade with the same scoring system.

Slash or 'shin' - 16:9, exclusive to the Xbox 360, new stage and boss, different scoring system to the arcade.

Climax or 'zetsu' - 16:9, includes stage from Slash (or shin), no scoring limit, various 'tweaks' and differences, the "complete vision" of the arcade game.

torisu

[Weak Boson]

Preordered this as soon as I could. The names are pretty funny but they get the job done. Can't wait to play this