RQ: Akai Katana High Scoring Tips

[TonK]

I'm having a hell of a time with this game, only getting like 50m+ and it's irritating me.

I know I'm playing it incorrectly, can anyone offer some simple tips that I may be overlooking?

Like, when should I switch?

How do I eat up all of the suicide bullets on screen? Do they change into gold?

I have most of the game memorized at this point, all I'm missing is a score.

Thanks!

[sven666]

50mil on the whole game??

anyways, when in ninja mode destroy enemies in close proximity to bullets to turn bullets to gold, stay in ninja mode for extended periods to "level up" your gold, using lazer in ninjamode depletes your gage faster so try to tap shot.

when tap shooting in ninjamode you "bounce" bullets of your character (and they multiply), try to bounche big bundles into popcorn enemies for big score.
bouncing enemy lazers creates tons of bullets, best place to see this is on the 2nd midboss, when he fires his 4way lazer attack switch to ninjamode and tap-shot placed in the center of the lazers untill he dies just before going off-screen (make sure to soften him up enough beforehand) for BIG score.

also, dont die, no-miss end of level bonus is off the hook in this game. (somewhat unbalanced imo, they fixed this for the LE)

all in all its very similar to Progear with a tad of espgaludas zeshikai thrown in the mix.

[adversity1]

I hit 300 mil the other day after being stuck around 260 for awhile.

I mean the obvious answer is: watch replays. But with AK, it's hard to tell what the actual logic is behind some of the action in the replays. Still there is almost always a constant rule to scoring in the stages.

1. Build up green energy
2. Wait til there's a ton of bullets on screen
3. Laser popcorn enemies near bullets to gather gold
4. Max out at 256 and let them grow to the biggest size, ideally before around 75% of your energy has been used.
5. Now back down to the bottom left hand side of the screen and let bullets accumulate. Stay AWAY from them. The reflect mechanic in this game is a red herring, there is very little to it that is useful for scoring.
6. The reflection effect when you switch back to the fighter will push bullets back away from you.
7. Gather green energy and hold with Laser. Drive it into the bullets to grow it quick. Recharge.
8. Lather, rinse, repeat. Climb up leaderboards like a fucking stunt man.
9. Buy a cooler motorcyle than Sven and ride on it with big-titted blondes.
10. Grow a mustache.

[kyuzo]

Has anyone translated the subtitles for any of the cave superplay dvds? They're very useful...

It seems like akai katana is less understood in the community than most other scoring systems, if I were to magically find time to translate some of these (though not very likely) would akai katana actually be near the top of the list?

Same goes for the booklets that come with the dvds, but that's even more translation work...

[TLB]

Has anyone translated the subtitles for any of the cave superplay dvds? They're very useful...

...

Same goes for the booklets that come with the dvds, but that's even more translation work...

I've always hoped someone who knew Japanese would spontaneously put up a webpage with all the subtitles translated (and their corresponding times given), and perhaps a screenshot or two to show where they go offhand, but that seems like a rad pipe dream.

As for AK, I've never played it, so there's no on-topic talk from me in this thread, sorry :P

[TonK]

When I hang onto the gold, do I let enemy bullets pass through it?

I'm good at collecting energy, actually playing the game, but just don't know how to score.

So when I reflect the suicide bullets they kill popcorn enemies?

Wish Shin mode was actually arcade mode.

[iconoclast]

A few key things that haven't been mentioned yet:

When you're in nenshin mode, destroying an enemy with your rapid-shot while in close proximity causes them to release suicide bullets. This is useful on popcorn to get more bullets to cancel into gold, or to have more bullets on screen once you exit nenshin.

For the Type C character, there is an exploit that allows you to collect energy extremely fast. Basically, what you want to do is constantly alternate between A and C while you or your option is point-blanking an enemy. C causes more energy to spawn, and A holds the energy in place, so going back and forth will give you the best results.

And there is rank. The more lives you have, the higher some enemy's rate of fire will be while you're in nenshin. At max rank, you can basically have solid lines of blue bullets coming at you from every popcorn helicopter, which is very useful for scoring.

When I hang onto the gold, do I let enemy bullets pass through it?

So when I reflect the suicide bullets they kill popcorn enemies?

1. Doesn't make any difference, gold size only increases over time (it takes maybe 8 seconds? for gold to go from small to large). When you destroy an enemy with the laser in nenshin mode, all bullets surrounding it are converted into gold. Cancelled bullets start out as small gold (which is pretty much worthless), and cancelled lasers start out as medium size gold (which is also pretty worthless) - you want to wait for the gold to become large before exiting nenshin and absorbing it. If you wait too long, the gold will start to turn red, which means it's about disappear. You can only have 256 pieces of gold surrounding your character at any time (in arcade mode), so if you're still killing enemies once you're near the cap, it may be a waste.

2. Reflecting bullets doesn't kill any enemies. What you want to do with the bullets is position them so they'll all come together in a good spot once you exit nenshin. And keep in mind, once you exit nenshin, all bullets start moving toward the exact spot you changed forms at. So the typical score strategy in the game goes something like this: enter nenshin -> collect gold until you've got a decent amount (200+) -> stop destroying enemies with your laser so bullets will start to accumulate -> decide where you want the bullets to be once exiting nenshin -> exit nenshin -> collect energy -> pass your option through the clump of bullets (to increase the size of the energy balls) -> enter nenshin -> and hopefully destroy an enemy that's near the clump of bullets, so all of it will be cancelled into gold.

That probably sounds more confusing than it actually is; this video demonstrates that strategy several times in a row: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM7z4yZXZ_k#t=7m00s


I wish I could be of more help, but I don't know what else to add. I learned the game through watching replays and playing, so everything is just kinda instinctive for me.

[kyuzo]

For the Type C character, there is an exploit that allows you to collect energy extremely fast. Basically, what you want to do is constantly alternate between A and C while you or your option is point-blanking an enemy. C causes more energy to spawn, and A holds the energy in place, so going back and forth will give you the best results.

guwange style "hold a+c, tap a" works well (supposedly )

Gonna see if I have some time to translate subtitles tonight or this weekend

[kyuzo]

Here's a quick translation of the first two stages, lemme know if it's helpful. I didn't have any time to clean this up so sorry for the awkward sentences and crappy terms


Stage 1:

By destroying enemies at close range with shot or shooting enemies from close range with your option, you get kidou items

By collecting kidou items your kidou gauge fills up

When you press the nenshin button when your kidou gauge is full, you change from "fighter" mode to "gennin" mode

While in defensive mode (tapping shot) during nenshin, you are completely invincible. If you destroy enemies they release suicide bullets

While in nenshin, if you destroy enemies in attack mode (hold down shot), they release "bakuin", which turn the surrounding bullets into score items

The score items created during nenshin grow over time, but you can't get them unless you leave nenshin mode

When in fighter attack mode, your option attracts kidou items

When the kidou items are floating around your option, they grow when they touch enemy bullets, giving you more energy when you absorb them

The basic pattern is to leave nenshin, create kidou items, power them up using your option fill up your meter again

There can only be 256 items on the screen at once (including kidou items, score items and bakuin)

Keep your option next to the enemy, hold down A and C...

Let go of A briefly and press it again. Doing this repeatedly will create a lot of kidou items. Let's call this "high speed recharge"

Sangouki ("ship number three") is particularly effective at this high speed recharge; you can get a full gauge right away

Get as close as possible to the laser and destroy the boss. Destroying the boss while in nenshin turns the laser into big score items

When the boss is destroyed, if the lasers are turned into score items quickly you can get more than 256 of them

It worked this time, but the current "over 256 hit" phenomenon is currently not completely understood

Stage 2:

When the train starts shooting, destroy the popcorn helicopters with shot (create suicide bullets) and destroy the remaining ones with laser (turn them into bakuin)

Destroy the train while leaving nenshin mode and create kidou items, grow them and then absorb them

While destroying the popcorn tanks, do a high speed recharge on the green tank

Use the bakuin to rapidly increase the combo to 220 hits...

Then make sure the bakuin are gone and clear out the rest with shot

Bakuin are also counted as items, so using laser to increase your hit count doesn't work well around 256 hits

After the high speed recharge, use the powerful nenshin laser to quickly destroy the midboss. That way you'll get more enemies and get more points

Create suicide bullets with the helicopters and gather the bullets on the left side. When you see the blue bullets from the big planes, leave nenshin

High speed recharge using the planes. Make sure your options don't destroy the big planes in the back

The big planes shoot a lot of bullets, so make sure you don't create too many bakuin

Alternate between shot and laser to efficiently get to 256 hits

At the start of nenshin grab a lot of bullets and increase the hit count, and from then on don't create additional

Using both high speed recharge and laser, fill up your gauge quickly

When you get close to a laser in fighter mode, the kidou gauge fills up a certain amount instantly (but not any further)

Use high speed recharge while leaving the tanks on the right of the hovercraft, then turn them into bakuin

While high speed recharging, destroy all the tanks then turn the hovercraft into bakuin

Turn the tank in the back into suicide bullets and turn the tank on the far right into bakuin

High speed recharge then go into nenshin and stay in nenshin until the boss changes forms

When the score items get big, leave nenshin and quickly high speed recharge

Turn the big plane's mines into bakuin and erase the bullets (these don't turn into score items during bosses)

Push back the laser and when the suicide bullets come out make the boss change forms

The second attack's lasers are fixed or targeted randomly

Remember the safe spot for the fixed lasers and plan your movement to avoid both attacks

Position yourself where the laser and bullets come out and after you've gathered a bunch leave nenshin

High speed recharge, go into nenshin right away and destroy the boss in sync with the lasers

When this works you'll get over 400 hits, but this time the laser got turned into items too late and it didn't work

[TonK]

All of this really helped me.

Almost cleared the game tonight and bumped my score up to 64m - it's just gonna get better.

I actually know what I'm doing now.

Thanks guys, very much.

- Mike

[kyuzo]

Stage 3:

Start turning the helicopters into bakuin after half of them have started shooting

When the chain reaction stops after you reach 220 hits, turn them into suicide bullets

Make sure you don't get rammed by the helicopters while you do a high speed recharge

When you get over 220 hits, destroy the small helicopters with shot to increase your hit count and simultaneously gather suicide bullets on your left

When there are 256 items on the screen no items will come out at all, so only create kidou items after you've picked up some of the other items

Kill the helicopters with shot to create suicide bullets, then leave nenshin so that the bullets get pushed into the path of the big plane

After you start the chain reaction, check your hit count and when it gets to 150, move over top of the explosions to stop excess creation of bakuin (note: i.e. push the bullets away from getting converted)

Leave nenshin so that the appropriate of bullets end up over the cannon

When the explosions decrease, you have to kill the next enemy to increase your hit count

Leave nenshin so the bullets end up over the cannon

If you destroy an enemy with laser while your hit count is increasing, you can increase the speed at which it increases

After the sixth volley of pink bullets, leave nenshin and recharge while keeping the small tanks alive

Leave the small tanks alive while bringing the midboss down to a sliver of health

Because the laser gets converted to score items before enemy bullets do you can score a lot with only a little bit of kidou gauge

Quickly dispatch of the small helicopters with shot to get a lot of kidou items

After the chain reaction stops turn the rail cannons into bakuin

Because converting too quickly is not efficient, use the helicopters to stop the chain reaction

The rail cannons release two midsize enemy's worth of items so you can quickly recharge

It takes about 30% of the no-miss sized kidou gauge to grow big score items from small ones

Watch out for the bullets from the bigger tanks while high speed recharging and convert the bullets when enough of the overlap

Destroy the carrier on the right side of the screen to prevent the bomb item from getting in the way

When you pick up the bomb item, the enemy bullets will turn into small score items

Pick up the bomb item after going into nenshin, grow the score items and pick them up

Wait for an attack with more bullets

When you change the form of the boss when there is slowdown from having a lot of bullets, you can get almost 256 hits

Use high speed recharge and nenshin to not have to dodge the bullets until you change the form of the boss

It's hard to get more than 256 hits off the third stage boss, so it's more important to save your kidou gauge for the fourth stage