Shin Akai Katana Confirmed for North America

[Skykid]

I meant proof of it being fixed in the first place.

You'll just have to trust him on it, but it's there.

SPECIAL THANKS DAN!

[bcass]

Does the PAL release have the 1st print DLC that came with the JPN version?

[
Now that the 4:3 mode has been fixed for the western release maybe Cave will patch the original.

Where's the proof in that?

Case in point: slowdown repatched into the United States release of Deathsmiles after slowdown added in by Rising Star for the PAL release.

Rising Star had nothing to do with the slowdown issue (pre-patch). That was Cave's fault.

[BPzeBanshee]

Rising Star had nothing to do with the slowdown issue (pre-patch). That was Cave's fault.

As I've said before, it may or may not be Rising Star's development team that had anything to do with getting the issue fixed but they obviously know the right people to talk to to get it fixed.

I meant proof of it being fixed in the first place.

Oh right. Fair point actually, I'd like to hear it from RSG themselves but I guess they're too busy hyping up the game and talking to distributors (obviously more important stuff anyway). I'll believe it when I see it - won't be falling for a potential troll here like Saidaioujou for Steam.

[Kiken]

The only game I've been able to actually force into a slightly warped 4:3 aspect with various mucking around is Halo: Anniversary, and all the AAA typical mainstream games bar that one seem to have no problems displaying 4:3 on my TV. I'm not even sure where the option to change the screen resolution up to 1024x768 etc even is on the 360 anymore.

From the main dash board:

Settings > System > Console Settings > Display > Screen Resolution

[BPzeBanshee]

Cool, I thought it might've been something easier than expected. I'll check that out later on. Guess I must've been thinking of the PS3 where it's weird with what displays it lets you show based on what cable you're using.

[bcass]

Does the PAL release have the 1st print DLC that came with the JPN version?

[Kiken]

Cool, I thought it might've been something easier than expected. I'll check that out later on. Guess I must've been thinking of the PS3 where it's weird with what displays it lets you show based on what cable you're using.

Well, if you're using RGB, Composite or S-Video the 360 is going to limit you to 480i/576i/D1. Component strictly adheres to the 5 television broadcast standard resolutions: 480i/576i/D1, 480p/D2, 1080i/D3, 720p/D4 and 1080p/D5. HDMI initially uses the 5 TV broadcast resolutions, however, it can also use any of the VGA mode resolutions via the Optimal Resolution option (of which 1024x768 is one). VGA supports 10 PC standard resolutions: 640x480, 848x480, 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x768, 1280x1024, 1360x768, 1440x900, 1680x1050 and 1920x1080.

[BPzeBanshee]

Cool, I thought it might've been something easier than expected. I'll check that out later on. Guess I must've been thinking of the PS3 where it's weird with what displays it lets you show based on what cable you're using.

Well, if you're using RGB, Composite or S-Video the 360 is going to limit you to 480i/576i/D1. Component strictly adheres to the 5 television broadcast standard resolutions: 480i/576i/D1, 480p/D2, 1080i/D3, 720p/D4 and 1080p/D5. HDMI initially uses the 5 TV broadcast resolutions, however, it can also use any of the VGA mode resolutions via the Optimal Resolution option (of which 1024x768 is one). VGA supports 10 PC standard resolutions: 640x480, 848x480, 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x768, 1280x1024, 1360x768, 1440x900, 1680x1050 and 1920x1080.

Well damn. I'm using composite (red/white/yellow) so that probably explains why I never saw any of those options before.

By the way, got a reply from RSG via Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/RisingStarGames/ ... 2787418112

So the guys themselves have said the 4:3 zooming issue is indeed fixed. Great news!

[AntiFritz]

http://youtu.be/1pmeJTITlos

Interesting, I wonder how in-depth these will be.

[Skykid]

So the guys themselves have said the 4:3 zooming issue is indeed fixed. Great news!

Toldja so.

That fix basically makes the Japanese version obsolete for anyone playing on a CRT. Should be a day one purchase for those who want arcade mode looking like arcade mode, which is everyone!

[Tokyo-J]

So the guys themselves have said the 4:3 zooming issue is indeed fixed. Great news!

Toldja so.

That fix basically makes the Japanese version obsolete for anyone playing on a CRT. Should be a day one purchase for those who want arcade mode looking like arcade mode, which is everyone!

Dang. I just bought the Japanese version. Guess I will need to pick up the USA version as well since I will be playing this on a 4:3 mostly.

[AntiFritz]

So the guys themselves have said the 4:3 zooming issue is indeed fixed. Great news!

Toldja so.

That fix basically makes the Japanese version obsolete for anyone playing on a CRT. Should be a day one purchase for those who want arcade mode looking like arcade mode, which is everyone!

Dang. I just bought the Japanese version. Guess I will need to pick up the USA version as well since I will be playing this on a 4:3 mostly.

Japanese will likely get patched (you'd think so anyway...)

[Special World]

I'll be so jealous if the US doesn't get this preorder bonus

http://www.gamezone.com/products/akai-k ... -an-import

[bcass]

Eeek. His manhandling of the packaging made me wince.

[Special World]

Your using the phrase "manhandling the package" made me wince.

[BPzeBanshee]

Your missing the fact that the same unpackaging video was put here several posts ago before that one made me wince.

[Special World]

Your pointing out my mistake made me wince.

And now I must stop this.

ED: I actually don't see it, but I'll trust you on this one.

[BPzeBanshee]

No worries mate I was just trying to drag on the 'made me wince' with something relevant.

AntiFritz beat you to it on Page 9 with a similar article linking the YouTube video: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 92#p790592

[Special World]

Huh, I don't remember seeing the pre-order shirt in there. Whatever!

[Illyrian]

Can't wait for this friday when my PAL copy is going to arrive!

I'm really rather glad CAVE have made the move to fullscreen HD for this one.Here's hoping the scoring system isn't too finicky to learn

[Special World]

Can't wait for this friday when my PAL copy is going to arrive!

I'm really rather glad CAVE have made the move to fullscreen HD for this one.Here's hoping the scoring system isn't too finicky to learn

Shin/Slash mode is extremely finicky. Zetsu/Climax is more straightforward.

[BPzeBanshee]

Indeed. Scoring is finicky in this (so is Raiden Fighters depending on how you look at it which is a love/hate relationship for me, I love it in theory and enjoy it but you hear me swearing a lot in practice). Unfortunately I'm not in a position to be able to make a pre-order/day 1 purchase but as soon as I get some cash for a Visa Pre-Paid Card I'll definitely order it from Zavvi or somewhere I know will get it here in one piece.

I for one love the visuals and style of it. It's a damn shame Cave aren't making any truly military shmups anymore but this comes pretty close to it. Looking forward to finally getting a go at Zetsu and indeed Arcade mode as well.

[Special World]

I think it's an absolutely fantastic package, but the bosses really bring it down for me. They're so damned long, and scoring well on them feels a lot different and less exciting than stage scoring. Truly a pain and a shame.

Still a great game(s) though.

[Skykid]

I think it's an absolutely fantastic package, but the bosses really bring it down for me. They're so damned long, and scoring well on them feels a lot different and less exciting than stage scoring.

That's certainly not the case with Shin. Scoring is pretty thrilling on bosses since you're dicing with death half the time.

[emphatic]

Just to let you know, the 4:3 screen issue has been fixed for this release. Get your crt's out!

Excellent! *fingers crossed for an NTSC-J patch*

[Special World]

I think it's an absolutely fantastic package, but the bosses really bring it down for me. They're so damned long, and scoring well on them feels a lot different and less exciting than stage scoring.

That's certainly not the case with Shin. Scoring is pretty thrilling on bosses since you're dicing with death half the time.

I still think they take far too long. Maybe even longer, since you have to power up your katanas.

But I'm probably just doing it wrong, there. I've watched high-scoring runs and the entire thing is things I'm not doing.

[Skykid]

I think it's an absolutely fantastic package, but the bosses really bring it down for me. They're so damned long, and scoring well on them feels a lot different and less exciting than stage scoring.

That's certainly not the case with Shin. Scoring is pretty thrilling on bosses since you're dicing with death half the time.

I still think they take far too long. Maybe even longer, since you have to power up your katanas.

But I'm probably just doing it wrong, there. I've watched high-scoring runs and the entire thing is things I'm not doing.

They are long, I just figured you wanted to get some score out of them (in which case they need to be long on Shin so that you can get the Katana's ready to take them out at each health bar segment.)

I do agree the bosses are complete bastards, for what it's worth - very difficult indeed.

[adversity1]

Advice for getting good at Akai Katana: get used to losing a life on the Stage 2 boss. She will clip you. Don't stress it.

Getting the rank to kick in from Stage 3 I'm pretty sure you need to no-miss Stage 1-2, which means no-missing this boss, but while you're familiarizing yourself with the game it's not worth worrying about. There are of course ways to stabilize her, but that second pattern is quick and deadly. Even in my best runs I'd die on the Stage 2 boss and pretty much no-miss the rest of the game lol.

[Special World]

I do play for score as much as I can. The bosses are just so long that it makes me really not care. I kind of halfheartedly attempt it.

Another problem is that their patterns are just so sterile. They don't really feel like the patterns in any Cave game I've played. I don't even know why they feel so sterile, but where older Cave games feel like individual bullets are coming at you en masse, here it feels like it's just one large unit of bullets that you can slip through. I dunno. Probably just me.

And yeah, they're pretty hard. I guess Cave had to make them long and difficult or you could just spam ninja mode? I dunno.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Oh this game is fun! Im far from finding my feet but I like the game

THX for localising this RSG