Xbox 360: Akai Katana Shin (May 2011)

[co-b]

Has anyone got any idea on the number of units that the cave shop ltd edition of akai katana were limited too? Thanks

[Skykid]

Can someone help me with the scoring in Shin (red) mode.

Heres what I've learned from playing.

Fill E gauge with Laser, then fill the ring around your ship with using Rapid.

Flip to Ninja mode and use laser on a large target to change your energy balls into Katanas. Use spread shot to refill balls and rinse and repeat to create more katanas. Once katanas are full, use Laser until your gauge is almost depleted and Katanas turn red. Use laser to launch Katanas and then flip instantly into normal mode to score a massive amount of gold.

On bosses after launching your first set of energy balls you have to laser to score katanas from the boss upclose.

Is this correct? Is there anything more to scoring in Shin mode?

Fill the orb ring around the ship with rapid and always make sure you have some ninja energy stocked. You don't always need to fill the ring to max, but at least a third is a minimum.

Switch to ninja mode and hit laser briefly to release the collected orbs into a large clump of enemies (or large resilient enemies) to produce katanas. Point blanking with orbs helps build katanas faster.

Switch out of ninja mode to release katanas into clumps of enemies or large ships to produce gold, and chase their tails as they go.

That's about it. Point blanking with rapid builds orbs faster, it's up to you to figure out the sweet spots for building and releasing katanas - there's lots of choice.

[DrTrouserPlank]

Hmm, can get the LE for the equivalent of $99.

That can't be bad can it seeing as the SE isn't a lot cheaper? (about $15 or so)

[Elixir]

Hmm, can get the LE for the equivalent of $99.

That can't be bad can it seeing as the SE isn't a lot cheaper? (about $15 or so)

Amiami has the LE under 6000 yen, you probably aren't going to find it cheaper anywhere else.

[DrTrouserPlank]

Hmm, can get the LE for the equivalent of $99.

That can't be bad can it seeing as the SE isn't a lot cheaper? (about $15 or so)

Amiami has the LE under 6000 yen, you probably aren't going to find it cheaper anywhere else.

OK that price is obscene, but their shipping policy seems rather cryptic and almost inadequate.

SAL or EMS.... yeah what about registered airmail which is cheap and adequate?. EMS will cost me $35 based on previous so that kills the saving instantly. SAL is a poor second choice; and why the secrecy over the shipping cost when you check out? They have my locale, surely they know what it costs? I mean I know what it costs and I'm not running an online shop.

[Elixir]

Hmm, can get the LE for the equivalent of $99.

That can't be bad can it seeing as the SE isn't a lot cheaper? (about $15 or so)

Amiami has the LE under 6000 yen, you probably aren't going to find it cheaper anywhere else.

OK that price is obscene, but their shipping policy seems rather cryptic and almost inadequate.

SAL or EMS.... yeah what about registered airmail which is cheap and adequate?. EMS will cost me $35 based on previous so that kills the saving instantly. SAL is a poor second choice; and why the secrecy over the shipping cost when you check out? They have my locale, surely they know what it costs? I mean I know what it costs and I'm not running an online shop.

They do this because it’s hard to gauge international shipping, just make an order and they'll ask you to Paypal a total amount.

[DrTrouserPlank]

I'm making the assumption of course that registered SAL is a slower service that what most people call "airmail"?.

It ought not to be because they are going to be charging (by the looks of it) 790Yen which is £7 to me. I would usually pay about £4 by registered airmail.

Kind of feeling obligated to buy the LE of this game either way. I don't even have an asian 360 yet, but it's about picking up the games I know I want when the price is right; machine or no machine.

[Casper<3]

I would never recommend any one actually use ami ami. in my experience they have been the worst importer ever.

Spending your money with them is a gamble. Be smart and buy elsewhere.

[DrTrouserPlank]

I would never recommend any one actually use ami ami. in my experience they have been the worst importer ever.

Spending your money with them is a gamble. Be smart and buy elsewhere.

Please share your experience.

What went wrong?

I usually use Renchi or play-Asia as my experience with both has been overwhelmingly positive.

[dan76]

There's a preorder thread somewhere round here...

[DrTrouserPlank]

There's a preorder thread somewhere round here...

Let me know if you find it.

[Skykid]

I'm making the assumption of course that registered SAL is a slower service that what most people call "airmail"?.

It ought not to be because they are going to be charging (by the looks of it) 790Yen which is £7 to me. I would usually pay about £4 by registered airmail.

Kind of feeling obligated to buy the LE of this game either way. I don't even have an asian 360 yet, but it's about picking up the games I know I want when the price is right; machine or no machine.

Sort of getting bored of saying this, but it's for the greater good. If you're in the UK (which you are) ordering from Amiami will incur customs charges - that's a guarantee. They won't mark packages on request.

So unless you want to add £20+ on top of that total, I'd recommend finding it elsewhere.

[Elixir]

I would never recommend any one actually use ami ami. in my experience they have been the worst importer ever.

Spending your money with them is a gamble. Be smart and buy elsewhere.

Why? If I don't have an order in transfit from Amazon.jp or Amiami, I'm feeling lonely.

Maybe it's because I'm closer to Japan but, I've never had any issues even with their cheaper shipping methods.

[StarCreator]

There's a preorder thread somewhere round here...

Let me know if you find it.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30158

That only took like 5 seconds to find...

On AmiAmi - I have no problem with them really - both times I've placed an order with them, they've gotten to me with an item + shipping total that's perfectly reasonable (mind, I almost always elect to ship EMS because I'm impatient and it's really not a whole lot more money). The first thing I ordered from them I paid for and received without issue, and the second they graciously cancelled since I had forgotten all about ordering it from them and didn't need it. Of course, I also live in the US, so I generally don't have to worry about asking stores to lie on customs forms to dodge taxes.

[DrTrouserPlank]

I'm making the assumption of course that registered SAL is a slower service that what most people call "airmail"?.

It ought not to be because they are going to be charging (by the looks of it) 790Yen which is £7 to me. I would usually pay about £4 by registered airmail.

Kind of feeling obligated to buy the LE of this game either way. I don't even have an asian 360 yet, but it's about picking up the games I know I want when the price is right; machine or no machine.

Sort of getting bored of saying this, but it's for the greater good. If you're in the UK (which you are) ordering from Amiami will incur customs charges - that's a guarantee. They won't mark packages on request.

So unless you want to add £20+ on top of that total, I'd recommend finding it elsewhere.

The last 4 packages I have had sent, 2 from HK registered airmail, 1 unregistered from japan and 1 ems from HK. None incurred custom charges. They were all eligible for import duty and VAT and were all marked as merchandise and had their full value stated.

Thinking about it logically I can't see customs bothering to pour through small packages when their limited resources are much better served going after the big packages passing through.

I'll bare it in mind though.

[Skykid]

I'm making the assumption of course that registered SAL is a slower service that what most people call "airmail"?.

It ought not to be because they are going to be charging (by the looks of it) 790Yen which is £7 to me. I would usually pay about £4 by registered airmail.

Kind of feeling obligated to buy the LE of this game either way. I don't even have an asian 360 yet, but it's about picking up the games I know I want when the price is right; machine or no machine.

Sort of getting bored of saying this, but it's for the greater good. If you're in the UK (which you are) ordering from Amiami will incur customs charges - that's a guarantee. They won't mark packages on request.

So unless you want to add £20+ on top of that total, I'd recommend finding it elsewhere.

The last 4 packages I have had sent, 2 from HK registered airmail, 1 unregistered from japan and 1 ems from HK. None incurred custom charges. They were all eligible for import duty and VAT and were all marked as merchandise and had their full value stated.

Thinking about it logically I can't see customs bothering to pour through small packages when their limited resources are much better served going after the big packages passing through.

I'll bare it in mind though.

Suit yourself mate, can't say I didn't warn you.

[DrTrouserPlank]

I'm unlikely to order from AmiAmi anyway because I'm not thrilled about their shipping options which vary from ridiculously expensive to "take your chances".

[burgerkingdiamond]

this 4:3 option sucks. It's zoomed in too far and I can't do anything about it. What the fuck is so hard about offering decent screen options?

[emphatic]

What the fuck is so hard about offering decent screen options?

^^this.

[dan76]

Yeah, nuts isn't it. I sent an email - don't know if many other people complained about it. I don't twitter but that might be an option. They should also fix DSII.

[Zeron]

This madness over screen ratios is so damn ridiculous I mean the original damn game was in 4:3 so why or how could you screw that up sometimes I just dont get CAVE.. You had this one damn method of it that worked and then stick to it..

[Elixir]

It basically comes down to the fact that 5pb. and M2 port Cave material better than Cave and Asada do. Just look at the attention to detail in Futari and Ketsui.

There, I said it.

[Zeron]

It basically comes down to the fact that 5pb. and M2 port Cave material better than Cave and Asada do. Just look at the attention to detail in Futari and Ketsui.

There, I said it.

Yeah seems that if you want to play all of CAVEs modes in their own homeports they expect you to have 8 monitors of different ratios hooked up at the same time.

[xbl0x180]

There's a preorder thread somewhere round here...

Let me know if you find it.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30158

That only took like 5 seconds to find...

On AmiAmi - I have no problem with them really - both times I've placed an order with them, they've gotten to me with an item + shipping total that's perfectly reasonable (mind, I almost always elect to ship EMS because I'm impatient and it's really not a whole lot more money). The first thing I ordered from them I paid for and received without issue, and the second they graciously cancelled since I had forgotten all about ordering it from them and didn't need it. Of course, I also live in the US, so I generally don't have to worry about asking stores to lie on customs forms to dodge taxes.

Unless you order a console from Asia. That may be inspected by the fda and you'll get a nice, little bill for $20.00

[burgerkingdiamond]

It basically comes down to the fact that 5pb. and M2 port Cave material better than Cave and Asada do. Just look at the attention to detail in Futari and Ketsui.

There, I said it.

Exactly. It makes it hard to excuse shit like this from CAVE when you can look to other ports like Futari and Galuda II that did everything right.

I went through the trouble of switching my monitor back to yoko which is a major PITA to play some akai katana and it looks like shit.
at least I can play Deathsmiles.. It's not all f'd up.

[DrTrouserPlank]

There's a preorder thread somewhere round here...

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30158

That only took like 5 seconds to find...

On AmiAmi - I have no problem with them really - both times I've placed an order with them, they've gotten to me with an item + shipping total that's perfectly reasonable (mind, I almost always elect to ship EMS because I'm impatient and it's really not a whole lot more money). The first thing I ordered from them I paid for and received without issue, and the second they graciously cancelled since I had forgotten all about ordering it from them and didn't need it. Of course, I also live in the US, so I generally don't have to worry about asking stores to lie on customs forms to dodge taxes.

Unless you order a console from Asia. That may be inspected by the fda and you'll get a nice, little bill for $20.00

$20 isn't much to pay for a console being caught. When I get mine sent over to the UK I'm already factoring in the charges that I will incur in the probable scenario that it gets inspected (somewhere in the region of about $95).

On a good note my Akai Katana Shin LE arrived today and has once again managed to evade the inquisitive eyes of HMRC (customs). That's 5 out of 5 with no additional charges levied. I was sure this one would get caught as it was in a box instead of a jiffy bag.

[Illyrian]

Yo how does Akai Katana compare in terms of difficulty to other Cave shmups like DFK BL or Espgaluda?

[chempop]

For survival I'd say it's on the easier side of the spectrum, somewhere closer to Deathsmiles or DFK 1.5 (first loop).

For scoring it can get difficult, and Shin mode requires expert precision for high scores, but is still fun for an intermediate players.

[ZenErik]

Hi folks. New to the forum and relatively new to shmups. Maybe this has already been covered, but how do you play in two player mode? Or is there not one? I am able to select 1P or 2P, but I have not been able to figure out how to do both at the same time. And even when I am player 2 it still only uses the player 1 controller.

Just picked up this game a few days ago along with Mushihimesama at Otakon.

[StarCreator]

Only Arcade mode (the one that's 4:3) supports two player. Shin and Zetsu are strictly single-player.