Xbox 360: Akai Katana Shin (May 2011)

[bcass]

If there was any money in it, those games which Cave don't own the publishing rights to would be ported. There's no money in it, so I doubt we'll ever see them. I don't think anyone particularly cares, given that the superior versions will always be available in MAME. No alternate versions exist of those titles, do they? So the best you could hope for is something along the lines of the crappy arrange version you got with XBLA Guwange.

[gs68]

I understand people wanting console ports of arcade games being as accurate as possible; I'm in that same territory. But saying that the port is (going to be) trash for having a few minor inaccuracies and that you should just wait until it gets emulated for a pitch-perfect experience is taking it too far.

[Sumez]

CAVE sounds very optimistic about this getting localized, so for anyone who would like to play it, it has more of a chance of getting an overseas release, which will surely be at a lower price point, since all of these games, even for regular editions, end up at about $85 before shipping to import, which is too much for a lot of people even if it is region free. It also means more money for CAVE to continue doing what they do, for those of us who enjoy their games.

The way I read it, Cave chose to region lock Akai Katana simply because they are EXPECTING an international release of the game!

Generally, Cave seems to have moved very strongly towards a more international audience over the past couple of years, with more region free releases, international iPhone releases, Guwange on XBLA, and lots of communication in English via Facebook and Twitter, and my guess and hope is that RSG and Aksys bringing over DeathSmiles is only the beginning.
When people think of Cave, they usually think of a semi-obscure elitist producer of quality games from the late 90's and early 00's, mostly reserved for shooter geeks. While the (hopefully) new Cave might take some getting used to, it's a win/win situation for everybody.

[Sumez]

I downloaded the PV to my 360 earlier, and as the monitor is in TATE I got a crazy idea that when this is release, I'm actually gonna rotate my joystick and play the game as a vertical. Also, please watch the PV like that before telling me I'm crazy.

Might be a neat idea. I would still like to see how well a true 16:9 vert would work.

16:9 is the new thing. Talk about "TATE TO THE MAX!"

[Sumez]

Indeed. It isn't beyond the realms of possibility that Cave could still release a 360 ports of these games and split the profits with Capcom/ATLUS. It's unlikely to happen though, given the low sales of most of Cave's recent 360 output. There's just not enough money in it to be worth the effort.

I might be severely misinformed, but wan't Guwange's situation exactly the same as Esp.Ra.De's? Same company and everything.
Also, Progear was, as far as I heard, in the same poll that secured Guwange's XBLA conversion, so it's obviously not out of Cave's reach.

It's stupid to assume that because some other company holds the rights to a game, they don't want it released on any other format than the one it, in the case of Esprade, was released on over 10 years ago - and to my knowledge aren't selling any more copies of.
The whole idea of holding on to the rights for a game is to issue re-releases such as the ones on XBLA.

[spadgy]

This game is definitely aimed toward fans of Progear.

Progear being my favourite game of all time, I am so excited to play this.

Generally, Cave seems to have moved very strongly towards a more international audience over the past couple of years

I think that trend will definitely continue and ramp up...

[bcass]

Assuming they don't start releasing total shit, the West will be Cave's biggest market within 2 years. Mark my words.

[StarCreator]

It's stupid to assume that because some other company holds the rights to a game, they don't want it released on any other format than the one it, in the case of Esprade, was released on over 10 years ago - and to my knowledge aren't selling any more copies of.
The whole idea of holding on to the rights for a game is to issue re-releases such as the ones on XBLA.

The way I see it, if it was a trivial matter to clear up whatever issue there may be, they'd have already cleared it up. It wouldn't be the first time a game has been condemned to rights hell (see: The Rumble Fish 2).

[Frederik]

I downloaded the PV to my 360 earlier, and as the monitor is in TATE I got a crazy idea that when this is release, I'm actually gonna rotate my joystick and play the game as a vertical. Also, please watch the PV like that before telling me I'm crazy.

Might be a neat idea. I would still like to see how well a true 16:9 vert would work.

I tried that with Progear back when I thought every single bullet hell shmup simply had to be vertical, and it´s even less appealing than turning a vertical game on its side. In the latter case, the left-right panning becomes up-down which is nauseating, and the top-down look means it feels like you´re flying along a giant wall all of the time. Progear played vertical, however, just absolutely didn´t work for me at all. Not to mention that the whole artwork just doesn´t make any sense rotated.

These days, playing Progear just makes me happy I don´t have to move my screen around, and I´m starting to really like the more scenic viewpoint these games have, with deep backgrounds and the occasional gravity-based attack (like some boss patterns).

I have to say, the more I see of Akai Katana the more awesome it looks. Great art, bombastic soundtrack, and the scoring looks exactly like my cup of tea!

[Skykid]

Assuming they don't start releasing total shit, the West will be Cave's biggest market within 2 years.

Oh well.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Don't know enough about it. It's definitely something I'll keep track of and hope is localized as well.

Definitely have some interest, but would have to wait for more info and stuff.

[bcass]

Assuming they don't start releasing total shit, the West will be Cave's biggest market within 2 years.

Oh well.

Yeah, let's just pretend that never happened, eh.

On the other hand, the chances of that being released in the West are practically zero I'd imagine.

[Special World]

Assuming they don't start releasing total shit, the West will be Cave's biggest market within 2 years.

Oh well.

I was stunned to see that GameInformer had an article about Instant Brain on their website, when they hadn't mentioned anything about Deathsmiles US release or Futari being region free.

The industry has changed so much that they would rather talk about an adventure game that isn't slated for US release and isn't import friendly than a well-regarded scrolling shooter that received a US release.

I am saddened.

[Skykid]

Beyond rose tinted fanboy glasses, not everything Cave touches turns to gold.
Their genius at finely honed shmups is established, but replicating such success in other genres is yet to be seen. If they do try branching out to the west, I'm ready to accept that the world's premier shooting game dev will offer up plenty of poorly conceived ideas and wasted budgets in a bid to appeal to an audience they (and most other Japanese devs) don't really understand.

I'll put my crystal ball away now.

[gs68]

If Cave does start mass-producing poop, it's important to remember them for the good stuff they produced.

I should know, I'm a Tetris TGM player, even though the producer of the series, Ichiro Mihara, has been a shitass as of late.

[brentsg]

I should know, I'm a Tetris TGM player, even though the producer of the series, Ichiro Mihara, has been a shitass as of late.

This the same Mihara that kept claiming the Ketsui port was shitty?

I did glance at the thread and it looked interesting until I came across some assholes that made me want to respond. I think I'll just go watch some paint dry or something.

[gs68]

This the same Mihara that kept claiming the Ketsui port was shitty?

If you're talking about VP-of-Arika Mihara, yes.

[bcass]

I thought Mihara advised 5pb on the Ketsui port, which is why it's such a good port?

[Special World]

I thought Mihara advised 5pb on the Ketsui port, which is why it's such a good port?

I was under that impression too, and it makes sense considering the massive jump in port quality from DOJ to Ketsui.

Man, now I wanna play Ketsui. But my roommate is asleep!

[drunkninja24]

IIRC, Mihara only stepped in when the DOJ fiasco went down. He was shit-talking the Ketsui port almost all the way up until release.

[Sumez]

On the other hand, the chances of that being released in the West are practically zero I'd imagine.

If it's doable economically (if Cave aren't being asses and give the Western publishers a decent offer), I'm sure it will happen. And for a change, Cave do seem more interested in Western releases now than they did before. And they already have the contacts they need (Aksys and RSG).

It's not the genre that's keeping the games at bay. All of Psikyo's shooters were released for PS2 in Europe for $10 price tags.

[bcass]

You know I was talking about the crappy new adventure game they're working on, right (that Skykid linked to)? The chances of that being released in the West are zero. It's just a load of hi-res images with hundreds of pages of text. There is no market for that genre in the West.

[Sumez]

Oh, my bad! Thought you were talking about the game on topic.

Yeah, I don't give a damn about that game either, it seems like a very Japanese thing, those text heavy adventures are all over their wazoo.

[bcass]

IIRC, Mihara only stepped in when the DOJ fiasco went down. He was shit-talking the Ketsui port almost all the way up until release.

A quick skim over old posts at cave-stg.com suggest that the Ketsui port had Mihara involved:

http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php ... 9#msg15749

Him being invited to speak publically with IKD about it tells me that he was definitely involved.

The following post is the only post I could find where Mihara critcised the port (most likely before he got involved):

http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php ... 6#msg13776

Given that the Ketsui port is the *only* 360 Cave port that has never needed patching and how generally highly regarded the port quality is considered by the community, I'd say his involvment was a dead-cert.

[brentsg]

I thought Mihara advised 5pb on the Ketsui port, which is why it's such a good port?

There were plenty of people that can read Mihara's blog freely, that were shocked at the port quality having read his remarks during the time it was in development.

I see you are amassing evidence, etc. While I realize that simply making a Cave related post is analogous to issuing an open invitation to argue with you, I think I'll take a pass. Just reading your bickering has grown tiresome.

[DragonInstall]

I really need to get a wide screen tv or monitor soon. I feel like I'm in the stone age with my 4:3 tv's lol. Have to upgrade for these future shmups....

[Udderdude]

16:9 shmups are only going to be any good if they do something interesting with all that extra screen space. Protip: Just filling it with more crap isn't going to be enough this time.

[nZero]

Bingo. I'll gladly take the letterboxing sacrifice on such gems as 1942 Joint Strike, Raystorm HD, Otomedius G and Deathsmiles IIX in order to be able to enjoy good games in fullscreen or fullscreen TATE on my 4:3 monitor.

[Iori Branford]

16:9 shmups are only going to be any good if they do something interesting with all that extra screen space. Protip: Just filling it with more crap isn't going to be enough this time.

Three- or four-player vertizontals, anyone?

[Kiken]

Three- or four-player vertizontals, anyone?

See Giga Wing 2.