Akai Katana Shin

[ffxik]

Please tell me I am not the only one that let the news of the May U.S. release slip by him.

[jobocan]

I almost missed it, but I managed to hear about it a week before release and pre-ordered it. And then the online store I pre-ordered from got it late so i'm still waiting for my copy.

I'm always surprised to see shooters like this coming out on 360 instead of PS3 though, I wonder how well they sell on the system, if at all.

[jcalder8]

I don't know any Japanese so it could have been plastered all over the video but I wouldn't know so could someone please explain what is going on with the way that the bullets are moving?

[psydswipe]

Don't feel bad if you missed it, it didn't get a whole lot of press. It's the first game Rising Star Games published in the US as they used to only publish in Europe ( Aksys handled distribution on Akai). Their next few games aren't anything interesting though, some Jewel Master titles and something called To-Fu Collection which looks like a puzzle game.

[scott]

What? I missed this completely.... I'll have to search for a copy now.

[climhazard]

I'm always surprised to see shooters like this coming out on 360 instead of PS3 though, I wonder how well they sell on the system, if at all.

Cave must have some sort of deal with Microsoft to be releasing all their games exclusively on the 360. I can't imagine how well they sell over here with shot em ups being a pretty niche genre.

I might have to start buying buying these games before they start getting too expensive and hard to find, even though I don't have a 360.

[jobocan]

Just got my copy... The box says both "Akai Katana 真" and "Akai Katana", should it be added as either of those or as "Akai Katana Shin" just to keep the english pronunciation?

Will post impressions once I've played.

*EDIT*

Since I'm still unsure how to add it exactly, I'll just post my impressions here.

Very fun game, really weird. It seems like a standard bullet hell at first, but it's pretty strange. You have 2 modes, attack when you're holding the fire button, and defense when you tap it. You produce different kind of resources depending on which mode you're in when you kill an enemy, and those resources can be used for different things. "Steel" in particular can be used to summon bullet-blocking projectiles that produce Katanas where they're killed, and those katanas produce huge point-items when they hit enemies. It's definitely a score-getting game (a good attack with a ton of katanas can get you millions of points in a second), but it's also really tough.

I like it.