Akai Katana Shin [JP X360 - 5/26/2011]

[Chempop]

Whoops, should have thanked Pang earlier for the menu translation and EOJ for the details on arcade and zetsu differences.

A translation of the training settings would also help when you guys get around to it.

Forgot to mention that when I made it to the TLB (zetsu mode) I was using Kochouran (type B). 

[EOJ]

This seems to have been the impression of everyone I know. It's kinda tragic that it flopped.

Same story with every Yagawa Cave game. Even DFK BL really. Most Japanese players just don't dig his games that much.

[Special World]

Only been able to play a little bit since I was on vacation this weekend. Seems like a pretty great package, but scoring is pretty baffling to me at this point, and I have a few smaller problems as well.

1) No initial input again? Seriously, Cave? I don't think it's a HUGE deal, but between this and "restart at the beginning of the level, no score saving" I really question Cave's ability to port their games in a coherent fashion.
2) The bosses have way too much health. The battles last way too long, and I just don't find them exciting. Maybe this'll change as I play more.

Scoring in Shin has me boggled; I understand the basics but I'm not sure how to put it together yet. For example, at one point I scored 4000 0000 on my cash-in on the first level, but I can't replicate that at all. Sometimes I'll end the level with waaay less points. No idea how important keeping your combo going is, either. I know the parts but not the values they're applying. Not sure about the purpose of bullet tennis in Zetsu mode either, but I'll get to reading strategies.

ED: Nevermind, there are no strategy topics! Ah well, time to rough it.

[ohfivepro]

Got this on Friday but as I was out clubbing after work I didn't get to play until Saturday - learning the basics of a new STG whilst hungover is not easy. Anyhoo my impressions so far are that Arcade mode is really good and people are saying it's really close to the PCB which is always a good thing but I've not put too much time into it so can't really comment much.

Zetsu is where it's at for me. It's easy enough to understand but there's enough depth within the basic mechanics of the game to make scoring tricks possibe. Basically you're looking to max you're green power gauge ASAP by point blanking enemies / killing them when there's enemy fire on top of them before dragging the orbs attached to your option through some bullets to enlarge them quickly. Switch into ninja mode then kill enemies with your focus shot when they're covered in bullets to spawn point items. Whilst you're flying about in blue ninja mode (basically you're invincible if you're not using focus shot) kill some enemies to spawn more bullets which will increase your point items when they touch, bounce those bullets back over more enemies before killing with the focus shot to get more points - rinse and repeat.

The main trick seems to be to cancel out of ninja mode before your meter runs out - this forces all bullets directly backwards (rather than bouncing them around) - direct them over some oncoming enemies, kill them when they're touching the reflected bullets and you'll automatically spwan much bigger green rechargte orbs. Let the orbs scrape the remaining bullets to increase them further then absorb for a full recharge then back into ninja mode for more scoring. Easy

Shin mode appears to be a massive shitstorm that's fun at 1st until you figure out more of the scoring. You seem to have to point blank the bigger enemies you kill with the katanas - killing the midsize plane before the midboss along with a few other enemies and suicide bullets used to score me about 1mil, flying up close to the plance once I've relaesed the katanas now scores me about 20mil - Sinmoons replay on Live nets him about 30mil+. I swear to God I do nothing different to my original runs other than fly up inside my katanas as they're wiping the screen but I'm scoring 20x more than I used to. I don't like this mode much and I'm probably missing something obvious but it feels like a bit of a memory fest where one slip up or a half second delay is the difference between an amazing score or a shit one - there doesn't seem to be an inbetween. I'll pass for the time being as life's too short and I've got better modes to play.

[ohfivepro]

Also - in Zetsu mode it's a piece of cake to earn both of the score extends so even if you're not too hot it's easy to get a decent length of game and learn some of the later sections - your final life also gives you an autobomb which is handy. If you have more than one bomb in stock the autobomb will use them all so if you're down to your last life with bombs to spare you can use them for survival an just keep one in reserve as a bonus life - useful on a boss if you know you're not good enough to get by without taking at least one hit.

Quck question for the pros - I ended up watching all of the top live download for Zetsu mode (I usually just watch the 1st stage to confirm what I'm doing isn't totally misplaced) and for the most part the player plays like how I describe in by above post. When he absorbs the points items it kills his chain and then he starts over. On stage 4 however, right before the boss he has a chain of about 1000, he cancels out of ninja mode and gets a quick recharge - whilst he's doing this there are loose points items on screen that aren't absorbed - when he re-enters ninja mode his option grabs these loose items and his chain doesn't break. When he exists the 2nd ninja mode his chains now over 2000 which gives him a huge score boost (I think each max point item is worth 100k x your chain value) - is this a glitch or is there a way to expand your chain at other sections? If so it would add even more to this already great mode?

[Chempop]

The main trick seems to be to cancel out of ninja mode before your meter runs out - this forces all bullets directly backwards (rather than bouncing them around) - direct them over some oncoming enemies, kill them when they're touching the reflected bullets and you'll automatically spwan much bigger green rechargte orbs.

...

Thanks, I didn't know this, back to the drawing board I go.

Strangely enough, I've switched to using mainly type-A now which was my least favorite ship initially.  They each have several strengths and weaknesses, I like the balance and how my strategies change depending on who I use. 

Now that I'm aware of the intricacies I'm not consistently getting as far, trying to pull off all these little maneuvers to replenish green orbs is resulting in way more stupid deaths.

Anyone have a preference of the soundtracks?

[EOJ]

Quick question for the pros - I ended up watching all of the top live download for Zetsu mode (I usually just watch the 1st stage to confirm what I'm doing isn't totally misplaced) and for the most part the player plays like how I describe in by above post. When he absorbs the points items it kills his chain and then he starts over. On stage 4 however, right before the boss he has a chain of about 1000, he cancels out of ninja mode and gets a quick recharge - whilst he's doing this there are loose points items on screen that aren't absorbed - when he re-enters ninja mode his option grabs these loose items and his chain doesn't break. When he exists the 2nd ninja mode his chains now over 2000 which gives him a huge score boost (I think each max point item is worth 100k x your chain value) - is this a glitch or is there a way to expand your chain at other sections? If so it would add even more to this already great mode?

The chain can be stopped and restarted without a hit break even in Arcade mode, as long as you get it going again before the hit counter fades away. This is just like Ibara Black Label. Also, I don't think the hit count is added to the gold items, it's rather added to the enemy values when you destroy them. This is because when I absorb the gold at a high hit, or at a zero hit, I get the same points from the gold (max gold is 10K per piece).

[EOJ]

Anyone else notice you can save replays in Training mode now? That's a first for a Cave port, and a pretty cool feature.

[Special World]

So, what is the point of reflecting bullets in Zetsu? Is it just to get bullets near enemies when you kill them, or does it do anything else?

[ohfivepro]

"The chain can be stopped and restarted without a hit break even in Arcade mode, as long as you get it going again before the hit counter fades away. This is just like Ibara Black Label. Also, I don't think the hit count is added to the gold items, it's rather added to the enemy values when you destroy them. This is because when I absorb the gold at a high hit, or at a zero hit, I get the same points from the gold (max gold is 10K per piece)."

Just did a couple of quick tests - your gold score is 10k x your chain count (less if the gold isn't fully inflated, but it's guaranteed to be 10k when you kill a boss) so you want your chain to be as high as possible. When the gold turns red and is about to vanish you then want to cancel ninja mode and quickly reenter it again to keep the chain high so all of the new gold you get spinning around is worth way more points.

I'm nowt special at this game but I suicided twice at the start of stage 1 to get the longest ninja gauge possible. I killed a few enemies and maxed the gauge out. I then shot my way along until just before the mid-boss, entered ninja mode, point blanked all of the tanks and small enemies, killed the midboss when it was lasering after sitting on them for a bit to spawn more bullets - cancelled out of ninja mode as my items went red, re-entered as I still had a chunk of gauge left and kept the chain going until the boss. I got to the start of the boss fight with just over 14mil - the top Live player gets there with 11mil

There's bound to be more parts of the game where this kinda thing's do-able but I don't really have the mad skillz required to get that far (yet). Just something to think about.

[EOJ]

Just did a couple of quick tests - your gold score is 10k x your chain count (less if the gold isn't fully inflated, but it's guaranteed to be 10k when you kill a boss)

So why is my point count on the gold items the same if the hit count disappears before I cash in the gold? Is it just the highest hit count you obtain with one gold ring, it doesn't matter if you let it fade away by letting off the shot buttons for a few seconds?

[EOJ]

There is a secret achievement for getting the "Shin ending" (shin = "true"). Here are the requirements:

-No miss 1CC
-must play in Shin mode (can't do it in Shin Novice)

[ohfivepro]

I've tried replicating my stage 1 pre-boss score but am damned if I've been able to top 10mil. Dunno what I did before but I'm certainly not doing it with any consistency now.

With hindsight my overall score after beating the boss is likely to have been way less than the Live replay as the bonus you get for the actual number of large items collected would have been quite low when this is usually a massive part of your overall score.

I thought I might have been on to something but in the grand scheme of things, I guess not

[Special World]

Man, Zetsu mode is just a dream to play. This is definitely one of Cave's best. When I first watched videos of this game, I was afraid it would suffer from something like DFK's hyper boredom, but ninja mode is fun as hell. The graphics are gorgeous too. That underwater level might be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in a shooter; it kind of reminds me of metal slug, in a way. The music on that level is absolutely awesome as well. My problem is still those overly long bosses, though. They're a chore to fight, and their bullet patterns are pretty bland. I've been sticking with the C-type ship, and rocking bosses with grandma's ninja laser. The first level is pretty terrible as well, since it's just a little spurt of enemies before a pretty boring boss fight. Is there anything you can do to make him more interesting? It seems like ninja mode doesn't really net me many more points when I use it on him, so I tend to save it for the next level.

What a great game.

[EOJ]

Here's the website for this game's artist:

http://mushimaro.com/artwork.html

I really like his style.

Also, in this post:

http://mushimaro.com/blog/?p=188

He says he started working on artwork for the game at the beginning of 2010, which is eight months before its release. So I think Ikeda's comment about the game taking "3 months to make" referred only to the programming of the game. Clearly they were doing other stuff far before then.

[neomoe]

this game definitely exceeded my expectations.  Aesthetically, it may just be my favorite Cave game yet.  So far all the modes seem really good, though Zetsu seems to have clicked most easily with me right now.  I really feel like I got my moneys worth with this game since it feels like a really robust package where all the modes are distinct and enjoyable enough to give serious play time to each of them.

The extra stage is great too.  

I got this game and DFK BL in the same shipment, but have barely even touched that game yet...which says alot about how much I love AKS.

many thanks for the help on the menus too guys, the info certainly helped alot.

I'm currently playing on a 21' 4:3 lcd.  I think there are enough cave ports out now where i think it is worth uprgrading to a bigger monitor  

[Chempop]

Is there a hidden 1-up I don't know about?  Could sure use one, getting to the TLB with no bombs or health is a pisser.

I'm currently playing on a 21' 4:3 lcd.  I think there are enough cave ports out now where i think it is worth uprgrading to a bigger monitor

I'd been using 19" (4:3 CRT) for years, recently got a 23" and immediately found it made a difference.  I used to think that any bigger would be a disadvantage because I'd need to focus on too much screen, but I'm starting to think maybe there is a reason why cabs use 29"...

[EOJ]

No 1UP item in this game, just two score based extends.

[Special World]

This game does a damn good job of keeping you alive on the brink of death. I'm still not good enough at shooters to consistently get to stage 5 in Zetsu, but I find that I can make a pretty good recovery even if I die a lot in the beginning. The score-based extends are easy to get, and the end-level bombs on stages 3 and 4 can save you if you're on your last life. This game also does a great job of curing my first-level restartitis, since dying extends your meter. Instead of "well, I just fucked up," I can say "guess it's time to go for a high score!"

At this point I'd say this is my favorite Cave game since Futari Black Label. It really has it all. If only it weren't for these damn huge health meters on the bosses, this might be my favorite. The later bosses give you a lot to do so you're not too bored, but the first level boss is just excruciating. As good as this game is, it has possibly the worst first level of any Cave game I've played.

[EOJ]

I really like the first level. It's short and sweet, but it takes a lot of skill to score well there, which is a lot of fun. The boss fight is pretty quick and feels like a typical Stage 1 Cave boss. Switching to Ninja mode at the end of that boss when the lasers fill the screen and scoring a big hit count is always a nice feeling.

Stage 4 is my favorite, but I also really like Stage 3. I also really like the music throughout the game, it fits very well, and Stage 4 is just sublime. Speaking of music, in the sound options, you can change between "Original" and "Arranged" BGM for Shin and Arcade, but when I change it to Arrange, I don't hear anything different. Is this a glitch?

[Chempop]

I like stage 1 too, depending on what I do I can score between 5-10mil before the boss, my best after stage bonuses was around 25mil (Zetsu).  Definitely go Ninshen at the end of the first boss fight, reflect the fans of bullets from the boats and make the kill when there are bullets and lasers everywhere, you should get a hearty 350-450 hit bonus if timed well.

Anyway, I got the 1CC (Zetsu) tonight, just missed my goal of 300mil (by 2mil!), haha was a pretty good run though, I even dodged a few patterns against Mr Katana : )

[Special World]

Alright, well I guess I'm just a putz when it comes to scoring on him, then. He still seems like he has a boatload of health though, unless you're comparing him to other bosses in the game. I assume the quickest was to do damage (without bombing) is using Type C Ninja Laser, and it takes a good while like that, even.

[EOJ]

Type C takes the longest to take him down - I agree, the fight is a bit too long there with Type C as I have to loop his patterns twice to score on the laser pattern if I don't go into Ninja mode before the very end. Type A and B can take him down right when the first laser pattern comes out, and you don't need to change into Ninja until the very end.

[lam47]

I'm starting to get a feel for arcade now! Bouncing the bullets over an enemy then popping them is lots of fun.

[Special World]

Ah, well that's my bad then. I had assumed that type C could take down bosses the quickest since they have that short range laser in ninja mode. But I guess they can't always be using that, and their little spread option probably isn't the best.

[lam47]

Really getting the hang of arcade now. I have it set to moron mode at the moment and managed 24th on the leader-boards.
Now it's time to be a man!
The re-charge tip has made a HUUUGE difference. Thanks for that EOJ.

[ohfivepro]

Despite my initial post having a moan at Shin mode I'm really getting into it. Basically its like Deathsmiles - not in terms of gameplay but in terms of if you've no idea what yoiur doing you'll have fun flying about shooting stuff, if you know the system AND the stage layout you'll score HUGE and if you kinda know the system and the layout then you'll get frustrated knowing that you've 90% of the skill required but you're only getting 10% of the score you ought to.

Who hasn't watched a DS replay and thought "ah, so that's how to get a bunch of easy meter refills" then tried to replicate it only to blow up the snakes, house etc fractionally too soon or too late and be left with 40 crowns instead of 1000+. That missed scoring opportunity ain't coming back - better luck next time.

I've been messing about with stage 1 trying some different techniques and I've got it down to the point where I can get to the start of the boss fight with at least 70mil each time and I still don't have a very good strat for the mid-boss. Cracking the 100mil pre-boss should be do-able with a bit of tinkering but 65-80mil's fine for now as it guarantees and extend before the start of stage 2 and I don't need to take any big risks. That's half a stage where I can match the worlds best, now I just gotta figure out the remaining 6 and a half stages and I'll start troubling the world records lol, but at least I know it's doable with a bit of practice compared to the horrible, semi-random mess that I thought it originally looked like.

[EOJ]

Type C finally "clicked" with me in Arcade mode. I can see now why the top WR score is with this ship. Just got 136mil, and things are looking up.

BTW I've noticed some extra swarms of enemies in the last part of stage 2 in Zetsu that aren't in Arcade mode. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for any more in other levels.

[dan76]

The chain can be stopped and restarted without a hit break even in Arcade mode, as long as you get it going again before the hit counter fades away.

I'm sticking to Arcade mode and managed this a couple of times - usually on my last life.

So, if I have large gold circling and the hit counter reaches 256 should I continue adding more gold or just cash in and start again. From what I understand it can't add anymore gold after 256 - but sometimes it goes over slightly???

I'm regularly getting to stage 5 now with Type C, and noticing that a fair number of enemies end up shooting lasers if you leave them long enough (even the mid sized ship near the start of stage 1). I also tend to get the gold going on small enemies and use the larger ones for a recharge - kind of the reverse of what I did at the beginning.

[ohfivepro]

Been messing about with Shin stage 1 again this evening and now I can get 80-90mil pre boss in my sleep and on a slightly more focused (luckier) run 100-130mil pre boss How's everyone else doing by this stage?

Can't believe I've had this much fun on a tiny stage of a mode I'd started to dismiss. It's still not exactly the most intuitive of modes but when it all starts to come together it's great fun.