Akai Katana Limited Home Version [Cave, PCB Kit, November 19, 2010]

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http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/11/09/akai_katana_general_purchase


Cave will be offering a "Special version" with "balance adjustments, stage select and eliminates option for coin-based play". 220, 000 yen and only available from Cave's online shop.

[emphatic]

Cave will be offering a "Special version" with "balance adjustments, stage select and eliminates option for coin-based play". 220, 000 yen and only available from Cave's online shop.

So basically, a Black Label for home use only on PCB? 

To not piss off operators, satisfy the need with the PCB collector crowd and water the mouths of 360 owners for an upcoming port all in one little bundle of joy? I wonder if this will be part of the 360 port or a "home PCB" exclusive?

[brentsg]

They are probing for a way to move arcade kits that weren't going anywhere.  Matsuri stuff has sold like mad, so why not make a limited version for sale there..

I can't see why stage select is valuable for this game.  I can't speak for balance adjustments, as I've not played it.

Anyways, this resolves the 1.5 or early BL issue.

[EOJ]

That's pretty dumb, why make an improved PCB version that you can't play in an arcade in Japan? It's like they're trying to start their own AES business with crazy high prices.

And we all know this mode will be included in the inevitable X360 port for a fraction of the price, or at the very least as DLC.

[EOJ]

Cave page detailing this home-PCB:

http://www.cave-shop.jp/fs/caveshop/akaikatana_sp/cvga0003

They say the balance tweaks are to "allow private users to enjoy the game more." It will come in a fancy box:



Also, it will only be for sale for eight hours, on 11/19 from 12 noon to 8pm.  

[lmagus]

they are seriously weird

[brentsg]

We need to start planning a celebration for when SuperPang receives his kit (and realizes they made it even easier for home use).

[Lunchbox]

eight hours

I'm curious to know how many they sell...

[Aliquantic]

Apparently this version doesn't have the 256 hit cap... I wonder if that'll be enough to make scoring a bit more interesting.

[brentsg]

I wonder if this home version is an indicator of unrest between Annex and Cave.

Let's assume for a moment that Cave wanted to tweak AK a bit to inject some interest and longevity into the arcade release.  Presumably that would take the form of a 1.5 or possible BL release.  Meanwhile Annex is still sitting on a bunch of unsold kits.  Vendors still have plenty of stock on hand.  Arcade ops are skeptical about buying AK at all due to the possibility of upgrading boards to 1.5, or a BL coming along and stealing the interest.

Annex balks at either pulling back kits to reflash to 1.5... or possibly at the thought of a BL release, especially since that's seen as a primary reason for poor sales to begin with.  

Cave decides to pull the kits back and go it alone, thus the revision becomes a home release.  This serves to clear out stock and get their revision published, while contractually allowing Cave to go it alone via the online store retail channel.  Presumably they have a contract in place which would require them to publish/distribute through Annex if it's an arcade game.. but since it's technically a home game they're free to bypass the distributor.

I started thinking about this after reading EOJ's translation of the history book, regarding the disagreement between Cave and AMI regarding Futari BL's content.

[SuperPang]

Apparently this version doesn't have the 256 hit cap... I wonder if that'll be enough to make scoring a bit more interesting.

Yay, slowdown from stage 1!

[Aliquantic]

Yay, slowdown from stage 1!

I'd expect them to have put a cap on the number of bullets circling around you, though.

[Pointman]

I used to be able to keep up with the amount of merchandise about 6 years ago but now Cave goods are finally out of my reach.  8 hours?  That is just daft 

[zlk]

I have also pretty much given up on collecting cave stuff.  There is just too much to collect and if you spend lots of money, cave may reprint the item and its value could decline by a factor of 10 or more (DOJ BL posters for example).  Being broke doesn't help either! 

[kernow]

I have also pretty much given up on collecting cave stuff.  There is just too much to collect and if you spend lots of money, cave may reprint the item and its value could decline by a factor of 10 or more (DOJ BL posters for example).  Being broke doesn't help either! 

Plus, uhm, what are you going to do with a cave towel or zippo honestly, apart from put it on a shelf. My collecting days are long over. It's all about the games.

[SuperPang]

Indeed. Its almost a shame its so collectible because most of my stuff sits in a display cupboard. I have some Deathsmiles coasters under the ashtrays on my cabs and Cave keyrings on the keys but thats about it. Oh and a DFK case on my iPhone. I wish I had the stones to use the kitchenware 

[fuse]

I have a DOJ sticker sheet I actually used for it's intended purpose the other day - shock horror! As I was picking and choosing at bits to stick on my laptop I took a pair of scissors to them, can imagine some people shedding tears at such a sight.

[SuperPang]

Protip, check out the outline stickers from the recent sales, they're MUCH better and no need for kung-fu scissor skills.

[markedkiller78]

I?ll bet the fuckpillows get well used???..

[SuperPang]

Behold the Akai Katana volume adjustment tool!



The kit artwork appears to be altered too.

[dorakyura]

So is anybody taking Cave's generous offer? From the few plays I had with this one I would love to own it ? but with a price that high and the prospect of a X360 port I fear that I would regret spending that much money sooner than later.

[brentsg]

Cave has a video up.  For those that have played this, can you tell if they eliminated the gold circling to rid the game of slowdown.. or is the video carefully crafted to look good?

http://www.cave-shop.jp/fs/caveshop/akaikatana_sp/cvga0003


Not having played the game, it appears that they uncapped hit and eliminated the gold circling to get around the slowdown problem.

[EOJ]

Yep, it looks fun now. Let's keep the fun PCB version outside of the arcades. Way to keep arcades alive, Cave!

Also, they have a warning on that page that says "caution: this game will only be serviced/fixed for the person who originally bought it."
If you buy this any way but direct from the Cave shop and it breaks, you're basically fucked.

[brentsg]

Scenario 1: 

Cave:  Hey, we've made some awesome changes and are prepping an Akai Katana Black Label! 
Annex:  Cool, how many extra stages and characters?
Cave:  Uhh none..

Scenario 2: 

Cave:  Hey look, the elite players are loving this Limited Version of AK!!!
Arcade Ops:  Release a Black Label!!!

[Monouchi]

I thought it looked fun before and now even better.
Lets hope this Limited ver makes it into the home port.

And yes, as EOJ said. Its a strange scenario that this ver is not released to the arcades?

[brentsg]

Sold out a while ago, so we can expect to see more of these.

[GaijinPunch]

Cave:  Hey look, the elite players are loving this Limited Version of AK!!!
Arcade Ops:  Release a Black Label!!!

Scenario 3:
Cave: We no longer have the source code.

[SuperPang]

What does this say about the difficulty?
"また、業務用バージョンと同じ難易度のほかに、難易度の高いバージョンを選択して遊ぶことができます。"

[HVL]

In addition to arcade version's difficulty, you can select a harder difficulty.

Better to wait for a confirmation from somebody better in the language, though.

[EOJ]

Your translation is absolutely right, HVL.