Cave’s YouTube channel has posted a commercial for the home arrival of their newest “bullet hell” shooter: Akai Katana Shin (True Red Sword for the English speakers), with a date of 5/26/2011.
Akai Katana has been an arcade unit for quite some time, so it’s great to see a home release, even if it is for the Japanese Xbox 360 user-base. The game’s product page lists a few of the new things found in the home version as well as linking some YouTube videos of those differences. In the commercial there’s also mention of a new mode (I assume) called Zetsu Akai Katana (Beyond the Red Sword) and a short video of how that looks. The pricing is as follows: Limited Edition is 9,240 JPY (about $111.10 USD) and Standard Edition is 7,140 JPY (about $85.84 USD). Keep in mind that optical media is typically more expensive in Japan than in America.
The import fanatic won’t mind too much if they are a Cave shooter fan with an imported Japanese region Xbox 360. Unlike titles such as Espgaluda II‘s Standard Edition, both versions of Akai Katana Shin will be region locked to Japan (per Cave). However, it may hit state-side should Cave’s publisher partners be interested (such as Aksys Games in America). I won’t lie when I say I’d love to have another Cave bullet hell shooter in my library with Aksys localizing the game for North America. It would give me yet another reason to break out my Hori Real Arcade Pro EX-SE to try and feel like I am at the arcades again.
There used to be an embeded media player here, but it doesn't work anymore. We blame the Tumbeasts.
[Images from Cave’s YouTube and Product Page]
