0xPRIMEgs

I don't got a witty title for it, sorry.

Akai Katana is a really cool Shmup from Cave. It's one of only 3 verticle Shmups Cave has made, and it's the only one that isn't Death Smiles.

Buying Akai Katana on Steam will net you the arcade version of Akai Katana, Akai Katana Shin (more on that later), and Akai Katana Zetsu (I might have forgot to play that mode...) and it's totally worth it just for Akai Katana alone.

Akai Katana has 3 ship/samurai teams - team A, B, and C. A has linear firing and is a nice simple team, B takes some getting use to but has some really good set-play with it's beam that fires and stays put from where you first started holding the button, and the plane's option goes the reverse of what you press. Team C has a really short but deadly beam, and it's shots basiclly cover the hole screen. Team B is the best though.

Akai Katana has 5 stages, and 6 bosses. Stage 1 is a cake walk, and stage 2 is there to make sure you're not looking at your phone instead of playing, but stages 3,4,and 5 will kick your butt even on novice. It's novice is noticeably harder then DoDonPachi Resserection's, so if you're looking for your first 1CC you're in for a challange. I remember boats falling from the sky, torpedos that shoot lasers, and zeplinns as the big skill testing areas, but the trains in stage 2 can sneek up on you if you're not on guard.

On my 1CC I got so nervice planning my moves on the last boss he shot one bullet and killed me - put my head right back in the game, haha. Akai Katana is a complicated game with abusable systems, but the patterns alone are enough to put a hurting on you. It's a thinking man's shmup, but it's no Hellsinker in reguards to it's systems. They all flow together nicely, but avoid this one if you want something simple. It's more Edgy to DoDonPachi's cute - which I perfer, but you may not.