赤い刀 (Akai Katana) [Arcade]

Long time no see, eh?

It's no secret that CAVE is one of my favorite developers in all of gaming history. CAVE's name is practically synonymous with bullet hell/danmaku (Touhou fans don't @ me); after all, most players would cite their flagship DoDonPachi as the first true bullet hell game. Their time developing the best-of-the-best shoot-'em-ups sadly came to an end in 2012, but as they say, all good things must come to an end. Their last two original releases were DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou in 2012, and Akai Katana in 2010.

'Presented by CAVE!'

赤い刀 (Akai Katana) is a horizontal bullet hell shmup released by CAVE on August 20th, 2010, and is their fourth foray into wacky horizontal land (after Progear, Deathsmiles, and Deathsmiles II). Making a horizontal shmup is a completely different beast from a vertical one, but CAVE never disappoints with their excellence like the previous 3.

I swear the HIT counter wasn't intentional

The story of the game takes place in the Taishou era, the growth of democracy and industrial expansion in Japan starting in the early 1910s. A new energy source called Guiding Ore is discovered which is a mystical ore that is a flawless substitute for coal. It can be tempered into a blade known as a Guiding Katana that would empower certain soldiers with unique psychic abilities, and would empower those who killed someone with it with immense power and turn blood-red. Emperor Basho used the power of these katanas and his elite battalion of blade users (the Ten Suns) to grow his nation. A group of rebels grew in resistance to Emperor Basho's conquest, being led by his son Kikyou. This group sacrificed themselves to form their own Blood Katanas wielded by the remaining pilots to fight against the Empire. Pretty impressive story for a CAVE game!

The control layout is a standard 4-button layout (with two selectable control styles): fire (hold for laser), bomb, autofire, and Phantom Mode. You also pick between one of three characters and their associated Guardian: Tsubaki and Sumire, Botan and Kikyou, or Shion and Suzuran. The characters are like the ship types from DoDonPachi, adjusting the shot pattern and options.

But tpc, we're here for the scoring! Alright, alright... The point to the scoring system is all about Phantom Mode.

We're also here for ninjas summoning trains that fire hot pink bullets

While not using the laser, the ship is put into Defense Mode, which is kind of like using autofire in DoDonPachi, making the options weaker but the ship stronger and more maneuverable. In addition, any energy drops will not be sucked in automatically. While in Phantom Mode, the ship will be protected by the Guardian Wall, which blocks everything: bullets, lasers, and anything else. However, enemy ships will launch suicide bullets when killed in this mode. When ending Phantom Mode, bullets will be blown back and resume motion after a few seconds.

Using the laser will instead put the ship into Attack Mode, which does the opposite: the ship is weaker and moves slower and more precise but the options become stronger. Enemies will drop pickups when the option is close to them, and all pickups will vacuum onto the player (you can't pick up items until you enter Defense Mode however). Phantom Attack mode is also not hurt by lasers, but will be pushed around by them (normally they do a few ticks of damage and a few hits will kill you). While in Phantom Mode, the Phantom fires the Guardian Laser, which will cancel bullets it contacts and can even chain bullet cancels. Attack Mode comes with a large risk in Phantom Mode: getting hit once will cancel Phantom Mode and you will lose gold pickups you amassed during it.

This pattern is pretty evil IMO. The second boss (Shuumeigiku) is where the game EXTREMELY ramps up the difficulty

Akai Katana has an interesting variation on grazing; energy and gold items start out as small which makes them very weak. While being in Fighter (non-Phantom) and Attack mode, the energy orbs will orbit the player and having these pass through bullets will level them up into medium and large size orbs. For gold pickups, they will automatically level up while in Phantom Mode (they also grow by grazing). Pickups will only last a short time before disappearing, so pick them up fast!

I ran out of screenshots from the original arcade version because I just wanted to play Shin instead

The score system is both incredibly simple and complex (get energy, phantom mode, get gold, win), and while it is WAY more forgiving than DoDonPachi's chaining, it is no less demanding. In fact, bombs are MUCH less punishing than in CAVE's other games, as it doesn't even reduce the HIT counter in this game (you also get an autobomb on your last life). Like most CAVE games, there is the true final boss, but the requirements for meeting it are very easy, just finish Stage 6 without dying. It is the same boss as the normal Stage 7 but much more difficult (and nets you the good ending instead of the bad one). There's no second loop like classic CAVE games. Although the requirements are easier, the boss is by no means easier. I actually find it to be among the most difficult TLBs in all of their games.

I'm remaining purposely vague with the screenshots because I want you to play this and see the setpieces for yourself. It's also hard to screenshot while playing the game lol

The composer for the game is not Manabu Namiki as expected from CAVE, but instead Ryu Umemoto, and this is one of the last games he ever worked on prior to him passing away in 2011. It is an absolutely wonderful mixture of rock, electro, and traditional Japanese music and is easily my favorite CAVE OST, all culminating in one of my favorite final boss themes in all of gaming, Setsuna.

'Akai Katana Shin Official Design Works'

The artwork for the game is similarly gorgeous, especially if you love the concept of giant ninjas summoning battleships and fighter planes and everything. The menus are hilariously aggressively Japanese, with everything being written in stylized kanji. It is, I think, CAVE's only game to have its own separate artbook and it absolutely deserves it. The characters and bosses are all impeccable, and the plane and ship designs impressively detailed. The original arcade release sadly can't really handle the great artwork due to the limitations of the CAVE CV-1000D board, but the various rereleases really show just how well-crafted it all is.

This is the FIRST boss (Hiiragi), mind you. The first impressions don't disappoint.

Speaking of rereleases, the game was quickly ported to the Xbox 360, which amazingly enough got a worldwide release. Along with an arranged soundtrack (similarly great, this time featuring a real guitar!), high-resolution graphics, replays, an online leaderboard, it also featured 3 gameplay modes, similar to the BLACK LABEL's we've come to expect from CAVE. Origin is a direct port of the arcade game, and Climax is a slight modification of it to support 16:9 resolutions along with removing the 256-item limit in the normal game, alongside other changes.

This is a completely normal screenshot in Shin mode

Slash (or Shin in Japan) however is the real remix mode. Scoring has been completely reworked. Now, killing enemies with the laser will cause energy drops while killing them with autofire will cause them to drop Steel Orbs, with proximity determining how many for both of them. Collecting Steel Orbs will have them float around the ship, and will be launched when entering Phantom Attack mode (which will cancel bullets and increase the chain). Steel Orbs hitting an enemy will cause them to drop Katanas, which will float around the ship. Enemies killed now will also explode into suicide bullets, which set up for the huge cancels. The katanas can be angled (except by a Type-1 ship) and fired by exiting Phantom Mode, which will launch them across the screen. Any bullets or enemies they hit will be cancelled and drop HUGE gold items which will cause explosive score results. There are other changes too: Phantom Defense mode is no longer invincible, and taking a hit in Phantom Mode now lowers the gauge instead of instantly kicking you out of it. The original game is fun, but Shin is that completely cracked-out CAVE style that I love so much, so I have put FAR more time into Shin mode than the original arcade version. Shin mode was later ported to Taito's NESiCAxLive arcade digital distribution platform in 2012 as a standalone release, and features the high-resolution graphics as it now runs on the Taito Type X2 board.

Don't mind me, just playing on my totally legitimate NESiCA board I have at home

Akai Katana is easily one of CAVE's finest releases, with gorgeous art, beautiful music, and a deep and complex scoring system in every mode. I wasn't very sure about it at first, but it's quickly grown to become probably my favorite CAVE game now (narrowly surpassing DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu Black Label). It's very accessible to newcomer players who can use its mechanics for survival, and brutally difficult for those wishing to push the score system to the limit.

The game emulates very well in MAME, and as you can tell, there are ways to run the NESiCAxLive version pretty easily. CAVE and exA-Arcadia have also announced an arcade-exclusive rerelease on the exA-Arcadia platform set to announce in Winter 2021 (which is also a worldwide release... if you happen to be one of the lucky few who owns an exA-Arcadia).

 Hey CAVE, you should also port it (and all your other games) to PC. I'd buy all of them ;)

EDIT: They listened to me :)

犬のおさんぽ (Inu no Osanpo) [Arcade (NAOMI)]

You might've though Games2Jolly would take the cake for weirdest games that have been featured here, but they get blown out of the water by this one:

Arcade flyer: Text translates to "One! Two! One! Two! A happy walk with your cute dog!"

犬のおさんぽ (Inu no Osanpo, lit. 'walk the dog'), by WOW Entertainment (and supposedly CAVE, it's on their website) for the Sega NAOMI arcade platform in October 2001, is an arcade dog-walking simulator. Yes, really.

I played a lot of Nintendogs back when it first released and when I saw this game in the NAOMI games list and looked up a video I knew I had to play it. This was another high-effort-to-get-running game because the emulated controls are not exactly obvious (honestly I'm amazed Demul even supports them at all), and when I messaged the only person with a YouTube video as to how they got it working they couldn't remember anything special. Turns out there actually was nothing special, which will probably be a bit surprising in a few paragraphs!

I can never see Shibas the same after watching Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga

You choose one of 6 dog breeds (Shiba, pug, Siberian husky, Pembroke Welsh corgi, poodle, Labrador retriever; they all have cute names too) and one of three routes and go on a lovely little walk with your dog. You can go to the pet store to get more food, walk to a field so you can play with a frisbee, or make your way home from the dog park.

But of course, this is an arcade game! It can't be as simple and mundane as that! First, just look at the "controller" for this game: 

If I ever get to open my 'I won the lottery and have way too much money' arcade, you can bet I'll have this cabinet in there.

Yes, it's a treadmill. A treadmill, a fake plastic dog, and a lead. It might be the most bizarre control scheme I have ever seen for a game. When playing on emulator the control scheme might actually be even more of a mess, because the treadmill is bound to mouse movement. (and moving it even an inch before starting the game will simulate treadmill movement and will cause a BELT ERROR, complete with an annoying alarm and warning screen that only goes away by going to test mode and clearing it)

We failed to dodge the skaters; you can see one of them wiped out in the back

The game's not very pretty; it looks like a very early Dreamcast game which is disappointing for arcade stuff at the time (though everything looks disappointing compared to Planet Harriers, which was one year earlier). The music is okay and cute. There's nothing special about either: this isn't exactly the kind of game you'd play for the cutting-edge graphics, now is it?

Don't let your dog eat garbage in the road!

As expected with an arcade game, you are graded and scored based on your dog's mood meter. Successfully walking it, letting it investigate where other dogs have done their business, and completing in-level missions will raise it and cause your dog to prance around hilariously. Outrunning or moving too slow for your dog, letting it eat trash, or failing missions will lower it. Lowering it all the way will give you a GAME OVER, and your dog will be very sad.

Dodge the car!

The missions are really the highlight of the game: middle-aged women trying to catch a cat who stole their fish, getting attacked by crows, avoiding cars or bikes in the middle of the road, or even a series of 'fights' against a particularly mean bulldog, and that's not even listing the most ridiculous one of all. They're pretty outlandish and feature some funny animations, win or lose. They're also not too hard once you figure them out (except frisbee, I still can't manage to do that one at all).

Complete with bad Japanese puns!

It's honestly pretty fun, and worth it just to see how weird it is. Given that it's an arcade game, it's very short, probably 15 minutes for the longest route at the most. It's something that I can recommend at least playing through each of the routes once, you will probably laugh your ass off at least once in each. And of course, if by some fortuitous chance you actually see this in an arcade somewhere, you better play it.