Akatsuki Blitzkampf
Encyclopedia
is a Japan
ese dōjin
2D
fighting game
, developed by the dōjin circle SUBTLE STYLE for Microsoft Windows
. Released on April 30, 2007, the game is a sequel to Akatsuki Shisei Ichigō. The title got a lot of attention in Japan and elsewhere for its high-resolution sprites and older style gameplay.
On September 27, 2007, Arcadia Magazine confirmed that the game would be launched as an arcade
title, published by SUBTLE STYLE itself. The Arcade game was called Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf Achse and it was released on February 20, 2008 for the Sega NAOMI system.
) is set in a fictional future involving several characters that roughly resemble the German
soldiers of the World War II
era, among others. In-game visuals supplement this sort of specific militaristic theme and environment, portrayed by the flat and somewhat cubist
character portraits and story sequence images. Blitzkampf is also a follow-up to a previous SUBTLE STYLE release from 2003 called Akatsuki Shisei Ichigō, involving many of the characters from the previous game.
In terms of Blitzkampf's play style, it is regarded as relatively "old school" in comparison to many other dōjin fighter releases such as Melty Blood
, Eternal Fighter Zero
, or Big Bang Beat
, as many of the systems and conventions in the game are rather similar to several late 90's fighting games created by Capcom
. For example, many players allude to the parry system, which resembles the one from the Street Fighter III
installments. The gratuitous amount of extra modes the game provides (such as Survival, Time Attack, or SUGOROKU) and the ways that they are unlocked is largely reminiscent of a console release of an arcade fighting game, further reinforcing the semi-retro feel. In other words, the game focus is upon space control and careful footwork instead of flashy combos and intense aerial combat.
title, with the provisional name "Akatsuki Blitzkampf AC", published by SUBTLE STYLE itself. The first location test was held on November 23, 2007 at High Tech Land Sega AViON in Japan. The game was renamed as Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf. Achse and was improved with graphical enhancements and a new character named Perfecti. Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf. Achse was released in Japanese arcades on February 20, 2008 for the Sega NAOMI system and published with the help of PIC company.http://subtlestyle.net/akatsukiaa
It is a common misconception that the subtitle is a misspelling of the German phrase "Auf Achse," meaning "on tour/on the road/on the move". In fact, the term "Ausf." is short for "Ausführung" and has been very common in historic German military nomenclature
, meaning "option model" or "version". Therefore, "Ausf. Achse" literally means "option model with axle(s)" or "moveable/mobile/non-stationary version". It should be noted that "Achse" also translates to "axis", and given the game's militaristic style, a very probable translation is "Akatsuki Flash Fight Axis Edition".
centers like Ko-Hatsu and some non-Japanese enthusiasts have gathered in communities like Shoryuken.com (the official host of the Evolution Championship Series
fighting game tournaments in the US), where the game has received unofficial nicknames such as "Jewpuncher".
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese dōjin
Dojin soft
, also sometimes called , are video games created by Japanese hobbyists or hobbyist groups , more for fun than for profit; essentially, the Japanese equivalent of independent video games. Most of them are based on pre-existing material, but some are entirely original creations...
2D
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
fighting game
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
, developed by the dōjin circle SUBTLE STYLE for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. Released on April 30, 2007, the game is a sequel to Akatsuki Shisei Ichigō. The title got a lot of attention in Japan and elsewhere for its high-resolution sprites and older style gameplay.
On September 27, 2007, Arcadia Magazine confirmed that the game would be launched as an arcade
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
title, published by SUBTLE STYLE itself. The Arcade game was called Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf Achse and it was released on February 20, 2008 for the Sega NAOMI system.
Gameplay
Akatsuki Blitzkampf (or Denkō Senki in JapaneseJapanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
) is set in a fictional future involving several characters that roughly resemble the German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
soldiers of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era, among others. In-game visuals supplement this sort of specific militaristic theme and environment, portrayed by the flat and somewhat cubist
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
character portraits and story sequence images. Blitzkampf is also a follow-up to a previous SUBTLE STYLE release from 2003 called Akatsuki Shisei Ichigō, involving many of the characters from the previous game.
In terms of Blitzkampf's play style, it is regarded as relatively "old school" in comparison to many other dōjin fighter releases such as Melty Blood
Melty Blood
, is a visual novel and fighting game, co-developed by dōjin circles Type-Moon and French-Bread, originally released at Comiket on December 2002...
, Eternal Fighter Zero
Eternal Fighter Zero
Eternal Fighter Zero is a dōjin fighting games for Microsoft Windows produced by Twilight Frontier, including characters from the visual novels Moon., One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e, Kanon, and Air...
, or Big Bang Beat
Big Bang Beat
Big Bang Beat - 1st Impression - is a dōjin fighting game made by NRF based on the eroge Daibanchou: Big Bang Age by AliceSoft. Released in May 2007, the game borrows some elements from fighting games by Capcom and Arc System Works...
, as many of the systems and conventions in the game are rather similar to several late 90's fighting games created by Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
. For example, many players allude to the parry system, which resembles the one from the Street Fighter III
Street Fighter III
is a fighting game in Capcom's Street Fighter series, originally released as coin-operated arcade game in . Street Fighter III was produced for the CD-ROM-based CP System III hardware, which allowed for more elaborate 2D graphics than the CPS II-based Street Fighter Alpha games , while revamping...
installments. The gratuitous amount of extra modes the game provides (such as Survival, Time Attack, or SUGOROKU) and the ways that they are unlocked is largely reminiscent of a console release of an arcade fighting game, further reinforcing the semi-retro feel. In other words, the game focus is upon space control and careful footwork instead of flashy combos and intense aerial combat.
Characters
- Akatsuki: High class technical officer of the Imperial army. Believed to have died in the Arctic oceans at a critical time when the war was coming to its end, during the transportation of a new military unit from an allied country. Fifty years later, he returns alive and unchanged in appearance. Now wielding superhuman abilities, he resumes his mission.
- Mycale: A witch that belongs to a secret society called "Gesellschaft"; they have been manipulating history from behind the scenes since the Middle Ages. She plans to recover the missing weapon.
- Sai: Agent for the Xinhua computer company. He, through clandestine means, gathers information throughout the world. Rumors say that behind his sunglasses lurks an evil eyeEvil eyeThe evil eye is a look that is believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike...
that can kill a man instantly.
- Kanae: An intelligence operative, attached to the second office of the Ground Staff Overseeing Department. With the news of Akatsuki's revival, she is ordered to recover a secret "Blitz Engine", lost at the end of the war.
- Fritz: A military surgeon who practiced in the Imperial army during the war. Albeit becoming unaccounted for afterwards, he sets off on eliminating all those who have appeared concurrently with Akatsuki's revival.
- Marilyn Sue: An assassin for the continent's largest international mafia "Black Hand" and a master of assassination techniques with basis in, presumably, "Breaking Fist". By plundering the Blitz Engine from Akatsuki, she aims to rise in influence and power.
- Wei: A master of Xingyiquan, who, as a cold-blooded assassin, rose up to the ranks of Black Hand's leaders. After his patron was assassinated, Wei searches for the criminal.
- Anonym: An Armed Inquisitor of Heresy, within a religious society - The Sacred Club. She is sent to destroy the headquarters of an organization charged with the heresy of aiding Gesellschaft, the Perfecti Kyōdan. Anonym is a master of the Ranbas-style gun technique, a combination of Chinese self-defense and pistols.
- Elektrosoldat: Private army of "Gesellschaft". Although equipped with the same Blitz Engine as Akatsuki, the connection between them lies shrouded in mystery.
- Blitztank: An electrical tank, assumed to have a Blitz Engine as its source of power. According to a copy of the document on new engine research labeled "Gesellschaft", a test piece was developed. However, it was revoked along with the plan itself before the full-scale production could take place.
- Adler: Formerly, as an officer within the organization "Ahnenerbe", he did research on German ancestry, organization. He participated in excavation of Tibet's ancient heritage, but upon the discovery of the ancient city of AgarthaAgarthaAgartha is a legendary city that is said to reside in the earth's core. It is related to the belief in a hollow earth and is a popular subject in esotericism....
, he uses the science for his own ambitions.
- Murakumo: The final boss of the game. At the time of the previous war, he was a military officer stationed in Germany who planned actions for an inspection group on military affairs. In this position, he got in touch with a religious society called Perfecti Kyōdan, and established the Military Technique Research facility, nicknamed "Gesellschaft". Towards the end of the war news from Berlin is interrupted.
Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf. Achse
After finding success on the Dōjin soft scene, on September 27, 2007, Arcadia Magazine confirmed that the game would be launched as an ArcadeArcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
title, with the provisional name "Akatsuki Blitzkampf AC", published by SUBTLE STYLE itself. The first location test was held on November 23, 2007 at High Tech Land Sega AViON in Japan. The game was renamed as Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf. Achse and was improved with graphical enhancements and a new character named Perfecti. Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf. Achse was released in Japanese arcades on February 20, 2008 for the Sega NAOMI system and published with the help of PIC company.http://subtlestyle.net/akatsukiaa
It is a common misconception that the subtitle is a misspelling of the German phrase "Auf Achse," meaning "on tour/on the road/on the move". In fact, the term "Ausf." is short for "Ausführung" and has been very common in historic German military nomenclature
German armoured fighting vehicles of World War II
The German Wehrmacht used an extensive variety of combat vehicles during the Second World War. This article is a summary of those vehicles.-Panzer I:Also known as: PzKpfw I, 'Panzer I', Sd. Kfz. 101...
, meaning "option model" or "version". Therefore, "Ausf. Achse" literally means "option model with axle(s)" or "moveable/mobile/non-stationary version". It should be noted that "Achse" also translates to "axis", and given the game's militaristic style, a very probable translation is "Akatsuki Flash Fight Axis Edition".
Reception
The original Akatsuki game, Akatsuki Shisei Ichigo, was released in 2003 with mixed reviews because of its lack of characters (only three in the first edition, and five with a patch) and gameplay problems, but the second game was released with new characters, backgrounds and a deeper system that includes new modes and online play. Akatsuki Blitzkampf has a strong community in Japan with tournaments and ranking battles in famous Japanese arcadeVideo arcade
An amusement arcade or video arcade is a venue where people play arcade games such as video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers , or coin-operated billiards or air hockey tables...
centers like Ko-Hatsu and some non-Japanese enthusiasts have gathered in communities like Shoryuken.com (the official host of the Evolution Championship Series
Evolution Championship Series
The Evolution Championship Series is an annual video game tournament that focuses exclusively on fighting games. In fighting game communities it is commonly referred to as "Evo", and is currently the premier video game tournament for fighting games in the United States...
fighting game tournaments in the US), where the game has received unofficial nicknames such as "Jewpuncher".
External links
Official Game Website Official Ausf Achse Website- Akawiki Blitzkampf: Unofficial English Akatsuki Blitzkampf Wiki Unofficial Japanese Akatsuki Blitzkampf Wiki