Crimson Katana: exA Label

Crimson Katana: exA Label is a fresh take on Cave's sidescrolling arcade shooter Akai Katana incorporating elements from its Xbox 360 port.

The plot follows a set of pilots in a parallel version of the Taishō period. An evil empire has seized rules with the power of blood katanas, which require human sacrifice in order to unleash their horrible power. The three pairs of main characters find themselves forced to themselves wield blood katanas and take the life of someone close to them in order to claim the power to stop the empire and the use of blood katanas forever.

Crimson Katana is a Cave-style manic shooter played from a sidescrolling perspective, with players gunning down enemies while dodging screens full of intense bullets. The core gameplay mechanic is based around the ship's two modes. Players normally control a ship, which is followed by a support ship with its own special shots. By pressing a button when the energy meter is full, players can switch to "phantom mode", which has a shield that can repel enemy shots and a higher-damage shot. During phantom mode, players are able to gain more score items.

• Crimson Katana: Based on the original arcade game, this features an authentic recreation of the original game with updated HD artwork.
• Climax: Based on the "climax" mode in the Xbox 360 version, this variant of the original mdoe features an updated widescreen playfield and some balance changes.
• Slash: The arranged game mode originally featured in the Xbox 360 version.
• exA Label: A new arrange mode created especially for this release. In the ship's primary mode, players are able to build a "prayer gauge" which, when transforming into the alternate mode, is able to transform enemy bullets into score items.

In addition to its several game modes, this release features several bonus options available in all game modes. A soundtrack selection menu lets players choose between the original arcade soundtrack, the Xbox 360 arranged soundtrack, or a new FM synth arranged soundtrack created by Keishi Yonao. A loop selection option lets players choose to begin from the harder second loop instead of from the beginning of the game. When played in English, dialogue is now subtitled for the first time.