Sanae & Momie - With Ibarakasen 　　

Release Information
Type: Action Platformer
Developer: GATLING CAT
Publisher: GATLING CAT
Release: Comiket 81, December 31, 2011
Language: Half-and-Half (English for really important stuff, but dialogue and skill names are in Japanese.)

Character Information
Playable Characters: 3
(Momiji, Sanae, Kasen)

Default Controls
Customizable in-game Key Config.
[Shift] = Attack / Confirm
[Z] = Jump / Cancel
[X] = Skill (uses currently-highlighted skill or item on Inventory Bar)
[C] = Special (uses character's Special Attack)
[A] = Switch Left (Inventory Bar)
[T] = Switch Right (Inventory Bar)
[Spacebar] = Pause

Intermission Menu
● To Stage Select
● Stat Upgrade Store
● Training Area (asks difficulty)
● Help Text (isn't much help to English-speakers, as it's in Japanese)
● Back to Title Screen

Description

Sanae & Momie - With Ibarakasen or sometimes known as "Sanamomie" is the next generation of Katsugeki Kidan's series but the story is not related. The game was developed using the same engine and requires players to eradicate demons by using 3 heroines: Momiji Inubashiri, Sanae Kochiya and Kasen Ibaraki. Each girl comes with different abilities and actions. Their special moves can be executed by pressing the direction key combined with the attack button ("shift" key by default). Momiji is a great destroyer and good for close range, Sanae is long range attacker with barrage bullets, and Ibaraki is a demon power user with medium strength.

For Starters: It appears to me that Gatling Cat has been receiving input from fans, and has responded in kind; that which is "Sanae & Momie" actually features three playable characters.

Momiji, who starred in the first 3 games, plus Sanae and Kasen.  You heard me right, Kasen Ibara.  That, and it looks much nicer than even Katsugeki Kidan 3; the graphics have, compared to their other games, received a huge makeover (most noticeably the HUD, which now displays numbers as well as very colorful gauges).

Other Stuff: This game, for the most part, generally plays almost identically to Katsugeki Kidan 3; after picking your girl and your difficulty level (Easy/Normal/Hard), you pick and play stages, where you kill regular enemies and a boss.  As with KK3, you also level up in this game (and this time, all your stats increase automatically every level, and you don't assign level-up bonuses; rather, you use the gold you collect to purchase permanent stat increases, which is all you'll be using it for).

Gold/XP Sutff: Unlike KK3, in this game, you do lose the Gold you collected in a stage if you die enough times to get sent back to the Intermission screen (which is now 3, and you can earn extra lives now too!).  You do still get to keep your experience, however (even though it looks like it says on the pause screen that you won't).

MP-Consuming Skills: Also, rather than clearing silly challenges for Nitori to earn skills and/or purchasing them from the shop, they cut that crap out too: you start with 4 skills (selectable on your Inventory Bar) and earn 2 more for beating two specific bosses.  Upgrades to skills you have are easily purchasable in the shop.  (Your Special also consumes MP, and as far as I can tell is not upgradeable.)

SP-Consuming Skills: Skills requiring you to press directional button(s) and hit Attack consume some of your Skill gauge instead of consuming your MP.  Your SP regenerates automatically when you're not using it.

Holdable Items!: Aside from finding instant-recovery rice cakes, you can also find what looks to be dark dumplings (around 10-15% HP restoration) and what appears to be a frosted filled donut (for 10-15% MP restoration), which you can hold up to 9 of each, and as with your skills, you simply select them on your Inventory Bar and hit the Skill button to eat them.  (Not sure what that third item is yet, haven't gotten that far, but I assume it restores both HP and MP.)