Showa American Story sorts its arsenal into three categories: melee weapons, ranged firearms, and, in NEKCOM's own phrasing, other strange contraptions. The publisher's English announcement copy names samurai swords, a drill-arm, THE 'MERICAN FLAG and guns galore as the weapons that define the game. All of them have varying stats, and the stated design intent is that they be freely mixed and matched to execute a range of combat moves and attack styles.
The three-category framing is the current one. In 2023 the studio described only two groups, melee and long range; that answer has since been widened and superseded.
The examples below come from official announcement copy and, where marked, from the demo build. They are illustrations of what each category covers rather than a complete list of what is in it.
Category | What It Covers | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Melee | Weapons swung at close range. | Samurai swords and THE 'MERICAN FLAG from official copy; knuckles and bare hands in the demo build. |
Ranged firearms | Guns. The studio said in 2022 that they are capped by ammunition so they cannot be leaned on indefinitely. | Guns galore in official copy; a shotgun, a machine gun and a rifle in the demo build. |
Other strange contraptions | NEKCOM's own name for everything that fits neither of the above. | As of September 2026 no weapon has been publicly assigned to this category. |
How Many There Are
A 2025 developer talk put the roster at over ten weapon classes, deriving into more than a hundred individual weapons, each with bespoke attack animations. A 2024 statement had put the number of weapon types in double digits. As of September 2026 those are the only counts the studio has given, and no later figure has been published.
Upgrading and Specialisation
The studio said in 2023 that weapons can be upgraded and enhanced, that upgrading can augment a weapon's abilities or even alter its characteristics, and that some weapons excel at heavy damage while others are effective against specific enemy types or in particular combat environments. It added in 2024 that skill trees exist both for Choko herself and for individual weapons. That side of the system is covered on Progression. As of September 2026, no upgrade cost, material, currency or level cap has been published, and the figures that circulate for them do not come from the studio.
Melee and Gunplay
In 2022 the studio described the practical split in play as roughly 70 percent melee to 30 percent shooting, and said firearms are capped by ammunition so they cannot be leaned on indefinitely. In the build shown at gamescom 2026 the firearms hit hard and ran dry quickly, though no ratio has been restated since.
Weapons Seen in the Demo Build
Everything in this table was observed in the build shown at gamescom 2026, which the developers said had item availability, drop distribution and game parameters adjusted. Treat it as one slice of one work-in-progress build, not as a final roster or a balance description.
Weapon | Category | What the Demo Build Showed |
|---|---|---|
Katana | Melee | The primary melee weapon of the demo and the fastest at filling an enemy's break meter. Its execution decapitates. |
Knuckles or combat gloves | Melee | The fastest weapon in the build at building Rage. |
Bare hands | Melee | Available as an option. |
Melee | A large, slow flagpole with wide sweeping arcs and a patriotic execution. | |
Not stated | Slow to start and slow to recover, but reaches both close and long range. | |
Shotgun | Ranged | Well suited to execution-style finishers. |
Machine gun | Ranged | Limited ammunition. |
Rifle | Ranged | Present in the build. |
The flagpole and the drill had the widest reach of anything in that build, which made them the crowd-control and staggering options. The firearms were the opposite trade: heavy damage on a short leash.
Weapons Named in Interviews
Beyond the ones above, the creative director named several others in 2024 interviews as appearing in the game: a golf club, stilts, a reindeer, and a handheld massager. As of September 2026 none has been observed in a playable build, and they are recorded here as things he said rather than things that have been seen.
Carrying and Swapping
Choko carried four weapons at once in the demo, mixing melee and ranged, and changed between them freely mid-fight. The swap itself is offensive: a specific input during the change triggered a switch attack that differed by weapon, and moving to a firearm put her into a back-step and a slow-motion aiming state. Combat covers the flow of a fight in more detail, Rage and Rage Points covers each weapon's ultimate, and Break Gauge and Executions covers the weapon-specific finishers.