Mitsubishi assigned the task of designing a new fighter to a team leaded by Jiro Horikoshi, who was the original designer of the previous, albeit unsuccessful, Mitsubishi 1MF10 and would later design the famous and successful Mitsubishi A6M Zero. The resulting design received the internal denomination of Mitsubishi Ka-14. It was an all-metal low-wing fighter with a thin elliptical inverted gull-wing and a fixed undercarriage, which was chosen because the increase in performance, estimated at a 10% in drag but just at a 3% in maximum speed, arising from use of a retractable undercarriage didn't justify the extra weight.
The first prototype flew for the first time on 4th February 1935 at Nagoya, in Japan and was powered by a single 5-cylinder Nakajima Kotobuki engine which yielded a power of 596hp, and although information about its armament is unknown, most likely, it wasn't armed. During testing, problems with the engine were found, as the reducer was very faulty, as well as stability ones. Therefore they decided to test new engines on the fuselage and wing flaps on a second prototype.
The second prototype was built shortly later, in that same year, 1935, this time powered by a 3 nine-cylinder Nakajima Kotobuki radial engine which yielded 705hp of power, and, like its most direct predecessor, the first prototype, its not known if it was armed, but, most likely, it wasn't.
One year later, in 1936 a third prototype was built, this time powered by a 789hp Nakajima Hikari 1 radial engine which was followed by a fourth one, all of them used to test the different engines.
The experience gained on the Mitsubishi Ka-14, inspired the later design of the Mitsubishi A5M, which would eventually win the contract.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_A5M
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/118810
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