Cave's Legendary Shmup ESP Ra.De. Is Coming To Switch, Courtesy Of M2

Espgaluda 2 next 😁

Never heard of it but it looks like something I want to keep an eye on for sure.

Emulated by M2? Will buy.

M2, I’m in! Looks really good.

Am I crying? Who is cutting onions in here?!

(Seriously I am so glad I can stop emulating this game. Day one purchase)

Nice! Cave made some very good shumps.

Yay! Will definitely grab this.

Awesome! Cave has so much more stuff they could do.

Now we need DonPachi, DoDonPachi and EspGaluda

Do we know if we'll have a "vertical" mode so we can invert the console?

This is M2. Of course it will have a TATE (vertical) mode.

@BacklogBlues - All these arcade ports let you dump as many fake quarters into the thing as you want to continue

Amazing news, and so shortly after Switch doing well in the R-Type Final 2 poll, announcement of the brand new Strikers 2010 and a Cotton remaster, reveal of Radirgy Swag release date...

Won't be hitting the west, then.

The past two M2 ShotTriggers (Ketsui Kizunajigokutachi and Mahou Daisakusen) are still Japan-only.

Doesn't matter. Switch is region free

OK, you can sign me up!

This is one of my favorite Shmups! Due to the lack of new home release, ive emulated the coin op on about every device ive owned for years. Instabuy.

This is huge news for switch/shmup lovers like me. That they got the M2STG working on Switch in such way that they are pleased was something they have been looking into for a while now and I was starting to lose hope (I have all the previous releases on other consoles, but I wanted these for Switch, which is my favourite console by far). These are as perfect ports as there could be.

After this, it's assumed that they will eventually bring all the previous shot trigger releases to Switch at some point, Battle Garegga, Dangun Feveron, Mahou Daisakusen (Sorcer Striker) and Ketsui.

Their pace of making these ports is quite slow, so I'm not expecting more than 1 totally new M2STG release ...

I Need this really need this

M2.
Cave.
Nuff said.

I’ve never heard of this game before.

But I hear Cave, Atlus, and M2 in the same breath. That’s insane.

And @Ryu_Niiyama loves it. Where do I sign?

Sorcer Striker is the one I really want on Switch

Awesome. I was just asking last week about where Cave’s shooters are. Hopefully the rest of their library follows.

A CAVE shmup on Switch! Strap yourselves in, it's finally starting folks!!

@JoeDiddley LOL I'm an endorsement standard now? Nifty! (yes, I said nifty.)

Fabulous news! Really hoping M2 bring other Cave shmups to Switch as well. Deathsmiles, Espgaluda II and Mushihimesama Bug Panic are some of my all time favourites of the genre. Each of which would be fabulous on Switch!

@HikaruKitsune hmm. I can't find these two games on the japanese eshop. Have they been released yet?

@HikaruKitsune luckily that wasn’t really a problem. Ketsui worked perfectly on my ps4. Bought via playasia. Amazing game... and this with tate mode should be lovely...

@depooter they were ps4... ( at least ketsui)

Oh god I hope this is a long-term partnership between M2 and Cave releasing their entire STG back-catalog. The absolutely only reason I still have my Xbox 360 is for some of the imported Cave games that weren’t released on Steam.

If M2 dumps the Cave catalog on switch I can semi retire my 360...
Switch is such a great, "it does everything" console.

@depooter The Previous 4 M2 ShotTrigGers titles have all been for PS4.

The first two (Battle Garegga and Dangun Feveron) both got digital western releases. The other two (Mahou Daisakusen and Ketsui Kizunajigokutachi) have been left to rot.

If M2 has lost interest in bringing the M2STG series over, it's not going to magically change "because Switch now".

Yes, a Cave game on Switch! Hopefully someday we'll get Espgaluda 2 and Mushihimesama Futari as well!

Here’s hoping that it gets a physical release. It would be nice for LRG since they’ve just put out Battle Garegga.

Got this beauty on my arcade cab. More shooters the better, Switch is becoming arcade heaven especially for mobile use

Guwange and Dangun Feveron next please, M2 Shot Trigger.

Day 1 purchase from me. I am a hardcore shmup lover.

More shooters are always welcome, especially with M2 doing the ports. Hopefully we'll see Dodonpachi Saidaioujou soon, as that's the last real STG Cave ever made and that only ever received a Japan only X360 port.

Incidentally, for anyone interested in M2, watch the fantastic My Life in Gaming doc about them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc5DlOkOcU4

@HikaruKitsune They only received western releases in the US. Europe never saw them at all.

Thankfully Limited Run Games have slapped Battle Garegga onto a PS4 blu-ray.

This is my favorite shmup and one of my favorite games of all time.

Yes!!!!! Cave arriving on the Switch. Best news in months for me. Now, give us all Deathsmiles games please.

Are there actually any retro shmups that aren't legendary?

OMG a pls port all of Cave's catalog

I have M2's port of Battle Garegga on the PS4 and it's superb, so I have high hopes for this one. I also hope it'll be the start of a longer collaboration with Cave which will ultimately give us Dodonpachi Saidaioujou, Akai Katana, Muchi Muchi Pork, Ibara, and Pink Sweets.

The Cave back catalogue (for that's all it is now sadly, Cave stopped making Shmups years ago) has been for too long locked away on the Japanese X360.

Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

Bug Princess 2: Black Label, please!!!

edit: Not at that price! Nevermind!

@ramu-chan If Muchi Muchi Pork gets a port, I'm pretty sure hell would have frozen over.

I make neat bullet storms sliding my game cases across the carpet!

I have practically every shooter on my arcade cab and various consoles known to man. My favourite genre. Now the switch is becoming the go to system for retro gamers especially for mobile use.

I preordered the Limited Edition, can't wait.

I hope this release will pave the way for more Cave and M2STG releases on the Switch.

Has a console ever supported so many great shmups before? I really think Switch will go down in history as a shmup powerhouse especially with its Tate mode.

@BacklogBlues Have you played Ikaruga? That one has an option to turn on unlimited continues.

It also has a chapter select.

@Deanster101 I've definitely never owned so many 2D shooters on any other console. It's pretty awesome having such a wide variety of old an new shooters on a portable or docked console. The fact that ESP RaDe and The Game Paradise are coming soon, and it's possible we'll get Star Parodier and Parodius in the future, is just thrilling. If we could get games like Harmful Park, R-Type Delta, Einhander, MUSHA, UN Squadron, Gleylancer, an all those Xbox 360 Cave games and M2 shottriggers releases on PS4, then, well, Switch would be even more bursting at the seams with awesome shooters!

Climbs up to highest feasible peak. Prepares megaphone. Shouts "Donpachi" repeatedly until heard.

I know others have iterated at this game (among other games), but it's this one from Cave/Atlus for me. Donpachi! Donpachi! Donpachi!

@gcunit I'm sure there are some that are unfit to bear the legendary title. Can't think of any off the top of my head though.

I would love to see some of the system specific shooters though. Anarchy (Amiga Defender clone), Amramlyte (The C64 version, not the Amiga version), Delta (and maybe Sanxion, but I think it was the music that made Sanxion what it was...) and Team17's Project X (having inertia from too many power-ups was genius!). It might be nice to see a re-imagining of Cybernoid (I/II) too. level by level puzzle/shooter could be interesting, but we'd need to get Jeroen Tel involved! Also, can someone get hold of Manfred Trenz and that marvellously creative brain of his!?

Any word on a digital release or other ST series titles coming to switch?

Here's a quick question for shmup veterans.

I love a good arcade shmup (I hate that word, but I'll stick with it for now) that gives me checkpoints. If I die, I go back to a checkpoint. If I use all my continues and get game over, who cares, I'll put more quarters in and keep starting at that checkpoint.

That way its fair but also challenging. Some of these games just keep on scrolling to the end if you add quarters and continue. You don't even have to play the game, just keep blowing up and adding quarters. (Shoot a little to get past the bosses.) It doesn't make you go back, so there's no reason to try to improve your skill...

Don't waste your energy explaining why these games are like this. I know exactly why, and that's not what I'm discussing.

I want to know how to properly beat these games the right way. The only way I can see it is to invoke some kind of arbitrary self limiter like anything short of a 1 token clear doesn't really "count."

I guess I've answered my own question, but I much prefer when games set up their own rules and challenges... (and some do, like Last Resort). Oh well.