A while back, emulation expert M2 announced that it had acquired the rights to bring a bunch of classic Toaplan shooters to home consoles. Toaplan – famous for hits such as Hellfire, Zero Wing and Snow Bros. – folded in the mid-'90s but would spawn Cave and Raizing, as well as other shooter companies.
M2 plans to bring every Toaplan title – with the exception of Mahjong Sisters and Enma Daiō – to consoles as part of its M2 Shot Triggers x Toaplan series, and has now revealed the first few games. Soon, we'll be able to play Twin Cobra (1987), Flying Shark (1987), Out Zone (1990) and – perhaps most exciting of all – Truxton 2, also know as Tatsujin Ō in Japan.
This 1992 blaster is considered to be something of a genre classic but was only ported to the FM Towns. That version – which wasn't quite arcade perfect – now changes hands for well over a thousand dollars on the secondary market, often more, and the original arcade PCB is also very expensive these days.
M2 hasn't confirmed which platforms its Toaplan titles will be coming to, but given that it has chosen to support Switch with ESP.Ra.De Psi, there's a good chance we'll be playing these games on your favourite hybrid console – and when you consider you can run titles in TATE mode with the Flip Grip, it could be the best platform to rediscover these classic titles on.
No release date has been confirmed, either, but M2 has revealed that it's all-new shooter Senjin will hit Japanese arcades later this year.
[source japanesenintendo.com]
Comments (54)
Throwing money at the screen, nothing happens. Am I doing it wrong? I want those four games RIGHT NOW!
I'd love to try these if they came to the Switch.
yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss this is incredible news. i said to my friend literally a couple of days ago, i wished that hamster would bring Outzone out on the switch. M2 save the day.
Bring them on! I'm always happy to have more shmups on Switch.
M2 and Hamster are making the Switch the single best retro handheld possible, and that’s always good.
Wow. Please come to Switch. Please.
The two shotriggers games currently available for PS4 and xbox sell for $35 a pop. uggh.
Flying Shark? ARE YOU SERIOUS!? That was one of my wish list games from day one. Gah! They better come to Switch. Now I will have the music in my head all day.
As long as the Engrish translation of Zero Wing stays intact all wil be right.
Out Zone and Truxton 2? Yes! This is good news.
Why do you think, you can play these games on my Switch? Get your own console, dammit! 🤨
@KitsuneNight It will be the arcade version which lacks the "All Our Base" introduction sequence - that was exclusive to the Mega Drive version I believe?
M2 usually add fan-favourite bonus things to their SEGA AGES ports, right? Such as the dropdash in Sonic 1 and 2. So hopefully M2 will realise that half of the reason why people remember Zero Wing is because of the meme, and so they will include the meme.
....hopefully.
The Switch is becoming the go to system for shooters:) looking forward to Rigid Force Redux.
Cannot wait for Snow Bros.! I adored that in the arcades... such a fun game. I loved games like that... am not actually sure if they have a genre name! Single screens which need to be cleared of enemies using a special skill... Snow Bros., Bubble Bobble, Rodland... and there was another one in the arcades, I think... a construction guy with a hammer? Can't remember the name... ☹️
@Damo M2 usually don't miss a trick so perhaps there will be an 'All Our Base' option.
I absolutely love Hellfire, along with it R-Type it was the game that got me into shoot em ups. I've never played Truxton 2 but I have played the original. I'll buy every one of their releases provided they come to the West.Still waiting for ESP.Ra.De Psi though so I've not got much hope they will.
Nice, but I wish they weren't just shooters. I want that Snow Bros. on my Switch!
All your base..... one of the first internet memes ever 🥺 I remember everyone spamming it on the Zophar.net emulator forums back in like 1997. It's been a long time.
HOW ARE YOU GENTLEMEN
Yes to all of them! I need that Toaplan goodness!
@Ooyah descriptively they are called ‘single screen platformers’, but I’ve seen the term ‘kill-em-up’ on the Internet which I think is a good one. But the overall genre doesn’t seem to get a lot of demand sadly
Here’s a list of other kill-em-ups:
http://l-lists.com/en/lm.php?l=hlq28r.html
Well, that's great news. Truxton 2 is a great game, though is it ever tough. The music is wonderful in it. I'm glad to hear they're bringing back all the Toaplan games(I love their sprite work), as they had a great run of games. Grind Stormer had a good port to the Genesis/Mega Drive, but that game, which is one of my favorites, deserves a better version to be available for home systems. Dogyuun never got ported and it's excellent as well. It's also more reasonable in its difficulty than Truxton 2. Fire Shark is another fun one, though I may prefer the Genesis version in that case.
@GrailUK yeah used to spend quite a bit on flying shark back in the day in the arcade! Sweet news!
I thought Tatsujin 2 had a PC-Engine version.
Still though, EVERY Toaplan game? I recall even Toaplan made one platformer which had some explicit images between levels. If they want to release that game, they'd have to delete the smut. (I recall it seemed otherwise like a decent game that could do well to have a 'clean' version produced. I recall it wasn't even that relevant to the game, just gratuitous tacked-on foul content.)
All I want to know is will ESP Ra.De ever come to western eShops? Or even the JP eShop for that matter! It’s probably my most wanted Switch game.
Does @Damo or anyone else have a clue?
@KingMike PC Engine got a late port of the original Tatsujin. The FM Towns got the only port of the second one.
Snow Bros.? Did someone say Snow Bros.? I'd like Snow Bros., please.
Toaplan's my favorite shmup company ever, so I'm incredibly excited to get all these ports.
@KitsuneNight. Is Zero Wing where "All your base are belong to us comes from"? I knew the title sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
Okay, now I'm really excited.
This is exciting news!!! I hope they bring Battle Garrega as well!!!!
With all these Retro games coming back, I want a copy of the Arcade version of APB (1987). Would be a nice change of pace from all these shooters we are getting.
@GrailUK please tell me I can take the title Flying Shark entirely literal... please
@AmplifyMJ Hahaha. I'm afraid not man. But on the plus side, you may have identified a gap in the market ^^
Give me a Zero Wing port with English/Japanese/meme language options and I'll be a happy boi.
@GrailUK I just really like sharks 😂 lol thanks for the reply
Mahjong Sisters on switch would be great!
Isn't the Zero Wing meme cutscene something exclusive to the Mega Drive version? (and thus by extension, the meme is exclusive to the PAL version) It is surely coincidence that the Japanese MD box has that exact line among the screenshots. (though it was I think a 1 in 8 shot if the designers just picked a random image from the opening)
From what I heard, the arcade and PCE versions did not have that.
This is awesome news! Switch confirmation and release dates would be even better.
This will be an immediate purchase.
... and they will all receive a "5" on NL due to imperceptible lag...
Yes, I'm still bitter about Psikyo Alpha/Bravo reviews.
@The_Pixel_King It's on the JP eShop, in my wishlist even. To search for it, turn on one of the Japanese keyboards while in the search bar (I usually use the first one listed, for the romanji/english letter input). Change the input to Katakana (click on the Japanese symbols below the "v" key). For me, when I type "e" (which shows up as エ ) it shows up as the first choice on the left in the predictive choices above the numbers. The full search typed out this way would be "esupureido", which turns into エスプ㆑イド It's still full price right now, 4980 yen.
Great news!! The Switch’s retro library just keeps getting bigger and better!! We just need those missing Midway arcade classics then we will have just about all the retro bases covered!
@masterLEON Thank you so much man, I thought it was retail only. As soon as funds allow, that’s getting bought! Within the next 3-4 weeks, defo. Thanks again my brother, much appreciated! <3
@The_Pixel_King No problemo, enjoy it!
Nice M2 but do also keep in pace with the Sega Ages games too.
@MotionMan Yeah, why isn’t Battle Garrega on Switch?
I know it’s an indie, but with Switch becoming a shmup powerhouse, I’d dearly love to have Zero Gunner on the system!
@Gorfvic20 Quick question buddy, do the Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha and Bravo compilations each come packaged as a single game (so you can select which title to play from a menu) or does an eShop purchase simply download each of the six games individually?
I fancy grabbing Alpha in particular, (for Strikers 1945 III), but hate too much clutter on my homescreen!
@The_Pixel_King Each compilation is a single game on your home screen (at least on the cart version)
@Gorfvic20 Cool.. thanks man!
@Shiryu You need to throw coins, not bills, so you break your monitor's screen. I'm about to do that right now.
SNOW BROS? Yes!!!
Jus found out a port/version of flying shark is the ole nes gem (i used to play at my cousins house) sky shark!!
@Ooyah Don Doki Don
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