One last bit of Nintendo Switch news before heading into 2018

Aka to Blue, this years best danmaku shooter for mobile phones, is rumoured to be heading to Nintendo Switch.


If true this is great news! The Nintendo Switch has been steadily building up an impressive library of STGs. Lets hope the trend continues!

On an unrelated note, I hope 2017 was great and I wish you a happy new year!

Gunbird / Nintendo Switch reviewed

Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Natsuki Chronicles set to arrive next year for Xbox One

Good to see the Xbox One get som shmup love. There was a trailer at the end of 2016 too, lets hope we won't have to wait much longer for release.

Another one for the Switch!

RXN is a new shmup for Nintendo Switch releasing on Dec. 23rd.

Aces of the Luftwaffe Squadron review

Another shmup that has traversed the mobile game <-> Switch divide.

Get ready to get invaded!

If you have ever played a video game (if you are reading this you almost certainly have) then you likely have Taito to thank.  It has been 40 years since they released their monumentally influential arcade title, Space Invaders, an indisputable founding-father of modern gaming.  To celebrate this occasion, Taito and Degica are bringing the invasion to Steam in 2018.  Stay tuned for more details at the beginning of the new year!

TEASER SITE

Everything is right with the world again

The Korean physical edition of Battle Garegga Rev.2016 for PlayStation 4 has returned to Play-Asia.


Get it while it lasts!

Strictly Limited Games sells a shmup you've never heard of...

Gryphon Knight Epic has (apparently) been out for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 for some time but has just gotten a physical release (999 copies) from Strictly Limited Games.

Vulture Strike releases on Steam December 19th

The developer says: It's an STG with clear inspirations and influences from Border Down, Ikaruga, Gekirindan and many others; it's a tough game with a completely unique scoring system and heavy emphasis on memorization; it supports arcade sticks and has online leaderboards.

Windows, Linux and MacOS versions are all promised.

20% off when it launches.

Dimension Drive reviewed

Dimension Drive for the Nintendo Switch gets a workout from Bullet Heaven:

Neo Geo title Pulstar coming to Switch

Side-scrolling shooter Pulstar from 1995 for the Neo Geo has been listed on the Japanese Nintendo eShop as being released on december 21st on the Nintendo Switch.


I'm expecting the ACA NEOGEO series from Hamster to deliver the goods as they have done so far.

PlayStation 4 version of Ketsui appearing

At a japanese gamer event on december 16th a playable version of the upcoming PS4 version of CAVE bullet-hell shooter Ketsui will be shown according to an announcement on the games teaser site.

The games M2 has ported thus far have been great so let's hope Ketsui makes the transition in good form too.

Korean physical disc version of Battle Garegga Rev.2016 in the wild

Korean scalpers are selling the Battle Garegga Rev.2016 PlayStation 4 physical disc version on eBay, it is unclear why Play-Asia and its competitors delisted it and aren't selling it.

There has been no word of a physical release of this game in any other territory and the PS4 is region free. If you want a physical copy act now, this title will only rise in price.

Toaplan ARCADE SOUND DIGITAL COLLECTION coming

Toaplan ARCADE SOUND DIGITAL COLLECTION Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 have been announced and are available for pre-order in Japan. Vol. 1 will start shipping December 20th and Volume 2 on January 31st next year. Both priced separately at just under 22€ seems reasonable.

This seems to be the first release coming out of the newly formed Tatsujin Co. Ltd.

Gunbird is coming to Nintendo Switch this week

The Switch eShop will have the classic Psikyo shooter Gunbird available this week.

Switch eShop Release Date:

7th Dec 2017, $7.99 (USA)

Maihana Soumakyou comes to PlayStation 4 in 2018

Announced way back in 2015, Maihana Soumakyou: Uniting Barrage Action will launch on the PlayStation 4 in Japan on January 25th, 2018.

The PlayStation Store title has been ported from the PC and includes tutorial, practice and a new story mode.

A new Tatsujin (company) arrives!

Tatsujin or Truxton as it's known in the west is one of developer Toaplans best known games.


Now, a company named Tatsujin Co. Ltd has been formed and rumour has it that it owns the rights to Toaplans library of games. I think a collection of Toaplan shooters for any (or all) of the current generation of game consoles would sell like hotcakes.

Sky Force Reloaded out on Steam today

The revamped Sky Force game, Sky Force Reloaded, is out on Steam now at 10% off.

It's out on PlayStation 4 too in the online store. Here's a review of it.

The Game Paradise Cruisin Mix is out on Steam now

The new Game Paradise Cruisin Mix is out now on Steam at 10% off. The PlayStation 4 version is shipping from Play-Asia. It's in all japanese now but localization patches are coming next year.

A western release for PS4 is planned.

CAVE sale on Steam

Rez Infinite now available for Google Daydream

Rez Infinite, previously available on PlayStation 4, an expanded version of Rez with updated graphics and support for Virtual reality has been ported to Googles VR platform for Android; Daydream. Rez Infinite is simply the best PlayStation VR game available today so i'm guessing it will play a similar role in these new waters.

Battle Garegga Rev.2016 gets physical

Play-Asia has listed an asian edition of Battle Garegga Rev.2016 for PlayStation 4 as an upcoming physical release. Coming early next year. PlayStation 4 is region-free so this is just a matter of waiting...

Update: Play-Asia has removed the listing but Battle Garegga is confirmed as a limited edition physical release for PS4 on Dec. 6th in South Korea (obviously).

Earth Atlantis; sorta shmup

It flew under my radar until I saw this:


But now that i've seen it, this is a Nintendo Switch game released on Oct. 5th.

The Last Strike

Here's something you don't see every day: a new shmup for Atari Jaguar (we've seen ports of old shmups though).
The Atari Jaguar was the home console that sunk Atari into bankruptcy at the time and is generally considered awkward because of its small library of games and the controller having a (unfair) reputation of being awful.

Twin-stick shooter Nex Machina getting a LRG release

Critically acclaimed twin-stick shooter Nex Machina for PS4 is getting a physical release this friday from Limited Run Games. 5000 copies of the ordinary and 3000 copies of the "collector's edition" will be made available. As usual, if you want this, hit the site immediately when they are released or be gouged on ebay afterwards.

Touhou: Hidden Star in Four Seasons first Touhou game to hit Steam

Bullet hell shooter Touhou: Hidden Star in Four Seasons is the first game in the Touhou danmaku series to hit Steam on December 11th.

Sky Force Reloaded coming to Steam and pretty much every other platform

No dates were announced but the picture above was tweeted yesterday by developer iDreams, so expect iOS/Android shooter Sky Force Reloaded to land on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Steam at some point in the future.

Bullet Heavens Cuphead review

It's here, the Cuphead review:

Astebreed for PC gets a major update

I guess the videos explain it. The PC version of Astebreed is getting a major update. This game is a no-brainer in my book with a great release on PlayStation 4 already.

PC Engine turns 30, a free game to celebrate!

Aetherbyte has released a free shmup,  NANTETTATTE ENGINE starring ROM², to celebrate the fact that the PC Engine console (not even well known under its western moniker TurboGrafx-16) has turned 30.



As a shmup player you really should get a PC Engine if you don't already have one, it has a fantastic library of shooting games. Make sure to get a variant with a CD-ROM, it's worth it.

You're going to need something like the Turbo EverDrive to play the game.

Here's a shot my own gorgeous unit, complete with IFU, CD-ROM and Everdrive:

Sorcer Striker also got new trailers!

A new Battle Garegga Rev.2016 trailer

Blast from the past - Sky Force Anniversary

Sky Force Anniversary, a fun but grindy shmup from Poland, is free this month for PlayStation Plus subcribers.

It's available for PS3, PS4 and PS Vita as reported earlier.

Under my radar: 3jus

CAVE, yes, CAVE(!), has announced that they are working on a new title for consoles: 3jus.
Next to nothing is known about the title right now, even the official 3jus website is mysterious.

Cuphead does the business

Run'n'gun platformer Cuphead has sold in excess of 1 million copies already.

Super Hydorah review

Super Hydorah was launched on Steam and Xbox One a couple of weeks ago and here's the review. Enjoy.

New Jeff Minter interview

The legend behind convulsion-inducing shooters like Tempest, Jeff Minter of Llamasoft, in a new interview for Arcade Attack.


You might remember that he's working on a sequel to Tempest.

Shikhondo - Soul Eater out on Steam

Shikhondo - Soul Eater is a bullet hell shooter just released on Steam.

Trailer is somewhat NSFW:

Hyper Sentinel video reveal on Switch

Kickstarted horizontal shooter Hyper Sentinel; targeting Steam, PS4, Xbox One, Android, iOS and Switch got a video reveal today for that last platform.

Hyper Sentinel is being advertised as a spiritual successor to seminal C64/Spectrum shooter Uridium.

Castle of Shikigami gets a big (free) update + scoring contest!

Degica games just rolled out a press release about a big update to Castle of Shikigami:

The team has been working hard on improving the game and thanks to your feedback we have a large update to release today. The details are below, but we still have more to come, so stay tuned!

Update Details

• Added Slowdown option
  Accessed via the Options, this can be turned on or off. The slowdown is as close as we can get to the original console releases, but will vary depending on your PC.
• Added Practice Mode
  Accessed via the main menu. New stages are opened once you've reached them in the main game. Each character's practice stages are independent, so unlocking stages for one character will not unlock them for the others. Scores are local only.
• Fixed leaderboard issues
  Without getting into technical discussions, the problem here is that Shikigami's scores are larger than Steam's leaderboards can cope with, so the approach we took was to divide the scores uploaded to Steam by 10, while leaving the in-game scores faithful to the original game.
• Changed Extend scores to match original game
  
  • Very Easy: First 100,000,000 and every further 100,000,000 points
  • Easy: First 100,000,000 and every further 200,000,000 points
  • Normal: First 150,000,000 and every further 300,000,000 points
  • Hard: First 200,000,000 and every further 400,000,000 points
  • Very Hard: First 250,000,000 and every further 400,000,000 points

As always, if you have any issues post-update, please post them here.

Thanks, the Shikigami team.

The scoring contest is described like this:

Score Contest

To celebrate Shikigami's update today, we're having another high score contest and to make sure everyone can take part it's very simple!

Rules:

1. Leave difficulty on default setting (Normal)
2. Play Practice 1-1 with any character and record a score (you need to complete the stage)
3. Take a screenshot with F12 of the Practice screen showing your score
4. Post the capture to Twitter during the contest period with the official hashtag #castleofshikigami and a mention to us (@degigames)
5. Multiple entries OK, but only one score per user will be accepted.  

**If you can't locate the screen captures, open your Steam Library, right click on Castle of Shikigami and select 'View Screenshots' and follow the prompts to navigate to the correct folder.

Contest Dates:

Start: Oct 4, 2017 7:00pm (Thursday)

Finish: Oct 9, 2017 7:00pm (Sunday) 

Prizes:

1st place: A signed Shikigami poster

2nd place: A Shikigami poster

3rd place: The soundtrack (Steam key) 

**We'll also be picking two random winners and awarding them a prize too. 

Small Print

In order to deliver physical prizes, we will need to be able to contact you by email, so please check back at the end of the contest.

In order to send the posters, we will need a postal address and name.

Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle coming soon

Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Nintendo Switch is a new 3D bullet hell fighting game that releases on Oct. 10th in the US and Oct. 13th in the EU.

It supports PlayStation VR on the PS4 if that tickles your fancy.

NG:Dev spills the beans on Kraut Buster

Kraut Buster is a run'n'gun game in development by NG:Dev that has a lot in common with the series to beat: Metal Slug. One, the graphics style is strongly reminiscent and two, the game is getting released on Neo Geo MVS and AES - the original home of the Metal Slug games.


This means that the game is expensive, looks great and wont be played by that many people. The video above is newly produced and represents an unoptimized build.

Press release in full:

Kraut Buster Mission Status Report 2017

Dear customers,

here is the current state of Kraut Buster for NEOGEO.

This video uses a simple RGB CRT effect to make it look a little bit like an arcade screen. 

It's recommended to watch it full screen to prevent distortion and to have it run in 60fps.

We kept the video intentionally short as we don't want to spoiler too much of the game.

C-MODE:

It's the first time we show the player character: Jack "Handsome" Rowdy and the "contra" mode (displayed as C-MODE).

The C-MODE mode changes the gameplay to a faster more action and running and crushing oriented gameplay.
With less stops, less energy for enemies and less bullet sponges.
Masks and treasures/collectable/secrets are removed in C-MODE to keep this mode as clutter free as possible.
The player's knife attack is also disabled to keep the gunning flow.
To compensate the "simplicity" of this mode we also added a fast kill score system additional to the timed chain system to increase long time appeal of the C-MODE.

Content of video:

We are showing small parts of mission 3-1 (train ride), mission 3-2 (train yard), mission 4-2 (boat ride),

Mission 3-1 you are fighting your way across a military train towards it's locomotive to stop it.
It has 4 parallax layers. Far away background, background, train, foreground details.
All train cars have a nice full body hand pixelated driving motion effect applied to them.

Mission 3-2 is about battling yourself through the ruins of a bombed village, a train wreck and destroying some experimental weapon system in the train yard.
It also introduces the enemy characters: Vixens of the Dictator "Heiße Helga" and "Herrin Peitsche"
We are only showing the first 60 seconds of ca. 6 minutes.

Both missions are also very military. While mission 2 and mission 4 have monsters, robots and tesla enemies.

Mission 4-2 is about escaping a secret submarine base, the fortified coastal zone and infiltrating the dictator's battle ship.
We are showing the first 60 seconds of the "fortified coastal zone" part.

As you can see in the map screen the game has 9 selectable missions.
Some missions consist of several "rooms" with their own settings and graphic sets. Right now we have about 17 "rooms".
Each mission ends with a proper and individual end boss. All stages also have mini bosses.

Overall game status:

The base game will be finished in December/January.
We included below information of which nice to have graphic details we want to add to the game and will see if you guys give us the time for it or if you guys want an earlier release.
We won't do a vote, we will just go with the general impression of the mood we get from you guys.
If we produce the PCBs in December we can do a release in January. A release in February is advised though.

The allotted graphic development budget of KB will be used up after December, we will then start the next pixel art game for NEOGEO.

Shipping is done as always in this order: MVS LE->MVS RE->AES CE->AES RE (order of payment)

Features that we would like to implement but that need more time:

Details:

- Proper story intro / ending / special ending / new fitting music composed
- 3rd character: Valaria "Bona" Bossa (needs to be drawn from scratch unless we reuse the legs of the guys)
- Proper character select screen
- Character customization: skin color / cloth colors
- Mission select screen (partially implemented as you can see in the video, but we would like to include some fun stuff happening on the map)
- Animated title screen
- Adding more destructibles, parallax scrolling and small background animations in the stages
- Player stage win animation (each character)
- Experimental: Sliding for players in C-MODE to make it even more fluid/speedy (requires extra frames for each character) / can have large implication on gameplay / not sure if it can happen

We redrew some later backgrounds from scratch to boost quality even further.
We redrew most explosions.
Added a fast kill / quickkill score system

Having the game run in 60 fps was also quite time consuming at times and not an easy feature to archive.
While we have up to 2x the amount of objects on screen the engine kinda runs up to 4x times as fluid as similar games on NEOGEO (60 fps instead of 30fps).
A lot of optimizations, trickery and out of the box thinking was required to archive this.

We wrote a new Z80 sound driver for better handling the limited resources and adding new features such as user adjustable music volume.
We are not sure but we think it's the first time that it's possible for the user to adjust music volume in a NEOGEO game!?

All our future NEOGEO games will benefit from those engine upgrades.

It also looks like KB could become a gigashock game as it is approaching 512MEGS for graphic ROMs. Music is already at 512 MEGs.
It would be the first pixel art giga shock NEOGEO game ever.

We added some new hardware features on our custom PCBs, implementing them and using them well will take additional time too:

AES+MVS:

- 64 KBytes EEPROM: for example to save scores / configs / unlocks / achievements / game progress

- WLAN for example to do software updates / worldwide online highscore list
WLAN needs quite some testing both in hardware and software, hopefully it will make it.
Having WLAN on NEOGEO would be quite cool and could lead to interesting stuff in the future.

- GFX ROM doubled in size

MVS:

- Micro SD-Card (software update) to replace USB update. If WLAN does not work out we maybe add this to AES too.
Allows software updates without the need of a connection to a windows PC.

Those hardware costs are covered by us for the existing pre orders.

Best regards,
NGDEV

******************

This video was recorded at 59.18 FPS -> speedup to 60 FPS and a simple artificial scan line CRT effect was overlaid in post production (line tripling 3x 224p->672p). The music are MP3s of the in game OST overlaid.

As i'm sure you already know: Cuphead has launched

Hotly anticipated run'n'gun game Cuphead has launched on PC and Xbox One to the delight of well, pretty much everyone.


It really does look gorgeous and plays well.
No word yet on a physical release but we can always hope.

AKA TO BLUE / AKA & BLUE from ex-CAVE employees out now!

In both app stores for iOS and Android. It's been out a couple of weeks in Japan but has now hit western stores as linked.
On iOS its available for both iPhones and iPads.

AKA TO BLUE is a bullet hell style shooter designed from the ground up for touch devices and is (unsurprisingly) very reminiscent of CAVEs work.

So, Zero Gunner 2 may be heading to Switch!

According to a tweet, Psikyos Zero Gunner 2 (Naomi arcade board and Dreamcast STG) is heading to Switch.



It would be great to see Zero Gunner 2 make a return on modern hardware.

Metal Slug X coming to Nintendo Switch

Hamster announced that the next wave of Neo Geo ports for Nintendo Switch will include Metal Slug X. No firm date on when it is released was announced.

New bullet hell shooter Burst Fighter out on Steam now!

Another indie shmup, this time a bullet hell experience, Burst Fighter is out on Steam.

EDF! EDF! EDF! EDF! EDF! EDF!

That's right, seminal third-person shooter Earth Defense Force is getting a proper STG spin-off this fall on PlayStation 4, Earth Defense Force 4.1 Wingdiver the Shooter (there's a mouthful).



Watch the trailer for full EDF mayhem and hysterical shouting from some japanese lady.

Just to get a feel for the series:

Battle Garegga Rev.2016, not just for PS4 any more

So, yeah, that just happened!

Indie shmup Super Hydorah out now!

Indie shmup Super Hydorah, a throw-back to Gradius style games, is out now on Steam and Xbox One.

M2 goes west (I hope)

M2 has opened an english site with their PS4 exclusive STGs Battle Garegga Rev.2016 and Dangun Feveron on it. This suggest they are heading for a western release.

You could buy them right now if you create a japanese PSN account but it's a bit tricky. This way everyone wins!

Sine Mora EX for Switch gets release date

Sine Mora EX, already out on Steam, PS4 and Xbox One will make its debut on Nintendo Switch on September 26 in the US followed by an October 10th release everywhere else.

It's good to finally see a firm date on the Switch too and there is an overwhelming urge to double(quadruple?)-dip on this title since its cheap on all platforms and really is a great game.

Just make sure to change the voice-acting to the original hungarian before starting to play. It makes the story mode soooooo much better!

Senko no Ronde 2 is out

Both PC and PS4 versions of the game out now. I'm not the biggest fan of the first but hey!, maybe you are?

New Raiden V trailer shows off co-op

Caladrius Blaze is approaching US physical release fast!

Already available from Play-Asia in a korean release (playable worldwide), Caladrius Blaze gets a limited release from Limited Run Games. 4000 copies are up for grabs.

This will probably be as hectic as other shmup releases from LRG and run out in minutes. So, come September 15, be ready! (Or, you know, just get the korean release)

Game Paradise: Cruisin Mix getting a western release

There is no firm date set yet but it looks like an english release is in the cards for Game Paradise: Cruisin Mix.

Sine Mora EX review

A nice review of the game.

Game Tengoku CrusinMix gets a teaser!

Lets hope it turns out great!

Dimension Drive coming to Nintendo Switch

RIVE is EastAsiaSofts upcoming limited physical release

RIVE, a twin-stick shooter for PlayStation 4, is the latest to get a limited physical release from EastAsiaSoft.

RIVE is playable in more than 10 different languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. The RIVE Limited Edition for PS4™ will be available for pre-order exclusively at Play-Asia.com for US$29.99 as two separate editions: the Blue Box (limited to 1,500 copies) & the Orange Box (limited to 1,000 copies).

Each RIVE Limited Edition box set contains the following items:

• A physical copy of the game (region free)
• A full color instruction booklet (20 pages)
• A double-disc soundtrack CD (40 tracks / 106 minutes)
• An individually numbered collector’s certificate
• A collector's box (with a beautifully embossed logo)

Read the full announcement on their website.

Some AKA & BLUE gameplay

Looks highly similar to a CAVE game to me.

Ex-CAVE-developers launching mobile game in the west in September

AKA & BLUE, release earlier in August in Japan for android and iOS is coming to western shores in September according to a Facebook post from the developer.

The game made by ex-CAVE-employees is a pure bullet-hell shooter developed with touch controls in mind.

The statement:

We plan to deliver the overseas version of AKA & BLUE in September, and we are developing it. Please wait for a while.

Because we have difficulty advertising overseas, we would like to ask everyone for their cooperation. Thank you.

by TANOSHIMASU

Raiden V: Director's Cut Launch Trailer for PS4

Raiden V: Director's Cut out on Steam October 5th

The Steam page is up and spills the details.


It was previously announced that it will arrive on PS4 on September 14:th.

REZ gets a PC release with VR support to boot

REZ started out on Dreamcast and has since been ported to other platforms, most famously to PlayStation 4 with then-new PSVR support. A dream to play, I assure you.

And now, as the reviewer puts it, its final form: PC with 4K+VR support.

Xenoslaive Overdrive out on Steam now, also Tempest 4000 coming

Xeonslaive Overdrive is a bullet hell/danmaku shooter out on Steam now.

And in other, possibly more exciting, news: Atari has confirmed that a sequel to Tempest, Tempest 4000, is being developed by Jeff Minter. Yes, that Jeff Minter. Expect sensory overload to the max!

Or, as Atari puts it:

About

Developed by legendary game designer Jeff Minter, Tempest 4000 remains faithful to the original fast-paced gameplay while adding exciting new features and gorgeous graphics for audiences on the most popular contemporary platforms.

The original Tempest, one of the first video games to use 3D vector graphics, represents one of Atari’s hallmark titles and is considered one of the most popular arcade games of all time. It has been featured prominently across pop culture – including in Ernest Cline’s dystopian Ready Player One novel.

Just as in the original game, players are once again in control of the Claw, a powerful spacecraft equipped to destroy deadly creatures and other obstructions with rapid-fire shots on vibrant geometric prisms. With three game modes to choose from and 100 levels to conquer, players must eliminate all enemies as quickly as possible to survive, aiming for the coveted spot at the top of the leaderboards.

Key Features

• Arcade Style Shooter: Blast down hordes of enemies in this fast-paced arcade style shoot ‘em up.
• Unparalleled Graphics: Experience Tempest 4000’s mind-blowing graphics in beautiful 4K resolution.
• Multiple Game Modes: Pick from three different game modes including Standard, Pure and Endurance that will push your skills to the limit.
• Level Up: Progress and clear through 100 unique geometric levels by destroying enemies with various weapons and power-ups, and earn upgrades through bonus rounds.
• Climb to the Top of the Leaderboards: Post your high score in your quest to be recognized as number one on the leaderboards.
• Retro Techno Soundtrack: Enjoy the beats of a thumping soundtrack inspired by early 1990’s techno.
• Old School Gameplay: Feeling nostalgic? Relive the traditional gameplay of the original Tempest with enhanced graphics on current generation consoles.

Sine Mora EX out on Steam now (Updated: PS4 and XBone too!)

Sine Mora EX is out on Steam now, priced at a reasonable €8. If you bought Sine Mora on Steam before EX got released it's a free download. Great stuff.

Edit: It's also available for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as of right now. Switch release is coming later this summer(?).

Zed Blade coming to Nintendo Switch

Hamster Corporation continues their excellent ACA NEOGEO series on Nintendo Switch with Zed Blade (and some other arcade titles) according to Nintendo Life.

Aero Fighters 2 landed on Xbox One too!

Hamsters ACA NEOGEO Aero Fighters 2 title didn't just land on Switch yesterday, XBox One joined in the fun. As far as I'm concerned this is a great game on any platform.

Strikers 1945 for Switch reviewed

Someone sure reviewed that one fast. It is available in the european eShop!

5000, 100, Aero Fighters 2 and Strikers 1945

This news blog right here just passed 5000 visits and at the same time I passed 100 entries. Good times!

Both Aero Fighters 2 (known as Sonic Wings 2 on some platforms) and Strikers 1945 has launched on Nintendo Switch.

Aero Fighters 2 is from Hamsters ACA NEOGEO series and I expect a great port of what I think is a great game.

Strikers 1945 from Psikyo is only available on the japanese eShop but that's just a matter of creating a new account on your Switch and connect to the japanese eShop. The games will run with your normal account once bought, similar to PlayStation 4.


It looks like Nintendo Switch will be the console of choice for retro shmuppers.

Sorcer Striker coming to PS4

In what can only be described as a huge news day for shmups, M2 has announced that the third installment of their Shot Trigger series will be arcade shooter Sorcer Striker.

Seeing as Battle Garegga Rev.2016 and Dangun Feveron are the previous titles in the series I think we can expect an excellent port. And it's a game I haven't played either, make sure you have a japanese PSN account to buy these titles!

We already know that Ketsui is in the works in the series as well.

Raiden V Director's Cut: the details

That Raiden V: Director's Cut for PS4 and PC that I reported on back in May now has more details:

Moss and UFO Interactive announced that Raiden V: Director’s Cut is making its way to Japan on September 14 for PS4.

Pricing for both retail and digital versions are both set at 6,800 yen plus tax. Furthermore, a limited edition version will also be available for PS4, featuring the game’s original soundtrack CD as well as a digital art book for 8,800 yen plus tax.

Raiden V: Director’s Cut features full-1080P support and local two-player cooperative play for the first time ever. You can read more about the game along with its latest trailer in our earlier report.

Raiden V: Director’s Cut launches in Japan on September 14, 2017 for PlayStation 4. North America and Europe are getting the previously Xbox One-exclusive shmup this fall for PS4 and PC.

Sounds good to me!

Source.

That Game Paradise game

It now has an official site!

Namco Museum out for Nintendo Switch

Namco Museum has launched on Nintendo Switch and it has tate mode for the shooters in the collection.

Senko no ronde 2 reboot gets a trailer

PC and PlayStation 4 are the targeted platforms.

Pixelprospector lists some interesting games

I know I suck at keeping up to date with the indie games of the genre.
Pixelprospector doesn't however so i'll just link to their lists of 20 Horizontal/Vertical shooters of 2017, 20 Top Down Shooters of 2017 and 20 Run'n'Guns + Platform shooters of 2017.
To me it looks like there is something for everyone.



I'll just throw in some R-Type here because who doesn't love R-Type?

Play-Asias Tachyon Project and an Xbox One update

The landing page for Play-asias pre-order of Tachyon Project.


Up to date list of Xbox 360 shoot'em-ups that are compatible with Xbox One:

Bullet soul

Bullet Soul Infinite Burst
Capcom arcade collection

Contra
Galaga
Galaga Legions
Geometry Wars
Geometry Wars 2
Guwange

Hard corps uprising
Ikaruga
Jetpac Refuelled
Metal Slug 3
Metal Slug XX
Mutant Storm Empire

Omega Five
R-Type Dimensions
Radiant Silvergun
Raiden IV
Space Invaders Infinity Gene

Strania
Trigger Heart Excelica

I have been on vacation and we have stuff to cover

Let's get right to it: Bullet Soul - Infinite Burst known from Xbox 360 is launching on Steam on July 31st, the games soundtrack will be available as DLC.



Raiden IV has joined the ranks of Xbox 360 games that are now playable on Xbox One. Pop any region (it's available in super expensive JP and reasonably priced US versions) disc into your Xbox One and it will be available to play.
Play-Asia has announced twin-stick shooter Tachyon Project as a physical release for both PlayStation 4 and PS Vita.
Quirky cute'em'up Game Tengoku: Cruisin Mix, a port of a game from the seminal Sega Saturn, has been announced for a release in japan on PlayStation 4 and PC.
A Batsugun comic book has been announced for people who get off on that sort of stuff, it's listed on japanese Amazon already.
Galaga is being developed into an animated series.

I know Hamsters ACA NEO GEO releases have popped up on many platforms already but as I just bought a Nintendo Switch I thought it was worth mentioning that Last Resort, Metal Slug and Metal Slug 2 are available for the system.



I think that about covers it. Not bad for a dead genre, really.

Sine Mora EX - coming to all platforms

Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4 and Windows are all getting Sine Mora EX, a new version of Sine Mora with some enhanced features.

The game enjoys a love/hate relationship with the shump community. Give it a shot when it releases (again). Xbox One, PS4 and Switch versions are listed at retailers to be released on the 25th of July.

Everything old is new again

Microsoft has committed to adding backwards compatibility to both original Xbox games and Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One console.

Radiant Silvergun, originally released on the Sega Saturn and later updated with HD visuals for an XBLA release on Xbox 360, was added to the list of Xbox One backwards compatible games yesterday. Ikaruga of course has been backwards compatible for some time, as has Guwange.

Space Invaders Infinity Gene, Strania, Mutant Storm Empire and Triggerheart Excelica are all also available to play on Xbox One.

This is not an exhaustive list and shmups has been added more frequently recently.

Cave's XBLA action platformer Nin2-Jump is also backwards compatible for those who want to peek at what Cave has been doing besides shooters.