M2 to port (almost) entire Toaplan library to modern consoles

There's just a lot of good new to spread around lately and this surely must come close to the cream of the crop: the absolute masters of porting old titles to modern hardware, M2, are going to port most of Toaplans library to modern consoles.

The titles are set to start arriving next year. Oh man! Toaplan has made so many great shmups!

Bullet Heaven reviews Tiger-Heli for the NES

Archaic is a word used.

Truxton/Tatsujin available for Android, iOS

Seminal Toaplan shooter Tatsujin (Truxton to us in the west) has launched for iOS and Android under the inspired name Tatsujin classic. The graphics seem stretched but the gameplay looks intact.

The Game Paradise is set to arrive in the EU

Game Tengoku CrusuinMix Special Edition is (finally) heading for an official release in EU, coming November 30th.

By way of the press release:

About:

Game Tengoku - The Game Paradise! is Jaleco's self-parody-filled shooting game, full of tongue-in-cheek references to video game tropes, off-beat humour and sociopathic pigs.

Released to arcades in 1995, upgraded for its console debut in 1997, now the original developers have got back together to bring the ultimate revival to PlayStation4 and Steam.

• 6 stupendous ships (robots, schoolgirls, ace pilots, pigs?!)
• 8 parody-fueled stages (JRPGs, driving games, karaoke and more)
• Multiple soundtracks, display modes and other extras
• Online leaderboards, time attack modes and eggplants galore
• A nostalgia-packed data library of Jaleco history
• Did we mention bomb-wielding pigs?

The international version features subtitled story skits, songs and fully-voiced ‘commentary’ in the data library, where the characters argue amongst themselves while explaining the various featured titles.

The Special edition adds exclusive remixed tracks for all characters, a new Clarice bomb, and more and will come as a free update to all current owners of the game!

Paradise Box Edition:

On top of that, we are proud to announce the long-awaited physical release with a special, Paradise Box edition, in collaboration with Limited Run Games!

It features an exclusive DLC ship: from the legendary Truxton/Tatsujin, replete with weapons, skull bombs and music from the maestros of Toaplan!

The Paradise Box will include:

• Game Paradise CruisinMix Special (PS4)
• 128 page Art book
• 2 soundtrack CDs
• An original anime DVD (English subtitles)
• Game Tengoku CruisinMix Special (PS4)
• 4x DLC (Clarice, Homura Banto, Voice pack + Tatsujin)
• And a few special, exclusive surprises that are bound to see fans in heaven (or paradise?)!

Information:

Title:  Game Tengoku CruisinMix Special

Genre:  Shooting

Platform: PlayStation®4 / STEAM®

Price:  $29.99 (Digital), $TBA (PS4 standard), $TBA (PS4 Limited Edition)

Release Date:  November 30th, 2018

Planning & Production: Chara-Ani corporation, CITY CONNECTION

Publishing:  Degica Co., Ltd.

Homepage:  https://gameparadise2017.com/en/

And to top it off, a trailer!

A whole lotta news!

Black Bird has already launched (back on October 18th), worldwide, on Nintendo Switch and is expected to arrive on Steam on October 31st. Here's a review.

Astebreed for Nintendo Switch (i sense a theme here) is arriving on November 7th.

Anger Force: Reloaded is a new shmup announced for Switch and tells us it's coming this year. eShop only as of now, but who knows if a physical release is in the cards at the rate they are appearing?


Yuge-san, holder of the Toaplan license, say they have a shmup in development for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch for release 2019.

If you want Hunter's Moon: Remastered for the Commodore 64, Thalamus Digital has orders open until midnight tomorrow. Hurry!

Steel Vampire's Steam page is up. This seems to be a big deal although I haven't heard about this one before.

Nintendo Everything brings us a closer look at the upcoming SNK 40th Anniversary Collection Limited Edition for Nintendo Switch.

Solid Aether is a minimalistic bullet-hell shmup available on Steam since September 28th that I haven't heard of before either (another theme?).

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.

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.