Need information on Takumi, particularly Giga Wing 2

This is the main shmups forum. Chat about shmups in here - keep it on-topic please!
Post Reply
User avatar
dpful
Posts: 1205
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:19 pm
Location: SLC, UT, US
Contact:

Need information on Takumi, particularly Giga Wing 2

Post by dpful »

I'm making the card for the Giga Wing 2 cabinet in an arcade museum, if any history nerds have any details to add, or know any good resources, could you please chime in? I'm particularly interested in the creator's other work. And also if anyone recognizes any mistakes on here, please lmk. Thanks! I'll just paste what I've put on the card. I got the fine details here from wikipedia.

-----

GIGA WING 2
2000- Takumi Corporation
Sega Naomi cartridge arcade software
director- Makoto Maeda
sound composer- Yasushi Kaminishi
producer- Yukikazu Ozaki
main programer- Yoshitaka Kobayashi


Following Toaplan's bankruptcy, some of the former staff went to Takumi. Among Toaplan's offshoots, only Takumi has developed any sequels to former Toaplan games.
Takumi is one of the splinter companies formed when the company Toaplan disbanded in 1994, the others being Cave, 8ing/Raizing, and Gazelle.
Other works they have made include the amazing Mars Matrix, and the widely released Giga Wing on the Capcom CPS II hardware, and the rare Night Raid on the Taito G-Net hardware. They also released Twin Cobra II on the Taito F3 hardware.

Their shmups are noted by a heavy downfall of collectible items, and the use of level long multipliers (by the collecting of said items). Also, In three of those games, the use of a timed reflection mechanic.
In their piece, “Night Raid”, the multiplier was even reversible, with a plus and a minus count, so a long game could still end with a score approaching zero.

In this work, the pacing is such that you are supposed to hold the button to reflect back bullets and turn them into gems, and anticipate the next batch of heavy bullets. If you are swamped before the next “OK”, you’ll be forced to drop a bomb to gain the few extra seconds you’ll need before your next shield.

If you are able to reflect 100 bullets with a single shield, you will activate a “VOLCANO”, and will be bathed in a shower of medals.

The score multiplier counts up with every medal, and resets when you are killed. You have to remember that it’s more important to turn your +175 into a +176 than it is to get a single +50 medal.


On Toaplan:
Toaplan was a Japanese video game company from 1984-1994.
After Toaplan closed its doors in 1994, several former employees formed or were involved with the following companies, many of which were dedicated to arcade shooters:
• CAVE
• Raizing/8ing (When Raizing was folded into 8ing, some employees left for CAVE.)
• Gazelle (creators of Air Gallet and the Sailor Moon arcade game; both distributed by Banpresto. Gazelle did not last long; after its closure, some employees left to join CAVE.)
• Takumi (creators of Giga Wing and Mars Matrix, published Twin Cobra II after Toaplan's closure.
User avatar
trap15
Posts: 7835
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:13 am
Location: 東京都杉並区
Contact:

Re: Need information on Takumi, particularly Giga Wing 2

Post by trap15 »

Raizing is not an offshoot of toaplan and never was. Additionally, Raizing was always just a division of 8ing.
@trap0xf | daifukkat.su/blog | scores | FIRE LANCER
<S.Yagawa> I like the challenge of "doing the impossible" with older hardware, and pushing it as far as it can go.
User avatar
OmegaFlareX
Posts: 884
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:15 pm
Location: Virginia, USA

Re: Need information on Takumi, particularly Giga Wing 2

Post by OmegaFlareX »

Raizing was started by former Compile devs who wanted to make arcade games (Compile was PC/console only). Former Toa staff might have ended up there eventually but I don't know who or when.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, trap.

e: also, I think I read somewhere that Gazelle was the developer of both Batsugun Saturn and Toaplan Shooting Battle 1 Playstation, albeit uncredited.
User avatar
dpful
Posts: 1205
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:19 pm
Location: SLC, UT, US
Contact:

Re: Need information on Takumi, particularly Giga Wing 2

Post by dpful »

Thanks you two, I've had a really hard time getting proper info on this stuff, and want to get all the info I can.
User avatar
dpful
Posts: 1205
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:19 pm
Location: SLC, UT, US
Contact:

Re: Need information on Takumi, particularly Giga Wing 2

Post by dpful »

If i Google the names in the credits at the end of some of these games, I often get nothing.
Post Reply