M2 Toaplan collection

[kid aphex]

https://twitter.com/m2_game/status/1624 ... lJVlwxUYgw

Here’s the key art for the release

[jehu]

https://twitter.com/m2_game/status/1624 ... lJVlwxUYgw

Here’s the key art for the release

Big 'ol copy of the art in the spoiler:

Spoiler

It's alright. The illustrator is apparently the guy who did the Mega Drive cover of Daimakaimura, so we've seen him do absolutely insane work. A bit jarring to see Hellfire and especially Zero Wing in kind of a polished, stylistically downplayed format. For my taste, would have liked to see him dive into the hyper-stylized look of the OG Zero Wing poster. I don't say this often, but the image isn't busy enough and the use of color isn't really working for me.

Here's that GnG work:



Also, I think I also like HellWing better than ZeroFire - though both sound a little forced and funny

[XtraSmiley]

If they call it Fixzone I'll use the shop with the reversible cover bonus.

If we’re doing this, then my votes for Grind Fight.

[cfx]

Big 'ol copy of the art in the spoiler:

Spoiler

It's alright. The illustrator is apparently the guy who did the Mega Drive cover of Daimakaimura, so we've seen him do absolutely insane work. A bit jarring to see Hellfire and especially Zero Wing in kind of a polished, stylistically downplayed format. For my taste, would have liked to see him dive into the hyper-stylized look of the OG Zero Wing poster. I don't say this often, but the image isn't busy enough and the use of color isn't really working for me.

I agree. The new art isn't awful, but it says "generic Euroshump" to me. Or like this cover of this EU release of Andro Dunos II:
https://www.pixelheart.eu/wp-content/up ... PS4-EU.jpg

[Steven]

This artist dude also did Saturn Battle Garegga and stuff for Ultraman. I don't know, I think it looks too... clean. Or something. I don't know. I don't even remember this big robot-ship-looking dude in either of these games, although he kind of looks like the last boss in Hellfire, or perhaps the Gains from R-Type, but what he reminds me the most of is the Koubu from Sakura Taisen.

What I really want to know is WHERE THE FUCK IS CATS? If there's one time when you should embrace the memes, this was the time. Uemura-san and Yuge-san did that years ago! That's one thing I really like about those guys; I think most other devs would be like "yeah let's not talk about that" but those guys are like "HELL YES THAT'S US!" and I think it's really great. This art is good, but I don't really think it fits with these games all that well. Oh well. I'm sure I will like it more eventually, but after the super badass art from the previous 2 collections, this is somewhat disappointing.

You also only need to see some of the wider community responses to these first couple of releases - "why bother with this archaic dreck?", "skip to the good stuff like Batsugun". I'm amazed they're still doing them, but glad they are - I guess Taito must be giving them some good money for their compilations!

This is the most saddening part, honestly. I see many people who only want Batsugun. How ironic that they'd call the 80s games trash when the only things that Batsugun does better than games like Kyuukyoku Tiger and Hishouzame is to have autofire on the Type C ships and get you more money when you sell the PCB on ebay or wherever.

I'm glad they're taking the approach of a Japan-only physical release, rather than fragmented regional digital Western releases. A full price digital release of an old game was always going to be a tough sell for anything but the hardest of hardcore fans, and not worth trying to localise. Especially with Europe, where you're not just translating stuff to English. The Evercade approach is probably the right one for the more casual retro crowd (a few games bundled for £20) but it's bare bones as a result, there's definitely value in these comprehensive enthusiast releases and JP physical is the most accessible way of doing it without full localisation.

I heard those Evercade releases are pretty good, but they only have the overseas versions, so you're stuck with 2P Hellfire, 2P Zero Wing, Twin Cobra instead of Kyuukyoku Tiger, Guardian instead of Get Star, and other things like that.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Yeah the Evercade Toaplan is worldwide revisions only, no dip switches (yet, it may get implemented - same for all arcade games on it) - but that's fine for the bulk of European (and probably the Americas too, it seems to have decent distribution) retro communities. None of the world revisions are awful/broken and are likely what the target audience played back in the day. I played through Flying Shark, a bit of Slap Fight and Zero Wing - no issues with the emulation, Zero Wing has the red flashes removed. A second is coming in a few months and I think they could finish up the catalogue with a third...

[DenimDemon]

So supposedly volume 3 box art will match with the previous releases? Or will this exclusive of their military stgs?

[kid aphex]

Should’ve been a Yoshitaka Amano commissioned, maniacal Cats looming over a planet.

[pablumatic]

CATS not being on the cover does seem like a bit of a missed opportunity.

[pulsemod]

should've done traditional illustration like the daimakaimura art, or even the previous 2 toaplan collections. would've been way better. also needs a giant screaming face like the other 2.

[CRP]

Between the cost of translation, cost to program that translation into the games and debug to make sure they didn't break anything in the process, licensing fees for an overseas release, licensing for any arranged soundtracks that the releases may have, anything else they may have to pay for to get these out globally, and the probably extremely tiny demand for premium STG releases outside of Japan, it's no wonder that they don't release ShotTriggers games outside of Japan now. I wonder how much money they actually made, or lost, on those few overseas releases that they did. Ultimately, overseas releases are probably not worth it financially, especially since everyone already knows that they don't make much money with these as it is.
On the stream last night Horii even said that they were not sure if they would even be able to continue doing ShotTriggers after Battle Garegga and Dangun Feveron, and I think he also mentioned that they were lucky to get Mahou Daisakusen out at all, so I think we are very lucky that they didn't have to stop after just those first few releases. He did also mention that he would like to do a proper physical Garegga release, too, so who knows.

Im specifically talking about the toaplan collections just to be clear.
I highly doubt that translating the frontend menus will set them back that much and they would be able to reuse most of the translation to the next volume, sure the is som game specific options but alot you be able to reuse. And they are toptier devs of emulation old hardware i dont think that will be many complications to alter text in frontend menus. If hamster can afford to release game like swimmer and alphine ski then i dont see licensing fees for an overseas release would be a problem since these toaplan games will sell better those hamster releases for example.
I think its foolish not to put the collections out in west, toaplan games is much more known then say esp ra de for example. Plus they get some extra income from cart sales (surely Limited run or someone would pick them up). It think M2 would get enuff income from western release to justify the extra work to get them out here aswell. They could try release vol 3 first , zero wing would sell enuff copies then reuse translation of the menus on the other releases.

btw Are hamster releases and livewire releases translaterd for various lang. in EU ?

[hamfighterx]

I selfishly don't want great covers for the main games... because I don't want to feel like I'm missing something when I use the Amazon alternate covers for the non-STG. Whatever the 3rd game is here, I'm sure it go nicely next to my Get Star and Wardner covers

So gimme the REAL key art here, the one for Horror Story or whatever ends up included with this release

[Bassa-Bassa]

Those are two wonderful cover art pieces for two not-so-wonderful videogames (even though I've always quite liked Get Star).

[BrianC]

Telling by a translation of M2's twitter, ZeroFire will come with Teki Paki and another non-shooting game (which hasn't been revealed yet).

[hamfighterx]

And as Steven noted, on the stream they said the non-STG is *not* Dash Yarou (Rally Bike). Which is interesting since that means they aren't going chronologically with the non-STGs, starting with Get Star and Wardner. That was my guess, but I was wrong!

I'm strangely fine with more Teki-Paki, to have more codes to give out to others. Passed along my second one to a friendly forum member, and #3 will go to a friend.

[Steven]

I'm not 100% sure they said it's not Dash Yarou; I would have to go back and check.

I ran into Uemura-san last night at the Raiden live (yeah, small world, right?) and he pointed out that we have had 2 collections of vertical shooting games and both times the extra game was horizontal, so following this trend of the extra game being the opposite screen orientation would give us a vertical game as the extra this time. The only vertical non-shooting game from the time period of Hellfire and Zero Wing is Dash Yarou, assuming that they are choosing the extra games based on their release dates relative to the shooting games.

The next closest is Ghox. Apparently there are a few versions of that game with different controls, but I have only played the version that uses the spinner that you can also move up and down. I kind of don't like that game, though. First half is pretty okay, but the second half is torturous.

[jehu]

I'm not 100% sure they said it's not Dash Yarou; I would have to go back and check.

I ran into Uemura-san last night at the Raiden live (yeah, small world, right?) and he pointed out that we have had 2 collections of vertical shooting games and both times the extra game was horizontal, so following this trend of the extra game being the opposite screen orientation would give us a vertical game as the extra this time. The only vertical non-shooting game from the time period of Hellfire and Zero Wing is Dash Yarou, assuming that they are choosing the extra games based on their release dates relative to the shooting games.

The next closest is Ghox. Apparently there are a few versions of that game with different controls, but I have only played the version that uses the spinner that you can also move up and down. I kind of don't like that game, though. First half is pretty okay, but the second half is torturous.

Tantalizing. Before the last M2 stream, one of the to-be guests tweeted about gearing up to play Ghox. On Discord I saw a few fellas thinking that was all but a leaked confirmation, but they never did play Ghox on stream... I guess we have to wait and find out.

[Steven]

I don't think it will be Ghox, although I don't have any specific reasons for this. I'm still hoping it will be Horror Story, but Dash Yarou would be great for those who have not played it yet.

[Steven]

I just checked my Hishouzame PCB against the Switch version of Flying Shark and it seems that the PCB actually runs faster than the Switch version. I wanted to use the actual Hishouzame, but since the M2 versions pause to submit scores online when you game over, it's kind of hard for me to get them synchronized. The overseas versions don't have online leaderboards, so that's why I used Flying Shark instead. Maybe Hishouzame syncs with itself, but Flying Shark doesn't.

Anyone ever compared any of the other M2 ShotTriggers games to see if they sync perfectly with the PCB? They are supposed to stay in sync from what I understand, so this is kind of unexpected.

[Udderdude]

According to MAME, the PCB runs at a leisurely 54.87 Hz. You sure the Switch version is slower than that?

[Steven]

I put the Switch right on top of my New Astro City with both games running in the attract mode. It definitely falls behind, although it takes a few minutes for it to be noticeable, and it's not that much slower, but there is a noticeable desync after a while. I want to test Hishouzame instead of using one of the overseas versions, but since it pauses to connect to the server, it's difficult to synchronize.

Basically what I did was to put in a coin on both and then press start as close to simultaneously as humanly possible in order to synchronize them and then not touch anything, letting myself game over, and then observing the attract mode. It looked fine for a while, but then I left the Switch sitting on top of the Astro during the attract mode and went to the store to buy some soap. Once I got back like 5~10 minutes later, it had desynchronized and the Astro was slightly ahead, but not by much. I find it extremely interesting that the Astro was the one that was ahead and not the Switch. Haven't tested with PS4 since that's considerably less convenient, but I expect the results will be the same.

[RobHimself]

What's the likelihood M2's Batsugun port will be available in USA? Or will all Toaplan releases stay in the Japan region?

[cfx]

What's the likelihood M2's Batsugun port will be available in USA? Or will all Toaplan releases stay in the Japan region?

Are you referring to the eventual Batsugun release that M2 will presumably do as part of this series?

AFAIK, M2 gave up on digitial releases outside of Asia. As for a physical release, that would depend on someone like Limited Run Games licensing it.

The currently announced Batsugun S-Tribute isn't M2; it's City Connection. City Connection does digital releases in the west, but physical would depend on someone else licensing; if not the LRG types one of the small publishers like Clear River Games.

[RobHimself]

Are you referring to the eventual Batsugun release that M2 will presumably do as part of this series?

AFAIK, M2 gave up on digitial releases outside of Asia.

Yeah was referring to the eventual release. That's too bad though. I guess not enough people bought BG and Ketsui

[Sumez]

All of M2's releases are available in USA. What exactly are you missing - an English translation?

[RobHimself]

For M2's ShotTriggers series, I was only able to find Garegga, Ketsui and Feveron on the USA PSN store.

[BrianC]

All of M2's releases are available in USA. What exactly are you missing - an English translation?

You still have to import or use a different region shop to purchase the majority of them. ESP R.A.D.E., Mahou Daisakusen, the Aleste collection, and the Toaplan collections still lack US releases.

[Sengoku Strider]

DoDonPachi Daioujou Rinne Tensei is the title. That's pretty cool, I guess. It's something of a play on words with all of the meanings for 臨.

Will you explain that? Or just leave us in the dark

Since this has gone unanswered for a while, allow me to chime in for posterity with what I assume they're going for here. Warning, this gets a bit complicated.

The DDP titles have some sort of pun/dual meaning to them. The full kanji nightmare of a title for this one is:

怒首領蜂大往生臨廻転生 Dodonpach Daiōjō Rinne Tensei

The very first game was Donpachi, which is just 'Chief/Boss/Leader Bee' 首領蜂

The second game added ikari or 'anger' 怒, using the 'do' reading of the character. So Dodonpachi literally means 'Angry Chief Bee,' but also creates 'dodon' at the front of the title, which is a sound effect you see in manga for explosions and such, like 'ba-boom.' In regard to DDP specifically I often see it referenced as the sound of gunfire, which I'll take peoples’ word for.

Skipping ahead to Daiōjō: 怒首領蜂大往生 The dai ōjō as written here literally means 'great death,' but ōjō as death is a bit of an unusual term. Ojō more commonly means 'lady' in an honorific sense when written as お嬢, which works here as a bee reference if one takes dai ōjō to mean 'great queen.' That's certainly what I assumed it was when I first heard the title. But the death/lady dual meaning most probably is highlighting the loli-goth characters the game puts up front.

And now Rinne Tensei - 臨廻転生. The rin 臨 character in the title here is used in a bunch of archaic words that refer to the visit or arrival of an emperor or noble. In this context, I think we can assume it to refer to a queen (bee). Because Rinne, written here as 臨廻, is not a real word. It's a play on 輪廻, pronounced the same way, which refers to the Buddhist cycle of death and rebirth. Studious gamers will recognize Tensei as 'incarnation,' the same as in Shin Megami Tensei (真・女神転生, 'True Goddess Incarnation'). Together with Tensei, 'Rinne Tensei' evokes the notion of reincarnation - in this context the remaster/re-release of a video game, as it were.

And finally, Rinne is also an unusual girl's name which has seen some popularity recently. That's what I assumed it referred to the first time I came across this title. So perhaps there'll be a character with that name?

But basically the whole thing's got a bunch of layers suggesting something like 'rebirth/return of the queen.'

[Sumez]

You still have to import or use a different region shop to purchase the majority of them. ESP R.A.D.E., Mahou Daisakusen, the Aleste collection, and the Toaplan collections still lack US releases.

That doesn't mean they are unavailable though, that's a pretty big distinction, which is why I inquired about the intentions of the person who asked.
Since it's not like you're gonna be able to go down to a physical store which somehow magically still sells physical copies of games to find one anyway, it doesn't really make a difference where you order from. Especially if you're in the US and don't have to worry about import taxes like the rest of us.
The only relevant difference I can tell is that the menus being almost entirely in Japanese can be quite annoying.

[MJR]

And now Rinne Tensei - 臨廻転生. The rin 臨 character in the title here is used in a bunch of archaic words that refer to the visit or arrival of an emperor or noble. In this context, I think we can assume it to refer to a queen (bee). Because Rinne, written here as 臨廻, is not a real word. It's a play on 輪廻, pronounced the same way, which refers to the Buddhist cycle of death and rebirth. Studious gamers will recognize Tensei as 'incarnation,' the same as in Shin Megami Tensei (真・女神転生, 'True Goddess Incarnation'). Together with Tensei, 'Rinne Tensei' evokes the notion of reincarnation - in this context the remaster/re-release of a video game, as it were.

And finally, Rinne is also an unusual girl's name which has seen some popularity recently. That's what I assumed it referred to the first time I came across this title. So perhaps there'll be a character with that name?

But basically the whole thing's got a bunch of layers suggesting something like 'rebirth/return of the queen.'

Informative post, thanks. But Rinne throws me off-balance every time I see it, because it's my surname