Toaplan podcast

[shaunholley]

Hi guys. I'm usually a lurker but thought that you may be interested in this. It's a detailed podcast on the history and legacy of Toaplan. We've quoted some of the excellent interview translations found on this forum (links to the source material are on our website). We'd welcome any comments. Thanks.



http://tenpencearcade.co.uk/

[cave hermit]

I listened to about half of it so far, and I'm enjoying it!

I'm not exactly a history buff when it comes to niche Japanese arcade developers, so I can't comment on the accuracy of your discussions, but I can say that it's certainly fun to listen to!

[shaunholley]

Thank you! One thing I couldn't discover is whether Toakikaku existed before Crux / Orca employess founded the Toaplan software division, or if they were both created at the same time.

[hnns]

Thanks a lot for sharing!

[NIK]

I've listened to half so far and it was a full of interesting anecdotes. Toaplan's approach to difficulty (1 credit for 3 minutes, playtesting in home territory only), and their subsequent regret at pitching it too high was particularly revealing. I've personally never been that convinced of a huge gulf in ability between western and eastern gamers, but it raises an interesting discussion point!

One minor accuracy point I picked up on when discussing Truxton. It was mentioned that the game got more difficult with more power and speed ups. Enemies and bullets are exactly the same actually, just that dodging feels more frantic with more speed. Nothing like Raiden for example which elevated difficulty significantly as you increased power.

Look forward to the rest of the podcast, in particular hearing about Toaplan's later games which I'm not as familiar with.

[atro]

Damn it!

Excited 'bout that. But I'm at work. Boss is around, so it has to be seen later.
Cool beans

[shaunholley]

@NIK - thanks for the comments. We did indeed say that the enemies in Truxton sped up as your ship gained more speedups. That clearly doesn't happen! We must be more careful with our ramblings in future!

[STK]

Great podcast! I'm so glad I found out about it.

I've listen to the first 15 minutes so far.

[shaunholley]

@STK - thanks. Your Toaplan site is awesome btw

[NIK]

Really enjoyed the second half, particularly the stories about Toaplan's binge-drinking culture. Not what I expected at all.

Couple of things I have to hunt down now. Knucklebash (sounds great for all the wrong reasons!) and the Toaplan Shooting Chronicle collection. Only one I found for sale though was £365. That's more than one night out with the wife I'd be sacrificing

[shaunholley]

@NIK - thanks. Knuckle Bash is not half bad, tbh, the action is quite quick and fluent. Yes, the shooting Chronicle is on my want list as well. A friend sent me the accompanying pdf, which is full of detailed enemy and level drawings. I've used some of it for the background on the podcast image.

[shaunholley]

Here's our next podcast, if you guys would like to listen. The featured game is Time Pilot, a fantastic shooter which requires you to ignore all vertical and horizontal skills you may have learned in favour of new techniques. A friend of mine (SMRaedis) described this as a game whereby the key to success is realising that you are really moving the enemy bullets on screen, and not your ship, as it remains static in the centre.




http://tenpencearcade.co.uk/?p=894