Who owns the rights to Toaplan's old stuff?

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 2:38 pm

Does anyone know who (if anyone) owns the rights to this insane library of old stuff. I suppose it's likely spread across a number of different publishers, but with Taito sort of pouring the love on the PS2 I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they somehow accquired the rights to start putting out some of these classics. Arcade FireShark anyone?

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:46 pm

I think Banpresto had something to do with the Saturn Batsugun port (the pre-title screen named it as one of the "Toaplan Legendary Series"), though I'm not sure what kind of rights, if any, the company owns.

Metal Gear Okt · Post by **Metal Gear Okt** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:48 pm

For that matter, who owns the rights to the old Compile stuff?

God, I'd kill for a new Guardian Legend.

serge · Post by **serge** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 4:26 pm

About Compile stuff: it's Aiky (http://www.aiky.biz), apparently with the exception of PuyoPuyo rights.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 4:32 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:I think Banpresto had something to do with the Saturn Batsugun port (the pre-title screen named it as one of the "Toaplan Legendary Series"), though I'm not sure what kind of rights, if any, the company owns.

Indeed, big Banpresto screen right before the "Toaplan legendary series" logo.

I will add, that "legendary series" title makes me weep because it naturally leads me to believe Banpresto was planning to port more Toaplan games for the system.

chtimi-CLA · Post by **chtimi-CLA** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 6:25 pm

the banpresto logo is also in toaplan shooting battle. it came out after toaplan's failure so banpresto bought either all toaplan rights, or rights for specific games.
anyway they had to buy the rights from some entity, that may or may not still exist. since banpresto still exists, no toaplan rights have evaporated (ie. scattered amongst former employees), unless in the unfortunate possibility that that entity no longer exists and banpresto didn't buy all toaplan rights.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 7:25 pm

The thing to keep in mind is that just because Banpresto owned it then, that does not mean they own it now. They may have obtained rights specifically for those releases.

This question is one with a lot of tantilizing possibilities once you consider just how many great shmups Toaplan made, and how many never even got a console release.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 7:27 pm

I know that someone made a cell phone Twin Cobra recently, but I'm not sure who.

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 7:52 pm

If only the rights were being shopped around and we, as a community, could put together a collective pool to buy them. What if shmups.com owned Toaplan's catalogue and we could get the geek gurus working on some stuff? Oh, I'll just shut-up.

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 9:33 pm

A bit off topic but i have to say - YAHOOOO!!

I've just won an original Dogyuun board with original artwork on ebay!
Erm....carry on.

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 9:35 pm

Ord wrote:A bit off topic but i have to say - YAHOOOO!! I've just won an original Dogyuun board with original artwork on ebay!
Erm....carry on.

Congrats you lucky lucky _ _ _ _ _ _ _ umm..... Guy (yeah thats what I meant)

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 11:57 pm

8 1/2 wrote:If only the rights were being shopped around and we, as a community, could put together a collective pool to buy them. What if shmups.com owned Toaplan's catalogue and we could get the geek gurus working on some stuff? Oh, I'll just shut-up.

Ahh, a wonderful dream... not gonna happen, but nice anyway.

benstylus · Post by **benstylus** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 12:16 am

serge wrote:About Compile stuff: it's Aiky (http://www.aiky.biz), apparently with the exception of PuyoPuyo rights.

Yes, Compile sold Puyo Puyo to Sega to scrape together some extra cash in order to avoid going under - sadly, they still eventually folded.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 7:27 am

Wasn't Batsugun Toaplan's last game? Did it go bankrupt right after? Did anyone read that Progear article translation:

Inoue: The idea of firepower changing based on the male/female pair was actually something we had thought about for the sequel to Batsugun.

If Batsugun was the last game, wouldn't Inoue & IKD been well on their way to Cave when they were planning Batsugun's sequel?

incognoscente · Post by **incognoscente** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 8:08 am

Toaplan was still in business for a few months following the release of Batsugun. I have a feeling this interim was the time the Batsugun sequel was being planned.

After Toaplan, Inoue went to Gazelle (Air Gallet) before joining Cave. He did not work on Donpachi (though he did work on Dodonpachi).
Ikeda went to Cave directly following Toaplan's demise.

gunbird18 · Post by **gunbird18** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:30 am

Ord wrote:A bit off topic but i have to say - YAHOOOO!! I've just won an original Dogyuun board with original artwork on ebay!
Erm....carry on.

Congrats, ord! I had that auction in my ebay watchlist, even though I have no hardware to play it on

. Maybe I figured that if I bid on it and won it that I would have to break down and buy a supergun or a cab, huh?

Palmer Eldritch · Post by **Palmer Eldritch** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:15 am

GaijinPunch wrote:Wasn't Batsugun Toaplan's last game? Did it go bankrupt right after?

IIRC V-Five/Grindstormer was Toaplan´s last shooter (released same year as Batsugun, but after), but their last game was Snow Bros. 2 - With new Elves.
I believe they went belly up after completion but before having a chance to release the game. That was done sometime later the same year, 1994, by Hanafram (?).

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 8:02 am

gunbird18 wrote:
Ord wrote:A bit off topic but i have to say - YAHOOOO!! I've just won an original Dogyuun board with original artwork on ebay!
Erm....carry on.
Congrats, ord! I had that auction in my ebay watchlist, even though I have no hardware to play it on . Maybe I figured that if I bid on it and won it that I would have to break down and buy a supergun or a cab, huh?

It just arrived this morning and it is excellent. when you do move on to the Supergun route i highly recommend this game.

Last Guardian · Post by **Last Guardian** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 12:49 pm

Cthulhu wrote:
8 1/2 wrote:If only the rights were being shopped around and we, as a community, could put together a collective pool to buy them. What if shmups.com owned Toaplan's catalogue and we could get the geek gurus working on some stuff? Oh, I'll just shut-up.
Ahh, a wonderful dream... not gonna happen, but nice anyway.

Maybe , but reading the first post I thought, hmm, might be a something to investigate further if I had the financial resources and understanding of Japanese busniness/publishing rights. Having the first would certainly make the second a lot easier.

I mean there's plenty of shooters being recycled of late so it must be viable ?

Metal Gear Okt · Post by **Metal Gear Okt** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:05 pm

Considering that the budgets of shmups are miniscule by modern standards, if all of us (and maybe the click-stick forums) chipped in like $20, we could probably commission a game by a major shmup dev (treasure/cave/etc).

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:10 pm

I'm in. I'd drop a lot of money for Toaplan shooting battle vol. 2!

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:44 pm

It just arrived this morning and it is excellent. when you do move on to the Supergun route i highly recommend this game.

How much did it run you, if I may?

Considering that the budgets of shmups are miniscule by modern standards

This is not necessarily true. I happen to know for a fact that Activision were in talks with Treasure on buying Radiant Silvergun to port to the Playstation (in Japan and the US) but they wanted too much for the game, and they would've scratched at best.

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 8:39 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:
How much did it run you, if I may?

£60. However the board & artwork really are in fantastic condition. Like new in fact!

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 9:00 pm

Not bad. Mine was a bit cheaper, but no original artwork.

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 10:36 pm

Toaplan games are featured on various Ultracade arcade cabs. Some entity must have licensed the Toaplan game rights to Ultracade, as Ultracade (which is legit and legal), is basically a computer running licensed roms off an emulator.

Someone contact the Ultracade guys and find out who owns the Toplan rights!

Zhon · Post by **Zhon** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 2:49 am

Metal Gear Okt wrote:Considering that the budgets of shmups are miniscule by modern standards, if all of us (and maybe the click-stick forums) chipped in like $20, we could probably commission a game by a major shmup dev (treasure/cave/etc).

We've got, oh, 800 registered members, 100+ with no posts. That makes perhaps $16k - enough to buy a devkit and maybe pay a single coder for 3 months?

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 3:01 am

Depends on the devkit you're talking about, and if that's the coder's only job or not. The rights to any half-decent game would cost way more than that anyway.

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 3:30 am

Metal Gear Okt wrote:For that matter, who owns the rights to the old Compile stuff?

God, I'd kill for a new Guardian Legend.