Toaplan rights

[cools]

I could be wrong, but it appears that GP Holdings - they of GP2X fame - own the rights to Toaplans stuff.

Their new device the GP2X Caanoo can be purchased with a Toaplan game pack: Snow Bros2, Out Zone, Demon’s World, Truxton, Truxton 2, Wardner, Twin Cobra, Get Star, Flying Shark, Slap Fight, Hellfire, Zero Wing, Tiger Heli, Twin Hawk, Pipi & Bibi’s.

And the verts play in tate, properly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfGsy0jeOs0

[spadgy]

Looks like you might be right! That's pretty neat.

I have a Soft spot for GP Holdings' stuff too, so maybe I'll go for this.

Before seeing the video I was sceptical about how the ergonomics of the controls would feel playing vert on a handheld like this (tried vert on a PSP?), but this looks OK in that regard.

EDIT:What a game list too!

EDIT 2: Where did you see it for sale with the game pack list cools? I can find the system for sale (preorder) and I can find the Toaplan games individually in GPH's own app store, but I can't find the lot all together.

[cools]

Vert on a PSP was never much fun - controls too cramped and the device was too heavy to hold that way for any length of time. Never tried on a PSP Slim though.

I wonder if they'll add any other Toaplan stuff...

[spadgy]

Yeah - PSP vert was awful.

I found the Toaplan pack for $24 on Play-Asia. Looks like I'll get the device from a UK seller and access the the Toaplan stuff via PA, if I do buy this thing.

Anybody played one yet? The visuals look pretty nice...

[cools]

http://www.gameseek.co.uk/pd/Toysq2nw4t ... me-Package Any good?

It's a 320x240 screen so it should be perfect for most vert shooters.

[Sixx]

It looks pretty slick, but the price is pretty step..

[E. Randy Dupre]

I wouldn't call £125 for a new handheld plus a games pack "steep".

Really tempted by this, my only concern being - as ever - how much support it's going to get from the homebrew/emulation scene further down the line. That, plus the possibility of a more advanced version of the hardware being released six months after the first.

[njiska]

Slick. I may finally have a reason to buy it.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Watching that vid again, I've got to say that the vert setup looks pretty cramped on the hands - the two buttons could well be too close to the stick for comfort. Certain of the PSP games that supported this kind of setup allowed you to put fire controls onto the analogue slider and, apart from the unsuitability of the controller for that kind of digital on/off command, one of the biggest problems I found with doing that was that the unit suddenly became top-heavy and your view of the action on the screen suffered as a result of the thing moving around so much. I'm not sure that this is going to be any different - I suppose it largely depends on how heavy the unit is.

[GaijinPunch]

Very likely they are simply rolling the dice. The quoted interview is about a year old. Other people have gone on record saying they really don't know who the fuck own the rights (including someone at Cave AFAIK, but I can't find it. That was generated from the project mentioned below). In fact, it looks like Gazelle's Batsugun might not be so kosher.

Iona: What happened to Toaplan's copyrights when it went under?

Uemura: It's a gray area, even now. It seems the CEO made a couple of gentlemen's agreements... He said they were sold to Gazelle and Eighting, but it's unknown whether they went through the legal procedures or not. After Toaplan I did some work with a magazine. It was quite a while afterward when questions about the copyrights started coming in. I did some research but found nothing on paper that specifically states who owns what. I thought that Gazelle and Eighting, the company that manufactured the custom chip, had them all.

Iona: After all, Gazelle developed Batsugun and Toaplan Shooting Battle.

Uemura: We didn't just put those out there, but actually put them out under the assumption that we owned the copyright. After that we talked about wanting to do older titles with Scitron and others, but we didn't know exactly how to proceed and decided we shouldn't mess with something so dangerous. When I was at Cave and we started the mobile phone shooting site, we wanted to put out some older Toaplan titles and did a lot of research but once again decided against it.

Iona: Copyrights lead to dire situations?

Uemura: There's that, and you have no idea how long afterward a claim might come.

Source

[BIL]

Batsugun Saturn port: so good, it's fucking illegal!

[ZOM]

Horizontally?

I'm not sure I believe that they really have legal rights to publish their games, especially after reading the bit that GP posted.
But then again, reading that bit it doesn't seem all too hazardous to just take the risk and publish those games - if no one knows who the rights belong to, no one will send a C & D, right?

[emphatic]

Horizontally?

Best part was when he "corrected" himself.

[gameoverDude]

Tengen gets some thanks for trying a manic shooter with Grind Stormer on Genesis, but I think GS should have been saved for 32-bit systems. Sometimes the sprite dropout on the Genesis version gets you killed in places that would be no problem on the arcade.

The story GP shared could explain why we didn't see GS, Fire Shark, Truxton II etc. on the Saturn and/or PS1. Ving could have done a lot with a Saturn re-port of T2- the FM Towns one is a nice try but not perfect. While FS on Genesis isn't bad, the arcade version's audiovisuals do improve a bit on that.

I'm thinking about getting a Cannoo (125 quid = $195) later. Are there voltage issues with GPH's adapter being used on a US outlet?

[Domino]

I will have to point out that all the games that's with the Toaplan pack are perfectly playable in MAME. Games with issues (V-Five, Batsugun, Dogyuun) are not with the list.

[spadgy]

the two buttons could well be too close to the stick for comfort.

I do see what you mean. The buttons used when playing in vert look a bit small too.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Probably worth pointing out that, never having bought from - or even heard of - Gameseek before now, I thought I'd better have a search around before laying down a pre-order. Glad I did, because they seem to have an awful reputation - lots of people claiming never to have received goods, or to have got them late, and pretty much everybody saying that the customer service is pish, with telephone numbers that don't go to the right place and forms that aren't replied to.

Like I say, not used them myself, maybe it's an unfair representation. Complaints tend to be more vocal than praise. Just be wary if you decide to order one from them, I guess.

[antron]

I will have to point out that all the games that's with the Toaplan back are perfectly playable in MAME. Games with issues (V-Five, Batsugun, Dogyuun) are not with the list.

someone should point this out to the MAME team, in case a license was not purchased.

[spadgy]

Probably worth pointing out that, never having bought from - or even heard of - Gameseek before now, I thought I'd better have a search around before laying down a pre-order. Glad I did, because they seem to have an awful reputation - lots of people claiming never to have received goods, or to have got them late, and pretty much everybody saying that the customer service is pish, with telephone numbers that don't go to the right place and forms that aren't replied to.

Like I say, not used them myself, maybe it's an unfair representation. Complaints tend to be more vocal than praise. Just be wary if you decide to order one from them, I guess.

Thanks man - a good heads up. Their site does look dodgy cheap (though I guess that could be a little unfair)...

[Ed Oscuro]

I will have to point out that all the games that's with the Toaplan back are perfectly playable in MAME. Games with issues (V-Five, Batsugun, Dogyuun) are not with the list.

someone should point this out to the MAME team, in case a license was not purchased.

Or if they didn't make their changes to the MAME code open...

[Domino]

I will have to point out that all the games that's with the Toaplan back are perfectly playable in MAME. Games with issues (V-Five, Batsugun, Dogyuun) are not with the list.

someone should point this out to the MAME team, in case a license was not purchased.

Maybe I should.

[originalz]

I will have to point out that all the games that's with the Toaplan back are perfectly playable in MAME. Games with issues (V-Five, Batsugun, Dogyuun) are not with the list.

someone should point this out to the MAME team, in case a license was not purchased.

It uses a custom emulator. Some of these games were released for the WIZ console, and I bought one of the game packs that came with a few of these.

Here's the full list of games that they got the rights to: http://www.gp2xwiz.com/m3/sub5.php

I'm pretty sure this is legit, they did mention that it wasn't easy getting the rights and they made a big deal about it when the deal finalized.

[GaijinPunch]

Very, very interested to hear who they got the rights from...especially cosidering ex-employees couldn't find the holders. I guess it's possible that somebody abroad held the rights at each release, and thus would've avoided the Toaplan shit storm.

[grobda]

Vert on a PSP was never much fun - controls too cramped and the device was too heavy to hold that way for any length of time. Never tried on a PSP Slim though.

slim isn't much better, but at least the pad and screen are nicer. maybe mine was an early 'fat' but the LCD was too blurry for fast 2d.

i thought about a dingoo a320 as they're small (GBA sized) and cheap, but theres no handheld ive seen that will run vert games comfortably, closest was 1942 on a compaq ipac.

[Domino]

I didn't see buttons I and II on the Caanoo, that would make playing vertical a lot better on it. I could buy it right now but I need to see how fast homebrew and emulators are going to be on this thing.

http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/caanoo.cgi

Not much stuff is on the thing ATM. If stuff gets ported on the Caanoo at a fast rate then it would be worth it. My only real main issue is that the processor is outdated.

[Rozyrg]

Very tempted to just up and buy one of these strictly for all the Toaplan goodness. I hope this thing is worth it!

[dcharlie]

My Caanoo should be here today - will let people know how it is.

[Domino]

Sweet, let us know about the analog stick on it.

[emphatic]

My Caanoo should be here today - will let people know how it is.

Does it come with a paddle? That would be awesome for Ghox.

[dcharlie]

haha.

still waiting :/ Come on, EMS - where are you?

analogue stick , especially for 4 directional games is the main worry despite many people who have a caanoo saying it's fine. Also need to see just how good those I and II buttons are for vertical games. A couple of videos have shown some games running a little slow too - though one seems to be with the CPU clocked at 80% so hopefully it's all good.