Cave's blog closing next month

[BIL]

KTII's biggest failing is right there in its name. Toaplan would've called a third heli STG "Gigaton Slingshot Neckbreaking Tiger" or something. They always avoided numerals on sequels.

[Despatche]

That's because they tried to avoid making them. The only sequels they've ever made are Same! Same! Same! which plays very little like Hishouzame (Daisenpuu is far closer to a "sequel"), and Tatsujinou which is also kinda weird compared to Tatsujin, and maybe V・V if you want to stretch it that far. Kyuukyoku Tiger II, actually, is similar to Tatsujinou. There's nothing wrong with having a numeral, as it's just a modifier like "ou", never mind that "Truxton II" was another name.

As for "Toaplan style"... Seibu ripped from Kyuukyoku Tiger and that earlier Toaplan really hard. Later Toaplan is a different style and DonPachi really does have a lot in common with that, especially as a chunk of it was made by the same guy/staff. I will always be able to call Raiden a "Toaplan clone".

(KTII's biggest failing is in not having fucking loops argh jesus christ fuck)

(juggling medals in the air with your weapons is ok. it's just an extension of twinbee, really)

[BIL]

Lately I've considered Slap Fight the sequel to Tiger Heli with the addition of speedups. If you avoid speeding up you'll be too slow to dodge anything on reaction and get powerups blown off your ship the moment you equip them. Just like in Tiger Heli! Ok not really.

PS

There's nothing wrong with having a numeral, as it's just a modifier like "ou", never mind that "Truxton II" was another name.

OVERRULED :[

A. I don't clearly remember any specific titles, but we wanted to avoid things like "Tatsujin II." We wanted to avoid numerical designations like that, because we wanted to draw people's attention to the fact that these were new games, not mere sequels.

;] ;] ;] ;3 ;3 ;3 ^__________^;;

[trap15]

Slap Fight does have a little bit of similarity to Tiger Heli, but Tiger Heli's sequel was Kyuukyoku Tiger. I believe Daisenpuu also fits in there somewhere, but I know Uemura or Yuge specifically said those two were essentially sequels to Tiger Heli.
Slap Fight's sequel is definitely V-V though.

[Despatche]

There's nothing wrong with having a numeral, as it's just a modifier like "ou", never mind that "Truxton II" was another name.

OVERRULED :[

A. I don't clearly remember any specific titles, but we wanted to avoid things like "Tatsujin II." We wanted to avoid numerical designations like that, because we wanted to draw people's attention to the fact that these were new games, not mere sequels.

;] ;] ;] ;3 ;3 ;3 ^__________^;;

Again, no argument there. I'm just saying that the Tigers are the Tigers, the Sames are the Sames, the Tatsujins are the Tatsujins, and despite the fact that they all feel like different games, someone thought it would be funny to use a biplane again here and a heli again there and give the games similar titles and themes.

Treasure was all about this too, and they didn't even have similar titles for the most part. Alien Soldier is obviously a successor to Gunstar Heroes in the same manner that Ikaruga is to Radiant Silvergun. You can even go back further with stuff like Donkey Kong into Mario Bros. into Super Mario Bros; there's your real Mario series.

Titles only really mean anything to the developers, anyway.

[BIL]

Titles only really mean anything to the developers, anyway.

Agreed about there being only limited connections between the Sames and Tigers, beyond their player aircraft and designated dangerous animals. But I do appreciate what Uemura said there, about their rejection of numerals reflecting their desire to not just churn out formulaic sequels. It's why I find the original NES Castlevania's prequel being called "Castlevania III" and its SNES remake "Castlevania IV" tacky as hell, compared to the original versions' more elegant "The Legend of..." and "[Same Title, It's A Remake]."

[Pretas]

Going to add that FixEight is very clearly the sequel to OutZone. One of the characters has the exact same attacks as OutZone's protagonist.

There's also Snow Bros. 2, and Toaplan had a sequel to their puzzle game Teki Paki in development when they folded.