Toaplan sluething!!

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:41 pm

OK Toaplan fans - I need your help. The following was I believe part of an interview with Toaplan musician Tatsuya Uemura (Flying Shark, Tiger Heli, Hellfire). He talks about the genesis of Toaplan - the arcade development companies Orca and Clax.

"One of the Clax programmers, Orca's chief designer, is currently the president of Cave. Orca's chief programmer is now president of another game company which is a subcontractor of Takara (Japanese top toy maker)."

This is going back about a half dozen years. Orca's 'chief designer' mentioned is I believe Kenichi Takano - founder and president of Cave. Does anyone know who the cryptic 'chief programmer' may be? I'm guessing it could be Masahiro Yuge, who went on to form Takumi, but I'm not getting the Takara reference. Any suggestions?

I'm really after any evidence that Yuge was in fact working at Orca/Clax before Toaplan if possible.

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:45 pm

And Orca made Funky Bee. That explains a lot...

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:03 am

Hmmm... I remember an interview where Orca and Clax were talked about, but I could have sworn it was with Joker Jun... but he didn't join until later...

I'll look around my old links and tell you if I find it. You could also try PMing incognoscente, who knows a little about Toaplan. A little.

incognoscente · Post by **incognoscente** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 6:21 am

Mike:
The text in question is from Tatsuya Uemura's website, not from an interview. (Well, the English version that you were reading is technically from Toaplan.com before being crossposted elsewhere.) Also, the company name was Crux, not Clax. Transliteration mistake in the toaplan.com article.

Toshiaki Ohta is the programmer. Tamsoft is the company.

Yuge was employed at Orca. I am not certain if he joined Crux before it folded.

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 10:38 am

Thanks for the above confirmation and clarification. I've been through all Orca's games looking at the score tables, the only two with named entries are Zodiak and Epial. And lo and behold - T. Ohta is in the Espial score table (middle). Wondering if (KITA ) might refer to Kenichi Takano - also shown as K.T. in Gyrodine? Can't see explicit references to Yuge or Uemura. It doesn't really confirm anything of course, but it's interesting nonetheless.

tommyb · Post by **tommyb** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:44 pm

Nothing to do with this thread really, but I was gonna post another thread about it, but I figure I'd post it in a thread where people obviously know/like Toaplan.

I'm just now getting into Toaplan games, and was wondering what are the best versions of their games, the arcade ones or the console counterparts?

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 8:06 pm

tommyb wrote;

I'm just now getting into Toaplan games, and was wondering what are the best versions of their games, the arcade ones or the console counterparts?

The answer to that is of course the arcade originals, and I mean the actual PCBs not MAME emulations either. For some reason the Toaplan games don't run well on MAME, either total lack of sound or jerky scrolling and non-exact control of your craft (At least on Tatsujin/Truxton).
As for console ports, the PC Engine Hucard of Tatsujin/Truxton is pretty perfect. The Twin Cobra is also good but not perfect - slower and easier than the PCB.
I can't comment of the FM Towns Marty carts of Toaplan games though, maybe they were also arcade perfect...?
Hellfire, Truxton, V.V, Fire Shark and Twin Cobra should all be played on PCB if at all possible.
Vimana is a non-essential purchase, unless you're a collector and want to complete your set.

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 8:07 pm

Arcade, 'natch. The problem is, MAME can't emulate the music in a few of their game: Fire Shark, V-V, Batsugun... maybe some others. I'd still prefer going without emulated music and just playing my own in all but Batsugun's case. Its Saturn port is great and has tate.

Of course, the Megadrive port of Zero Wing is an amazing audio-visual experience.

Rupert H · Post by **Rupert H** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 8:48 pm

DEL wrote: I can't comment of the FM Towns Marty carts of Toaplan games though, maybe they were also arcade perfect...?

They look amazing until you realise that rather than offer a tate option (Batsugun and Toaplan Shooting Battle home versions) or a half screen alternative (Mega Drive Tatsujin or V-V) they just zoomed the screen in to remove the borders, making bullets suddenly appear out of nowhere. Very cramped and difficult to play. If any game doesn't need an artificial difficulty increase due to poor conversion, it's Tatsujin Ou.