Toaplan games coming to PC (Steam, GOG)

[Steven]

Yeah, that was weird, especially after they disabled the autofire when using the Thunder Laser in Tatsujin specifically to prevent the same thing from happening in that game, but maybe it's an old build or something. Hopefully they'll have that fixed for release.

[DietSoap]

They still haven't fixed all the issues in the last batch of games, have they?

[Steven]

Nope.

[Steven]

Is there a Hellfire 1P ROM with a blue forward shot? It's here on the Steam page and I have never seen this before.

[beer gas canister]

play the pink bullets romhack of Slap Fight yall

[Steven]

Just play Slap Fight however you can. Although Out Zone and Hishouzame are probably better games, Slap Fight is the best Toaplan game. A contradictory statement, but I don't care. Slap Fight is the best, and so is Out Zone.

[OmegaFlareX]

Nope.

I won't even bother wishlisting these new ones, then. Shameful.

[BrianC]

Is there a Hellfire 1P ROM with a blue forward shot? It's here on the Steam page and I have never seen this before.

I hope this doesn't mean they are using old incorrect dumps. I could have sworn I played a 1p version of Hellfire in an older version of Mame where the ship didn't change colors. Might have just been a 2p set, though.

[SeafoamGaming]

They still haven't fixed all the issues in the last batch of games, have they?

Yeah Vol 1 still has the pitch of the sound effects still off key and the new coin feature is still bugged to make it the same button as the normal shot, meaning if you don’t set it to automatic… have fun hearing the coin noise every time you fire. Was absolutely bewildered when i redownloaded outzone a week ago and some of the stuff they added like that coin feature broke things even more. Upsetting since the input response is very good and it could be the definitive port if all this got fixed

I reviewed Vol 1 and mainly had just the Evercade/M2 versions to go off of (save for Outzone which I had on the astro but let’s face it, anything not astro is better than astro) so I didn’t even notice the sound effects or the rom variant being off until reading posts here after my reviews went live, but yeah, I think it’s been long enough i can disclose that pre-launch of Vol 1 when I got my review copy, it was *even worse* in that the BGM had those audio pitch errors as well, and it was very, *very* bad before getting patched pre launch. Comparing those BGM tracks pre-launch to the Firecore Atgames consoles would be apt, unfortunately, and it seems the sound effects must be bugged in the same way the OSTs were at first. If the atgames tier Twin Cobra OST that made me want to go deaf was the one in the launch build, I would have probably given these ports all a 2 because of how horribad it was.

I dread to imagine how Tiger Heli’s sound effects would sound with bad PSG emulation. The PSG games would be way more noticeable and now that I’m aware of the things Vol 1 still has, rest assured I’ll do my best to cover Vol 2 when I can with harsh criticism if they somehow bring over these issues

[Steven]

Is there a Hellfire 1P ROM with a blue forward shot? It's here on the Steam page and I have never seen this before.

I hope this doesn't mean they are using old incorrect dumps. I could have sworn I played a 1p version of Hellfire in an older version of Mame where the ship didn't change colors. Might have just been a 2p set, though.

It is interesting that you would mention this because I had exactly the same experience on MiSTer. Like in your case, it might have been the 2P version, but I am pretty sure it was a 1P version where the colors didn't change. The audio on all MiSTer Toaplan games is broken as of the last time I checked, so who knows what their status is now.

Still no idea what is going on with this Steam .gif, but I'll probably figure it out one way or another.

save for Outzone which I had on the astro but let’s face it, anything not astro is better than astro

Definitely not anything; real Astro City + Out Zone PCB is basically always going to be the absolute best way to play the game, especially because that beautiful monitor is quite something and the game doesn't look quite right on a fixed pixel display for some reason. Toaplan games are meant to be played on table machines and not upright cabinets, but holy fuck does Out Zone (and Dogyuun!!, and Tatsujin Ou, and Zero Wing, and pretty much everything else) look good on a big upright arcade monitor.

[FunktionJCB]

For what is worth, the release of the next wave of games will also bring new (non detailed) improvements to the first wave of games:

https://twitter.com/Sakrac/status/1693199586943193495

[BrianC]

It is interesting that you would mention this because I had exactly the same experience on MiSTer. Like in your case, it might have been the 2P version, but I am pretty sure it was a 1P version where the colors didn't change. The audio on all MiSTer Toaplan games is broken as of the last time I checked, so who knows what their status is now.

I tired both 1p builds on MiSTer and the colors change like they are supposed to. Sound still seems off, though.

[Steven]

It is interesting that you would mention this because I had exactly the same experience on MiSTer. Like in your case, it might have been the 2P version, but I am pretty sure it was a 1P version where the colors didn't change. The audio on all MiSTer Toaplan games is broken as of the last time I checked, so who knows what their status is now.

I tired both 1p builds on MiSTer and the colors change like they are supposed too. Sound still seems off, though.

This was like 2 years ago. The sound only broke recently, though.

[SavagePencil]

So maybe it’s an emulation issue?

[spmbx]

Is it this issue or something new altogether?
https://github.com/jotego/jtopl/issues/11

Also, not getting the new batch of pc games after the way they handled the first.

[SeafoamGaming]

Review embargo lifted and this is the first to go live. https://fusionrgamer.com/2023/08/22/toa ... am-review/

I’m in the process of reviewing all four and will have mine done later this week. They patched em all yesterday very very close to the wire since yep, it had bugs. I almost threw a fit when i heard flying shark with choppy sound effects or Alcon with bad PSG emulation. Some bugs i noted still arent fixed either, so yeah, it’s like vol 1 for better or worse. Still with great input response as a result.

Oh and the hellfire gif was indeed the real in-game rom for a bit before this week’s patch. All the 1P max ship lasers were blue LOL. Now they’re as they should be but yeah this vol is coming in hot

[BIL]

Also, not getting the new batch of pc games after the way they handled the first.

You say that, but wait until you see the exclusive new intro featuring CATS chilling on the beach with TWO FINE HONEYS O_O

His radio crackles "CATS ITS TIME FOR VOLUME 2" and he says "NANI" and finishes his beer before running off to his spaceship! O_O

[SeafoamGaming]

For those who care, MAC version of the GOG release got canceled. Linux apparently still on track.

Gonna wait till launch to hope the slap fight psg audio is fixed, but if not… welp, that one’s getting roasted

[Steven]

Now that these are out I think I can say that I beta tested these, so I've actually had them for quite some time. This is why I asked about the blue Hellfire shot, actually; I played it and I was like WTF I've never seen this before. I actually think the less powered-up version of the blue shot looks pretty cool, so I'm kind of glad they left it in as an option, but the newest 1P ROM and 2P ROM are here too.

These are not perfectly arcade accurate, though; the slowdown in Hellfire and Hishouzame is missing (if it was a CAVE game people would boycott them whether the slowdown was intended or not, but I have no problem with getting rid of unintentional slowdown) and the Space Invaders alien is now Pipiru (I think), which is a cool change that I was kind of hoping for.



The sound...

needs some work.

[FunktionJCB]

Happy to see you "involved" in some way with these releases, Steven, considering your knowledge on these games (and also, you pretty much beta tested the volume 1 games anyway during the first few days ).

Looking forward to check out this new batch.

---

By the way, since the discounted bundle with the 4 games isn't currently appearing on Steam when searching the store, here's the direct link:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/3 ... tem_Ups_2/

[Steven]

Yeah, it was cool for Bitwave to bring me onboard. This is the last/only batch I'm going to test, though; I don't have enough knowledge of the other games. I've only played FixEight like twice... Tatsujin Ou is also going to come up eventually and that game is extremely scary, mostly for the wrong reasons.

I just wish I hadn't been so busy with work that it got in the way of me doing literally anything else. This is the busiest time of year for me and I've been working quite a lot recently, so my life has pretty much consisted only of work and sleep and sometimes food for the past month. I hope I didn't miss anything important in these.

[FunktionJCB]

This is the busiest time of year for me and I've been working quite a lot recently, so my life has pretty much consisted only of work and sleep and sometimes food for the past month.

Tell me about it.
I work as an accountant, in an office that was short of 2 workers during the most important and work-intensive period of the year, so from April until July, I had such long hours, on 6-7 work day weeks (trying to ensure everything was submitted on time, while doing both my work and the work of my missing colleagues), and skipping meals, most things from this period are a bit of a blur.
A month later, I still feel "jet-lagged".

Hopefully you'll be able to get a well deserved rest soon.

[Steven]

This is the busiest time of year for me and I've been working quite a lot recently, so my life has pretty much consisted only of work and sleep and sometimes food for the past month.

Tell me about it.
I work as an accountant, in an office that was short of 2 workers during the most important and work-intensive period of the year, so from April until July, I had such long hours, on 6-7 work day weeks (trying to ensure everything was submitted on time, while doing both my work and the work of my missing colleagues), and skipping meals, most things from this period are a bit of a blur.
A month later, I still feel "jet-lagged".

Hopefully you'll be able to get a well deserved rest soon.

lol nope, I will be rather busy until December or maybe mid-November at the earliest. There are a lot of days in the early part of the year when I have literally nothing to do, though, so I'm essentially making up for being kind of useless for half of the year now.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the Slap Fight difficulty DIP switches are kind of fucked up.

[FunktionJCB]

lol nope, I will be rather busy until December or maybe mid-November at the earliest.

Well, best of luck for this tough period of time.

[The Coop]

Just so you guys know, there's going to be a Vol. 3 and a Vol. 4 with the other eight shmups from Toaplan. So Tiger Heli, Twin Hawk, Grind Stormer, Batsugun, Truxton II, Dogyuun, FixEight and Vimana are planned. This comes straight from one of the developers.

[Bassa-Bassa]

the slowdown in Hellfire and Hishouzame is missing (if it was a CAVE game people would boycott them whether the slowdown was intended or not, but I have no problem with getting rid of unintentional slowdown)

I don't think the actual matter was in the end whether the slowdown was "intended" or not whatever the game or the company, but that getting rid of it just makes of it a different version you can't use to compare scores. Or to really know how the original was, for that matter.

[BulletMagnet]

Just so you guys know, there's going to be a Vol. 3 and a Vol. 4 with the other eight shmups from Toaplan. So Tiger Heli, Twin Hawk, Grind Stormer, Batsugun, Truxton II, Dogyuun, FixEight and Vimana are planned. This comes straight from one of the developers.

Hopefully Grind Stormer and Batsugun will include the V-V and Special Version variants. I also wonder if the team is considering a "bonus" collection or two featuring some of Toaplan's non-shmup stuff, like Taki Paki or Ghox.

[Steven]

By this point I imagine most people have given up, but patches are here. Unfortunately, the patch notes don't mention anything about adding the best version of Out Zone or fixing the eternally broken audio.

They also started locking threads on the Steam forums that dare to mention anything that's broken. That's... promising.

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

This is cringe.

I'm hoping the devs, or dev anywaay, still reads this.

Don't do this. Just own up. People will genuinely take a "we'll fix it in a year" better than feedback shutdown and being ignored.

(Of course, what's actually happening behind the scenes is unknown to me. If nothing can reasonably be done, that's a bummer)

[ttiki]

I paid for the first 4 games, but they have definitely lost me with the decision to close all bug reporting threads.

A pity that such a promising project has ended like this.