Toaplan Arcade Shoot ‘Em up Collection

Developer: Toaplan, Bitwave Games
Publisher: Bitwave Games
Platforms: Windows
Release Date: 14 February 2023
Price: $7.99 USD / $11.79 AUD – Available Here (Zero Wing), Available Here (Outzone) Available Here (Twin Cobra) Available Here (Truxton)

Overview

Back in the mid to late 1980s/90s, many of the big video game publishers that you know and love today such as Capcom, Midway, Namco, Konami and many others were competing for a chunk of a very profitable industry: Arcade gaming. Toaplan was one such company. Their “Shmup” – or shoot ‘em up – games enjoyed great popularity worldwide and they even received ports for many consoles of that era. This collection – although the titles are currently sold separately – includes four of their most beloved games: Twin Cobra, Truxton, Zero Wing and Out Zone.

Story

Since these are old arcade games, there isn’t any story to speak of. Some home ports did include at least a short description at the beginning of the game. In some cases, there were even cutscenes using static images. The Western version of Zero Wing for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis even gained worldwide notoriety because of its poor translation. Gems such as “All your base are belong to us” or “For great justice” are still quoted even today.

Gameplay

The games included in this collection are faithful conversions of their arcade counterparts. This means that they’re super hard. Unforgiving even. Players need not fret though: Bitwave was kind enough to include a number of options to help new players ease into the challenges ahead. Options that would otherwise only be accessible to arcade cabinet owners are readily available in the in-game menu. There, you can adjust the difficulty, number of lives and also choose between Japanese and Western ROMS. 

The accessibility sub-menu features, among other things, adjustable health points, the option to toggle on auto-dodge, auto-fire and so on. There’s also a practice mode where players can choose the exact checkpoint that they’re having difficulty with. These options work in all four games and they can even be mixed to create new ways to enjoy these timeless classics. 

The evolution in graphics, mechanics and sound between these titles is so perceptible, it’s almost palpable, especially considering that they’re separated by roughly three years; from Twin Cobra, released in 1987 to Out Zone which came out in 1990. They don’t look, sound or feel like such old games. It helps that they’re so much fun to play, of course.

Being the oldest game in the collection, Twin Cobra is also the simplest but just as fun as its successors. Twin Cobra is a military-themed shooter where players control a helicopter that can be equipped with four very distinct types of upgradeable weapons. Your ship is also capable of dropping bombs that cover a big portion of the screen. At the end of each stage, big bosses that are sometimes impossibly difficult await. This game’s pacing is a bit slower and more methodical when compared to the other games in this collection. Twin Cobra includes all the features that would become hallmarks not only in Toaplan’s subsequent shooters but also in the genre by and large. 

Truxton is one of the most beloved arcade shooters that I know of. At first glance, it’s like Twin Cobra on steroids; Truxton uses a similar multi-scrolling gameplay: The screen scrolls vertically automatically, but as you move your ship sideways, more of the screen – and also enemies – is uncovered. 

The graphics are a huge step up when compared to older Toaplan titles; everything is bigger, chunkier and crisper. Enemies are also more abundant.

The background this time is some sort of alien invasion. Aboard your ship, which resembles a moth, you must advance through the various stages infested with creatures that are sometimes a fusion between metal and flesh. It reminds me of R-Type but less grotesque. This time, your arsenal consists of a machine gun with a decent spread that’s very similar to the one in Twin Cobra, a powerful green plasma that can pierce enemies and a huge and beautiful blue laser that can lock in on multiple enemies and covers the entire screen at full power. Your bomb gives your ship invincibility much faster than in Twin Cobra, but it only covers the area around your ship. 

The game progression in Truxton is fast and hard; the bullets come at you at a ridiculous fast speed. In later stages, your only way to advance is to memorize safe spots since it’s impossible to dodge all the bullets that enemies shoot at you. You can’t go wrong with any of the games in this collection but Truxton is definitely something special.

Zero Wing uses a similar thematic to Truxton, but, this time, the aliens are less mechanical and more “disgusting”. 

Gameplay-wise, Zero Wing is a complete departure from the last two titles. It plays like a side-scroller similar to games such as Gradius or Darius. As such, you now need to pay attention to your surroundings since you’ll lose a ship if you collide with any obstacle; as a result, Zero Wing seems to be the least beginner-friendly game in the collection.

A pretty neat mechanic in Zero Wing is the tractor beam that replaces the bombs in the aforementioned games. The tractor beam can pull in most simple enemies – among other more explosive objects – that attach to your ship and provide defense from a single shot. You can also press the beam button again to use your enemies as weapons. This unique mechanic kept me curious and guessing what else I could do with the tractor beam. Maybe that’s why I died so much in my short time with this game.

Last, but not least, we have Out Zone: “A game nobody knows”. Jokes apart, Out Zone is pretty obscure. It was launched in arcades and that was it: No home port, no nothing. This is the first official version of Out Zone outside of arcades ever. “Better late than never” as they say.

Out Zone uses a high-tech military background. It plays like a run ‘n gun game with a top-down view. Technically, it feels like another generation; it’s just one of the many examples of how fast video games evolved at the time. 

Out Zone features a curious mechanic that I have only seen in the first Wonder Boy game: Your soldier has a health bar that depletes as time passes. The only way to replenish it is by collecting “E” icons throughout the stages. If your life bar reaches zero you lose a life. The controls are fast, fluid and precise. Out Zone is a joy to play and it’s also the most distinct game out of the four.

Visuals & Audio

All the games look exactly like their arcade counterparts. If you play them in release order, the experience feels somewhat like a trip to a video game museum. Don’t be fooled though; the artistry employed in these games is impressive and timeless. It’s even better when you can customize your visual experience to such a degree thanks to all the distinct filters that can be tweaked in minutiae.

Unfortunately, the sound department didn’t receive such care. You can’t even adjust volume levels in-game. The games’ soundtrack is a huge part of what makes them so special, but here they feel a bit weak in some titles. The FX doesn’t sound that accurate either.

Overall

This a solid Toaplan compilation from Bitwave. The games included feel wonderful to play thanks to the low input lag. It’s a shame that Bitwave couldn’t quite get the sound right in some titles. Regardless, Toaplan Arcade Shoot ‘Em Up Collection is a perfect starting point for players new to Shmups and it’s also a decent way to play these games overall.

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