M2 ports nearly all Toaplan games to modern platforms

[LoneSage]

How the fuck did it take 2+ years from announcement to...another announcement it will release in March next year. Epidemic or not that's just shabby. All they had to do was port old games.

edit: oh, this might be the second volume.

 

[Jeneki]

They don't seem to be in a hurry. So far there's only been six M2 ShotTriggers releases since 2016. Nine games total if you count GetStar and Teki Paki.

 

[Tarma]

They don't seem to be in a hurry. So far there's only been six M2 ShotTriggers releases since 2016. Nine games total if you count GetStar and Teki Paki.

I just hope that the Toaplan releases are not delaying the other titles M2 could / should be working on. Esprade was the last Cave release prior to the Toaplan Arcade Garage Vol 1, and we haven't had any Raizing stuff for a while either.

Even if they release four Toaplan packs per year (1 per quarter), it will be a few years before they're done with all Toaplan's games.

As much as I appreciate this series, and look forward to the ports of Flying Shark, OutZone and Dogyuun among others, I'd love to see Batrider, Bakraid and Ibara get ported as well... sooner rather than later!

 

[KGRAMR]

I just hope that the Toaplan releases are not delaying the other titles M2 could / should be working on. Esprade was the last Cave release prior to the Toaplan Arcade Garage Vol 1, and we haven't had any Raizing stuff for a while either.

Even if they release four Toaplan packs per year (1 per quarter), it will be a few years before they're done with all Toaplan's games.

As much as I appreciate this series, and look forward to the ports of Flying Shark, OutZone and Dogyuun among others, I'd love to see Batrider, Bakraid and Ibara get ported as well... sooner rather than later!

Well, you got your wish granted... Kind of. Batrider and Bakraid are being included on the Sega Astro Mini V alongside Dogyuun and Out Zone. Yep, this thing will feature the first ports of those titles...

『アストロシティミニ V』2022年夏発売決定＆予約開始。初移植となる『アウトゾーン』『デザートブレイカー』など22本を収録 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

2020年12月にセガトイズより発売された“アストロシティミニ”の後継バージョンとなる“アストロシティミニ V”が発表された。“アストロシティミニ V”は2022年夏発売予定で、価格は19580円［税込］。今回はタテ画面を採用しており、以下の22本のゲームを収録予定だ。

www.famitsu.com

 

[KGRAMR]

In a way this is related to M2 and Toaplan but i'll make this as brief as possible. This is a Kickstarter for a documentary about Toaplan featuring former members of the company talking about the games they worked on like Tatsuya Uemura and Masahiro Yuge, but also people who haven't been interviewed since that Gamest feature like Koetsu Iwabuchi (artist of Twin Cobra) and others who have never even talked about their days at the company like Estuhiro Wada (creator of Wardner). It'll also feature Naoki Horii of M2 talking about Toaplan so, that's why i felt posting this here

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO TOAPLAN

東亜プランのドキュメンタリー映画 (English Promo video below Japanese Promo video)

www.kickstarter.com

 

[Tarma]

Well, you got your wish granted... Kind of. Batrider and Bakraid are being included on the Sega Astro Mini V alongside Dogyuun and Out Zone. Yep, this thing will feature the first ports of those titles...

『アストロシティミニ V』2022年夏発売決定＆予約開始。初移植となる『アウトゾーン』『デザートブレイカー』など22本を収録 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

2020年12月にセガトイズより発売された“アストロシティミニ”の後継バージョンとなる“アストロシティミニ V”が発表された。“アストロシティミニ V”は2022年夏発売予定で、価格は19580円［税込］。今回はタテ画面を採用しており、以下の22本のゲームを収録予定だ。

www.famitsu.com

Yeah, I'd read about that... I'll probably pick one up. I liked the first Astro, although the scanlines effect Sega used was shit.

I'd still prefer to see proper M2 ports of Batrider and Bakraid. The Astro is just basically a fancy ROM box... the games aren't ported to these mini-systems.

 

[terry.330]

I hate all these shitty little candy cab replicas. The last thing I want to do is be stuck playing on dinky screen on aplastic piece of junk with half assed emulation. An M2 port of Batrider would be awesome, definitely a game that deserves that kind of treatment.

 

[geladobom]

Pick a emulator, make your own favorite list. Done.

 

[Tarma]

I hate all these shitty little candy cab replicas. The last thing I want to do is be stuck playing on dinky screen on aplastic piece of junk with half assed emulation. An M2 port of Batrider would be awesome, definitely a game that deserves that kind of treatment.

There were rumours that they had ported it to PS4 but weren't happy with how it ran... which I find really bizarre, as the PS4 is waaay more powerful than the original arcade board ever was, should be able to run old Raizing games in its sleep.

Seeing how Garegga was ported so succesfully to the Saturn (old hardware) and the PS4 (modern hardware), I fail to see how the PS4 could not do Batrider or Bakraid justice.

 

[KGRAMR]

There were rumours that they had ported it to PS4 but weren't happy with how it ran... which I find really bizarre, as the PS4 is waaay more powerful than the original arcade board ever was, should be able to run old Raizing games in its sleep.

Seeing how Garegga was ported so succesfully to the Saturn (old hardware) and the PS4 (modern hardware), I fail to see how the PS4 could not do Batrider or Bakraid justice.

I think M2 don't just emulate the shoot 'em up titles. IIRC, they do reverse engineering to add all of the fancy extras, like the ones in the Tiger-Heli collection for example, into their STG titles. It might also explain the approach they're taking with the Toaplan games. Apparently, M2 has only one guy who knows how to reverse-engineer the Toaplan PCBs. God forbid the poor soul at M2 tasked with reverse-engineering a Seibu Kaihatsu PCB, as i've heard horror stories just to crack their devilish protection methods.

 

[Tarma]

I think M2 don't just emulate the shoot 'em up titles. IIRC, they do reverse engineering to add all of the fancy extras, like the ones in the Tiger-Heli collection for example, into their STG titles. It might also explain the approach they're taking with the Toaplan games. Apparently, M2 has only one guy who knows how to reverse-engineer the Toaplan PCBs. God forbid the poor soul at M2 tasked with reverse-engineering a Seibu Kaihatsu PCB, as i've heard horror stories just to crack their devilish protection methods.

Interesting to know! But it still raizes questions about the portability, as afaik Batrider and Bakraid both use Toaplan boards - the same board that Garegga uses. I may very well be wrong on that of course.

 

[slap_fight]

It'll be nice to get Ghox finally, with proper support. The rest are also welcome but whether they aren't buggy and or having frame-rate issues is another story. Still good news.

 

[roker]

I wish I could’ve afforded the PCB back in the day when they were just everywhere. It’s not that I can’t buy batrider or bakraid right now but it just doesn’t make sense from a financial standpoint especially with all the real world things I’m trying to accomplish.

At the rate they’re going, I’ll be in my 50s when M2 finally fucking releases those ports

 

[Tarma]

I wish I could’ve afforded the PCB back in the day when they were just everywhere. It’s not that I can’t buy batrider or bakraid right now but it just doesn’t make sense from a financial standpoint especially with all the real world things I’m trying to accomplish.

At the rate they’re going, I’ll be in my 50s when M2 finally fucking releases those ports

I'm pretty much in the same boat... having the PCBs is nice, but they're just not worth it to me, when M2's stuff is so accurate.

I'm sure Batrider and Bakraid will arrive eventually. I've owned both on PCB previously, but sold them when people were willing to pay me stupid amounts of money to own them. I really miss Bakraid, but I'm confident that M2 will port it (and Batrider) and then I'll be really happy.

 

[slap_fight]

I'm pretty much in the same boat... having the PCBs is nice, but they're just not worth it to me, when M2's stuff is so accurate.

I'm sure Batrider and Bakraid will arrive eventually. I've owned both on PCB previously, but sold them when people were willing to pay me stupid amounts of money to own them. I really miss Bakraid, but I'm confident that M2 will port it (and Batrider) and then I'll be really happy.

A Batrider/Bakraid set would be superb and on the heels (now several years removed) from Garegga it seems possible, frame rate issues aside.

 

[Tarma]

A Batrider/Bakraid set would be superb and on the heels (now several years removed) from Garegga it seems possible, frame rate issues aside.

Another point to consider as well is the demand - the community of gamers that buy the Shottriggers releases have been crying out for Batrider to be ported for years. 8ing are not holding anything up, and therefore the sales gain that M2 would likely receive makes this a no brainer from a commerical point of view.

I'm sure Bakraid would then follow. Personally I'd prefer Bakraid over Batrider, but appreciate I am in a severe minority in that opinion.

Ideally we get both!

Ideally we won't have to wait until the Toaplan series is concluded...

 

[Gremlin]

Another point to consider as well is the demand - the community of gamers that buy the Shottriggers releases have been crying out for Batrider to be ported for years. 8ing are not holding anything up, and therefore the sales gain that M2 would likely receive makes this a no brainer from a commerical point of view.

I'm sure Bakraid would then follow. Personally I'd prefer Bakraid over Batrider, but appreciate I am in a severe minority in that opinion.

Ideally we get both!

Ideally we won't have to wait until the Toaplan series is concluded...

I think the biggest problem is that these don't actually make M2 any money. They've admitted that they're passion projects and generally don't recoup their costs, and I feel like if Garegga wasn't profitable then Batrider doesn't have much of a chance.

I think that's extra clear with them now trickling out the vintage Toaplan shooters in expensive twin packs, they're going fully into the anime weeb sales strategy of selling 400 copies at 3x the price

 

[roker]

Another point to consider as well is the demand - the community of gamers that buy the Shottriggers releases have been crying out for Batrider to be ported for years. 8ing are not holding anything up, and therefore the sales gain that M2 would likely receive makes this a no brainer from a commerical point of view.

I'm sure Bakraid would then follow. Personally I'd prefer Bakraid over Batrider, but appreciate I am in a severe minority in that opinion.

Ideally we get both!

Ideally we won't have to wait until the Toaplan series is concluded...

I like how fast paced both games are but Batrider has better music and style.

I dunno. Both are good but APB just has a shit ton of variety. It’s just one of those games I couldn’t get bored of.

Regardless, I’ve refused to play either for years. Friend of mine who had the pcbs moved away. Never felt the same on emulation.