Shmups

Amongst the non-shmup titles shown, there's news about:

-Earthion EXA Label -Demon Front EXA Label -Batsugun EXA Label 1.5 -Airgallet EXA Label

There's also word of a new version of Wild Guns Reloaded called "Wild Guns Rawhide" for any gallery shooter fans out there (think Cabal, or Neo Geo's Nam 1975).

If you don't have an arcade nearby, all you need is about ten grand to get an eXa cabinet and a game cart for yourself -- OOF.

Galaxian is a proto-shmup to be sure, but I thought this was an interesting obscurity. Not surprised we didn't get this over here, since I'm pretty sure Gundam was relatively unheard-of back when this got made.

From the description:

In episode 075, MetalFRO and Addicted look at a spooky shooter that delves into the nightmares from the perspective of a child's inner mind - NeverAwake!

And, just a quick personal update: I'm going to start posting and modding this community from my alt account because as much as I love lemmus.org, I've run into a couple of federation issues -- like whole threads of comments not showing up.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro 01:24 Sonic Wings Reunion 02:55 Super XYX - Console Release 03:51 Six On Fire 04:38 Operation High Jump 05:17 Wolf Fang / Skull Fang Saturn Tribute 06:17 Undeadline (MSX) for Switch 07:07 Super Spacefortress Macross - Arcade Archives 07:52 Toaplan Arcade 3 / 4 - Evercade 09:06 Kamikaze Lassplanes 10:00 Crystal Breaker 11:03 Airanblade - Release 11:44 Rogue Flight 12:32 Lunar Lancer 13:13 Neon Inferno 14:43 Mekkablood 16:02 BUN GA RUA - Girl's Extreme Fist 17:08 Wrap Up

FTA: "It will launch on May 29, 2025 in Japan with support for English, French. German, Portuguese, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese language options."

So if it doesn't come out internationally (no word on that yet), you could still grab a physical edition from Japan without having to cope with Japanese menus (*cough* DOJ *cough*).

From the article:

Angel at Dusk (Sanuk, 7th Nov, $14.99) - The newest answer to shmups. A game which is "uncompromisingly skeletal". That is, a game in which every last ounce of excess has been cut away, and only its framework quintessence remains. Bones free themselves of flesh, laying waste to needless entrails! Revealing a skeleton of extraordinarily strength.

The relevant bit from the larger article:

Following the recent delisting of Live Wire's port of the arcade shooting game Mushihimesama, they've just announced that their remaining Cave ports will also be unavailable for digital purchase from December 2 due to an expiration of their publishing license. As they stand, DoDonPachi Resurrection is currently available on Steam and iOS and will remain available for the foreseeable future, but Espgaluda II's previous ports (a Japan-only Xbox 360 port and an iOS port) are long unavailable, meaning there are no current commercial alternatives to the Switch version. Do note that both games have received separate physical runs in North America, Japan and, very recently, Europe, so you may want to look into those while the prices are still somewhat reasonable.

That Radiant Silvergun package looks neat.

More Toaplan! They're so hot right now! /s

I wouldn't necessarily suggest getting an Evercade to everyone. But if you already bought into the ecosystem, then you might find this review handy.

Toaplan's been getting a lot of love lately, what with Slap Fight and GrindStormer[ set for release on modern consoles, the announcement of a new Evercade collection, and today we get the news that Twin Cobra, Slap Fight and Grind Stormer are all going to get brand new deluxe, physical releases for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.

Now that I think about it, the Genesis is getting a lot of love these days, too!

From the description:

Hey, everyone.

Are you ready for another MTP episode? In this one, I speak with DharmaPunk about his experiences with arcade shooters.

We went with more of a casual, conversational approach as opposed to the typical Q&A style and I feel this worked a lot nicer.

Be sure to check out DharmaPunk's channel here: / @dharmapunkgames

Thanks so much, Christian! It was a blast talking with you!

Enjoy the video, and we'll be in touch soon!

The first review is in for the twin-stick spin off Raiden Nova. TL/DR 6/10, but take it with a grain of salt.

You know, I have been sleeping on Battle Bakraid.

From the video description:

1 Credit Clear of Battle Bakraid (Advance Course), the third game in the Raizing / Shinobu Yagawa Bat trilogy that also includes Battle Garegga and Armed Police Batrider, played with Flame Viper C, and featuring a beginner's guide and full commentary.

Don't tell anyone, but I actually like Salamander just slightly more than Gradius.

FTA:

Konami's 1986 shmup Salamander (AKA Life Force) is now playable on MiSTer FPGA.

The public release was spotted by @RCAVictorCo and has been confirmed as working.

FTA:

Originally released in arcades back in 1992, the game was developed by the Zed Blade and P47: The Phantom Fighter developer NMK, with Banpresto (a subsidiary of Bandai) handling its distribution in Japan while Fabtek did the same for the North American region.

The game is based on the 1984 film Macross: Do You Remember Love? and sees players take control of the fighters Hikaru Ichijyo (player one) and Max Jenius (player two) as they pilot the variable fighter Valkyrie to defeat an invasion from the Zentradi race.

Three shmups on this one -- not bad! From the article (shooters in bold):

Here is a short description of each game from the developer:

Dogyuun – An intense vertical-scrolling shooter filled with powerful upgrades and fast-paced action.

Grind Stormer – A critically acclaimed shooter offering a dual gameplay style with both "Grind" and "Storm" modes.

Knuckle Bash – A quirky beat 'em up with unique character designs and over-the-top action.

Pipi's & Bibi's – A mischievous platformer with daring challenges, offering a fun and lighthearted arcade adventure.

Snow Bros 2 – The sequel to the much-loved Snow Bros, with new characters and co-op gameplay.

Sky Shark (8-bit version) – A classic shoot 'em up, now presented in its 8-bit version for a nostalgic retro twist.

So, if you've watched the ShmupsBR channel, you've probably already aware that he has an English language channel called Pixel Pilots. (His native language is Portuguese.) Fair warning that the Pixel Pilots channel uses a computer generated voice for narration, so if that's not your thing, you might want to skip this one.

On the other hand if you speak Portuguese and haven't checked out ShmupsBR you might want to give him a shot! (And if, like me you don't speak the language there are English subtitles available for all his videos.)

The games are Wolf Fang (a side-scrolling mech based run n' gun) and Skull Fang, a vertical scrolling shmup. From the article:

Skull Fang: As a member of the Skeleton Fang Platoon, the player boards a fighter plane and heads off to intercept enemy weapons approaching the defense line. Choose from four pilots with different skills and four fighter planes with different performance. On the battlefield, freely control the speed of your fighter plane and decide whether to take the risk and fly at high speed, or play it safe and fly slow to intercept the enemy. In boss battles, control your speed to mark the boss within range. The Saturn version is even more powerful with additional bosses, background music, and additional units in trial mode!

The pack includes Night Striker (1989), Return of the Invaders (1985), Crime City (1989), Cloud Master/Chuka Taisen (1988), Wardner/Pyros (1987), Twin Cobra 2 (1995), Thundercade/Twin Formation (1987), Wyvern F-0 (1985), Operation Wolf (1987) and Yūyu no Quiz de Go! Go! (1990), and is selling for $500 on eBay. That's a confirmed sale, not just a listing – although another seller is asking over $600 for the game.

I mean, Twin Cobra 2 is pretty good, but damn!

From the description:

Today, we're checking out my normal mode clear in Downwell and taking a look at how the game works. I also cover some preferred weapons and upgrades and share a little about my experience with the game.

A presentation event for the new Aero Fighters game will be held at EXBAR TOKYO plus in Shinjuku, Tokyo on November 8 at 20:00 JST, where information about the game and available platforms will be announced.

I'm a big fan of the Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings series, but I never thought I'd see a new entry because I figured the IP rights were all messed up. Looking forward to seeing what SUCCESS does with it now!