shmup posts(Subscribe to this feed)

click to horizontally scroll through our gallery Japanese developer CAVE is famous for its hardcore "bullet hell" shooters -- at least among importers, because the console versions of those shooters have never been localized. Nobody's been crazy enough to put the time and money into one of the super-hard niche shoot-em-ups, until today, when Aksys Games (the company crazy enough to localize Cho Aniki Zero) announced that it will publish Deathsmiles on the Xbox 360.

While this is going to be incredible news to shmup devotees, Deathsmiles may be a hard sell to general audiences, with its "gothic lolita" aesthetic and punishing difficulty. Those who do check out Deathsmiles for whatever reason will find a horizontal shooter with branching paths, online co-op play, and, in the words of Aksys's Cherie Baker, "little girls flying through a gothic otherworld to destroy the horrific, necrotic Imperator Tyrannosatan."

Aksys has yet to announce a release date for Deathsmiles.

Pyroblazer development teams Candella Systems Ltd. and Eipix Entertainment have announced another flashy multiplatform downloadable title. Eclosion is a vertical shooter for Wii, PC, PSP, and XBLA with something called "Co-op Single Player," which, we're guessing, means either an AI partner or an Echoshift-style mechanic in which you play with previous instances of yourself.

To us, the most interesting part of this game will be its soundtrack. According to the press release, Eclosion features "a blend of modern and authentic retro music created on analogue retro synthesizers like the original SID chip on the Commodore 64."

Oh, and "eclosion" is the hatching of an insect from its egg or pupa case. We had to look it up.

After the ESRB rating for Game Arts' Thexder Neo listed it as a PSP and PS3 game, Square Enix released the downloadable shooter remake on PSP only, leaving PS3 retro fans vexed and un-Thex'd. However, a post on Square Enix's Facebook page reveals that the transforming spaceship/robot will make an appearance on PS3 after all.

"With PS3 graphic THEXDER NEO becomes more THEXDER," Square Enix PR staffer Akira Kokushoh said, suggesting that the new version isn't just a direct port of the PSP title. The game will be out sometime in 2010 -- possibly on the early side, since Kokushoh indicated that the game is almost complete.

[Via Gamerbytes]

If you thought the DS was a less-than-ideal platform for an original Metal Slug, you're really going to be surprised with this one. SNK Playmore has released one of its cartoony run-and-guns for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Metal Slug Touch is adapted to the platform in some unexpected ways: for example, instead of putting the player in control of a commando who occasionally happens upon a vehicle, Metal Slug Touch puts you in a vehicle at all times.

Controls are simplified to make use of the iPhone's features: you move with the accelerometer, and dodge enemies with an "avoid" button. Metal Slug Touch sounds like a fairly bold experiment -- and something that, we suspect, works better than simply porting a console action game over with touch controls.

Metal Slug Touch ($4.99) :

[Via FingerGaming]

The trailer for the WiiWare version of Phalanx (after the break) reveals that it looks very much like a 16-bit game, rather than a remake of a 16-bit game. In fact, it looks identical to the Sharp X68000 version upon which it is based (and which is included in its unaltered form in the 500-point download).

Essentially, developer Zoom is using WiiWare to release a Virtual Console game whose platform isn't supported on the Virtual Console -- with some new bonus content, like a new mode with new stages and manual weapon selection. We approve of this tactic. Phalanx will be released on December 22 in Japan.

DotEmu, the developer responsible for the random iPhone port of the Zelda-esque Golvellius, is porting a much more recognizable game to the platform for its next release: IREM's epochal shmup, R-Type. CEO Xavier Liard told Touch Arcade, "We are very pleased to work on R-Type and to start our collaboration with Irem Software Engineering Inc." DotEmu didn't announce which of the many versions of R-Type will be the basis of the port.

Having IREM involved seems like a good sign and, while the touch interface is not ideal for shooting games, Space Invaders Infinity Gene proved that it can work, at least better than it does for platforming or run & gun games. Of course, R-Type is really, really difficult, and the iPhone's controls aren't going to make destroying the Bydo Empire any easier.

The PSP is home to some unexpected shooter revivals. Thexder was just released on PSN, R-Type returned -- as a strategy game! -- and there's even a new Cho Aniki. Compared to those random releases, the announcement of a new Darius isn't too shocking. But it is very welcome.

The trailer for Darius Burst seems to hit the highlights of the Darius experience -- namely, spaceships and giant robot versions of aquatic creatures. And it looks hot. Hot enough to send us back through the series in anticipation of the December 24 Japanese release, and for us to send our sincerest wishes to Taito parent company Square Enix. Sell this to us!

Thexder originally came out in 1985, and has been ported to several different platforms in its lifetime, mostly computers. However, I can say with some confidence that the PSP remake of Game Arts' classic free-scrolling, transforming shmup, called Thexder Neo, is much more enjoyable to play than the retro versions. And people who didn't go to TGS will get to enjoy it soon: Square Enix announced that Thexder Neo will be available worldwide on October 1.

The surprise announcement that Nintendo would publish an Arika-developed shooter on DSiWare was weird enough. We didn't expect to see more shmups on the service within a couple of weeks, but Genterprise has revealed exactly that.

Publisher Genterprise has announced two shooters as part of its 200 DSi Point "GG Series," both developed by Wario: Master of Disguise/Boing! Docomodake DS developer Suzak. Z-One is a horizontally scrolling shooter featuring a "Pod," a multidirectional-shooting "Option" kind of device that flies near your ship. And Wonder Land is an Alice in Wonderland-themed vertical shmup.

Being made specifically as super-cheap games, it's doubtful they'll be great. But they will be very cheap when they come out in Japan this Wednesday.

[Via Andriasang]

Eastasiasoft, the publishing branch of import retailer Play-Asia, released its first PC game in late 2007, a horizontal shooter called Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer. It came out on PSN a year later. The company has just announced its second game, this time exclusively for the PS3's PlayStation Network: Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype. Unfortunately, the lack of a PC version means no huge limited edition box!

The Sidequest Studios-developed shooter is expected out this winter, but then the PSN version of the first game missed its original release date by a year. If you're really in the mood to punish yourself with a shmup, may we suggest the downloadable PS1 classic R-Types in the meantime?

According to the latest pages of Famitsu (Via Examiner), Taito will be bringing a new game in the Darius series to PSP. The latest in the classic 2D horizontal-shooter franchise is titled Darius Burst, and marks the first time the series has been tapped for a title since Darius R landed on GameBoy Advance systems in Japan nearly a decade ago.

Famitsu notes Darius Burst will feature 11 levels, with non-linear paths throughout the stages -- splitting each initial level into two paths for players to choose. If you love shmups like we love shmups then you should be giddy about Taito's decision and hopeful the title will see a North American release.

Aa Mujou Setsuna is something DSiWare has yet to see: a vertical shooter! The downloadable shmup, releasing in Japan on September 2, is listed as a Nintendo/Arika collaboration. Arika is responsible for various home ports of Cave shooters, including the DS Ketsui Death Label. Aa Mujou Setsuna has two selectable ships, a chain-based scoring system and even online rankings, for just 500 DSi Points. Somehow we doubt this is the news Nintendo Power teased, but it certainly makes us happy. Check out some footage after the break.

Less hardcore, but still kind of cool, are the two 200-point apps also releasing on September 2. Nintendo DSi Metronome is, well, a metronome, that allows users to input their own beats and tempo to play along with, and even record their own drum sounds. It has multiple "skins" including a Game and Watch look, and Balloon Fight and Donkey Kong minigames; the latter of which involves clapping to make Mario jump over barrels. Hey, it's a Mario counterpart to Jungle Beat! Except really simplified.

Nintendo DSi Instrument Tuner also includes a Game and Watch skin. This useful program allows you to play an instrument into the DS mic and get information about its pitch.

Taito's had a glut of classic-title remakes hit current-gen consoles as of late -- and if a recent rumor proves to be true, its streak shows no signs of stopping. NeoGAF user Shard recently posted some supposedly leaked images from the developer's next project -- an Xbox Live Arcade version of PS1 top-down shoot-em-up Raystorm (aptly titled Raystorm HD).

Mr. Shard also supposedly dug up images of an XBLA version of Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure, a recent WiiWare release. That's great and all, but we're far more intrigued by the possibility of a renovated version of Taito's classic shooter, which features weaponized lightning. We've contacted Taito to see if they'll comment on the rumored screens. Stay tuned!

[Via GamerBytes]

Space Invaders Infinity Gene sounds like a complete retread of Space Invaders Extreme: a new shooter made by mixing retro-style graphics with techno music and brightly-colored, swirling visuals.

But Infinity Gene, ported to iPhone from Japanese mobile platforms, is a very different game, with little relation to either Space Invaders Extreme or the original game outside of a few visual shoutouts. And as such, Extreme's brilliance doesn't make this new reimagining redundant.

Retro/Grade, an Independent Games Festival nominee for best game design, is making its way off of PSN ... we mean, onto PSN. See, the thing that makes this shmup different is that all the action happens backwards -- like a classic space shooter meets Memento. Comparison can also be made between this game and WiiWare's Bit.Trip.

There's a long writeup of the game over at the PlayStation Blog. One of the cooler things implemented in the title is the use of a guitar controller to control the ship. The fret buttons will allow the player to move, while the strum bar is used as the "shoot" button. You can get an idea of what it'll look like in the video after the break.