Shmups

It's available on modern platforms via Capcom Arcade Vol 1, which is how I first heard of it. It's pretty good for an old-school shooter!

Invidious link

From the description:

Video Systems brings us this quirky cute-em-up in 1987 arcades. Uniquely featuring an Normal or Expert Course selection. Our expert guest is daniil who joins us to break down the mechanics and strategies. Including one very broken scoring trick that must be used for WR scoring attempts.

What with the upcoming re-release of 70’s Robot Anime Geppy-X and the recent re-release of R-Type Delta, I've been thinking about Playstation 1 shmups. Which made it a good time to re-visit Racketboy's article on the subject. Some real hidden gems on that platform that have been lost to time.

It's already out for the Switch, but if you've been waiting for it to come out on PC, your wait is almost over. No release date, but the Steam page went up today so I thought it was worth a mention.

There's also a fancy deluxe version (of course). And apparently there's a "Famitsu DX" version which as far as I can tell may be exclusive to Japan? More updates as I learn more.

Gotta say I'm disappointed this release seems busted. Raiden Fighters deserves more love than this port gives it.

(Invidious link)

From the video description:

Sooo, Raiden Fighters Remix Collection is now released. All 3 Raiden Fighters games are now playable on current gen consoles, Playstation 4, Playstation 5 and Switch 2 but no Steam release. After playing it for a few hours while getting refreshed on the Raiden Fighters Aces collection on Xbox 360, man, I have some thoughts about it.

The decision to not have players choose between 54FPS and 60FPS is really interesting. On top of that, not many other features compared to the Aces collection.

Horizontal scrolling 70's Super Robot action.

I'm curious to see how it reviews, since I already have the previously discontinued Raiden Fighters collection.

It makes several changes based on player feedback:

・The pre-Stage 1 cutscene can now be skipped by pressing the START button equivalent.

・Enemy placement in Stage 3 has been adjusted to more closely match the original version.

・To better recreate the original version's gameplay in Stage 3, a 'Slowdown Setting' has been added in the options.

・Corrections and adjustments have been made to certain in-game cutscenes that were not triggering correctly.

・Sound effects have been adjusted.

・Other minor bugs have been fixed.

Invidious link.

From the description:

Vacant Ark from 2005 hits hard from independent Japanese developer known as Buster. Pilot a Cyborg Mermaid in this STG inspired, well executed horizontal shooter. It's like a mix of R-Type, Terra Diver, Radiant Silvergun and Darius. Perhaps! Our expert guest and player Birb joins us to break down this game in 2 high scoring 1 credit cleared replays from the "Middle" difficulty and "Abyss" difficulty. Why don't you try it?

Things are moving!

I wasn't a backer, but I'm glad to see it wasn't just another Kickstarter scam.

The documentary was submitted for final approval on 02/05 [That's 5 February 2026] Since then we have been made to change a plethora of minor things. For instance, today I spent the last couple hours deleting the 。at the end of the sentence from all the Japanese subs. I am hoping this is the last round of things we need to correct.

Joseph Pierce via Kickstarter

It's the weekend again! Thank goodness! As per usual, here is the weekly open thread, for us to talk about whatever we like, especially video games.

I ended up buying the Switch 2 update for Xenoblade Chronicles X. That 60fps is just too tempting. Also looking forward to getting into the full version of Blaze of Storm this weekend!

How about y'all?

It's not just Genesis/Mega Drive getting some physical software releases, I guess. Glad to see the GBA get some attention.

Lest we forget! I played quite a bit of the Steam version of Earthion and my personal opinion is that it's pretty good, a solid 8/10. I'll be skipping the physical releases though.

Feature packed, too:

With development duties carried out by M2, known for their unrivalled attention to detail, gamers can expect peerless conversions of each classic. Kyukyoku TigerHeli: Toaplan Arcade Garage also comes complete with a generous range of extras for fans to explore: “M2 Gadgets” (on-screen data overlays), Super Easy modes, and Arcade Challenge modes to help you master every stage.

We had a community caravan event with this game's free demo a few months back; if anyone's interested, this is just a little reminder that it comes out tomorrow! (19 February.)

A Star Fox-inspired rail shooter. Out today on Nintendo Switch.

Not just a shmup...

Dezaemon was released by ATHENA in 1991 for an 8-bit home console.

It is a game creation tool that allows you to produce your very own original shooting game.

You can design characters and backgrounds using pixel art, compose music with an 8-bit sound engine, and create a wide variety of enemy patterns by adjusting various parameters!>

The locations for the test will be Akihabara Hey and Takadanobaba Game Center Mikado.

I love the Cotton series, so I've had an eye out for more info about this game since it was announced, but there's almost no English language coverage of it.

Amongst the games announced are some kind of rare shmups:

• MagMax (NES version),
• Sonic Wings Special (Playstation 1 version),
• Dezaemon Plus for (Playstation 1 version).

If any of these sound interesting to you, keep an eye out for release dates. (I'm interested in Sonic Wings Special personally, even though it's not as good as SW2, but at least it's better then SW: Reunion.)

Happy weekend! (And Valentine's Day for those who celebrate.)

A quick note: Kaguya is holding a free playtest for this weekend only, via Steam. You can check it out here:https://store.steampowered.com/app/3681000/Kaguya/

Didn't seem worth a full post, since the window for this is really short.

So, what's everybody been playing? I haven't had much time to play this week, I've just haven't had a long enough stretch of free time. Hoping to at least check out Razion EX at some point this weekend!

Published by NGDev (the folks who brought us GunVein), this is the lowest price I've ever seen for this game. Sale ends 26 February.