Toaplan, a Japanese game development company from the mid-80s to the mid-90s created 31 games for arcades. One of their specialties was horizontal and vertical scrolling shooters. Bitwave Games has now revitalised some of Toaplan’s games by developing and publishing these retro games for the PC. The industrious Hayden “Whippy” Nelson reviewed Toplan Arcade Shoot ‘Em Up Collection Volume 1, which you can find his review here. Toaplan Arcade Shoot ‘Em Up Collection Volume 2 comes with Slap Flight, Flying Shark, Hellfire, and Fire Shark.

Slap Fight, released in 1986, is a vertical-scrolling shooter. With no plot given in-game, the only information I found was that provided by Bitwave Games themselves. You are aboard the Leopold, a spacecraft designed to take on the evil AI known as Goudy. As you fly along you will destroy enemies to reveal stars. These stars will power up Leopold depending on what you choose, and choices range from speed to different weapons and shields. As Slap Fight has no end and continuously loops, the goal is the get the highest score possible. Getting a high enough score will allow you to put your name on the leaderboard.

Flying Shark, released in 1987, is also a vertical-scrolling shooter. The same as Slap Fight, you loop endlessly trying to make the highest score possible. With a high enough score, you can add your name to the leaderboards. Flying Shark does not give a plot either, and only that which is given by Bitwave Games explains what is going on.

With your blue biplane, the Flying Shark, you take to the skies to destroy the enemy, all in the hope of restoring glory after losing the war effort. Flying Shark innovated the genre by expanding the field of vision so that when moving left and right the screen moved as well, and this feature would hide enemies, creating a new challenge.

Hellfire, released in 1989, was the first of Toaplan’s games to come out as a horizontal-scrolling shooter. Much like the last two mentioned games, Hellfire endlessly loops with the goal of scoring high and getting on that leaderboard, and you guessed it, there’s no plot, but Bitwave Games has supplied that information.

You pilot the Hellfire a superheated space battleship, and your goal is to take back the six planets stolen by the Guild Empire. With enemies able to attack you from any direction, Hellfire comes with different directional fire. This feature requires you to not only navigate the perils of enemy fire and terrain but switch between directional fire in a strategic way to maximise your survivability.

Fire Shark, released in 1989, is the clear successor to Flying Shark. Even without Bitwave Games’ input to the plot, Fire Shark plays exactly like Flying Shark. The only differences are that you can now collect different weapons, there are more animations, there are more levels and bosses, and you are a red biplane.

As I have already said with the other three games, Fire Shark loops endlessly with the goal to score high and get on the leaderboard.

All four games come with an array of quality-of-life improvements. Some of my favourites are the quick saves and reloads, the rewind feature, and the very easy modes. These few are just that, a few. There is so much more packed into these games making for many hours of entertainment., however, those hours are only as fun as the endless looping. After a while with no end apart from destruction, the endeavour can become boring. Also, as Whippy said in his review, having all four titles separated is a little odd. I must agree that having them as a complete unit and selecting the game you wanted would have been a more preferred choice.

The graphics are what is to be expected from the games of that generation; Bright pixelations with lots of flashing. It’s a very strong nostalgic trip down memory lane. The audio is just as nostalgic too, with its bombastic sounds and pumping soundtracks. If you’ve ever set foot inside a retro arcade, you’ll know of the bombardment of sounds.

With the perfect combination of visuals and sounds, all four games from Toaplan Arcade Shoot ‘Em Up Collection Volume 2 would stand out in a crowded video arcade. With the whole purpose of relieving you of those hard-earned coins from your pockets, Toaplan Arcade Shoot ‘Em Up Collection Volume 2 would feel right at home in anyone’s homemade arcade studio.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove