In the late 1980s and early 1990s when trips to the arcades were common, you’d often find me and my friends huddled around our favourite arcade cabinet. Spending hours duking it out for the coveted top spot on the leaderboard. Now thanks to the ‘Toaplan Arcade Shoot ‘Em Up Collection Vol.4’ developed by Toaplan and Bitwave Games and published by Bitwave Games, you can experience four of the best shoot-em-ups in the comfort of your own home.

All four games included in the bundle come with a slew of modern features and quality-of-life fixes for you to get the most out of your games. Experience minimal input lag thanks to emulation, input processing, and rendering all completed on the same frame. Gain access to quick save functions that allow you to pick up right where you left off. Compete for online supremacy on the single credit, no-assist and assisted leaderboards. Slow down time as you seek the perfect path to avoid enemy fire.

Speed up time during the quiet moments and even rewind gameplay when you’ve found yourself with no way out. Immortalise your most insane rage-inducing moments with shareable captures. Are fingers and thumbs getting tired from spamming the fire button? Worry not there is a handy adjustable auto-fire feature that allows you to just hold the button down and shoot to your heart’s content. Breeze through the story with the very easy mode, or hone your skills in practice mode.

‘Dogyuun’ takes place on the planet colony of Dino where there has been an emergency at the base. Enigmatic mechanic entities have swarmed the base and cut off communications. Your mission is to fly the new variable bomber Sylfers, fresh from rollout to base and exact your revenge.

Making your way to the end is by no means an easy feat, you’ll need every ounce of dodging skill that you can muster. Survive all 9 stages and the game will then automatically loop to a harder difficulty with the enemies becoming harder to kill and shooting more often.

Your weapons are always at full power so there are no annoying power-ups to collect, but there are 4 different weapons for you to grab and slay with. There are also 2 ship upgrades to grab along the way, one allows for a powerful bomb that clears enemy fire and obliterates anything in its path, and the other allows you to perform a fast dodge. My favourite combination to use was the twin red lasers that would snake their way toward the enemy, coupled with the dodge upgrade.

At the end of each stage, you’ll face off against a giant mechanoid boss and boy do these guys get tough. It’s certainly a relief to see those credits roll for the first time, but do you have what it takes to get through all four of them?

Next up we dive into ‘Grind Stormer’ which could be found in arcades in 1993. Known in Japan as V.V (V Five) this global version of Grind Stormer is a simplified version of its Japanese counterpart. Rather than having the selectable power-up system and gauges found in V.V., this version replaces them with more convenient instant power-ups. This manic shoot-’em-up is certainly a classic and served as a cornerstone to the bullet hells that we know today.

Blast your way through 5 stages filled with enemy fodder, plenty of bullets to dodge and a challenge that will put even the veterans through their paces. Collect power-ups that will make your ship move faster, slower, and hit harder. Face off against brutal bosses and when you’ve rolled credits auto-loop to an even harder difficulty.

Getting my first taste of this was completely rage-inducing and I loved it. Dodging enemy bullets, taking out the enemy, and then having them shoot out a revenge fireball got insane fast. It was this type of insanity that had me falling in love with shoot-’em-ups.

During the time of the grand battle known as Tatsujin, another battle was being fought in a remote area of the infinite universe, with similar stakes. The battle was known as Tatsujin Oh. Welcome to ‘Truxton 2’, the third and possibly the hardest Toaplan game in the collection.

Thinking my experience in Grind Stormer should have me fairly well-prepared for what was to come in Truxton 2 and boy was I sorely mistaken. For the first time during the review process, opting for easy mode. Players will pilot a HyperFighter through 5 space-themed stages.

Battling their way through the onslaught of countless enemies before facing off against a huge menacing boss at the end of each level. Even the odds with pickups like the enemy seeking search laser, scorch your enemies with the powerful napalm blast, and increase the spread of your normal shot. Like all of the other titles in the collection, the game will auto-loop to a higher difficulty upon completion. However, I can see myself needing more practice with this one to beat them all.

The final entry in the collection and by far the easiest to get into is ‘Twin Hawk’. Set in 193X, a fascist conquest of R country was planned. S city, developed from an oasis, was targeted as an experimental model for the plan.

The conquering army attacked the defenceless city, uniting the anti-conquest flying squadron known as Daisenpu (Great Whirlwind) to swoop in and save the day. Players pilot a single-engine plane through the campaign, in a bid to defy the onslaught of the invading army and navy.

Increase your plane’s firepower by collecting pickups and even the odds. When all is lost remember you are not alone, summon a squadron of fighter planes to aid you in your fight. What I love about the summon squadron is that they can also be used as a giant bomb by pressing the summon button again before they have flown into formation. I found this particularly handy when going up against bigger tanks and ships.

All four titles in the collection share a similar pixel-art style that still speaks volumes even at today’s standard. As much as I hate to say this I do miss the creativity of games like these, there is more enemy variety here than you can poke a stick at. The huge bosses at the end of each level are incredible pieces of art worthy of their creators. Playing with the scanline filter gives you that authentic CRT screen feeling, though I didn’t mind playing without it either. Playing each of these titles at a very solid 60fps is pure joy.

Audio is for the most part a wonderful trip down memory lane. The sound of bullets flying, enemies exploding, and set pieces crumbling are awesome. Complimented beautifully by gorgeous 16-bit soundtracks that just make you feel the adrenaline flowing. The only sound issue that I had which was disappointing was in Grind Stormer. The carnage as enemy ships exploded would often drown out the backing track.

Overall the ‘Toaplan Arcade Shoot ‘Em Up Collection Vol.4’ is a must-have addition for the retro shoot-’em-up fan. Full of delightful carnage to dispense and challenging enough to test the mettle of even the biggest fans. You’ll find it hard to beat classics like these, so dodge those bullets and take up the challenge today.

Written by: Gary Nielsen