String of the dead

This was a "impulse" purchase of sorts. I've become somewhat attached to this series over the years, despite not even particularly liking it. The original concept was brilliant at the time (bikini cowgirl slashing zombies with katana), while the execution left much to be desired. It wasn't much of an issue when the game was a $20 PS2 budget title. Once the series moved to 360 the price and expectations rose, while the quality stayed on about the same level as before. I hoped that this semi-reboot could be a legitimate game, since the core concept alone wasn't floating the series anymore. While it has been polished up, this is still an Onechanbara game unfortunately. Definitely not worth the asking price to import, but a localized version for $9.99 would be good for a few laughs. First print run came with some fun bonuses.

Click here to downlord

LOL wut?

Toaplan Shooting Chronicle

I find it pretty ironic for myself to be writing this. As a young and stupid kid, I would turn up my nose at music like this, preferring instead to play my own CD collection over the game audio. Now to be fair I did only have a SEGA Genesis, and that shit was hooked up mono. And I never owned a Toaplan cart.

What we have here is the entirety of Toaplan's shooting game musical output composed by company mainstays Tatsuya Uemura, and Masahiro Yuuge, with a few others joining in. Starting with 1985's Tiger Heli all the way up to Toaplan's magnum opus, 1993's Batsugun.

・ＤＩＳＣ１
【Tiger Heli】（Composition：Uemura Tatsuya、Yuuge Masahiro／Released October 1985）
1 Credit
2 First Mission (Opening Theme)
3 Look Out (Normal BGM)
4 Oasis (Congratulation)～Take Off
5 Fire! (Option Heli Time)
6 Close (Game Over)
7 I Am The Tiger (Name Storage 1st～3rd)
8 Hero (Name Storage 4th～10th)
9 Win (Name Storage End)

【Slap Fight】※First time on ＣＤ　（Composition：Yuuge Masahiro／Released July 1986）
10 Credit
11 Prologue of Battle (Opening Theme)
12 Expect Success (First Area)
13 Gain a Victory (Second Area)
14 Lost Everything as (Third Area)
15 Reaching a Dream (Fourth Area)
16 Feel Brand New (Fifth Area)
17 Well done (Game Over)
18 Reach the desire. Going Further (Name Storage 1)
19 Reach the desire (Name Storage 2)

【Sky Shark】（Composition：Uemura Tatsuya、Yuuge Masahiro／Released March 1987）
20 Credit
21 Sky Shark (Opening Theme)
22 Asia (Stage 1)
23 Triumph (Landing Theme)
24 Against The Attack (Stage 2)
25 Water Front (Stage 3)
26 Behind The Bush (Stage 4)
27 Last Fighter (Stage 5)
28 Restful (Game Over)
29 Forgive Your All (Name Storage)

【Twin Cobra】（Composition：Uemura Tatsuya、Yuuge Masahiro／Released November 1987）
30 Credit
31 Challenger (Opening Theme)
32 Break A Leg! (Stage 1,6)
33 I’m Victor (Landing Theme)
34 Over The Sea (Stage 2,7)
35 Good Figure (Stage 3,8)
36 Tsugaru (Stage 4,9)
37 Our Life (Stage 5,10)
38 The End (Game Over)
39 Affection (Name Storage)
40 Next Dream (Continue Theme)

【Truxton】（Composition：Yuuge Masahiro／Released October 1988）
41 Credit
42 Brave Man (Game Start)
43 Far Away (Stage 1)
44 Crisis (Boss)
45 Sally (Stage 2)
46 Hope (Stage 3)
47 Friend (Stage 4)
48 Unknown (Stage 5)
49 Recollection (Game Over)
50 Down Fall (Name Storage)
51 Again (Continue)
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

The first disc is fairly standard stuff. The first game was released at a time before the wide spread popularity of the Motorola 68000 processor family, and had to run on the Zilog Z80, which itself would soon become the standard for handling the audio duties on arcade boards. Twin Cobra (Kyukyoku Tiger) and Truxton (Tatsujin) are the better tracks here, having graduated to the 6800/z80 setup.

・ＤＩＳＣ２
【Hellfire】（Composition：Uemura Tatsuya／Released April 1989）
1 Credit
2 Ready To Go (Game Start)
3 CAPTAIN LANCER (Stage 1)
4 Egypt (Stage 2)
5 Jumping Roll (Stage 3)
6 Mystic Green (Stage 4)
7 In Side Drive (Stage 5)
8 Last Dance (Stage 6)
9 Get A Chance (Continue)
10 Game Is Over (Game Over)
11 Requiem (Name Storage)
12 CAPTAIN LANCER (Stage 1) Type-B

【Twin Hawk】※First time on ＣＤ　（Composition：Outa Osamu／Released June 1989）
13 Credit
14 希望の光 (Opening Theme)
15 目覚めよ、空へ (First Area)
16 戦いの闇 (Second Area)
17 緊張の糸 (Third Area)
18 決着の時 (Fourth Area)
19 Game Over (Game Over)
20 翼を休めて (Name Storage)
21 希望の光 (Opening Theme) Type-B（Unused）

【Zero Wing】（Composition：Uemura Tatsuya、Yuuge Masahiro、Tomisawa Toshiaki／Released October 1989）
22 Credit
23 Open Your Eyes (Opening – Stage 1)
24 New Day For Me (Stage 2)
25 Babylonia Nights (Stage 3)
26 You Get (Stage 4)
27 Old Sense (Stage 5)
28 New Say (Stage 6)
29 Same One (Stage 7)
30 Hit Man (Stage ８)
31 Everybody Knows (Ending)
32 Game Set (Game Over)
33 Go To His Rest (Name Register Theme)
34 Dullard (Continue Theme)
35 Open Your Eyes (Opening – Stage 1) Type-B
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

Now this is where brilliance begins not just to shine through, it drops a god damned bomb on it. Hellfire alone is the single best collection of tracks on this set, and select tracks from Twin Hawk (Daisenpu) and the legendary Zero Wing put most other compositions to shame. Sadly, 'All Your Base Are Belong To Us' is not found on here. :(

・ＤＩＳＣ３
【Fire Shark】（Composition：Yuuge Masahiro／Released December 1989）
1 Credit
2 Fire Shark (Stage 1)
3 In the blue sky (Landing Theme)
4 Give me your heart (Stage 2)
5 Vice in Tokyo (Stage 3)
6 Sadness in your eyes (Stage 4)
7 From the sun to me (Stage 5)
8 Long happiness (Ending Theme)
9 Gleam (Game Over)
10 仄かな期待と限りない努力 (Name Register Theme)
11 Last Chance (Continue Theme)

【Vimana】（Composition：Tomisawa Toshiaki／Released June 1991）
12 Credit
13 Opening
14 Space High (Stage 1)
15 The Power of Darkness (Stage 2)
16 Max. Power Up (Stage 3)
17 Hyper Voltage Wars (Stage 4)
18 Bit Man (Stage 5)
19 烈火の如く (Stage 6)
20 Back to The Earth (Ending)
21 Continue
22 Game Over
23 Name Entry
24 Space High (Stage 1) Type-B
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

Fire Shark (Same! Same! Same!) unfortunately steps back to the more rote "shooting game music" style, but can still be considered memorable, especially if you've pumped quarters/yens into the arcade machine. Or watched the included bonus DVD, more on that later. Vimana elevates the overall composition into a more mature musical style. They weren't just programing beeps and clicks any more. This can be a double edged sword, however.

・ＤＩＳＣ４
【Truxton II】※First time on ＣＤ in stereo　（Composition：Yuuge Masahiro／Released June 1992）
1 Demo～Credit
2 Live In Future (Stage 1)
3 Heavy Long (Boss)
4 I Defend STM (Stage 2)
5 Gratify (Stage 3)
6 No Delusion (Stage 4)
7 Still Love You (Stage 5)
8 Faze (Stage 6)
9 Somewhere (Continue)
10 Never Succumb (Game Over)
11 Faze (Stage 6) Intro Version.（Unused）

【Dogyuun】（Composition：Uemura Tatsuya／Released November 1992）
12 Title
13 Credit
14 Caution (Story Demo)
15 Dogyuun Magic (Stage 1,6)
16 Theme Of Boss
17 Power On (Stage 2,7)
18 Highspeed Queen (Stage 3,8)
19 Onmoroid Boogie (Stage 4,9)
20 Gamushalism (Stage 5,10)
21 Dear Kyle (Ending)
22 Game Over
23 Kimi-ni Kanpai! (Name Entry) (Raise A Glass To You!)
24 Continue

【Truxton II】Mono Version　（Composition：Yuuge Masahiro／Released June 1992）
25 Demo～Credit
26 Live In Future (Stage 1)
27 Heavy Long (Boss)
28 I Defend STM (Stage 2)
29 Gratify (Stage 3)
30 No Delusion (Stage 4)
31 Still Love You (Stage 5)
32 Faze (Stage 6)
33 Somewhere (Continue)
34 Never Succumb (Game Over)
35 Faze (Stage 6) Intro Version.（Unused）
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

I'll have to admit that Truxton II's (Tatsujin Oh) stereo mix was the biggest disappointment of the disc. However brilliant the compositions here are, they loose something important without the in-your-face brutality of a mono speaker blasting it into your eardrums as you shoot down aliens. Thankfully, both mixes are available on the disc. Dogyuun, like Vimana, is there to sound pretty.

・ＤＩＳＣ５
【Grind Stormer】（Composition：Yuuge Masahiro／Released March 1993）
1 Credit
2 Wonderful Dreamer (Stage 1)
3 Night Bird (Boss)
4 Heads Up! (Stage 2)
5 Large Charge (Stage 3)
6 Free At Last (Stage 4)
7 Pepercussion (Stage 5)
8 A Poisonous Snake (Stage 6)
9 Invitation From The Wind (Ending 1)
10 Rainbow Paradise (Ending 2)
11 See You (Game Over)
12 Moon And Stars (Name Storage)
13 Intuition Takes Me There (Continue)

【Batsugun】（Composition：Sakai Yoshisato／Released December 1993）
14 Credit
15 Shooting Star (Select)
16 Heart Beat (Stage 1)
17 Dark Echo (Boss 1)
18 Stage Clear
19 Skim The Surface Of The Sea (Stage 2)
20 King Bird (Boss 2)
21 Bomber Dance (Stage 3)
22 Psycho Paranoia (Boss 3)
23 Complimentary Ticket (Stage 4)
24 予感 (Boss 4)
25 Geo Frontia (Stage 5)
26 Final Attack (Boss 5)
27 Blue Illumination (Ending)
28 Name Entry
29 戦士達の賛美歌 (Continue)
30 Game Over

31 東亜プラン　Medly

This was the disc I was looking to the most. Grind Stormer (V-V) was a game I always pined for back then as a stupid Genesis owning kid. Sadly I never got a chance to pick it up before jumping ship to Sony and getting rid of the system. This was my way of making up for that. I was not disappointed. While not as brilliant as Hellfire or some of the earlier works, Grind Stormer definitely sounds like the ultimate evolution of Masahiro Yuuge's style and skill. Everything he's learned over the years is put to good use here. Sadly, Batsugun was handed of to new comer, and a s a result did not continue that tradition. While wholly competent, it does foreshadow the unfortunate trend of more-techno-less-rock of current shooting games. An odd choice with boss names like Deep Purple.

It's impressive to hear the evolution of music used by Toaplan in their premiere shooting games. This collection can almost be seen as a microcosm of the entire shooting game genre in Japan, from humble origins, to raucous success, and a rapid decline. Toaplan themselves were not immune, and the company closed shortly after Batsugun was released. In a way, they are the shooting game industry, even today, having spawned shooting game heroes Cave, Raizing, and Takumi.

A sixth disc is included in the box, which offers content much more valuable than a handful of music tracks. Included on there is a 600+ page PDF of hand written, scanned design documents for all the games featured. From memory maps of the actual ROM chips, hand drawn level maps, sprite design schematics, to title screen layouts complete with memory addresses for each sprite, this is a treasure trove of classic game design from a notoriously secretive industry. What you essentially get with this collection IS Toaplan pressed onto a plastic disc.

A seventh bonus disc is an Extream (sic) Movies collection DVD. Included here are a super play of Fire Shark breaking 10 million points, in its entirety. A similar, shorter clip of lower quality for Twin Cobra, also breaking 10 million, and a first loop run through of Truxton. The Fire Shark movie seems to be the main attraction, since it's actually nicely produced, and features the entire run through. The Twin Cobra clip starts on loop four, and fades out at an arbitrary time. The final score isn't even the top score seen on the score board, and the audio and video even cut out for a second as if someone kicked the cord out of the capture equipment. Truxton also seems similarly rough with preventable deaths, and bomb spamming. Now these games are not easy, but with more practice slick replays can be produced. Here's to hoping INH is working on a super play collection for all Toaplan games, and these clips were just a preview.

In the end, the wealth of not just entertainment, but knowledge, contained on these discs is easily worth the asking price, ¥10,500 (~$135). The DVD is a nice bonus, but seems to be a rather limited edition, available from Sweep Records themselves as it's simply placed in a plastic sleeve of its own and thrown into the shipping box with CD set. If you're willing to stumble through a Japanese checkout process, the whole thing can be acquired through a shipping service like Tenso.com. They charge a $20 fee for their service, which includes international shipping, but thankfully Sweep Shop ships the set for free.

Music News

• High And Mighty Color - Swamp Man
• Pearl Jam - Toronto 9.11.11
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• Godflesh - Streetcleaner
• Apocalyptica - A Decade Of Reinventing the Cello
• Hikaru Utada - Exodus
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• Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave
  

I support Google Music (Beta, lol).

Faildroid

I accidentally my phone on the other day, and similarly unwittingly loaded up my cellphone GOTY 2010, Retroid Shooting. There was an update for this a few weeks back, but I've long since stopped caring. The game was super fun, but it's also super shallow. No further enhancements were ever made past the inclusion of the second playable character. This time around I noticed a link advertising the new Retroid Shooting 2. Could it be? An awesomer sequel to the most awesome Android game to date? I DL'ed that sucker with the quickness, and fired it up. It's... meh? It has more characters, more music tracks, enhanced graphics, and less fun. The app is free, funded by some sort of click-through scam, not unlike many old school warez sites, where you have to click through to a sponsors site, in order to earn "Roids." Roids are the in-game currency which is needed to unlock new levels. How very un-arcade game-like. You can earn them through playing, but completing a level earns you six or so, while a new level requires 50 to unlock. This deflates my hype for this game quite significantly. Calling a game "Retroid" while incorporating the most insidious social-micro-fuckery of modern game "monetization" flies contrary to the simple arcade fun of the original. I am disappoint.

In other cellphone bullshit news, Cave has finally released ESPGaluda II and DoDonPachi Resurrection on Android handsets. The problem is that they did so via a third party publishing partner, which doesn't have a royalty check collecting scheme in place to distribute the games outside of Japan. Combined with Google's region locking of the Market, the fun is rapidly escaping from this whole Android thing. If anyone needs me, I'll be playing Wizardry on my iPad.

All part of the toaplan

And just in case you had some money left over after picking up all that stuff I just mentioned, Sweep Records (in association with INH) bring you the ¥10,000 box set of Toaplan music. Wat!?11? (Kind of want that V-V disc...aw hell! Mark November 14th on your iCal kids.)

Shoot like lightning

The last post seems to have generated some interest on the internets, so while I have your attention, let me drop some knowledge on ya heads. A few months ago I mentioned INH and Team-e's retro game music collections. They've been successful enough apparently to expand the product line somewhat. It doesn't hurt that the latest release is a collection focused around personal favorite, Seibu Kaihasu/MOSS's Raiden series. The four disc set, '雷電 The Lightning Strikes Back,' brings together the previously released sound tracks for Raiden 1 & 2 (discs included with 'The Aces High' DVD set), Raiden III ('The Flash Desire' DVD set), and 'Ultimate Of Raiden' (bonus included with Raiden IV's first print run on the Xbox 360), along with the original and New Release versions of the Raiden DX score, which has not received a soundtrack of it's own to my knowledge to date. Until they make a Raiden V, this is your (almost*) definitive source for Raiden music, composed by series maestro, Go Sato, and remixed by industry heavyweights. The disc set has been out since September 28th, and I'm rather annoyed that I have not heard of it until now.

That, however is not even the real news here. In celebration of the album's release, and of the Raiden series (and Sato's contribution) as a whole, a concert will be held in Tokyo's Club Goodman, appropriately found in a basement of Akihabara, on November 23rd. The headlining act will be Heavy Metal Raiden, made up of Go Sato himself on bass, Success Corp's WASi303 on guitar, and some dude called Ikedaminorock of 2nd guitar (with a hardcore drum machine accompanying the live players no doubt see below). Check out the PV for a taste of what Raiden metal sounds like. I need to be in Tokyo in 30 days.

*Go Sato was not responsible for the iconic original Raiden 1 score, and the remixed tracks found on the FM Towns version of Raiden Trad seem to be missing.

11-11-11: The drummer for the Heavy Metal Raiden show will apparently be some bloke called Ritz Kawase (川瀬リツ), and the keyboardist will be TaRAKO. You can check out the band/show site here. According to that site, some of those dudes were responsible for the music found in Triangle Service games, Milestone's "games," and the Muchi Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets collection. That's kind of underwhelming(?) ...

Update 2nd: The main keyboardist for Heavy Metal Raiden is apparently now some dude called Kazushi Tsurukubo. He's got an entry at VGMDB, but the games he's worked on don't ring any bells.