Best Toaplan game on the system?

[Steven Pendleton]

 

I got kind of curious to see what people think of the various Toaplan ports on the Genesis and Mega Drive, so I decided to do a Toaplan survey. Yes, I am specifically interested in what you think of the ports on the system, not the original arcade versions, especially since some of these ports, like Snow Bros., Same! Same! Same!, and Zero Wing, are considered to actually be better than their arcade versions.

 

Slap Fight and Slap Fight MD are significantly different games, as are V-V and Grind Stormer, so I added sections for you to choose which of those you prefer in addition to having them as their compilations. I am especially curious to see if anyone will choose Slap Fight over Slap Fight MD. If you do, let me know why!

 

A lot of these games also have differences in difficulty between regions, so if you prefer a specific version of the game, feel free to specify which one you prefer in the comments. A lot of these will determine their title screen and difficulty by playing them in a console of a specific region, regardless of the region of the cartridge.

 

Yeah, you know what I voted for and why. Special mentions for both Zero Wing and Same! Same! Same!, mostly for being better than their arcade versions.

[Lostdragon]

Snow Bros. 

 

Ocean were supposedly going to bring it to the C64, but had Twilight convert Plotting instead ?

 

The ST version was previewed but never arrived and so the MD version was very much welcomed by myself. 

[Steven Pendleton]

28 minutes ago, Lostdragon said:

Snow Bros. 

 

Ocean were supposedly going to bring it to the C64, but had Twilight convert Plotting instead ?

 

The ST version was previewed but never arrived and so the MD version was very much welcomed by myself. 

Yeah, MD Snow Bros. is really good, and I think most people that have played it consider it to be the best version of the game, even now. Too bad it now costs 150000 yen or more, making it easily one of the single most expensive games on the system if you can even find a copy, so I'll never own it lol.

 

You also reminded me that Toaplan was working on a Mega Drive port of Teki-Paki, but it got cancelled for reasons that have never been disclosed as far as I know. I actually really like Teki-Paki as of about 2 or 3 weeks ago, something that surprises even myself, as I normally have little interest in puzzle games, so it's too bad that they cancelled it, as I would buy the MD version without question if it existed and was currently within a reasonable price range (~5000 yen or less). They actually had ads for the MD port, so it must have been reasonably far in the development process.

Edited March 12, 2022 by Steven Pendleton

[youxia]

Why is Snow Bros better on MD?

Edited March 12, 2022 by youxia

[Steven Pendleton]

43 minutes ago, youxia said:

Why is Snow Bros better on MD?

Because it has everything the arcade version has and additional content.

[Lostdragon]

54 minutes ago, youxia said:

Why is Snow Bros better on MD?

It has a new opening story sequence at the start of the game,  20 extra levels levels set after the original 50 levels, in which the player switches controls from Nick and Tom to the twin princesses Puripuri and Puchipuchi after the snowmen twins themselves get kidnapped by a new adversary, more background music. 

[youxia]

I see. Might give it a go later...I quite like this sub-genre.

[DragonGrafx-16]

13 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

 

I got kind of curious to see what people think of the various Toaplan ports on the Genesis and Mega Drive, so I decided to do a Toaplan survey. Yes, I am specifically interested in what you think of the ports on the system, not the original arcade versions, especially since some of these ports, like Snow Bros., Same! Same! Same!, and Zero Wing, are considered to actually be better than their arcade versions.

 

Slap Fight and Slap Fight MD are significantly different games, as are V-V and Grind Stormer, so I added sections for you to choose which of those you prefer in addition to having them as their compilations. I am especially curious to see if anyone will choose Slap Fight over Slap Fight MD. If you do, let me know why!

 

A lot of these games also have differences in difficulty between regions, so if you prefer a specific version of the game, feel free to specify which one you prefer in the comments. A lot of these will determine their title screen and difficulty by playing them in a console of a specific region, regardless of the region of the cartridge.

 

Yeah, you know what I voted for and why. Special mentions for both Zero Wing and Same! Same! Same!, mostly for being better than their arcade versions.

V-V is on the same cart as Grind Stormer so that's a bit moot. I actually prefer V-V.

[DeathAdderSF]

On 3/12/2022 at 2:58 AM, youxia said:

Why is Snow Bros better on MD?

 

Many reasons as stated above, plus: the music on the MD side is far superior to the original arcade tracks. As much as I love the YM3812, Toaplan really didn't utilize it worth a cow pie, for this game. On the MD side, however, the music really rocks!! Only downside is they didn't convert over the unique stage 50 boss music. But nobody's perfect.

[+Black_Tiger]

Wardner is my favorite Toaplan game and one of my favorite arcade games.

 

For me it is the best example of a Makaimura "gauntlet" style game (after Makaimura).

 

The MD port isn't as good as it could be, but it's still one of my favorite Mega Drive games.

[Steven Pendleton]

A vote for Wardner! I've heard that the North American arcade version, which they retitled Pyros for some reason, is considerably more difficult than the Japanese and European versions.

[+jgkspsx]

On 3/28/2022 at 8:45 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

A vote for Wardner! I've heard that the North American arcade version, which they retitled Pyros for some reason, is considerably more difficult than the Japanese and European versions.

Hmmm, my copy is definitely a Genesis game and it’s called Wardner.

[Steven Pendleton]

30 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

Hmmm, my copy is definitely a Genesis game and it’s called Wardner.

Arcade version

[+Gemintronic]

[Zoyous]

Truxton is really the only one I've played very much, so I didn't vote. But this gives me a good "to do" list as far as checking out other Toaplan titles on the MD.

[Steven Pendleton]

Look at that, people voted for regular Slap Fight. I actually really like the original Slap Fight. Nice to see some votes for Same! Same! Same! as well, and I really like that one a lot as well. It's probably my second favourite Toaplan game on the system. That arcade version's difficulty is just plain broken, though.

12 hours ago, Zoyous said:

Truxton is really the only one I've played very much, so I didn't vote. But this gives me a good "to do" list as far as checking out other Toaplan titles on the MD.

Too bad they broke the music in that game by mistake. It's a good port otherwise. Actually, they are all good ports. I kind of want to play Zero Wing again now.

[DragonGrafx-16]

On 4/5/2022 at 10:14 PM, Steven Pendleton said:

Look at that, people voted for regular Slap Fight. I actually really like the original Slap Fight. Nice to see some votes for Same! Same! Same! as well, and I really like that one a lot as well. It's probably my second favourite Toaplan game on the system. That arcade version's difficulty is just plain broken, though.

Too bad they broke the music in that game by mistake. It's a good port otherwise. Actually, they are all good ports. I kind of want to play Zero Wing again now.

Same! Same! Same! (I have it as Fire Shark) is the only Toaplan shooter that I can actually play for extended periods of time, so I guess that one is actually my favorite of the Genesis/Mega Drive titles. 

 

The other games I have are Grind Stormer and Twin Cobra... with Grind Stormer I have no idea what to actually do to beat the second boss and Twin Cobra is way too hard for some reason. Fire Shark is just right with the difficulty, not easy but not too hard either and is the only one of the Toaplan games where I have completed the first loop on. 

 

 

 

 

[Steven Pendleton]

1 hour ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

Same! Same! Same! (I have it as Fire Shark) is the only Toaplan shooter that I can actually play for extended periods of time, so I guess that one is actually my favorite of the Genesis/Mega Drive titles. 

Stick it in a Japanese Mega Drive or a Mega Sg with the region set to Japan with the automatic region change function disabled and it will actually change to Same! Same! Same!. Both regions are on the cart, even for the Retro-Bit versions, and I believe the Japanese versions of each difficulty are actually slightly more difficult than the US counterparts. This goes for almost all Toaplan games on the system. I think US/PAL Hellfire is supposed to be more difficult than Japanese Hellfire, but I don't know the specifics.

 

Same! Same! Same! is a really good game on the Genesis or Mega Drive and I love it. Check out the time tracker on Monday to see how much I love it, as I played it a lot this week. Run far, far away from the 1P Japanese arcade version if you ever see it, though. That game is absolutely terrifying and is easily the second most difficult game I have ever played in my life. Play the 2P arcade version or the international arcade Fire Shark instead, as those are actually playable by normal humans and actuallyvery fun and the reason that I'm really looking forward to the M2 collection later this month.

 

1 hour ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

The other games I have are Grind Stormer and Twin Cobra... with Grind Stormer I have no idea what to actually do to beat the second boss and Twin Cobra is way too hard for some reason. Fire Shark is just right with the difficulty, not easy but not too hard either and is the only one of the Toaplan games where I have completed the first loop on. 

I played V-V in the arcade for the first time exactly 1 week ago and I think I used the regular shot set to wide or the search weapon for the stage 2 boss and it worked pretty decently. Grind Stormer is more difficult than V-V, though, and I haven't played the arcade version of Grind Stormer. They are definitely quite different games, though... I much prefer V-V and I think the arcade version of V-V is one of the best games Toaplan ever made. It's amazing and I can't wait for the M2 release of V-V. I imagine few people outside of Japan have played the arcade version of V-V on a real PCB, but it really is that good. It makes me really want to go pick up a copy of V-V on the Japanese Mega Drive now. Anyway, try V-V, I think. The Genesis and mega Drive version is nowhere close to being as incredible as the arcade version, but it's still a good version of the game.

 

I haven't played Genesis Twin Cobra, but I have played Mega Drive Kyuukyoku Tiger and it's really damn hard. It's harder than the arcade version, which is already a difficult game. You can hold B on the title screen to get to the options menu and make the game easier, though. It defaults to Hard A, and there are also I think Hard B, C, and D in case you want to make the game even harder for whatever reason.

[DragonGrafx-16]

4 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Stick it in a Japanese Mega Drive or a Mega Sg with the region set to Japan with the automatic region change function disabled and it will actually change to Same! Same! Same!. Both regions are on the cart, even for the Retro-Bit versions, and I believe the Japanese versions of each difficulty are actually slightly more difficult than the US counterparts. This goes for almost all Toaplan games on the system. I think US/PAL Hellfire is supposed to be more difficult than Japanese Hellfire, but I don't know the specifics.

 

Same! Same! Same! is a really good game on the Genesis or Mega Drive and I love it. Check out the time tracker on Monday to see how much I love it, as I played it a lot this week. Run far, far away from the 1P Japanese arcade version if you ever see it, though. That game is absolutely terrifying and is easily the second most difficult game I have ever played in my life. Play the 2P arcade version or the international arcade Fire Shark instead, as those are actually playable by normal humans and actuallyvery fun and the reason that I'm really looking forward to the M2 collection later this month.

 

I played V-V in the arcade for the first time exactly 1 week ago and I think I used the regular shot set to wide or the search weapon for the stage 2 boss and it worked pretty decently. Grind Stormer is more difficult than V-V, though, and I haven't played the arcade version of Grind Stormer. They are definitely quite different games, though... I much prefer V-V and I think the arcade version of V-V is one of the best games Toaplan ever made. It's amazing and I can't wait for the M2 release of V-V. I imagine few people outside of Japan have played the arcade version of V-V on a real PCB, but it really is that good. It makes me really want to go pick up a copy of V-V on the Japanese Mega Drive now. Anyway, try V-V, I think. The Genesis and mega Drive version is nowhere close to being as incredible as the arcade version, but it's still a good version of the game.

 

I haven't played Genesis Twin Cobra, but I have played Mega Drive Kyuukyoku Tiger and it's really damn hard. It's harder than the arcade version, which is already a difficult game. You can hold B on the title screen to get to the options menu and make the game easier, though. It defaults to Hard A, and there are also I think Hard B, C, and D in case you want to make the game even harder for whatever reason.

I actually play V-V on my Grind Stormer cart as both versions were also included but in this case you can actually change the version in the options menu.

[Steven Pendleton]

2 minutes ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

I actually play V-V on my Grind Stormer cart as both versions were also included but in this case you can actually change the version in the options menu.

Yeah, you can do that since the 2 games are radically different, so they let you change between the 2 of them. I have heard the Grind Stormer cart PCBs are of low quality since Tengen used cheap components in the US carts for some reason, which apparently causes the carts to fail or something, but I don't know if that's true. Japanese V-V is getting expensive, though... it's gone up in price since I saw it for the first time several years ago, and it's also become harder to find. I need to play V-V some more...

[DragonGrafx-16]

Just now, Steven Pendleton said:

Yeah, you can do that since the 2 games are radically different, so they let you change between the 2 of them. I have heard the Grind Stormer cart PCBs are of low quality since Tengen used cheap components in the US carts for some reason, which apparently causes the carts to fail or something, but I don't know if that's true. Japanese V-V is getting expensive, though... it's gone up in price since I saw it for the first time several years ago, and it's also become harder to find. I need to play V-V some more...

Well my Grind Stormer is a repro PCB and ROM... though I stuck it into a authentic Genesis shell and printed a better label

[Steven Pendleton]

22 minutes ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

Well my Grind Stormer is a repro PCB and ROM... though I stuck it into a authentic Genesis shell and printed a better label

Okay, you'll probably be alright, then. The official ones unfortunately have some problems from what I understand, so finding defective Grind Stormers isn't unheard of. Definitely try the arcade V-V on MAME or something, though. You won't regret it.

 

You'll also have a perfect reason to get the M2 release of V-V, although that probably won't exist for another 4 years, and I'm unfortunately not exaggerating, as it looks like they are releasing 1 collection every 6 months and in roughly chronological order based on the games' release dates. M2 started with Tiger-Heli, the first Toaplan shooter, but skipped the next game, Slap Fight, and since V-V is the sequel-ish thing to Slap Fight, I can only imagine they will release Slap Fight with V-V, and since that's one of the last games they made, it might take several years to get to it. I just remembered that it's on the Astro City Mini V, as well, along with Out Zone, so that's also an option once that releases.

 

Still, Shark collection at the end of the month will be great. I can't wait to stop using MAME and play these on PS4 and Switch instead. Both the Japanese MD and Genesis versions of Same!/Fire Shark are there as well, so I'll probably start playing that game on Switch or something instead, as well. MD Same! is a lot of fun. Apparently they used the Japanese MD version as an opportunity to make the game the way they always wanted it to be instead of the completely broken difficulty of the 1P arcade version, which arcade operators convinced them to do against their will, so the MD/Genesis version is basically the official definitive version of the game.

Edited April 9, 2022 by Steven Pendleton

[Austin]

I haven't messed around with Slap Fight (I need to rectify that soon!), but as far as the shooters go I do feel Fire Shark is the most accessible of the bunch. Firepower is huge and powerful and generally feels good to use. It's also not nearly as memorization-heavy as Toaplan's titles usually are. You can generally get through most of the game by having upgraded firepower and reacting quickly.

 

Wardner is cool. I learned how to go through that late last year and will be revisiting it soon. It's got some BS collision detection here and there, and some Euro-style obstacles, but it was worth learning. I also need to check out the arcade version to see how it compares.

[Steven Pendleton]

On 4/10/2022 at 5:56 AM, Austin said:

I do feel Fire Shark is the most accessible of the bunch. Firepower is huge and powerful and generally feels good to use. It's also not nearly as memorization-heavy as Toaplan's titles usually are. You can generally get through most of the game by having upgraded firepower and reacting quickly.

Yeah, it's a nice game. Both the interesting bomb system where you control how far up the screen the bomb travels and the ridiculously massive spread shot are great. I think the biggest problem with the game, aside from the green weapon being so bad that getting it is essentially a guaranteed death, is that it takes forever to power up. I don't know if you can actually get back to full power if you die on stage 6 and almost certainly not on stage 7, so you have to play almost the entire second half to final third of the game not at full power, but I'd have to check again. There are also a few really tough checkpoints, like the one directly before the stage 8 boss and the final checkpoint on stage 10, both of which require some decent routing to recover from. Naturally, the solution to both of these things is to just not die~

 

Game's a lot of fun, though, which is I played it for almost 10 hours last week. I always really liked that the game lets you fire one last bomb when you get hit and start burning before your biplane explodes, letting you give one last middle finger to whatever shot you down. Sadly, this was removed in the 2P arcade versions, as you explode immediately instead of burning for a while first. Super excited for the M2 PS4+Switch releases on the 28th.

On 4/10/2022 at 5:56 AM, Austin said:

Wardner is cool. I learned how to go through that late last year and will be revisiting it soon. It's got some BS collision detection here and there, and some Euro-style obstacles, but it was worth learning. I also need to check out the arcade version to see how it compares.

Yeah, I need to spend more time with this one as well. Too bad the Genesis and Mega Drive versions are not on the M2 collection at the end of the month. The Japanese, international, and the supposedly considerably more difficult North American arcade versions are all there and so is the FDS version, but the G/MD version isn't. Maybe it has something to do with that version being made by Visco. The rights to the Visco games are now owned by that shady company PixelHeart, but I don't know.