Toaplan's Truxton II, Grind Stormer, Twin Hawk, And Dogyuun Are Coming To Steam

Toaplan Arcade Shoot 'Em Up Collection Vol. 4 coming soon

by Damien McFerran Tue 26th Mar 2024

Toaplan's Truxton II, Grind Stormer, Twin Hawk, And Dogyuun Are Coming To Steam 1 — *Image: Toaplan*

BitWave Games, the company behind the excellent Toaplan Arcade Shoot 'Em Up Collection series, has confirmed that the fourth entry is on its way.

Toaplan Arcade Shoot 'Em Up Collection Vol. 4 will include Truxton II (1992), Grind Stormer (1993), Twin Hawk (1989), and Dogyuun (1992).

Truxton II is widely regarded as one of the company's finest games and was also ported to the FM Towns computer in Japan. It sadly didn't get ported to any other platform at the time.

Grind Stormer – also known as V・V – was ported to the Sega Genesis by Tengen, but it's far from arcade-perfect, so having access to the coin-op original is going to be very welcome.

Twin Hawk is a WWII-based shmup which sees you taking down ground enemies exclusively. It was ported to the PC Engine, PC Engine CD-ROM² and Sega Mega Drive.

Finally, Dogyuun is one of Toaplan's most ambitious (yet flawed) releases, and was never ported to any home system. It's one of the most visually alluring 2D shooters ever made, and is only let down by the fact that some of its gameplay mechanics seem a little underbaked.

[source twitter.com]

1
sdelfin
Tue 26th Mar 2024

Toaplan's later shooters are great and some of my favorites in the genre. Truxton 2 is punishing, but it plays well, is very pretty, and has great music. I love Grindstormer/V-V (Vee Five). It's one of those games where I knew I'd love it just from looking at it. The V-V version uses a Gradius type upgrade system and is more challenging. Grindstormer uses a more traditional power-up system and bombs. It's not bullet hell, which I'm not into, but it puts a lot of shots on screen. Some of the bosses are really tough, but I'm amazed at how much I improved against them. The Genesis port has issues, but is surprisingly good overall. Dogyuun is also fantastic. I love the gameplay and weapon system. The music is a highlight as well.

I should say that Grindstormer and Dogyuun are challenging, but definitely beatable for people that are not experts(That's what Tatsujin means) compared to the Tatsujin/Truxton games. Though I did run into some bosses that took a while to figure out, but I did.

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