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The M2 Shot Triggers collection Toaplan Arcade Garage: Flying Fire Shark is coming to the West later this year on PS4 & Nintendo Switch, its publisher, Clear River Games, has announced.
The collection brings together various versions of Toaplan's classic arcade shoot 'em ups — 1987's Flying Shark (known in Japan as Hishouzame) and its sequel, Fire Shark (Same! Same! Same!) — and was originally released in Japan back in 2022.
Now, though, Clear River Games has revealed plans to bring the collection to even more players overseas, giving more people the opportunity to discover Toaplan's rich arcade history, with some added bonuses thrown in, like the Super Easy Mode for beginners (featuring auto-bombing and extra lives) and an Arcade Challenge Mode (which divides the screen into bite-sized chunks to help you prepare and train for a 1-credit clear).
The collection will be released on August 29th, 2026, in both digital and physical formats, according to the announcement. No price has been revealed just yet for the digital version, but the physical pre-orders are now available on Clear River Games' website for £39.99 (Nintendo Switch/PS4).
Buying the digital version of the game will get you the following titles:
- Flying Shark (Worldwide arcade version)
- Sky Shark (US arcade version)
- Hishouzame (JP arcade version)
- Fire Shark (Worldwide arcade version)
- Same! Same! Same! (JP arcade version)
- Same! Same! Same! (JP arcade 2-player version)
However, there is also a DLC available, giving you access to even more games, including console ports of Sky Shark and Fire Shark, and a small number of titles related to the Toaplan arcade platformer Wardner.
Those who buy the game digitally will have to pay for this separately, while those who purchase the physical version will get it included by default. The DLC contains the following ports/games:
- Sky Shark (NES version 1989)
- Same! Same! Same! (JP SEGA Mega Drive version 1990)
- Fire Shark (SEGA Genesis version 1990)
- Wardner (Worldwide arcade version 1987)
- Wardner no Mori (JP arcade version 1987)
- Pyros (US arcade version 1987)
- Wardner no Mori (FDS version 1988 - JP language only)
In addition to all of the above, you will also get Toaplan’s 1991 arcade puzzle title, Teki-Paki, as a free download, which was also the case for Toaplan Arcade Garage: Kyukyoku Tiger-Heli, which was released earlier this year in the West.
Writing about the Japanese release, Toaplan Arcade Garage: Hishou Same! Same! Same!, back in 2022, Nintendo Life freelancer Tom Massey gave the collection an 8/10.
In that review, he described the collection as "wonderful, historical stuff, conserving two beautifully designed roadmaps for the future succession of the genre," but complained that it only included the arcade versions, with the home ports "sadly locked behind DLC barriers."
This obviously will not be a problem for those who pre-order the game physically here, but unfortunately, it still seems to be the case for the game's digital editions.
Will you be picking the collection up when it launches later this year? Let us know in the comments!