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Turvys Strike Back in an inverse DSiWare shmup on May 31
The second game in Tecmo's odd "A Topsy Turvy Life" DSiWare series will be released on DSiWare on May 31, according to Tecmo's official Twitter account for the series. While the first game, Turvy Drops, was a falling block puzzle game, this one is a vertical shooter based on Star Force. Like Turvy Drops, Turvys Strike Back is meant to be played with the DS upside down, such that the touch screen is on top. The player then uses the stylus to place enemies to try to defeat the shooter's protagonist. Maybe you should just watch the video after the break to make sense of it.
iPhone It In: Sketch Nation Shooter
The iPhone App Store is littered with small-minded games. Sure, they may be fun, but they're far too often devoid of any real, long-lasting appeal. Sketch Nation Shooter is more than just the antithesis of those games ... it's the antidote. SNS not only allows you to use your iPhone to create a game from the ground up, but also gives free access to the multitude of games that others have already made. And did I mention it's just a buck?
PSN is 'perfect home' for shmups, Gundemonium pub explains
Sony Online Entertainment recently signed a deal with Rockin' Android to bring three shmups (shoot 'em ups) exclusively to the PlayStation Network: Gundemonium Recollection, GundeadGline and Hitogata Happa. Micah Loucks, producer at SOE, explained to Gamasutra that the "uniquely Japanese" quality of these shooters made them an attractive fit for PS3 owners. Of course, Rockin' Android was incredibly enthusiastic to have these games appear on a console for the very first time. "One of our game plans was to get these games on a console system, because we always believed that they were meant to be played on a gamepad. Sony came in at the perfect time," Rockin' Android president Enrique Galvez explained to Gamasutra. Clarifying why the games were coming exclusively to PS3, Galvez added: "Xbox had some Japanese shooters already, we felt that Sony didn't really have those on PlayStation Network, so we thought that [PSN] was just the perfect home." Although only three games are confirmed for release on PSN thus far, it appears PS3 owners can expect even more shmups in the future. "There's going to be more," Loucks added. "I can't speak towards when or which titles yet, but yes, there's going to be more." For a look at the original PC version of Gundemonium, check out a video after the break.
ESRB: Dariusburst is approaching fast
Providing further evidence of a localization for the US-trademarked DariusBurst, the ESRB has rated the PSP shmup. It was released in Japan on both UMD and as a download on Christmas Eve of last year. For those of us who have never played any shooter before (ever), the ESRB describes the gameplay: "From a side-scrolling perspective, players navigate through outer space while shooting at the numerous enemy units. Ships, objects, and enemies explode when hit, sometimes with realistic or slow-motion effects. " We love this new world in which developers are selling shmups again. They were ridiculously popular in the 8- and 16-bit eras, but North American releases were few and far between for most of the last three generations. And now we're seeing this and RayStorm HD from Taito, DeathSmiles from Cave, and even an iPhone version of EspGaluda 2 in the the same year -- oh, and Cho Aniki.
Taito shoots RayStorm HD at North America May 5
Shooter fans in the mood for something with a bit more of a classical sensibility than the insane "bullet hell" shmups being made these days should look forward to May 5. Square Enix just announced the North American release date for the XBLA RayStorm HD, the updated remake of a classic Taito vertical shooter (but not the one with the robot fish), and it's the same May 5 date at which Japanese Xbox owners (both of them) and PlayStation 3 owners will be able to get the game. Sadly, no PSN release date was included in the announcement -- something about which we're checking with the publisher.
King of Fighters shooter expanded for PSP
KOF Sky Stage SNK's odd shooter spinoff, KOF Sky Stage, hasn't even made it out of the arcade and onto XBLA yet, and SNK has already announced a sort of sequel. Neo Geo Heroes is a new vertical shooting game for PSP containing the original Sky Stage as one mode, but also adding even more characters from SNK fighting games. Kyo, Athena, Iori, and Kula from the KOF series, Terry and Mai from Fatal Fury, Marco Rossi from Metal Slug, Iroha the maid from Samurai Shodown VI, Akari from Last Blade, and even the pilot from Alpha Mission can fly now, apparently, as they're all selectable characters in the game. Neo Geo Heroes will fly into Japanese retail in July. No plans have been announced outside of Japan for this nor Sky Stage.
NormalTanks assaults PSN this Thursday
Click image to blast your way into our gallery In the mood for some old-school shmup action with a modern twist? This Thursday, NormalTanks -- not to be confused with those crazy tanks you see every now and then -- will release on PSN for the PSP and PS3. The game features a top-down isometric view and eight different environments to navigate and, as you may have guessed from the title, you control a tank. The PlayStation blog has a video showcasing the title, which we've gone ahead and parked past the break. And, if you're more of the "gotta blow it up now!" school of tank driving, check out the game's official site for a Windows version. %Gallery-91929%
Soldner-X 2 unleashes bullet hell this May on PSN
Soldner-X 2 has finally locked onto a release window. Coming this May, the PSN-exclusive shooter will provide more bullets and more bosses for hardcore shmup fans. Seriously, there may be too many bullets in this launch trailer (embedded after the break). With an added "challenge" mode for those of you that eat bullets for breakfast, Soldner-X 2 looks like a frustratingly fun addition for the PSN's summer catalog.%Gallery-85829%
Square Enix trademarks 'The 4 Heroes of Light'
Square Enix's original, classic-style Final Fantasy for DS appears to be heading westward. Square Enix trademarked "The 4 Heroes of Light" in the US, which matches pretty closely with the translation of Hikari no 4 Senshi: Final Fantasy Gaiden ("4 Warriors of Light"), the streamlined DS Final Fantasy released in Japan in October. To see the trademark filing, it's number 85006964, searchable in the USPTO database. It might just be the next game you pay the Square Enix tax (by which we mean the customary $40 price for Square's DS games) on! Square Enix's subsidiary Taito also trademarked "Dariusburst," (serial number 85008406) which, unless some bizarre trick is involved, refers to last year's PSP shooter, which updates the company's classic robo-fish-shooting Darius series. %Gallery-73955%[Via Siliconera]
Shoot 1UP headed to PSN
Developer Nathan Fouts tells Co-Optimus that his label, Mommy's Best Games, is working to bring Shoot 1UP to PSN. The Xbox Live Indie Game turns the tables on the shoot-'em-up genre by allowing the player to build a mass of ships and basically become a sentient bullet hell, tossing back as many projectiles as enemies are able to dish out. If you think about it, it's not terribly fair that only Xbox gamers have gotten the sweet taste of shmup revenge. After all, Sony fans have been battling through these things since Einhander. When this cosmic injustice is addressed, we're hoping Shoot 1UP can retain its $1 XBLIG price tag.
Experience EspGaluda 2's 'unbelievable bullet density' on iPhone April 10
Cave, developer of niche shooters like Deathsmiles and Dodonpachi, is not only releasing a new game in North America, it's self-publishing. How is this possible for a small company and a relatively obscure genre? It's an iPhone game! Cave's Yukihiro Masaki announced that the iPhone port of EspGaluda II will be available worldwide on the App Store on April 10, for a promotional $4.99/3.99 Euro/￡2.99 price. If you're not sure about playing a hardcore shooter on the phone, there will also be a "Lite" version available for free. EspGaluda II is the same game whose Xbox 360 version was released region-free as an experiment. It would appear the company is still experimenting! See a trailer after the break.
Xbox Live Deal of the Week: Geometry Wars 2 for $5
Though the Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 leaderboards have all rocketed to unsurpassable heights since its release in summer 2008, Xbox Live Gold subscribers shouldn't be afraid of picking it up this week for the temporarily reduced price of 400 ($5). We mean, you should be afraid of its propensity for stealing your evenings away from you as you desperately attempt to unlock that pesky "Wax Off" Achievement. But hey, at least those attempts are pretty fun! (Or, at least, the first hundred are.) Shortcut: Add Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 to your download queue [Via Xbox.com]
The Flying Hamster spits out some weapon tutorials
If it wasn't evident by now, we're absolutely in love with the upcoming PSP shooter The Flying Hamster. It's bizarre, and more importantly, absolutely adorable. We've only seen screens of the game so far, but with the release of its new official website, we can finally see the game (and its weapons) in action. The first three videos introduce some of the tactics players can use. The default weapon appears to be some kind of hamster spit, which can be charged to produce a more substantial ball of wet destruction. Other weapons include sunflower seeds and berries, which can be charged to devastating effect. While these may not seem like the most appropriate weapons to use in a shooter, they certainly match the zany character of the game. Seriously, it's hard not to laugh while watching these videos. You can check out all the action after the break.
Advance! Protect! Fight! On your PSP! Sideways!
The DS has been gifted with games that force players to hold the system in all sorts of weird ways: upside down, to the side, and sometimes even completely closed. PSP is joining the play-your-system-the-wrong-way trend with the newly announced Advance! Protect! Fight!. According to Andriasang, you hold the system vertically. The analog stick is used to move the cursor, with the R button used to click. Essentially, it's meant to simulate a mouse. Advance! Protect! Fight! should be interesting to play on the PSP Go. In fact, you could probably play the game with just one hand with the Go. Too bad Tecmo couldn't think of this control scheme first, right?
Don't worry, The Flying Hamster still looks crazy
There may be a disappointing lack of beer and laser-shooting owls in this new set of screenshots from The Flying Hamster. But don't worry, the game still looks absolutely insane. The upcoming side-scrolling shooter for the PSP stars -- what else? -- an adorable flying hamster, as he makes his way through levels clearly designed by a Mad Libs book. Seriously, what's going on in this image? We have no idea. Check out the rest of the images in our gallery below. The Flying Hamster should be available for download via the PlayStation Network later this year. %Gallery-83145%
Konami shoots 'Gradius Arc' into core of Japanese trademark database
[Hobby Search] Konami has filed a Japanese trademark for something called "Gradius Arc." The "Gradius" part is easy enough to parse -- Konami's long-running series of horizontal shooters, last seen in the form of WiiWare's Gradius ReBirth -- but the "Arc" leads us to one particularly fanciful hypothesis. "Arc" happens to be the frontrunner among rumored names for the PlayStation Motion Controller, having been mentioned by several developers and even trademarked by Sony. Could this be the first evidence of a motion-controlled Gradius game? However, we shouldn't jump to (horrifying) conclusions based on the presence of a common word that happens to coincide with what a controller might be called. "Arc" could just be a subtitle for a Gradius game that you play with a controller like a sensible person.
DSiWare screens and trailers from Nintendo Media Summit
There wasn't as much DSiWare stuff on display at Nintendo Media Summit as there was WiiWare, but Nintendo did announce three new games. Photo Dojo is Japan's Photo Fighter X, the bizarre two-player fighting game made out of your photographs. Metal Torrent, as you may have heard, is a localized version of Aa! Mujou Setsuna, a vertical shooter from Arika. X-Scape (above), fascinatingly, is a super-stylish first-person tank game from Q-Games, a sequel to the vintage Game Boy game X. You can see screens and video of all of them after the break. %Gallery-86442%
Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype coming this Spring, adds Challenge mode
It's no secret that shmup fans love inflicting pain on themselves. That's why they'll undoubtedly love the news that the upcoming PSN-exclusive shooter Soldner-X 2 will feature a new "Challenge" mode -- as if the game wasn't going to be challenging enough! In this new mode, players will have to complete a variety of tasks in order to earn Trophies, bonus items and additional credits. Considering the near-impossible task of earning a 100 percent in the first game, this new mode is sure to further frustrate and delight hardcore gamers. Soldner-X 2 will be available on the PlayStation Network some time this Spring. %Gallery-85829%
Reason to live in Japan #2189: There's a festival celebrating the shmup
If you happen to find yourself in Tokyo on February 27, you're ... really pretty lucky -- and we'll be, oh, so jealous of you. That is, of course, if you ride the Yamanote line to Akihabara and experience Microsoft's celebration of shoot-'em-ups for Xbox 360, known as the Shooting Festa 2010. Excuse us: That's the Xbox 360 SHOOOOOTING FESTA 2010! Yep, this is an event solely dedicated to shmups. Upcoming and current releases will be showcased, and you can find a full list of what we won't be playing after the break (because, well, our "trip to Japan" quarter jar kinda got emptied the last time we found an arcade filled with retro shooters). [Via Siliconera]
Cave's Deathsmiles bringing bullet hell to North America via Aksys
click to horizontally scroll through our gallery Japanese developer CAVE is famous for its hardcore "bullet hell" shooters -- at least among importers, because the console versions of those shooters have never been localized. Nobody's been crazy enough to put the time and money into one of the super-hard niche shoot-em-ups, until today, when Aksys Games (the company crazy enough to localize Cho Aniki Zero) announced that it will publish Deathsmiles on the Xbox 360. While this is going to be incredible news to shmup devotees, Deathsmiles may be a hard sell to general audiences, with its "gothic lolita" aesthetic and punishing difficulty. Those who do check out Deathsmiles for whatever reason will find a horizontal shooter with branching paths, online co-op play, and, in the words of Aksys's Cherie Baker, "little girls flying through a gothic otherworld to destroy the horrific, necrotic Imperator Tyrannosatan." Aksys has yet to announce a release date for Deathsmiles. %Gallery-83388%
