Toaplan
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Toaplan | |
Native name | 株式会社東亜プラン |
Romanized name | Kabushiki gaisha Tōapuran |
Company type | Kabushiki gaisha |
Industry | Video games |
Founded | April 1979 |
Founder | Kiyoshi Motoyoshi |
Defunct | March 1994 |
Fate | Bankruptcy |
Headquarters | Shimizu, Suginami, Tokyo |
Area served | Japan |
Key people | |
Products | Video games |
Toaplan Co., Ltd.[a] was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo responsible for the creation of a wide array of scrolling shooters and other arcade games. The company was founded in 1979 but its gaming division was established in 1984 by former Orca and Crux employees, who wanted to make games, after both companies declared bankruptcy. Their first shoot 'em up game, Tiger-Heli (1985) on arcades, was a success and helped establish Toaplan as a leading producer of shooting games throughout the 1980s and 1990s that would continue to characterize their output.
Though initially exclusive to arcades, they expanded with the Sega Genesis in 1990. The company ceased development of shoot 'em up projects before declaring bankruptcy in 1994. Several offshoot developers such as Tamsoft, Eighting, CAVE, Gazelle, and Takumi Corporation were formed prior to and after the closure, while former members later joined to other studios such as Namco, Capcom, Square Enix and Taito. Toaplan has since earned recognition from critics, being called one of the greatest and most influential Japanese shoot 'em up developers and "master" of the scrolling shooter genre.[1][2]
History
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Toaplan was established in April 1979 but its gaming division was established by former Orca and Crux members.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Performan was created by most of the same team that previously worked on several projects at Orca and Crux before both companies declared bankruptcy,[17][18][19][20] after which a group of employees from the two gaming divisions would go on to form Toaplan and among them were composers Masahiro Yuge and Tatsuya Uemura.[6][10][11][12][13]
In 1992, Yoshiyuki Kiyomoto stepped down from his position as CEO at Toaplan, with Taizo Hayashi now serving as the company's president.[21][22] Toaplan provided consultance and advising to Raizing (now Eighting) during the development of Sorcer Striker, as well as licensing their arcade board to the company, since the president of the latter company previously served as an employee of the former.[23][24] Snow Bros. 2: With New Elves served as one of the final projects to be developed by Toaplan, as the company ceased development of shoot 'em up games before their closure.[10][25]
The company declared bankruptcy on March 31, 1994.[25][26] Its closure led to the formation of several offshoot companies.[27][28] Prior to Toaplan's closure in 1994, several former employees formed or were involved with multiple companies, many of which were dedicated to arcade shooters:[29][30][31][32][33][34][35] Tamsoft, Raizing, CAVE, Gazelle, and Takumi (who continued development of Twin Cobra II after Toaplan's closure).
The rights to nearly every Toaplan IP are currently owned by Tatsujin, a Japanese company formed by Yuge and now-affiliate of Japanese arcade manufacturer exA-Arcadia.[36][37][38][39][40][41] In 2019, Japanese company M2 announced that in 2020 they will release every game by Toaplan (excluding Mahjong Sisters and Enma Daiō) for consoles in Japan.[42][43][44][45] In August 2022, Tatsujin was acquired by Embracer Group for a retro gaming focused operative group.[46]
Staff
Various individuals have been important figures in the history of Toaplan:
- Masahiro Yuge – One of the six original team members and frequent composer.[3][10][11][12][13] Later worked at Takumi Corporation and Eighting on several projects.[9]
- Tatsuya Uemura – One of the six original team members and frequent composer.[3][10][11][12][13] Later worked at Gazelle and Eighting on several projects.[9]
- Toshiaki Tomizawa – Music composer for Demon's World, Zero Wing and Vimana.[3][13][25] Co-founder of CAVE.[9][33]
- Osamu Ōta – Music composer for Wardner, Rally Bike and Twin Hawk.[3][13] Producer of Gekirindan at Taito.[9]
- Toshiaki Ōta – One of the six original team members and head of software development.[4][9][10][11][12] Founder of Tamsoft.[9][10][12][47]
- Naoki Ogiwara – Artist and designer for Truxton and Out Zone.[6][10][25][13] Co-founder of CAVE.[9][33]
- Kōetsu Iwabuchi – Artist for Guardian and Twin Cobra.[6] Later served as planning manager for Grind Stormer.[29]
- Yuko Tataka – Character designer for Truxton, Hellfire, Twin Hawk, Zero Wing and Fire Shark.[8][9]
- Sanae Nitō – Character designer for Truxton, Hellfire, Twin Hawk, Zero Wing and Fire Shark.[8][9]
- Tsuneki Ikeda – Programmer for Grind Stormer and Batsugun.[29][31][32][35] Co-founder of CAVE.[9][12][33][35]
- Satoshi Kōyama – Programmer for Batsugun. Later worked at CAVE on several projects.[48]
- Junya Inoue – Designer for Dogyuun, Knuckle Bash and Batsugun.[30][34] Later worked at Gazelle and CAVE on several projects.[30][34][49]
- Yusuke Naora – Graphic designer for Grind Stormer. Later worked at Square Enix on several projects.[30][50]
- Kenichi Takano – One of the six original team members and designer for Performan.[10][11][12] Co-founder of CAVE.[9][12][33][35]
- Yuichirō Nozawa – One of the six original team members and designer for Twin Hawk.[10][11][12]
- Atsushi Kawaguchi – One of the six original team members and artist for Demon's World.[10][11]
- Nanpei Kaneko – Designer for FixEight and Knuckle Bash.[30][51] Later worked as illustrator for Japanese magazines.[30][51]
- Tomonobu Kagawa – One of the three graphic artists for Truxton II.[52][53] Later worked at Taito on several projects.[54][55]
Games
Developed
Year | Title | Original platform(s) | Publisher | Co-developer |
---|---|---|---|---|
1984 | Jongō | Arcade | SNK | — |
1985 | Performan | Arcade | Data East | — |
Tiger-Heli | Arcade, Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayStation | Taito, Romstar | Micronics (NES), Gazelle (PS1) | |
Jongkyō | Arcade | Data East | — | |
1986 | Guardian | Arcade | Taito, Kitkorp | — |
Slap Fight | Arcade, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Thomson MO5, Thomson TO8, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Sega Mega Drive | Taito | Probe Software (CPC/ZXS), Imagine Software (C64), France Image Logiciel (MO5/TO8), Abersoft Limited (ST), M.N.M Software (SMD) | |
Mahjong Sisters | Arcade | Toaplan | — | |
1987 | Flying Shark | Arcade, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Nintendo Entertainment System, MS-DOS, X68000, FM Towns | Taito, Romstar, Electrocoin | Catalyst Coders (C64), Graftgold (ZXS/CPC), Images Software (AGA/ST), Software Creations (C64/NES), Banana Development Corporation (DOS), Kaneko (X68K), Ving (FMT) |
Wardner | Arcade, Famicom Disk System, Sega Genesis | Taito | Daiei Seisakusho (FDS), Dragnet (SG) | |
Twin Cobra | Arcade, PC Engine, NES, Sega Genesis, X68000, FM Towns, PlayStation | Taito, Romstar | A.I Company (PCE), Micronics (NES), Graphic Research (SG), Inter State (X68K), Ving (FMT), Gazelle (PS1) | |
1988 | Rally Bike | Arcade, Nintendo Entertainment System, X68000 | Taito | Visco Corporation (NES), SPS (X68K) |
Truxton | Arcade, Sega Genesis, PC Engine | Taito, Midway | Sting Entertainment (PCE) | |
1989 | Hellfire | Arcade, Sega Genesis, PC Engine Super CD-ROM² | Taito, U.S.A. Games | NCS Corporation (SG), NEC Avenue (PCE SCD-ROM²) |
Twin Hawk | Arcade, Sega Mega Drive, PC Engine, PC Engine CD-ROM² | Taito | Center Tech (PCE), NEC Avenue (PCE CD-ROM²) | |
Demon's World | Arcade, PC Engine Super CD-ROM² | Taito, Catalina Games | NEC Avenue (PCE SCD-ROM²) | |
Zero Wing | Arcade, Sega Mega Drive, PC Engine CD-ROM² | Namco, Williams Electronics | — | |
Fire Shark | Arcade, Sega Genesis | Toaplan, Romstar, Dooyong | — | |
1990 | Snow Bros. | Arcade, Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Mega Drive | Toaplan, Romstar | Dual (GB), Soft House (NES) |
Out Zone | Arcade | Tecmo, Romstar, Toaplan | — | |
1991 | Teki Paki | Arcade | Tecmo, Honest Trading, Spacy | — |
Vimana | Arcade | Tecmo, Toaplan | — | |
Ghox | Arcade | Taito | — | |
1992 | Pipi & Bibi's | Arcade | Toaplan, Nova Apparate | — |
Truxton II | Arcade, FM Towns | Toaplan | Ving (FMT) | |
FixEight | Arcade | Toaplan | — | |
Dogyuun | Arcade | Toaplan | — | |
1993 | Grind Stormer | Arcade, Sega Genesis | Toaplan | Tengen (SG) |
Knuckle Bash | Arcade | Toaplan, Atari Games | — | |
Enma Daiō | Arcade | Taito | — | |
Batsugun | Arcade, Sega Saturn | Toaplan, Taito, Unite Trading | Gazelle (SS) | |
1994 | Snow Bros. 2: With New Elves | Arcade | Hanafram | — |
Published
Year | Title | Platform | Developer | Co-Publisher | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | MUSHA | Sega Genesis | Compile | Seismic | [56][57] |
1991 | Snow Bros. | Nintendo Entertainment System | Soft House | Capcom | [10][58] |
Cancelled
Title | Genre | Publisher(s) | Planned Release Date/Last Year Developed or Mentioned | Notes/Reasons |
---|---|---|---|---|
Batsugun sequel | Shoot 'em up | Toaplan | 1 May 2001 | [59] |
Untitled Sega System 1 game | Action | Sega | 1 June 2009 | [10] |
Dynamic Trial 7 | Racing, Vehicular combat | Toaplan | 1 June 2009 | [10] |
Teki Paki 2 | Puzzle | — | 1 June 2009 | [10] |
Genkai Chōsen Distopia | Action, Hack and slash, Platform | — | 1 June 2009 | [10][60] |
Tank da Don!! | Platform, Run and gun | — | 27 October 2011 | [25] |
Notes
References
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- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Neal, David (10 December 2008). "A History of Toaplan - Post-Toaplan". Insomnia.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Iona; VHS; K-HEX (June 2009). "東亜プラン FOREVER". Floor 25 (in Japanese). Vol. 9. pp. 1–70. (Translation by Gamengai. Archived 2020-10-10 at the Wayback Machine).
- ^ a b c d e f g h "東亜プラン シューティングクロニクル". SweepRecord (in Japanese). SuperSweep. 14 November 2011. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2020. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2018-07-11 at the Wayback Machine).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kiyoshi, Tane; Tanaka, Haruhisa; Yūsaku, Yamamoto (3 February 2012). "東亜プラン特集 - 元・東亜プラン 開発者インタビュー: 上村建也". Shooting Gameside (in Japanese). Vol. 4. Micro Magazine. pp. 33–40. ISBN 978-4896373844. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-09-06 at the Wayback Machine).
- ^ a b c d e f g Kiyoshi, Tane; Tanaka, Haruhisa; Yūsaku, Yamamoto (3 February 2012). "東亜プラン特集 - 元・東亜プラン 開発者インタビュー: 弓削雅稔". Shooting Gameside (in Japanese). Vol. 4. Micro Magazine. pp. 41–48. ISBN 978-4896373844. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-09-06 at the Wayback Machine).
- ^ Brian Mosley; James Brunner (March 2017). "Out Zone with guest Tatsuya Uemura – PA76" (Podcast). Pixelated Audio. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
- ^ Corritore, Andrea (31 May 2017). "Toaplan: gli imperatori del blastaggio – Toaplan 1984 - 1994: una breve storia". IGN (in Italian). Ziff Davis. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ 「弓削雅稔」 (in Japanese). Vol. 2 (1st ed.). Institute of Game Culture Conservation. 22 September 2019.
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- ^ Uemura, Tatsuya. "同じメンツで色々な名前の会社があった". Magicseed inc. Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
- ^ "オルカ". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 211. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 May 1983. p. 4.
- ^ "東亜プラン". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 427. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 June 1992. p. 7.
- ^ "Raizing/8ing (ライジング/エイティング) STGの輪舞 - 外山雄一氏/横尾憲一氏". Shooting Gameside (in Japanese). Vol. 1. Micro Magazine. 17 October 2010. pp. 96–128. ISBN 978-4896373486. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-12-30 at the Wayback Machine).
- ^ Manami, Rei (24 November 2017). ""エムツー ショット トリガーズ"第3弾『魔法大作戦』発売記念ロングインタビュー(エイティング編) 振り向けば仲間がいた。原作開発時の熱き情熱を当時のスタッフに聞く". Famitsu (in Japanese). Gzbrain. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "東亜プラン シューティングクロニクル 特設ページ". SweepRecord (in Japanese). SuperSweep. 27 October 2011. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-10-02 at the Wayback Machine).
- ^ "Overseas Readers Column - Toaplan Goes Bust". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 472. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 May 1994. p. 26.
- ^ Lambie, Ryan (21 June 2018). "Toaplan: the rise and fall of Japan's greatest shooting game company". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
- ^ "Interface - Developer Profile / Toaplan". Wireframe. No. 13. Raspberry Pi Foundation. 9 May 2019. pp. 50–51.
- ^ a b c blackoak. "1993 V-V Toaplan Interview". shmuplations.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f "井上淳哉 - 「エスプレイド」「ぐわんげ」を創った男". Continue (in Japanese). Vol. 6. Ohta Publishing. September 2002. ISBN 978-4872337006. (Translation by Gamengai. Archived 2019-11-22 at the Wayback Machine. Transcription by Gaijin Punch. Archived 2006-07-10 at the Wayback Machine).
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- ^ a b "CAVE 15th Anniversary ~Shoot'em All!!~". Monthly Arcadia (in Japanese). No. 118. Enterbrain. March 2010. pp. 46–55. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-09-14 at the Wayback Machine).
- ^ a b c d e "Dossier Shoot 'em up". IG Magazine (in French). No. 8. Ankama Presse. May–June 2010. (Translation by Gaming.moe. Archived 2019-02-13 at the Wayback Machine).
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- ^ Arata, Hanzōmon (19 October 2018). "『ゲーム天国CruisinMix Special』開発陣が語る『TATSUJIN』とのコラボの経緯とシューティングに対する溢れる想い". Famitsu. Gzbrain. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ "ライセンス事業" (in Japanese). TATSUJIN Co., Ltd. 2019. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ Bravo, Roberto (12 September 2018). "Nueva compañía "Tatsujin" asegura tener gran parte de las IPs de la extinta Toaplan" (in Spanish). Gamercafe. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ "Tatsujin". exA-Arcadia. 2019. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ Bravo, Roberto (25 January 2019). "Tatsujin, los dueños de Toaplan, anuncian que están trabajando para exA-Arcadia" (in Spanish). Gamercafe. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ "[JAEPO2019]TATSUJINやナツメアタリの参入が発表されたexA-Arcadia。出展コーナーの模様を紹介". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Aetas Inc. 26 January 2019. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ Wong, Alistair (7 December 2019). "M2 To Bring Nearly All Toaplan Games To Modern Home Consoles". Siliconera. Curse LLC. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- ^ Romano, Sal (7 December 2019). "M2 to release nearly every Toaplan game for console starting 2020 in Japan - Mahjong Sisters and Enma Daiou not included". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- ^ Muñoz, José David (8 December 2019). "Snow Bros. Truxton y más juegos de Toaplan llegarán a PS4, Nintendo Switch y Xbox One". Hobby Consolas (in Spanish). Axel Springer SE. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- ^ McFerran, Damien (9 December 2019). "M2 Is Bringing Toaplan's Back Catalogue To Modern Consoles". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
- ^ "Embracer Group acquires Bitwave Games, Gioteck, Limited Run Games, Middle-earth Enterprises, Singtrix, Tatsujin, Tripwire Interactive, and Tuxedo Labs". 18 August 2022.
- ^ "会社概要" (in Japanese). Tamsoft. 2020. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
- ^ Red; MVP; Yamashita, Hiroshi (30 June 1997). "コーナー: 開発者インタビュー - 怒首領蜂". Gamest (in Japanese). No. 196. Shinseisha. pp. 222–224. (Translation by Gamengai. Archived 2019-11-22 at the Wayback Machine).
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- ^ @kagap_t (28 October 2020). "初めましてGoldWingさん。東亜プランでは達人王のグラフィックを担当してました。ハイパーファイター号のデザインも私です。" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ @kagap_t (28 October 2020). "正解です。荻原直樹は達人王チームの私の上司です。達人王は3人のグラフィッカーが参加しています。私はそのうちの一人です。翻訳の関係でちゃんと伝わってなかったらすみません。" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ @kagap_t (27 December 2020). "お久しぶりです。正解です。逆鱗弾でもグラフィックをやっています。1枚目のボスとか私が描いてます。その後タイトーではレイストームやレイクライシスとかにも関わってます。" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ TakeTake55 (23 March 2011). "クレオパトラフォーチュン コスプレカットイン全集 動画". TakeTake的雑記 (in Japanese). Hatena. Archived from the original on 29 August 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
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timestamp mismatch; 29 October 2020 suggested (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "ソフトウェア一覧(ソフトライセンシー発売)| メガドライブ". SEGA HARD Encyclopedia (in Japanese). Sega. 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ Dave, Doctor (March 1991). "Genesis ProView: MUSHA". GamePro. No. 20. IDG. p. 78.
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- ^ Column (in Japanese). BrainBusters. November 1996. ISBN 978-4845812400.
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ignored (help)
External links
- Official website (in Japanese)