Title: Toaplan Arcade 2
System: Evercade
Price: $19.99
Release Date: Early 2023
Prelude
In this second pack of Toaplan titles, we near catching up on all Toaplan titles released up to 1990! With the exception of Outzone (not included here), we basically have all of Toaplan’s catalog up to 1990, and these seven games help add to that with a variety of genres.
Presentation
Per the Evercade standards, the visual and audio emulation continue to be top notch, once again being the high quality standard I compared those Bitwave releases to. Sharp pixel display and good sound emulation leads to this being a simple emulation package I had next to no issues with, outside of one oddity introduced by a recent firmware update.
See, Rally Bike has a new error, introduced on the EXP/VS with the recent update that added in High Score/Turbo Fire support to the consoles themselves. (compared to the cart update that got pulled over a year ago, which works fine still if you got it) Play far enough in the game (as in, several full stages, a pretty tough feat), and the graphics get all garbled and the game cats up.
This doesn’t seem to happen on the Super Pocket/OG handheld, so hopefully it can be swiftly fixed, but that is a recent error introduced to this set, and the only one I’m aware of.
Gameplay
Seven more games, let’s go! Like I mentioned for the first Evercade volume, I reviewed the shooters by themselves for the Bitwave ports; basically take the general gameplay notes I mention in those appropriate reviews, and apply them to these versions, but with proper emulation! I’ll still try to recap the included games the best I can, though, even if I’ll keep stuff brief to avoid redundancy. Still no DIP Switches, sadly.
It should also be noted the Autofire update did add autofire to the shooters in these games, but the speed is absolutely pitiful, with the autofire being so darn slow even gentle mashing will outpace it. One game is an exception, and that’s due to a quirk of the game itself.
Twin Cobra– This is the sequel to Tiger Heli! The US Co-Op version here, with accurate sound and tight controls. Thus, you go through vertical stages, build up your ship, and use devastating bombs to clear incoming shots. Being the 2P version, you don’t go back to a checkpoint, and you can have a friend join in for local Co-Op.
Pretty fun shooter, but this was definitely better in its 1P form, which sadly is not included here. That one was more balanced for general scorechasing and was a bit tougher, while here in Twin Cobra, it feels a little bit unbalanced; you could be super powered up, die, and then suddenly be deep in a stage with no way to power yourself back up again. You could credit feed until you’re past that bit, but it really isn’t as fun as playing through the game the intended way in the JP 1 Player version. Good shooter, but not the best version of it.
Wardner– My least favorite game on the entire cartridge. I’d say that was moreso due to a bunch of petty annoyances building up to piss me off the further I got into it, but Wardner still is a game that’ll test your patience. Here you have an action platformer akin to Ghosts and Goblins, only much easier. That doesn’t make Wardner easy as a whole, though!
You have your typical attack and jump setup here, and stage by stage your main goal is to reach the exit while defeating enemies along the way, gathering their dropped gold or other powerups, usually ones that enhance your fire ability. So why is this my least favorite game?
Honestly, it really does come down to a bunch of little things. Stupidly tight jumps. Situations where you can bonk your head and fall straight down to your doom. Weird enemy placements or cruel level design that’ll drain your quarters. A shop system that really takes a while to make proper use of. Nothing that makes Wardner bad or anything, just very obnoxious.
It probably doesn’t help I’ve played the FDS version, which is much gentler and I like a lot more as a result. Luckily, infinite continues and save states does make this a decently fun one if you just want to try and beat it, but for scorechasers/1CC attempters like me, Wardner pales compared to the other games on this card, yet the decent quality despite these flaws is a testament to just how damn good Toaplan’s catalog was as a whole.
Rally Bike– Here’s a surprisingly fun one! Unfortunately, also currently bugged if you play on the EXP/VS, but you may as well not even encounter said bug even if you try your best, since Rally Bike is hard. Like, utterly, absurdly hard. But unlike Battle Lane, the core gameplay loop is so addictive to the point I can’t help but keep trying and trying again.
See, the main point of Rally Bike is to make it to the end of the course in a qualifying position. You start with fifty racers, and must reach a certain position while also clearing the course, which is far easier said than done. You move with the joystick and the accelerate button, holding up or down to adjust your speed. It feels a bit like a shooter when it comes to the dodge em up aspect, since crashing into any other vehicle or wall will stop you. However, you don’t have a lives system in Rally Bike, with your survival being solely dependent on your fuel supply.
Thus, you could just be a pro, dodging every obstacle, avoiding some gas refill stations, and still make it to the end in a good position. Or you could be like me, watching a ton of stupid CPU racers crash their bikes and suffer a flaming explosion over and over again, as you do the same, lose some fuel, and maybe hit a fuel station while losing a few spots in the race. One time I actually did clear the first stage, while failing to qualify. Thus, a game over, but not without scoring decently enough to be on the local scoreboard, and feeling the urge to try again!
All that just makes Rally Bike a very strange, yet addicting score chaser. A fun showcase for the EXP’s Tate mode due to the lack of button mashing, but despite the high difficulty, this is still a really fun game to pop in and just enjoy for a few minutes, even if you’ll probably not make it that far.
HELLFIRE– Easily one of Toaplan’s best shooters! This is their other horizontal one, and unlike Zero Wing the powerup system is a whole lot better. Just one weapon that gradually upgrades, and the ability to change the direction of your shot with the press of a button. This is also the 2P version with local co-op, and thus, the instant respawn issue I noted in Twin Cobra applies here. Still, you can at least enter your initials before continuing here, and I have to admit, Hellfire is so darn fun that I don’t mind going through the entire game and entering my scores along the way!
There are still plenty of fun scoring tricks here, from shooting the powerup pods from behind to gain three drops at once, to collecting B items for extra points. It just all works for a simple, yet very fun horizontal shooter to challenge yourself with, and while I still prefer the 1P version of Hellfire and wished that made the cut, the 2P version here isn’t really as bad as some of the other 2P versions other games use, and it manages to be pretty enjoyable in Co-OP as a result! Just a fun shooter you can jump in and play, and probably one of the best showpieces for an Evercade Alpha, if you get one.
Twin Hawk– A fun vertical shooter, with the main gimmick being that instead of traditional bombs, you can summon a squad of planes to shoot alongside you! Yes, you can still make them into a big bomb if you press the button twice, but there’s plenty of strategic means to keeping them as a squad; not only does it give you a wider range for shooting, but the planes can act as a decoy to protect your main ship from shots!
This is another 2P version with local co-op, and this one is fine. Still a game I enjoy more in the 1P setting for scorechasing purposes, but the instant respawn here doesn’t hurt nearly as much as some of the other Toaplan games since the squad of planes you can summon are enough to pull you out of a pinch even after a power down. Obviously, staying powered up with a wider shot is better, but not required, and I was still able to pull myself back together if I died deep in a stage, so I didn’t feel the instant respawn was as big of a balance breaker as it used to be. Ultimately, a great shooter in both solo and co-op play!
Demon’s World– Also known as Horror Story, this fun action platformer is a game where Toaplan clearly wanted to do a Ghostbusters without getting Ghostbusters. You move, shoot, and switch weapons as they come in to defeat the various ghostly enemies standing in your path!
Interestingly, while this is the western version of the game, the only major difference comes from the level order. Both versions had co-op, and this game is indeed, incredibly fun in said co-op mode, but in my humble opinion, the western version here is better than the Japanese original! While the Japanese version started you on a dull, boring stretch of land, here you start on the Japanese version’s Stage 3, which is a much, much more exciting stage that gets you right into the action. To make things better, the autofire button here is also very handy and works at a great speed, and that’s because the original machine had a hidden autofire option that just got mapped to a button on Evercade. The autofire on the arcade machine was fast, so it’s fast here, too!
Ultimately, being both a great co-op game as well as a fun little action game, Demon’s World is the sleeper hit of the cart, in my book. You can easily jump into this one without much prior knowledge, and compared to some of the harder games on this cart, that makes this a pretty easy title to recommend the cart for!
Fire Shark– The US version of the brutally hard Same Same Same! brings the usual 2P western version tweaks over, while also greatly toning down the difficulty of the original game. Yes, that means instant respawn, awkward balancing, and a fun co-op mode.
Despite those tweaks however, the sheer drop in difficulty makes this version the one I think more casual people would enjoy. Yes, you’ll probably be annoyed if you get a big powerup chain going only to lose it all in a tough area, but at least you won’t be dealing with the brutality of that original Japanese version! Still, I wish these collections included the option to play some of those regional variants, since that version is ultimately preferable for score chasing purposes. Still, for casual play or two player co-op, or heaven forbid, actually beating the game, Fire Shark is the way to play, and thus that’s why I feel it makes for a fine addition to this collection.
Conclusion
Ultimately, we have a pretty damn impressive set of games here for Toaplan 2. I think it would slightly edge out Toaplan 1, except that set has both Teki-Paki and Alcon to boost it above the second volume for me. On the other hand, this set has the fantastic Hellfire and Demon’s World, which are far better than most of the other shooters in these two volumes combined, so you really can’t go wrong with either of the cartridges.
Despite having one less game than Collection 1, this one is just about on par with that first volume. Save for the currently bugged Rally Bike and the lack of Japanese versions, I can’t really note much problems, either. You get what you pay for, and what you pay for are a bunch of pretty great Arcade games.
I give Toaplan Arcade 2 an 8 out of 10.