Retro-Bit Toaplan MD Shooter Re-releases - Truxton/Hellfire/Fire Shark/Zero Wing

[Hirst]

Retro-Bit are doing some physical re-releases on the MD of some Toaplan shooters, pre-orders start 15th September.



Dedicated to any retro gaming collector is Retro-Bit® Publishing’s Toaplan Shooters Collector’s Edition!
This reintroduction to the classic shoot ‘em up games that pioneered the start of the genre on the SEGA Genesis® features a never-released in North America Zero Wing and over 30 different endings, Fire Shark with Masahiro Yuge’s thoughts on his favorite bonus scenes, Hellfire and his take on challenges faced in this side-scrolling game, and Truxton with Masahiro Yuge’s insight on the making of the music behind the game. With so many exclusive extras and the opportunity to get your hands on these rare Toaplan shoot ‘em for the SEGA Genesis® / Mega Drive, you’ll add 4 new games to your retro library!

£39.99 each, £144.99 for the set of four.


Link: http://retro-bit.com/toaplan-shooters/

I've spoken to them about the Zero Wing release as it mentioned 30 endings but seems to be in English, but the 30 endings were cut from the English-language release. They've confirmed their version is the Japanese version, but with the PAL intro added. Curious as to if there's any differences with the rest, but I have to say I'm reasonably impressed. £40 a pop for new MD games seems completely fair to me.

[Colin]

That new artwork is a bit..............challenging.

[QualityChimp]

All your game are belong to us.

[Zaki]

That new artwork is a bit..............challenging.

Challenged?

[Colin]

That too.

[fuse]

From memory, none of the originals of these are prohibitively expensive, are they?

[Cepp]

Truxton is probably the most expensive but still affordable when they're charging £40 a pop for these.

Why are these re-release always so ugly? The Battletoads re-release looks fugly as well. At least put some effort in.

[phillv85]

Yeah you’re not saving much buying these over originals, and you end up with dodgy 90’s bootleg looking artwork.

I’ll probably end up with the full set

[Baseley09]

Yeah this is really wierd choice none of these games are expensive. I aired this on a YT vid comment and apparently Genesis Truxton is $100. Hardly earth shattering. And the art is better on OG. Pretty lame.

[Cepp]

Cart colours look nasty as well.

[Leon Retro]

Why are these re-release always so ugly? The Battletoads re-release looks fugly as well. At least put some effort in.

Just look at the art on blu-ray covers of '80s films -- they often go for a more minimalist modern style. It's usually the same with re-releases of retro games. I guess some people think it looks nice, but I think lots of retro gamers would prefer the old school art style.

[Cepp]

Just look at the art on blu-ray covers of '80s films -- they often go for a more minimalist modern style. It's usually the same with re-releases of retro games. I guess some people think it looks nice, but I think lots of retro gamers would prefer the old school art style.

Modern and minimilist is cool when it's done right. I just find some of these retro releases to look tacky, cheap and amateurish.

-edit-
I should probably say that I'm not against this stuff overall (I'm still interested in picking up Holy Diver), I just find a fair bit of it wanting.

[Leon Retro]

Modern and minimilist is cool when it's done right. I just find some of these retro releases to look tacky, cheap and amateurish.

The really clean minimalist style can look striking, but it can also look amateurish. It's definitely not an easy style to get right.

I guess that lots of people will buy these games as collectable items, so they might not be bothered about whether the art looks worse than the original art. I'm not interested at all in this sort of thing.

[Cepp]

The really clean minimalist style can look striking, but it can also look amateurish. It's definitely not an easy style to get right.

I guess that lots of people will buy these games as collectable items, so they might not be bothered about whether the art looks worse than the original art. I'm not interested at all in this sort of thing.

I'm sure that's part of it. They do all come with certificate of authenticity cards and such.

[JazzFunk]

Great, great games but, nah, I've owned all these on JP back in the 90s (might still have a couple) and I don't play MD games on original hardware anymore cos my MDs are PAL and, well, bitches be SHONKY.

I would, however, fork out about £4-£6 each for the ROMs with cheevz on Xbox One. Look into it, boys.

I already own loads n loads of old MD n NES n SNES n N64 n Neo Geo ROMs that are legally available on Xbox Store, I'd easy welcome these as I'd really enjoy playing them this way!

Anyhow, I heard somewhere that these repro carts aren't 100% stable, is that true or just myth? Heard it somewhere, might've been with that SNES SF2 repro getting hot when in the cart slot for long periods, not sure if MD repros are affected by this?