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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 video 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
Bandai Namco Entertainment,
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
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.[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] In September 2023, close to
Tokyo Game Show 2023, TATSUJIN announced new projects, such as Truxton Extreme,[47]Snow Bros. Wonderland[48] (both games being sequels to their respective series) and Amusement Arcade TOAPLAN, a compilation of 25 Arcade games for smartphones.[49]
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][50]
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]
^"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.
ISBN978-4896373486. (
Translation by Shmuplations.
Archived 2019-12-30 at the
Wayback Machine).
^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 October 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)