Fill-in-Cafe appreciation thread

[1983parrothead]

It's been 25 years since Team Cross Wonder renamed itself as Fill-in-Cafe. If you are ignorant about Fill-in-Cafe, then let me fill you in here.

It all started in 1987 under the name Team Cross Wonder. Their first and only game under that label was Metal Sight, a Space Harrier-like rail shooter.

Opening

Playthrough

Ending


Then came another Space Harrier-like rail shooter, Neural Gear, the first video game with the Fill-in-Cafe label. Unlike Metal Sight, Neural Gear is controlled with the mouse.

Gameplay video by Denymentanol


Then Fill-in-Cafe started becoming better with the release of Galaxy Keiji Gayvan (published by Intec), a single-plane field-based beat 'em up with the style of Space Sheriff Gavan.

Opening

Stage 1


20 years ago, in 1994, Fill-in-Cafe started gaining popularity when they released Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force (on this day!), followed by Asuka 120% BURNING Fest. for Sharp X68000 and Fujitsu FM Towns home computers.

Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force (Sharp X68000)

Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force (Fujitsu FM Towns)

Asuka 120% BURNING Fest. (Sharp X68000) (I still couldn't find gameplay videos of the ultra rare Fujitsu FM Towns version, not to be confused with the FM Towns version of Asuka 120% Excellent BURNING Fest.)


But their last efforts where probably their largest, and they were Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force and Panzer Bandit both for the PS1, and Asuka 120% BURNING Fest. Limited for the Sega Saturn.

Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force (PS1)

Panzer Bandit (uses PS1 Mad Stalker's engine)

Asuka 120% BURNING Fest. Limited


Shortly after that, Fill-in-Cafe released their first and only self-published title: Community POM.

Opening + Gameplay

But then, they released their last video game, Makeruna! Makendou Z. If you are familiar with the SNES game Kendo Rage, then this is its second sequel. Fill-in-Cafe had a close relationship with Datam Polystar and Success Corporation back then.

Opening

Gameplay

But now for the downfall and bankruptcy of Fill-in-Cafe. Several employees such as Kanta Watanabe later moved to Treasure, some founded their own companies known as Delta Factory and R-U-N.

Here is the thread and Wiki for the Asuka 120% franchise. The second one needs more work. You can support it if you want to.

hg101.proboards.com/thread/9791

asuka-120.wikia.com/wiki/Asuka_120%25_Wiki

[wyrdwad]

The only one of their games I've ever played is Community POM, but that is a DAMNED FINE GAME. Like, a real hidden gem on the PS1 that I enjoyed immensely... even if its overworld theme is largely plagiarized from the 1970s Delfonics song "La La (Means I Love You)" and its boss theme sounds suspiciously like Dragnet.

-Tom

[derboo]

Huge opportunity missed by not writing "then let me fill you in here" in the OP.

[1983parrothead]

Happy 20th Anniversary to the Asuka 120% and Mad Stalker titles!

Asuka 120% Limited is the last game in the franchise that was seriously developed by Fill-in-Cafe, while Final and Return were developed by Success Corporation, which is why Limited is arguably the best in the franchise.

If you are a fan of Treasure, you should check out Mad Stalker titles, because Masaki Ukyo (Treasure) and Masatoshi Imaizumi (Fill-in-Cafe) worked together on it. Not only that, but according to former Treasure designer Tetsuhiko "Han" Kikuchi, Fill-in-Cafe's Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force and Capcom's Alien VS. Predator arcade game were the main inspirations for Guardian Heroes' design.

Later on after Mad Stalker, Ukyo went on to become executive director of Guardian Heroes, while Imaizumi later created the PS1 Mad Stalker and Panzer Bandit. That's probably why Guardian Heroes and Panzer Bandit play similar.

Since December 19th, 2005, Ukyo and Imaizumi joined once again to establish R.U.N and created the fighting game Phantom Breaker, which plays similar to their previous works.

Here is a double-faced poster with the FM Towns versions of Asuka 120% BURNING Fest. and Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force being advertised on them.

[1983parrothead]

*bump*

Here are better scans:

[Don Rumata]

Is there a direct link between Team Cross Wonder and Fill-in-Cafe? Metal Sight's got similarities with Neural Gear, but I've never seen a source confirming they were the same devs. Makes me wonder if these guys developed AZURE (Cabal-like shooter) for Family Soft in 1993.

[cambertian]

These guys look interesting, and I'd like to play something by them eventually.

... This might sound awkward to you or any other physical collector, but do you know what games would be the best representatives if I was to emulate them? I'm thinking about the Playstation ones, but their Wiki page also lists Turbografx-16 versions of their games, which might be easier to emulate.

[CRV]

Dec 10, 2014 19:33:40 GMT -5 Don Rumata said:

Is there a direct link between Team Cross Wonder and Fill-in-Cafe? Metal Sight's got similarities with Neural Gear, but I've never seen a source confirming they were the same devs.

See their website.

[Joseph Joestar]

This is really interesting, tbh I'd never heard of them (although I'm only starting to learn about Japanese PC games). Good stuff!

[1983parrothead]

*bump*

Currently, I am supporting the author of the Untold History About Japanese Video Game Developers with Fill-in-Cafe info. I also uploaded this:

[keobas]

I haven't played much of Fill in cafe games, but i played games that seem to have their influences. I love some of their concepts and hope try some of their other titles.

[keobas]

5PB is having a summer sale that'll include their Fighter Phantom Breaker extra for sale at $15 and the beatem up series 5pb.jp/games/sale

[keobas]

Sale just went live for ps3 version


5pb.jp/games/sale

[wyrdwad]

Is Phantom Breaker related to Fill-in Cafe? I'm not finding any connection to them in the game's production info, but I might just be missing a company rename or something...

-Tom

[1983parrothead]

Aug 1, 2016 11:33:22 GMT -5 wyrdwad said:

Is Phantom Breaker related to Fill-in Cafe? I'm not finding any connection to them in the game's production info, but I might just be missing a company rename or something...

-Tom

Masatoshi Imaizumi worked for both developers.