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Post by justjustin on Feb 14, 2011 16:16:58 GMT -5
No prob, incognoscente rewrote it for the site. Explained in his post here: shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=470029#470029I suggested the link because, regardless of proper citation or author permission, it is currently the best summary of the company's history available in English.
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Post by Discoalucard on Feb 14, 2011 22:57:00 GMT -5
Icycalm is a dick, but it's worth linking to stuff on his site if it proves relevant. Good to hear it wasn't one of the plagiarized bits!
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Post by Mathius on Sept 23, 2011 0:59:56 GMT -5
This was an extremely good read as Toaplan is one of my favorite (ex)producers of shoot 'em ups. I wanted to ask though; In the article it is mentioned that the Genesis/MD version of Fire Shark is plagued with slowdown and flicker. Unless I didn't notice it, there didn't seem to be much of either the last time I played through it. Was the author playing the game on an emulator? I don't use emulators personally so I can't verify this. Thanks to the Nick Zverloff and Kurt though for this extensive article.
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Post by nickz on Sept 23, 2011 10:47:44 GMT -5
I've only played Fire Shark on an emulator. The slowdown only happens with me when there is a lot of stuff on screen and the flickering seems to only hapen when I have the red weapon. It was hard to get screenshots of the red weapon because one of the fire streams would be flickered out and the rest would be flickered in. I'll have to try some more emulators to see if the game is emulated better.
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Post by Discoalucard on Sept 23, 2011 11:32:49 GMT -5
That flickering effect is common for weapons in shooters though. It's mostly because sprites that big would be too much for the system to handle at once, so they alternate the frames they're displayed. The other big example I can think of off the top of my head is Blazing Lazers.
It's been awhile (~15-ish years) since I actually sat down and played Fire Shark, but I do remember the specific effect not being terribly attractive. Maybe it's just the fact that the flames are so large and the red color, but it's harsh on the eyes.
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Post by Mathius on Sept 23, 2011 12:37:08 GMT -5
I'll fire up my Genesis and give Fire Shark another go tonight after work to check it out.
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Post by ldorado on Sept 23, 2011 23:43:58 GMT -5
Zero Wing was, and still is, badass. That generation of games had the absolute coolest monster and cyborg designs.
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Post by salahmander2 on Jun 1, 2012 19:22:18 GMT -5
Hi guys, I really, REALLY enjoy reading the Toaplan Shooter article, covered many shooters, but there are a few ports missing. Slap Fight: Thomson M05, T08 although they are almost identical except colour and Atari ST. Flying Shark: X68K, FM-Towns and the Euro C64. Just a heads up.
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Post by nickz on Jun 2, 2012 10:58:50 GMT -5
Welcome to the forums! I'll look into this once I'm done with Kolibri. Thanks for pointing this stuff out.
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Post by salahmander2 on Jun 2, 2012 13:02:03 GMT -5
Welcome to the forums! I'll look into this once I'm done with Kolibri. Thanks for pointing this stuff out. You're welcome. And I forgot to put, the Grind Stormer mode on the Megadrive version was on the arcade, has the same gameplay as Grind Stormer.
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Post by drpepperfan on Dec 7, 2016 3:40:26 GMT -5
shmuplations.com/toaplanmusic/ Translated remarks/commentaries from the composers of a variety of Toaplan shooters on their music, taken from the various soundtrack and arrange albums released over the years. The games include Truxton, Fire Shark, Fixeight and of course, Zero Wing.
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Post by ommadawnyawn2 on Dec 7, 2016 13:07:31 GMT -5
^Thanks a lot for the translation.
On another note, "toa" is slang for toilet in swedish, so the name always sounded silly to me. What is the actual meaning of the term?
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Post by Discoalucard on Dec 8, 2016 9:45:22 GMT -5
東亜 = "toa" = "East Asia"
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