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Via Retronaut's Retro Re-release Roundup, week of November 21, 2024. The relevant part of the article:

>What's this? A digital hub offering access to the arcade catalog of the venerable Japanese developer Toaplan, active from the mid-'80s to the mid-'90s and particularly famous for their shooting game output; in addition to offering emulated versions of 25 games with region variants, various control and display settings (including vertical display support and support for external wired and/or wireless controllers) and more, it also includes a customizable virtual arcade frontend with 3D models of arcade cabinets and other accessories that can be arranged at will. > >Which games are included? The base download includes Truxton/Tatsujin for free, as well as trial versions of Tiger Heli, Sky Shark/Flying Shark, Pyros/Wardner, Brainwashing Game Teki Paki, and Snow Bros; other games available for purchase include Get Star/Guardian, Slap Fight/Alcom, Kyuukyoku Tiger/Twin Cobra, Rally Bike/Dash Yarou, Hellfire, Twin Hawk/Daisenpuu, Demon's World/Horror Story, Zero Wing, Fire Shark/Same!Same!Same!, Out Zone, Vimana, Ghox, Truxton II/Tatsujin Ou, Fixeight, Dogyuun!!, Grind Stormer/V-V, Knuckle Bash, Batsugun and Snow Bros. 2.

Damn.

Amongst the non-shmup titles shown, there's news about:

-Earthion EXA Label -Demon Front EXA Label -Batsugun EXA Label 1.5 -Airgallet EXA Label

There's also word of a new version of Wild Guns Reloaded called "Wild Guns Rawhide" for any gallery shooter fans out there (think Cabal, or Neo Geo's Nam 1975).

If you don't have an arcade nearby, all you need is about ten grand to get an eXa cabinet and a game cart for yourself -- OOF.

FTA: "It will launch on May 29, 2025 in Japan with support for English, French. German, Portuguese, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese language options."

So if it doesn't come out internationally (no word on that yet), you could still grab a physical edition from Japan without having to cope with Japanese menus (\cough DOJ \cough).

From the article:

>Angel at Dusk (Sanuk, 7th Nov, $14.99) - The newest answer to shmups. A game which is "uncompromisingly skeletal". That is, a game in which every last ounce of excess has been cut away, and only its framework quintessence remains. Bones free themselves of flesh, laying waste to needless entrails! Revealing a skeleton of extraordinarily strength.

The relevant bit from the larger article:

>Following the recent delisting of Live Wire's port of the arcade shooting game Mushihimesama, they've just announced that their remaining Cave ports will also be unavailable for digital purchase from December 2 due to an expiration of their publishing license. As they stand, DoDonPachi Resurrection is currently available on Steam and iOS and will remain available for the foreseeable future, but Espgaluda II's previous ports (a Japan-only Xbox 360 port and an iOS port) are long unavailable, meaning there are no current commercial alternatives to the Switch version. Do note that both games have received separate physical runs in North America, Japan and, very recently, Europe, so you may want to look into those while the prices are still somewhat reasonable.

Toaplan's been getting a lot of love lately, what with Slap Fight and GrindStormer[ set for release on modern consoles, the announcement of a new Evercade collection, and today we get the news that Twin Cobra, Slap Fight and Grind Stormer are all going to get brand new deluxe, physical releases for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.

Now that I think about it, the Genesis is getting a lot of love these days, too!

Don't tell anyone, but I actually like Salamander just slightly more than Gradius.

FTA:

>Konami's 1986 shmup Salamander (AKA Life Force) is now playable on MiSTer FPGA. > >The public release was spotted by @RCAVictorCo and has been confirmed as working.

FTA:

>Originally released in arcades back in 1992, the game was developed by the Zed Blade and P47: The Phantom Fighter developer NMK, with Banpresto (a subsidiary of Bandai) handling its distribution in Japan while Fabtek did the same for the North American region. > >The game is based on the 1984 film Macross: Do You Remember Love? and sees players take control of the fighters Hikaru Ichijyo (player one) and Max Jenius (player two) as they pilot the variable fighter Valkyrie to defeat an invasion from the Zentradi race.

Three shmups on this one -- not bad! From the article (shooters in bold):

>Here is a short description of each game from the developer: > >Dogyuun – An intense vertical-scrolling shooter filled with powerful upgrades and fast-paced action. > >Grind Stormer – A critically acclaimed shooter offering a dual gameplay style with both "Grind" and "Storm" modes. > >Knuckle Bash – A quirky beat 'em up with unique character designs and over-the-top action. > >Pipi's & Bibi's – A mischievous platformer with daring challenges, offering a fun and lighthearted arcade adventure. > >Snow Bros 2 – The sequel to the much-loved Snow Bros, with new characters and co-op gameplay. > >Sky Shark (8-bit version) – A classic shoot 'em up, now presented in its 8-bit version for a nostalgic retro twist.

The games are Wolf Fang (a side-scrolling mech based run n' gun) and Skull Fang, a vertical scrolling shmup. From the article:

>Skull Fang: As a member of the Skeleton Fang Platoon, the player boards a fighter plane and heads off to intercept enemy weapons approaching the defense line. Choose from four pilots with different skills and four fighter planes with different performance. On the battlefield, freely control the speed of your fighter plane and decide whether to take the risk and fly at high speed, or play it safe and fly slow to intercept the enemy. In boss battles, control your speed to mark the boss within range. The Saturn version is even more powerful with additional bosses, background music, and additional units in trial mode!

>The pack includes Night Striker (1989), Return of the Invaders (1985), Crime City (1989), Cloud Master/Chuka Taisen (1988), Wardner/Pyros (1987), Twin Cobra 2 (1995), Thundercade/Twin Formation (1987), Wyvern F-0 (1985), Operation Wolf (1987) and Yūyu no Quiz de Go! Go! (1990), and is selling for $500 on eBay. That's a confirmed sale, not just a listing – although another seller is asking over $600 for the game.

I mean, Twin Cobra 2 is pretty good, but damn!

>A presentation event for the new Aero Fighters game will be held at EXBAR TOKYO plus in Shinjuku, Tokyo on November 8 at 20:00 JST, where information about the game and available platforms will be announced.

I'm a big fan of the Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings series, but I never thought I'd see a new entry because I figured the IP rights were all messed up. Looking forward to seeing what SUCCESS does with it now!

FTA:

>Something worth noting with this release is that the game's text remains untranslated, as with all previous EGGCONSOLE releases. As a result, it may be worth tracking down the original files and taking advantage of the unofficial English fan translation, if you want to get the full experience.

>Toaplan was established in 1979, but its gaming division wouldn't come into being until 1984. Its first two titles were Jongō (1984) and Performan (1985), but it was Tiger-Heli (also 1985) which put the firm on the map as a master of the shmup genre.