For nine years, Toaplan produced many arcade games of varying fame. While some may know them for titles like Snow Bros. and Rally Bike, they were more known for their shooters. Their expertise in the genre was good enough that former employees wound up creating their own famous shooting houses, like Takumi and Cave. PC players had to make do with emulators to experience Toaplan's shooting library, but Bitwave Games has taken it upon themselves to release four of the games in what they're calling Toaplan Arcade Shoot 'Em Up Collection Vol. 1.

The games included in the package are sold separately on Steam, with their own store pages and one bundle that includes all four titles at a discount. Individually, the games can be considered pricey, but it ensures that you can buy only the ones that you want if you aren't fond of all four. It is also worth noting that the bundle has a variable price tag, so you aren't necessarily hosed if you only buy one game now and the rest later.

We start with Out Zone, a top-down, run-and-gun title. You play the role of a cybernetic soldier sent on a mission to save Earth from an alien threat. The game follows the classic shooter philosophy of only being able to shoot where you face, but you can get a spread gun that only fires forward. The shooting is frantic, and the bosses and environments create a more thoughtful run-and-gun title. You can often take advantage of cover and tackle bosses with very interesting attack patterns. This is the first time that the game has hit a home platform; it was never ported in the past, making it enticing for those who have always wanted the game. The only thing that stings is the presence of an energy meter that slowly dwindles as time goes on. Making matters worse is that the meter doesn't act as a shield or health meter; getting hit once still kills you. It makes for more aggressive play, as you'll always be shooting everything to uncover energy and keep going, but it will annoy those who aren't used to this arcade mechanic.

Twin Cobra is up next, and like Out Zone, it is a little different from most other shooters. You're piloting a helicopter, making it reminiscent of one of the company's earliest hits, Tiger-Heli. It also differs from most other top-down shooters in that your movement isn't limited to the visible space; moving to the edges reveals more of the playfield, where enemies spawn. It works well in making the playfield feel bigger, but it means that you might run into enemies and bullets that are out of view. The bullet color blends in a little too well with the environment, so you can get hit by surprise. Additionally, bombs aren't of the screen-clearing variety, so you'll find this title to be tough, especially since this is the only game in the collection that tends to pause periodically. This title lets you immediately continue at a spot whenever you die, instead of moving you back a few steps when returning or continuing.

The third game in the package is Truxton, which was also a launch title for the Sega Genesis. Like Twin Cobra, it is notable for having an extended playfield, but since you're in space, enemy ordnance won't catch you by surprise. Your ship feels like it has a faster movement speed, and your default weapon is a spread gun, making you quite formidable before you get the more powerful weapons. Those weapons are still cool on their own, especially the lightning gun that locks onto enemies. The bombs are also larger and have a better chance of clearing out the screen, but the continue system adheres to the method of taking you back a few steps when respawning. It remains a classic and ties with Out Zone as being the best titles of the package.

Finally, there's Zero Wing, perhaps the most famous title in the package mostly due to the "All Your Base" meme from decades ago. The game may be using the arcade ROM, but the developers have taken the intro from the Genesis version. Unfortunately, it has been cleaned up, and while some of the more infamous lines have remained intact, everything else has been touched up enough that it doesn't feel the same. It's similar to how the version of Symphony of the Night included Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles but had its opening cleaned up and devoid of nostalgia. Zero Wing is the lone side-scroller of the bunch, and while the scrolling movement feels slower, your ship movement is fast enough that it won't be considered sluggish. The smaller ships that go alongside you are nice due to the added firepower they bring and invincibility against enemy fire. The gimmick comes from the tractor beam, which lets you pull in enemies and throw them back as an extra means of attacking. You aren't going to use that option often due to how little range the beam has and how unlikely it is that you won't shoot an enemy before it reaches the beam anyway. It remains a fine shooter overall, but it doesn't exactly stand out as favorable.

All four games in the package to share the same extras. There are online leaderboards for every type of gameplay mode, including an assist mode, where options like variable rapid fire are enabled to prevent finger fatigue. An easy mode lowers the overall difficulty, and there's also a practice mode for those who still want to tackle the game as-is. Different versions from different regions can be selected, and there are toggles for options like default lives and score thresholds for gaining more lives. Emulator standards, like quick save and load and rewind, are also present, along with different wallpapers for the borders and the ability to rotate the screen 90 degrees. The only thing missing from the package is online play, but that's also mitigated by Steam Remote Play, so all bases are covered.

As many would expect, the Steam Deck handles all four games rather easily. All four games run at 60fps with no slowdown. Being old titles, the games barely make the system break a sweat, so don't expect the fan to spin up to a loud whine anytime. Best of all, the game sips power, so you can run a good seven hours on a full charge, giving you plenty of time to defeat all four games at least once thanks to infinite continues.

Individually, the games in the Toaplan Arcade Shoot 'Em Up Collection Vol. 1 bundle are good. Zero Wing is fine, Truxton is solid, Out Zone is a forgotten gem, and Twin Cobra is one of the few shooters to star a helicopter rather than a spaceship. As a package, though, it is a reminder of just how good Toaplan was when it was around. This is good stuff, and we hope that Bitwave plans to release the rest of Toaplan's games soon on the PC.

Score: 8.0/10