Truxton II, known in Japan as Tatsujin Oh (達人王, lit. Expert King), is a vertical scrolling shooting game released by Toaplan in 1992 for Arcades. It was ported to the FM Towns by Ving.
Story[]
Volcanic eruptions have been occurring on a deserted planet somewhere in deep space for quite some time. Then, on a fateful day, they culminated in a gigantic explosion, and a terrifying creature appeared. It is the emperor of the Gidans, thought to be defeated in the last galactic war. Now, the threat is back: the Gidans army is quickly assembled, and in a short time they dominate the galaxy again. Only a handful of refugees escape to deliver the news to the astroport. A pilot navigating the HyperFighter One aircraft is sent to stop the Gidans once and for all.
Gameplay[]
Truxton II plays much like its predecessor, with improved graphics and much tougher gameplay. The game shares the same speed-up and power-up system (red: napalm shots in up to six directions, blue: homing lasers, and green: wide shots in front of you) and bombs as the previous Truxton, but the homing lasers that were so powerful in the previous game have become less useful due to the increased durability of the enemies. The game can be played by two players at the same time, and the second player can join in the middle of the game, but if one of the two planes runs out of power and disappears from the screen at the same time, the other one will return and be resurrected even if it still has power left. The game is six stages long and loops to the next round after clearing it, with enemy bullet speed, bullet density, and enemy durability increasing on the second round (no change after that).
While the ship's hit detection is as large as it looks, the enemy durability is high, and the enemy barrage is surrounded by enemy formations that track the ship at high speed. Upon losing a life the player is sent back to the last resurrection point. In addition, each stage is known for its long duration, taking 7 to 8 minutes to clear even the shortest stage, and requires sustained concentration. This "no beginner allowed" finish could be said to be the pinnacle of high difficulty shooters of the time, and even on the first lap, it was extremely difficult to just clear a stage, let alone clear a stage with no misses or one coin.
Trivia[]
- The audio output is monaural, but the game is programmed in stereo, and you can hear the stereo sound in "Toaplan Shooting Chronicle" released in November 2011.
- The 10 millionth point was achieved in the March 30, 1999 issue of Gamestop. It was reached on the second side of the eighth lap. The fact that it took eight years for a top player to reach 10 million points in a looping game is proof of the high level of difficulty.