The Toaplan games are known for their thrilling music that matches the intense shoot em up gameplay. Taking off in Truxton and you immediately feel a level excitement as the music starts to play, its the start of an action-packed journey to furthest reaches of space. Or the dramatic straight into action upbeat tune of Hellfire. Add the sound effects of blazing shots and exploding bombs. Its a soundscape that represents the best of the golden arcade era of pixelated shoot em up games.
At Bitwave we have worked to constantly improving the audio representation. Coder Carl Henrik Skrstedt has listened (no pun intended) to feedback and received input from Tatsujin, the owner of the Toaplan games and run by original Toaplan staff including Masahiro Yuge and Tatsuya Uemura that composed several of the songs in the game.
To ensure proper emulation we listened to recorded arcade music and sound effects. Its a challenge as the audio experience with an arcade cabinet can vary between cabinets with different speakers and resonance. The sound from earlier sound chips such as the PSG depends on the circuitry connecting it to the sound output signal making each game a little bit more unique and more challenging to get just right.
Throughout several different patches we have worked on the audio:
- Improved the sound to play at a consistent tempo.
- Included support for a wider range of audio drivers.
- Added audio filter: optional echo, reverb, low-pass and high-pass filters to allow players to customize to their best experience in emulating an arcade like sound.
- Fixed technical bugs that meant minor improvements in the generated audio.
In the latest update weve further adjusted the frequency based on feedback of the sound effects and the high pitch in games such as Slap Fight based on feedback. This is something thatll also benefit future releases such as Tiger Heli, the first game created by Toaplan. We hope that this is satisfaction to your ears in the goal to deliver the arcade feeling home on your PC.
Were humble as its not an easy task to emulate and faithfully recreate the amazing Toaplan audio with the weight of heritage it carries. We appreciate specific feedback on how and where we can improve. Our goal remains to deliver an arcade experience with minimal input lag for the controller to get that split-second action decisions as you dodge bullets, while you enjoy the beautiful pixel art with or without a CRT filter and feel the beat of the stunning digitized music.
We want to finish off by letting you know that the latest update also includes a fix for the capture video function. Previously we fixed the desync and in the new version we have turned off rewind when recording and replaying. At first the fix will be applied to Twin Cobra, Flying Shark, and Slap Fight. The fix will be rolled out to the other games in the future.
Other fixes in addition to the already mentioned:
Music tempo correction (Twin Cobra, and Flying Shark)
Wide screen mode: Pick-ups centered instead of to the left side (Twin Cobra)
Centered the cursor in the high score entry (Slap Fight)
[ 2023-12-13 12:21:34 CET ] [ Original post ]
🎮 Full Controller Support
- [4.12 M]
“FIRST STRIKE… WITH TWIN COBRA!"
Twin Cobra (known as "Kyukyoku Tiger" in Japan) reaches new heights on PC with updated extras and quality-of-life bonuses like quick saves, online leaderboards, arcade-accurate emulation, and a brand-new beginner mode. In this vertical shmup classic, you'll have your hands full with fast-flying action and deadly opponents swarming the sea, land, and skies!
You're an elite chopper jockey ready to destroy an evil superpower! Their reign of terror stretches from coast to coast. But your might and will to fight are far greater. Take aim and make their ground grunts groan, their heli-fellas faint, and sea swabs sink!
ORIGINAL GAME FEATURES:
- Drop devastating bombs and fire four ammo types from the world’s fastest attack chopper!
- Bypass hostile battleships and soar through enemy strongholds. Your opponents retaliate on every front using aircraft, aircraft, and tanks!
- Fly solo or join forces with another Cobra jockey in co-op mode!
- Survive longer to grow even stronger! Evade incoming shots to increase your fire rate and damage.
- Original soundtrack by Masahiro Yuge and Tatsuya Uemura
QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS:
- Minimal Input Lag: Emulation, input processing, and rendering all complete on the same frame.
- Quick Save using F1-F10, Reload with Shift+ F1-F10
- Online leaderboards for Single Credit, No Assist, and Assisted plays.
- Instrument panels with extra gameplay information and artwork.
- Rewind the game between 10-18 minutes, depending on the action.
- Capture sharable replays to immortalize your air strikes (or funny moments).
- Assist Features such as auto-fire at multiple rates.
- Very Easy Mode: Lower the difficulty to breeze through the adventure.
- Pixel perfect or full-screen scaling in windowed or full-screen mode.
- Rotate the gameplay in 90-degree increments.
- Steam Achievements
- Choose between Raw Input on Windows or Steam Input.
- Hone your skills in the ultra customizable practice mode!
- Memory: 256 MB RAMStorage: 10 MB available space
- Storage: 10 MB available space
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