Legendary Japanese scrolling shooter developer Toaplan's games being remade for iPad

Even for western fans of Japanese developers such as Treasure and Cave, arcade and console studio Toaplan is considered something of an obscure pick.

But in Japan, its reputation for side-scrolling shooters is high; at least for those old enough to remember.

The company went bust in 1994, with staff going on to form studios including Cave, 8ing/Raizing and Gazelle.

Now, however, it appears that Toaplan's entire catalogue has been acquired, with remakes of its four best known games underway.

Comeback king

Developer M2 has been given permission by the licence holders and is currently developing four of the games for iPad release.

The four games currently in development are Twin Cobra (Kyukyoku Tiger), Truxton (Tatsujin"Expert"), Truxton II (Tatujin O "Expert King") and Sky Shark (dubbed Flying Shark in Europe).

President of M2, Hoshii stated that he would consider making more games if these proved popular, as well as bringing these four to other platforms.

Apparently, though, there are various issues converting the games from their old formats, especially with regards to perfecting the control scheme, so it may be a while before they're released.

M2 has made a name for itself as custodian for several re-makes including the Sega Ages series for PS2 and Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits on DS.

Music for the games will be remixed by Japanese game music composer Super Sweep and five CDs of music will be available for purchase with an additional CD containing secret PDF files about the games.

Whether or not this will be available outside of Japan is doubtful.