Batsugun
1993 · Vertical Shooter · Arcade
Overview
Batsugun (1993) is Toaplan's vertical shooter, regarded by many as the first "manic" or bullet hell shooter, in which ships level up their guns with experience.
Deep Dive
Players choose one of three ships — Sky Mirage, Dragon's Whisper or Judgement Flasher — and fly five levels. Alongside the usual "P" power-ups and "B" bombs, the main gun gains experience separately from the score and levels up twice; once it is maxed out, further experience adds bombs instead. Extra lives come every million points, with gold medals and hidden bonus spots for higher scores.
Developer Story
Junya Inoue and Takeshi Kawamoto designed the game, and Toaplan released it on 7 December 1993. It won two Gamest awards. Banpresto published a Saturn version in Japan in 1996 that included both the original and the Special Version.
Did You Know?
- A Special Version, with a smaller hitbox, a shield and extra loops, was shown at the 1994 AOU Show but never officially released.
- Toaplan closed in March 1994, before a planned sequel came out.
- It influenced Cho Ren Sha 68K and Eschatos.
Sources & further reading
- Batsugun — Wikipedia
