ST?RMW?ND
It seems not too long ago that I first stumbled across the news that a new Dreamcast shooter was in development called Sturmwind. This excited me no end as it hadn't been long since the release of NG-DEV's, Fast Striker, and I was inspired to start my shmup blog again. This was back in Febuary 2011, but I still have no Sturmwind lining my collection shelving.
It seems the previous release date on Red Spot Games pre order site was late December 2011 and has now been penned in as "won't be released BEFORE MARCH 2012!!". This isn't the end of the world, as I'd rather see them take longer if the game ends up being more impressive overall.
Sturmwind LTD Edition package
2012 PHYSICAL RELEASES
After 2011 being such a big year for shmup releases in my eyes, well certainly in regards to the Xbox 360, 2012 was always going to be one of either excitement or void.
In 2011, Cave repackaged some of their fine bullet hell shooters from their back catalogue, such asMuchi Muchi Pork! and DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu Black Label, as well as giving us new releases in the shape of Akai Katana Shin, not long after it was released in Japanese arcades! Others included, Bullet Soul From 5pb Games, Eschatos from Qute (suprise Shmup of the year for me), and a newOtomedius game in Konami's series (please revive Gradius, Twin Bee and Parodius Konami?), not forgetting Rising Star Games' efforts for PAL releases of Deathsmiles and DoDonPachi Resurrection.
DDP Daifukkatsu/Resurrection
So what's on the cards for 2012 you might ask? Well I haven't heard of alot so far. When I say this I mean more in a sense of Xbox 360 releases and physical releases at that. I find it hard to keep up with the Digital releases and although the first half of last year I was buying every 360 digi and Indie shmup I could get my hands on, It soon became apparent that I was forgetting I had bought most of them before I even played them. Out of sight, out of mind perhaps? I even passed on the Radiant Silvergun HD release and I was looking forward to that one earlier in the year, even though I own the Saturn version.
Over here in the UK we never received our PAL releases of Raiden Fighter Aces on the 360 andShikigami No Shiro III on the Wii, so although I'm not holding my breath for these, it's always a possibility we might see these at some point this year. Look what happened with Duke Nukem :P
UNDER DEFEAT HD
The cracking Dreamcast shooter, Under Defeat is getting a HD overhaul and is due for release as early as February. I was so pleased to hear that as well as a 360 release, that a PS3 port is happening too. This will be only the second physical shmup release available for Sony's beast, after last year'sMamoru Kun port.
Check out some gameplay footage of the new High Definition Under Defeat below.
AKAI KATANA SHIN (PAL RELEASE)
Other releases to get excited about, are a port by Rising Star Games of Cave's 2011 Hori shooter, Akai Katana Shin. This is just fantastic news for anybody not owning a Japanese region Xbox 360 living in the PAL regions. It will also be considerably cheaper than the Japanese release if you haven't already picked it up and they often contain the bonuses of extra content and a soundtrack cd. I can only take my hat off to Rising Star Games for continuing their efforts to keep porting these fantastic games, and hope there are many more to come for this year and the ones preceding.
Akai Katana Shin 2011
Lastly I throw a small mention to news of a Capcom compilation to be released this year of their previous digi only releases, which will include the not so exciting, vertical shmup, 1942: Joint Strike.
My apologies for the lack of coverage on PC shmups such as the Doujin/Indie scene, I began playing some games last year such as ones in the Touhou series and the fantastic Crimzon Clover, but I just haven't really hit that scene yet, as with the modern arcade scene. Watch this space. Any suggestions, or recommendations are always most welcome though :)
QUESTION(S)
1) So what shmup releases are you most looking forward to in 2012?
2) What shmup(s) would you like to see get a remake or new port to a console?
Keep a look out for my upcoming December 2011 Shmup Pickups post, it's a big one!
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