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Taito Appreciation Thread


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An appreciation thread for games developed and/or published by Taito, of which include:

 

Ninja Warriors (SNES)

 

Sagaia (Genesis)

 

Bubble Bobble (NES)

 

KickMaster (NES)

 

Puzznic (NES)

 

Bust-A-Move (SNES)

 

Power Blade (NES)

 

On the Ball (SNES)

 

Lufia & the Fortress of Doom (SNES)

 

Arkanoid: Doh It Again (SNES)

 

Kiwi Kraze (NES)

 

Psychic Force 2012 (Dreamcast)

 

Knight Quest (Game Boy)

 

Ultimate Qix (Genesis)

 

Ray Tracers (PlayStation)

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31 minutes ago, electricmastro said:

Ah, as in RayStorm, wasn't it? That was pretty cool too.

Layer Section is RayForce. There is also a Layer Section II, but I'm not sure what that is supposed to be.

 

I also forgot about Elevator Action and its expensive and supposedly excellent sequel and of course Space Invaders.

Edited by Steven Pendleton
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Taito are a little uneven, but that’s what keeps it fun. From their earliest arcade efforts like Jungle King:

 

 

and Chack’n Pop:

 


to their relentless experimentation with Darius:

 


(The game series along with Castlevania and Metroid whose music is closest to my heart)

 

To their awesome arcade platformers:

 

 

They may have rough edges, but they’re never boring. And if there’s a better house band than Zuntata I demand to know about it.

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I basically grew up with Taito since theirs were the most common arcade games around when I was a kid. Games like Space Invaders obviously, but then later stuff had some interesting stuff like Marine Date which used a trackball, Front Line and Wild Western with their 8-way dial select/shooting, or stuff like Fitter (or Round-Up?) with the Rubik's Cube thing in the middle. I also like games like Port-Man, Alpine Ski, 

 

To me I also credit Space Chaser as one of the first free roaming Pac-Man style games where you go around a maze and eat the dots while being chased by enemies (vs. Head-On etc. where you could not go freely move).

 

Also another cool thing was the Taito Defender cabinet where it had the reverse button on TOP of the joystick. That's the one I played. It's funny though because most pics you find on the internet of the Taito cab have an obviously changed/altered one where the reverse was put on the control panel. On the flyer though you can still see the original:

28033801.jpg

 

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1 hour ago, Trinity said:

Space Invaders!:cool:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Invaders

 

 

 

While I applaud the video, it's a little sad that when talking about the original, he has zero footage of the arcade game running in all its glory. But then again you can't blame anyone because it's pretty hard to come by these days. 'Course an actual physical SI with its bezel and background was a pretty beautiful thing. :) 

 

SI.thumb.jpg.b50a46e372eed4eef2d47e9cbf1dee61.jpg

Edited by NE146
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Operation Wolf lured many a quarter out of my pocket back in the day. That gun....OMG that gun.

 

I always thought Jungle Hunt was a top 2600 game, graphically and gameplay wise. Plus it was like FOUR games in one!!!!! XD

 

There is a neat version of Space Invaders for the PC Engine that adds power ups and a few gameplay twists. You normally can't pay me to play Space Invaders, but I really like this remix game.

http://www.pcengine.co.uk/HTML_Games/Space_Invaders.htm

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Space Invaders has a unique sold one the Virtual Boy too, shame most will never play it, but I do agree the PCE one was nice as I got it with system years ago I recently let go of.  Bubble Bobble, Puzzle Bobble, Rainbow Islands are old favorites, as was Elevator Action and Operation Wolf though more NES side on those.  I'm certain I am forgetting other nice stuff.  I have to admit I never was big on Space Invaders, but I did get that premium my arcade tabletop of it a couple weeks back for 1/2 off at Target and how it uses the mirror to simulate the old machine is a nice touch.

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On 10/5/2021 at 3:21 PM, GoldenWheels said:

Operation Wolf lured many a quarter out of my pocket back in the day. That gun....OMG that gun.

 

I always thought Jungle Hunt was a top 2600 game, graphically and gameplay wise. Plus it was like FOUR games in one!!!!! XD

 

There is a neat version of Space Invaders for the PC Engine that adds power ups and a few gameplay twists. You normally can't pay me to play Space Invaders, but I really like this remix game.

http://www.pcengine.co.uk/HTML_Games/Space_Invaders.htm

Ah right, Operation Wolf. I tend to take notice of arcade-centric games less often unless a home port really catches my attention, but Super Chase H.Q. would probably fall into that as well, despite the series being largely unknown as a whole.

 

 

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3 hours ago, electricmastro said:

Ah right, Operation Wolf. I tend to take notice of arcade-centric games less often unless a home port really catches my attention, but Super Chase H.Q. would probably fall into that as well, despite the series being largely unknown as a whole.

 

 

If you like the Chase HQ games check out Ray Tracers on PS1... same kind of game and pretty fun. It is also made by Taito. 

 

 

Edited by DragonGrafx-16
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Taito is one of my favorite developers, whether it's the timeless Space Invaders, Bubble Bobble, it's prettier sequels, Bubble Symphony and Bubble Memories, as well as Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars, the awesome sounding for it's time Legend of Kage (the arcade version of course), Ray Force/Raystorm/Raycrisis, just to name a few (hell I got a fondness for later games too, like Magical Date). Zuntata were some of the best ion the world when it came to music that immersed you into the atmosphere for the game.

 

I went out my way to get both Taito Legends for PS2, and even the 4 Japanese PS2 volumes, which a friend got for me many, many years ago, as well as Taito Legends Pocket on PSP. I probably have more Taito games than Konami at this point (174 Konami, but if I counted separate games on compilations, it could be over 200, Taito would be even more considering there are 174 games between both Legends and all 4 Memories, though they tend to carry identical games, but different region variations).

 

Taito's weird stuff was pretty groovy too, like Pulirula, and of course Growl, where you get to beat the crap out of animal poachers working for an evil alien using the animals to feed it's species. Also a tad on the weird side is Don Doko Don, there's even that Famicom sequel, though that was done by Natsume. There's also the Kiki Kaikai series, first arcade one was done by Taito, after that Natsume started making the sequels.

 

Then you have stuff like Light Bringer, which despite being slower paced, is a cool isometric hack and slash, and of course timeless games like Cadash, and even somethings cool on consoles, like Saint Sword for the Genesis (I consider it their best Genesis game despite Rainbow Islands Extra and New Zealand Story also coming out for that same console. To the person who didn't know what Layer Section II is, it is pretty much Raystorm on the Saturn, for some reason the 2 Ray games on the Saturn got renames, though Ray Force, the original game, also goes as Gunlock in Europe I believe, and as Galactic Attack on US Saturn.

 

Then there's games like Space Gun, which has an OST that definitely fits the mood of you mowing down aliens with your....Space Gun. Then there's Elevator Action Returns, which plays a bit like Rolling Thunder, and has a great Saturn port (lucky to own a copy of it too, got it cheap on a late night Ebay listing for $20), and is quite an upgrade from the original Elevator Action. The Saturn EAR also has the original Elevator Action unlockable on the disc.

 

 

And last but not least, my biggest gem in my Saturn collection, Mizubaku Daibouken, aka Liquid Kids.

Edited by Bloodreign
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On 10/5/2021 at 10:38 AM, NE146 said:

I basically grew up with Taito since theirs were the most common arcade games around when I was a kid. Games like Space Invaders obviously, but then later stuff had some interesting stuff like Marine Date which used a trackball, Front Line and Wild Western with their 8-way dial select/shooting, or stuff like Fitter (or Round-Up?) with the Rubik's Cube thing in the middle. I also like games like Port-Man, Alpine Ski, 

 

To me I also credit Space Chaser as one of the first free roaming Pac-Man style games where you go around a maze and eat the dots while being chased by enemies (vs. Head-On etc. where you could not go freely move).

 

Also another cool thing was the Taito Defender cabinet where it had the reverse button on TOP of the joystick. That's the one I played. It's funny though because most pics you find on the internet of the Taito cab have an obviously changed/altered one where the reverse was put on the control panel. On the flyer though you can still see the original:

28033801.jpg

 

Curious, where did you play the Taitronics version of Defender?

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4 minutes ago, schuwalker said:

Curious, where did you play the Taitronics version of Defender?

This was back in Guam at a local mom & pop store near my house around the late 70's, very early 80's.  Due to our proximity to Japan is why Taito was so prevalent, and also why I would not see US games like Williams Robotron or Joust (or even the US Defender) until much later in life.

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On 10/10/2021 at 1:38 PM, NE146 said:

This was back in Guam at a local mom & pop store near my house around the late 70's, very early 80's.  Due to our proximity to Japan is why Taito was so prevalent, and also why I would not see US games like Williams Robotron or Joust (or even the US Defender) until much later in life.

That makes sense... We missed out, here in the states, some cool offerings from Taito - sounds like you missed out some cool stuff from Williams as well. That tradeoff would be tough...

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