Toaplan is a legendary developer at this point, having helped propel the shoot-em-up genre to new heights in the late 80's and early 90's. While they burned brightly for a few short years, they developed a number of highly influential titles. One of the hallmarks of Toaplan games is their level of challenge. Most of their games are considered among the most difficult in the genre, at least in terms of earlier games, prior to the shift toward manic and danmaku style. Toaplan has a couple games that stand above the rest, in terms of the sheer difficulty, however.
Upon its release in arcades, Toaplan's
Same! Same! Same! immediately stood out in comparison to its predecessor,
Hishouszame, which we knew in the West as
Flying Shark. At the time, it could have been considered one of the most difficult shooter that had released up to that point. Thankfully, when the game came westward, the difficulty was tempered somewhat, so as not to turn players away. The renamed
Fire Shark also got a home release on the Sega Megadrive and Genesis, and Toaplan themselves took the time to retool the game to balance it better. Join the RF Generation in November 2022 as we take on one of Toaplan's most infamous challenges with
Fire Shark!
