Toaplan

Toaplan Co., Ltd.[lower-alpha 1] was a Japanese video game developer founded in 1979. They were responsible for the creation of a wide array of scrolling shooters and other arcade games.

Toaplan Co., Ltd.

Trade name	Toaplan
Native name	株式会社東亜プラン
Romanized name	Kabushiki gaisha Tōapuran
Former type	Kabushiki gaisha
Industry	Video games
Fate	Bankruptcy
Predecessor	Orca, Crux
Founded	April 1979 (April 1979)
Founder	Kiyoshi Motoyoshi
Defunct	March 1994 (March 1994)
Headquarters	Shimizu, Suginami, Tokyo, Japan
Area served	Japan
Key people	Taizo Hayashi (president) Yoshiyuki Kiyomoto (CEO)
Products	Video games
Website	toaplan.co.jp

History

Origins

Toaplan was established in 1979 but its gaming division was established by former Orca and Crux members.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

1980s

Performan was created by most of the same team that previously worked on several projects at Orca and Crux before both companies declared bankruptcy,[18][19][20][21] after which a group of employees from the two gaming divisions would go on to form Toaplan and among them were composers Masahiro Yuge and Tatsuya Uemura, both of which recounted the project's development process and history between 1990 and 2012 through Japanese publications such as Gamest and Shooting Gameside.[4][7][8][12][13][14]

1990s

In 1992, Yoshiyuki Kiyomoto stepped down from his position as CEO at Toaplan, with Taizo Hayashi now serving as the company's president.[22][23] Toaplan provivded consultance and advising to Raizing (now Eighting) during development of Sorcer Striker, as well as licensing their arcade board to the company, since the president of the latter company previously served as an employee of the former.[24][25] Snow Bros. 2: With New Elves served as one of the final projects to be developed by Toaplan, as the company ceased development of shoot 'em up games prior to their closure.[10][26]

2010s

The rights to nearly every Toaplan IP are currently owned by Tatsujin, a Japanese company formed by Yuge and now-affiliate of Japanese arcade manufacturer exA-Arcadia.[27][28][29][30][31][32]

In 2019, Japanese company M2 announced that in 2020 they will release every game by Toaplan (excluding Mahjong Sisters and Enma Daiō) for consoles in Japan.[33][34][35][36]

Staff and design philosophy

Various individuals have been important figures in the history of Toaplan:

• Masahiro Yuge – One of the six original team members and frequent composer.[1][7][12][13][14] Later worked at Takumi Corporation and Eighting on several projects.[6]
• Tatsuya Uemura – One of the six original team members and frequent composer.[1][7][12][13][14] Later worked at Gazelle and Eighting on several projects.[6]
• Toshiaki Tomizawa – Music composer for Demon's World, Zero Wing and Vimana.[1][14][26] Co-founder of CAVE.[6][37]
• Osamu Ōta – Music composer for Wardner, Rally Bike and Twin Hawk.[1][14] Producer of Gekirindan at Taito.[6]
• Toshiaki Ōta – One of the six original team members and head of software development.[2][6][7][12][13] Co-founder of Tamsoft.[6][7][13]
• Naoki Ogiwara – Artist and designer for Truxton and Out Zone.[4][9][26][14] Co-founder of CAVE.[6][37]
• Kōetsu Iwabuchi – Artist for Guardian and Twin Cobra.[4] Later served as planning manager for Grind Stormer.[38]
• Yuko Tataka – Frequent character designer.[5][6]
• Sanae Nitō – Frequent character designer.[5][6]
• Tsuneki Ikeda - Programmer for Grind Stormer and Batsugun.[38][39][40][41] Co-founder of CAVE.[6][13][37][41]
• Junya Inoue - Designer for Dogyuun, Knuckle Bash and Batsugun.[42][43] Later worked at Gazelle and CAVE on several projects.[42][43][44]
• Yusuke Naora - Graphic designer for Grind Stormer. Later worked at Square Enix on several projects.[42][45]
• Kenichi Takano - One of the six original team members and designer for Performan.[7][8][12][13] Co-founder of CAVE.[6][13][37][41]
• Yuichirō Nozawa - One of the six original team members and designer for Twin Hawk.[8][12][13]
• Atsushi Kawaguchi - One of the six original team members and artist for Demon's World.[8][12]
• Nanpei Kaneko - Designer for FixEight and Knuckle Bash.[42][46] Later worked as illustrator for Japanese magazines.[42][46]

Closure

The company declared bankruptcy on March 31, 1994.[26][47] Its closure led to the formation of several offshoot companies.[48][49]

Companies spun off from Toaplan

After Toaplan closed its doors in 1994, several former employees formed or were involved with the following companies, many of which were dedicated to arcade shooters:[38][42][39][40][37][43][41]

• Tamsoft
• Raizing (When Raizing was folded into Eighting, some employees left for CAVE.)
• CAVE
• Gazelle (creators of Air Gallet and the Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon; both distributed by Banpresto. Gazelle did not last long; after its closure, some employees left to join CAVE.)
• Takumi (creators of Giga Wing and Mars Matrix, published Twin Cobra II after Toaplan's closure. Current status unknown.)

Reputation

Games

Developed

Year	Title	Original platform(s)	Publisher	Co-developer
1984	Jongō	Arcade	SNK	N/A
1985	Performan	Arcade	Data East	N/A
	Tiger-Heli	Arcade, Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayStation	Taito, Romstar	Micronics (NES), Gazelle (PS1)
	Jongkyō	Arcade	Data East	N/A
1986	Guardian	Arcade	Taito, Kitkorp	N/A
	Slap Fight	Arcade, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Thomson MO5, Thomson TO8, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Sega Mega Drive	Taito	Probe Software (CPC/ZXS), Imagine Software (C64), France Image Logiciel (MO5/TO8), Abersoft Limited (ST), M.N.M Software (SMD)
	Mahjong Sisters	Arcade	Toaplan	N/A
1987	Flying Shark	Arcade, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Nintendo Entertainment System, MS-DOS, X68000, FM Towns	Taito, Romstar, Electrocoin	Catalyst Coders (C64), Graftgold (ZXS/CPC), Images Software (AGA/ST), Software Creations (C64/NES), Banana Development Corporation (DOS), Kaneko (X68K), Ving (FMT)
	Wardner	Arcade, Famicom Disk System, Sega Genesis	Taito	Daiei Seisakusho (FDS), Dragnet (SG)
	Twin Cobra	Arcade, PC Engine, NES, Sega Genesis, X68000, FM Towns, PlayStation	Taito, Romstar	A.I Company (PCE), Micronics (NES), Graphic Research (SG), Inter State (X68K), Ving (FMT), Gazelle (PS1)
1988	Rally Bike	Arcade, Nintendo Entertainment System, X68000	Taito	Visco Corporation (NES), SPS (X68K)
	Truxton	Arcade, Sega Genesis, PC Engine	Taito, Midway	Sting Entertainment (PCE)
1989	Hellfire	Arcade, Sega Genesis, PC Engine Super CD-ROM²	Taito, U.S.A. Games	NCS Corporation (SG), NEC Avenue (PCE SCD-ROM²)
	Twin Hawk	Arcade, Sega Mega Drive, PC Engine, PC Engine CD-ROM²	Taito	Center Tech (PCE), NEC Avenue (PCE CD-ROM²)
	Demon's World	Arcade, PC Engine Super CD-ROM²	Taito, Catalina Games	NEC Avenue (PCE SCD-ROM²)
	Zero Wing	Arcade, Sega Mega Drive, PC Engine CD-ROM²	Namco, Williams Electronics	N/A
	Fire Shark	Arcade, Sega Genesis	Toaplan, Romstar, Dooyong	N/A
1990	Snow Bros.	Arcade, Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Mega Drive	Toaplan, Romstar	Dual (GB), Soft House (NES)
	Out Zone	Arcade	Tecmo, Romstar, Toaplan	N/A
1991	Teki Paki	Arcade	Tecmo, Honest Trading, Spacy	N/A
	Vimana	Arcade	Tecmo, Toaplan	N/A
	Ghox	Arcade	Taito	N/A
1992	Pipi & Bibi's	Arcade	Toaplan, Nova Apparate	N/A
	Truxton II	Arcade, FM Towns	Toaplan	Ving (FMT)
	FixEight	Arcade	Toaplan	N/A
	Dogyuun	Arcade	Toaplan	N/A
1993	Grind Stormer	Arcade, Sega Genesis	Toaplan	Tengen (SG)
	Knuckle Bash	Arcade	Toaplan, Atari Games	N/A
	Enma Daiō	Arcade	Taito	N/A
	Batsugun	Arcade, Sega Saturn	Toaplan, Taito, Unite Trading	Gazelle (SS)
1994	Snow Bros. 2: With New Elves	Arcade	Hanafram	N/A

Published

Year	Title	Platform	Developer	Co-Publisher	Ref.
1990	MUSHA	Sega Genesis	Compile	Seismic	[50]
1991	Snow Bros.	Nintendo Entertainment System	Soft House	Capcom	[9][51]

Cancelled

Title	Genre	Publisher(s)	Planned Release Date/Last Year Developed or Mentioned	Notes/Reasons
					Tank da Don!!	Platform, Run and gun	N/A	27 October 2011	[26]
Untitled Sega System 1 game	Action	Sega	1 June 2009	[10]
Dynamic Trial 7	Racing, Vehicular combat	Toaplan	1 June 2009	[10]
Teki Paki 2	Puzzle	N/A	1 June 2009	[10]
Genkai Chōsen Distopia	Action, Hack and slash, Platform	N/A	1 June 2009	[10]

Notes

1. Japanese: 株式会社東亜プラン Hepburn: Kabushiki gaisha Tōapuran

References

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External links

• Official website (in Japanese)