shmup studio focus no. 1: taito
The first in an occasional series, Forenoon Filings will be looking at the Japanese developer: Taito.
Like many well established development houses, Taito's history was one that started long before the era of electronic video games - in 1953.
The best known title in its history is without a doubt Space Invaders (pictured above) - a game that grew to such popularity in the arcades that it caused a shortage of coins in Japan. Although it had a simplistic concept, many of the foundations of the modern shmup were firmly laid in this game: further progress by the player increased the game speed.
But over the 1980s, Taito continued to innovate - especially in the area of character design - which can be attributed to the work to one of its lead designers Fukio Mitsuji - producing classics like Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars.
A number of years of lean output followed during the 32-bit era - and a number of its most notable hits were remixed and rehashed. However, in recent years (and most notably during this particular generation of console hardware) they have continued to remain a medium sized company, and developing shmups such as XII Stag, publishing Cave's Mushihimesama and Alfa System's Shikigami no Shiro as well as the upcoming Raiden III, as well as a number of rather offbeat non-shmup titles like Densha de Go.
At it's heart, Taito's focus has always been rooted in the arcades, and while this sector has been in general decline in the last decade, they have been prominent in developing new arcade system boards such as the PC derived Type X - which is gaining popularity among many Japanese arcade developers as a lower costing way of getting their games into the wider market.
Most recently, a number of remixed collections Taito Legends has been announced for the PlayStation 2, DS and PSP.
While many remember the pioneering Space Invaders - its influence is one that will be seen for many more years.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, September 22, 2005 at 9:04 pm.
