The 80s and early 90s were an incredible time for arcade games – lightning fast technological progress was paired with game design philosophies and tropes that we still see in action to this very day.

Scrolling shoot ’em ups – vertical and horizontal – were among the most intense, challenging and enjoyable games that you could play in the arcade; one of the very best publishers, releasing countless, often-imitated titles in the genre, was Toaplan.

Titles such as Truxton and Slap Fight were names you’d see plastered throughout magazines, both in gushing reviews and import ads for home ports, as well as being mentioned countless times as the pinnacle of their genre.

Both of those games feature on Toaplan Arcade 1 – and they’re both superb, to this day.

Shoot ’em ups – also affectionately known as shmups – are a genre that, for the most part, have aged particularly gracefully. So it’s great to experience more, especially from the masters at Toaplan.

So alongside vertically scrolling shmups Truxton and Alcon (aka Slap Fight) are other vertical shooters: Tiger-Heli and Flying Shark.

Each of them has a different look, with settings as varied as deep space, alien planet surfaces and even Earth’s history (in a biplane – thanks to Flying Shark) – so despite the fact that half of the 8 games included are vertically scrolling shoot ’em ups, they’re varied enough in style and content, as well as all being great fun to play, that their inclusion together on one collection feels justified.

It’s also another great reason to have an Evercade EXP, given that all of the vertically scrolling shmups here support TATE mode!

Sideways scrolling shmup Zero Wing – which launched countless memes at the turn of the century, with an unintentionally funny and very poorly translated intro, that’s sadly not present in the arcade version – is another fantastic game.

Then there’s falling block puzzle game Teki-Paki, in which you must match 5 or more coloured blocks to make them disappear. It’s pretty addictive – and even more so on the Evercade VS, where you can play against another player.

If you know me then you’ll know my deep affection for single screen platformers – and I have more affection for one particular game in the genre than most. That game is Snow Bros; the reason for my strong nostalgia for this title is that there was a Snow Bros arcade machine in a video shop (remember those?) opposite my school.

Many a lunchtime was spent playing it – and I’m pleased to report than I enjoy it just as much now as I did back then.

Another game that’s pretty much essential if you have an Evercade VS, thanks to its two player simultaneous co-op play, this for me – despite Toaplan’s shmup heritage and the number of them included – is the star of the show.

Lastly, there’s the super weird Guardian, which is the only game that lets the collection down. It’s a weird, Kung Fu Master-esque single plane scrolling beat ’em up; the oddness comes from the weirdly slippery nature of your character’s movement, which feels like he’s on roller skates.

Unless I’m missing something super obvious, you can’t turn around – which makes it feel incredibly unwieldy to play. It almost feels like a strange hybrid of shoot ’em up and beat ’em up – and it doesn’t quite work. It does have a nice, non-linear feel with the fact that you can choose the order to complete planets, however – it’s not an entirely bad experience.

Regardless of that, the only reason I can think of that you might not want Toaplan Arcade 1 in your collection is if you’re really not a fan of shmups. After all, even with how enjoyable Snow Bros and Teki-Paki are, there’s 5 shmups here out of just 8 games, so if they’re not interested in them, this probably won’t be a cartridge for you.

You can purchase the Toaplan Arcade 1 cartridge from Amazon here.