Truxton Extreme review

The best arcade shoot ‘em ups were never about long-term satisfaction or complex progression systems. Instead, they distilled everything into succinct experiences that required your complete concentration. Survival meant memorizing enemy attack behaviors, saving bombs for the perfect opportunity, and knowing just what the game would throw at you next. Few developers understood that design philosophy better than Toaplan. Alongside Fire Shark, Zero Wing, and Batsugun, 1988’s Truxton was a textbook example of this approach.

Yet when Toaplan closed in 1994, many assumed that meant the end of the Truxton series and original creator Masahiro Yuge spent the following decades working at other studios. But in 2017, he founded Tatsujin with the goal of preserving Toaplan’s legacy. Now, more than three decades after the release of Truxton II, Truxton Extreme provides a new entry for the franchise. While it would have been easy to craft a nostalgic remake, Extreme is a bit more ambitious.

Flaunting a storyline, cooperative play, progression systems, unlockables, and several different play modes, the game straddles the feeling of a traditional arcade experience and a more modern console shooter. Thankfully, this balancing act works more often than not. Even though the game has shifted from sprites to 3D environments, enemies, and player ships, the underlying design feels unmistakably Toaplan.

Balancing Memorization With Improvisation

Despite the shift from a narrow playfield to one that fills a widescreen display, a sense of familiarity emerges once the action starts. Enemy waves fly down in choreographed formations rather than random swarms and success comes from anticipating these patterns and prioritizing key targets. Undoubtedly, Truxton fans will recognize this approach. Rather than following modern trends and filling the screen with bullets, danmaku-style, Truxton Extreme focuses on precision. Enemy projectiles and lasers can come at you quickly, leaving little room for hesitation. Success comes from learning safe routes through each stage instead of relying on tiny hitboxes or miraculous last-second dodges. Undoubtedly, taking out the most dangerous adversary is a useful approach, as well.

Extreme’s arsenal also preserves what longtime fans will expect. Returning weapon types such as the Thunder Laser, Truxton Beam, Homing Shot, and Star-mine all encourage their own approaches to combat. The Homing Shot is a great tool for learning stages, while the Thunder Laser rewards aggression by melting larger enemies in seconds. Pleasingly, weapon selection feels like an organic extension of your preferred playstyle rather than some kind of puzzle with an obvious solution set. That wouldn’t have felt true to the series.

Reflexes are Your Best Weapon, But EX is a Close Second

Undoubtedly, one of Extreme‘s best additions is its EX attack mechanic. As enemies are defeated, a meter gradually fills before allowing players to unleash a temporary burst of enhanced firepower. Unlike a traditional screen-clearing bomb, the EX system encourages aggressive play instead of a last-ditch panic button. Using it during drawn-out boss encounters or dense enemy formations can dramatically shorten these showdowns, while introducing a compelling resource management element. Like any great STG tool, its use is indispensable when chasing a position on the game’s leaderboards.

Equally welcome is the revised speed system. Classic Toaplan shooters asked players to collect speed-up icons, which could result in some unintentional changes when you had to decide between eating a bullet and picking up an unwanted power-up. Here, manual speed adjustment exists alongside traditional pickups, allowing fine-tuning for different situations. Naturally, slower movement provides more precision during hectic boss patterns, while higher speeds are invaluable when weaving through sprawling stage hazards. Sure, it’s a subtle tweak, but it gives you more control without compromising Truxton’s traditions.

Expectedly, boss battles are still one of the game’s greatest highlights. Massive mechanical monstrosities dominate the screen with writhing tentacles, insectoid armor plating, and glowing weak points that feel ripped straight from Toaplan’s late-1980s design docs. Like many STGs, the first time you meet a new foe, it might end in spectacular failure. But each defeat imparts a lesson until the seemingly impossible nearly becomes routine. Years on, few genres provide that sense of mastery as cleanly as a well-designed shooter, like Extreme.

From Pixels to Polygons

Visually, Extreme offers a solid shift to 3D, courtesy of the Unity Engine. Sure, purists will miss the meticulous sprite work of the arcade originals, but Tatsujin smartly shirks chasing photorealism. Enemy designs still have their biomechanical look while environments feature enough depth and animation to modernize things without sacrificing readability. Most importantly, bullets are visible even during the busiest firefights and yes, there’s still a giant skull that accompanies your bomb. That is Truxton’s iconic visual detail.

Masahiro Yuge’s return as composer is just as important as the graphics. The original Truxton earned a reputation partially because of its memorable soundtrack. Expectedly, Extreme pays tribute with both rearranged classics and newly composed tracks that feel cohesive. Here, driving guitar riffs and upbeat melodies reinforce the frantic pacing, with just enough nostalgia to make Truxton-heads happy.

Don’t Stop at the Single Credit Clear

Interestingly, Extreme diverges from its predecessors outside of the action. Story Mode follows three protagonists through a campaign punctuated by unlockable animated manga sequences illustrated by BTOOOM! creator Junya Inoue. This provides a tangible incentive to keep progressing beyond making it to the next stage. Experience points, unlockables, and collectible extras also provide incentive that is often missing from traditional arcade shooters.

There are plenty of additional ways to play, as well. Traditional Arcade Mode strips away much of the progression for purists seeking a straight-ahead challenge, while Arena caters directly to leaderboard hunters. Probably the biggest surprise is Team Mode, allowing two players to tackle the campaign cooperatively while sharing lives and scores. Cooperative mechanics are more than just doubling the firepower, letting teammates revive one another and redirect laser attacks using each other’s ships. Best of all, it feels designed around cooperative play, rather than just shoehorning in another player.

Training modes, tutorials, model galleries, and even the whimsical Pipiru Village further reinforce that Truxton Extreme wants to be more than another 1CC-driven experience. However, not every modern addition will be welcome. The progression system can dilute the feeling of gradually overcoming the challenges thrown at the player. Similarly, narrative interruptions slightly disrupt the flow of Story Mode. But it’s not that these additions are badly executed. Each just shifts the emphasis from score chasing and more toward player retention.

Preserving the Toaplan Tradition

Rather than treating Truxton as a museum piece, Tatsujin understands that the franchise can evolve without abandoning its foundations. Largely, Truxton Extreme preserves Toaplan’s design philosophy, with its demanding boss battles and carefully crafted stage design. And while some of the modernizations inevitably clash with the minimalist brilliance of the originals, Truxton Extreme is the comeback that Toaplan’s series has long deserved.

Truxton Extreme was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.