Truxton

Truxton (known as Tatsujin in Japan, often stylized as TATSUJIN) is a shoot 'em up game, originally developed by Toaplan (revived as TATSUJIN) and published by Taito in 1988 for Arcade machines. In this game, players drive a Bolgo spaceship (being the sole survivor of a group) against the forces of Dogurava. The spaceship can be equipped with 3 different kinds of shots: Power Shot, which shoots bullets in a wide-spread arc; Beam, which shoots quick green, arrow-shaped beams and Laser, a blue laser that can lock on in several targets. Players can also collect bombs that can damage enemies on the screen by pressing the B button on and can also receive speed-ups.

Topaplan brought Truxton to the Sega Genesis in 1989 and published by Sega, being a launch title of the system worldwide, except in Japan. Between this version and the PC Engine version, many players consider the Genesis version being the most Arcade accurate of the two. Despite this, the Genesis version is flawed with incorrect sound, as it was developed to run on 50 Hz Mega Drive systems without optimization to run on Genesis and 60 Hz Mega Drive systems. The Genesis version is also iconic for getting five different endings, depending on how many times the player finished a loop (completed the first five stages).

A re-release of the Genesis version was made in 2020 by Retro-Bit, as part of Toaplan Shooters Collector's Edition. This re-release is unlicensed by Sega, and all their mentions are eliminated from the game.

The Genesis version was re-released as a pre-installed game in Sega Genesis Mini 2 and Mega Drive Mini 2 by Sega in 2022, with the option of playing the music in the correct tempo that matches the Arcade version.