Truxton, or Tatsujin (Japanese for ‘Expert’), is a viciously addictive vertical shoot’em up that was released by Taito in 1988. For the folks in the US, the game was licensed to Midway and Romstar for manufacture and distribution.
The premise of the Truxton is quite simple – you control a fighter ship, taking power-ups and weapon-selection items along the way, and then using them to blast enemies. When the going gets tough, one press of the Tatsujin-bomb button exterminates every enemy on screen (the motherships and big bosses take more hits to kill).
As you progress through each area, it gets more critical to collect the various power-ups and weapons that come your way. The souped-up weaponry, like the green Tatsujin-beam, assist in killing the motherships with fewer shots. The game has 5 big bosses to defeat across 200 hundred areas (not levels!).
Vertical shoot’em ups have a simple premise, but the devil is in their gameplay detail. Truxton has no shortage of gameplay and the vast areas and different enemy types will keep you occupied for a long while. Put your space-suit on, whack on your helmet and get in that fighter ship – the universe depends on you!
Manufacturer: Toaplan
Year: 1988
Genre: Vertical Shoot’em Up
Maximum number of players: 2
Gameplay: Alternating
Joystick: 8-way
Buttons: 2 (Fire and Bomb)
Control Panel Layout: Single Player
Sound: Amplified Mono (single channel)
Cabinet: Upright Standard
Weapons: Red – Power Shot, Blue – Sun Lader and Green – Tatsujin-Beam
