Arcade Shmups #29

Ashura Blaster (1990)
By: Visco Corp / Taito Genre: Shooting Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 126,000 (one credit)
Also Available For: Nothing

There can't be a huge number of arcade shooters that never left Japan (they were one of the most popular genres in the West, after all), and even fewer that never received any home conversions, but I managed to find one in the fairly splendidly-named Ashura Blaster, developed by Visco Corp and released by the mighty Taito just as that most wonderful of decades had drawn to a close. Due to this somewhat restrictive release I can't tell you too much about its backstory, but I can tell you it's apparently set in the far-flung future of 2020 (chortle). As you may have noticed, it's a vertical scroller, and a very familiar type too. It doesn't take a genius to work out the probable vague outline though - some dictator or heinous regime has threatened national/global peace and only you (and a friend) can save the day for some reason. Better dig out that chopper license!