I'm a sucker for a good SHMUP.  I was pretty excited when last year we saw a solid remake of 1942 in 1942: Joint Strike and an Ikaruga re-release on the Xbox Live Arcade.  Since then, well I've been a sad penguin.  Especially since the island of the rising sun got Raiden IV.  Boo - no fair!

Perhaps sooner, rather than later, we'll be getting a game that was previously a Japanese only release.  Raiden Fighter Aces has been spotted on a few listings, including Gamefly and Amazon.com.  The game is a compilation of Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive and Raiden Fighters Jet on the Xbox 360.  If all goes as planned we'll be gunning down oversized tanks with our friends by March 3rd! 

What are some of your favorite SHMUPs of all time?  Personally I LOVE Raiden II.

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Fans of Ikaruga, which we reviewed here, will find this news interesting.  It appears that Ikaruga is not the only acclaimed shooter from Treasure that Microsoft wants on Xbox Live Arcade.  Radiant Silvergun, which many feel is the best shoot em up of all time, is on Microsoft's wish list.  (Ours too, for that matter; copies of the game are quite pricey on Ebay.)  MS approached Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa about porting the Arcade/Sega Saturn title over to their service.

"Microsoft actually asked us if we could put it out," he says. "We're thinking about it, certainly, but it's not as simple as just saying 'OK, let's put it up.' I mean, sure, with Ikaruga, we released it as-is without having to do or add a great deal to the game, and it was popular and well accepted for what it was."

He added that "Radiant Silvergun has aged in assorted ways," and that he wasn't sure "they were all good."

To me, the solution seems obvious.  Give the game a high def makeover, make a few minor improvements, and presto!  Instant shmup heaven for Xbox 360 owners.  Let's hope this classic co-op shooter makes it onto modern consoles sometime soon!

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The Raiden series, particularly Raiden II is the pinnacle of co-op SHMUPs (perhaps next to Ikaruga).  So there's good news that we finally have confirmation that the arcade version of Raiden IV will make it's way to Xbox 360 consoles complete with two new stages and Xbox Live play! 

For the truly hardcore the developers of the title have also included the ability to save and share replays as well as support "swivel" LCDs.  What does that mean?  If you turn your 16:9 LCD on it's side so it stands upright you can play the elongated game that way with no sidebars. 

Unfortunately there's no word of an American release, but Japanese gamers can get their hands on the latest Raiden game on September 11th.

Fans of SHMUPs certainly know the 1942 series of games.  The game is a classic, and Capcom is reviving the franchise with an Xbox Live and Playstation Network title called 1942: Joint Strike.  The folks over at Team Xbox got their hands on the latest build, and we find out exactly why this game is drool worthy for co-op fans.  As the title implies, you'll be jointly striking down enemy planes with a buddy - and there's even special moves available only in the cooperative mode.

As players work together, they'll fill up the joint strike meter.  Once filled they can activate different special attacks to take down enemies.   There's no word on exactly what the specials are, other than a lightning attack, but with three different plane types and three different specials it sure sounds like they'll be plenty of variety in Capcom's upcoming title.  Right now, 1942: Joint Strike is set to hit both online networks sometime this summer.

We've just posted our review of Ikaruga for Xbox Live Arcade. This is a deep SHMUP that enforces co-op play to maximize score and stay alive. It's classic title that was difficult to find on both the Dreamcast and Gamecube, and now it's available for a $10 download on XBLA.