Death Smiles

Taking a wider perspective is sobering. At JAMMA a few days previously, for example, shooting games were almost absent from the show floor: G.rev showed Senko No Rondo Duo, the sequel to its arcade and 360 mech-dueller, alongside some amateur productions. Even Cave, the developer famous for popularising the ‘bullet hell’ subgenre and one of the most staunch supporters of arcade shooters, had a tiny presence with only a video of its upcoming Death Smiles: Mega Black Label (which isn’t a new game but an upgraded edition of Death Smiles with a new character). And that was it, leading to many doom and gloom predictions about the end of the genre in arcades.

Talking to Hiroyuki Maruyama, CEO and producer at G.rev, only added to the bleak outlook. G.rev is a small developer based in Yokohama that has worked on countless big shooters with other companies, as well as releasing titles under its own name, and its core team mostly consists of the people who made Taito’s greatest arcade shooters such as Darius and Ray Storm. When asked about the apparent revival that shooting games seem to be enjoying, Maruyama insists that this is “more coincidence than a real sudden improvement” in a genre that is struggling more than ever. He goes further, saying: “Most shooter developers are at a point where they have to ask if there is still a point to making these games, particularly for arcades.” This could be expanded to a more general point about whether consoles are becoming the only survival option for arcade developers.



“Making an arcade shooter costs a lot of money and few operators are really ready to invest in such games,” says Maruyama. And in terms of the arcade boards available: “The Naomi still has potential because it’s the cheapest system on the market, and personally I’d still like to make a couple of games on it.” Sega has been wondering for some time now about replacing this cheap board, as its top-of-the-range Lindbergh board is financially out of reach for independent arcade developers – which has seen many Naomi developers graduate to Taito’s Type X2. Even that, however, still represents an investment. “There is still a lot of innovation possible in the genre,” insists Maruyama. “Veteran teams like ourselves still have lots of ideas and a love of making arcade shooters.” At the same time, G.rev may be forced into new genres in order to survive. Maruyama begins talking about a network shooter idea that has gained support. He can’t reveal the title since it’s being released not by G.rev but “a famous publisher, using a legendary franchise.”