Taito's Showing at TGS

Japanese publisher and developer Taito, best known for titles like G Darius, Psychic Force, and Raystorm, had a modest showing at this year's Spring Tokyo Game Show. Perhaps the company's biggest title on display was RayCrisis for the Sony PlayStation, the sequel to its sleeper-hit Raystorm. Interestingly enough, Taito displayed three Acclaim games as well, although we didn't see anyone playing them. Here's a quick rundown of what Taito displayed along with a few or our impressions of each. These games were all PlayStation titles, too.

Cosmowarrior Zero: Cosmowarrior Zero, illustrated and designed by the same artist responsible for the anime classic Captain Harlock, is a third-person adventure/shooter that controls well and looks very good. We think this title, with its fully 3D environments, would make a nice acquisition for an American publisher.

Kisha De Go!RC de Go!Jet de Go! (Let's Go By Airliner): Pick a means of transportation and slap the term “de Go!” after it, and you have the bulk of Taito's product these days. The de Go series is to Taito what the Bemani series is to Konami, now spreading out to other realms as evidenced by this Jet de Go! title.

Pop n Pop: Bust-A-Move-ish/Magical Drop-ish puzzle game that will entertain hardcore gamers for about 1.5 seconds, but may very well please the masses in ways we don't understand.

Side by Side Special 2000: This title is a racing game for the PlayStation, which is nothing new. Fans of Ray Tracers should get a kick out of this, but we think everyone else will probably ignore it.

Arkanoid 2000: It's hard to believe this company is still making Arkanoid. Then again, Taito is the company that keeps making new Bust-A-Move games, too.

Space Invaders 2000: Bizarrely and perhaps accidentally, Taito was running G Darius in the kiosk labeled Space Invaders 2000.

Space Invaders X: While this game made more sense and actually looked like Space Invaders, it was completely polygonal, and completely horrible, we thought, too.

ECW Hardcore Revolution: American wrestling attempts to impress Japan. Japan blinks and time continues on.

Jeremy McGrath 2000: Considering the scarcity of real estate in Tokyo, I think that there probably aren't too many people racing around on dirtbikes. Proportionately, there weren't many people (read: none that we saw) playing Jeremy McGrath either.