Alcon — the title under which Slap Fight was distributed internationally — is a Toaplan vertical shooter with ships that evolve by collecting power-ups in a fixed order, a progression system that rewards pattern memorization over pure reflexes. It's an early work from the studio that would later define the Japanese shooter with series like Truxton and Batsugun.
You can feel the hand of a team still fine-tuning its formula, but already with the technical precision that would make Toaplan synonymous with quality in the genre. For anyone tracing the vertical shooter's genealogy, it's a required stop.
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