are lost, the game is over unless the player inserts more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. Unlike previous shoot 'em ups titles from Toaplan, there are no additional loops after completing the last stage. Plot The plot summary of Batsugun is explained through supplementary materials. On a distant planet similar to Earth, a global takeover codenamed Epsilon Plan led by king Renoselva A. Gladebaran VII is set into motion, with the Imperial Army successfully staging multiple coup d'états upon countries of the planet in less than two weeks. All that stands between the military forces of Renoselva and world domination are the Skull Hornets: a squadron of fighter pilots led by prince Olisis R. Gladebaran VIII, son of Renoselva. The Skull Hornets utilize the most powerful submersible jets the planet's scientists have ever devised. Characters Jeeno: Pilot of the Type A (P1) ship. A teenage soldier with cybernetic implants by Dr. Gabriel and a tragic past. Schneider: Pilot of the Type A (P2) ship. A war veteran who was previously cryogenized and the main protagonist of Flying Shark. Beltiana: Pilot of the Type B (P1) ship. A young adult girl who seeks to avenge the death of her brother. Alteeno: Pilot of the Type B (P2) ship. The tomboyish mechanic of the Skull Hornets squadron and a child prodigy. Iceman: Pilot of the Type C (P1) ship. A hired mercenary with a turbulent past. Olisis: Pilot of the Type C (P2) ship. Founder and director of the Skull Hornets squadron, he is the exiled prince of his home planet and fights to dethrone his father Renoselva. Development Batsugun was created by most of the same team that previously worked on several projects at Toaplan such as Grind Stormer and who would later go on to join one of its offshoots after the company declared bankruptcy in 1994 to continue working in the bullet hell sub-genre. Its development was helmed by a small group at the company and most of the members had several roles during this process, with Fire Shark designer Yuko Tataka acting as both producer and co-designer alongside artists Junya Inoue and Takeshi Kawamoto. Cave co-founder Tsuneki Ikeda served as one of its programmers prior to DonPachi alongside Satoshi Kōyama, Seiji Iwakura and composer Yoshitatsu Sakai. Both Ikeda and Inoue have stated that several games from other companies that were popular at the time served