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Truxton II is a 1992 vertically scrolling shooter Arcade game video game originally developed and published by Toaplan in Japan and Europe. It is the sequel to Truxton, which was released earlier on arcades in 1988 and later ported to various platforms.
Taking place after the events of the original game, players assume the role of two taking control of the HyperFighter space fighter crafts in an effort to overthrow the returning Gidans alien race led by Dogurava and free the galaxy from enslavement. Initially launched for the arcades, Truxton II later received a conversion to the FM Towns by Ving and published exclusively in Japan in April 1993, featuring various changes compared with the original version.
Truxton II received positive reception from critics since its initial arcade launch and later on the FM Towns, garnering praise for the detailed presentation, graphics and sound design, though some criticized the length and noted it to be a standard shoot 'em up title. Nevertheless, it has since gained a cult following and as of 2019, the rights to the title are owned by Tatsujin, a company founded in 2017 by former Toaplan member Masahiro Yuge alongside many other Toaplan IPs.
There are three types of weapons in the game that can be acquired by destroying incoming carriers, ranging from red napalm that act in a similar way to the red Bakuryu-housen-ka (Exploding Flower) shot from Robo Aleste, the blue homing laser from Truxton, and the wide-reaching salvos of green shots, which replace the red weapon from the original game and each weapon can be powered-up several times by collecting the respective color of each one. In addition, a set of two satellite "options" are activated after collecting any weapon type. There are only two types of collectible items; speed increasers for the ship and capable of obliterating any enemy caught within their blast radius.
In some occasions, players can pick up a 1UP icon to increase their lives reserve. Similar to Dogyuun and Gun Frontier, the game hosts a number of hidden bonus secrets to be found, which is also crucial for reaching high scores to obtain extra lives. The title uses a checkpoint system in which a downed single player will start off at the beginning of the checkpoint they managed to reach before dying. Getting hit by enemy fire or colliding against solid stage obstacles will result in losing a life, as well as a penalty of decreasing the ship's firepower and speed to its original state and once all lives are lost, the Game over unless the players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. As with previous shoot 'em ups from Toaplan, the game loops back to the first stage after completing the last stage and each loop increases in difficulty.
Truxton II was released on arcades in 1992. Prior to release, it was showcased to the public at events such as the 1992 AOU Show. On September 18, an album was co-published exclusively in Japan by Scitron and Pony Canyon, featuring an arranged song composed by Yuge. The title later received a faithful conversion to the FM Towns by Ving and was published exclusively in Japan in April 1993, but it features a cropped resolution and the parallax scrolling was removed. M2 included a new version of Truxton II as part of their M2 ShotTriggers publishing label. The game was announced for release on the Nintendo Switch. In 2022, the original arcade version was included as part of the Sega Astro City Mini V, a vertically oriented variant of the Sega Astro City mini console.
Truxton II has been met with positive critical reception from reviewers since its initial release in arcades and later on the FM Towns. Andreas Knauf of German magazine Video Games praised the elaborated and detailed presentation, regarding it to be better than Vimana, although Knauf criticized its length. The four reviewers of GameFan praised the FM Towns port for the presentation, graphics and sound, regarding it to be better than the Sega Genesis version of Truxton but some ultimately noted it to be a standard shoot 'em up title. Edge magazine gave the FM Towns port high praise as well but also slight criticism for the use of infinite continues. Damien McFerran of Retro Gamer regarded the FM Towns port as one of the system's "perfect three" games. Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 gave a positive outlook to the game in a retrospective review, praising the detailed presentation and graphics.
Truxton II has since gained a cult following, being cited as an inspiration for Cho Ren Sha 68K, ( Translation by Shmuplations. ). while the rights to the game and many other IPs from Toaplan are now owned by Tatsujin, a company named after its predecessor's Japanese title that was founded in 2017 by Yuge, and is part of Embracer Group since 2022.
A sequel to Truxton II, named Truxton Extreme, was announced by Tatsujin in 2023, as a PlayStation 5-exclusive title.
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