The gaming heroes of yesteryear are, unsurprisingly, getting on in age. Those pioneering masters of the joystick who pwned Tempest, Robotron 2084, and Raiden are not the fresh young joystick wagglers that terrified arcade owners in the 80s by playing for an hour on one quarter. Their power is diminished, but not so much that you could beat them at a game of R-Type — especially not Takahashi “16 shot” Meijin, whose unrivaled rapidity in button-tapping has made him something of a legend.
He gave an interview about the upcoming WiiWare remake of Adventure Island, but of course his gaming prowess makes up a good portion of the questions. The remake looks decent (it’s no Bionic Commando, but what is?), and I’m just happy to know they brought on such an old-school Hudson Soft guy to work on it — not to mention a personal hero of many shoot-em-up players.