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Shenmue’s director made a trippy shooter for Apple Arcade

Giovanni Colantonio
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Apple Arcade is getting three new titles in June from legendary Japanese developers and studios. The highlight of the batch is Air Twister, an on-rails shooter from Shenmue director Yu Suzuki that launches on June 24.

NEW YSNET GAME - Air Twister Reveal Trailer - Apple Arcade - Release June 24th!

Apple has a history of courting Japanese gaming icons to create titles for its service. It previously released Fantasian, a standout RPG by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. Its collaboration with Suzuki, best known for his work on Sega franchises like Virtua Fighter and Shenmue, continues that pattern.

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A character flies through a sky full of balloons in Air Twister.

His latest project, Air Twister, is a touch-controlled on-rails shooter where players fly through trippy levels and blast enemies. A gameplay trailer shows an angel-like character with a huge weapon flying through levels populated with giant mushrooms and flying houses. The game features music by Dutch artist Valensia, whose songs soundtrack each level.

For fans of Suzuki’s career, it’s a bit reminiscent of 1985’s Space Harrier, though Suzuki emphasizes that it’s not a spiritual successor to that game. Suzuki also notes that the game wasn’t inspired by any recent releases (it bears a striking resemblance to Kid Icarus Uprising), but he notes that he previously worked on a canceled touch-controlled shooter for Sega called Sci-Fi.

While Air Twister is the most intriguing project coming to Apple Arcade in June, it’s not the only game Apple has up its sleeve. The service will get a new Cooking Mama game titled Cooking Mama: Cuisine!, which is being developed internally at Office Create (unlike 2020’s infamous, outsourced Cooking Mama: Cookstar). The title inverts the usual Cooking Mama formula by having players pick ingredients and create a meal from them, rather than following a set recipe. The title launches on June 17.

Finally, Apple Arcade will get a new Konami title in the form of Frogger and the Rumbling Ruins. The puzzler sequel to Apple Arcade launch title Frogger in Toy Town hits iOS devices on June 3.

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