Publisher Live Wire and developer Cave have announced Espgaluda II launches for Switch on September 9.

The June 2021-announced port of the classic Cave shoot ’em up Espgaluda II launches for Switch, via the Nintendo eShop.

Espgaluda II was originally released for Japanese arcades back in November 2005, followed by a mobile phone port in 2006, then Xbox 360 in February 2010, and finally both iOS and Android in April 2010.

Here’s a rundown on the game, via its wiki page:

The game takes place in a fictional land called Soma, three years after a massive war known as the Great Shinra War devastated the land and killed most of its plant life. Humanity is forced to pull their efforts together for the sake of survival and reforestation. Using new found technology, an alchemist named Hiodoshi spearheaded a project called Project Espgaluda, which gathered youths and used them as experimental test subjects for artificial armored wings. They were then called Galuda, named after the mythical bird of legend.

Ageha and Tateha were two of the subjects who escaped during the project. At the end of Espgaluda, they were reunited with their mother and lived peacefully after going into hiding. Espgaluda II begins when they are discovered.

Characters:

Protagonists:

• Asagi: A 12-year-old girl who was the third Galuda to be produced from the project. She has the weakest normal shot out of the three main characters. Fires vertical shots in shot mode. In rapier mode, enemy marked by search spirit is automatically targeted. She is voiced by Ikumi Fujiwara, while her male counterpart is voiced by Yuki Fuji.
• Ageha: Tateha’s older brother. He is a 21-year-old man who was also the protagonist from the first game. In game, his normal shot is a strong concentrated forward shot. In shot mode, moving joystick horizontally causes the shots to move diagonally. He is voiced by Shuya Kishimoto, and his female counterpart is voiced by Aiko Igarashi.
• Tateha: A 19-year-old girl also appearing from the first game. She is Ageha’s younger sister. She wields a wide-angled forward shot. Fires in wide angle formation in shot mode, forward formation in rapier mode, which also shoots through enemies. She is voiced by Emi Kawauchi, and her male counterpart is voiced by Kyo Sakai.

Antagonists:

• Tsubame: Soma’s 10-year-old prince. He is the son of Soma’s ruler and is the boss of Stage 1.
• Madara The 27-year-old commissioned officer of the Soma Army’s Mechanized Unit. He is the mid-boss of Stage 2 and the boss of Stage 4.
• Janome: The 11-year-old princess of Soma. She is the boss of Stage 3.
• Seseri: A survivor of the Great Shinra War, Soma saved her homeland from the brink of destruction. She is 15 years old. Seseri is the boss of Stage 5.
• Kujaku: Kujaku is the second boss of Stage 6, formed from a fusion of Soma’s royal siblings, Tsubame and Janome.