Mexican racer El Chavo Kart isn’t the only obscure import to make a recent surprise appearance on the Xbox 360’s ‘Games on Demand’ service. This week saw the unexpected arrival of Japanese oddity Shooting Love 200X – a Triangle Service shump collection from 2009.
As fans of the genre will know, it has been a while since a Japanese shooter graced European Xbox 360s. Rising Star once published them on a semi-regular basis but if memory serves 2012’s Under Defeat HD Deluxe Edition was their last.
Although the majority of Xbox 360 shumps are region-free, Shooting Love 200X was one of the few that wasn’t.
At the time of typing Play-Asia is still asking £40 for the collection, making the £14.99 price tag for this digital version seem even more of a bargain.
American gamers shouldn’t feel jealous – it’s available on their Games on Demand service too, priced $19.99.
Shooting Love 200X contains Exzeal, Trizeal Remix and Minus Zero along with a shoot’em up skill test mode intended to measure player’s “gamer age”.
Trizeal first made its appearance on PS2 and Dreamcast while Exzeal made its arcade debut in 2007. Minus Zero meanwhile is usually likened to the often forgotten Every Extra Extend due to its unorthodox method of shooting.
The surprise arrivals of both Shooting Love 200X and El Chavo Kart makes us wonder what other import-exclusives could eventually find their way onto European Xbox 360s.
Maybe we’ll finally get to play Konami’s Otomedius Excellent and Raiden Fighters – a shooter that lingered on UK release lists for years before mysteriously vanishing.