Trivia / Trouble Shooter

• Doing It for the Art: Trouble Shooter exists purely because director Takayan really wanted to create a game based on a prototype arcade game created a few years back. Initially he quietly handled most of the project against the wishes of Vic Tokai, but eventually a small handful of rebelious staff also joined in.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Both games have not seen any re-release, further compounded by how the original print runs were very limited and Battle Mania Daiginjou was only available in Japan and Korea. To put things into perspective, a complete copy of Battle Mania Daiginjou can set you back over a thousand dollars.
• Throw It In!: A lot of ideas for both games, like the miscellaneous homages to Japanese media, the Socket cameo, and the cutscenes after stages, were random ideas that were tossed in simply because it appealed to the development staff.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally Trouble Shooter was designed and pitched as a SEGA arcade game, going so far as to develop the game on arcade hardware. But no arcade version ever materialized.
  • A leaked prototype implies that SEGA was intended to publish the game, but for unknown reasons backed out prior to release.
  • A character named Fugu was originally planned to be in the game, explaining the different weapons to the player and serving as the coordinator of the international trouble shooting organization. He was scrapped due to SEGA QA apparently not liking the character, and was replaced with Crystal/Maria explaining the weapons in the final release.
  • The ROM file for Battle Mania Daiginjou has an unused international header calling the game "Trouble Shooter Vintage", implying there was plans to localize the game into English like the first game.
  • A scrapped continue screen for Battle Mania Daiginjou involved Crystal/Maria undressing in the shower room, with Morgstein trying to get a look. When the timer would hit zero, a bucket of water would spill on his head. The idea was scrapped once it became public in a magazine, with SEGA wanting it removed.
  • A third game called "Battle Mania N.Y. Gankutsujou" was originally pitched for the arcades and the Dreamcast. It would have been rendered in 3D, with additional gameplay styles like a vertical and third person perspective akin to Space Harrier being included. However it never materialized beyond pitch documents.
• Writer Revolt: The reason why both games sneak in potshots towards Nintendo and the Super Famicom was because the director of the game, Takayan, was personally frustrated with publisher Vic Tokai funneling funding and resources into developing for the Super Famicom, which handicapped him and his development team that was focused on developing for SEGA consoles at the time.