New footage of an unreleased and unfinished shmup from the defunct Japanese developer UPL has appeared online (as spotted by Gosokkyu).
UPL was a company that primarily made games for the arcades. That includes titles such as Mouser, Ninja-kun: Adventure of Devil Castle, Atomic Robo-Kid, and Omega Fighter. It was first established in 1972 as a subsidiary of Universal named Universal Playland and was eventually renamed in 1983 to UPL.
The company closed its doors in 1992 after filing for bankruptcy, but at the time was in the process of working on a comedic shmup named Kaisoku! Sparrows!! (快速！すぱろ～ず!!) that never ended up getting a release.
Ex-staffers calling themselves UPL Gravedigger have shared details of this incomplete project in the past, including a couple of music tracks and concept art, but recently that same group decided to go one step further, publishing some incredible footage of the game in action.
The footage shows a ship select screen (the three ships are notably named after Final Fight characters), an attract mode, a couple of stages, and two boss fights (including a giant robot teddy and what looks to be a giant mechanical engine). It also offers a glimpse at some of the goofy power-ups that players could pick up, including a giant retractable fist and an oversized drill.
According to the developers, it was estimated to only be about 20% done before the project was cancelled for good.
You can watch the footage of the game below: