Cave retreating from shooters? (Bullet) Hell no!

Just last month cult 2D shooter developer Cave suggested it might distance itself from the shooting genre – but those fears appear to have been well and truly quashed.

In the weeks that have followed the news the studio has gone on to reveal no less than four brand new titles.

Most recently it has confirmed a new Xbox 360 shooter – Mushihimasama HD. Confirmed by Famitsu, this conversion of the 2005 arcade title is the predecessor to existing arcade and Xbox outing Mushihimasama Futari 1.5.

Although not confirmed, it’s likely that the game will be the 1.5 version of the title as was released on PCB, although the recent Bug Princess on iPhone and iPad was based on the original version, meaning we can’t yet be certain.

Also confirmed are two new smartphone titles – the still mysterious DoDonPachi Maximum for Windows Phone 7 and DoDonPachi Blissful Death (also known as DoDonPachi Dai-ou-jou), the latter of which is a prequel to existing Xbox 360 and iOS shooter DoDonPachi Resurrection.

And as if that’s not enough, Cave has also revealed a brand new arcade title – DoDonPachi Saidaioujou, which promises to evolve the formula already laid out by the series.

Of course, it’s likely that these projects were already well into development before last month’s announcement, so fans had best not count their chickens just yet.