Mark plays.... Raiden Arcade
2new series of small videos, not really reviews but just some games I happen to really like. This is episode 3.
Game: Raiden
Publisher: Seibu Kaihatsu, 1990
Platform: Arcade, Amiga, Atari Jaguar, Atari Lynx, MS-DOS, NEC PC Engine, PlayStation, Mobile Phone, Sega Megadrive/Genesis, Super Nintendo, downloadable for PSP and PS3 and a version for FM-Towns is also in existence.
I am back with a 3rd episode - just trying this out for fun, me showing off a little gameplay on some of my favourite games!
Now Raiden is one of my all time favourite shmups, probably because it isn't pure 'bullet hell' and it actually is possible to somewhat survive on reflexes without knowing all the attack patterns. It features a nice weapons system comparable to that found in many other shmups which feature weapons-upgrades. The Power Strike series on the various consoles out there feature a similar weapons system.
In the game you fly a super attack system called 'Raiden' and the game is set in the future. What intrigues me is the level of detail in this game. You can see all sorts of things going on on the ground. There's people, cars and even cows in the fields - and they are moving as well! Probably some character based animations that just play without a special event needed in the main program code.
- Red shot is called the 'Vulcan' , it basically is fire shooting at the enemies. It's the weapon you start out with.
- Blue shot is called 'Laser', this is the shot I really like. When you upgrade it enough it really lets you sweep around the playing field. It feels more powerful than the Red Shot. But I am not sure it is actually.
- H sub weapon called 'Homing Missile', this really helps you out as the missiles home-in on your enemies.
- M sub weapon called 'Nuclear Missile', it really makes a big explosion. Very effective.
The game features eight levels and the Arcade version gives you an option to 'continue' after you died. The console conversions all play very similar and the Arcade Reflexes come in handy when playing those conversions. The version that really stands out is the Lynx port, it is amazing to see this game actually run on the old hand held.
I consider the Genesis/Megadrive and the Snes versions very good conversions. The TG16/PCEngine version really performs well for an 8 bit machine. The Arcade machine runs on two V30 cpu's.