Raiden Fighters Jet Longplay (Arcade) [4K]
0Game Info
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Developer: Seibu Kaihatsu
Publisher: Seibu Kaihatsu
Year of Release: 1998
Game Review & Impressions
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Raiden FIghters Jet is one of the later generation of vertical shooters, released in 1998, a game whose mechanics are designed for only the hardest of hardcore of shoot 'em up fans. It looks absolutely amazing, too, even in an era where the vast majority of games were 3D. Interestingly, info online indicates the SEIBU SPI hardware platform powering the game was based on an Intel 386 DX-25 CPU, something considered a dinosaur in PC terms at that point, although I suspect still more capable than the Motorola 68000 that had been the mainstay of arcade coin-ops since the mid 1980s.
Technical details aside, RFJ is a really interesting evolution of the genre. There's so much more to this game than hammering a fire button to destroy enemies, something that's likely to put more casual players off. Earlier games in the Raiden series had already used the concepts and design principles, but my previous point of reference till this point was Do Don Pachi, a game so much more than just a simple shooter. In short, the shooter needed to evolve to stay relevant in a world where games had become complex and more involved, and Raiden Fighters Jet is certainly deep.
The majority of the game takes place inside a battle simulator, training pilots for the game's final mission. The simulator ranks a pilots' progress via the game score, and the path you take through the game is directly affected by just how well you do in each stage. Attaining the necessary high score to keep progressing is far more involved than just blasting enemies, despite being the core mechanic.
The first key to success is learning how to exploit the various medals which drop when destorying enemies. Certain medals -- those which flash -- gravitate toward your fighter craft when close, which allows you to lure them around the screen. You'll need to lure them close to other medals, powering up the special medal as you go. Once the special medal reaches full rank, collect it for a significant number of points, and you'll eventually trigger a game state where all future medals will spawn as military ribbons instead, worth far more points than the actual medal.
However, to attain the highest scores possible, you'll also need to learn the location of hidden secrets in each stage and how to unlock them. Destroying certain parts on the scenery in a specific way can cause extra medals/ribbons to spawn, and some stages also contain the elusive "Miculus". Hovering your plane over specific parts of the scenery can cause one of these blue beasties to spawn, at which point you want to hit it with as much firepower as you can muster to earn additional score. There's more stuff hidden in the game -- and more involved mechanics -- than I can go into here; go read some of the strategy guides on GameFAQs to find out just how complex this shooter can actually be!
As to what I thought of the game, although I admire the game's complexity, the gating of progress through the ranking system is rather jarring. My first playthrough resulted in a score insufficient to reach the "final battle" section of the game, which results in you being booted back to stage 1 to try again! The designers might as well have put a notice in the attract mode that said "No filthy casuals allowed". It's a stunning game to look at, and good fun at a surface level, but only players prepared to put in sufficient hours of practice will see the game at its best.
Chapters
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TBC