Raiden Fighters Jet

[Sloppy_J]

Is it just me or is this game incredibly underrated?
It’s the one game that I always come back to, I can never get enough of the all-out action.

[Rastan78]

Yeah even though it's a highly regarded game I still don't think the RF series gets the full attention it deserves. IMO RF2 and Jet should sit right beside games like Garegga and DDP in sort of the all time greats.

My theory is that it's partly a holdover from when the games were impossible to emulate and went unported. I think the period when a lot of 90s classics really solidified their reputation in the west was roughly early to mid 2000s. DDP and Garegga were kind of slowly gaining popularity and recognition with Western players then throughout that period and were easily emulated and had relatively accessible ports.

Not sure when SPI was actually emulated well but it wasn't that much before the ports finally happened in 2008. I can remember bringing a Seibu SPI board to a shmup meet mid 2000s and man you couldn't have paid people to even try RF2 while sitting next to Ibara and Espgaluda cabs. A few people were kind of scoffing at its graphics. When I suggested it was a great game for scoring a few people were kinda like what? I could see playing something like this for survival but uuuuh score?

So Cave, Raizing, Psikyo games from the same period had sort of solidified their reputations and there was a pretty big SPI blind spot, which of course bc you couldn't play the things without having them at an arcade or buying the actual boards.

One thing I think the series has going at high levels of play is that since the graze system is so lucrative the theoretical max score will always be way outside human ability. Like even if you're WTN and have world record scores on RF2, you could still come back to these games and play even more aggressively and find more points.

One warning for people that haven't played them is they give you a very complex stage 1 when played for score. If you want max medals and bonuses RF first stages will induce major restart syndrome until you have an air tight pattern.

[Sloppy_J]

I think they got the scoring system just right - it’s not overly complex but there’s that risk element that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

One thing that has to be spoken about is the presentation. It is exceptional. While there are some who might not like the graphical style, there is a level of polish and detail that sets this game apart from others in the same era. The soundtrack also compliments the game perfectly, they clearly made efforts to make the whole package congruent.

[Rastan78]

Yeah I like how to make complexity they layered a few relatively simple scoring concepts on top of one another rather than focusing on one main gimmick ie chaining or multiplier.

Yet it's all designed in a way that when you get all the max medals, secret bonuses and sneak in bullet grazes here and there it all flows together so well.

Agreed on the presentation. Nobody had better attention to detail than Seibu IMO. I don't know how they could take a simple looking stage like the train stage in RF2 or some of the stages that are mostly water and make them so beautiful. Just something about the way they handled the subtleties of organic textures, especially when viewed on CRT.

[SPM]

Yeah even though it's a highly regarded game I still don't think the RF series gets the full attention it deserves. IMO RF2 and Jet should sit right beside games like Garegga and DDP in sort of the all time greats.

What about RF1?!

One warning for people that haven't played them is they give you a very complex stage 1 when played for score. If you want max medals and bonuses RF first stages will induce major restart syndrome until you have an air tight pattern.

This is only true for people who want to max out medals ASAP. You can still enjoy the scoring mechanics without a solid route or knowing any secrets. You'll just max them out a bit later, that's it! Don't scare people away, these games are awesome!

For instance, in my RF1 run I reached max medals by stage 2 because I prefer that stage order and also because I wanted to avoid restart hell. It's not optimal for score, but not everything needs to be. Scoring is not all or nothing

[Rastan78]

Yes RF1 as well ok? Honestly it's too hard to pick favorites. It kind of comes down to the one you end up spending the most time with.

I guess I would rephrase my warning about stage 1 to say don't get caught up in maxing medals early too soon or do resets. Just enjoy the game first until you are ready for that. In the long run I think it's genius that they made the first levels some of the trickiest for score bc they will not get stale quickly as they do in most other games.

These games are pretty flexible. You can play for survival and then mix in scoring stuff here and there as you get more comfortable. But you don't get extremely punished for skipping stuff that's too risky or having one random death etc.

[Sloppy_J]

Yeah, very flexible. I think accessibility with depth is a hallmark of top level design.

[m.sniffles.esq]

I think all the Raiden Fighters are dope. Like, I know why people say "Jet" is the best, because it's the fastest, slickest, with the most nutty options. But honestly, I probably have a lot more playtime on one and two.

But, for the sake of say (the former) yearly poll, I'll just go ahead and cast a vote for Jet, because I know that's what everyone else is picking, and that way it will rank the highest.

[To Far Away Times]

I think these games are the pinnacle of a very specific type of shmup that has long since fallen out of fashion.

I don't love the fast bullet, reflex heavy manic shmups, and the music kinda sucks, but eveything else about the Raiden Fighters series is awesome. They're way better designed than say, a Psykio game.

The series gets better with every entry too. JETs branching paths structure is super cool.

[Starfighter]

The max medal in this game is sooo pretty, I wonder why I went with the Garegga medal when I signed up here... I sense an avatar change in the near future.

[m.sniffles.esq]

I think these games are the pinnacle of a very specific type of shmup that has long since fallen out of fashion.

There was a time where 'twitch vs pattern' was a thing (and perhaps *gasp* attempting to maintain a balance between to the two...)

Unfortunately, the former doesn't make for good youtube vids, so...