Sega Megadrive Raiden, Same! Same! Same! and Daisenpu

[uzernaem]

Are they worth getting? Any game-breaking stuff (like bugs, controls delay etc). What is the general opinion on them?

[EmperorIng]

I can only comment on Same/Fire Shark, but the port is top-notch as far as quality is concerned. It accurately captures the arcade playing field, with some light concessions due to a different aspect ratio, and keeps the game play intact.

Toaplan's MD output is generally looked upon favorably, if trawling through the Genesis/MD mega-topic is any indication.

[TransatlanticFoe]

I believe Raiden skips a couple of intermediate power levels, so your ship powers up faster, and it includes checkpoints rather than instant respawn. It's a decent enough port though.

All of the MD Toaplan games are worth getting. Only Twin Cobra of the verts goes fullscreen 4:3, the others have a status bar to simulate arcade 3:4 but it doesn't detract from the experience.

[MintyTheCat]

Are they worth getting? Any game-breaking stuff (like bugs, controls delay etc). What is the general opinion on them?

Yes, all are worth owning but play them all first a bit before you drop the money on them I would advise.

I am actually looking for raiden Trad MD myself.

Have a go of V5/Grindstormer too.

[PooshhMao]

I love Raiden, but I'm not a big fan of the MD port. It's only single player, the graphics suffer from the reduced color palette, and there's quite a bit of detail lost. For instance, the ship sprite doesn't transform from 'default' to 'powered up' state (looking like the 'powered up' version from the start), as well as other minor things.

By far the best contemporary port of Raiden was the FM-Towns version, which is pretty much pixel-perfect, and even has a redbook audio soundtrack to boot. I'm excluding the port on Raiden Project for the PSX here since that came years later.

[Despatche]

and it includes checkpoints rather than instant respawn

The original Raiden is supposed to have checkpoints. They're removed on a lot of boards, for some reason. Any Japanese port will have them.

The Japanese Raiden Project retains correct behavior for both games; Raiden has them, Raiden II doesn't. The American Raiden Project, among other things, added a toggle that defaults to off, so both games have the behavior you'd see on a typical American board; no checkpoints for either game. Of course, this also allows you to play II with checkpoints.

edit: Powerups are identical to the arcade version. This is actually a really good port.