ONE PHASE IS ALL WHAT IT NEEDS
You asked for it. You got it.PC Engine Fan X! wrote:Hi there Sturmvogel Prime,
Are you going to do a review on Seibu Kaihatsu's Viper Phase 1 running on the SP1 arcade platform?
It took me a long time, but here's what you wanted. Hope you like it.

The Raiden Legacy rides on this flight.
Seibu Kaihatsu and Fabtek. We know both names perfectly well due to the Raiden series of shmups, but before and beyond their timeless classic, there was other titles as well such as the gun game Dynamite Duke, the brawler Zero Team/Zero Team U.S.A. and the sports game Seibu Cup Soccer, but the following game is more than another incursion to the Non-Raiden face of the company. Its taking what they've learned from Raiden and put it in practice: Viper Phase 1.

Spend those bullets wisely.
Raiden was already a shmup about racking power while focusing on speed and fast reactions. Viper Phase 1 takes the learnings from Raiden and adds much more speed to the game.
¿How fast is Viper Phase 1? The action begins as soon as the Judge Spear takes off, which is like 2 seconds rivaling Gradius II/Vulcan Venture, because you'll be tapping the fire button once you're airborne because there's ground objects to be destroyed before the aerial enemies take place. Enemy formations are not the classic easy to hit enemies seen in Raiden because some of the basic "Zako" enemies just dive and retreat after firing, requiring fast maneuvering in order to take them down. In fact, there's not too much "hovering" aerial enemies that stand in a particular part of the screen, requiring entirely new strategies and approaches from the player.
While the Raiden series featured two or three weapons, Viper Phase 1 added one more to the Judge Spear's arsenal. So, double check your Raiden knowledge and get ready to give the Judge Spear weaponry a try.
LASER (L): Like the blue crystal from the Raiden series. Fires a frontal blue laser beam (combined with two of your basic bullets) with a considerable strength.
MISSILE (M): This one is based on the "M" subweapon from Raiden. Fires missiles in a somewhat spread-like trajectory and they generate a small explosion upon impact. Unlike Raiden, the Judge Spear fires a volley of 16 missiles regardless of its power level.
NAPALM (N): This is a new original weapon for this game. Fires fast frontal flying missiles that unleash green explosions that scatter beyond the blast radius, causing additional damages to any enemy nearby.
WIDE SHOT (W): This is basically the red crystal from Raiden. It fires a 13-Way spread curtain of bullets (Six on left, the central "main" weapon, six on the right). Any Raiden expert can take advantage of causing great damages to bosses and large sized enemies by shooting the Wide Shot as close as possible.

It's destruction galore!
Tons of ground targets waiting to be destroyed!
Destroying things out of existence is a fun factor of shmups, and Viper Phase 1 does that on a scale much larger than Raiden by adding more ground targets, pitting you with large vessels and even stopping a missile before the time runs out. Fast, aggressive action and destructible target packed stages are the things I like to see on a shmup and Viper Phase 1 does a brilliant job here. Stage 1 is a nice example of what the game will be throwing at you with any speed imaginable, and you've better be ready 'cos it might be a lot too much if you're not careful. Because this game's rank up system is "Experts Only". Reaching Stage 5 without dying will heavily increase the overall difficulty to deadly and brutal levels.

Bonus Pods are full of surprises.
In some levels, you'll find "Pods" that will drop medals when they're shot. At first they look like the classic Bonus carrying enemy that gives you five medals after getting shot (sometimes are 4 smalls and a large one, others 5 small), but actually it has a mechanic of its own. When it appears from the top, it will go down to a certain level, then bounce up escaping the screen. If you shot it down when it goes up before disappearing, it will drop more medals than the usual five. But also when its on the bottom of the screen can drop more medals too. You can see what I'm talking about on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17qBhcHAqGE (check 11:31 to be more exact).
Stage 4 is basically a bonus packed stage with these sphere formations that gives you thousand point bonuses that increase with each formation destroyed, so if you have the Wide Vulcan equipped you'll be racking 10,000 point bonuses, this really, really helps when you're playing the "New Version" of the game.


Flashing cycle of ground based medals.
GIFs done by BIL.
The second medal bonus is on the ground based ones. If you pay attention you'll notice that medals will stop shimmering/flickering after a few seconds. If you pick them when they're not flickering their value will increase. ¿Who would imagine that something that most of the times we don't pay attention are actually bonus worthy?

Efforts are greatly rewarded.
The results are also improved from the original Raiden games. Starting up with the kill count of all the enemies encountered in the stage. Each downed ship or ground target grants you 10 points. Then comes the spare bombs with a 300 point reward per bomb. Now, the Medals obtained. Unlike Raiden, Medals are not discounted if you lose a life, and each Medal regardless of the type obtained are worth 100 points each. But the final score element is decided by the shoot down percentage. For example 94 to 98% will multiply the previous bonuses by 40, 99% is 50 and finally, the 100% multiplies it by 100.
While the features of this game are a step on a different direction from the common Raiden formula, the flaws of this game are precisely the new weapons system. The removal of the traditional Raiden-style sub-weapons and its subsequent "gauge" measured weapon ammunition makes things much harder since the main shot it is full frontal only, favoring the game to deliver multi-directional strikes against you. This is notorious in Stage 3 as you have these small enemies that move across the screen and are capable of shoot you from behind or crashing, all because the Judge Spear doesnt' have a Homing missile. The second problem is the time lapse between the bomb drop and the explosion is a window that the enemy can take advantage to kill you. Fortunately, the start back feature of the Raiden series passed from switchable to completely removed for the sake of a more friendly solo player experience.

Its nice to see how things change by removing some limitations.
The limitations of the weaponry and the ol' Raiden bomb drop delay were clearly a problem for a speed requiring game like Viper Phase 1, so Seibu Kaihatsu took the game back and fixed those problems, re-releasing it as Viper Phase 1 New Version. This one was released by Fabtek as Viper Phase 1 U.S.A. which implemented not just fixes to those flaws, but also adding new features. One of them is being able to hit bosses before exploding so you can add a few more points, but what's best. The weapons never ran out of ammo, but they have to be powered up, acting more like a Raiden game. While the traditional Raiden games need 8 power up items to max the regular shot and 4 for the missiles, Viper Phase 1 New Version/U.S.A. retains the 4 for the shot but it carries the subweapons and you'll notice that once you pick one, giving players an upper hand to recover if they lose 1 life or they've just joined in. The autofire by holding the fire button had a more improved firing rate, although you can tap the button in Blazing Star levels of crazy for an ever faster rate. The bonus factor was also improved, the bonus pods that originally appeared on Stage 6 onwards, now appear throughout all the stages, adding more bonus hunting madness to the game. The only flaw is that the hitbox was slightly increased compared with the old version. The graphical differences between New and USA versions are just the Parental Advisory Warning on the intro sequence, the "= U . S . A =" moniker and "US LICENSEE FABTEK" disclaimer on the bottom above Seibu Kaihatsu's copyright. With all these fixes, improvements and despite the hitbox flaw, New Version/U.S.A. is definitely the real way to play Viper Phase 1.
Knowing how amazing the Raiden series and Viper Phase 1 were on the arcade, it was strange that Viper Phase 1 and Raiden II didn't had their well deserved amount of home ports. While Raiden II had a PC port and a PlayStation port as part of The Raiden Project, Viper Phase 1 was forgotten to the sands of time. This was clearly way too much for the Genesis despite its successful titles like the Thunder Force series or Alien Soldier which were in-par with the arcade graphics. In fact, Viper Phase 1 had the potential of being ported to the far more capable Super Nintendo, knowing the arcade accuracy the SNES has. We're talking 1995, 8 months after the console port of Killer Instinct, so the gameplay and graphics of Viper Phase 1 wouldn't be too much of a problem for Nintendo's 16-Bit console, but keeping in mind that a good SNES port would also need a good developer (HINT: NEVER give an arcade port to Micronics, lesson learned from Raiden Trad). But believe it or not the PlayStation or the Sega Saturn weren't able to port it either. I guess the failure of Raiden Trad on the SNES threw a serious shade on Seibu Kaihatsu's franchise (and Electro Brain's reputation as publisher, burying their "Interactive Excellence" slogan 30-feet under). It was until December 12th of 2024 when Seibu and Hamster ported Viper Phase 1 as part of Arcade Archives, carrying both the Old and New versions in a similar way to Darius along with their respective modes, trophies and screen adjustments as well. What a Christmas gift turned out to be, having another part of the Raiden family has to be one of the greatest surprises homeporting can give us.
Why porting Raiden II and Raiden DX is so taboo? I mean, fans have been asking for that one since Arcade Archives: Raiden was released in 2021. I know the game was encrypted as hell, but if Seibu and Hamster were able to port the also protected Zero Team and now Viper Phase 1, then it is very possible for Raiden II, Raiden DX and the Raiden Fighters series to see their respective arcade perfect ports.

Even official ports seems to have accuracy issues.
The arcade accuracy emulation of the Arcade Archives port wasn't perfect at first as it was missing things like the brownish red asteroids in the background of Stage 5 along with some small issues on the sound performance. It was clear that the Arcade Archives version was a few steps behind the real hardware, but at least it was a solid port and a great first attempt to emulate the complex SP1 hardware. It was until January 28th that Hamster released an update of the game to address those issues. Another curious problem of this port is its availability. On PlayStation 5, it doesn't appear at all unless you do a workaround trick. In my case, on the PlayStation 4, the game appeared as a DLC Add-on rather than a standard game purchase. Seems like Hamster fucked up there, but at least it was more accessible on the PS4.

Multi-layered backgrounds for in-depth realism!
Graphically, Seibu Kaihatsu was on a roll with the graphic quality of the game by relying on higher quality sprite art that surpassed even the Neo-Geo and rivaled with Namco and Sega. Not just in ships and bosses, but in the stages as well. You can see amazing super-realistic space scenery with ambitiously detailed artificial structures, being Stages 3 and 4 the most complex of all in terms of details. Parallax-styled layers were used to give the game the sense of in-depth motion as you move from left to right in this multi-screen game and you will be seeing up to three, which marks a new standard in terms of Seibu Kaihatsu's graphic quality, even above Raiden DX.
The storyline ditches the alien premise or "Crystal invasion" of the Raiden series and takes place in space where humanity is waging a war against a rebel faction who turned against other people for unspecified reasons. The enemies are obviously human beings since the vehicles look more man-made than alien-like (or Crystal contaminated) which favors more the "Man-VS-Man" war in space scenario. We can only speculate this is a Anti-Rebellion plotline by judging the graphics and the lack of an official story since the Arcade Archives release only mentions "defending the Earth against waves of enemy forces". Curiously, despite this "Human-VS-Human" element, some of the bosses resemble the alien-esque bosses of Raiden, giving Viper Phase 1 a sense of familiarity that binds it to Raiden.

As real as it gets.
What really surprises in the graphic aspect is the intro sequence, which features CGI rendered space fighters in a far more clean, detailed and realistic way than Raiden II and way ahead of Blazing Star. Seems like Seibu Kaihatsu surpassed the Neo-Geo in CGI artwork since we're talking of a shmup released on the same year as Pulstar which was considered an ambitious game.
The sound department also takes a turn from the more epic and fanfarrious style of Raiden and Raiden II and changes the rhythm in favor of a more catchy and upbeat soundtrack that adds more life and action to the game. The Raiden series were always a field of experimentation, and Viper Phase 1 is no exception, executing the idea of a different musical style very well and with a more clear and real instrument quality. A sign of things to come in the Raiden Fighters series and the MOSS era with Raiden III.
TRIVIA PHASE 1 = S . P =
- Fabtek's promotional flyer was a pun to the intro scroll of Star Wars.
- Viper Phase 1 was the second Seibu Kaihatsu game with the added U.S.A. subtitle for the Fabtek release after Zero Team U.S.A..
- The combination of standard shot and selected weapon is very similar to NMK's Raiden clone Thunder Dragon.
- The ground-based medal bonus mechanic was inherited from Raiden DX.
- The music of Viper Phase 1 returns as an unlockable alternate BGM for the PlayStation port of Raiden DX. To unlock it, you have to complete the No-continue single staged Training Mission/Mission Alpha without losing all your lives.
- Judge Spear and Blue Javelin made a return in the Raiden Fighters series.
- The planet seen in Stage 5 is Venus. The image used is digitized from a false color map of the planet via Magellan mission's radar cameras.
- Having Venus as a combat zone might imply that the game takes place in a time where humanity tries to colonize the planet and even terraforming it.
- The ending term "Pan-Galactic" means "All the Galaxy" but the best pronunciation would be "Galaxy-wide" or "Galactic Wide".
- Being able to hit a "dying" boss seconds before exploding in the "New" version was featured in Raiden IV Overkill as the PlayStation 3 exclusive Overkill Mode, later carried on "Raiden IV x Mikado Remix".
- The Napalm weapon returns in Raiden Nova as the Option-exclusive Cluster Bomb.
- The Arcade Archives release is the first arcade-perfect emulated home port of the game and first Seibu SPI-based title.
- It is also the last Seibu Kaihatsu title of 2024.
- According to shmups forum member pieslice, this game was one of his influences for Crisis Wing.

Living up to the Raiden Glory!
It is always nice to see Seibu Kaihatsu or anything related to Raiden on the Arcade Archives, and Viper Phase 1 was an amazing surprise.
With Viper Phase 1 on the Arcade Archives, its just a matter of time to see the Raiden Fighters trilogy as well, but what would be better is to have both Raiden II and DX to complete the "Raiden Family", because of one special reason: ¿What's the point of having a Raiden collection without Raiden II and DX?
Hamster, you can post all the Namco stuff you want once you give us Arcade Archives: Raiden II and Arcade Archives: Raiden DX. I definitely mean it.
The R-Scale gives Viper Phase 1 a score of 10 R-9s out of 10. The first Perfect score!











Eda knows this was a great game.