Official Raiden IV thread

jp · Post by jp » Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:57 am

Well, I will say that a Japanese Xbox360 is turning into an incredibly good investment for any fan of shmups.

Rai82 · Post by **Rai82** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 2:12 am

Still waiting for my copy.

At least those DLC ships won't be coming out until everyone's had a go with all the modes in this game that they won't spoil the fun. I heard each ship was 80 points.

originalz · Post by **originalz** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 4:21 am

The ships are available now, 80 points each. Minor amount of money so it's not such a big deal, but it still sucks I suppose. Probably unlock keys, but it's just bonus content that wasn't available in the arcade version to begin with so there's no real loss if you don't buy them.

Kaspal · Post by **Kaspal** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 5:22 am

originalz wrote:The ships are available now, 80 points each. Minor amount of money so it's not such a big deal, but it still sucks I suppose. Probably unlock keys, but it's just bonus content that wasn't available in the arcade version to begin with so there's no real loss if you don't buy them.

50 cents can be pocket change and all that, but they could have aswell included them FOR FREE on the game, like most shmup devs do... when i play shmups, the 1st days all i wanna do is unlock as many things as i can... new ships included ... buyin them, with real money defeats that challenge.

now, if i had the game i'd probably endup buyin them too... but still, dont like the damned idea.

MOSQUITO FIGHTER · Post by **MOSQUITO FIGHTER** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:17 am

So, does the Raiden IV ship move faster than it did in III? The slow ship was my main problem with Raiden III.

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:09 am

MOSQUITO FIGHTER wrote:So, does the Raiden IV ship move faster than it did in III? The slow ship was my main problem with Raiden III.

You have to pay for aditional speed.

Strider77 · Post by **Strider77** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:25 am

while everyone is flaming on ship purchases I'll be enjoying a port that has more content than the arcade version without addition purchases to start with. then I'll drop about 3 dollars and get the extra stuff.

Post by **nZero** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:19 pm

I picked this up on Friday, haven't had a lot of time to put into it yet. Probably won't have any DLC for a while either, no internet strategy for the X360 that doesn't involve overpriced wireless peripherals to provide functionality that should have been built in to the console.

Anyway, I was thinking it was just because I was fairly toasted when I played at the game center, but does anyone else feel like when moving side to side, the bullets and the background parallax don't match up? Feels somehow like playing a 2P game where there's kind of compromise scrolling, except all the time.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:54 pm

jp wrote:Well, I will say that a Japanese Xbox360 is turning into an incredibly good investment for any fan of shmups.

Thank you for reminding us. Allow me to remind you: As long as Micorsoft continues to sell shoddily designed hardware cobbled together in third-rate third world factories without any apparent quality control (the way it has been for 3 (!) years now), I think I'll skip.

OneEyedJack · Post by **OneEyedJack** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 7:52 pm

Ceph wrote: Thank you for reminding us. Allow me to remind you: As long as Micorsoft continues to sell shoddily designed hardware cobbled together in third-rate third world factories without any apparent quality control (the way it has been for 3 (!) years now), I think I'll skip.

I am waiting for when Microsoft starts selling better designed hardware cobbled together in third rate hardware factories with quality control. Maybe next year.

Muzza · Post by **Muzza** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:58 pm

I must be one of the few lucky ones. My original 360 brought on launch day is still going strong.

gundamalpha · Post by **gundamalpha** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:30 am

May I ask are the DLC ships just some new polygons or comes with different attribute from the rest?

Strider77 · Post by **Strider77** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:00 am

Thank you for reminding us. Allow me to remind you: As long as Micorsoft continues to sell shoddily designed hardware cobbled together in third-rate third world factories without any apparent quality control (the way it has been for 3 (!) years now), I think I'll skip.

no, thank you for reminding us again how you hate these are on a 360 and not PS3. BTW... while your skipping this remind you PS2 how you hate skipping.

what a buttloaf, this guy wasn't doing anything but being happy about the stuff he bought.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:25 am

gundamalpha wrote:May I ask are the DLC ships just some new polygons or comes with different attribute from the rest?

Yeah, they have new attributes. The fairy "sprays" (think ESP Ra.De) bullets of whatever type you pick up. Although I'm not 100% sure on this as I don't have a 360 and haven't played the game, only judging from videos I've seen online.

Rai82 · Post by **Rai82** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:49 am

Elixir wrote:
gundamalpha wrote:May I ask are the DLC ships just some new polygons or comes with different attribute from the rest?
Yeah, they have new attributes. The fairy "sprays" (think ESP Ra.De) bullets of whatever type you pick up. Although I'm not 100% sure on this as I don't have a 360 and haven't played the game, only judging from videos I've seen online.

The DLC ships different atrributes can be looked up on Raiden IV wiki.

Fairy
Vulcan - weaker type of Vulcan than normal
Milky Laser - works similarly like the Ixion ship in Raiden Fighters Jet, as it can penetrate enemies with its powerful laser, damage power high.
Bubble Launcher - shoots streams of purple bubbles. The higher level firepower you are, the more bubbles fill the screen.
Bomb: Sparkles of light burst around the screen and kills on-screen enemies.

Raiden Mk-II (Fighting Thunder)
Proton Laser (original) - original single green proton laser employed in Raiden III.
Bomb - uses the traditional bomb used in previous iterations; a single bomb payload lobbed onto the screen, radius is smaller than the current Raiden ship, however damage power higher.
Vulcan - strongest firepower damage.
Laser - slightly higher damage.

Anyway just got the game today, will see if I can put up images from Raiden IV Secret File.

Rai82 · Post by **Rai82** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:25 pm

Here are some images I just uploaded:

Enemy data:

seiatsu · Post by **seiatsu** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:55 pm

It would be cool if one of you guys that have it could do a mini write up or something...Just giving some key impressions as well as how it compares to past games etc.

jandrogo · Post by **jandrogo** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:04 pm

seiatsu wrote:It would be cool if one of you guys that have it could do a mini write up or something...Just giving some key impressions as well as how it compares to past games etc.

Also would be interesting to know the display options the game has. You know: tated/yoko, 16:9 / 4:3, available resolutions... etc.

Fudoh · Post by **Fudoh** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:20 pm

Also would be interesting to know the display options the game has. You know: tated/yoko, 16:9 / 4:3, available resolutions... etc.

Yoko, Tate (both ways), 4:3 only. Adjustable zoom. Standard setting has borders on top and bottom, but you can adjust the screen so that it's fullscreen on 4:3 screens.

I haven't played Raiden III in a while, but besides the better textures (XBox360 vs. PS2) I would say R4 doesn't look this much better. It definitely uses the same ship/enemy models.

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:02 pm

Yeah, I was just saying the same elsewhere - it looks a *lot* like Raiden III.

In terms of how it plays: it's Raiden III with a ship that moves at a decent speed. Those who complained about the sluggishness of III's craft should lap this up.

High score tables are handled much as they were in the Raiden Fighters Aces compilation. If you play the game from the main menu your score gets added to the local, offline tables. If you want to get a score uploaded onto the online tables, you have to start the game through the World Ranking option in the menu. It's a bit odd, but I suppose it's done this way to prevent cheating (and also because they couldn't be bothered putting tables up for all the different difficulties).

Couple of quick questions:

What's the difference between Xbox 360 Mode and Arcade Mode? Is it just minor balancing issues, or is there something more substantial there? I've only played for half an hour or so, so far - not enough time to really get a handle on things yet.

How do you zoom the screen? Can't figure that out - can only find the option to shift it along the Y or X axis, not expand it.

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:54 pm

Rai82 wrote:Here are some images I just uploaded:

Nice.

That fairy fits really well into the whole Raiden design....

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:03 pm

E. Randy Dupre wrote:What's the difference between Xbox 360 Mode and Arcade Mode?

XBox 360 Mode adds two new stages.

Rai82 · Post by **Rai82** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:21 am

Uploaded more screens of Secret File:

More enemy data, plus bosses:
Boss 1:

Boss 2 & 3:

Boss 4, 5 (extra stage), 6 (extra stage), 7:

Final Boss (Stage ???)

Some concept images:

substancej · Post by **substancej** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:40 am

nZero wrote:Anyway, I was thinking it was just because I was fairly toasted when I played at the game center, but does anyone else feel like when moving side to side, the bullets and the background parallax don't match up? Feels somehow like playing a 2P game where there's kind of compromise scrolling, except all the time.

I got my copy today and experienced this as well. There must be a term for this - I've seen it in other games, possibly Gunhed if I recall - but I don't claim to be leet enough to know what is is or fully explain the visual effect even. It was very offputting at first. I haven't noticed it as much in recent sessions, either it's sporadic or I've just become used to it. Strange though.

Battlesmurf · Post by **Battlesmurf** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:52 am

Fairy
Vulcan - weaker type of Vulcan than normal
Milky Laser - works similarly like the Ixion ship in Raiden Fighters Jet, as it can penetrate enemies with its powerful laser, damage power high.
Bubble Launcher - shoots streams of purple bubbles. The higher level firepower you are, the more bubbles fill the screen.
Bomb: Sparkles of light burst around the screen and kills on-screen enemies.

Raiden Mk-II (Fighting Thunder)
Plasma Laser (original) - original single green plasma laser employed in Raiden III.
Bomb - uses the traditional bomb used in previous iterations; a single bomb payload lobbed onto the screen, radius is smaller than the current Raiden ship, however damage power higher.
Vulcan - strongest firepower damage.
Laser - slightly higher damage.

lol- i hated the green laser- and if I wanted a fairy in a shmup I'd play ____ release.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:01 pm

E. Randy Dupre wrote:How do you zoom the screen? Can't figure that out - can only find the option to shift it along the Y or X axis, not expand it.

Go into the Display option (the one where you can move the X and Y axis by using the pad/joystick) and tap either LB or RB to zoom.

Got my copy last night. Mostly played Lite Mode (fucking stage 3 always manages to take a life somewhere, normally around the bridge) but I gave the other modes a whirl. The ship is definitely more maneuverable than in Raiden III. One question though... how do I trigger the Extend in stage 4?

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 3:15 pm

Cheers for that. Shame that the screen zooms in fixed jumps - the default size leaves borders at the top and bottom of my screen, the next size up chops the top and bottom of the playfield off.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 3:49 pm

Kiken wrote: One question though... how do I trigger the Extend in stage 4?

its something to do with destroying all the cranes, cant remember exactly its been ages since i played this now..

Baboo · Post by **Baboo** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:57 pm

You need to destroy all the statues ONLY when the crystal lights up.

Basically, when you first see the 3 statues, you must NOT destroy the leftmost one. What I do in the arcade is to keep my plane to the right side of the screen and tap the fire button lightly (so as not to charge up). The background will start to rotate anti-clockwise. Wait till the leftmost statue is out of sight, then start destroying the rest. When the revolution ends, the last statue remaining will be the one you spared earlier. Destroy it now for the 1-up.

Does anyone here know how to get past the final boss (i.e original mode 2nd loop)?

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 10:29 pm

Noticed earlier, but enemy formations are slightly different between 360 Mode and Arcade Mode - you can see it right at the beginning of the first level, where in 360 Mode the first three ships come from right, then left, then middle, but in Arcade Mode they're middle, right, left. So I guess there's probably quite a bit of minor tweaking in there, although I'm not good enough to be able to recognise it.