Raiden?

[bbb]

Hi guys,

I'm curious to see what people think about Raiden. Do you like it? Is it better/worse to another x title?

I'm asking this because it's my fav. shooter game and the first one that got me to love shmup games. So I'm wondering what other peoples opinions are in relation to Raiden and the shmup genre.

Thanks!

[njiska]

One word, Gallantry.

Some of the best shmup music of that era.

[MathU]

I love the series. Never have beaten the original game though. I can never get past that tank boss at the end of stage 5.

[Aguraki]

playing the 1st one a bit and can't pass stage 2 yet
Nice game and great music I agree.

just uninstalled raiden 3 which didn't appealed to me that much.

[clp]

Love the raidens especially DX and the fighters series ! dont forget to check out the spin off viper phase 1 its beautiful.

[louisg]

I like the Toaplans more than the first couple Raidens

[Jeneki]

The large plane that attacks from the rear on stage 6 is pretty evil. Raiden has fast bullets and slow ship speed, which means I have to look a bit further up the screen. Otherwise by the time I see a bullet coming at me it's already too late to do anything about it. So stuff appearing behind you is just brutal until you learn the exact spot it happens.

Back when Raiden was new in arcades, every machine I played on sent you back a bit every time you died. However when I play it on newer compilation discs, that seems to be an optional setting. Was that the default setting, or just arcade owners making things harder? I never could pass the ending without dying once.

[Ruldra]

I only played the original, but talk about a FRUSTRATING game. Few games make me rage as much as this one. I hate that you can't use the bomb to protect yourself.

At one point I was trying to beat the 1st loop, but eventually gave up. Too many random deaths even with a lot of practice.

[professor ganson]

I suppose that Raiden suffers a bit from the same problem that you have with DonPachi: people tend to overlook the original because they prefer later installments-- at least the ones that contain genuine improvements. Raiden DX and Raiden IV seem to be the real favorites of the series. It is nice how Raiden DX changes the scoring up a bit and introduces the different courses.

That said, I still prefer DonPachi to all its successors.

[Aquas]

I like it but admittedly haven't played the first one all that much. I'll probably get around to it some day but it was royally pissing me off all the times I tried playing. Ultimately it comes down to practice and Raiden IV requires a lot of that as well. I love Raiden IV though--the remixed music from the original games is so damn catchy in its updated form, I'm often humming along when I play. I enjoy III as well but have only played it at a surface layer as well. Thankfully, the default bomb in Raiden IV and III clears bullets on activation.

IV has an awesome loop with crazy fast bullets and if you have the time to get that far it's worth playing. Not sure how I kept my patience to 2-ALL Raiden IV but it was truly fun all the time I played it, if only somewhat frustrating for specific parts...

[toaplan_shmupfan]

I love the series. Never have beaten the original game though. I can never get past that tank boss at the end of stage 5.

Lots of left/right dodging for the converging shot pattern and when the supplemental enemies emerge just forget about the end of stage bonus and bomb them. Two of the supplemental enemies will emerge, make sure to have a least two bombs for each of those, don't try to deal with the spread shots they add to the tank boss shot pattern. I've even lost one life fighting that boss but then again I was playing an arcade machine set to instant respawn.

One the Genesis Raiden Trad version, that boss plays very different. Stay in one safe spot at the very bottom and somewhat to the side of the tank boss and they've made the hitbox in Raiden Trad so the shots can pass over the wingtips just past the engines. Still use bombs when those supplemental enemies appear. Don't get hit, though, since Genesis Raiden Trad is permanantly set to start back mode.

Having homing missiles rather than straight missiles is also helpful. Although homing missiles are weaker than the straight missiles they home in on the tank boss where the straight missiles would just go past it.

[saucykobold]

There's a really simple method for the fifth boss. Kill the left wing asap, then stay at the far left, moving up and down to dodge the boss' shots. Your homing missiles and rightmost vulcan shots will damage the core.

This looks rather silly, but it's effective and completely safe. While at the far left, the right wing will be off-screen and unable to fire. Also, you won't accidentally destroy it (killing both wings triggers a much harder attack pattern).

When those rolling gun things come out of the tank, point-blank the left one and then resume the up-down pattern at the far left.

[bbb]

I agree with the music bit! Both Raiden I & II had one of the best music for the era! My fav. song is the this one, I believe it's called "Rough and Tumble":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhn6SIu4Cu0

When I look back, I really liked the artwork, it was really cool and I always wanted to see more of it so I kept playin' until I got to those space-station levels and man... they're too difficult to beat lol. Anyone recommend any games that look similar. Also, I've never played Raiden 3 and 4, any comments? So far it seems like their not so good?

One thing I hated about the first two is the fact that the bullets moved so damn quick! I prefer them to move slow. I guess it made for different gameplay, in Raiden, it was best to simply not move too much (be patient) and avoid the shots, other games I noticed work completely opposite in this regard.

[toaplan_shmupfan]

I think Raiden III could have been much better if the boss patterns did not mix the small yellow shots and the larger pink bullets. Too many times I saw all the pink bullets but got hit by one of the small yellow bullets. The soundtrack was okay, but wasn't really anything impressive in that I don't find myself wanting to listen to the music outside of playing the game. Again, though, the first two bosses are similar to Raiden II (just graphically more enhanced with a more manic shot pattern), and of course, Raiden II's first two bosses were similar to Raiden I (just graphically improved but more or less the same shot patterns).

Raiden IV, something seemed odd about that game when I played it in that seemed like sometimes there seemed to be bullet drift when the screen scrolled sideways. Unless something was wrong with the arcade machine I played, that seemed different than having just homing shots, I didn't really care for it either way.

[ShmupSamurai]

Me and my bro use to kill a few hours on Raiden II pc version awhile back.

Mmmmh....good times.

[bbb]

I watched some youtube videos of Raiden III & IV and I was not impressed with the music.

[Mortificator]

When I look back, I really liked the artwork, it was really cool and I always wanted to see more of it so I kept playin' until I got to those space-station levels and man... they're too difficult to beat lol. Anyone recommend any games that look similar.

Viper Phase 1, from the same developers, is entirely space levels. On the terrestrial side, you might try Xevious Arrangement.

[peterbrady69]

Raiden is one of my favorite shooters ever. I have it for the PS1 still, and I still play it. Even though Raiden 2 is like Raiden 1 on steroids, I still often go back to the original.

It's really hard to rate the Raiden games, because they are all so great, and nostalgia can come into play like it does for me with Raiden 1, but I think Raiden 1 is up there.

I actually did grow to really like Raiden III, but it took a few hours, and I would probably say I think it is the worst. Which isn't saying it's bad.

[gs68]

I actually barely remember Raiden II anymore. I haven't seen a cab in ages, buying the PS1 port much less the PCB is out of the question for now, and there's some encryption crap going on that prevents it from being emulated on MAME.

[Mortificator]

The PS1 port works fine in ePSXe, among other emulators.

[Reverie Planetarian]

One of the first shmups I ever played, that and something in the 19-number-number series, and I'm proud to say it's one of the first shmups I ever played until the end.

[t0yrobo]

I have a lot of memories of the first Raiden game, it's by far the shmup that Ive seen the most in arcades. I don't especially like it, and I suck at it. But the Raiden Fighters games are good fun.

[lgb]

That said, I still prefer DonPachi to all its successors.

I do too. DoDonPachi isn't an improvement so much as it's a different game entirely.

I watched some youtube videos of Raiden III & IV and I was not impressed with the music.

The guy who did Raiden II's music (Go Sato) was behind it, if that's any indication.

[SFKhoa]

Self-arranges are cool and all but goddamn, III and IV were heavily lacking.

[captpain]

Raiden and DonPachi are some bland lumps, y'all. It's OK to like them for nostalgia's sake but the later games in the series are almost all better. If you ask me, of course.

[toaplan_shmupfan]

Never got a chance to play DonPachi (I've seen videos of it and it looks like it would be worth a play or two at the minimum) but Raiden is far from bland, even if the other games in the Raiden series introduced more manic shooting patterns and focused more on point blanking enemies for bonus scoring.

[pooch]

Looking forward to getting Raiden Fighters Aces when (if) it comes out. Music is very important to me - is the music in these games good?

[Zeron]

Looking forward to getting Raiden Fighters Aces when (if) it comes out. Music is very important to me - is the music in these games good?

Yes but you can always just youtube Raiden Fighters OST for example and see for yourself..

[Aquas]

The music fits the Raiden Fighters games pretty well. Kind of a sick breed of hyper droning techno industrialization. Raiden Fighters Jet seems to have the most melodic tunes of the style, and some pretty good stand alone tracks to boot. Pretty unique music for a shmup I'd say.

[MathU]

I absolutely love Go Sato's techno for the first two Raiden Fighters. Yasuhiro Yashimoto's stuff in Jet is good too, but it generally doesn't have that really crisp, hard feel Sato's tunes had. It's a shame, really, because the music is actually why I have a hard time placing Jet over the other 2 as the definitive game. I wonder why Go Sato didn't work on Jet's soundtrack.