Raiden?

[clp]

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.

Agreed on all counts . Raiden fighters 1 and 2 are the bollocks as far as music go very intense full of energy love it .

[captpain]

RFJ's music is weirdly suited to its gameplay style. I had loads of fun playing that game during STGT '09. I love the frantic speed combined with the necessity of fine timing for score.

[Kollision]

Contrary to all ya guys, I don't like the music in any Raiden Fighters.
Classic Raiden tunes rule.

[Kaiser]

Contrary to all ya guys, I don't like the music in any Raiden Fighters.
Classic Raiden tunes rule.

And contrary to ALL OF YOU. I love music in all raiden games (Raiden II and IV are on a tied 1st place. RF2 music comes second, obviously Raiden III is on last place)

[Ed Oscuro]

One word, Gallantry.

Raiden?

Toaplan!

[clp]

Contrary to all ya guys, I don't like the music in any Raiden Fighters.
Classic Raiden tunes rule.

If you need help getting to sleep maybe .

[kemical]

Raiden is one of the best true STG's, my favorite of all time
There's nothing like having the bass of the explosions way up and the bg music going while you're sweating through stage 3 or 4 fully powered without dying yet.

[esreveR]

I've always loved Raiden, Viper Phase 1, and Raiden Fighters, but I've never really understood a lot of plot elements for any of the games, which irks me so much. Could someone enlighten me?

[JGcontraman]

I need to give this series another try, it just didn't click with me. It seems to be alot more fast paced than most other shmups.

[kemical]

I've always loved Raiden, Viper Phase 1, and Raiden Fighters, but I've never really understood a lot of plot elements for any of the games, which irks me so much. Could someone enlighten me?

some text from the great manual of the not-so-great pc version.. Actually the package / manual design is done by an early member of TheDesignersRepublic it seems..

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RAIDEN          Thunderbolt
--------------------------
                  1200 11:1
Trans:
08:07:2095
Attn:
Commander.
Raiden Corporation Carrier: Vengeance
Phobos Yards: Luna Orbit
From:
Terran Milicom. Marinaras Base: Pacific

Condition:
Cloaked Alien invasion force has disabled 
Terra's defense forces. We are now being 
eradicated. Mobilise Project Raiden 
immediately. Rendezvous at Pacific Base 
for briefing, re-arm and refuel.
Good Luck.

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"The Raiden 1200 11:1: Thunderbolt is Terra's most advanced weapon and Her only hope. It will be deployed to turn the tide in various vital locations where the aliens have  achieved almost total victory.
The Thunderbolt has three main weapon systems: Cannon, Missiles and Smartbombs. There are two kinds of Cannon, Plasma and Auto and two kinds of Missile: Ramrod HE and Firefly Homing Missiles. It's third and most lethal weapon is the Fireflash Smartbomb, a Mini-Nuke of mass destruction. When you  begin your mission your fighter will have level one Autocannon, no active Missiles and three Smartbombs. Weapon Power is measured in levels, the higher their level, the more destructive they are. However they begin at level one (low) so it is vital to upgrade your weaponry by collecting Power-Ups. Good Luck."

and from the box

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You are the pilot of the Thunder God 1200 11:1. The Raiden Corporation's new, untested Aerospatial Fighter Bomber.

The last defence Earth has against an Alien invasion force that disabled the rest of Earth's forces in a vicious surprise attack.
Raiden is true to the original arcade game's speed and ferocity, with dazzlingly fast graphics, awesome sound, and hordes of enemies.
Use Plasma Cannons, Autoguns, Missiles and Smartbombs to blast your way through wave after wave of hostile Alien War Machines that assault you from both air and ground.
Raiden is a reborn classic, with eight levels of breakneck arcade action that will take you to the limits of adrenalin-fuelled excitement.

Play it if you dare....

[BPzeBanshee]

I grew up with this game and got addicted to shumps as a direct result of Raiden II and the Raiden Fighters series arcade machines placed all around my town. I consider them to be the ultimate in manic shmups as opposed to bullet-hell ones.

The music rocks, though I honestly wish I could have a crack at Raiden III and IV since they don't release those or Raiden Fighters Aces where I live.

[mangadrive]

Raiden is pretty special. To me it pretty much defines what a vert shmup should be in theme, essence and everything. Not to say I don't enjoy other eras or themes, but if you asked me to describe a shmup I'll probably put Raiden in front of you and say "here it is". I used to drive a 30 min commute just to play Raiden II in the arcade. Then the playstation collection came out and well. Didn't have to. I wasn't a very serious shmuper then but in recent times the Raiden Fighters games are probably my most played due to the variety in the ships you can pick. More games need that many ships to pick from. Even if its not a matter of getting the best one to get the highest score, its a matter of different challenge for yourself. Taking a ship you are horrible with and getting the best score you can even.. Raiden Fighters series just has no equal in this department for me.

As far as driving techno I'm a huge fan of the soundtracks and this is one of the games that I use for 'music fuel' and keep MAME in my studio to cool down or even warm up. I've sampled the noises numerous times in tracks. I like to think that fast-paced concentration games just warrant the driving Techno beats. Music is mental exercise just as much as shmups are. I'd really love to do music for this kind of game in the future. I can actually list stuff like Raiden, Einhander and so forth as musical influences. So yeah.. some of the best music here for sure

[Aguraki]

gave a new try to raiden 3 and now find it great,go figure.

I'm playing raiden 1 and find it incredibly difficult.
I'm losing a life in stage 1 80% of the time and never beat stage 2 yet(actually never met the 2n boss lol).
played probably 50 credits of this game already.

How bad am I?
think I belong in the how much u suck thread,it can't be.

[toaplan_shmupfan]

I've reached up to stage 5 boss on a single credit, and the three-part strategy that I found was:

1. Red vulcan with homing missiles for the first three stages, no exceptions, don't get the straight missiles, don't get the blue laser.
2. Raiden is a sniper fire game, so expect that if an area is cleared of enemy tanks, one more is going to appear on that side of the screen.
3. When learning the game, or the first time through a stage don't worry about the end of stage bonus so much, use the bombs...

For stage 1, the first of two boss tanks can often be taken out before the second one appears but if not, bomb once to get rid of that one and bomb one (or even twice) to get rid of the second tank. Yes, they can eventually be done no bombs, but with extra planes awarded at 150,000 and then 400,000 it's better to use bombs than lose a plane.

For stage 2, the boss plays very similar to Raiden III except for the first shot pattern is a lot faster than in Raiden III, and it doesn't flip over when it's been destroyed.

Instant respawn in Raiden can actually be worse than checkpoints because in Raiden it is possible to accidentally collect red-blue-red when picking up power ups after getting hit. Unlike Raiden III, collecting the powerups like that doesn't result in third level red firepower (it has to be collected as red-red-red) so it means getting stuck at level 1 red until the next powerup ship appears.

[Aguraki]

thanx for the advices shmupfan,motivates me to try further.

And you nailed it right,I don't bomb and die at the level 1 boss stupidly then.
Seems like you are given plenty of bombs in this game and the impact of bomb bonus is "just" 50K.

I don't know why I like this game,maybe the ultra bass of the explosions eheh,that is very special.

edit:is this game known for being hard?
just played a few more credit and it must be one of the toughest 1st levels I've played lol(I see bullets they're just too fast!)

[Daigoro]

im sad to say that ive never actually played Raiden.

i bought RFA and fell deeply in love with all of the games. its a collection that i would love everyone to be able to own. everything about it is great to me.

now im a big Seibu fan and i really want to go back and play the older games and spinoffs. Raiden IV is the only other one ive played. i have a feeling that i will really like the original. looks like my options are limited on how to aquire a copy though. PSX I guess? that or Mame? edit: maybe i should hunt down the FM Towns Marty port (check that out on wiki too lol).

you guys should check the wikipedia page for Raiden. short page but some good info there.

for the record i love the music in the RFA games, and also really love the original Donpachi.