Raiden III - PS2 version

Post by **Icarus** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 12:16 pm

Some quick impressions:

GRAPHICS
While I miss the ultra-detailed, shrapnel-laden sprites of the older Raiden games, Raiden 3's 3D visuals are clean, detailed, and bomb about at a good, uninterrupted pace. They are pretty detailed, very smooth looking, and somehow manage to retain the familiarity of their older sprite versions while looking a lot more modern.

I do miss seeing a chopper crashland into a building, or a tank explode in a shower of debris though -_-;;;
SOUND AND MUSIC
Small enemies *pop* while larger enemies give out a satisfyingly bassy *boom*, so nothing new to report here. The music tries to retain some of the old school Raiden flavour while giving it a modern electronica twist, and while the music itself is good for the game, there is nothing really memorable or catchy here. There are a few remixes of familiar themes, like the Game Over screen, just to give returning playes a bit of nostalgia ^_-
GAMEPLAY
Weapons have been changed a bit for this new installment. The Vulcan (Red) starts you off at threeway power as opposed to the single stream, making it quicker and easier to get the Vulcan up to maximum strength. The Laser (Blue) appears to be a continuous beam now, and slightly weaker than it's older version, while Whip Beam (Green) takes the original toothpaste laser and removes the lock-on functionality. This actually makes it pretty fun to use, as you have to keep flicking the whip over enemies in order to apply sustained damage, whereas before you'd do it the lazy way and lock onto the first large enemy that appeared and let the laser coil itself around the screen.

You still have Straight and Homing Missiles available, and have something new, a Rocket Bomb. This looks and acts similar to Straight Missiles, but has a slight homing flavour, and causes a small explosion on impact, doing residual damage. While it is pretty good in streangth, it's pretty slow to fire, and doesn't always home in on the enemies you want it to target, so be careful when using it.

You only appear to get one bomb now, and it seems to be a mix of the original screen-shaking nuke and the more useful cluster bomb - it's now a fast screen-clearing bomb and does more damage to larger enemies the closer they are to the center of the blast. Quite handy for getting yourself out of a fix.

The medals you get are now fixed in value, removing any chance of a deep medalling system a-la Raiden DX. They are hidden in the scenery and are revealed by shooting them. The Fairies are still around though, and they'll give you powerups if you die while you have one of them collected.

Gameplay-wise, it seems to be an unusual mix of older styles. While it's more manic than the older Raidens, it's not quite as bullet-laden as the Raiden Fighters series, and it takes from both - it takes the fast single bullets from older games, and mixes in some heavy pattern evasion. Quick Shots seem to be the order of the day here (as Ghegs rightly corrected me on in this/another thread) and you get a multiplier based on how fast you destroy stuff, from 2.0x and down by 0.1 increments to 1.0x. This makes the game pretty heavy on memorisation, and quite reliant on weapons such as Vulcan (for stages) and Laser (for bosses), which may be a good or bad thing depending on how much you like your memorisation tests.

One other thing: it takes a lot from older Raidens by heavy use of sniper enemies, much more than usual. Tanks will pop up from the lower sides of the screen and fire a quick bullet at you, choppers will drop down the sides of the screen while you point blank bosses, boats appear from the bottom as you attack midbosses and so on. These can easily become the source of all frustration as they can easily catch you unawares and end a good run. Learning where they appear is key to survival.
OVERALL
This game, while being good fun, and familiar to those used to old-school Raiden, may not appeal to everyone as it takes a lot from it's vicious brethren in player killing methods. Bullets here are much faster than the bullets you see in shmups lately - with the exception of Mushi's Original Mode of course. If you give it a chance though, it can be very addictive to play.

Post by **system11** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 1:04 pm

Mine arrived today. Well actually, it arrived yesterday too but I wasn't at home to sign for the package - this was from Play-Asia, no taxes this time, used EMS. I honestly think people experiencing shipping delays should stop using ghetto shipping methods (that 10 days or whatever is only a guideline...)

Anyway, had a quick go - won't comment on the gameplay as yet, but I will say quickly: drab audio (not too bad though), plain visuals although they are perfectly smooth until boss explosions, yoko mode looks absolutely fine - not unexpected as polygons 'scale' better than sprites. No complaints with port quality whatsoever.

It would appear the PS2 is quite capable of running Type-X shooters when someone cares to put the effort in.

edit: I like this game, it feels like Raiden should. My -only- gripes so far are 1) some bullets are too fast to avoid without knowing they're about to be fired, but more importantly 2) orange bullets against light brown/orange/white background is not cool.

Naiera · Post by **Naiera** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 4:08 pm

twe wrote: It's been like that for at least a year. They told me as much in an email after one of my orders was 'lost' and the other took 4-5 weeks to arrive.
Why are you still ordering from them anyway? Give it up, move on. It's not worth your time, money, or frustration. There are far better import shops online. Try yesasia.com.

Well, it had only happened to me once with Mushihime-sama (at least that was the only game where I felt it was kind of urgent), and I wasn't aware they'd been poop for at least a year. I don't like the thought of dealing with Yes Asia much, as they sell bootlegs of various products.

Naiera · Post by **Naiera** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 4:15 pm

bloodflowers wrote: I honestly think people experiencing shipping delays should stop using ghetto shipping methods (that 10 days or whatever is only a guideline...)

You are mistaken. I use regular airmail all the time from the US, and barring any intervention from customs, it usually takes between 4 and 7 days. Usually 5 or 6. I've also dealt with several eBay sellers in Hong Kong and Japan where I tend to use regular or registered airmail unless I'm buying something expensive. This will also only take a week or so. Not to mention VG+ and their 7 CAD shipping, which used to be 5 CAD, which takes a week only if you're really unlucky.

Play Asia is the only place where airmail, appearently, regularly takes way too long to arrive. Their explanation sucks and there doesn't seem to be much reason for them not to just get their fingers out and give us the service we're used to, from them (n the past and everywhere else presently.

sffan · Post by **sffan** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 4:45 pm

Just got mine today. I will not post impressions, I'm just gonna play the motherf***er.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 5:23 pm

My last order from play-asia took over a week to arrive by EMS. Plus I had to pay $70 at my door in taxes. Well, the order was valued around the ballpark of $300, but they could have marked it down just a little... But when I fill out my order and the only shipping method I'm offered costs $30, I expect to get service worth $30.

Anyway, that was the last straw for me, I have bought stuff from yesasia in the past, and I'm switching over all the rest of my import needs to them as well.

Not expecting to receive my Raiden III order any time soon though..

Texhnolyze · Post by **Texhnolyze** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 5:44 pm

iatneH wrote:My last order from play-asia took over a week to arrive by EMS. Plus I had to pay $70 at my door in taxes. Well, the order was valued around the ballpark of $300, but they could have marked it down just a little... But when I fill out my order and the only shipping method I'm offered costs $30, I expect to get service worth $30.

You paid a 23% tariff?

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 6:38 pm

Yeah, it really sucked. I think P-A included the cost of EMS shipping in the value of the package so that got taxed as well.. -_________________-;;;

Naiera · Post by **Naiera** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 7:17 pm

That's how it's supposed to be, actually. Just be glad you're not paying 25% or 37.5% depending on what it is you're receiving

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 4:09 am

I just got R3 today in time for the weekend. The soundtrack is pretty good with a bit of a techno twist on the Raiden BGM style. R3's quick kill bonus system isn't bad- I think it makes up for the lack of a Raiden DX style medal system. Sometimes it's better IMO to bomb bosses to hasten their demise for a greater multiplier- who needs bomb bonus when you can get 1.8x the value?

Shimmering isn't really noticeable enough to be an issue, and the inclusion of Tate is welcome. Even if there's a bit less shrapnel, the explosions are still convincing. Now THIS is the way you do a Type-X port.

Overall, it's like a middle ground between Raiden II and the Raiden Fighters series. Good stuff.

[quote=cigsthecat]I like using NCS because every game I've ever ordered has arrived in 2 days via Priority Mail, and they pack well.[/quote]
Same here.

thesuperkillerxxx · Post by **thesuperkillerxxx** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 5:02 am

After 3 credits, it feels like raiden to me...

Music might take a little bit getting used to, though.

japtor · Post by **japtor** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:57 am

Dave_K. wrote: Maybe RFK or Whitey can comment since they actually have this board?

i vaguely remember rfk saying it looked like ass on a 15khz monitor. im guessing he said this in his r3/ibara thread a while back.

dont have any experience with raiden 3, but i remember playing ikaruga at arcade infinity on an astro iirc, i thought it looked fine. wasnt super sharp/high res or anything, but wasnt ugly at all imo. curious about how the 31khz/15khz modes look cause i want to get a naomi setup eventually but dont have a 31khz monitor. does the naomis output look ok at 15khz or should i just not bother?

whitey · Post by **whitey** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:25 am

japtor wrote:
Dave_K. wrote: Maybe RFK or Whitey can comment since they actually have this board?
i vaguely remember rfk saying it looked like ass on a 15khz monitor. im guessing he said this in his r3/ibara thread a while back.

There are no options on the Type-X to switch between interlaced/non-interlaced @ 15kHz. Not sure if Raiden 3 is interlaced or not @ 15kHz. I can tell you that it looks like crap @ 15kHz. I just got a hi-rez monitor in my Atomiswave cab and it looks amazing in high rez. I'll soon have the PS2 port and will compare both on the high rez monitor.

Post by **system11** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:03 am

This one improves the more you play it

Is it just me, or is there some ranking? L3 boss destroyed me with a really fast megaspread, after I died it fired the same thing - much more slowly.

This is the perfect antidote to the overdose of Cave style games of late - first time I was killed by a sniper tank almost caused tears of joy - "it .. it aimed at me!

". Music is even growing on me too.

Bingo · Post by **Bingo** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:11 am

Haha yeah bloodflowers, I'm cackling with glee when the familiar frogging sensation in my brain tells me my slow-twitch ass just got sorted by a sniper tank. I also enjoy this more the more I play it.

fraggore · Post by **fraggore** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:34 am

just got mine this morning
it looks just like the arcade machine
a bit bland butt fast and smooth
and plays like a dream and feels like raiden to me.
butt the only this is the green laser is not as good as the old pink lock on one that was great.

butt iam a happy man

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:52 pm

Just played Raiden DX last night, and that game completely kicks ass. Now I'm looking forward to Raiden III more than ever!

Nei First · Post by **Nei First** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 3:19 pm

professor ganson wrote:Just played Raiden DX last night, and that game completely kicks ass. Now I'm looking forward to Raiden III more than ever!

If and when you get the chance. I'd be interested to hear what you think of Raiden 3, compared to Raiden DX, once you've had the chance to play it of course. I think I'd like to get one of them.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 3:46 pm

Nei First wrote:
professor ganson wrote:Just played Raiden DX last night, and that game completely kicks ass. Now I'm looking forward to Raiden III more than ever!
If and when you get the chance. I'd be interested to hear what you think of Raiden 3, compared to Raiden DX, once you've had the chance to play it of course. I think I'd like to get one of them.

I should be getting R3 in the next week, and I'll definitely let you know my impressions, though my opinion isn't worth much, as I'm really a newbie to the Raiden series: I was first exposed to this kind of game through Shienryu, which I really like, and I've only recently picked up Raiden DX.

From what I can tell so far Raiden DX has first-rate, old-school gameplay: fairly simple mechanics but everything's operating at break-neck speed. Only the choice of weapons strikes me as unusual: it seems that only one of the three weapon choices, the spread shot, is really worth picking up, so you end up spending some effort dodging lame weapon options, like in a Compile game. My goal right now is to figure out how scoring works, and what sort of strategies are required to score well.

Nei First · Post by **Nei First** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 3:59 pm

professor ganson wrote:
Nei First wrote:
professor ganson wrote:Just played Raiden DX last night, and that game completely kicks ass. Now I'm looking forward to Raiden III more than ever!
If and when you get the chance. I'd be interested to hear what you think of Raiden 3, compared to Raiden DX, once you've had the chance to play it of course. I think I'd like to get one of them.
I should be getting R3 in the next week, and I'll definitely let you know my impressions, though my opinion isn't worth much, as I'm really a newbie to the Raiden series: I was first exposed to this kind of game through Shienryu, which I really like, and I've only recently picked up Raiden DX.

No l33t's here mate, ALL opinions are valuable..... Just as long as you're honest.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 6:40 pm

professor ganson wrote: Only the choice of weapons strikes me as unusual: it seems that only one of the three weapon choices, the spread shot, is really worth picking up, so you end up spending some effort dodging lame weapon options, like in a Compile game. My goal right now is to figure out how scoring works, and what sort of strategies are required to score well.

Actually, the only worthless weapon is the purple one. The premise is to keep vulcan through the levels and switch to the blue beam for bosses. Pulling this off however is not always easy.

I can't wait to play Raiden 3, though it sounds easier than DX which is NOT easy.

Shearie · Post by **Shearie** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:06 pm

bloodflowere wrote:Is it just me, or is there some ranking?

There definitely is rank in this game. For example, if you haven't died on the second boss, he'll start shooting a 4 column, 4 row bullet cluster from both sides that gradually move towards the center of the screen and than to the outer again. If you die before he shoots that bullet pattern, the bullets will come out slower and it will only shoot one row of shots out.

Post by **Dave_K.** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:19 pm

whitey wrote:
japtor wrote:
Dave_K. wrote: Maybe RFK or Whitey can comment since they actually have this board?
i vaguely remember rfk saying it looked like ass on a 15khz monitor. im guessing he said this in his r3/ibara thread a while back.
There are no options on the Type-X to switch between interlaced/non-interlaced @ 15kHz. Not sure if Raiden 3 is interlaced or not @ 15kHz. I can tell you that it looks like crap @ 15kHz. I just got a hi-rez monitor in my Atomiswave cab and it looks amazing in high rez. I'll soon have the PS2 port and will compare both on the high rez monitor.

You should be able to tell if its non-interlaced @ 15khz as you will more easily see the scanlines. Notice during motion and still screens (like loading screens) and you will see the difference. I think you will definately see a difference when you compare both using your tri-sync monitor as the PS2 can only output 15khz.

tviks · Post by **tviks** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:46 pm

Some of this game's music seems to be inspired from other games. The 2nd stage's music somewhat resembles the Vampire killer from Castlevania, the 3rd stage music greatly resembles one of the songs in Megaman: Wily wars, and the ending credits song sounds very familiar too, although I can't really point out from where. And the game over music is a straight ripoff from Elecman's theme in Megaman.

parodius · Post by **parodius** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:52 pm

Yeah I noticed the Vampire Killer theme too.

ForteMP3 · Post by **ForteMP3** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 5:42 am

I noticed the Vampire Killer like music too! Weird, huh?

Anyway, as you can tell, I just got my copy, and I am LOVING IT. Oh my god...Bloodflowers couldn't have said it better. This is indeed a throwback to the old days, albiet some bosses do get pretty freaking insane (Stages 3 and 4 anyone?)

I am sad the Lock On (Purple) laser is gone, but this new green laser is freaking awesome. I also like the Radar Missiles, a nice mix of Homing and Normal that works as an 'in the middle' type missile, rather than forcing you into going for all power or all aim.

While the 3D isn't the best, I think the backgrounds and enemies look just fine. I especially like the way the landscapes move in the background to give the effect of you banking and rolling and whatnot as you fly over them, makes things more interesting that way.

And 60 FPS, I am so happy this is 60 FPS, after seeing GWG for myself, I have to admit the 30 FPS thing really hurt it, I'm so glad Raiden 3 was able to stay at 60 without any hitches. What's funny though, I think this looks WAY better than GWG, seems to have a lot more oomph if you know what I mean...

...And yet the graphically superior game runs smoother than the graphically inferior one? Weird.

All in all, great port, Taito and Moss have my approval for this game. Seibu put their baby in good hands...

...Now how about Raiden FIGHTERS 3?

yojo! · Post by **yojo!** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 5:56 pm

Isn't the game too easy ?. Haven't had a chance to play it yet; but remember reading that one 1cced it after 3 plays.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:10 pm

tviks wrote:Some of this game's music seems to be inspired from other games. The 2nd stage's music somewhat resembles the Vampire killer from Castlevania, the 3rd stage music greatly resembles one of the songs in Megaman: Wily wars, and the ending credits song sounds very familiar too, although I can't really point out from where. And the game over music is a straight ripoff from Elecman's theme in Megaman.

I thought the opening of the first Raiden's Stage 1 theme paid a good tribute to Space Harrier.

On Raiden III- I think the green Whip Laser and the R-type missiles are a good mix.

Post by **system11** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:11 pm

yojo! wrote:Isn't the game too easy ?. Haven't had a chance to play it yet; but remember reading that one 1cced it after 3 plays.

Didn't that guy who did the superplay of DOJ 1cc it? Wow - DOJ must be really easy

Seriously - it's pretty tough. People need to stop using Japanese ninja as a measuring stick. I could achieve level 4 in Raiden. I can achieve level 4 in Raiden 3, therefore - it's roughly as hard as the first one. Actually it's a bit nastier though - there's some rank going on, and the bullets are faster than you are.

I've really warmed up to this one now - the first level is a little sparse in places but it really does get going past there, it's like playing the original Raiden games again, but with (clean) polygons instead of sprites.

And just like Raiden, the blue weapon is great for bosses, then you spend the first part of the next level scrambling to get vulcan back

Post by **Icarus** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:28 pm

I've been playing Raiden 3 like I play Raiden DX, with Spread Vulcan and Straight Missiles for bosses, switching to Homing Missiles for later stages. Works great for catching all of the small popcorn enemies quickly, but pointblanking tactics are needed to catch the larger enemies and bosses. So far, stage 4, 6.1mil. It really picks up in stage 3.

I like how the stages are throwbacks to earlier Raidens, with a city flyover in stage 1 (complete with impact crater) and a military harbour in stage 3. Even the bosses are kinda familiar, such as the large bomber boss which spawns drones in stage 2.

I've noticed that you increase in power even if you pick up a different weapon powerup, unlike the earlier Raidens where you'd switch weapon and stay at the same power level if you picked up a different weapon powerup. Makes weapon recovery a bit easier I guess.