GD: Raiden III

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cigsthecat
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GD: Raiden III

Post by cigsthecat »

OK, let's talk about this one.

Current issues I'm interested in:

Stage 6 boss, second form- please let us know if you find a way to dodge the first pattern. The small crisscrossing yellow bullets have a hole in the center at the bottom of the screen, then it gets a little messy. I've done it once. I think you can slowly tap left or right, dodge in the middle of the first two small yellow bullets, then go to the left or right of the next set. The next pattern is relatively easy to dodge, then it goes down so nailing that first pattern would be nice. (PS you can record your own boss rush plays as well)

The first form isn't too bad- use the green laser because it will go through the invincible metal things and kill it quickly. The pattern of lines of white bullets can be dodged on the right side of the screen by making a half circle sort of motion around the bullets twice at the right moment. A nice alternative to the crazy point blank technique.

I find all the other bosses (except 7) pretty simple. The only annoying thing is the stage 3 boss's final form when the little battleship comes up from the bottom left at the worst possible moment. I'm currently bombing here to be on the safe side.

Just to have the info here as well:

2 1ups in the game. First in stage 3, destroy all of the cranes. Second is towards the end of stage 6. Destroy all of the turrets on the 3 large rotating sections. This is easiest to do by bombing each, but you can get by with only 2 bombs. I've never gotten this in an actual run. I'd like to hear ideas for this section if you've got 'em.
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professor ganson
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Post by professor ganson »

Can someone tell me what determines whether you get a 2.0 vs. 1.0 or somewhere in between in shooting down enemies? Thanks.
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SAM
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Post by SAM »

Cann't make any comments (still stuck at stage 3... :oops: ) other than suggest you to take a look in the demo superplay vedio which could be unlocked within the game. That should help.
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

professor ganson wrote:Can someone tell me what determines whether you get a 2.0 vs. 1.0 or somewhere in between in shooting down enemies? Thanks.
The multiplier is based on speedkills. The faster you destroy something, the higher the multiplier increment. There is also an enemy size factor which influences this speedkill time limit as well, the larger the enemy, the longer the "timer" takes to countdown, so you have a bit more leeway in destroying larger enemies.
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cigsthecat
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Post by cigsthecat »

SAM wrote:Cann't make any comments (still stuck at stage 3... :oops: ) other than suggest you to take a look in the demo superplay vedio which could be unlocked within the game. That should help.
The player bombs the pattern I'm talking about for the stage 6 boss, and uses 3 bombs to get the 1up.
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ForteMP3
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Post by ForteMP3 »

The player in those videos seems to have some odd tactics though. He suicides in Stages 6 and 7 to restock his bombs (though he does it right at the start, so he doesn't lose any medals).
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nZero
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Post by nZero »

Most of this seems pretty intuitive thus far. Interestingly, the few "discoveries" included seem much easier to achieve than in previous games in the series. No problems with St.1/St.4 faeries, St.3/St.6 1-ups, bonus cars, extra waves, etc. However, where is the Miclus! Maybe a necessary trade-off for not having been released by Seibu.

The boss patterns have moved up in difficulty a bit, as well as the length of the fights. No thanks to the fun addition of liberal numbers of popcorn enemies firing at you alongside the entrapment patterns. Yay.

I'm interested in how much scratching can affect score. With the severe amount of risk taking involved in scoring well at Raiden, and the effective scratch system in the Raiden Fighters series, I guess it was inevitable.

Edit - You know, nevermind. Just played through with the intention of trying to find the answer to my question, and I guess it's just an excuse for the game to make noise and let you know you've had a close call.

I am enjoying the ever so slightly smaller hitbox. At least it's not just the very edge pixels (wingtips/nosetip/exhaust) that are hit free anymore.
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Randorama
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Post by Randorama »

Ok, spamming post to get linked to the discussion :wink:
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
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Post by Randorama »

Please correct me if i'm wrong, but scratching seems to be useless, as it doesn't give any points. Also, why the player wait to destroy the columns on stage 4?
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
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cigsthecat
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Post by cigsthecat »

Yea, scratching is worthless. I'm not sure about the column thing, I'll have to take a look.

About the stage 6 1up/boss: use the blue laser for the part at the end with the rotating things. Even if it's not fully powered up you can destroy all the turrets without bombs. Then you just need to do some creative positioning for the first form of the boss. I've figured out how to dodge the pattern I was talking about but I can't really explain too well without a video. If you bomb it that's the only one you'll need for the fight anyway.
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

Randorama wrote:Also, why the player wait to destroy the columns on stage 4?
My guess is that if you destroy the first row they separate before you can get points from them.
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Post by Randorama »

Note: the second extra life is doable without any bombs and with some pixel-perfect coordination, and blue laser, of course. It implies point-blanking the rotating cannons and immediately blasting down the carriers coming from the sides, as well. The first rotor is clearly doable without any bombs, second one is a bit risky if you're not properly on time, third one is almost impossible. Shame the game is so straightforward, it would deserve more discussion :?
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
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Guardians Knight
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Post by Guardians Knight »

is it me or is there a slight ranking system in play here? i've noticed an increase in game speed once you have taken the third power up (i think 3rd) i tried keeping my ship on lower power but the game almost forces you to collect the power ups as they stay on the screen for ever and seriously get in the way. just wondered if anyone else noticed this?
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professor ganson
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Post by professor ganson »

Guardians Knight wrote:is it me or is there a slight ranking system in play here? i've noticed an increase in game speed once you have taken the third power up (i think 3rd) i tried keeping my ship on lower power but the game almost forces you to collect the power ups as they stay on the screen for ever and seriously get in the way. just wondered if anyone else noticed this?
There is definitely a rank system, and for my part I find it best to stay at a low rank at least through the first two levels, sticking to 1 or 2 power-ups. If you have the levels pretty well memorized, you can still get a reasonably high-score with low rank.
As far as I can tell, the secondary weapons do not affect rank, so it's nice to have, say, homing missles maxed out as you cruise through with one or two power-ups.
Avoiding the power-ups can be a real pain, but usually it's worth the effort imo. What I hate the most is accidentally running into the power-ups when they're green. I find the toothpaste weapon unmanageable.
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nZero
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Post by nZero »

Got back to the game a bit recently, finally cleared (on Normal). Contrary to my earlier impressions, cheap shots aside the game was easier than I thought. Unlike the previous in the series, the game is an exercise in life stock and bomb stock management at this point, it seems. Oh well. Is it time to try Arcade, or to see how this has affected my Raiden DX game, I wonder?

As far as the column thing, since no one seems to have addressed it yet, you only seem to get points for destroying the top part of the column (the shot emitter). The auto-destruction from the cascade effect of destroying the bottom part doesn't increase your score any.

Also, I have no idea what to make of the game's ending.

The boss rush mode lacks fun, since it's not continuous like most other games that implement the feature. Of course, it's probably more practical for actually learning the bosses, since you get the exact same environments as you fight them in the level in, complete with those bastard popcorn enemies. Then again, how would one have finished the game without having learned boss area and boss patterns already? Bah.
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davyK
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Re:

Post by davyK »

nZero wrote: how would one have finished the game without having learned boss area and boss patterns already? Bah.
If like me you have to crank it down to very easy you can finish the game and unlock that mode. :oops:

I'm still trying to 1CC this at "very easy". I have got to the final boss a few times. I'm getting on in years (early 40s) and I don't know if its basic speed that is my problem.
toaplan_shmupfan
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Re: GD: Raiden III

Post by toaplan_shmupfan »

I tend to think Raiden III actually a difficult game because of the small yellow bullets, often times almost blending in with the scrolling background. I don't see any problem with any of the larger pink bullet patterns, though. (Go back to playing Raiden I or Raiden II and then return to playing Raiden III, the shot patterns are a lot more manic shooter influenced in Raiden III even before the addition of the smaller yellow bullets within the pink bullet patterns.)

Here's also what's NOT helpful about Raiden III Very Easy vs. Easy. There's no problem with simplifying and slowing down the pink bullet patterns but there is a HUGE problem with making the majority of the yellow bullet patterns shootable on Very Easy. That's not helpful for the player as far as learning those patterns, because then increasing just to Easy makes most of those shootable yellow shot patterns non-shootable. (Instead, they should have kept the patterns as they were and only slowed down and simplified the number of bullets.)

Case in point, my first time every playing Very Easy, I got to the Stage 6 boss and that was because I was able to bullet hunt and shoot away most of the yellow bullet patterns that were actually shootable, rather than dodging them. Increasing to Easy, I usually don't make it past the stage 3 boss, because a lot of the shootable yellow bullet patterns on Very Easy are no longer shootable, so Easy is where I tend to keep the difficulty setting because I think it's more helpful in learning the more manic shot patterns of this game.
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davyK
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Re: GD: Raiden III

Post by davyK »

Looks like I should move to easy then if I'm serious about 1CCing this on default difficulty.....
Zeron
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Re: GD: Raiden III

Post by Zeron »

I noticed there was no hitbox picture anyway so I decided to share this


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Maybe we should have like a huge general thread for hitboxes
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Obscura
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Re: GD: Raiden III

Post by Obscura »

A bit of an old topic, but does anyone have any tips for handling the "big planes" section about half-way through stage 5 if you aren't at full power? What keeps happening to me is I'm forced "inside" of the entrapment pattern from the large ships, and without those outside-most streams of fire from the red vulcan, the popcorn is able to just come down to the bottom at will, forcing lots and lots and lots of bombs and deaths.
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