your favorite Raiden game?

[MR_Soren]

Broke the seal on Raiden IV last night "just to try it out" and could not pry myself away from the controls. The game was awesome, and a nice change of pace from the usual Cave stuff.

I hadn't been too impressed with Raiden III, so I was expecting to be disappointed with IV. Now I want to go back and give Raiden III another try. Perhaps it is more awesome than I initially gave it credit for. Perhaps my tastes have changed.

[spadgy]

Good to hear! There's just something about playing Raiden IV at a medium-to-high (I'm not that good!) skill level that sets my heart racing like no other shmup.

The Flash Shot system encourages play that is both frenetic and icy calm (not him!), that pushes me to just beyond the edge of absolute control into a sketchy otherworld of tension and excitement.

There's also the combination of ship speed, bullet speed and typical bullet trajectory that forces you into a quite unique spin on bullet herding where you have to pull single shots near horizontally across your ship's nose.

And then there's the best Double Play game I've ever come across.

Did I mention I like it?

[Austin]

It's the original Raiden for me. It was extremely slick for the time and still holds up well. I also really like the unique history of ports, all with their own quirks, that the later versions wouldn't see (Jaguar Raiden, PCE Super Raiden, Genesis Raiden Trad, Lynx Raiden, PC Raiden, etc.). I also have the most fond arcade memories for this one and it's not nearly as difficult as the follow up.

My feelings on the later games:

Raiden II: All out awesomeness, but it's far too unforgiving for me to enjoy it more than the first.

Raiden DX: Owned the PSX port but admit I didn't give it a ton of time. I really like how they added Raiden I remixes though.

Raiden III: I like it, but was disappointed with it. It didn't feel as good as the older ones. Also, the backgrounds moved unneccesarily fast. It doesn't fit the Raiden style. Play Raiden I or II. then go to Raiden III and you will see what I mean. The music wasn't particularly memorable either.

Raiden IV: Basically like Raiden III, but improved. I can't enjoy it as much as the first two but still feel it's a great game. It corrected many of the issues with part III IMO and feels more like a "Raiden" game than it's predecessor.

Raiden Fighters Series: This isn't Raiden to me outside of using some of the old ships. Still a fantastic series though.

Viper Phase 1: Never tried it, but I checked a video of it thanks to this thread. It seems sort of in-between the early Raiden games and the Raiden Fighters series, though it looks to have more in common with the earlier games than the later.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

Raiden DX is by far the best in the series, although I like all of the Raiden games. DX had the best old school graphics and details, and the music is the best. It made you feel like you were actually flying your fighter jet into battle, knowing that you are the world's final hope against the alien invaders. Raiden 3 also had some good music tracks that sounded kind of sad, on levels 1 and 3. Raiden forever!

[-Bridget-]

Good to hear! There's just something about playing Raiden IV at a medium-to-high (I'm not that good!) skill level that sets my heart racing like no other shmup.

The Flash Shot system encourages play that is both frenetic and icy calm (not him!), that pushes me to just beyond the edge of absolute control into a sketchy otherworld of tension and excitement.

There's also the combination of ship speed, bullet speed and typical bullet trajectory that forces you into a quite unique spin on bullet herding where you have to pull single shots near horizontally across your ship's nose.

And then there's the best Double Play game I've ever come across.

Did I mention I like it?

I'll agree with all of this.

Raiden 4 is definitely my favorite of the group.

The 3 games in the "Aces" collection would fall right after that one for me, I think.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

Raiden DX > Raiden IV > Raiden > Raiden III > Raiden Fighters Jet > Raiden Fighters 2 > Raiden Fighters > Viper Phase 1 > Raiden II

[professor ganson]

Raiden DX > Raiden IV > Raiden > Raiden III > Raiden Fighters Jet > Raiden Fighters 2 > Raiden Fighters > Viper Phase 1 > Raiden II

I think I'd bump Raiden III and Raiden to the back of the line, though they were enjoyable. And I play more Viper Phase 1 than Raiden Fighters. Otherwise I'm pretty much in line with this.

[Ed Oscuro]

I find Raiden DX lacking in a few areas, but it doesn't have that ridiculous profusion of unnecessary shot types and shot-hold mechanic from the Raiden Fighters games, and those mode selections on the PlayStation port are really nice. It is far too heavy on precise item timing for my liking, however.

I would probably give the edge to one of the Raiden Fighters games - any of them really.

When the next "top shmups" vote comes up I'll definitely have all three RF games up there, along with DX, and I will probably rank them very closely. I would like to try "vanilla" Raiden II for comparison, as well.

Don't like Raiden 1 all that much.

When I saw the topic title I thought it said "your favorite Raiden clone..." well, we could definitely do worse than mention Fire Barrel, although that seems more like a Toaplan homage since it doesn't twig to many of the little Seibu tweaks of that formula, but goes in the more conventional (yet pleasing) direction.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

Raiden DX > Raiden IV > Raiden > Raiden III > Raiden Fighters Jet > Raiden Fighters 2 > Raiden Fighters > Viper Phase 1 > Raiden II

I take back what I said, Raiden III should be just above Raiden II. It wasn't the best Raiden game, but I enjoyed it more than II. I find Raiden II to be the most boring and also because the spread vulcan was underpowered, and it's just too unforgiving. It also lacks the faster-paced gameplay of DX.

[Hagane]

Raiden Fighters Jet is my favorite by far. I played a bit of IV and it seemed to be quite good too. Tried to get into DX, but it's too slow for my tastes.

[spl]

Either the original Raiden or Raiden DX, personally I believe the series lost something special after DX.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

Either the original Raiden or Raiden DX, personally I believe the series lost something special after DX.

I agree, the series was at it's peak with DX, then came the mediocre Raiden III, and then Raiden IV, which was an improvement over III, but still lacking the original charm. The Raiden Fighters series, I found to be fast paced, but lacking in the music department and while the graphics were better, 2 and DX had the most intricate details and special effects, with DX having slightly better details than II.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Raiden III brought things I like to the table: got rid of the screen wobble (possibly that's why co-op is pretty fun) and introduced (?) point blanking with the laser. The way red jewel core works in III is another thing I like (but am not sure if it was really new).
Last but not least, on PC it's easy to let one player use both fighters' bombs, which makes for even better co-op experience.

[spadgy]

Raiden III is indeed an all too rare case of a shmup that works great in co-op. Dual play for the win (after Double Play!).

[Kazuya]

In my opinion Raiden DX is the best chapter. If you like 2D sprite graphics with soundtrack remixes... no doubt.

[CDexWard]

Dodonpachi is my favourite Raiden game!

No, seriously. I've only Played RF2 so far but I haven't beaten it yet. I often get to the desert stage in the second half but then I get destroyed by some fast bullet patterns I haven't yet memorized. But the game doesn't seem impossible to beat. How are the rest of them regarding difficulty? In 1cc lists I often only see RF2 but what about 1 and Jet? And how are 1-4 on arcade difficulty?

[BPzeBanshee]

RF2 is the easiest of the series. Whether RF1 or JET is the hardest of the series is a matter of opinion but personally I find 1 to be the hardest.