Raiden Nova - CRITICS ARE CALLING IT EVERYTHING FROM SHIT TO FUCKING SHIT!

[soupbones]

Yeah, the box art is sadly the best part of the game. I wish I was joking, but I'm not.

It might have been better if the game was actually super terrible, because then I could laugh at it for being junk, but it's not. It's just boring and not fun to play. I got to stage 4 on my first attempt and just gave up and quit because it wasn't fun. Tried the endless mode, lasted for 30 minutes with no effort, and then decided to give myself a game over by ramming into a boss just to make it stop.

Yeah. Don't bother with this thing. It's not worth it.

Thank you for your sacrifice.

[XoPachi]

The music in this game is horribly generic and the visuals are ugly as sin. At least on Switch, the performance seems awful with the framerate dipping into the 20's regularly for a game this visually nasty.
This was made on a budget of exactly 11 pesos, 19 Lego studs, and a stick of Juicy Fruit.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

On the USA region Nintendo Switch eShop site, Raiden Nova is a 882mb sized digital d/l and is at version 1.0.0 prior to the same day-1 release patch (you aren't able to access the online leaderboards unless you update to the latest patch, then it's accessible).

I'm not sure what is updated when applying the patch though (it's doable/possible to play RN at fw 1.0.0 without downloading the patch, of course -- just disable the Switch's wi-fi functionality upon booting up RN for the very first time). It's priced at $27.99 usd with a 10% off discount, otherwise, the regular MSRP is at $29.99 usd indeed.

As usual, Go Sato is listed as the music composer with this latest RN release as listed in the credits (which is user accessible).

Four different control schemes (defined as Type A, Type B, Type C and Type D) are available at your disposal -- select which one best suits your style, controls-wise.

Earn coins to "power up" enhancement components such as:

Body Strength -- 800 coins per level (rising a notch higher on it) - 10 level notches until maxed out

Firepower -- 500 coins per level notch - 10 level notches until maxed out

Additional Firepower -- 500 coins per level notch - 10 level notches until maxed out

Armor Recovery -- 1000 coins per level notch - 10 level notches until maxed out

Thrust -- 400 coins per level notch - 10 level notches until maxed out

Extra Bombs -- 5000 coins per each extra bomb (up to three extra bombs in addition to whatever bombs you're already carrying) - 3 level notches until maxed out

Explosive Charge -- 800 coins per level notch - 10 level notches until maxed out

Vulcan Control -- 500 coins per level notch - 10 level notches until maxed out

Laser Energy -- 500 coins per level notch - 10 level notches until maxed out

Plasma Field -- 500 coins per level notch - 10 level notches until maxed out

Option Unit Enhancement -- 800 coins per level notch - 10 level notches until maxed out

CPU -- 400 coins per level notch - 10 level notches until maxed out

Extra Fighters -- 10000 coins for an extra life (one extra life in reserve) - 1 notch until maxed out

and lastly,

Passive Skill -- 2000 coins per level notch - 10 level notches until maxed out

Once the gray-colored status bar is maxed out with chosen enhancement component, it can't be further upgraded. As you can already see, it'll take some serious coinage to max out everything "to the hilt and then some." It's a matter of priorities of which enhancement(s) to buy/increase to your advantage of surviving on the higher stages later on.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[-Fish-]

Tried out the Steam version. Refunded.

Feels like a very generic twinstick mixed with some Vampire Survivors. Also, as the poster above me has stated, lots of meta progression BS between runs meaning you are going to be grinding the game indefinitely to get your baselines stats up. Only after that long grind will you be competitive on the online leaderboard.

Utter garbage IMO.

[Steven]

So it's probably between this and Cygni for worst STG released this year.

Cygni is shit and this is boring. Which is worse? You decide~

I'm not really sure what to say about this game. For me, I think the worst part is that I told Sato-san that I was looking forward to it (I was, at least until I played it), so I really don't know what to say when I see him again. I still haven't even opened the CD that came with it... maybe that will be good. Please be good. It's not likely that the CD alone will be worth the 7000 yen (thank you Amazon for lowering the price that far prior to launch), but hopefully it somewhat makes up for it.

Like it's cool that they decided to try something new with Raiden, but if you are going to try something new, does it really hurt to make it actually be fun to play and not sleep-inducing? I've had math textbooks that are more exciting.

Maybe I'll give it another try again later, but if you have hardware that can play this game and want a twin stick shooter or even just any game that's actually good, go play Super Stardust Ultra or Xeno Crisis or something.

Yeah, the box art is sadly the best part of the game. I wish I was joking, but I'm not.

It might have been better if the game was actually super terrible, because then I could laugh at it for being junk, but it's not. It's just boring and not fun to play. I got to stage 4 on my first attempt and just gave up and quit because it wasn't fun. Tried the endless mode, lasted for 30 minutes with no effort, and then decided to give myself a game over by ramming into a boss just to make it stop.

Yeah. Don't bother with this thing. It's not worth it.

Thank you for your sacrifice.

That's what I'm here for.

I think.

[Jeneki]

I think the plasma laser (pink main shot) is borked. It seems to lock-on to off screen enemies, but can't damage them while off screen. So it just sort of stays locked on to random spots unless you fly in that direction. I hope that's not intended. On the bight side, once fully powered up it fulfills my wish for crazy 360 degree pink toothpaste berserker lasergasm, lol.

Pretty sure stage 5 music is a Viper Phase 1 remix, so that's cool at least.

[Steven]

It does allow you to find the Miclus easily, at least, as at least for me it locked onto the Miclus from the other side of the game when there were no enemies around. Flew over there, which took a while because the maps are needlessly gargantuan, to find my laser was attacking nothing until the nothing exploded and became the Miclus.

[Lemnear]

So it's probably between this and Cygni for worst STG released this year.

Cygni is shit and this is boring. Which is worse? You decide~

I'm sorry that Raiden Nova is the worst of the year...at least Cygni is nice to look at...

[Steven]

I'm sorry that Raiden Nova is the worst of the year...at least Cygni is nice to look at...

It's perhaps moderately interesting to consider which one is worse. In Raiden Nova you spin in circles doing nothing on a giant, empty map for 5 minutes until an easy boss shows up. In Cygni you get all of the worst elements of bad shooting game design smashed together along with the addition of terrible but admittedly aesthetically pleasing graphics that make it hard to see anything. It's a difficult decision either way. Is an arguably and possibly intentionally badly designed game worse than a game that's acceptable (and nothing more) at a technical level but also super boring?

I enjoy terrible bootlegs and the kind of kusoge that are so bad that you can laugh at them, as those provide entertainment value, but in debating between these two games, which fall into neither of these categories...

As of right now, Steam reviews say that Raiden Nova is the superior game. Perhaps not the best metric to use, but it's what is available, and we'll see what happens with that over time.

[DenimDemon]

Haven't felt cheated for a while. I knew what Nova was about in terms of gameplay preposition.
Game has potential...for fun. Maybe.
The thing is on Swicth, the performance and visuals are some of the worst in recent memory. How can they release something like this is beyond me. I love Raiden and wanted to support this . The Mikado stream gave me some hope of finding a decent game but it's not. Yeah and music is trash so far.
On Switch feels like playing a bad port of a mediocre, low budget PS2ish kinda game.
Will give it a few spins during the weeken before I give up forever.

[Steven]

Checking out the music CD now. It's just the BGM for the game, but it's slightly better outside the context of the game. Using pro studio monitor headphones instead of the terrible speakers on my monitor certainly helps. I... kind of like some of it...? Hm. Interesting.

I also checked out this weird plastic crystal with the Raiden DX title screen on it. It looks like this:



...

.......................

..................................................................

Wait a moment.

*Picard voice*
Computer, magnify and enhance!



GREAT BRITAIN WTF!?!?!?

Did these motherfuckers seriously just use MAME, where the UK ROM is by far the easiest ROM to find, to take a screenshot of the UK ROM's title screen for this because they were too lazy to use/find the Japanese version? I think they did!!!!! Loooooooooooooooooooool

[hamfighterx]

GREAT BRITAIN WTF!?!?!?

Did these motherfuckers seriously just use MAME, where the UK ROM is by far the easiest ROM to find, to take a screenshot of the UK ROM's title screen for this because they were too lazy to use/find the Japanese version? I think they did!!!!! Loooooooooooooooooooool

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That is so very appropriate.

I ordered this thing long ago anyway, more out of morbid curiosity than anything else. Should arrive by Monday. Although I have yet to play it (and I have appropriately low expectations), I still think there's no way I won't find this a better release than Cygni.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Gave Raiden Nova a spin on "Arcade Mode" on Easy setting today, 11-01-2024 -- managed to complete all six stages in one shot with an overall final score of 7,743,000 and earned 5080 coins as a result of this 1CC endeavor (which isn't an easy "walk in the park" deal -- actually, it's quite a challenging effort indeed). The framerate bumps up from stage 4 onward on the Switch port of RN (despite the lower framerate issues concerning the first three stages of "Arcade Mode").

The trick of surviving the higher stages is to use the "Repair Support Kit" upgrades, increase "Bend Plasma" to at least level 8 or level 9, increase "Homing Plasma" to at least level 9 or level 10, increase "Full Court Armor" until it turns green (meaning that it's maxed out) and lastly, increase "Defender Frame" to at least level 4 or higher.

The bullet count definitely does increase on the higher stages, especially from the bigger boss-type of enemies with their crazy firepower if you're dealing with more than just one at the same time. The sixth stage end-boss undergoes three transformations before being defeated once and for all -- upon completing stage 6 in "Arcade Mode," the ending credits staff roll plays in it's entirety.

There are some key strategies and priorities to formulate to take care of with your chosen Raiden fightercraft in increasing it's overall attack power and increasing it's overall defensive frame capability (crucial in surviving the higher stages).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Jeneki]

Survival mode has at least one boss-tier enemy not found in arcade mode, a giant starfish-shaped thing that really likes radial shot patterns. I had to play a pretty long time to see it though.

The trick of surviving the higher stages is to use the "Repair Support Kit" upgrades, increase "Bend Plasma" to at least level 8 or level 9, increase "Homing Plasma" to at least level 9 or level 10, increase "Full Court Armor" until it turns green (meaning that it's maxed out) and lastly, increase "Defender Frame" to at least level 4 or higher.

Yeah getting as many items to full power seems to be the clutch way to play. The jump in effectiveness between next-to-max-level and then max-level is huge

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Raiden Nova Pro Tip: If you see a "Present" icon on-screen in a stage of RN, be sure to grab it as soon as possible (as you never know what it contains -- it might be something good/beneficial to help you out later on when you really need it).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[hamfighterx]

Well, well. My Amazon.jp order of the Switch Limited Edition version just arrived, sooner than expected. Guess I'll be digging into this one this weekend.

Switch version has a Raiden 1 title screen acrylic block, as opposed to the PS4 and PS5 versions having Raiden II and DX. No "Great Britain" title screen here XD

I kinda like the alternate covers too. I think the classic Raiden cover is a first press bonus from any retailer, I sorta dig it. And the slightly recolored version of the standard cover (that one I think may be an Amazon exclusive?) with Moss logo replacing the Nintendo Switch logo is sort of redundant, but OK!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Beat "Arcade Mode" on either Easy, Medium or Hard difficulty -- unlocks the all-black colored "Spirit of Dragon" fightercraft from Raiden V but it'll cost you a whopping 1,000 coins in order to play with it. Any coins earned with RN on original fw 1.0.0 is still kept with patched fw 1.0.1 -- so no worries in that particular instance/situation.

Among it's special attributes which include:

Initial Main Weapon: Plasma Laser
Feature: Specialized in Defense capability

Upon applying the day one patch to fw version 1.0.1, the Switch port of RN opens up online leaderboards for both Arcade Mode and Unlimited Mode with the top 100 ranked players listed for both categories. No such option to watch nor d/l replays of ranked players is present/available from the get-go.

Updated my first post in regards to buying enhancement components with hard-earned coins and their respective prices per level notch rising a bar higher.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Tried out the Steam version. Refunded.

Feels like a very generic twinstick mixed with some Vampire Survivors. Also, as the poster above me has stated, lots of meta progression BS between runs meaning you are going to be grinding the game indefinitely to get your baselines stats up. Only after that long grind will you be competitive on the online leaderboard.

Utter garbage IMO.

Yes, after adding all maxed out "enhanced components," you'd have to grind enough to earn a whopping 112,000 coins altogether to have everything fully upgraded (however long that might take is anyone's guess). Are you up to the task of earning that specified amount?

Let's say on the average you earn 5,000 coins (give or take) per run, it'd at the minimum of 23 separate play-throughs to reach that 112,000 coins earned benchmark/hurdle indeed. Unless there's an easier way to earn coins faster, each play-through gets you closer to that lofty but eventually attainable "goal/finish line" in the end.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Jeneki]

I think coin generation speeds up after some offense upgrades. I'm getting over 10k per game now.

Is it related to picking up the coin items in-game? Focusing on killing the midboss enemies (especially stage 5/6 which spams them) gives the red coins. Something to try and see if it works for you.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I think coin generation speeds up after some offense upgrades. I'm getting over 10k per game now.

Is it related to picking up the coin items in-game? Focusing on killing the midboss enemies (especially stage 5/6 which spams them) gives the red coins. Something to try and see if it works for you.

Thanks for that helpful suggestion, Jeneki. Oh wow, over 10k in coins per game? Then it'd be perhaps 10 to 11 games to earn the required 112,000 coins faster. Would this coin trick apply to both Normal and Hard difficulty settings with Arcade Mode?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Jeneki]

Keep in mind I'm speculating a bit here, hence asking others to try it out and see what they get. I gave Hard mode a try and got 8000 coins on a not-the-greatest stage 5 run. I was basically running from powerup carrier to powerup carrier the whole time just to keep getting life items lol.

Edit: On a good run normal difficulty, with lots of damage and able to wreck the fleets on stage 5 and 6, got 25,000 coins in one game. Nice!

One other thing I'm looking into is the CPU upgrade, in the out-of-game upgrades area. Not sure what exactly that's boosting, it might be xp growth (to gain levels faster in-game), or maybe coin growth. The descriptions are a bit vague on several of these.

A few other things I noticed:

When you get a mission for the golden ship, it gives one of the gift items and is just a regular enemy that dies easily. The direction will appear as an icon similar to the regular health/bomb carriers but looks a bit different. I started getting 2-3 more gift items per stage once I started going for these.

The green cluster subweapon cancels bullets. I'm not sure how to aim it, but when it works it's nice.

I suspect the power registers boost all weapons of the matching color. So for example if you're using red vulcan as your main shot, take the two red subweapons (gatling and subwide) and then the matching red vulcan power register. It's hard to tell for sure though, I'm not going to try to look at all the little numbers to figure it out haha.

I propose we name the stage 6 boss, Gun Shop Katamari.

[DenimDemon]

And that's it. I quit.
It's just awful to play on Switch. Terrible performance and visuals coupled with painful controls and hard to read bullets. It's just a mess. They could have gone with a simpler 8bit basic sprite style visual design that would be snappier to control, easier to read and still cheap to produce. The way the ship animates on every turn here is just so soulless...yeah after a few playtrough, the music isn't that bad and it's actually the best thing about the game.
There's no reason to play this when you can play the likes of Vampire Survivores, Brotato or the recent Kill Knight. Or any other Raiden...
I'm a sucker for Raiden, I see "Raiden" , I buy. Even if they come up with a Raiden puzzle game (better not give them ideias). So that's on me. There's other arcadey stuff coming out every week that deserves more attention than this. This actually feels like a scam to me. Incredible how they give so much attention and fan fare to the boxed versions of the game with cool goodies and so on but the actual game hasn't got any of it.
I hate to be so negative but I'm really sad that this turn out this way.

[Lander]

That title change careful, lest it loop around to so fucking shite it must be experienced to be believed!

[Jeneki]

Considering how low-res the backgrounds and ships are, I have no idea why this would run poorly on switch. Hope there's something on the back end that can get patched and improve performance for our switch friends.

[Steven]

In order to wash away the disappointment of this game, I got a different Raiden yesterday.



Oh hey check it out, it's actually the Japanese version, too! Yay~
The best part is that now I don't have to wait for ACA Raiden DX, if it ever even happens. This game is really difficult, though.

And the slightly recolored version of the standard cover (that one I think may be an Amazon exclusive?)

The Amazon exclusive thing is the square sticker. That sticker caused the price of the Amazon exclusive version to be 2000 yen more than the non-Amazon exclusive version before release, so I hope you like that sticker a lot lol

Considering how low-res the backgrounds and ships are, I have no idea why this would run poorly on switch. Hope there's something on the back end that can get patched and improve performance for our switch friends.

It has framerate drops on PS5 as well. Not very often, but they do happen on occasion.

[hamfighterx]

And the slightly recolored version of the standard cover (that one I think may be an Amazon exclusive?)

The Amazon exclusive thing is the square sticker. That sticker caused the price of the Amazon exclusive version to be 2000 yen more than the non-Amazon exclusive version before release, so I hope you like that sticker a lot lol

Well, it looks like I paid just ¥113 more for the Amazon-exclusive on the Switch version, thankfully. Fine with a sticker for that small price.

Helpful warning, anyway! Normally I am wary if I don't know what the retailer exclusive bonus is. Amazon does occasionally get some nice ones though, like the Toaplan Arcade Garage alternate covers that I really like.

[Jeneki]

Thanks for that helpful suggestion, Jeneki. Oh wow, over 10k in coins per game? Then it'd be perhaps 10 to 11 games to earn the required 112,000 coins faster. Would this coin trick apply to both Normal and Hard difficulty settings with Arcade Mode?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

If you're still considering grinding out multiple ships, check out the Fighting Thunder ME-02 (Raiden III version) passive ability. You can increase this further in the Power Up menu, with the bottom-most choice that boosts passive skill. After maxing this ship out, and with a good luck getting lots of metal/gold missions, I got 170k coins in one playthrough.

[Emuser]

I just want the record to show that I did it for science. Everything except destroying 500K enemies. I did maths and it would take about 70-75 hours for someone to unlock the last ship behind that 500K achievement. I knew what I was getting myself into, but I didn't expect it to be so poor quality in unexpected ways like low textures and oddly long loading times even on PC. Fuck whoever thought it was funny to tie a ship behind 500K. You'll have everything else in the game maxed out long before that around the 30 hour mark.

[Jeneki]

Related to getting that 500k, I guess you can afk farm enemies in survival if you play on easy.

1) Purple upgrades for regeneration and plasma that locks on to stuff in any direction. Orange upgrades for all the defense abilitles and missiles. Whatever you think will help most in the last two slots.
2) Find a spot away from any spawned miniboss. Lean something on your controller's right stick to keep the 3-way plasma shooting.
3) Go to sleep / work / whatever. Profit!


100k enemies in ~8 hours letting it run. Maybe would have went longer if I used a ship with a better survival passive.

One point of danger though, if the starfish boss decides to show up it will very, very slowly move across the map towards you. And then start spawning more and more bosses around it if you don't do something about it.

[Steven]

"Micras"

This is also probably the easiest counterstop in history, but I'm done with this awful game.