MMMC - Raiden

[scooterb23]

Ok, here we go.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/scooterb23/mameclub.jpg

Club Rules

01. You do not need to sign up for the club. If you want to participate, simply download the game of the week and post about it!

02. At the end of the week, I will randomly select a game from a list of nominations.

03. The current MAME Club Pick of the Week can be found every Monday stickied at the top of the Arcade Alley.

One word: RAIDEN

You know the deal, if it moves, shoot it. If it's still moving, shoot it again.

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9244

http://www.klov.com/images/11/1181242155263.png

If you need the ROMs... please search out our sources:

Flack will be hosting at http://www.robohara.com/mameclub/

and 2DSkillz will have the games ROMs at http://www.retrogoggles.com/

Previous MMMC games: Jump Coaster, Rampart, Jungler, Ninja Emaki, Port Man, Psycho Soldier, Metamoqester, Gunbarich, Sengoku (series), Snacks'n Jackson, Metro-Cross, Moon Shuttle, The Real Ghostbusters, Moonwalker, Black Widow, Kid Niki, Joust 2, Super Contra, Shoot-Out.

[Ed Oscuro]

267,820, well below my previous highscore - and I was using autofire this time, MAME Plus setting 6!

So, what you got here is the arguably more famous younger brother of the Toaplan shooters (I certainly heard of Raiden long before I had heard of any Toaplan game). I wouldn't call it quite a "shameless" ripoff of the Toaplan games because it tries to be conscientious about it - the second stage music, "Lightning War," is a remix of the second stage music from Flying Shark (aka Hishou Zame, aka Sky Shark). Edit: I can never remember this correctly, but there's some more information on other Toaplan remixes in Raiden HERE (http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1080&start=60) - along with lots of other details, that being a strategy thread for Raiden DX!

I usually played with just the laser and the yellow missiles (for brute force) but the good ol' Red spread shot (which goes from one stream two bullets wide, to two streams, and then it breaks into three and eventually five) promises to make things a lot less harrowing (it also promotes point-blank shooting to make sure all those cannon shots soak into the enemy) as you can sort of blanket the screen in bullets and catch a lot of the popcorn enemies unawares.

At first glance, this initial entry plays it fairly safe with the standard shooter formula, using all the standard elements of the beloved Toaplan shooter. You've got the color-changing shot powerup icons that you have to chase around (and a bomb that's even more sprightly), waves of enemies, and random Miclus point items (they're the little demon-looking guys that are worth 30,000 points found in place of 100 point medals).

But it does it exceedingly competently, and they don't neglect a feature to be expanded upon later by Seibu in their "stuntman shmups" (as the great Twiddle from Shmups calls it) with the hidden fairies. Sure, it's a variation upon "shoot the tank on top of the school" in the very first Toaplan game ever, Tiger Heli, but it's welcome and - just as importantly - they continued to expand the genre long after Toaplan had exited the field.

Some ideas for playing:

-As standard for Toaplan shooters, collect the same color shot repeatedly, otherwise you're downgraded to the lowest level of that shot (sheesh, Twin Cobra doesn't make it this hard). I don't recall if there's a point bonus for continuing to collect, but at a certain level there's a tone. On getting shot down you now spit out more powerups to help you get back to fighting trim quickly, but I suspect the tone also signifies you can swap weapon types without being downgraded.

-Try to stay alive after you've collected medals for that sweet end of stage bonus. Stage 1's medals bonus is worth 44,000 points alone, not counting the points you get for picking them up in the first place.

-Likewise, one interesting feature of almost all the "mega bomb" games since Twin Cobra and probably Tiger Heli is "bomb pride," where simply collecting bombs and refusing to use them will give you a nice point bonus - if you survive without being shot down. Adds a nice strategic element to playing the game.

-Finally, be on the lookout for your shots hitting seemingly nothing and telltale shards of stuff coming out of the ground. This signifies a FAIRY is there and you should keep shooting until she flies out. Then simply pick her up for your points.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Bitchin! Great choice this week! I already have this on my MAME "rig," and I'll enjoy giving it a go.

[Gapporin]

There's actually a Raiden machine down at the local arcade, and the last time I was there, I spent the better part of an hour vying for the high score (if you beat any high scores that are set on the machines, your next visit is free). Awesome game, and it reminds me that I need to trek it back down there fairly soon.

[Ed Oscuro]

Hmm, some additional thoughts from me:

Positions of the Micluses may be fixed...had it in my head that they appeared randomly but there's a spot near the beginning of Stage 2 where a Miclus keeps popping up.

On the other hand, I rediscovered that the color of the missile powerup you get first alternates with each play. That does change how you play the game slightly.

[Arasoi]

I got this PCB last week ironically enough, and was playing it quite a bit.

Really a great and challenging old Seibu shmup and one of my new favorites along with Viper Phase 1.

The thing that always stood out well to me in this game was the music, really really good OST with foot tapping melodies.

Suggestions for next week: Tatsujin(Truxton), Gate of Doom, GROWL/Runark, Samurai Showdown 2

[scooterb23]

Thanks for those suggestions, they will be added to the list Arasoi!

[Ed Oscuro]

I say you should add Blast Off and Assault, both by Namco, both late 80s. I would say "Tower of Druaga" but I don't hate myself, or you, old bean :eek 2: Bad game.

Edit: Cool, got a bit farther than I have before!

Stage 1-3, 337,230

Got 10K points somehow or other in stage two...just saw the point icon flashing in place when I scrolled the screen to the right.

I think that beep you hear on a powerup signifies it'll drop the blue P. Simple enough.

Micluses aren't showing up in the same place always - looks like I was remembering correctly when I first said they seem to appear randomly (more accurately it may be that they alternate appearing, same as the starting order for powerup colors).

[Arasoi]

I say you should add Blast Off and Assault, both by Namco, both late 80s. I would say "Tower of Druaga" but I don't hate myself, or you

*looks to Famicom game rack on wall. Spies the Druaga Famicom cartridge*

*shudders*

[Ed Oscuro]

Two candlesticks crossed can double for a crucifix, Peter Cushing taught me that.

I only loaded the thing up today 'cuz it was mentioned on Shmups as an example of a coin-crunching game with unfair tactics to steal money (the other one being King of the Monster 2). I cannot remember the last time I saw a game as slow as Tower of Druaga. If the sword attack was faster, and the character at least twice as fast, it might be passable, maybe. As it is it's an excercise in frustration past level 3 - just trying to turn to face the wizards so you can block their attacks. Forget about trying to duck into an alley to miss them, you're too slow...and often too slow to just turn around. Still, the two other Namco games I mentioned are great enough that I'm willing to forgive their early misstep in Druaga. Hey...I have Druaga on X68000, actually.

[Kwf]

I definately remember playing this game as a part of the Raiden Project on PS1, which also included Raiden 2 on the same disc. Also, regarding Raiden DX, I've seen and played a Raiden DX machine at a Pizza Hut in Kent, WA. I don't know if the machine is still there or not,though.

[Ed Oscuro]

I played a Raiden DX in one of the Rochester, Minnesota downtown hotels, but the screen was so bad under the lighting that I seriously couldn't tell what was going on.

[bust3dstr8]

auto fire....lollerz

[Ed Oscuro]

auto fire....lollerz
thank you for this sincere and informative post

p.s. I've gotten just as far without using an autofire controller - I just want to avoid repetitive stress injuries.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

I haven't been able to play the recent MMMC picks early in the week like I used to, because of the new job.

Anyway, this is a game that needs to be played with a real arcade stick, and a fire button that you can mash repeatedly- or the feature known as "auto fire... lolz."

I really had an issue with the "not dying" aspect of the game, and got up to level 5 before inadvertently hitting the reset button on the keyboard.

Despite the challenges faced I really like this game, and will be visiting it in the future. If I found a cheap arcade cab with Raiden, I'd definitely pick it up. It's challenging (without being impossible), has a great power-up system, and the graphics are intricately slick. I've liked these sorts of games ever since playing 1942 and 1943 on the NES. I also like the enemy design because it's sorta a 1980's vision of future military vehicles. So yeah, good choice this week.

[scooterb23]

I agree with you TDI on most counts. I was using my keyboard, and kept resetting the game (I gotta disable that damned Windows key). I sadly, never made it past level 2 though.

Such a fun game though.

Last call for noms for next week...

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Well, I paid a visit to the dip switch menu. I enabled continues, set my lives to "5," and knocked the difficulty down to Easy. My top score was about 81,000.

[Ed Oscuro]

I really had an issue with the "not dying" aspect of the game, and got up to level 5 before inadvertently hitting the reset button on the keyboard.
How many credits was that?

/ooh, cheapshot ^^;

Reiterating a call for Blast Off by Namco. Hmm, I'd like to get in another credit of Raiden before this one goes under, though Painkiller has been taking up a lot of my spare time.

[jb143]

I've said before that I'm no good at shooters and that hasn't changed yet. I didn't even make it past level one. Well...I sorta did but I was killed right before destroying the last ship so it doesn't count. I don't even know if that was the end of level 1 so I'm just guessing. I don't dislike shooters though, this game was actually pretty fun. I'm just no good at them at all. I think it's mainly because in most your killed in 1 hit.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

How many credits was that?

/ooh, cheapshot ^^;


If my scores were as low as 15000 and only as high as 80000, then you do the math smarty pants.