Monday MAME Club [01/17/05] - Raiden *1*

[Flack]

When all else fails ... throw out a shmup!

And, when the ROM of the week fails ... throw out a working one! It seems as though the ROM of the week (Raiden II) doesn't work in MAME. Not to stray too far from the original choice, I switched the MAME Game of the week to the first Raiden. The new ROM is in the directory.

Welcome to this week's Monday Morning MAME Club Posting. Every Monday, a member of the MAME club will pick a new game for you to play in MAME! All you have to do to participate is install MAME, download the ROM of the week from this message, and then post your thoughts about the game! You can post a full review of the game or simply tell us what you liked/didn't like about the game. Have you played this game before? Have you played it in an actual arcade? Do you like the genre? How did it run on your computer? Did you beat it? If so, how long did it take? What was your high score? How far can you get? Did you have any problems emulating the game? When writing your review, post it right here in the sticky topic and include any thoughts you have about the game. Remember, YOU are the reviewer. Let us know anything and everything you think about the game! Just remember, if you want people to respond during YOUR week, you should play along on OTHER weeks!

The ROM of the week is: Raiden (available HERE (http://www.robohara.com/mameclub)!)
KLOV Link for the game: HERE (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=9244)

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~pm9m-tkhs/dic/r/raidenfi.JPG

Club Members:

digitalpress (Battle Bakraid)
Gamereviewgod (ESP Ra.De.)
Wisesalesman (Waku Waku 7)
scooterb23 (I'm Sorry)
ddockery (Penguin-Kun Wars)
AlanD (Dr. Micro)
IntvGene (Strike Force)
NE146 (Portman)
jonjandran (Bronze Adventure)
Flack (Rollergames, Yie-Ar Kung-Fu, Liquid Kids, Ninja Clowns, Great 1000 Mile Rally)
IGotTheDot (N/A)
zektor (Battle Bakraid, Haunted Castle)
buttasuperb (Blazing Star)
chadtower (Berkerk)
Sotenga (Caliber 50)
Stark (Mighty! Pang)
christianscott27 (Darius Gaiden)
ECWSandmanECW (League Bowling)
TripppsK (Lady Bug)
vespertillio (Rampart!)
ghsqb (N/A)
TheSmirk (Bomb Jack)
Flukkake (Elevator Action)
BHvrd (NARC)
ManekiNeko (Battle Circuit)
MarioAllStar2600 (City Bomber)
Ze_ro (Pandora's Palace)
slip81 (Biomechanical Toy)
Qbert (Mysterious Stones)
k8track (Go! Go! Mile Smile)
Hamsnibit (N/A)
Lady Jaye (Chuka Taisen/Cloud Master)
Sofa King Gud (Crossbow)
Schenley (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
Kaine23 (Super Burgertime)
Arqueologia_Digital (Burgertime)
Jiscan (Withdrew)
-hellvin- (Splatterhouse)
Acidic_Pain (Armed Police Batrider)
Gamemaster_ca_2003 (Block Out)
Vigilante (Pu-Li-Ru-La)
Hovoc (D&D: Shadow Over Mystara)
Mr.FoodMonster (skipped)
sniperCCJVQ (WWF Superstars)
A Boy (Satan's Hollow)
JibbaJaba (Solomon's Key)
Cauterize (The Simpsons)
youruglyclone (Vendetta)
Ed Oscuro (Alligator Hunt)
Gapporin (Daisu-Kiss)
Graham Mitchell (Ataxx)
RockyRaccoon (19xx: The War Against Destiny)
!!! XxMe2NiKxX (Raiden) !!!
brykasch
Xtasy
DJ_DEEM
The_EniGma
DaBargainHunta
cr0n0
Promophile
Cirrus
Stargate
phantomfriar
GobopopRevisited

Remember, you don't have to be a member of the club to download the game and write up a review, but by joining you get the honor of picking a game to share with the group during your week. If you would like to join, simply send me a PM and I will add you to the list!

MAME ON!

[tuxedojoe]

I would like to join the MAME club, but I do not have MAME on my computer. So I downloaded and extracted the software. I found raiden 2 on the list, but It would not run. I thought perhaps I needed the ROM, but winzip cannot extract it.

Can someone please tell me how to get this up an running?

Thanks a bunch!

[Gamemaster_ca_2003]

MAME as of .90 (the version I have) Says raiden II does not work.

[it290]

Yeah, I don't think they've broken the encryption yet, unfortunately. Although I believe it is pseudo-working now.

[Lady Jaye]

I would like to join the MAME club, but I do not have MAME on my computer. So I downloaded and extracted the software. I found raiden 2 on the list, but It would not run. I thought perhaps I needed the ROM, but winzip cannot extract it.

Can someone please tell me how to get this up an running?

Thanks a bunch!

In MAME, you do not unzip the ROMs (well, you can actually, but it's not recommended).

[Flack]

I am in the middle of formatting and reloading my machine; can someone give me a definitive "yes" or "no" as to whether this game plays in MAME? If not, I'll move to the next game on the list right away.

[Flack]

Can someone please confirm whether or not this game works?

[Gamereviewgod]

Nope. Great game (PS One got a great port on the Raiden Project disc), but it's a no go in MAME.

[Sotenga]

Heh, I actually got to play this once in the arcades. It's everything the original Raiden was, but bigger, better, and harder. That purple lock-on laser just looks so cool, especially in an early 90's game. Unfortunately, though I can say that I'm damn good at most shmups, the original Raiden gave me much grief trying to beat it, and when I played this game... I forget if I failed at the end of stage 1 or stage 2, but I died at one of those bosses. Owie. This game ain't for lightweights, but veteran shmuppers will find Raiden II to their liking.

[Flack]

Does the original Raiden work in MAME?

I can't fix my computer until tomorrow since I left all my CDs at work.

[Gamereviewgod]

Yeah, Raiden 1 works fine. A little slow on my PC for some odd reason, but it works.

One of my favorite soundtracks of all time by the way. ;)

[Graham Mitchell]

Yes, Raiden 1 works. I'm bummed 2 won't, though. More incentinve to hunt down the Raiden Project...

Hey, I keep seeing ROMS for Raiden Fighters in some places. Does anybody know if that game works in MAME?

[Mr.FoodMonster]

I know my local arcade has like, 3 different Raiden games, and I think one of them is 2. If its the one that I think it is, I love that game. It's a shame that it wont work on MAME yet...

[Flack]

Executive decision -- the ROM of the week has been changed to the first Raiden game.

[Graham Mitchell]

In that case, let's talk about Raiden.

To me Raiden was revolutionary. At the time of it's release, I don't think I'd ever seen a shmup with that much stuff going on on-screen at once. I guess the mindset for making Raiden was to make bosses rediculously large, and make explosions rediculously over-the-top. The huge bomb explosion has become a trademark for this game.

Another fun thing about Raiden is that there doesn't seem to be any limit to the number of bullets you can shoot at once. As such, your shots don't come out in little bursts, but in a continuous stream of destruction. This makes it REALLY fun to just pound the crap out of the fire button as fast as you can (Final Fight has a similar appeal).

I kind of think this game just takes all the ideas introduced in Truxton and other Toaplan shooters, and fine tunes them to make them as fun and addictive as possible. People that aren't hardcore shmup fans tend to not remember the Toaplan games, but most people remember Raiden because it was so perfectly constructed.

Good pick.

[Ed Oscuro]

Fighting Thunder! Who doesn't like this BGM? :D

[Gamereviewgod]

Raiden does a lot right. As I mentioned earlier, it has one of the best soundtracks of all time and oddly, the arcade sounds the worst. Check out the Duo version or the remixed tracks on the Raiden Project. Wow. Really lets you appreciate it.

It's impressive to see how many systems this game appeared on. That's a sign of a great game. Off the top of my head:

Playstation
SNES
Genesis
Lynx
Jaguar
Turbo
Duo
Marty (maybe?)

I know I've forgotten some. Anyway, it's mighty impressive to have two players fully powered up, especially with the vulcan/machine gun (the red one). That's a ton of firepower being thrown around. There's always a lot of destruction going on here and the bosses really go out in style.

Unfortunately, Raiden does a lot wrong too. It's ridiculous that you lose ALL your power-ups when you die. Yeah, sure they give you a bit to pick up when you die, but later in the game, you'll be scrambling to get everything and get hit then. If you die, you're basically screwed in a few of the stages. Oh, and it freakin' auto-fire too much to ask for??? My thumbs can't do this anymore!

[Ed Oscuro]

Raiden's definitely on the FM Towns, yes (well, that or Marty - usually soft works on both though).

[stargate]

I don't think I played this one much back in the day. I spent some time with it today on MAME. It's ok, but not too exciting. But again, I am not a huge shmup fan.

Does anyone know if Blazing Lazers was released before or after Raiden? For some reason I like Blazers Lazers much more.

[cr0n0]

I know that the game of the week is Raiden 1, but let me just make a few quick comments on part 2, which was the original game of the week.
It is my favorite overhead shooter to date. I am fortunate to have it for the Playstation (with the huge original cover!!) and play it from time to time. The graphics were mindblowing for it's time and the attention to details is awesome. The game does slow down a bit when there are lots of enemies on screen, but I consider it a blessing, since I use the time to dodge bullets.
ON TO RAIDEN 1!!

Graphics: I give it a 7. There is nothing that really blew my mind or anything, but that's just me. I hate the bomb explosion animation.

Controls: 10. I found them responsive, but then again, how hard is it to move a ship up and down, left and right?

Sound: 6 for the original, 8 for the remix on the raiden project . Nothing fancy, nothing lazy.

Difficulty: 7. Thankfully it is not like the new gradius for the PS2. Raiden was not too difficult since there wasn't a wave after wave of enemies coming after you like in othere shooters. (Zanac, Blazing Lazers, Space Megaforce)

Overall: 7. If you like overhead shooters, then you can't go wrong with this one. It is a solid game. It doesn't offer anything mindblowing, but it has steady gameplay that should keep you coming back once in a while.
Just my opinion.

[Jorpho]

Not only was Raiden I ported to the PC, but so was Raiden II. And you can even download them from Underdogs! (I imagine it'll have XP compatibility issues, though.)

[slip81]

The music is pretty good, but I'm not a big fan of this one. There are just too many moving things onscreen at once, and a some of the power up guns, like the spread one, make it very hard to see enemy fire.[/i]

[DaBargainHunta]

I've always really liked Raiden, especially its realistic graphics and attention to detail on the little things. One of my great gaming regrets is trading in Raiden Project for PSX years ago (OUCH!). If only I could turn back the clock... :/

I can see why some people would say that this game doesn't do anything "mind-blowing." True, Raiden doesn't reinvent the wheel or innovate the genre, but there's really something to be said for a game that's high quality and does everything well. Great game!

[Kid Ice]

For some reason the sound always cuts out for me on this game, over several different computers, versions of MAME, and ROMs. About 3/4 through the first level the sound just stops working.

Have played the PSX version on the Raiden Project a million times. I actually got acquainted with the game through that, so I prefer that version to the arcade.