GOTD 7/11/2016: Rayxanber II (PC Engine)
Taken from the Digital Press rarity guide: Considered by many to be the hardest shooter EVER made! If you can get to the level 1 boss, you're doing good.
Saying that Rayxanber II is the hardest shooter ever made is arguable, and I can not fathom the above statement being true with all of the bullet-hell games that now exist. However, as far as retro shooter games are concerned... yeah, its up there. It is a very, very hard & unforgiving game. At the same time it is a game that is so awesome that you (or at least I) won't mind grinding over & over again.
I really dont know the backstory to this game because it is not explained in the game nor have I explored the manual which is in Japanese. The enemies have a similar look & feel to gradius or r-type; organic yet many spaceship/robotic type sprites. It has the whole "blast off and destroy the evil Bydo empire" type feel to it. Anyhow, this is much harder and faster than any R-type or Gradius game. This is where much of the difficulty lies; all the bad guys and enemy fire comes at you fast & furious. In some stages you have very limited free space, and you are not only crowded but also continually assaulted by enemy ships and fire.
Your ship comes equipped with a basic forward shot as well as a thruster which will blast your ship around the screen at lightning speed. There are 3 different power-ups which you can find: Ice Storm, Lightning Bolt, and a Fire Shot. Needless to say you will die from a single hit, and of course you lose your special weapon when you die. No shields, never. Many enemies will take multiple hits, and often the game throws multiple of these at you at once, making it very hard to navigate the screen and focus your fire at the same time. I have played this game quite a bit in the past, and I can only get to the 4th level.
The first and second levels are actually not super-hard, but once you get to level 3 the difficulty ramps up considerably. While awesome, level 3 is a serious challenge. You are flying beneath a giant spider-like robot that dispenses ships while at the same time tanks patrol the ground shooting at you. Level 4 is filled with a crystal type lattice which needs to be destroyed to navigate the screen. Often times enemies come at you and there is nowhere to go. This is as far as I have gotten, although I have not attempted this game in years. I have seen comments online where people consider level 4 to be impossible. I shudder to think what lies beyond stage 4..
The graphics in Rayxanber II are top-notch. The scrolling fore & backgrounds look amazing and all of the sprites are very cool looking.
The soundtrack is just awesome. If you like killer video game soundtracks, this game will not dissapoint. Everything about this game is hardcore to the point where casuals players might simply regard this game as unbeatable & very frustrating. But I love everything about Rayxanber II. If you watch a longplay/speedrun of Rayxanber II you might think that this game is.. well.. 'manageable'. Dont be fooled. It is super-hard and super-fast. If you want a challenge then seek this game out... but dont say I diddn't warn you.
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Originally Posted by celerystalker
