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Raiden

 

 Background: Just like the Arcade you get to pilot your plane across enemy terrain and blow things up. You can fire at enemy ships and bomb enemy installations on the ground. At the end of each stage is a boss which you must destroy to proceed. You can also get a series of powerups and weapons along the journey including multiple fire and diagonal fire.Game Play: It is a good thing that you get many lives because you will need them. Ships are constantly firing at you, missiles are being launched, and you die often. This is fast paced action and you must fly by your wits to avoid the enemy barrage. Needless to say I have not developed any skill at this game, but I gave it such a high rating because I think this game will appeal to those who like a straight arcade shooter games. It has good graphics and sound effects, however the playing screen is partially blocked by the large bar on the right displaying the score and weapons.

Pros: fast paced actions, multiple lives, power ups
Cons: die easily, right screen is taken up by game information
 

Raiden Guide,
“How to Win Playing Solo”
by La Hostia

1) General Information:

– Select the two player option and use the second ship as a blocker. It also allows you to get twice as many power ups.

– There are a total of 8 boards and the last few boards are in space.  Once you pass the 8 boards you are given 1 million points and save the earth. Then you start over, but now everything gets harder. Conserve your ships as much as possible for boards 7 and 8.

– Each board has a little blue icon which is worth 5000 points

– Small bomb looking things are worth 500 points.

– Stay at the bottom of screen so you can better dodge enemy fire.

2) The Enemies:

Green Triangles Ships: the most dangerous because if you do not kill them on their first pass, they will come back at you from behind. They pose a crash risk and fire multiple shots.

Tanks, small Boats, and small ships: generally harmless and not to worry about until you have beaten the game and it starts over. Small ships pose a crash danger. Tanks and boats fire at you.

Rapid Fire: Watch out for this ground craft that appears in the middle of the second level.  It shoot rapid fire weapons so destroy it as quick as possible.

Level Bosses: At the end of each board you must fight a different boss. The key is to see what the boss’ firing pattern is and avoid its fire while dropping bombs.


Boss 1


Boss 2

 
Boss 3, getting hit with a super bomb

3) Power Ups: Appear when you destroy the ships and other enemies. A consistent provider of powerups is known as the “powerup” ship.

They can release:

Red Square: “guns”

Blue Square: “lasers”

When you get additional powerups of the same type, you increase the strength of that powerup. If you then get a powerup of a different color, you switch to the new powerup. Warning! If you are at high strength with one powerup, do not pick up a different color powerup, because you will fall to first level strength. You can get up to 5 powerups of the same color. After that each additional powerup of the same color will give you 5000 points.

Whether you choose “guns” or “lasers” is a personal preference. A ship with full guns will cover the entire screen and make you near invulnerable, but lasers has the most punching power yet covers less of the screen. A powerup will circle as one color then switch to the other.

Small Triangle, with “B”: 1 additional Super Bomb, does excellent damage on bosses.


Now that is serious damage!

Square with a “P”: Super Power up, pops up randomly throughout the game and gives you a full compliment of weapons depending on your currently selected type.

Square with a “M” and “H”: Missiles and projectiles, in addition to your current “guns” or “lasers” they will either fire straight ahead (yellow “M”) or at an angle (green “H”).  A nice addition! Appear when you destroy a red ship. Can switch between them and both can be upgraded.


La Hostia: is a regular contributor to AAP.  He is old school Atari beginning with the 2600, but recently has seen the power of the Jaguar with games such as Doom, Raiden, and Power Drive Rally.