Raiden II
| Raiden II | |
|---|---|
 North American arcade flyer of Raiden II. | |
| Developer(s) | Seibu Kaihatsu, Kinesoft (Win) |
| Publisher(s) |
Arcade: Interplay Value Products Division |
| Series | Raiden |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation, Windows 98 |
| Release |
1993 (Arcade)
1999-04-09 (Win, CyberFront) 2003-04-04 (Win, CyberFront) 2004-08-06 (Win, CyberFront) |
| Genre(s) | Vertical scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, 2 player Co-op |
| Cabinet | Upright |
| Sound | Chip: YM2151 |
| Display | (Arcade) Raster, 240 x 304 pixels (Vertical), 2048 colors |
Raiden II (雷電II Raiden Tsū) is a 1993 vertical scrolling shooter arcade game that was developed by Seibu Kaihatsu. It was the second game in the Raiden series of vertical scrolling shooter arcade games that started with Raiden. Originally for arcades, it was soon released for the Windows 98 and PlayStation. The original standup arcade machine is very popular among collectors as this iteration of shoot ‘em up game was among the best ever created by Seibu Kaihatsu.
Plot
Three years after the World Alliance Military is triumphant over the Cranassian invasion force, the remaining aliens on Earth have created an army to carry out their original mission to conquer the planet. To combat the collaborative army, a new weapon is developed for the Raiden - the ship designed to save the Earth three years ago - to use in another attempt to save our planet.
Gameplay
This game expanded on the original formula with enhanced graphics and two new weapons: the Plasma Beam, which can lock onto targets but does damage slowly, and the Cluster Bomb, which does less damage than regular bombs but strikes a larger area. There are eight missions in the game.
The player's weapons can be changed and enhanced through power-ups which are released by certain defeated enemy craft. The power-ups once released fly around the screen and cycle in color from red to blue to purple. Guns are at maximum power after collecting eight power-ups; attempting to increase power further will reward bonus points. Changing weapons does not increase power level.
There are three main weapons: Vulcan (powering it up increases its spread), Laser (powering it up increases the number and potency of the beams), and Plasma (firing until it turns into a single beam enables it to lock onto what it hits).
When obtained, missiles are fired automatically together with the main weapon and work on air targets. Four power-ups are needed for full power. Like weapon power-ups, these cycle between the possible choices: Nuclear Missiles and Homing Missiles.
Bombs cause damage and eliminate all enemy shots within the effect area. Players can carry a maximum of seven at once; grabbing an eighth will only add points, although the bonus is significantly greater if the ship is carrying seven bombs of the same type and collects an eighth that is also identical.
For a 2 player game if one player hits the other, that causes the hit player's weaponry to spew out projectiles erratically that do significant damage.
Port
Raiden II was ported to Windows by Kinesoft and Microsoft Corporation. The Windows version uses Red Book audio for music.
In addition, this game and the original Raiden were released for the PlayStation as The Raiden Project.