August 2018 Shmup Club - Raiden V

[MetalFRO]

[img width=700 height=393]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3DnONEFudH8/maxresdefault.jpg[/img]

No shoot-em-up games list would be complete without at least one entry from the Raiden series. Beginning with its initial installment in 1990, Seibu Kaihatsu created a shooting game dynasty with the original Raiden. The original game's simple, vertical scrolling, twitch-reflex dodging, giant bullet spread action was innovative and impressive upon its original release, and has been an inspiration on countless vertical shmups over the last nearly 3 decades. The game spawned a sequel just 3 years later, followed by a "DX" or deluxe version a year after, as well as spawning the successful Raiden Fighters series of games through the mid-late 90's. They also created Viper Phase 1, which, while not directly a Raiden game, is more than inspired by its predecessors, and is often considered an unofficial entry in the series. Sadly, developer Seibu Kaihatsu faltered at the end of the 90's, shutting down their arcade division, and ceasing production of new games.

Thankfully, a few years later, some of the design team moved over to developer MOSS, and bought out the rights to the Raiden games. Raiden III soon followed in arcades and on PlayStation 2, and then Raiden IV just 2 short years after that, released in arcades and to the Xbox 360, and later, the "Overkill" edition to PlayStation 3 and PC. Released initially in 2016, Raiden V marks the first series entry to be direct to consoles. The "Director's Cut" of the game came to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows PC in 2017, with the Xbox One version being exclusive to Japan (physically), and the US PlayStation 4 version releasing with a bonus soundtrack CD. The 5th main line entry in the series, it takes the basic formula of the series and takes it in a bit of a different direction, adding a lot of story elements and dialog, as well as a new "Cheer System" that allows players online to "cheer" for one another virtually in game, which causes different effects, like cancelling bullets, and powering up secondary weapons. Also, unlike earlier games, there are no one-hit deaths, instead opting for a single life, and a shield meter that depletes as your ship takes damage. There are also multiple craft to select from, bringing in a bit of an element from the Raiden Fighters series. Come join in the fun in August 2018 for the RF Generation Shmup Club's 3rd game, Raiden V!

Raiden V is currently available digitally on the Xbox One, physically on the PlayStation 4 as a Director's Cut, complete with CD soundtrack, and as of this post, can be had for under $20 on Amazon. Raiden V is available on the Microsoft Store for just $12, and the Director's Cut is on both Steam and Gog for $34.99.

PARTICIPANTS:
MetalFRO
Addicted
Duke.Togo
Pam
Golem
EZ Racer
Square_Air

[Duke.Togo]

In it to win it (although probably not winning it).

[singlebanana]

September = Silent Service!

[MetalFRO]

September = Silent Service!

LOL, I don't think that qualifies as a shmup

[Duke.Togo]

Silent Service is too good to be played for only one month.

[MetalFRO]

Anyone else gearing up for our first vertical shoot-em-up?

[Addicted]

I'm playing as well but I need to stop playing Phantasy Star 4 first.

[MetalFRO]

I'm playing as well but I need to stop playing Phantasy Star 4 first.

Oh man, that's a commitment! I've heard it's excellent, so I hope you're enjoying that

[Pam]

I'm in! I like this game, other than the constant chatter from the characters.

[MetalFRO]

I'm in! I like this game, other than the constant chatter from the characters.

Welcome! Also, I believe all versions of the game have an option to turn off the voice acting, by going into the options and turning voice volume down to 0. I want to say there might be a button you can use to turn off the text crawl as well, but I need to look into that further.

[Golem]

Just tested, this works on my PC, so I'm in! Seems a good deal easier than the other Raidens at first glance.

[EZ Racer]

So funny story to share. None of the game stores in the town I'm in had Raiden V. However, I had to go out of town during the weekend, and called a store in the town I was heading to, and they had a copy. Went to pick it up, and realized the store had closed for the day 5 minutes before I got there. Funny thing is, on the way I had stopped by a different game store, and happened to find a Gradius Galaxies (and got an excellent deal on it to boot!)

I've made arrangements to get Raiden V by the end of the week, so I'm in

[MetalFRO]

Welcome aboard, Golem! As far as being easier or not, I couldn’t say, but I hope to find that out this month!

That’s a fun story, EZ Racer! And congrats on the Gradius Galaxies pickup - that’s a solid game that I would also like to cover at some point.

[MetalFRO]

I posted this in the Gradius thread to answer Square_Air's question, but it appears as though the PC requirements for Raiden V are pretty minimal:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz.
OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 10.
VIDEO CARD: Graphic card with 512MB VRAM.
SOUND CARD: Direct Sound.
FREE DISK SPACE: 6 GB.

So if anyone has the Steam version, or is on the fence about it, you shouldn't need a very powerful PC to run it. And this is for the Director's Cut.

[Square_Air]

It seems to work fine on my PC, so count me in for this month. Hopefully I can manage to sink a decent amount of time into this.

Also, a note to people that may be on the fence about this. The Steam version is on sale right now for 60% off until august 6th, so this is your chance if you want to grab it for cheap.

Steam page link