It was mentioned here nearly a year and a half ago that Raiden IV would be released on Xbox 360, which was pretty surprising for all the reasons stated at that time. The routine leak of Famitsu pages has finally confirmed that the 360 version of Raiden IV is real and will be released in Japan on September 11th for 7140 yen. As evidenced by the price, this is a retail release, not XBLA. It has arcade mode, console mode with two new stages, score attack, boss rush, world ranking, replay functions and a model gallery. The article also discusses several display options – all virtually identical to the features in Raiden Fighters Aces, released back in March. This similarity has me very excited. Though roughly a mere 1500 people would know this (if the game’s Xbox Live leader board is any indication of sales), Raiden Fighters Aces is a tremendous package, probably the most full featured and presentation-minded arcade collection in some time. It’s not obvious how the confusing network of developers affected that game, or who specifically is involved in this one, but you could say the track record for Raiden on 360 is good, I guess.
So now an obvious game newsy type impulse would be to conclude that the 360 is the shooter system of this generation. With a pretty good selection already and Ketsui, DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label, Otomedius and now Raiden IV on the way, that seems about right. It’s neat to know that as much as games change, shooters still end up on the least popular system in Japan. Somehow that makes me feel vaguely just a bit more comfortable with the state of the world.
Same. I Adore the Raiden Fighters games. Totally blows that I cant play them (outside of MAME ). Seems like such a ridiculous game to put region encoding on too.. the market for such a thing outside of japan must be TINY.
[size=67]Currenty playing: SFIV, Forza 2, RE5[/size]
..Well......................?
20% chance earth will be destroyed by a coming wormhole due to man's tampering with timetravel technology provided by genocidal aliens obsessed with death. But what is the chance this game can actually come out for us along with all those other shooters that we didn't get?
Why so mysterious?? MS should work on bringing them out imo Doesn't anyone give a shit about arcade shmups?
It took a while but my copy arrives on Monday. I played the Aces demo and enjoyed it - simply old school action. I have no idea how Raiden 4 will differ but I miss old arcade style shooting games. It certainly sold out quick - usually it's enough just to go down to the local game shop an get the newest 360 game but I had to get my copy online. Impressions to come next week.
Shaneus wrote:You do NOT post in this thread unless you have news about a US/Euro Raiden 4/Aces release. Posting this random, useless crap is banworthy
In my mind's eye I actually saw something in you break before you wrote that.
All I can say is wow! This game is pure old school shooting bliss. The graphics are huge step up from Aces, on par with Ikaruga (i.e. 2D on scrolling 3D backgrounds), it is difficult to keep track of most of the action but this is one sexy looking game. Extremely twitchy gameplay - classic Raiden. The are lots of options: you can go through the game on the practice level and none of the enemies will fire at you - a good way to memorise attack patterns. You can adjust the screen 0 through 270 degrees, I wish I could put my TV vertical because you get more detail at 90 degrees. In the Arcade mode you have the option of Light and Original, from what I can tell Light makes your ship profile smaller so it is more difficult for bullets to hit you. The biggest disappointment about this game is that there is no online co-op. That said you can do challenge runs and upload your progress to a leaderboard from which other players can see your replay. Naturally they are all Japanese at the moment. It also came with a soundtrack CD. Other than that you can download classic versions of the Raiden fighter from Live but the go for 80 credits a pop. Overall, an awesome game. If you have to import, do so. Otherwise start letter bombing local distributors.
Sorry for the quality of the pictures, I'm in a pretty dark room at home.
Fuck, I like this game so much I'm going to go get Aces now! Is it region locked? I would be willing to help a brother out an buy it for people back home.
They're both region locked, according to Play-Asia
Which is why all my posts in this thread are laced with an air of frustration... I love the Raiden games, but fuck them for not bringing them out in multiple regions.