• Tag Archives Raiden

  • Raiden (DOS)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


    USA 1994  Seibu Kaihatsu Inc.

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/183328080554/retrocgads-usa-1994-seibu-kaihatsu-inc

    Raiden is a vertical scrolling shooter that was originally released in arcades in 1990. It was created by Seibu Kaihatsu and distributed by Fabtek in North America. The plot of the game is basically to save the Earth from an alien invasion. You can play alone or cooperatively with another player. The game was successful enough to spawn a number of ports and sequels.

    The ad above from 1994 features the PC (DOS) and Amiga versions of the game. These would have been the last of the widely available original ports. However, while the DOS version was in fact released in 1994, the Amiga version was never completed.

    The first port, and probably the one most faithful to the arcade original was the TurboGrafx-16 version released in 1991. A couple of years later in 1993 an Atari Jaguar port was released. This version featured several changes from the arcade original. Not necessarily bad, but different. The DOS version was closest to the Jaguar version. A partially completed Amiga version does exist as well. Interestingly, the last release was not until 1997 when a version was released for the Atari Lynx. This was well after the commercial life for the Lynx was over and it was primarily available via mail order.

    Of course, you can always emulate the original arcade version via MAME but there is no shortage of home ports either. The original arcade is still the best and the TurboGrafx-16 will probably give you the console experience that is closest to the arcade. In any case, vertical shooter fans should give this one a try in one form or another.

    Screen shots above are from the DOS version of the game.



    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana DOS Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • Raiden (Atari Jaguar)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Raiden (Atari Jaguar)

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/162919479453/raiden-atari-jaguar

    Raiden was a vertically scrolling shooter released in arcades in 1990. It was ported to a variety of home systems starting the following year though different ports were done by different teams and there was a lot of variation. Perhaps the closest to the arcade original is the Atari Jaguar version.

    The Atari Jaguar version got mediocre reviews but it wasn’t so much a reflection of the quality of the port as of the game itself. Reviewers generally felt that the pace was too slow and it was not an advanced enough game for the hardware it was running on. Still, if you are looking for an arcade shooter on the Jaguar, Raiden is not a bad choice.

    In addition to the Atari Jaguar, Raiden was also released on DOS based PCs and on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo as Raiden Trad (it’s unclear why the name changed). There was also an unreleased Amiga version and a version for the Atari Falcon (an Atari ST successor). Raiden (and Raiden II) were also later ported to the PlayStation as a release title (Raiden Project).

    Despite the sometimes mediocre reviews, Raiden was a successful game and a successful series as a number of sequels have been released.


    📂This entry was posted in Retro Games 📎and tagged