Raiden DX

Overview

Raiden DX is a sci-fi vertical-scrolling shoot-'em-up developed and released by Seibu Kaihatsu (along with Fabtek in the North America release) for arcades in 1994.

An enhanced version of the 1993 game Raiden II, Raiden DX features three different courses (also known as "missions" or "stages"):

• Mission Alpha / Renshuu (Training) Stage includes only a single level ("Special Level", or "Level 0"). The level itself is new and is very lengthy, taking nearly 15 minutes to clear, and players cannot use continues.

• Mission Bravo / Shokyuu (Novice) Stage includes the first five levels of Raiden II with the original enemy arrangement.

• Mission Charlie / Joukyuu (Expert) Stage includes all eight levels of Raiden II with a more difficult enemy arrangement. Completing all eight levels allows players to take another loop through the course (with much harder enemies), and clearing all eight levels in a loop exceptionally well, i.e. taking no damage and using no Bombs, allows players to access a new bonus stage (Stage 9).

The game later received a home port for the Sony PlayStation, released exclusively in Japan on April 11, 1997. This version features an arranged soundtrack, an unlockable bonus soundtrack (from Viper Phase-1), and bonus material, as well as a relaxed condition for accessing Stage 9 (earning 2,000,000 points with one credit). It was later re-released as part of Hamster's MajorWave budget series on October 26, 2000.

Gameplay

Rankings

In Alpha and Bravo missions, players are ranked based on their performance, i.e. the number of enemies shot down, the number of hidden radar placements destroyed, and a mysterious "Guts" or "Spirit" counter. They get the mission results after either they Game Over or after completing the mission.

Players who perform exceptionally well in the Alpha mission, i.e. taking no damage, using no Bombs, clearing 99% of enemies, and destroying 100% of radars, immediately advance to a hidden course (Mission Advanced) which first begins with the Novice course (in the difficulty of the Expert course's second loop), then proceeds through the remaining stages in Expert (in the difficulty of that course's third loop).