Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive is a 1997 scrolling shooter arcade game by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is a sequel to Raiden Fighters.
Plot[]
Four years after the defeat of the dictator's army in the first game, the remaining guerrilla forces regrouped to form a new nation and began attacking again. A new fighting force for the government gathers the pilots of the first Gun Dogs squadron and orders them to undertake a new mission, using a new generation of fighters based on the craft of the first squadron and armed with new weapons.
Emerging victorious in this demanding mission will be advantageous for the new army, so it shall be named operation "Hell Dive."
Gameplay[]
Raiden Fighters 2 plays similarly to the first game, while expanding on the concepts that defined the latter.
This game introduces a new mechanic: the Hybrid Attack. Only available during a game in which both players are using Gun Dogs fighters, the Hybrid Attack activates when both players release their charged attacks near each other and nearly the same time. The Hybrid Attack makes both players invincible while they jointly fire a powerful energy beam that deals high damage to all targets.
There are increased scoring opportunities. Score-increasing medals and scoring bonuses such as "QUICK SHOT!" and "DESTROYED AT A TIME!" appear more often.
Stages[]
Raiden Fighters 2 follows the same stage structure as the first game. The first six stages are grouped in two sets of three stages. The first two stages of each set is randomly ordered, while the third stage is a boss area with a raid encounter against a giant war machine. The seventh stage is the final stage that takes place at the enemy headquarters.
Stage | Name | Boss | BGM |
---|---|---|---|
1A | Allied Air Base | Turbine Controller | Ally Frontline Base Stage (Tight Rope[1]) |
1B | Swamp | Seed Skater | Arachi Stage |
1C | Enemy Supply Train | Violet Head | Enemy Supply Base
Giant Boss Area (Error[1]) |
2A | High Altitude | Hummingbird | High Altitude Stage |
2B | Ocean | Gust Weasel | Ocean Stage |
2C | Desert | Sand Lobster | Desert Stage (Illegal Operation[1])
Giant Boss Area (Error) |
3 | Underground Enemy Base | Rafflesia II Red Eye |
Enemy Base Core Stage |
NOTE: BGM names in parentheses are taken from the soundtrack CD listing of Raiden Fighters Jet Original Soundtrack (ACPG-4039). It includes eight bonus tracks, four each from Raiden Fighters and Raiden Fighters 2. These song names are not to be taken as official until confirmation is found.
Fighters[]
Raiden Fighters 2 features a larger roster of fighters than the first game. Included are seven Gun Dogs fighters and eight secret fighters. Together with the Slave and the Fairy, there are 17 different fighters available in the game. All but two of the Raiden Fighters 2 roster are included in the sequel, Raiden Fighters Jet.
The Gun Dogs fighters[]
Most of the seven Gun Dogs fighters are overhauls of the original Gun Dogs lineup from the first game. Some of these fighters had their subweapons swapped around, while others had their subweapons overhauled. The rest are new to the game, complete with new weapons.
- Aegis IV: Same as the original Aegis except with a different color scheme and blue lasers instead of green,
- Beast Wing: A new model of the Beast Arrow. Its Laser was given to the Eraser and received a flamethrower in its place.
- Chaser 2000: A new model of the original Chaser. Its Laser is a reflecting laser that bounces several times within or between enemies.
- Death Header: A slow-moving fighter that has the Devastator's Laser weapon and a new Missile weapon that attaches to enemies before exploding.
- Eraser: It resembles the Devastator, but it has the Beast Arrow's Laser weapon and the Devastator's Missile weapon:
- Flying Ray: A fast fighter that has an improved version of the Endeavor's Laser weapon and missiles that behave like the Radar Missile from Raiden III.
- Griffin: An average-speed fighter with a Laser weapon that is fired from small gunpods and pierces enemies. It has the Endeavor's Missile weapon, complete with the ability to clear enemy bullets.
Secret fighters[]
The guest ships from Raiden II and Viper Phase 1 return from the first game. They are joined by their blue Player 2 counterparts and given different stats and weapons to set them apart from one another. On the original cartridge versions of Raiden Fighters 2, new secret fighters are unlocked as the amount of time passes since it was first installed on the arcade motherboard. Newer single-board versions make all the fighters available for selection from the start. Only the Hell Diver is able to participate in the Hybrid attack, since it behaves like a Gun Dogs fighter.
- Hell Diver: The only secret fighter to behave like a Gun Dogs fighter. It is a fast fighter whose Laser weapon consists of energy boomerangs that pierce enemies.
- Raiden mk-II
- Raiden mk-IIβ: The 2P variant of the Raiden mk-II. It moves faster than its red counterpart and uses the Wide Vulcan, Nuclear Missiles, and Diffusion Bomber (cluster bomb) as its loadout.
- Judge Spear
- Blue Javelin: The 2P version of the Viper Phase 1 ship. It moves slower than the Judge Spear, has a wider spreading main gun, and uses the regular missile weapon from its source game as its loadout here.
- Miclus: He requires only four powerups to reach maximum firepower. His bomb is a flamethrower that is a more powerful version of the Beast Wing's charged Laser attack.
- Aegis II-c: This is the fighter that joins you in the Allied Airbase stage if that stage is the second one encountered. It has no charged attacks, and its Laser weapon fires rapidly, as if the Aegis IV's weapon is doing its charged Laser attack permanently. It cannot participate in the Hybrid Attack. Does not appear in Raiden Fighters Jet.
- Dark Sword: A black-and-gray version of the Judge Spear. It moves even faster than its red counterpart and fires missiles that spread out wide over the screen. Does not appear in Raiden Fighters Jet.
- Fairy: The Slave of the Miclus. Her bomb (the Miclus' flamethrower) renders her invincible during its duration, but she can still gain points by grazing enemy bullets.
- Slave: Has a rapid firing main gun that powers up completely with only four items. It inherits the color scheme, movement speed, and bomb of the fighter they normally accompany.
When a two player game features both Raiden II ships being used, one ship will generate spark-like projectiles when the other ship shoots it. This is the same ability both Raiden ships have had since their original models from original Raiden game. All Viper Phase 1 ships, including the Dark Sword, use the bomb attack from their source game.
Music[]
Raiden Fighters 2's music is composed in the techno style. It has a drum and bass style song as the Giant Boss Area theme.
The soundtrack is composed by Go Sato. His past works include the soundtracks of Raiden II, parts of Raiden DX, Viper Phase 1, Senkyu (Battle Balls in the USA), and the first Raiden Fighters. His works following Raiden Fighters 2 include the soundtracks of Raiden III and Raiden IV.
Other versions[]
- Raiden Fighters 2 - 2000 Operation Hell Dive is a clone made for the Chinese market. It runs on cheaper hardware. Its audio hardware reduces the quality of the sound and features music that are monaural loops that last a few seconds.
- A newer single-board version was released for the US market. This version of Raiden Fighters 2 makes all the fighters in the game available for selection by default.
Gallery[]
External links[]
References[]
Raiden video games | ||
Raiden series | Raiden ● Raiden II (DX) ● Raiden III ● Raiden IV (Overkill) ● Raiden V (Story) | |
Raiden Fighters series | Raiden Fighters ● Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive ● Raiden Fighters Jet (text transcript) | |
Compilations | The Raiden Project ● Raiden Fighters Aces ● Raiden Legacy | |
Other Seibu Kaihatsu/MOSS shmups | Stinger ● Scion ● Air Raid ● Viper Phase 1 ● Caladrius (Blaze) |