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Raiden IV is a vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up game developed by the Japanese company MOSS for Arcades. UFO Entertainment has distributed the Xbox 360 version in North America.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Raiden IV is basically identical to its prior installments, although its stage design is different than Raiden III, it is exactly the same as Raiden II, as the player starts from in-land, over the farms. In later stages, the game progresses through a vast cityscape, into the sky, and finally onward to space. The player faces many enemies, powerful stages, and fearless bosses. The Flash Shot System, first introduced in Raiden III, returns in IV. Multipliers are given (up to ×5.0) for destroying enemies that just appeared on screen; the faster that players destroy enemies, the higher the bonuses.

Aircrafts & Living Creatures

Weapons

For additional information, see Weapons (Raiden IV)

As with previous Raiden titles, the ship fires simultaneously with two weapons: the main weapon and the sub-weapon. All weapons have a power level, which increases by collecting different individual powerups. In addition, there are bombs that fill more or less the whole screen, harming enemies and dissolving all enemy shots. At the beginning of the game or after death, the default weapon is a Vulcan Cannon (see below), a marked increase of firepower over the one-way Vulcan of the previous Raiden games, no secondary weapon (but you can collect secondary weapon at the rest of playthrough) and default three bombs (the number of bombs can be altered as a game option). The weapons, bombs, and bonus items like fairies in Raiden III are retained and work the same as before in this game.

Main shots

R4mainshots

A screenshot of all the Main shots avalible

  • Vulcan Cannon (ME-02): A traditional spread weapon that shoots streams of 2, 3, or 4 small yellow bullets in 3, 5, or 7 directions (including straight ahead). Upgrades Vulcan Cannon will increase the spread of the number of bullets. Corresponds to the red crystal. Usable only by default ship and takes 5 pickups to fully upgraded.
  • Ion Laser (ME-02 and Mk-II): A traditional narrow weapon, appearing as a single continuous forward-facing blue laser; lateral ship movement makes it swerve very slightly. Upgrades Ion Laser will increase the width of the beam and presumably the damage rate. Corresponds to the blue crystal. Usable by both the default ship and the Fighting Thunder Mk-II. The default ship takes 5 pickups and Fighting Thunder Mk-II takes 7 pickups to fully upgraded.
  • Plasma Laser (ME-02 and Mk-II): The returns of "toothpaste" plasma laser from Raiden II and Raiden DX. Appears as a narrow purple beam that can swing in an arc pattern from left or right. Once the beam strikes a target it will lock on and curve to stay on target. The beam will damage any enemies that happen to be a catch in its path to the current target. Should the target be destroyed, the beam straightens out and the process repeats for a new target. One of two weapons that can be assigned to the purple crystal at the start of the game. Usable by both the default ship and the Fighting Thunder Mk-II. The default ship takes 5 pickups to fully upgraded and Fighting Thunder Mk-II takes 7 pickups to fully upgraded.
  • Proton Laser (ME-02): Altered from its original incarnation in Raiden III, it appears as new three narrow purple beams with green outlines that swing markedly (up to about 45 degrees) with lateral ship movement. The beams can be focused by shaking the joystick to the left and right very quickly while holding down the shot button. Acquired purple power-ups will increase the width and brightness of the beam, as well as the damage rate. One of two weapons that can be assigned to the purple crystal at the start of the game. Usable only by the default ship and takes 5 pickups to fully upgraded.

Main shots (Xbox 360 Ver.)

These powerups are unique to the Xbox 360 version of the game and are made available by downloading two special ships: the Fairy and the Fighting Thunder Mk-II (the ship from the old Raiden games).

  • Vulcan Cannon (Fairy): Cyan-colored instead of usual yellow with a narrower spread to the bullets and a slightly decreased damage given per shot. Corresponds to the red crystal. Usable only by the Fairy and takes 5 pickups to fully upgraded.
  • Vulcan Cannon (Mk-II): Similar in appearance to the default ship but more powerful when fully powered up. The weakness is that requires more powerups to maximize (7 pickups instead of the usual 5). Corresponds to the red crystal. Usable only by the Fighting Thunder Mk-II and takes 7 pickups to fully upgraded.
  • Milky Laser: The laser that the Fairy uses is very similar to the Ixion in Raiden Fighters Jet. Blue spheres of light emerge lancer from the Fairy, which immediately shoots piercing lasers that resemble "arrows of light". Although slow firing speed and the size of the lasers is very narrow when compared to other ion lasers, they are able to penetrate enemies like the plasma and proton laser, hence the name of the weapon. The inflicted damage given is very powerful and is able to destroy medium-sized ships with some ease. When powered up to higher levels, more lasers will be shooted. Corresponds to the blue crystal. Usable only by the Fairy and takes 5 pickups to fully upgraded.
  • Bubble Launcher: Shoots a stream of purple translucent bubbles. The speed of the bullets is relatively slow. When upgraded Bubble Launcher to higher levels, the number of bubbles shot from the player ship will grow in quantity until they cover a large portion of the screen, which provides a constant amount of firepower on enemies. Corresponds to the purple crystal. Usable only by the Fairy and takes 5 pickups to fully upgraded.
  • Proton Laser (Mk-II): The old Proton Laser from Raiden III, appearing as a very narrow green beam that swings markedly (moving at an angle of about 45 degrees) with lateral ship movement. Upgrades Old Proton Laser will increase the width and brightness of the beam and presumably the damage rate. One of two weapons that can be assigned to the purple crystal at the start of the game. Usable only by the Fighting Thunder Mk-II and takes 7 pickups to fully upgraded.

Sub shots

R4subshots

A screenshot of all the Sub shots avalible.

For all three variants, powerups simply increase the number of shots and inflicted damage given.

  • Nuclear Missile: Shoots dumb-fire missiles that spread out laterally then accelerate forward pattern. In addition to direct hits, the nuclear missile's explosion causes strong damage given. Corresponds to the yellow "M" circle. Usable by all ships and takes 3 pickups to fully upgraded.
  • Homing Missile: Shoots homing missiles that turn freely and seek the closest enemy around the player. The damage given is weak, but it is very ideal for seeking and attacking enemies around the player. Corresponds to the green "H" circle. Usable by all ships and takes 3 pickups to fully upgraded.
  • Radar Missile: A partially guided variant of the nuclear missile in which the missiles drift laterally until they align with enemies and charge forward. Just like the nuclear missile, the radar missile's explosion causes strong damage given. Corresponds to the purple "R" circle. Usable by all ships and takes 3 times to fully upgraded.

Special techniques

After collecting at least one sub-weapon powerup of any type, a special attack can be used. To perform it, the player must release the shot button for a certain length of time until the attack becomes "charged" (indicated by lightning surrounding the ship). When the fire button is pushed again, many missiles of the equipped type will be fired at once. Each successful hit from these missiles will grant an additional 500 points (100 in Overkill Mode).

Miscellaneous items

In addition to these weapon powerups, there are miscellaneous items as well.

  • Bomb (ME-02): The final bomb's action is the same as in Raiden III: a ball of flame spreads out rapidly from the position of the player. The bomb stock can be increased with bomb powerups, appearing as a "B" on a spinning triangle. The craft starts with 3 bombs and can carry up to 7; if another bomb powerup is collected at 7, 10,000 bonus points are accumulated. Any bombs left over at the end of a stage are worth 10,000 bonus points each.

In X360 port, the bombs may act differently with 2 other ships, following;

- Fighting Thunder Mk-II will launch an old traditional thermonuclear bomb and the next 1.5 seconds will explode within the blast radius, damaging everything and destroying all bullets within the final bomb area. The weakness of this version besides the delay between each final bombs and only 1/3 of the screen effect area.

- Fairy uses her friends to drop enhanced cluster bombs like ME-02, damaging enemies and destroying bullets in the whole screen. The only difference is attacking from above to the top of the screen instead of spreading around the player.

  • Extra Life (1UP): When picked up, the player receives one extra life.
  • Full Power-Up: This appears under certain conditions such as the player dies many times or use continues, and when obtained, it will permanently upgrade the primary and secondary shots to the maximum level. Bonus 10,000 points are obtained when this is obtained when the player already has a maximum level. The powerup of this item appears to be the cyan letter "P" square. If the player doesn't obtain any secondary weapon after getting Full Power-up, the secondary weapon will be maximized as "Nuclear Missile" by default.
  • Fairy: The fairy is hidden in various parts of each stage in the game, which appears when the player shoots the correct location. When the fairy is obtained, it will help the player when the craft is destroyed, by giving a power-up item to you. Unlike in previous games where the player could be penalized for shooting it, this fairy cannot be hit by the player's shots.
  • Medals: Medals appears as a shiny golden orb. Higher score medals appear as winged orbs. True to the original Raiden series, only the accumulated total of medals influence the end-of-stage bonus (along with remaining fighters and bombs). However, medals will reset to 0 when a player loses a life, so a player is required to maintain their ship as very long until end of a stage in order to have any collected medals count.

Xbox 360 Port

The Xbox 360 port of Raiden IV comes with a couple of extra modes for added replay. There is also downloadable content for purchase, which includes gamer pics and dashboard themes. New player ships, such as the Fighting Thunder Mk-II (Original Raiden) and the Fairy are available for purchase and download in the marketplace for use in the game. A TATE option is included for players to view the game in either vertical or horizontal screens for their preferred shooting experience. There are a total of 47 achievements with a total of 1000 points in the game.

Arcade Mode

The Arcade Mode is the original version of the game and consists of 2 types of gameplay: Light and Original (Heavy). Light gameplay has an easier difficulty, means for beginners and players new to the genre, while Original (Heavy) has harder difficulty, means for advanced and skilled players, generates more enemies, faster bullets, and slightly more complicated boss patterns.

Xbox 360 Mode

The Xbox 360 Mode is exclusive to the home port and contains new enemy ships and 2 new stages and bosses not found in the arcade port. Stages can be selected to start playing once the stage has been initially cleared.

  • Play Style: Solo offers 1-player, Dual allows 2-player simultaneous play, while Double has one player controlling two ships, which offers a unique and challenging experience.
  • Stage: Allows players to select the stages they have already completed to replay.

Difficulty

There will be 8 different difficulty modes to choose from before the playing start.

  • Practice: All enemies do not fire shots. Very ideal for players who want to practice.
  • Very Easy: Some enemies' shots can be destroyed by the player's shot. Very ideal for beginner players.
  • Easy: Enemies shots are relatively slow. Very ideal for intermediate beginner players.
  • Normal: Default difficulty in console port. Very ideal for intermediate players.
  • Original: Same difficulty as the Arcade port. Very ideal for intermediate-advanced players
  • Hard: Enemies' shots are a bit quicker speed. Very ideal for advanced players.
  • Very Hard: Enemies' shots are much quicker speed. Very ideal for expert players.
  • Ultimate: The hardest difficulty that enemies will come more numbers and double bullet speed. Some enemies will attack with the Loop 2 bullet pattern.

Boss Rush Mode

Players fight all level bosses without going through the stages.

Score Attack Mode

Similar to the Xbox 360 Mode, the only differences are the enemy placements have now changed. Background music which was previously fixed for the specific stage can be selected in any level.

Gallery

As players go through the game, 3D renditions of the enemy ships will be unlocked for viewing in the gallery.

World Rankings

Xbox 360 players can place their best scores and rankings earned from Solo Arcade and Xbox 360 modes onto the Xbox Live leaderboards. Players will be able to compare, share, and view game replays for analyzing other players' performance. The mode requires the player to access an online version of the Arcade and Xbox 360 modes, separate from the offline versions in order to place their scores. Unlike other game modes, World Rankings use Normal difficulty, default settings, disabled continue, and only Solo Play Style.

Stages

The original Arcade port of Raiden IV has only five stages in total. If you're playing on Light Level; the game completes after beating stage 5, but if you're playing Original (Heavy) Level; the game will move to the second loop with all the stages repeating with increased difficulty. After beating stage 5 on the second loop, the true final stage is unlocked.

The Xbox 360 port includes the Additional Mode, which adds two new stages for a total of eight stages.

Stage Name Boss BGM
1 Countryside Exerey Iss A Stormy front
2 City Ordo, Fulas and Mairazard Can't Retrace
3 Ocean Famel Ya Flap Toward The Hope
4 Ruins Aguen and Ewat Tragedy Flame
5* Floating Continent Da Rutura All or Nothing
6* Space Station Isdogaram Depression
7 Enemy Huge Battleship Horda Gardia Advantageous Development
EX Final Base Horda Gestorada Repeated Tragedy

* Exclusive Stages to Additional Mode

Gallery

Development History

Raiden IV made its first location test that was held at Akihabara Hey on July 22-23 2006, on an Egret II system. Its NESiCAxLive version has three difficulties: Light, Original (Heavy), and Perfect (Extreme), as well as including the feature that the P1 has either a plasma laser or proton laser, while the P2 has either a plasma laser or proton laser. The "ground door" that opens to reveal the Stage 1 boss consists of "bushes" and "roads". Cutscenes are seen showing the first boss exploding, but it does not show the second boss exploding.

The 2nd location test was held again at Hey and at Taito Game World in Shinjuku on October 14-16. The cutscenes showing the boss' destruction is nixed in this version. The 3rd location test was held at High-Tech Sega in Shibuya and Taito Game World in Shinjuku on December 27th. In this version, the previous idea of having P1 having either the plasma laser or proton laser while P1 has either the plasma laser or proton laser was nixed. Instead, players were able to select either a plasma or proton laser to play through before starting the game. 2nd Loop for the game after 1st Loop was completed in Original (Heavy) sTAGE is implemented. The 4th and final location test was held at Shinjuku Gesen Mikado on February 20th, 2007. In this version, Flash Shot System's multiplier is increased to 5.0x at maximum. The strong difficulty is nixed. The damage-power of weapons is readjusted. Enemies that appeared during Stage 2's mid-boss were nixed.

Moss launched Raiden IV arcade on June 7th, 2007. The official arcade website is opened. The first details for Xbox 360 port of Raiden IV revealed in June 2008, which will include new stages, Live support, TATE options, and download content. The release date of homeport to be September 11th, 2008 by Moss, later it was pushed back to October 2nd as the game needed more polish and to erase bugs.

Raiden IV has received below-average review scores upon its U.S. release, with both IGN and the Official Xbox Magazine scoring it a 6 out of 10.

Controversy

There has been controversy over Raiden IV about UFO Interactive's downloadable content. IGN's Eric Brudvig writes: "Though at first glance you might think there are 14 stages in Raiden IV...there are in fact only seven with the second half of the game merely repeating the first... UFO Interactive went ahead and added insult to injury with its use of downloadable content. After dishing out $40 for the game, you'll find that only one of the three ships on the main menu can be used. The other two must be purchased through Xbox Live." Backlash over the pay to play ships has created controversy at several gaming forums, with many users boycotting the game, leading gamers to wonder whether the extra content is worth the price to obtain them.

Trivia

  • A modified form of the boss from Stage 2 in Raiden III makes its appearance as a mini-boss.

External Links

Raiden video games
Raiden series RaidenRaiden II (DX) ● Raiden IIIRaiden IV (Overkill) ● Raiden V (Story)
Raiden Fighters series Raiden FightersRaiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell DiveRaiden Fighters Jet (text transcript)
Compilations The Raiden ProjectRaiden Fighters AcesRaiden Legacy
Other Seibu Kaihatsu/MOSS shmups StingerScionAir RaidViper Phase 1Caladrius (Blaze)
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