It is quite a decent game, however, remixed with a variety of semi-new modes and a new soundtrack provided by a wide and varied range of Japanese artists and bands, all apparently inspired by the Japanese Mikado Game Centers. I mean, Raiden V dates from 2016, so this is not by any reasonable stretch a new game. Which was, in case you’ve not looked at a calendar recently, quite some time ago. And it’s Raiden IV – basically – and that came out originally in 2007. It’s new to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but has been on the Switch for more than a year now. Raiden IV x Mikado Remix isn’t exactly a new game, either. Well, not quite there’s still a respectable quantity of player-killing ordinance being flung your way at any one time, including some nicely inventive boss fights that do really tax my mental flow while playing.
Raiden IV x Mikado Remix doesn’t offer quite the chained scoring mechanics (quite) of other titles, or the sheer bullet hell chaos of some of the more highly regarded classics. You get a choice of three ships – two regular plane types and a mostly-naked fairy because sure, why not – and that’s your lot. In many ways, Raiden IV x Mikado Remix isn’t the most inventive in terms of in-game mechanics, leaning as it always has on a triple weapon system – essentially bullets, lasers or a twisty purple plasma beam, which comes in two player-chosen variants in Raiden IV x Mikado Remix. So she helped while I tried in my broken French to explain that I did need to make sure the second-hand disc worked, because I couldn’t exactly bring it back from the other side of the planet easily! Luckily (for me), the love of my life loves me just as much, and more importantly she understands me.
Picture it: I’m in the city of love with the love of my life, and I’m spending my time tracking down semi-obscure Japanese shmups rather than taking in the sights. So much so, to give some context, that I spent serious time on my honeymoon tracking down a copy of The Raiden Project for the original PlayStation while on honeymoon in Paris.
I’ve loved Raiden ever since the first time I lined up a 20c piece against a grubby machine in my local video store – if these sound like archaic terms, reader, bear in mind that I’m ancient and this totally was the style at the time – and got drawn into its simple but satisfying gameplay loop. It’s not because I hate the series, or can’t appreciate the beauty of a vertical shmup. I am, in many ways, the worst possible person to review a Raiden game.
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