Raiden Game History

Raiden carries on with the successful formula of the many shooters that has preceded it. It is the first game in a successful series of blasters featuring an experimental supersonic attack fighter, that has to defend earth from the invading alien hordes. The name Raiden derived from an actual Japanese fighter that was in service during the second world war.

First released into the arcades in 1990, developed by Seibu Kaihatsu and published by Fabtek. Raiden is a single or two player co-op game of the scrolling shoot 'em up genre.

The object of the game is simple, as the player you take control of the Raiden attack fighter, and must battle your way through eight levels and various enemies. The fighter comes equipped with two different types of weapon, (normal and homing) which can be made even more powerful with the addition of power ups. Each one of the eight levels ends with a boss.

When all eight levels are completed the game begins again on the first level, only this time the enemies fire at a higher rate.

Due to the success of Raiden, the game spawned three true sequels, these include; Raiden DX (1994)Raiden 3 (2005)Raiden 4 (2007)There were numerous spin-off games released also, including; Viper Phase 1 (1995)Raiden Fighters (1996)Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive (1997)Raiden Fighters Jet (1998)Raiden Fighters 2: 2002 Operation Hell Dive (2002)Since the arcade release, Raiden has been converted onto numerous platforms, including; AmigaAtari JaguarNEC-PCSony PlayStationSega Mega DriveSuper Nintendo Entertainment System