is a

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

developed and published by

Seibu Kaihatsu was a Japanese manufacturer of arcade games. The company was founded in 1982 in video gaming, 1982 at Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan as , but changed to its current name sometime in 1984. It is currently owned by Hitoshi Hamada. One ...

. It is the direct

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to ''

Raiden Fighters is a 1996 vertical-scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is followed by the sequel, ''Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive''. This game introduced new game mechanics that separate it from the original '' ...

'', which is a spin-off of the '' Raiden''

scrolling shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character m ...

video game franchise. This game shares the same game mechanics as its predecessor while expanding on the concepts that defined it. It is followed by ''

Raiden Fighters Jet is a 1998 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and published by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is a sequel to '' Raiden Fighters 2'', released one year later. ''Raiden Fighters Jet'' retains the same game mechanics as its predecessors, w ...

'', the third game in the series.

Gameplay

''Raiden Fighters 2'' has simplistic controls typical of

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

games. A Fire button shoots the player's weapons. A Bomb button releases a special attack that damages enemies and cancels out enemy fire over a large area. A new feature introduced in ''Raiden Fighters 2'' is the Hybrid Attack, available only during a two-player game. When two players are close to each other and use their charged attacks, the Hybrid attack is activated, rendering both players invincible for the duration of the attack. Medals appear more frequently than in the first game, giving players increased scoring opportunities.

Stages

There are a total of seven stages, divided into three missions. Stage environments include

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

es, and a raid against enemy bombers. Each of the first two missions ends in a long boss encounter. The first two stages in these missions are randomly ordered. The final Mission pits the player against an attack base and an experimental attack aircraft as bosses.

Fighter craft

This game includes seven aircraft, which are retooled versions of the ''

'' craft. Some craft had their secondary weapons switched around, while others had theirs revamped. The rest are new to this game, complete with new weaponry. The secret fighters in this game are unlocked the longer the arcade machine has been running since initial boot-up. Newer single-PCB versions of the game eliminate the time-based unlocking mechanic and make all the fighters available from the start. Unlockable fighters include the Miclus and Fairy (both collectible score items in the ''Raiden'' and ''Raiden Fighters'' series). Introduced in this game are the second-player colored variation of the Raiden mk-II and Judge Spear, dubbed the Raiden mk-IIβ and Blue Javelin respectively, each with different weaponry and attributes than their counterparts. All but two of the hidden craft in this game reappear in the sequel ''

''.

Plot

''Raiden Fighters 2'' takes place four years after the events of the first game. A few surviving guerrilla groups gather under a dictator. They form a new nation and begin attacks on the protagonists. In response, retooled fighters were deployed in a new mission called Operation Hell Dive.

Music

The music of ''Raiden Fighters 2'' is composed in the

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

style with some instances of

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

(the theme of the boss stages). The soundtrack was composed by Go Sato. His past works include the soundtracks of ''

Raiden II is a 1993 vertical scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is the second game in the '' Raiden'' series of vertical scrolling shooter arcade games that started with '' Raiden''. ''Raiden II'' was ported to Win ...

'', parts of ''

Raiden DX is a 1993 in video gaming, 1993 vertical Shoot 'em up#Scrolling shooters, scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is the second game in the ''Raiden (series), Raiden'' series of vertical scrolling shooter arcad ...

'', ''

Viper Phase 1 is a 1995 vertical-scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is a spin-off in the '' Raiden'' series set in space. Gameplay The game is set in outer space. Players pilot their space fighter through eight st ...

'', ''

Senkyu , known as 'Battle Balls' in English, is an arcade puzzle game developed by Seibu Kaihatsu and released on October 24, 1995. A version for the Sony PlayStation titled was later released in April 19, 1996 as limited quantities for the Japanese ma ...

'' (''Battle Balls'' in the USA), and the first ''

''.

Other versions

The later ''Raiden Fighters 2 - 2000 Operation Hell Dive'' clone runs on cheaper hardware and features notoriously inferior sound than the original. A newer single-board version was released for the US market. This stand-alone version has all fighters available immediately. In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Raiden Fighters 2'' on their February 1, 1998 issue as being the eleventh most-successful arcade game of the month.

Ports and conversions

Footnotes

External links

Raiden Fighters 2
o
The Killer List of Videogames
{{Raiden series 1997 video games Arcade video games Cooperative video games Dotemu games Fabtek games Multiplayer and single-player video games Seibu Kaihatsu games Vertically scrolling shooters Video game sequels Video games developed in Japan Windows games