Raiden - Atari Jaguar

[l4zy415]

The SNES version is better. I mean the Jaguar has a better game play and graphics, but the music is way better on the SNES.

[pasinurminen2233]

SNES version was better.

[y2k4ever1]

I like the C64 music!!!

[flipidy94]

Hashaha the worlds first Jaguar fanboy

[saturndual32]

Lets just say the Jaguar is capable of an arcade perfect port of Raiden (and then some for that matter), but the coders werent, hehe. Still it is a pretty unique port and i really like it.

[DE7ChainedDoor]

Imagitec Design did a good job to port this game to the Jag, I think no japanese videogame developer (in this case, the Seibu Kaihatsu, creators of Raiden) would be interested in an american console in the 90's (but now check the XBox series, some japanese houses are making games for this console), and it's such a shame, because the Jag needed a better library. Raiden was quite cool.

[turbografx]

The FM Towns version of Raiden blows the Jaguar version away.

BTW for those that don't know, FM Towns was a high-end computer / workstation released in Japan in 1989. It was part PC, part custom workstation with powerful graphic modes that normal IBM compatible PCs did not have.

FM Towns Raiden was the best you could get at home, until The Raiden Project for PSX.

[dafranx]

3:58-5:51 pwn laser, cool!

[powerofrecall]

THIS is nice. Makes me want a Jag

[060falcon]

I would *really* like to see Raiden 2 on the Jaguar, but unfortunately this only came out on Playstation :( Jaguar version is still my favorite one!

[turbografx]

The Jaguar would've choked on Raiden II, it was hard enough for developers in Japan to port it to the much more powerful PlayStation in

The Raiden Project.

The Jaguar was not upto handling Raiden II without downgrades.

[ephiany1]

Wow. I've been rather unimpressed by most samples of Jaguar games, even highly rated ones like Iron Soldier and Alien vs. Predator. But this... this is perhaps the most amazing top-down space shooter I've ever seen. The graphics,sound,and music are all absolutely stunning, and it looks as fun to play as any space shooter I've tried. Thanks for sharing it.

How did a game like this manage to stay a Jaguar exclusive? This was a third party game, wasn't it? Why didn't Sega or Nintendo jump on it?

[viMasterJag]

I dunno, but Raiden is definitely one of the best shooter franchises of all time.

I'm a little surprised you were unimpressed with those signature titles, though.

However, I can understand if you saw them for the first time after the Jag's lifespan.

However, when it was actually first released, those games were cream of the crop.

[ephiany1]

Nah, I have no problem with historical perspective; I still buy Saturn games and am frequently awestruck by them. And I do realize Iron Soldier and Alien vs.Predator are graphically VERY advanced for their day,but the flat,blocky 3D textures of IS leave me cold. I prefer either high quality 2D(like Raiden) or grainy but detailed 3D.

But half of my being unimpressed with those two is gameplay. 1st person shooters like AvP are a hard sell for me,and Iron Soldier strikes me as very slow paced.

[viMasterJag]

Hey, diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks ;-)

AvP, however, can't really be thought of as an FPS. I think many people have made that mistake and have been turned off by it, because of that. It's more of an FPS-Survival game. It's not about frags at all -- it's about surviving and that sometimes can mean you shouldn't open certain doors and shouldn't engage certain enemies.

It's all good, though. AvP is actually one of my favorite games of all time.

Raiden is awesome, though.

[melvoin]

It wasn't a Jaguar exclusive. There were versions for TG-16, Genesis, and SNES. The Genesis and SNES versions were called Raiden Trad.

[AssociationAdmirer]

Ah, that explains it. (This is ephiany1; I was borrowing a friend's account to make comments before.) For some reason, when I searched "Raiden" on GameFAQs, all it came up with was the Jaguar and Arcade versions. No results for TG-16,Genesis,or SNES, not even as "fair matches". Their search engine must have had a glitch that day.

[TheRedCoke]

@melvoin

I'm sure playstation has a version of raiden? I may be mistaken but I do have raiden somewhere with the red ship on the front (PAL RELEASE)

[humanyoyo69]

arcade version was better

[turbografx]

Yes the arcade version of Raiden released in 1990 was better than Jaguar version.

The FM Towns version was better than the Jaguar version and identical to the arcade, with even better CD music. The PlayStation version in The Raiden Project is also on par with the arcade, unlike the Jaguar version.

[viMasterJag]

Yeah, and?

Did you seriously just make 2 posts with almost identical information?

[viMasterJag]

Hmm, I decided to go check out the arcade version on YouTube. Looks the same as the Jag version.

If you're going to say one version is better than the other, explain why.

I understand the CD music with the FM Towns version (not that anyone cares about the FM Towns any more.)

With the PS version, I only notice the difference of the CD music as well... nothing else, really.

Care to elaborate?

[humanyoyo69]

the arcade version was way different. the joystick and button on the arcade are way better then the faguar i mean jaguar controller. i've spent more quarters on the arcade version then a jaguar even costs.

[viMasterJag]

So, you're saying the controller hardware itself is what made it better and not the actual game.

Gotcha.

Luckily I have my own custom-made-from-Happ-parts joystick so I can have the exact same experience. That way I don't have to be pathetic and spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars in the arcade playing it.

[AssociationAdmirer]

Aren't there a whole bunch of third party joystick controllers available for the Jaguar, too? I remember reading that somewhere...

[bobbystar101]

@humanyoyo69 Your a dumbass.

Anyway if you had ever used a jagar you would know that the jaguar controller is actually not remotely uncomfortable. At least, not as bad as the n64 pad.

[saturndual32]

FM Towns version isnt really arcade perfect, its missing some subtle graphical details here and there. And yes its soundtrack was the best of any port, which is why its my favorite version, even ahead of the arcade perfect PS1 port, hehe.

[csdthegreat]

One of the best games EVER.

EVER.

[EmOneGarand]

even though this doesn't show the jags real power, it's a great port :) We can only imagine what it would have been like with more of the jag's power behind it.

[A31Chris]

More excellent work vi. :)