Arcade Shmups #28

Raiga - Strato Fighter (1991)
By: Tecmo Genre: Shooting Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 116,620 (one credit)
Also Available For: Xbox (compilation)

I suspect there's a decent chance many of you won't have heard of this obscure shooter, and that's a surprise. It arrived at a time when the genre was immensely popular and it was bestowed upon us by a well known arcade developer. It was even available in the West (US only, no release for us European oafs), so why wasn't it known to more players? Well, I suppose it may have gotten crowded out by the sheer number of similar games available, but aside from that I've no idea. Of course, your resident herb-flavoured retrohead knew all about... okay, I admit - I hadn't heard of it either! I discovered it simply due to spotting its cool name (Strato Fighter? Yeah!) in my MAME list and giving it a go. With that in mind, I guess it should be part of my 'Random Game' feature, but it was probably around 7 or 8 years ago that I saw it and it has remained on my 'to review' list ever since (hey, in my defence, there are about 1,000-odd games on it!), but I've finally gotten around to playing it.

It's noticeable right away from the title screen that it's a game which offers simultaneous two-player support due to the red and blue ships (did Raiden start that?) at the bottom of the screen, but since I'm a sad loner with no friends I've had to play it by myself. I'm glad I did play it though, as it appears to be pretty skillish judging by first impressions. Lord only knows what the backstory is, if indeed there is one - some sort of invading horde needs wiping out, I suspect. This is done over six side-scrolling stages, after which a 'great challenge' is waiting for you - i.e. it loops back to the beginning after a cursory 'well done' message. I'm getting ahead of myself here though. First you'll need a spacecraft to fly though these stages, and luckily one is available. I believe it's called the Raiga and it is no doubt an 'advanced prototype' (or two prototypes since the second player gets one as well). Unsurprisingly it isn't too advanced to begin with but it has potential and some unique features.

Your default shot is a narrow pea-shooter called an Ion Launcher and isn't too bad for the first stage, but power-ups are soon needed and are thankfully quite plentiful. They can be found during stages by targeting the special container ships that turn up fairly frequently, or by destroying certain parts of the scenery. Often arriving in twos, the items will consist of either ultra-handy speed-ups or shields (or very rare 'extends'), while all others consist of new weaponry. There are three main weapons, all of which can be powered-up by collecting successive icons. They include the Ion Launcher you start with (which can soon become a powerful forward shot), the splendid Shotgun (medium power forward spread shot), and Vertical (low power but often-essential vertical shots). If you lose a life you'll keep the weapon you last had but it will be reverted to its weakest level. Harumph!

You can also find several types of bombs/missiles and the Raiga can be equipped with up to two Option type support drones, known here as Auto Guards which also get several different shots - Solid Shooter, Blaster and the splendidly-named Beam Rifle. You may notice there isn't a rear shot amongst all these pick-ups, but that's not because enemies don't attack from behind. No no, it's actually because the Raiga has the possibly-unique ability to spin around to face (and therefore attack) the other way. It's such an unusual feature for a shmup that, if you're anything like me, you'll probably keep forgetting that you can even do it to start with! It's mighty useful when you get used to it though. The many types of enemies here are so varied you'll need to use it often, as well as switch weapons at regular intervals too. Not only do you get smaller and medium-sized varieties attacking from all sides but the areas with scenery are also likely to have many guns and other similar stuff.

There is quite a bit of scenery here to avoid too, as you can probably see from the screenshots. Stages are all set in space and/or bases or installations of some kind as far as I can tell - the first starts in space before entering rocky caverns, the second is a big battleship stage, and the fourth features metallic columns all over the place. Even the third which seems much more organic than the others, and the fifth which looks to be set amidst the ruins of a city, both appear to be the insides of structures rather than planets, so there is always plenty of stuff to avoid as well as shoot. To my slight surprise, the final sixth stage merely consists of a battle against whatever ghastly entity is responsible for this unspecified misery that has befallen... whatever species/planet/kingdom we're attempting to save. Come on Tecmo, at least a little bit of exposition surely wouldn't hurt, even with an arcade shooter!

There really isn't much wrong with this game though. It's not very long, admittedly - a skilled player could get through the six stages in under 20 minutes - but it is an arcade game and any conversion might've seen a couple of extra stages added or something, as well as a story of some sort. But what's here is good. The presentation, graphics and sounds are all decent, featuring a nice variety of sprites, good weapon effects and fiery explosions, and even some nice (if quiet) speech. Most of the music is pretty good too, but I had to listen to it separately to hear it properly (there are 26 tracks including all the jingles) as it gets drowned out somewhat by the frenetic action. I guess that's good really though, as it means there is a lot going on, and a good shooter always needs to keep you on your toes! If there was a fault with this game, it would be with the difficulty level. It isn't ultra-impossible or anything, it's just that when you lose a life you carry on from where you were.

This can be fine but, as mentioned, your main weapon is reduced to its weakest (ineffective, after the first stage) level too, so unless you die right before a power-up ship, you will probably die again quickly. This can often make it a bit of a 'one life game'. I also found myself losing track of my ship for a split-second now and then when it's powered-up and things are busy, and this is also likely to cost a life. Might just be my deteriorating eyes though I guess, and it's not an overly unfair game, generally speaking. There aren't really any stupidly-tough sections and the end-stage bosses are doable without being a pushover. Indeed, I've enjoyed most of my time with it a lot. It's a little original and I always enjoy exploring a new (to me) shmup, and this one definitely falls into the 'pleasant surprise' category. It's a bit puzzling as to why it never got any conversions - it would've been perfect for the PCE or MD - but it's definitely worth a blast for fans of the genre if you get the chance.

RKS Score: 7/10

Gameplay Video: here's a video of the whole game being played (twice) by one of the talented fellows at World of Longplays (check out their great channel here). Oh, and don't watch if you want to avoid spoilers!