I only played Raiden Trad, is that the same series?

[Blind]

It was also a shmup, and it looks sorta similar.

[Dissection_Br]

yes Raiden Trad is a spin-off of the original game

[TheCoopX]

Originally posted by BBX:

It was also a shmup, and it looks sorta similar.

Raiden Trad is a port of the arcade game. I know wikipedia and other places call it a spin off, but as far as I can tell, it's simply a graphically and aurally toned down port of Raiden. The levels are all there and appear to be the same length (with a bonus level at the end), the music's all there, and the gameplay's the same.

[76561198042810301]

Yes. Raiden Trad is the name of some console ports of the original Raiden. Here's the series:

*Raiden [1990]
*Raiden II [1993]
*Raiden DX [1994] (Upgraded version of Raiden II)
*Viper Phase 1 [1995] (Ironically with the below, Raiden in all but name)

*Raiden Fighters [1996] (Ironically with the above, not related to Raiden at all other than cameos)
*Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive [1997]
*Raiden Fighters Jet [1998]

After that, Seibu (the original developers) more or less stopped releasing games. They were succeeded by Moss, who has some old Raiden developers:

*Raiden III [2005]
*Raiden IV [2007]
*Raiden V [2015]

Anything not listed here is a port. There's the aforementioned Raiden Densetsu/Raiden Trad, a PlayStation port of Raiden and Raiden II called "The Raiden Project", a Japan-only PlayStation port of Raiden DX, etc.

[Jeneki]

I've got the SNES Raiden Trad. It's not what I would call a great port. Level 6 is missing the moon section (just outer space instead), and the boss is a repeat of level 2 since there isn't a land secion. As an odd play control change, you lose control of your ship the moment a boss dies. This means that if there are remaining bullets on the screen, you cannot dodge them and can be killed with no way to avoid it if you are unlucky with the bosses death timing. Framerate and controls are rather sloppy for a shmup as well, so I have a hard time enjoying this version.

For console versions of Raiden 1, the Japanese Raiden Project disc on PS1 is about as close as it gets but even that has some difficulty inconsistencies. Other console versions that are worth checking out are on Turbografx (both HuCard and CD versions) and Jaguar.

[SUPERMCNUGGET]

Everything Jeneki said is on the ball. Raiden Trad is a pretty bad port of Raiden.

[TheCoopX]

The Genesis version is actually pretty decent overall. The colors are downgraded (obviously), there were animation cuts, and the music has a different feel to it (not bad, just different thanks to the synth choices), but the game itself is Raiden through and through in terms of gameplay, controls, etc.. It's much better than the SNES port to be sure, and includes an extra, damn hard stage after the ending.

[KesMonkey]

Originally posted by SUPERMCNUGGET:

Everything Jeneki said is on the ball. Raiden Trad is a pretty bad port of Raiden.

The SNES version of Raiden Trad is awful. The Mega Drive / Genesis version is excellent.

[uuuhdavid]

I've got the snes raiden trad as well, soundtrack on the snes is better, but the gameplay is not smooth like the megadrive.