THE RAIDEN GAMES HAVE LEFT A PROFOUND LEGACY IN THE SHOOTING GAME GENRE SINCE THE VERY FIRST DEBUTED IN 1990. IT’S A SERIES THAT HAS NEVER BEEN AFRAID TO CARVE ITS OWN PATH. AND IT ISN’T YET DONE
When the first Raiden game arrived in Japan’s game centers in 1990, it wasn’t an immediate hit. And yet it was the beginning of a series that would leave a remarkable legacy in the 2D shooter genre, and beyond.
Make no mistake, the first Raiden went on to be a grand success. But on release, developer Seibu Kaihatsu was still making a name for itself. In fact, the team had begun their life making shmups, with 1983’s Stinger and the following year’s Scion. They’d explored the form yet again with 1987’s Air Raid. But the team had found more success elsewhere, with the likes of gallery shooters such as Empire City 1931 and its spiritual successor of sorts, Dynamite Duke. The latter was far from a flop, but so significant was its development cost, with Seibu creating its own arcade hardware system for the game, it struggled to deliver healthy returns.
The Seibu team longed for more success. And they couldn’t help but notice that 2D shooters – commonly STGs (Shooting Games) in Japanese arcade parlance – were enjoying snowballing popularity at the time, as well as being relatively inexpensive to produce. As such, the team chose to focus on developing a new shooter. As noted in the materials that came with the 2006 superplay DVD The Aces High Raiden, Raiden’s inception was ultimately a financial decision; a deviation from the original plan. And yet it became an icon.
In the years following Stinger and Scion, Konami had unleashed a classic with 1985’s Gradius, and Irem had introduced the world to R-Type two years later. Soon, Raiden would join those iconic series as defining of the form, especially in terms of being influential across the genre.
But Gradius and R-Type weren’t the only apparent influence over the Seibu team’s design philosophy. Sink some hours into the earlier Raiden games, and it feels very apparent that another iconic Japanese software house with a reputation for shmup excellence likely had a role to play.
In the years before Raiden’s arrival, Toaplan had released so many brilliant, important and influential shooters: Tiger-Heli, Twin Cobra, Flying Shark, Truxton and Fire Shark to name a few. Toaplan’s story s
