RayStorm

RayStorm is a vertically scrolling shooting game developed by Taito for the Taito FX-1B arcade hardware and released in Japanese arcades in August 1996. Following on from RayForce, RayStorm marks the series' first entry into 3D.

Gameplay Overview
RayStorm is a 2 button game with 8-way movement. The player controls a Star Federation fighter as it defends earth against the rebellious colony of Secilia.

Controls

 * A Button: Fire main shot. Hold for autofire.
 * B Button: Fire laser
 * A+B Button: Fire Special Attack

Weapons
Main Shot

A rapid shot that fires directly forward, and only hits enemies in the foreground layer. The weapon can be powered up by collecting red items during stages. Upon death, the power level of the main shot decreases by 1.

Lock-on Laser

The Lock-on Laser is the central mechanic of the Ray series. By making use of the targeting reticle located directly in front of the player craft, it is possible to lock-on to multiple enemies. Pressing the B button then shoots homing lasers at each of the acquired targets. Unike RayForce, the laser can be used to lock-on to targets in both the foreground and background layers. The number of lasers can be increased by collecting the appropriate powerups, and decreases by 1 when the player dies.

When locking on to multiple enemies, an escalating score multiplier is applied to each enemy within the lock on, meaning that this mechanic is crucial to both scoring and survival.

SP Attack

A screen-clearing bomb that is fired by pressing A+B simultaneously when the SP Gauge is full.

Ships
There are two playable ships in Raystorm, each with unique mechanics for the Lock-on Laser.

R-Gray 1

R-Gray 2

Laser Multiplier
When the player locks on to multiple targets, a score multiplier is applied to each enemy. The multipliers for the player ships are:

R-Gray 1

R-Gray 2

Therefore, the player should aim to always lock onto as many enemies at a time as possible, and the locks should be constructed such that the most valuable enemies (ie. highest base value) are the final targets to be acquired. The maximum score awarded for a single enemy is capped at 999,900.

Video References
Video index for RayStorm