Raiden Fighters Jet

Raiden Fighters Jet

Raiden Fighters Jet is a shoot-em-up developed by Seibu Kaihatsu and released in 1998. The third and final game in the Raiden Fighters series, RFJ is known for its fast bullet speeds, energetic soundtrack, and large number of hidden secrets and easter eggs found during gameplay which are integral to playing for score. It was rereleased in 2008 for the Xbox 360 as part of the Raiden Fighters Aces collection, and again on PC in 2013 as part of Raiden Legacy.

Gameplay Overview

Raiden Fighters Jet, commonly abbreviated as RFJ, is a two-button game with fourteen playable ships, plus two secret ships. The stages progress in a branching path depending on player performance, with a full run of the game adding up to seven stages. RFJ contains two different scoring systems - one in which medals follow the player and increase in value by merging with each other, and another that's activated mid-run via an easter egg. Bonus points are awarded under certain conditions, including destroying enemies quickly before they begin shooting, destroying multiple enemies simultaneously, destroying parts of enemies in a certain order, and grazing enemy bullets. Easter eggs and secrets are very important to score, primarily in the form of point and item-granting fairies which appear under certain conditions, and micluses, Seibu Kaihatsu's mascot, which come out from under specific locations in the scenery when the player hovers over them.

Controls

• A (Press): Fires standard shots from the ship and options
• A (Hold): Fires a charged shot from the ship
• B: Fires a limited-use bomb

Characters

RFJ contains fourteen standard ships and two secret ships. Each ship differs by speed, shot type, bomb type and base bomb count, and hitbox size, as well as whether they have access to laser and missile shot types. The two secret ships are a fairy and an option ship (referred to as "slave" in-game), selected by holding the B button when pressing start, then picking any of the other ships at the character select. Choosing the miclus ship will select the fairy, and choosing any other ship will select the option ship. The option ship inherets the speed and bomb type of the ship it was selected with, while having its own shot type and a significantly smaller hitbox.

Resources

RFJ uses lives to measure player health, and starts the player at two lives. There are no extra lives granted to the player at any point.

The player starts off with two or three bombs depending on the ship selected, which are replenished after respawning from death, regardless of how many bombs they had before. Additional bombs are granted by killing specific enemies.

Those playing for pure survival are advised to use a bomb if they feel death is unavoidable, in order to maximize how many bombs will be available to them throughout their playthrough.

Items

RFJ has four different types of items: power up items which increase the strength of the player's shot and switch it between laser type (L) and missile type (M) where applicable, bomb items which grant the player an additional bomb, option items which grant the player an additional option ship, and medals which grant the player score.

(pictures of the items)

Scoring System

Full details: Raiden Fighters Jet/Scoring

Base Scoring System

The base scoring system of Raiden Fighters Jet involves merging medals together to form higher value medals. When the player has an option ship following them, medals dropped by enemies will begin to follow them - these follower medals can be guided around the screen to merge with each other and increase in value, up to a maximum 2,048,000 point medal. Reaching the maximum value medal is accompanied by a distinct sound effect.

Destroying multiple large enemies or parts of enemies simultaneously or in quick succession gives a destroyed at a time bonus, granting 100,000 points. Killing certain enemies or parts of enemies before they begin shooting gives a quick shot bonus, granting between 10,000 and 100,000 points depending on the enemy.

Performing multiple bonuses within a certain time frame will multiply the value of those bonuses, depending on how many were performed, in a process similar to chaining.

Getting close to enemy bullets without touching them is known as grazing, and will grant additional points as well.

Scoring Secrets

Full details: Raiden Fighters Jet/Scoring#Secrets

Hovering over certain locations in the scenery will cause a miclus, Seibu Kaihatsu's mascot, to appear. Discovering a miclus awards a base value of 100,000 points, which can be multiplied by chaining it with other bonuses. Shooting a miclus will also release a total of nine medals.

Fairies can appear under a large variety of conditions, the most common of which is shooting down the main turret of a large tank enemy and waiting for it to advance far down on the screen. Picking up a fairy grants 100,000 points (bonus chainable), and fairies will drop a bomb item if left on the screen for some time. However, they can also be killed by the player, reducing their value to only ten points.

Gold Medal Mode

Gold Medal Mode is an alternate scoring mode for the medals based on the earlier games in the Raiden Fighters series, which replaces the medal-merging mode once activated. The recommended method to activate gold medal mode is as follows:

1. Build up and collect a maximum value medal using the base scoring system
2. Discover a miclus
3. Shoot the miclus to obtain nine medals

When done correctly, the nine medals from the miclus should explode, and all subsequent medals will appear as gold medals instead, fundamentally changing the scoring system.

In gold medal mode, all medals have a base value of 10,000 points. Collecting all the medals on screen will increase the medal value by another 10,000 points, up to a maximum value of 100,000 points per medal. If a medal is dropped offscreen, the medal value will reset back to 10,000, and must be built back up again.

Activating gold medal mode is recommended when playing for score, as it offers significantly more points per medal than the base system.

Stage Completion Points

Bonus points are awarded at the end of each stage based on three criteria: ability, medals earned, and technical points. Ability is a cumulative bonus based on enemies killed, medals collected, and bonuses chained. Medals earned is the number of medals collected during the stage, excluding medals blown up to enter gold medal mode.

Technical points are awarded according to the following criteria:

1. Not dying in the level: five points
2. Enemy destruction: up to three points, based on the number of medium and large enemies destroyed
3. Discovering at least one miclus: one point
4. Discovering at least one fairy: one point. However, killing a fairy will deduct a technical point.

The number of technical points for a level cannot exceed ten.

References

1. Raiden Fighters Emporium | https://rf-emporium.ghegs.com/rfjet/index.html
2. Primary info provided by SLRmercury