RayCrisis

RayCrisis

Title screen

Developer:	Taito
Producer:	Yukio Abe
Music:	Tamayo Kawamoto (Zuntata)
Release date:	1998 (JP)
Previous game:	RayStorm

RayCrisis is a vertically scrolling shooting game developed by Taito for the Taito G-NET arcade hardware and released in Japanese arcades in 1998. Acting as a prequel to 1994's RayForce, RayCrisis details the rise of the malevolent Con-Human supercomputer.

The game is notable for it's unusual structure, featuring 42 different variations of the game map.

Gameplay Overview

Controls

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• A Button: Shot (Hold for autofire)
• B Button: Laser
• C Button: Fire Round Divider (depletes Round Divider gauge)

Weapons

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Main Shot

Basic, rapid fire shot that shoots directly forward and only hits enemies in the foreground layer.

Lock-on Laser

The Lock-on Laser is the central mechanic of Ray series. By making use of the targeting reticle located directly in front of the player craft, it is possible to lock-on to several enemies at once, and pressing the B button then shoots homing lasers at each of the acquired targets. The exact mechanics of the Laser depend on the ship type chosen.

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.

If the player uses all of their lock-ons on a single target before firing, then a devastating Hyper Laser will be fired, which does additional damage, and also deals splash damage to nearby enemies.

Round Divider

A screen-clearing bomb that is charged by destroying enemies. Can be used when the Round Divider gauge is full.

Ships

There are three playable ship types in RayCrisis, referred to as Wave Riders. Two are selectable by default, with the third being unlocked via a secret code entry (see Secret Codes)

WR-01R

WR-01R
• Shot Type: Wide A spread shot that covers a conical range in front of the ship. Moderate damage at close range. • Laser Type: Lock-on Laser Fires homing lasers at all acquired targets. • Max Lock-ons: 8

WR-02R

WR-02R
• Shot Type: Laser Two laser beams that fire directly forward. Low Damage. • Laser Type: Thunder Laser Fire a single bolt of lightning that snakes between each locked target in sequence. New lock-ons can still be acquired while the laser is out, and the laser will continue to jump to them (while still incrementing the multiplier as it goes). • Max Lock-ons: 16

WR-03

WR-03
• Shot Type: Homing Missiles • Laser Type: Photon Torpedo • Max Lock-ons: 24

Scoring

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:

WR-01R

Laser	Multiplier
1st	x2
2nd	x4
3rd	x8
4th	x16
5th	x32
6th	x64
7th	x128
8th	x256

WR-02R

Laser	Multiplier
1st	x2
2nd	x4
3rd	x8
4th	x16
5th	x24
6th	x32
7th	x48
8th	x64
9th	x80
10th	x96
11th	x112
12th	x128
13th	x160
14th	x192
15th	x224
16th	x256

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.

Endings

There are three possible endings in RayCrisis - commonly referred to as the Good, Bad and True endings.

The Good ending is achieved by beating the game normally.

The Bad ending is achieved by allowing Encroachment to reach 100%. When this happens, the player is immediately taken to the battle with Dis-Human, and the Bad ending follows thereafter.

The True ending has two conditions - first, a certain number of maps must have been unlocked on the player's user code. Beating the game 5 times while selecting a 'New' course on each run is sufficient to meet this condition. On subsequent runs, reaching Dis-Human with less than 25% encroachment will trigger the True Last Boss, Infinity. Defeating Infinity will then lead to the True Ending.

Secret Codes

After inserting a credit, enter the following button sequences on the "Push Start Button to Start" screen to unlock the desired effect.

Unlock the hidden ship WR-03: ↑ → ↑ → ↓ ↑ ← A B
Unlock all 42 Maps: ↑ → ↓ ← A A A B C C C C
Set the game rank to maximum: ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ A A A B B B B B B

Video References

Video index for RayCrisis