Finally M2's Ray'z Arcade Chronology got a western release for both PS4 and Switch.
This is a collection of all three Ray games (RayForce, RayStorm and RayCrisis), ported with the utmost care and quality that only M2 is known for. This collection is easily the definite version of the arcade games to play. Perfectly accurate to the arcade, very low input lag, great practice options, leaderboards, downloadable replays, extra widgets and with plenty of extra bells and whistles and attention to detail that gives this an edge over any other port and even unofficial emulation.
The only negative I can give it is that it's missing the extra modes from the PS1 and 360 ports, which were really neat as they completely redid all the stage layouts, bosses and graphics.
This run was played on the RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection.
This is a separate release from the Ray'z Arcade Chronology, which is identical to Ray'z except for the fact that it's missing RayForce.
They are offering this separate release because there was already a version of RayForce on the market by City Connection (the Saturn Tribute one), and is aimed at the people that already bought that.
This action seems a bit misguided to me as the Ray'z collection is offering a far superior version of the game and RayForce is by far the most desirable game out of the collection for most people, but I guess it's nice that the option is there?
Many people were turned off by the high input lag of the Saturn Tribute port, so they definitely wouldn't hesitate to get the M2 version over it.
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RayCrisis is the last entry in the Ray-series and came out in arcades in 1998, two years after RayStorm.
RayCrisis is quite a different from the other games in the series in both theming and structure.
Instead taking place inside a virtual environment where the player connects themselves to the out-of-control Con-Human supercomputer in an attempt to infiltrate it and shut it down.
With the enemies represented as the system fighting back. While you're doing this you're also constantly exposed to a cyber attack from Con-Human, which in the game is represented as the Encroachment system.
The way the Encroachment system works is that it starts at 50% and constantly raises as soon as enemies are on screen. If it reaches 100% you instantly get warped to the end where you'll face an extremely buffed final boss, after which you get the bad ending, symbolizing an unwinnable fight.
The only way to lower Encroachment is by quickly getting rid of enemies and bosses or doing big lock-on chains. Basically the more skilled you are at the game, the more Encroachment will lower. Game difficulty is directly adverse to this though, the more Encroachment lowers, the harder the game will get. I feel like this creates a very dynamic system that makes the game accessible to all levels of skill.
RayCrisis is an absolutely wild and ambitious game.
The game has 42 different routes that arrange the five separate stages differently, and each of those stages is divided into segments that can have up to three different enemy layouts each, depending on your Encroachment level. It certainly gives wild replay value.
The downside to this is that each individual playthrough is rather short, with runs not really lasting more than 12 minutes if you don't do anything special.
Scoring-wise it feels a bit like a Caravan shmup. The scoring is also way harder than the other games.
Mechanics that got further added from RayStorm:
- You can now push your reticle down by holding down at the bottom of the screen. Helps if you want to lock something early or if you don't want to lock something at all.
- The full-lock minibombs got a major buff and now more resemble the actual bomb from RayStorm in both use and scoring.
- The red enemies now have double the score value from normal enemies, putting further emphasis on the lock system.
- Inclusion of a third ship that turns the game into Dodonpachi with full-stage chaining.
Bombs are now more consistent in this, but the full lock-on inherits the RNG aspect of the RayStorm bomb, which I really don't like as you use it waaaay more in this game.
Like RayStorm, you still don't get any extends in this game, but the game is a lot shorter and potentially much easier, so it's not quite as bad.
In order to get the good ending you need to fight the True Last Boss.
This TLB only shows up if you get to the final boss with less than 25% Encroachment (and some other stuff).
The definitive strategy guide to RayCrisis (Japanese):
van-gluon.github.io/Leslie-Re...
Shmup wiki entry:
shmups.wiki/library/RayCrisis
Special thanks to ININ Games for providing a key!
Intro - 00:00
Self Field - 01:56
Stage 1 - Intelligence Part - 02:36
Stage 2 - Consciousness Part - 05:11
Stage 3 - Emotion Part - 07:54
Dis-Human - 10:54
TLB: Infinity - 13:04
Ending & Credits - 14:59
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