Raiden Series Questions

CiDeRmAn

I have a hankering for picking up a few of the home conversions of the Raiden series.
I have Raiden Project already.
So that leaves me wanting
Raiden DX
Raiden III
Raiden IV
Raiden Fighters Aces.

I have a PS1 that'll play any region as well as a TEST PS2 that'll play any region also, afaik.
My 360 is Pal I'm afraid.

So, help a brother out...
I'm reckoning Andrew is the main man here!

Oh, and what sort of money are we talking about, and what are the Jamma alternatives?

Andrew76

Hey dude,

DX on the PS1 is NTSC-J only, but your sorted with your multi-region consoles. Pretty much all the menus are in English iirc so there's no issues there. It's a brilliant game and comes with soundtracks and a superplay on the disc itself. You can also save your replay and watch it back - pretty damn good. Don't forget you need a PS1 memory card to save anything. The ability to rotate the picture if you want to is also great. I paid €28 including postage from France recently. Here's one for the same price pretty much, also from France but different seller: link. No spine card but who gives a monkies.

Raiden III is NSTC-J/U only but your ok there. Not sure if there is any difference between the two, I have the US one, paid $25 including postage but that was Sept last year. A lot of silly prices for it on ebay but also some cheap ones from the US.

I'm pretty sure IV and Fighters Aces are NTSC-J/U only so unless you get yourself a modded 360 your snookered there (unless you get yourself a 360 from that region but that's more expensive than modding I would imagine). What I've played of IV it's great. Fighters Aces contains 3 games: Fighters, Fighters 2 and Fighters Jet. All pretty good but I haven't spent much time playing them (try them out on Mame to get an idea if you like them). Good value for money there. I think Johnny_Ultimate or someone here mentioned Fighters Aces might be coming to PAL but it's been ages and not sure if that's still the case. Play-asia are out of stock so ebay is probably your best bet (once you have a 360 that can play them). I'm not sure what the state of play is these days with RGH 360's or how much it is to get done. I have a JTag and it's brilliant - multi-region and running games completely off a harddrive with no disc needed is awesome. If you want a multi-region 360 and eh, the ability to play your backups in style, then modding is the only way to go.

Jamma alternatives: Raiden I, II and DX are all normal Jamma PCBs. Prices vary on these but there's usually some available on ebay. There's an over-priced DX board up there at the minute I'm hoping does not sell (plz plz nobody bid on it ). The seller had it for auction at a higher price recently and it didn't sell. I mailed him a good offer which he refused and he re-listed slightly cheaper - still way too much imo. The last DX sold for under 100, raging I missed it.

Fighters, Fighters 2 and Fighters Jet run off the SPI motherboard with a cart on top - they are region specific so mobo needs to match the cart. Viper Phase 1 runs off this also (check it out in Mame, cool game).

Raiden III and IV run off that Taito Type-X hardware so more expensive again I think.

Remember that any of the arcade variants (Jamma, SPI, Taito) will all require a vertical display (or you to lie on your side :pac:).

Imo start off with PS1 DX and PS2 Raiden III: cheap, you have the means to play them and both are great.

/Edit: One addition to the above - the PCB versin of Raiden requires -5v for the sound so if you ever get it make sure your supergun/cab provides that voltage (my cab doesn't but my SG does luckily). Otherwise get that -5v jamma pass through-adapter I got recently, works perfectly.

martineatworld

There was a PAL version of Raiden 3 afaik, published by 505 gamestreet. Just it's pricey.

CiDeRmAn

I found a cheap copy of Raiden 3 a couple of months ago, paid for it and all, then the seller didn't bother sending it and refused all communications, had to use the resolution centre to get my money back, he wasn't even replying to ebays emails either, so he may, just may, have walked under a bus or something...
He was french but I won't hold that against the country,
the Italian plank I am currently dealing with though...

I think I'll pick up the PS and PS titles over the next couple of months, be a little less scattershot in my collecting habits!

We'll see about the 360, might get a cheap console, have it region freed up and keep it off-line.
I'm hoping to pick up a 21" Sony trinitron and pop it on it's side, could wire up my shooter consoles and the G-net to it for proper shooter kicks!

Andrew76

martineatworld is spot on about the PAL release, one on ebay there for joke money. Wasn't familiar with that release - I probably ignored them at those prices. Lol seems those 505 Games publishers hailed from your current fave country - Italy! :pac:

CiDeRmAn

Well, I was having a nice chat with an Italian working in a chipper the other day.
I just have to careful and wipe the ball sack sweat from Puzzle Bobble when I finally get it!

Pyongyang

Are those NTSC-U Raiden III's on eBay legit? I've kept away from them for months because I thought the prices were too good to be true...

Andrew76

Not sure what a fake one looks like if such a thing exists. Maybe there's too many rip off merchants about. You know yourself, just because something is classed as a shmup some folk think they can charge silly prices.

Here's Raiden III from the same seller I got mine from: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAIDEN-III-3-PS2-COMPLETE-MINT-/260942189510?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item3cc15dd3c6

o1s1n

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I have a PS1 that'll play any region as well as a TEST PS2 that'll play any region also, afaik.

Have you ever tried imports on yours? The only retail games ps2 games I have are PAL. I've gotten NTSC games to work on my TEST unit, but they've all been backups. Not too sure about retail games from other regions.

Would be great if it works, I may pick up that NTSC U Raiden III to test it out.

CiDeRmAn

Yeah, just tried Tokyo Bus Guide 2 and it works like a charm, now, off to eBay and spend the mortgage, on games, shooters and stuff from everyone on the planet, bar Italians, sorry Italy, it's a judgement call and I'm making it!


I wonder if the weasel sent it today, bet he carried it to the post office in his underpants!

CiDeRmAn

Andrew76 wrote: »

Not sure what a fake one looks like if such a thing exists. Maybe there's too many rip off merchants about. You know yourself, just because something is classed as a shmup some folk think they can charge silly prices.

Here's Raiden III from the same seller I got mine from: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAIDEN-III-3-PS2-COMPLETE-MINT-/260942189510?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item3cc15dd3c6

Oh no!
It seems some one called "ciderman" just bought it....
Sorry O1s1n!
Here's hoping the guy has no Italian cousins!

Myrddin

Oh, wait...