My wiki has a 2005 entry about MAME emulation of various games, among them Raiden.
2014-06-08
Completed level 4/8. Damn, this game! Unlike certain other arcade games, where you can continue from whereever, Raiden has real continue points, so completing it with infinite continues is still a challenge. In fact, it is very much a challenge. I'm halfway through the game, and every checkpoint is a nerve-wracking experience. The enemy bullets travel so fast, and the boss battles often just play out with me dropping all my smart bombs in their face, dying, and then repeating.
I can certainly see where SWIV came from, the hard shadows, the craters, the big tracked vehicles. Raiden has a very stylish presentation.
Damn you, Plane-Tank!!
Level 5 is killing me!
One might think that rectangular turrets driving out from tunnels on tracks in the awesome Amiga shooter Battle Squadron was inspired by Raiden, but Battle Squadron came out the year before Raiden, so it could only be the other way around. More likely, it's inspired by an even older game.
2014-06-09
Oh, Final Checkpoint on Level 5, how I hate thee. Some of the most infuriatingly difficult crap I have played for a while. It's humbling when you try the same section again and again and your chances of success are snuffed in 5 seconds by a storm of bullets from some stupid tank.
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