History VideoGame / EspRaDe

* AnAsskickingChristmas: The games take place on Christmas 2018, as evidenced by the Christmas trees in J-B's intro. If you enable the stage progress M2 Gadget in the [=PS4=] and Switch ports, you can see that the game starts on December 24, and after completing the Shopping Mall stage the rest of the game takes place on Christmas Day itself.;

* TwistedChristmas: The game takes place on Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day. Over the course of these two days, Yusuke's friend is killed in front of him and should the player unlock the hidden ending for Irori, [[spoiler:she dies after her fight with Ms. Garra]].

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: The original game got criticisms from players due to [[HitboxDissonance the hitbox not always lining up with the sprite's center, with the character's sprite often shifting around causing the hitbox to be on either shoulder instead]]. ''Psi'' adds a visible hitbox display that can be toggled on in all modes and which ''does not'' disqualify scores from the online leaderboards.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: J-B 5th's ending shows that he will never be free of the police trying to capture him, and thus he will have to blow them up for the rest of his life. In Yusuke's ending, he's gotten his revenge, but his friend is still dead.]]
** The there's the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhCj-nA8A7s&feature=related hidden ending]].

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Obtaining the "Secret Ending" while playing as Irori results in Irori collapsing in the snow after fighting and defeating Ms. Garra. [[BystanderSyndrome The people nearby don't care to help her]], and as a result the girl freezes to death]].

* LastLousyPoint: In ''Psi'', for each character, it's the Gold Medal for the All Stage Play challenge. Gold Medals in each challenge require completing the segment without getting hit. Yes, for All Stage Play that means ''play the entire game without getting hit at all''. And you have to do this ''three times'', one for each character, if you want a [[HundredPercentCompletion full Gold collection]]. Good luck!

* ChargeAttack: The guard barrier can be charged for great effect.

''ESP Ra.De'' is a BulletHell ShootEmUp by Creator/{{CAVE}} with artwork by "Joker" Creator/JunyaInoue. [[BigBad Garra Ono]], a powerful psychic woman who leads the organization known as Yaksa, is using her resources to take over the world. This ends up drawing attention from the three psychic heroes, each of whom has their own reason for opposing her:

* LastLousyPoint: In ''Psi'', for each character, it's the Gold Medal for the All Stage Play challenge. Gold Medals in each challenge require completing the segment without getting hit. Yes, for All Stage Play that means ''play the entire game without getting hit at all''. And you have to do this ''three times'', one for each character, if you want a full Gold collection. Good luck!

* LastLousyPoint: In ''Psi'', for each character, it's the Gold Medal for the All Stage Play challenge. Gold Medals in each challenge require completing the segment without getting hit. Yes, for All Stage Play that means ''play the entire game without getting hit at all''. Good luck!

* DifficultyLevels: In addition to the standard difficulty levels that adjust bullet speed and density, the story challenges in Irori's Room have four difficulty modes: [[EasierThanEasy Super Easy]] (enemies have very weak attacks, you automatically fire your Guard Barrier if hit), Pet Support (you gain stat buffs based on your pet levels, and you again hav Auto Barrier), No Pet Support (normal play), and No Barrier (same as previous, but Guard Barrier is disabled).

* BossBonanza: ''Psi'' makes you fight ''three'' bosses in a row at the end: The head of the Ares statue, Ms. Garra, (the first two are also in the original), and Alice Master.

** During the Stage 5 midboss, an endless wave of assault vechiles show up to [[FlunkyBoss support the boss's firepower]], however they award ''no'' points.

** During the Stage 5 midboss, an endless wave of {{Mook}}s show up to [[FlunkyBoss support the boss's firepower]], however they award points on the order of ''tens'' apiece.

''ESP Ra.De'' is a BulletHell ShootEmUp by Creator/{{CAVE}} with artwork by "Joker" Creator/JunyaInoue. [[BigBad Ms. Garra]], a powerful psychic woman who leads the organization known as Yaksa, is using her resources to take over the world. This ends up drawing attention from the three psychic heroes, each of whom has their own reason for opposing her:

''ESP Ra.De'' is a BulletHell ShootEmUp by Creator/{{CAVE}} with artwork by "Joker" Creator/JunyaInoue. [[BigBad Ms. Gaara]], a powerful psychic woman who leads the organization known as Yaksa, is using her resources to take over the world. This ends up drawing attention from the three psychic heroes, each of whom has their own reason for opposing her:

* J-B 5th: Also known as the "Black Peter Pan," this Russian assassin was raised from an early age to develop his psychic powers. He is now tasked with assassinating Ms. Gaara and will do whatever it takes to complete the mission.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Obtaining the "Secret Ending" while playing as Irori results in Irori collapsing in the snow after fighting and defeating Ms. Gaara. [[BystanderSyndrome The people nearby don't care to help her]], and as a result the girl freezes to death]].

* EyeScream: The original Alice, implied to be another product of the same project that made J-B an esper, apparently did this ''to herself'' before Gaara took her in.
* FinalBoss: Ms. Gaara in the original version of the game. ''Psi'' adds a new boss after her, Alice Master. A harder, TrueFinalBoss version of her can be fought if certain conditions are met.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Seems a bit of a stretch to call JB-5th a "hero" since he's an assassin, but he's dedicated to stopping Ms. Gaara as much as the other two playable characters are. [[spoiler:His assassination of an important figure secretly connected to Ms. Gaara attracts the police, and while he's able to stop Ms. Gaara and her Yaksa organization, he is forced to go on the run for the rest of his life]].
* HighPressureBlood: All psychic enemies let out a lot of blood when killed, especially Satoru Oumi and Ms. Gaara.

* MeaningfulName: "Yaksa" are quasi-demonic entities from Hindu lore (not as bad as rakshasi, but still not fun to be around when they're mad), better known in Japan as [[Manga/InuYasha yasha]]. Gaara convened this lot to take vengeance on the world that would not judge the espers who killed her husband.
* MonumentalDamage: No real monuments are involved, but Ms. Gaara does pull up the head of a gigantic Artemis statue that fills up most of the screen. To use as a ''warm-up'' weapon while she relaxes.

* ReplicantSnatching: Ms. Gaara's plan is to replace everyone with Alice Clones.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Yusuke's storyline can be basically summed up as this trope, given that it all started when one of Ms. Gaara's men was responsible for his friend's death. When he sees the man responsible (Satoru Oumi) doing the deed, Yusuke's PsychicPowers fully awaken and he proceeds to destroy everything in sight.

* SlouchOfVillainy: Ms. Gaara spends most of her time casually lounging while watching the heroes battle her minions and weapons.

* SnowMeansDeath: In the final boss battle with Ms. Gaara, it's snowing, and Ms. Gaara is defeated and killed by the player character. [[spoiler:Meanwhile, all three of the playable characters' endings have snow falling, and every time, someone dies. Yusuke's ending has him carrying Ms. Gaara's body and gently laying her on the ground, while his murdered friend's spirit ascends to heaven. JB-5th's ending has him murdering a group of police officers who were chasing him for his crime of assassinating an important person. It's narrowly averted in Irori's normal ending where a bystander saves her from freezing to death, but it's played straight with the hidden ending, with Irori collapsing from her battle with Ms. Gaara and freezing to death while [[BystanderSyndrome the same bystander ignores her]]]].

* WickedCultured: Ms. Gaara is very well-dressed and has a nice mansion.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: '''''Ms. Gaara'''''. She looks like she's in her 60s, but she's actually in her ''early 40s''. This is because she's been ''horribly'' overexerting her body with [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique far more constant psionic activity than can hope to be good]].

* FinalBoss: Ms. Gaara in the original version of the game. ''Psi'' adds a new boss after her, Alice Master. A harder, TrueLastBoss version of her can be fought if certain conditions are met.

* DefeatMeansPlayable: ''Psi'' and its new Arcade+, Super Easy, and Custom modes give you the Alice Master as a new TrueFinalBoss. Beating her for the first time makes her playable as a fourth character. You can unlock her in Irori's Room as well by beating her Story segment, however you still have to 1CC the game on any of the other modes to unlock her for them.

* TrueFinalBoss: While the original just had a final boss against Ms. Garra, ''Psi'' and its new Arcade+ mode adds in a True Final Boss in the form of the Alice Master. A special version of her can be fought if you clear the game with 2 deaths or less, enhancing all of her attacks and giving her an [[NoSell anti-bomb shield]].

* UpdatedReRelease: ''ESP:Ra.De. Psi'', a remastered version of the same game by M2. Added a VersionExclusiveContent in a form of VirtualPaperDoll and AnInteriorDesignerIsYou called “Irori’s Room” （いろりの部屋）, where players can customize rooms and costumes for Irori, Yuusuke and JB, which they can get more furniture items by accomplishing certain missions to get in-game currency to buy them. This version has an exclusive mode, Arcade Plus, which is largely the same but with redone voice acting and [[AdaptationExpansion considerably more lines]], as well as a TrueFinalBoss, Alice Master. Finally it featres a couple of practice modes: Arcade Challenge has you completing sections with as few deaths as possible, putting you into a training mode every time you get killed, and Arcade Osarai ("osarai" meaning "review"), where you replay parts of Arcade Mode you recently died in and try to redo them without the same mistake.

* SpiritualPredecessor: To ''VideoGame/{{Espgaluda}}'', which would borrow some elements from this game such as the characters being flying psychics as well as the Guard Barrier.

* OneUp: By default, [[EveryTenThousandPoints you get one at 4,000,000 points and another at 7,000,000 points]]. Additionally, on Stage 4 there's also a 1-up token on an oncoming express train.