History VideoGame / RaidenFighters

It took a full decade after the release of ''Raiden Fighters Jet'' for any of the games to be ported to a home video game console. ''Raiden Fighters Aces'' was released in 2008 by Creator/{{Success}} for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360, complete with online leaderboards and player achievements. All three games in the series (along with the original ''Raiden'') are also part of the ''Raiden Legacy'' collection for PC, available via UsefulNotes/{{Desura}}, UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and [[Website/GOGDotCom GOG.com]].

* EvilLaugh: Can be heard in the BGM for Simulation Levels 35 and 50. Since reaching either of these stages disqualifies you from getting to Real Battle, the laughter may be an allusion to this.

* VideogameCaringPotential: One stage of ''Raiden Fighters'' allows you to block a tank boss's shots from hitting some houses; doing so nets you a "DEFENDED THE HOUSE!" bonus. In ''Raiden Fighters 2''[='=]s airport stage, you can do the same with a trio of friendly tanks, and the pair of friendly fighters that show up if you choose the airport stage as the second one.
* VideogameCrueltyPotential: Shooting Micluses until they blow up to yield 100,000 points.
* VideogameCrueltyPunishment: Shoot a fairy down and you get 10 measly points and the message [[WhatTheHellPlayer "KILLED THE FAIRY!"]], as opposed to the 100,000 you would've gotten by collecting it.

* DummiedOut: ''Jet''. The "penalty zone" track along with a number of graphics, sprite layers, and being able to [[DroppedABridgeOnHim drop bridges on enemies]].

* DecompositeCharacter: The blue-colored Player 2 versions of the ships from ''Raiden II'' and ''Viper Phase 1'' appear on the roster starting with ''Raiden Fighters 2''. In the source games, these ships do not have any differences between each other except for color[[note]]The only exception is ''Raiden DX'', where the 2P blue ship has a faster vertical movement speed while the 1P red ship has a faster horizontal movement speed.[[/note]] In the ''Raiden Fighters'' games, the blue ships are given their own names (Raiden mk-II Beta and Blue Javelin), their own unique stats, and their own weapon loadouts to become completely different ships from the Raiden mk-II and the Judge Spear.

** In Japanese versions of ''2'', the TrueFinalBoss Red Eye can only be reached if you have [[HundredPercentCompletion 100% Target Destroy Rate on Stages 3 and 6]]. However, in overseas arcade version, you will always face this regardless of your performance.

* FrickinLaserBeams: Lasers are one of the mainstay weapons of the series. And the Plasma Laser (first unleashed on the world in ''Raiden II'') remains one of the coolest-looking attacks in the world of {{Shoot Em Up}}s, though in ''Raiden Fighters'', it's limited to the Raiden mk. II (but the other lasers still look cool in other ways).

** The [[ByYourPowersCombined Hybrid Attack]] in ''Raiden Fighters 2'' and ''Raiden Fighters Jet''. It is a powerful attack in which two players combine their charged attacks. Both players are invincible during the Hybrid Attack, and it can destroy multiple large enemies. However, the Hybrid Attack is only available if both players are using fighters with charged attacks, meaning if the other player is using a GuestFighter or the [[GameBreaker Slave]], no Hybrid Attack for you. Additionally, when the Hybrid Attack ends, there is no MercyInvincibility after it ends without warning, resulting in a cheap death if it ends during a difficult part of the game.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raiden_fighters.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} The first and last word in action.]]]]

* TimeLimitBoss: Take too long in some boss fights, and [[BulletHell it fires a dangerous barrage]].

* TimeLimitBoss: Take too long in some boss fights, and it fires a dangerous barrage.

** In ''Raiden II'', the ships were not explicitly named, but here, they've been named "Raiden mk-II" for the red ship and "Raiden mk-IIβ" for the blue ship; the model numbers indicate these are the ''Raiden II'' versions of these two ships, as opposed to calling the ships by their {{insistent|Terminology}} in-series names, "Fighting Thunder". This was later canonized in ''Raiden IV: [=OverKill=]'' where they were named "Raiden mk-II" rather than "Fighting Thunder mk-II".

** In ''Raiden II'', the ships were not explicitly named, but here, they've been named "Raiden mk-II" for the red ship and "Raiden mk-IIβ" for the blue ship; the model numbers indicate these are the ''Raiden II'' versions of these two ships, as opposed to calling the ships by their {{insistent|Terminology}} in-series names, "Fighting Thunder". This was later canonized in ''Raiden IV'' where it was named "Raiden mk-II" rather than "Fighting Thunder mk-II".

** In ''Raiden II'', the ships were not explicitly named, but here, they've been named "Raiden mk-II" for the red ship and "Raiden mk-IIβ" for the blue ship; the model numbers indicate these are the ''Raiden II'' versions of these two ships, as opposed to calling the ships by their {{inconsistent|Terminology}} in-series names, "Fighting Thunder". This was later canonized in ''Raiden IV'' where it was named "Raiden mk-II" rather than "Fighting Thunder mk-II".