History YMMV / EspRaDe

** The Arcade Plus mode itself suffers this criticism for not changing that much at a gameplay level. While it features a new FinalBoss, who takes on a tougher TrueFinalBoss form if certain conditions are met, as well as redone voice acting, the only mechanical changes are {{nerfing}} Power Shot milking in a way that doesn't entirely eliminate it, and shortening the boss timers, which are still long enough to enable what players consider a way-too-BoringButPractical method of gaining score.

** The Arcade Plus mode itself suffers this criticism for not changing that much at a gameplay level. While it features a new FinalBoss, who takes on a tougher TrueFinalBoss form if certain conditions are met, as well as redone voice acting, the only mechanical changes are {{nerfing}} Power Shot milking in a way that doesn't entirely eliminate it, and shortening the boss timers, which are still long enough to enable this way-too-BoringButPractical method of gaining score.

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Some fans of M2's ports are a little displeased that ''Psi'' doesn't add as much content compared to the other ''M2 [=ShotTriggers=]'' releases, featuring only one new soundtrack[[note]]To be fair, before this release there were no other remixes of the soundtrack. The previous ''[=M2STG=]'' release, ''VideoGame/{{Ketsui}} Deathtiny'', had as many soudntracks as it had because two of those remix soundtracks were originally made for a previous port of ''Ketsui'' and for the ''VideoGame/DoDonPachi Resurrection BLACK LABEL'' crossover ArrangeMode.[[/note]], a rebalanced version of the original game, and relegating {{Arrange Mode}}s to mini-missions in Irori's Room.

** J-B 5th: He infiltrates a shopping mall, killing a politician making a speech , quickly [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establishing]] that [[AntiHero just because he's a protagonist doesn't mean he won't resort to morally cloudy means]].

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The Arcade Plus mode in ''Psi'' fixes a few complaints about the game, most notably nerfing how Power Shot awards points during boss fights, as well as shortening the timers on those bosses, resulting in a better metagame that isn't "stall bosses for 5 minutes each". It also adds a TrueFinalBoss as traditional of newer CAVE games, something that the original game doesn't have.
** The original version of the game just uses the same boss theme, "Raging Deicide", for every boss, even the FinalBoss, which can feel a little anticlimatic. The ''Psi'' UpdatedRerelease has a remix soundtrack that, among other things, gives every boss a unique remix of "Raging Deicide". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT6joP_DhQ0 Ms. Garra's remix by Atomic]] sounds absolutely ''[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic bombastic]]'' and fitting of the final challenge of the game (except in the ''Psi''-exclusive modes, where Alice Master comes next).

** Unless you're going for a SelfImposedChallenge, you are generally advised to play the School stage as your last stage. Each of the first three stages' bosses has three variants depending on the order you fight them, getting more difficult the later you encounter them. But Satoru Oumi, the School boss, undergoes the most drastic changes with this mechanic: He gains two extra lifebars, and on his last lifebar he summons an AttackDrone of himself that fires alongside him, forcing you to keep up with two rhythms of bullet patterns. Furthermore, as he is a human-sized boss, he has a much smaller hitbox than most other bosses (which are usually giant mechs), which can easily put you at a disadvantage if you're playing as J-B 5th or Alice, as they have wide shots that force them to get up close to Satoru to inflict the full damage, with the obvious risk of taking his bullets to the face. Yusuke gets the benefit of never having to face this version of Satoru, as he has the School as his first stage and thus Satoru is a [[WarmUpBoss weak starter boss]] with only 3 lifebars, and Alice can also choose the School as her first stage.

** [[FinalBoss Ms. Garra]]'s third phase fires very fast and very large "shotgun" blasts at you that can easily corner you. You're well advised to just try to bomb through it.

** Ms. Garra's third phase fires very fast and very large "shotgun" blasts at you that can easily corner you. You're well advised to just try to bomb through it.

* ThatOneAttack: Peller Boy, the boss of the Bay Area stage, has a particularly nasty attack if the stage is the last of the first three stages to be played. In its second phase, it may fire a dense, grid-like spread of blue bullets, ''while'' already firing a pink spread of bullets as well.

* PolishedPort: Despite receiving some criticism for not bringing as much to the table as past ''M2 [=ShotTriggers=]'' ports, ''Psi'' is still a very finely-crafted port with useful M2 Gadgets, multiple practice modes, savestates, and a rebalanced Arcade Plus mode that fixes some of the more problematic mechanics of the original game.

** Unless you're going for a SelfImposedChallenge, you are generally advised to play the School stage as your last stage. Each of the first three stages' bosses has three variants depending on the order you fight them, getting more difficult the later you encounter them. But Satoru Oumi, the School boss, undergoes the most drastic changes with this mechanic: He gains two extra lifebars, and on his last lifebar he summons an AttackDrone of himself that fires alongside him, forcing you to keep up with two rhythms of bullet patterns. Furthermore, as he is a human-sized boss, he has a much smaller hitbox than most other bosses (which are usually giant mechs), which can easily put you at a disadvantage if you're playing as J-B 5th or Alice, as they have wide shots that force them to get up close to Satoru to inflict the full damage, with the obvious risk of taking his bullets to the face. Yusuke gets the benefit of never having to face this version of Satoru, as he has the School as his first stage and thus Satoru is a [[WarmUpBoss weak starter boss]] with only 3 lifebars.

** Unless you're going for a SelfImposedChallenge, you are generally advised to play the School stage as your last stage. Each of the first three stages' bosses has three variants depending on the order you fight them, getting more difficult the later you encounter them. But Satoru Oumi, the School boss, undergoes the most drastic changes with this mechanic: He gains two extra lifebars, and on his last lifebar he summons an AttackDrone of himself that fires alongside him, forcing you to keep up with two rhythms of bullet patterns. Furthermore, as he is a human-sized boss, he has a much smaller hitbox than most other bosses (which are usually giant mechs), which can easily put you at a disadvantage if you're playing as J-B 5th or Alice, as they have wide shots that force them to get up close to Satoru to inflict the full damage, with the obvious risk of taking his bullets to the face.

** The midboss of Stage 5 consists of a psionic barrier you have to break down, the casters of which also fire dense patterns at you including a very difficult-to-avoid "shotgun" attack, while backed by two side turrets and an endless convoy of foot soldiers and assault vehicles that can pelt you even from close range. [[AntiGrinding Don't try to milk those lesser enemies for points, as they don't give out any.]]

* ThatOneAttack: Peller Boy, the boss of the Bay Area stage, has a particularly nasty attack if the stage is the last of the first three stages to be played. In its second phase, it may fire a dense, grid-like spread of blue bullets, ''while'' already firing a pink spread of bullets as well. It is nearly impossible to decipher how to get through this pattern without firing your Guard Barrier or dying.
* ThatOneBoss: Unless you're going for a SelfImposedChallenge, you are generally advised to play the School stage as your last stage. Each of the first three stages' bosses has three variants depending on the order you fight them, getting more difficult the later you encounter them. But Satoru Oumi, the School boss, undergoes the most drastic changes with this mechanic: He gains two extra lifebars, and on his last lifebar he summons an AttackDrone of himself that fires alongside him, forcing you to keep up with two rhythms of bullet patterns. Furthermore, as he is a human-sized boss, he has a much smaller hitbox than most other bosses (which are usually giant mechs), which can easily put you at a disadvantage if you're playing as J-B 5th or Alice, as they have wide shots that force them to get up close to Satoru to inflict the full damage, with the obvious risk of taking his bullets to the face.

** This game was published by Creator/{{Atlus}}, along with the first two games in the ''VideoGame/DonPachi'' series, which is also by CAVE. CAVE would later return the favor by developing ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIMAGINE'', which is part of Atlus's ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series.

** Atlus would later be bought out by Creator/{{SEGA}}. Creator/{{M2}} would then go on to release ports of SEGA games aplenty, along with ports of CAVE games, and ''ESP Ra.De.'' technically qualifies as ''both'' (the updated title screen for ''Psi'' mentions SEGA).