History YMMV / RaySeries

* PlayerPunch: The ending of the original arcade version of ''[=RayStorm=]'' seems like an unambiguously good ending: The Juda Central System has been destroyed, and so has the Secilian fleet, and Earth has been saved. But completing Extra Mode in ''[=RayStorm=]'' has more dire results: [[spoiler:You're also shown the charred wreck of Secilia you just flew out of, and you also get a text crawl explaining that thanks to your actions, 70% of its 7 billion inhabitants have died, and the rest are going to go too as the moon is drawn into the gravity well of the nearby gas giant Seraphim. Congrats on committing genocide in the name of Earth!]]

* PlayerPunch: The ending of the original arcade version of ''[=RayStorm=]'' seems like an unambiguously good ending: The Juda Central System has been destroyed, and so has the Secilian fleet, and Earth has been saved. But completing Extra Mode in ''[=RayStorm=]'' has more dire results: [[spoiler:You're also shown the charred wreck of Secilia you just flew out of, and you also get a text crawl explaining that thanks to your actions, 70% of its 7 billion inhabitants have died, and the rest are going to go too as the moon is drawn into the gravity well of the nearby gas giant. Congrats on committing genocide in the name of Earth!]]

* PlayerPunch: The ending of the original arcade version of ''[=RayStorm=]'' seems like an unambiguously good ending: The Juda Central System has been destroyed, and so has the Secilian fleet, and Earth has been saved. But completing Extra Mode in ''[=RayStorm=]'' has more dire results: [[spoiler:You're also shown the charred wreck of the moon you just flew out of, and you also get a text crawl explaining that thanks to your actions, the entire colony of Secilia is plunging into the nearby gas giant and the 7 billion inhabitants on it are going to die. Congrats on committing genocide in the name of Earth, asshole.]]

* SoOkayItsAverage: The overall consensus on ''Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute'', a port of the Saturn version of ''[=RayForce=]'' for Switch, [=PS4=], Xbox, and Windows PC. While it's far from a PortingDisaster, with somewhat reasonable input response by City Connection standards, and coming with some extras like save states and a stage practice mode, it doesn't do much to really justify its relatively high price tag or encourage people to choose this over emulating the arcade original or its Sega Saturn port. Not helping matters is that shortly after this was released, the CompilationRerelease ''Ray'z Arcade Chronology'' by Creator/{{M2}} was announced, and M2 is a much more trusted brand amongst retro game fans. Now that that compilation has been released, ''Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute'' is seen by series fans as obsolete, and only worth getting if one only has a PC or Xbox.

* SoOkayItsAverage: The overall consensus on ''Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute'', a port of the Saturn version of ''[=RayForce=]'' for Switch, [=PS4=], and Windows PC. While it's far from a PortingDisaster, with somewhat reasonable input response by City Connection standards, and coming with some extras like save states and a stage practice mode, it doesn't do much to really justify its relatively high price tag or encourage people to choose this over emulating the arcade original or its Sega Saturn port. Not helping matters is that shortly after this was released, the CompilationRerelease ''Ray'z Arcade Chronology'' by Creator/{{M2}} was announced, and M2 is a much more trusted brand amongst retro game fans. Now that that compilation has been released, ''Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute'' is seen by series fans as obsolete, and only worth getting if one only has a PC and no modern consoles.

* FirstInstallmentWins: ''[=RayForce=]'' is generally regarded as the best game in the series due to its impressive use of scaling and rotating sprites, making it one of the most 3D-looking sprite-based games in existence. ''[=RayStorm=]'' and ''[=RayCrisis=]'' are not as highly-regarded due to 3D graphics that [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny haven't aged well]], the isometric perspective [[CameraScrew creating problems with dodging enemy fire]], and [[ScrappyMechanic same-altitude lock-on and the bonus-point opportunities that go with it discouraging players from using their main shot]].

** The [=PS1=] version of ''[=RayCrisis=]'' had to make a few sacrifices in the presentation department (between-level transitions are now black-background loading screens with the music stopped in the meanwhile, and even this still manages to be worked into the game's atmosphere by explaining it as, paraphrasing, "loading the next part of Con-Human"), changed the TrueFinalBoss requirements, and remove 2-player mode, but it allows players to freely choose whatever levels they want for the middle three, instead of having to either play a randomly-picked route or the most recently-played one. It also unlocks WR-03 by default rather than requiring the player to unlock it on their account over time or use a cheat code, unlockable R-GRAY ships from ''[=RayStorm=]'', and features a new ArrangeMode.

** ''[=RayForce=]''[='=]s (a.k.a. ''Layer Section'') PC port is serviceable, but it comes with some glaring problems. One of them being the game screen itself, which has been reduced to a square to fit in a 4:3 aspect ratio that was never intended for the game originally designed with a vertical display, making the game harder than it should since you can't anticipate oncoming enemies or lock-on to them as efficiently as you could in the arcade, console, and mobile version. Unlike the PC ports of its sequels, the fullscreen scaling does not work properly on newer Windows operating systems and 16:9 monitors, which often results a ''smaller'' screen size with color distortion despite being running in 640×480. Another game-breaking issue is the game's speed, where it plays ridiculously fast on faster computers to the point of it being unplayable. While the latter can be addressed with a simple .dll fix if you have the game disc, but fullscreen issue can only fixed by a third-party program [=DirectX=] wrapper such as [=dgVoodoo=] 2 to play the game with proper scaling. Other problems includes missing effects and backgrounds, some of the music tracks don't play at all (such as the Game Over music), and you don't have the disc into your CD drive, then enjoy playing the game with no music at all.
** The Sega Saturn port of ''[=RayStorm=]'' (''Layer Section II'') introduces some novelties it has over the [=PlayStation=] version, such as new CGI cinematics in between stages and a playable R-GRAY 0 outside of 13-Plane Mode, but due to the Saturn's notorious 3D handicap, the graphics were understandably downgraded but its biggest problem was its frame-rate, which bogs down substantially when the action intensifies and can cause input lag despite the cutbacks on the game's visuals.

** The [=PS1=] port of ''[=RayCrisis=]'' had to make a few sacrifices in the presentation department (between-level transitions are now black-background loading screens with the music stopped in the meanwhile, and even this still manages to be worked into the game's atmosphere by explaining it as, paraphrasing, "loading the next part of Con-Human") and remove 2-player mode, but it allows players to freely choose whatever levels they want for the middle three, instead of having to either play a randomly-picked route or the most recently-played one. It also unlocks WR-03 by default rather than requiring the player to unlock it on their account over time or use a cheat code, and features a new ArrangeMode.
** The PC port of ''[=RayStorm=]'' and ''[=RayCrisis=]'' has higher resolution than their arcade counterparts (at 640×480), and improved audible sound effects over the [=PlayStation=] version (e.g. you can hear sound of R-GRAY 2's laser beams and the ambient machine noise of Yggdrasil). Despite being released for Windows 95/98, both games runs quite well on modern systems (unless you're on Windows 8 or 8.1 where older [=DirectX=] support is botched, resulting in lower frame-rate with these games) and those with higher-end machines can enjoy the almost non-existent loading times. The only downside of the PC version of ''[=RayStorm=]'' that it lacks the optional TANZ soundtrack of the Extra Mode the console versions have and requires the disc to run the game, and ''[=RayCrisis=]''[='=] port is based on the [=PlayStation=] version which lacks co-op multiplayer and the continous soundtrack.

** The mobile ports of these games featured higher resolution visuals and UI, a new but optional remixed track for their first stage (while the Amazon versions of ''[=RayForce=]'' and ''[=RayStorm=]'' gets an exclusive remix for the second stage), touch controls that are very welcoming to newcomers to shoot 'em ups along with controller support (after updates were released) for those that want to play these games with traditional controls instead, and in the case of ''[=RayCrisis=]'', the first time it gets a faithful port of the arcade version with its seemless connection between stages along with the Special Mode from the home versions. A few small caveats with these ports however are ''[=RayStorm=]''[='=]s inability to chose between soundtracks for its Remix Mode (a.k.a. Extra Mode) and difficulty sliders of individual stages similarly to the HD remastered version, and their lack the various unlockables that their home conversions had (e.g. 13-Plane Mode in ''[=RayStorm=]'' plus the new ships from ''HD'', the unlockable R-GRAY ships and Gallery in ''[=RayCrisis=]'') due to being primarily based off their arcade versions as well as the lack of co-op support.
** ''Ray'z Arcade Chronology'' for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 once again has Creator/{{M2}} hitting it out of the park with their masterful ports. The arcade versions of all three games are included in the package, with ''[=RayStorm=]'' in particular getting a new HD version with the correct aspect ratio and all the features of the arcade original (such as adjustable per-stage difficulty, but without the infamous "Training Mode" mechanic from the Creator/WorkingDesigns version) and ''[=RayCrisis=]'' finally seeing an ArcadePerfectPort for the first time.[[note]]The [=PS1=] and Windows versions allow the player to freely choose their three middle levels, has some changes in the way Encroachment works, and loosens the requirements for [[TrueFinalBoss Infinity]]. The mobile versions use alternate control schemes if only playing using the touchscreen, and even if one uses a compatible wireless controller, the requirement for Infinity is loosened from 20% to 25%, so that's not accurate to the arcade version either.[[/note]] All three games have optional gadgets that show real-time gameplay data, multiple rapid-fire options, save states, and [[AutoSave automatic save states]], and the two 3D games [[SalvagedGameplayMechanic having an option to disable special attack being fired with simultaneous press of the shot and laser buttons]] to instead use a separate button for that purpose. It also features the ability to play these games with the original arcade soundtrack or the arranged soundtracks from their home ports as well, allowing players to enjoy these games with their favorite soundtrack.

** ''Ray'z Arcade Chronology'' for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 once again has Creator/{{M2}} hitting it out of the park with their masterful ports. The arcade versions of all three games are included in the package, with ''[=RayStorm=]'' in particular getting a new HD version with the correct aspect ratio and all the features of the arcade original (such as adjustable per-stage difficulty, but without the infamous "Training Mode" mechanic from the Creator/WorkingDesigns version) and ''[=RayCrisis=]'' finally seeing an ArcadePerfectPort for the first time.[[note]]The [=PS1=] and Windows versions allow the player to freely choose their three middle levels, has some changes in the way Encroachment works, and loosens the requirements for [[TrueFinalBoss Infinity]]. The mobile versions use alternate control schemes if only playing using the touchscreen, and even if one uses a compatible wireless controller, the requirement for Infinity is loosened from 20% to 25%, so that's not accurate to the arcade version either.[[/note]] All three games have optional gadgets that show real-time gameplay data, multiple rapid-fire options, save states, and [[AutoSave automatic save states]], and the two 3D games [[SalvagedGameplayMechanic having an option to disable special attack being fired with simultaneous press of the shot and laser buttons]] to instead use a separate button for that purpose.

** The ''Ray'z Arcade Chronlogy'' version of ''[=RayCrisis=]'' allows the player to switch to an alternate soundtrack that uses tracks from ''raycrisis rayons de l'Air'' arrange album, and uses ".BLUE - To Live Again on Earth -", the 24-minute piece used for the Special Mode of the [=PS1=] port in an ArcadePerfectPort of the game for the first time. Unfortunately, for some reason, there are separate player databases for the original soundtrack and the alternate soundtrack (implying that there are actually two separate builds of the game), meaning none of your data (local best scores, play counts, WR-03 unlock, etc.) carry over if you change soundtracks.

** The [=PS1=] port of ''[=RayCrisis=]'' had to make a few sacrifices in the presentation department (between-level transitions are now black-background loading screens with the music stopped in the meanwhile) and remove 2-player mode, but it allows players to freely choose whatever levels they want for the middle three, instead of having to either play a randomly-picked route or the most recently-played one. It also unlocks WR-03 by default rather than requiring the player to unlock it on their account over time or use a cheat code, and features a new ArrangeMode.

** ''Ray'z Arcade Chronology'' for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 once again has Creator/{{M2}} hitting it out of the park with their masterful ports. The arcade versions of all three games are included in the package, with ''[=RayStorm=]'' in particular getting a new HD version with the correct aspect ratio and all the features of the arcade original (such as adjustable per-stage difficulty, but without the infamous "Training Mode" mechanic from the Creator/WorkingDesigns version) and ''[=RayCrisis=]'' finally seeing an ArcadePerfectPort for the first time.[[note]]The [=PS1=] and Windows versions allow the player to freely choose their three middle levels and has some changes in the way Encroachment works. The mobile versions use alternate control schemes if only playing using the touchscreen, and even if one uses a compatible wireless controller, the requirement for the TrueFinalBoss is loosened from 20% to 25%, so that's not accurate to the arcade version either.[[/note]] All three games have optional gadgets that show real-time gameplay data, multiple rapid-fire options, save states, and [[AutoSave automatic save states]], and the two 3D games [[SalvagedGameplayMechanic having an option to disable special attack being fired with simultaneous press of the shot and laser buttons]] to instead use a separate button for that purpose.

** The ''Ray'z Arcade Chronlogy'' version of ''[=RayCrisis=]'' allows the player to switch to an alternate soundtrack that uses tracks from ''raycrisis rayons de l'Air'' arrange album, and uses ".BLUE - To Live Again on Earth -", the 24-minute piece used for the Special Mode of the [=PS1=] port in an ArcadePerfectPort of the game for the first time. Unfortunately, for some reason, there are separate player databases for the original soundtrack and the alternate soundtrack (implying that there are actually two separate builds of the game), meaning none of your data (local best scores, play counts, previously played maps, etc.) carry over if you change soundtracks.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: In ''[=RayStorm=]'', Seraphim is supposed to be a gas giant in a star system different from the Solar System, but it's depicted in the Stage 5 background and loading screens of the console ports' Extra Mode as merely a green-tinted Jupiter.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: In ''[=RayStorm=]'', Seraphim is supposed to be a gas giant in a star system different from the Solar System, but it's depicted in the Stage 5 background and loading screens of the console ports' Extra Mode as merely a green-tinted Jupiter.

** As soon as it was announced that Strictly Limited Games and their sister company ININ would be handling the localization of ''Ray'z Arcade Chronology'', many fans did a hard pass and chose to just import the Japanese version, as ININ has a reputation of [[LateExportForYou delaying localized releases of Japanese games by months]] in order to ensure that the digital and physical versions ship out at the same time. The Japanese version features English as a language option anyway, and both platforms it's on are region-free, so English-speaking players found little reason to wait another three months for the Western release in June 2023, three months after the Japanese release of March 2023. The announcement of a separate release with just ''[=RayStorm=]'' and ''[=RayCrisis=]'' (excluding ''[=RayForce=]'') further confused and generated distrust amongst fans.

** The [=PS1=] port of ''[=RayCrisis=]'' had to make a few sacrifices in the presentation department (between-level transitions are now black-background loading screens with the music stopped in the meanwhile) and remove 2-player mode, but it allows players to freely choose whatever levels they want for the middle three, instead of having to either play a randomly-picked route or previously-played ones.

** The ''Ray'z Arcade Chronlogy'' version of ''[=RayCrisis=]'' allows the player to switch to an alternate soundtrack that uses tracks from ''raycrisis rayons de l'Air'' arrange album, and uses ".BLUE - To Live Again on Earth -", the 24-minute piece used for the Special Mode of the [=PS1=] port in an ArcadePerfectPort of the game for the first time. Unfortunately, for some reason, there are separate player databases for the original soundtrack and the alternate soundtrack, meaning none of your data (local best scores, play counts, previously played maps, etc.) carry over if you change soundtracks.

** ''Ray'z Arcade Chronology'' for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 once again has Creator/{{M2}} hitting it out of the park with their masterful ports. The arcade versions of all three games are included in the package, with ''[=RayStorm=]'' in particular getting a new HD version with the correct aspect ratio and all the features of the arcade original (such as adjustable per-stage difficulty, but without the infamous "Training Mode" mechanic from the Creator/WorkingDesigns version) and ''[=RayCrisis=]'' finally seeing an ArcadePerfectPort for the first time. All three games have optional gadgets that show real-time gameplay data, multiple rapid-fire options, save states, and [[AutoSave automatic save states]], and the two 3D games [[SalvagedGameplayMechanic having an option to disable special attack being fired with simultaneous press of the shot and laser buttons]] to instead use a separate button for that purpose.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: ''[=RayCrisis=]'' is easier than the previous two games for several reasons. First, the Hyper Attack has been buffed, dealing a lot more damage which makes it a great way to speed up boss fights. Second, enemies have been made more balanced, with fewer attacks that require extremely skilled maneuvers or involve jumpscare TrialAndErrorGameplay. Finally, the game is shorter; whereas its predecessor ''[=RayStorm=]'' takes about 30 minutes to complete and has eight stages (seven full-body stages and one BossOnlyLevel), ''[=RayCrisis=]'' only requires the player to complete five stages (one warm-up stage, three full-body stages, and the FinalBoss), and takes about 20 minutes. The TrueFinalBoss can throw a wrench in the player's attempts to clear the game, but in the arcade version, it can be avoided by entering the final stage with at least 20% Encroachment.[[note]]The mobile version's Arcade Mode loosens the requirement a bit, making 25% Encorachment the threshold to trigger the TLB. No such luck for [=PS1=] players and mobile version Special Mode players, since all of those will always trigger the TLB on a 1-credit clear attempt.[[/note]]

* ThatOneAttack: In ''[=RayCrisis=]'', if Pro-Tor is fought as the third or fourth stage boss, then [[VictoryFakeout once it appears to be destroyed]], it will mount one final stand where it fires volleys of long pink lasers while harassing you with orange HomingLasers at the same time, forcing you to follow the rhythms of two different attacks. It doesn't help that the explosion animations of the boss continue during this phase, making it harder to see the lasers.

* ThatOneBoss: Alaric from ''[=RayStorm=]''. A huge {{transforming mecha}} that can turn into a fighter craft similar to yours, has two vicious [[AttackDrones drones]] that can snipe you with a laser beam and homing missiles while Alaric itself use a beam bazooka and machine gun in its mech form while its fighter form can rain down nasty arching lasers from the background that covers nearly the entire screen and a tricky-to-avoid spread shot in the foreground. If you think blowing up its bazooka would help (either shooting them directly or whittling Alaric's HP down), you'll be in for a rude warning when it starts using the shoulder-mounted laser cannons the can fire in a huge spread and covers more the screen with its machine gun.

** The [=PS1=] port of ''[=RayCrisis=]'' loosens the requirement for the TrueFinalBoss from "clear at least five different maps on your account, then defeat [[FinalBoss Dis-Human]] with less than 20% Encroachment" to "just reach and defeat Dis-Human with less than 5 continues". On one hand, this makes it easier to get the true ending. On the other hand, it forces 1-credit clear attempts to include said true final boss.

* DemonicSpiders: In Stage 4 of ''[=RayStorm=]'', there are battleships that fire a battery of lasers that meet your plane of movement and then fire down the screen, with almost ''no'' time to position yourself correctly to avoid them. If you haven't [[TrialAndErrorGameplay memorized]] where the lasers will travel, expect to burn several continues in this stage as a result.

* GoddamnedBats: In Stage 4, there are battleships way in the background that your ship can lock onto. This causes problems for R-Gray 2 in particular; its lock-on attack is a single bolt of thunder that has to sequentially tag its targets, so getting a lock-on onto one of those background ships forces the bolt to take its time flying into the background, delaying your attack on enemies closer to the foreground but not on your plane of movement.