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ESP RA.DE GAME GUIDE
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Version 1.1 FINAL
Copyright by Evrain, 2003
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Part I: Author's Notes
- Part II: The Story
- Part III: Controls & HUD
- Part IV: Bonus System and Multipliers
- Part V: Characters' Analisys
- Part VI: Starting A Game
- Part VII: Stages' Walkthrough
- Part VIII: Secrets
- Part IX: High Scores
- Part X: Hints & Tips
- Part XI: Final Notes
----------------------------
PART I: AUTHOR'S NOTES
----------------------------
This file is a wannabe walkthrough for ESP Ra.De., another crazy
shoot'em up by the "infamous duo" Atlus/Cave. Why a guide for a game
where you must shoot everything? Two reasons: first, you need to know
some tips to obtain the highest score possible, and second, you BADLY
need to know what will happen next, because the quantity of bullets
on-screen will be CRAZY, reaching even 200+ O_O
But after all, that's Cave's tradition, right?
Since i assume that no one here has the same reflexes of a Japanese (at
least, I haven't), so I'll try to describe the safest and fastest
route, obviously sacrificing the "high score" aspect to ensure the
completition of all five stages (well, six actually, because the last
one, the Yaksa Fortress, is split into two areas and three bosses).
At least if you make a contest with your friends you won't score as
poorly as I do ^_-
What else must be said? Nothing: let's go ahead, and let this psychic
mayhem begin!
Evrain [
[email protected]]
PROJECT HISTORY
- Version 0.2 BETA 1, private build, completed the descriptive part
- Version 0.9 BETA 2, testing release, completed the walkthrough
except for the strategies for the last boss and
Parts IX & X
- Version 1.0 FINAL, public release
- Version 1.1 FINAL, minor fizes
----------------------------
PART II: THE STORY
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Year: 2018. Location: Tokyo. A mysterious syndacate, known as the
Yaksa, completely controls the politics and the economy of the city,
with its influence spreading like wildfire across the entire Japan. Its
leader, Mrs Garra, and old but extremely authoritary woman, is said to
possess strange powers, and surrounds herself with clones of a little
girl called "Alice". The rumors became truth when her army of machines
and super-powered humans comes out of her fortress and brings havoc
upon Tokyo: she is an ESPer, a person in posses of Extra Sensory
Powers, no match for normal humans. She seems invincible, but three
youths can contrast her, since they possess the same incredible
abilities. Now, for different reasons, Yuusuke Sagami (a High School
student), Jb-5th (a Russian assassin) and Irori Mimasaka (a little girl
devoted to peace) must fight their ways through waves of deadly
enemies, until the final confrontation. Power of a rifle or power of
the mind, history repeats itself: good and evil, who will survive?
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PART III: CONTROLS & HUD
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The Head Up Display of ESP Ra.De. is pretty easy to understand, since
there are just a couple of things that you must keep "under
survelliance".
The top part of the screen displays, from left to right, from top to
bottom: IP Current Score, Current High Score, 2P Current Score, Lives
Counter (the boxed hearts) and Bonus Tokens Counter. You'll receive
more informations on this last indicator in the next Part. According to
your choices while starting the game, a third counter will appear, the
Multiplier Counter, which will display the Multiplier and the remaining
time you have for using it.
The bottom area displays the Piercing Bullets Gauge and the Psychic
Power Gauge: they shows respectively the number of Piercing Bullets you
can let loose on screen and the Psychic Power left.
This game uses an 8-Ways stick and three buttons to control the
character, in addition to the traditional START button, of course ^_-
This is the mapping (explained in detail by the game itself after you
choose your player):
- STICK: Movement
- A BUTTON: Primary Shot
- B BUTTON: Secondary Shot
- C BUTTON: Psychic Blast
As you can see, there are two different attacks, in addition to the
classic "press-the-button-and-every-enemy-bullet-will-turn-into-
bonuses" one. Each attack possesses 4 levels, and it can be upgraded by
collecting Power Tokens (see next Part).
The Primary Shot is your standard attack: it fires a constant stream of
bullets of moderate power. If you hold down the button, your character
will slow down. The direction of the shots is different for each
charachter, according to this table (the description in brackets refers
to the Level 4 status):
- Yuusuke Sagami: Frontal Attack (Rapid Fire Bullets)
- Jb-5th: Wide-Spread Attack (5-Ways)
- Irori Mimasaka: Spread Attack (Multi-Laser)
The Secondary Shot can be defined as a "Piercing Cannon": it releases a
small stream of powerful shots, capable of destroying in the blink of
an eye bigger enemies and even bosses. Using it in the correct way is
fundamental for both surviving and obtaining Multipliers (see next
Part). You will start with only 4 shots, and each time you'll gain a
Level Up the counter will increase up to 16. Jb-5th fires straight
ahead, making (relatively) easy to catch a x16 Multiplier, while
Yuusuke and Irori can spread the bullets by moving left or right while
firing them, destroying everything on screen. Keep in mind however that
Yuusuke can cover about half the screen "spreading the bullets", while
Irori can wipe out whatever thing is on the entire screen.
The Psychic Blast is the most powerful weapon in your arsenal, and is
the equivalent of the Smart Bomb in DoDonPachi, GigaWing and thousands
of similar games. Each time you press the C Button, a barrier will
encircle you, killing weaker enemies, damaging bosses and turning each
bullet it touches in a Token, then a brief wave of psychic energy will
be unleashed ahead of you. If you keep the button pressed, the aura
will enlarge and start to flash: releasing the button now will result
in an ENORMOUS wave of energy which will dramatically damage bosses and
destroy other enemies, no matter how big they are. Be careful though,
because you have a limited charge, displayed in the Psychic Power Gauge
(see above), and it will drop considerably each time you press the C
Button, even if for short periods of time: you can restore it with
Psychic Energy Tokens (see next Part).
That's all you need to know about the controls.
One last note, FUNDAMENTAL to beat the game: when dodging the bullets,
you don't necessarily need to consider the size of the entire character
sprite. The collision detection registers the loss of a life only when
the head or part of the torso (the area above the coloured stripe on
the character itself) collides with a bullet. Beware of this.
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PART IV: BONUS SYSTEM AND MULTIPLIERS
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ESP Ra.De. follows a peculiar pattern for the scoring and the items'
deliver. Let's start from this last element.
There are four kinds of Tokens in the game:
- Small Power Tokens
- Large Power Tokens
- Bonus Tokens
- Psychic Energy Tokens
- 1Up
When your character isn't at Level 4, all the tokens will be Small
Power Tokens (each time you die instead, you will release a Large Power
Token, which will immediately take you to the next Level. The first
life will release a single Token, the second two Tokens and so on):
once you collect a certin number, you'll Level Up, upgrading your
weapons. When you reach Level 4, the tokens will be Bonus Tokens, and
the counter in the upper left corner will start to increase. Now, when
it'll reach 200, it'll start flashing: if your Psychic Energy Gauge is
not at its maximum, it'll start to QUICKLY countdown, and in this short
period of time all tokens will become Psychic Energy Tokens. Don't let
them escape! They'll slightly refill your gauge, so collect as many of
them as you can. After this time you'll start again to collect Bonus
Tokens, only that each time you "recharge" the necessary amount of them
will increase of 100 units.
As for the 1Up, the only place where you can get it is in the fourth
stage (see the Secrets section). There are only 6 lives in ESP Ra.De.
(with the difficulty set at "NORMAL"): the three you start with, the
fourth at 4.000.000 pts, the fifth at 8.000.000 pts, and the sixth is
the one mentioned above.
The Multipliers are another matter: they'll last for a short period of
time, during which the points you'll get will be multiplied for that
number. The lowest is x2 and the highest is x16.
Compared to the Hit System of DoDonPachi and Guwange, the one used by
ESP Ra.De. will make you swear REALLY often (as my friend Kamajin can
confirm, right Kama? ^_-). It works this way: each time you hit an
enemy with your Piercing Bullets, they'll leave behind some sort of
bubble. These bubbles are your multipliers. If you manage to destroy
with your Primary Shot the enemy before the bubbles disappear, you'll
get a multiplier. They're calculated this way:
NUMBER OF BUBBLES + 1 = MULTIPLIER VALUE
The +1 is due to the explosion. The difficulty lies in the timing: you
must let ALL the shots hit and then let loose the finishing blow; if
you fire too early or too late you won't get the maximum Multiplier.
As i said, they last for a short period of time, different according to
both the dimension of the enemy you beated (bigger = more time) and the
multiplier you obtained (higher = less time). Collecting Tokens, no
matter which type, will gain you more time. The point being that the
higher the Multiplier, the faster they'll fall down the screen!
Jb-5th can easily gain x16 due to his straight Secondary Shot, while
with Irori is much more difficult due to her shots spreading as soon as
they leave her body and/or the stick is moved. Yuusuke is halfway
between the two.
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PART V: CHARACTERS' ANALYSIS
-----------------------------
NAME: Yuusuke Sagami
AGE: Unknown
OCCUPATION: High School Student
PRIMARY SHOT: Frontal Attack
SECONDARY SHOT: Arc Blast
DESCRIPTION: A "normal" student, who was happily living his life.
Until an ESPer belonging to Yaksa, Satoru Oumi, breaks
his friend's neck, kills several more and flee. From
then on, he fights the army of Mrs. Garra to carry on
his unholy revenge.
PROs: High-powered Primary Shot
High-powered Secondary Shot
Can quickly wipe out enemies and bosses
CONs: Too small fire range
Difficult to earn Multipliers
NAME: Jb-5th
AGE: Unknown
OCCUPATION: Killer
PRIMARY SHOT: Wide-Spread Attack
SECONDARY SHOT: Frontal Blast
DESCRIPTION: Russian assassin, he kills one of Mrs. Garra lieutenants
during some sort of press conference in the shopping
mall. Hunted by everyone, his only hope for salvation is
the death of Yaksa's evil leader.
PROs: Easy to obtain x16 Multipliers
Primary Shot covers the entire screen
CONs: Primary Shot has (relatively) large deadzones
Slightly weaker Primary Shot
Secondary Shot cannot provide cover fire
NAME: Irori Mimasaka
AGE: 11 y.o.
OCCUPATION: n/a
PRIMARY SHOT: Spread Attack
SECONDARY SHOT: Wide Blast
DESCRIPTION: This girl has a terrible past. Due to her dedition to peace,
her family has always been hunted down by Yaksa's members.
After another attempt to wipe them out of existence (a
missilistic attack while they were in the bay area), she
decides to put an hend to their torment.
PROs: Wide and moderately powerful Primary Shot
Secondary Shot can provide cover fire
Can obtain mid-level Multipliers easily
CONs: Difficult to obtain x16 Multiplier
Secondary Shot spreads too easily
Summing up, in my opinion Yuusuke is the best choice for those who
charge head on against the danger, and care only about the game
completition. Jb-5th is your character if you want to obtain the
highest score possible while dodging bulets in a way that would made
Neo green with envy. If you like strategy instead, you could consider
the use of Irori, due to her spread, needle-like shots.
----------------------------
PART VI: STARTING A GAME
----------------------------
When you turn on your cabinet (either for real or in an emulator),
you'll be greeted with the usual legal stuff and the Hi-Scores screen:
just insert a coin and you'll be at the start screen. Here, you can
either press Start right away or use the trick for the Multiplier
Counter (see the Secrets section), just do it and you'll be at the
player selection screen: once again, visit the Secret section
concerning the "Stage Selection" trick, or just press A if you want
more challenge. After making your choice, you'll see a brief tutorial
on the controls. Skip it and prepare to fight!
--------------------------------
PART VII: STAGES' WALKTHROUGH
--------------------------------
IMPORTANT NOTES: the pattern chosen in this walkthrough belongs to
Yuusuke, and is adviced for beginners, while Jb-5th's path (ending in
Houo High School as the 3rd stage) can warrant more points.
I won't give indications for the stages themselves, except in some key
points, while I'll try to focus on the best strategies to beat the
various bosses. Also, in bosses' descriptions, Easy stands for bosses
met in the first stage, Medium for the second and Hard for the third.
STAGE ONE: HOUO HIGH SCHOOL
As i said, this is Yuusuke's first level, so is in the first place of
my guide, but I'll cover also the other difficulty levels, don't worry.
At the start, all you need to do is to blast right away the enemies on
the right side of the screen, then use the two solar panels on the left
to obtain some Tokens and two Multipliers (just place your character
right on them and fire). Proceed by wiping out everything on your path,
and try to obtain a x16 on the Turrets' Station, because once destroyed
you'll find a great number of enemies underneath it, ready to be erased
and transformed into x16. Keep on cracking up big enemies and then the
annoying flying ESPers until you reach the basketball court and the
first mid-boss.
MID-BOSS 1: ArachniTank
ArachniTank is not too difficult, but can be a real pain in the a$$ if
you can't destroy him quickly. As for all the other bosses, speed is
the key: as soon as he starts flashing, position yourself over his
"head" and, at the last moment, shoot your Piercing Cannon followed by
your regular shots, and follow him while he retreats and starts
shooting from his side cannons. He'll immediately bank right and
prepare to shoot the frontal rays: hit him one more time with the B
button and bank left.
- On Easy, he will shoot small 3-bullet blue streams in a circular
motion, then, as he banks, two pink 3-bullet streams and a central
double stream to cover the free space. In this case, just bank left and
there'll be plenty of room to avoid the shots: keep on hitting him and
you should destroy his first form before another attack.
- On Medium, he will shoot 4-bullet blue streams at a faster pace, and
four 4-bullet pink streams, in addition to the usual central one. In
this case, try to stop mid-way from the left side to deviate the pink
streams in that area, then run into the left corner. As soon as the
pink bullets are gone, shoot before he can repeat the attack.
- On Hard, RUN! all the streams will be 5-bullet and shoot at a mad
pace: hit him as soon as he appears, deviate the pink shots to the
center area, but try to stay close to him. Don't waste a single second,
the screen will be too filled with blue bullets to resist a second
assault.
On all three modes, the second form is a piece of cake: he'll start
moving around the screen while shooting small, slow blue bullets.
Evade them and kick him into the trash bin.
Enemies will continue their assaults as soon as the Bonus Tokens for
the destruction of Arachnitank appear, be careful and proceed to the
last area of the stage, where you will meet Satoru.
BOSS 1: Satoru Oumi
He can be a real piece of cake or your worst nightmare, according to
the situation. He has from three to six health bars, and can perform
four attacks. Before reaching him, you'll have to take out his five
servants: just start from the left and methodically wipe them out of
existance, ensuring that no one escapes. The fight will start with
Satoru spreading bullets in an arc motion: the rows' number is equal to
the stages you've already cleared. The attacks are the following:
- Psychic Blasters: after you empty one of his life gauges, he will
summon up to five machineguns (number of stages cleared + number of
life bars depleted = number of machineguns), which will either aim
directly at you (move out of the way only the collision area and keep
on firing) or spread rays on the entire screen (accurately avoid them
and never stop firing). Never forget that speed is your best choice of
survival, if you shoot them intensively as soon as they appear, you
should destroy them before they pose any threat to your character. Just
be quick.
- Arc Spread: same as the start of the battle, but this time there'll
be two blocks, each one made out of a number of rows equal to the
number of stages cleared + number of life bars depleted. All you need
to do is navigate through the bullets' deadzones in the opposite
direction.
- Psychic Berserk: Satoru will launch blue bullets in every direction.
On Easy he will slightly delay the (few) shots, while in Normal and
Hard there are more bullets and no delay. The best strategy is to stay
in the lower corner opposite to him and wait for the slowed down and
more spread bullets to simply pass you by.
- Psychic Arrows: nothing to worry about if you have good reflexes. He
will summon compact "arrows" of bullets and shoot them in your
direction. Avoid them by just moving left or right into the deadzone.
pay particular attention to the third and fourth time he shoots them,
because they will be compact no more! In particular, you should be fine
by positioning yourself where the previous shots have passed.
- Doppelganger: this isn't really an attack. If you're fighting him on
Hard, when he'll be back to his last life bar he will summon a twin of
himself. THIS is your nightmare! Both Satoru and his clone are
vulnerable, but they will attack in unison, often using combinations of
two different attacks, sometimes doubling the effect of only one type,
such as the Psychic Berserk. There are really no tactics here: try to
avoid one attack at time while you try to dispose of him as quickly as
possible; if in danger use the Psychic Blast.
Satoru is not too difficult: you just have to carefully calculate the
direction of the bullets and shoot as quickly as you can; none of his
attacks are deadly as soon as he launches them, but only when the
number of shots increases too much, keep this in mind.
STAGE TWO: SHOPPING MALL AT NIGHT
What are we fighting for?
We cannot even find the answer,
But we keep on running...
Because of this ability we have.
No big deal for the first part, but a great deal of attention
neverthless. Start by banking right and methodically sweeping to the
right as soon as you destroy the first hoverboard: repeat this paying
attention to the small ground units (snipers), tanks and hoverboards,
sicne their spread shots can be pretty deadly, even though they offer a
decent amount of space for dodging. Proceed until you reach the Aerial
Fortresses (no mid-boss this time ^_-).
Focus your fire on the middle section of the ship (the one with the
turret) by approaching the upper screen boundary, shooting the Piercing
Cannon then retreat to avoid the shots and keep on hitting them. After
five of them, you'll enter the second part of the stage. Stay in the
middle and slightly bank sideway when needed, and prepare for a fast
paced battle.
BOSS 2: Mobile Assault Tank "Izuna"
This will be a very tactical battle, where speed and reflexes will play
a big part. Izuna has two forms, with a total of five attack patterns
(four on Easy), let's see how to scrap this piece of metal.
He will start by shooting multiple way beams from each caterpillar (2-
ways on Easy, 4-ways on Medium and Double 4-ways on Hard), in
conjunction to a red double stream aimed for your last location. As
soon as it appears, focus on the left caterpillar until you make it
explode twice. Why twice? Because the first time you will disintegrate
the armor, but the engine underneat will start firing annoying small
purple bullets, which could have a devastating effect if let loose. Now
it's time for decisions: if you destroy the second caterpillar as well,
the front pair will almost immediately start shooting a large amount of
blue arcs, effectively threatening your life. If you want to go for the
maximum score, destroy them before focusing on the main body, else do
your best to keep the right caterpillar intact while you shoot the main
vehicle.
Izuna will eventually stop his first assault and throw V-shaped red
bullets at you, while releasing land mines from its rear (on Hard
difficulty these, exploding, will release small blue bullets). Just
stay in the middle and fire right away. On Hard he will briefly stream
red bullets from his turret: ignore that and keep on blasting.
And now the second form, where agility is everything. Immediately
destroy whatever part of the tank is left, then stay at the bottom of
the screen. Izuna will shoot five arcs of bullets in rapid sequence
according to the following table:
Easy: straight streams x2, slightly arched stream, straight streams x2
Medium: slightly arched stream x2, straight stream, slightly arched
streams x2
Hard: arched streams x2, slightly arched stream, arched streams x2)
After that, there will be a second pattern, made up of two single-
bullet circular spreads and a laser array. They come in two types: Wide
Arrays are extremely geometrical, with the beams intersecting each
other at fixed intervals. Just time your movements to pass both the red
bullets and the lasers. On normal and Hard, Izuna will also launch
Compact Arrays, made up of lasers extremely close to each other: unless
you are very good at dodging, quickly bank sideway to avoid it, then
slowly return to the center of the screen.
In about two cycles you should be able to crack Izuna open.
STAGE THREE: BAY AREA
Protect the world, even if
The future of the world
Is uncertain.
Keep in mind that land zones are perfect for human snipers, while sea
zones are starships' domain: crack the bigger ships as soon as you
track them down and pay special attention to infantry troops in the
first half of the stage. Apart from that, you don't need special
directions for this area: just proceed to the Anti-Aircraft Cannon.
MID-BOSS 3: Anti-Aircraft Cannon
Keep on shooting! In his first attack pattern, he will shoot two
streams of bullets followed by a three-parts attack: a general spread
of pink bullets, a circular spread of 3-bullet small arcs and his blue
cannon blasts. Manage to destroy him before the yellow shots reach you.
The only difference between the difficulties are the number of shots
and their speed.
The second form is ridiculous: he uses the same attack of ArachniTank.
Finish him.
The second part of the stage is filled with tanks, in conjunction with
one (or two on Normal and Hard) helicopters and two battleships. My
advice is to stay on the left side, destroy the small aircrafts then
proceed to the left side, destroying the ship's command deck. Rinse,
repeat. On the land dispose of the tanks and pick a corner: stay there
and shoot the helicopter down, then eliminate the eventual second one.
proceed to the encounter with... uhm... what's the name of that boss?
Oh well, I'll call it the Hoverboard Assault Chopper ^_^;;
BOSS 2: Hoverboard Assault Chopper
If you are on Easy Mode, you can take it easy, because his attacks
won't likely reach you unless you're a rookie. On the other hands,
Medium and Hard are annoying, REALLY annoying.
First of all, the Chopper will shoot with his two frontal cannons,
effectively splitting the moving zone in three parts, then attack your
last position with pink rays, easily avoidable on every difficulty.
After three shots two circular spreads are launched.
On Easy they're made of single bullets, while on other difficulties
they're in fact blue rays. As a last charge, two 3-bullet streams are
launched in every direction, plus a small arc of undodgeable blue
pellets. The cycle then starts again. Given the fact that once the
screen fills up with bullets there won't be enough room to dodge
effectively, you'll have to disintegrate this form of the boss before
it launches the third attach wave: aim for the cockpit and start
shooting as soon as it becomes vulnerable. This way you should both
damage the target and the side guns, and if done correctly with enough
use of the B button it'll take you to the second part of the fight
(half of the life gauge is depleted).
This part is a real pain, because there's no way you can destroy this
thing before the screens is overloaded with bullets!
The first attack are two small blue arcs and a constant stream of
bullets that divides the screen in half, in conjunction with small pink
needles shot in every direction following a geometrical pattern similar
to the one seen during the fight with Izuna: finally two circular
spreads are shot. On Easy, they won't be a problem, while on Normal and
Hard the bullets will be smaller and closer to each other: in this case
my suggetsion is to position yourself at the centre of the screen,
slightly moved to the right; this way the spreads will likely reach you
while merged into a single point, thus avoidable with little effort.
the rain of pink needles will continue, but then up to six arc spreads
will be released, adding more madness to the battle. Without good
reflexes you won't go far here: pick the portion of the screen opposite
to the chopper and avoid the blue bullets while keeping an eye on the
needles, if they get in the way, quickly change position. Then the
cycle repeats itself. You can use the Psychic Blast to save your butt
here, but I advice to use it only after the second blue arc blast,
since you can charge it just enough to take out the chopper, without
consuming too much energy from your gauge. About four cycles are
required to deplete the remaining life gauge without the use of the
Blast. Good luck!
STAGE FOUR: WANGAN SUBWAY LINE
The power of ESP.
One who has the power
Is destined for tragedy.
Yay, fourth stage! This is your only chance to get an extra 1-Up, so
pay attention to our movement. Read how to get it in the next section,
and remember to eliminate as quickly as you can the Scouters (those
damn motorcycle-thingies), the Bomber Turtles and the Hoverboards,
since they pose the greatest threat: in particular, immediately bank
left, then right, and again left; when the other train arrives, shoot
one last time your Piercing Cannon and bank right, cleaning the area.
Being on the last compartment should be a piece of cake by now. Proceed
to the encounter with the YB-49 Stealth.
MID-BOSS 3: YB-49 Stealth
This aircraft can shoot an impressive amount of bullets, but you can
usually find some tricks to beat him. Don't bother trying to destroy
the wings, go for the main body instead! It will start scattering
bullets from said wings: stay in the middle and gradually bank right
(usually a small corridor is formed there during the crossing of the
bullets, however keep an eye for eventual small groups that could hit
you), return to the center and repeat for the second, more difficult
spread. If done correctly, you should destroy the ship before the
second cycle.
Another one out! Continue your journey destroying the hoverboards and
fighting... ANOTHER MID-BOSS?!?
MID-BOSS 4: Armed Wagon
Again... The first form of the boss might take some training, but is
really a piece of cake, just follow my advice. Place yourself just
underneath it, and after he shoots the small blue bullets, bank left to
destroy the Turtle Bomber (there'll be one of them at the beginning of
each compartment, so be careful!) and wait for the red spread and the
streams to pass you by, then once again use the delay to reposition
back in the middle bottom. Rinse, repeat, and it'll enter its second
form. It'll launch a flower-shaped spread, then two 7-ways shot, the
second one covering the deadzones of the first. Since you can't avoid
this attack, keep right underneat the Wagon and move slightly right to
let the shots pass right next to you! By the second attack you should
have destroyed it, just beware that there are still Turtle Bombers on
the left train! If you can't make it in time, use the Psychic Blast,
since there'll be too many bullets on screen.
Now, once again bullets will follow geometrical patterns, with
nuisances from Scouters and minor ESPers. Use the Piercing Cannon to
get rid of the weaker enemies, and concentrate your fire on the round
ships: these will let out three large streams of three bullets with the
last ones connected by two bullets placed in the deadzones. Once again
find the intersections and avoid the attacks. Next come six more
Armored Wagons, weaker than the previous. They alternatively shoot
pairs and triplets of large bullets, really easy to avoid if you can
take out the Scouters. Remember: DON'T LET THE SCOUTERS CORNER YOU! If
they manage to cage you with their twin bullets, your chances of
survival stand in either passing through the minimal space in between
the two bullets or releasing the Psychic Blast. The third wave is made
of blue ships that shoots six blue streams: the trick lies in the fact
that the beams are coupled, so only the central one will converge o
your last position, leaving ample deadzones. Even with more than two
ships on screen, the reticle formed by the shots will be easy to
navigate, trust me. Now, on to the boss!
BOSS 4: Railway Security Mecha
NOTE: you are allowed to use no more than a quarter of your Psychic
Energy Gauge, due to the hig difficulty level of the fifth stage. I
suggest using it either during the third form's first or third attack.
Using more energy would mean being unable to refill the meter in the
third stage: just ensure that at the end of the stage your Bonus Tokens
Counter is flashing.
A three-stages battle, where reflexes will draw the thin line between
life and death. It will start by shooting a stream of green discs, in
conjunction with an arc-shaped spread of purple bullets: be careful,
the spreads are actually two, moving in the same direction, the first
one is slower while the second is faster. Keep on firing to destroy the
green blades, and keep an eye on the pink shots: focus your eyes on the
faster ones, since the slow ones are just a nuisance, not a real
threat. The next attack pattern consists of two streams of blue lasers
and randomly spread purple shots. This will be more difficult: never
stay in between the two streams and pass the purple bullets as soon as
they merge into a single point, while slowly moving sideway; if you
time correctly your movements, you should escape safely this small
inferno. Just to enter another. This times the two "arms" will shoot at
the same time a 5-ways purple spread and a wortex of blue shots:
avoiding this can be near impossible, but I noticed that the bullets
usually reach the right corner of the screen slowed down, so move in
that direction and upward, paying attention what's coming in your
direction. Finally, the Mecha starts shooting blue bullets in random
directions: I hope you never stopped firing, because if you did, it
will likely morph into his second form by now, if this is not the case,
dodge the bullets and try to dispose of him quickly.
The second stage of the battle will se the Mecha shooting large red
bullets in random order, avoidable with a bit of practice, then arcs of
9 green discs. Where's the big deal? The discs, ass soon as they
explode, will release a stram of blue bullets! Don't worry, keep
yourself in the deadzones and you should be fine. Whatever thing it
shoots next, you shouldn't worry about, because if you hit it enough,
it will explode into its last form (by the way, the third pattern
consists in 5-ways blue needles in conjunction with randomply spread
pink bullets and couples of blue shots. See why it is important that
you finish it before it can perform this attack?).
Hope you learned how to move your collision zone, because else you WILL
die: the Mecha will shoot from each cannon 6-ways laser arrays, which
will form the most deadly reticle in this game! The space left is
minimal, just enough for the "sensitive" area of the sprite, so time
your movements. It'll take lots of practice, I warn you, but after some
tries you will learn the pattern, just never remain in the center, nor
too distant from the cannons.
The next attack is a double random spread of pink bullets, but once
again I noticed that sometimes corridors tend to form on the sides,
according to the direction of the shots.
Now everything is just a matter of speed, because this attack is cruel:
blue and pink bullets will be launched in a spear shape, and while the
blue (faster) will rush at you and can be easily avoided by remaining
in the middle, the pink will concentrate right at the center of the
screen, trapping you! You won't survive this unless you're a skilled
player, so it's best if you destroy the mech before it reaches this
pattern: if the life bar is at its minimum (the small part at the left
end) by the time he launches the spread of pink bullets (2nd attack),
then you can finish him before suffering this torment.
You did it? Wonderful job! Now it's time for the final battle...
FINAL STAGE: YAKSA FORTRESS
Desperate cries echo.
The scream of anger
Shakes the earth,
And you discover
That it came from your soul.
I HATE this level, because it is almost impossible (revome the "almost"
for the final boss).
Beware: if you used your Psychic Blast in the previous stage, now
quickly eliminates enemies from left to right and catch every single
Psychic Energy Token you can see, it's imperative that you fully
restore your gauge.
You will notice a large aircraft on the right: stay right underneath it
and the side spreads won't reach you. proceed by quickly eliminating
the left then the right turret, and prepare for the fight with some
really nasty tanks. These beasts will launch an arc of purple needles
in your direction, followed by impresive side spreads and blue bullets
aimed right towards your last position. Since other enemies will soon
start to attack as well, you will race against the time: concentrate
your fire and don't let it reach the support troops; you can't waste
more Psychic Energy, so hit hard.
Hoverboards and small aircrafts will greet you after this danger, but
if you stay on the left part of the screen you will be able to handle
the situation. Start to shiver when you see a yellow coloured tank,
because you're probably gonna lose a few lives. these machines fires
groups of three purple bullets in every direction, and an almost
continue stream of blue ones at your CURRENT location!
Speed is essential: use your Piercing Cannon to destroy weaker enemies
n the sides, and focus entirely on the tank, trying to dodge the purple
shots while slowly moving sideway; you can't dodge the blue stream, so
don't even bother tryng. You will have to repeat the maneuver twice, so
concentrate. After that you will meet two Mobile Turrets, whose shots
can be avoided by remaining in the middle of the blue beams, where the
blue bullets cannot reach you, but this doesn't mean that you can let
them survive, destroy them as soon as possible instead. Proceed by
destroying, in order, the turret, the infantry soldiers, the largest
ships and the smaller enemies left, and prepare for a chaotic boss
fight.
MID-BOSS 5: Stronghold's Main Gate
This boss is a joke compared to the ones you met previously: you won't
lose a single life here, and I'll teach you a simple but effective
trick.
Mrs. Garra, your target, will be sitting on the balcony, but two ESPers
will create a shield to prevent you from entering the fortress, while
two turrets on either side will shoot at you.
The attack patterns are the following:
- Snipers: two wings of snipers will position themselves on the top
floor of the fortress.
- Courtyard Assault: a convoy of small armed trucks will pass through
the courtyard.
- Turrets: the turrets will shoot slow, delayed blue bullets at your
last position.
- Shield Pieces: the shield will let loose a rain of slow, small red
bullets, but really no big deal.
- "Bloody Tears": occasionally the turrets will stop firing and a
moderately fast array of blue bullets will be shot at your last
position.
Seems difficult, uh? Not at all! Just never use autofire and move
sliding on the borders of the screen. You heard it right: the shots are
so slow and delayed that if you run at full speed following the
screen's boundaries you will easily avoid whatever thing is thrown at
you. Crack the shield open and go ahead!
Now you're inside the villa, prepare for a slightly disturbing
spectacle: you will be greeted by an ENORMOUS number of Alice Clones,
who will reveal themselves to be genetically-created ESPers! These
little 10 y.o. girls can create the most impressive wave of bullets if
you let them live, so follow this pattern and you should be fine.
Start by slowly moving from left to right, destroying as many clones as
you can, then move left following the passageway and destroy any clones
left on the right and center of the screen; remain there and fire to
destroy the Turtle Bomber, then proceed by moving left and along the
border of the screen: at the first occasion, regain the center of the
room. Destroy the two Mobile Turrets and prepare for some insane
shooting.
You will pass through a corridor filled with Turtle Bombers and Clones:
if you can't somehow deviate the fire, you're dead. Try to navigate the
maze up to the end of the corridor, and if in danger use your Blast
(just be sure to reach the Inactive Turtle Bombers with maximum Bonus
Tokens): destroy the jumping Clones and the last two Turtle Bomber. Now
you can breath: you will see three rows of Inactive Turtle Bombers,
left there as refilling stations for you. Destroy them to either gain
Bonus Tokens or Psychic Energy Tokens, and prepare for the last, mighty
battle.
You will see Garra sitting on the balcony of the villa: after a few
moments, she will take off and sit upon a gigantic statue of Athena.
Too bad its head will detach and come to life to destroy you...
Madness begins!
FINAL MID BOSS: Athena's Head
I hate this thing. The attack pattern is completely random, and is a
combination of two spreads from the list below. Keep in mind that every
flashing light represents a cannon.
- Pegasus Figure: a flower-like spread of purple shot is launched.
- Red Eyes: each eye will shoot two connected circular red spreads.
- Blue Jewel: fires a delayed stream of blue shots.
- Green Eye: same as the Pegasus Figure, slower shots.
- Dragon Figure: a wide spread of purple bullets, very difficult to
avoid.
After half of the life gauge is depleted, it will launch THREE attacks
at a time, so pay extra attention at what you do!
The combination Green Eye + Blue Jewel is tremendously easy, you should
watch out for the Dragon Figure + Pegasus Figure attack. Deadly.
Usually, larger corridors tend to form on the right side of the screen,
since the bullets are shot in columns, but you should pay attention to
what's coming from the side! No real tactics here, is just a matter of
resistance and experience; all I can do is listing the patterns, and
tell you to try again, and again, and again, and again.
You destroyed it? Excellent, now on to the most difficult boss of the
entire game: Ms. Garra...
FINAL BOSS: Ms. Garra
6 life bars, crazy attacks, this boss has everything you need, so brace
yourself. Let's start.
garra will shoot circles of red triplets, with minimal amount of space
in between: if she moves left, move right and pass through the corrydor
that will be created between the bullets (just beware that to exit you
will have to immediately sprint right), and vice versa if she moves
right; if she stays in the middle just find a good point to navigate
the maze. She will then summon a rain of slow blue bullets and shots
purple ones sideways: stay in the middle and navigate through the blue
shots before they close in on you. The cycle is then repeated with
minimum delay. If you are quick and agile enough, you will easy
survive... just to probably be killed now!
Whoa, look at those wings! The smaller blue orbs will release blue
needles, while the bigger ones red streams aimed at your current
position. Don't focus on Garra's body, the hits scored on the orbs
count as damage, so keep on moving while avoiding the needles; a good
tactic would be to wait for the streams to be launched, then rapidly
move to the opposite side of the screen. I also noticed that the
needles rarely tend to concentrate at the center of the screen, so try
to stay away from the borders. This is the only attack pattern, and it
won't stop: keep on firing.
Her wings will be partially destroyed, and turn blue: now the attack
points will be their far ends. Do you remember the "Laser Attack" of
the fourth level's boss? This is similar: blue arcs of six bullets will
be launched in a circular spread, while triplets of red shots will try
to hit you. No tricks here, dudes: is everything about dodging and good
use of the Psychic Blast, the first attacks is really difficult, then
it gets slightly easier, but if you feel like it use your Blast, just
ensure that you do not consume more than half of it.
Green wings. Psychic rockets. Garra's only attack is made out of large
pink blasts of energy, shot at your last location. your only hope of
escaping is represented by quickly navigating the pieces that will
detach from the main shot, moving out of the way before the nexb blast
arrives. The speed will gradually increase, then fall back to its
initial value. No tricks again, but at least this time you will destroy
these wings!
Two attack patterns, but you definitely wouldn't want to reach the
second one! garra will shoot compact arrays of blue and purple bullets,
chasing you around the screen: if you are too close to the left side,
bank right and vice versa, if you are too close to the top, move bottom
and vice versa: master these simple rules. She will shoot a purple
array, then a blue one: sneak in the left space between them and you
should be safe, just watch carefully for the room left in that portion
of the screen!
If you are quick enough, you will avoid the second, deadly attack: she
will disappear off stage, then suddenly return and cover about half of
the screen with a fast array. In this case, just run to the opposite
side of the battlefield, and unleash the Psychic Blast. Careful! if she
moves outta the way, you will waste your precious energy.
Scream of joy, player: you've just completed ESP Ra.De.!
Enjoy the final FMV...
----------------------------
PART VIII: SECRETS
----------------------------
ESP Ra.De. hasn't many secrets, only three, in fact. Neverthless, they
could prove quite useful.
- While at the main screen, keep the B Button pressed while you push
Start: you'll make the Multiplier Counter appear during your game.
- When you select your character, you'll always play the level
associated with him/her (Houo High School for Yuusuke, Bay
Area for Irori, Shopping Mall at Night for Jb-5th) and then the
other two, in random order. You can avoid this by selecting the
player with a specific button:
YUUSUKE SAGAMI
A BUTTON: [H] - [R] - [R]
B BUTTON: [H] - [B] - [S]
C BUTTON: [H] - [S] - [B]
JB-5TH
A BUTTON: [S] - [R] - [R]
B BUTTON: [S] - [B] - [H]
C BUTTON: [S] - [H] - [B]
IRORI MIMASAKA
A BUTTON: [B] - [R] - [R]
B BUTTON: [B] - [H] - [S]
C BUTTON: [B] - [S] - [H]
[H] = Houo High School [B] = Bay Area
[S] = Shopping Mall At Night [R] = Random
- As soon as you start the fourth level (Wangan Subway Line), you'll
start fighting enemies located on a train on the left side of the
screen: shortly after, a second one will appean on the right. If
you manage to be on that train when the last compartment passes by,
you'll get a 1Up.
NOTE: you don't actually need to be on the center of the compartment,
just ensure that you are inside the green borders.
----------------------------
PART IX: HIGH SCORES
----------------------------
One thing first: if you are not japanese or Superman, forget to reach
YMG-C's world top score of ESP Ra.De.: 41.930.530 pts. A TRUE record,
estabilished on a real arcade machine, not an emulator!
Anyway, just to have a confrontation, I'll report the results of a
recent contest which recently took place in Italy, at Emuita's forums
(www.emuita.it).
01) HI SCORE: 24.272.910 | STAGE: C | PLAYER: raiden fighters 2
02) HI SCORE: 11.506.090 | STAGE: 6 | PLAYER: Zenon
03) HI SCORE: _9.780.250 | STAGE: 6 | PLAYER: BLACK YUSUKE
04) HI SCORE: _9.525.060 | STAGE: 6 | PLAYER: Gemant ZBL-FUKUDA
05) HI SCORE: _9.306.180 | STAGE: 5 | PLAYER: Dangerous Combo
06) HI SCORE: _9.281.160 | STAGE: 5 | PLAYER: Kamajin
07) HI SCORE: _6.659.750 | STAGE: 5 | PLAYER: Kold666
08) HI SCORE: _5.810.900 | STAGE: 4 | PLAYER: Gaplus
09) HI SCORE: _5.691.270 | STAGE: 4 | PLAYER: Evrain (itsa me!)
10) HI SCORE: _5.638.350 | STAGE: 4 | PLAYER: spetty
11) HI SCORE: _4.909.230 | STAGE: 4 | PLAYER: Nightlord
12) HI SCORE: _4.904.090 | STAGE: 4 | PLAYER: Graph
13) HI SCORE: _3.594.492 | STAGE: 4 | PLAYER: boh
----------------------------
PART X: HINTS & TIPS
----------------------------
- MOVE! never stay in the same place for too long, enemy bullets can
reach you anywhere.
- Two-thirds of the attacks seem to be random, but in fact are aimed at
your last position.
- Try to lure the enemies into shooting at a specific point, thus
leaving almost safe the opposite area of the screen (bullet Hoarding).
- While dodging the attacks, always keep in mind that you have to keep
safe only head and torso of your character, NOT the entire sprite!
- Navigating compact groups of bullets requires small movements: keep
the A button pressed to slow down and control better the character.
- If you need to perform a sprint to avoid being hit, release the A
button: your speed will double. try to combine this effectively with
the previous tip.
- The Psychic Blast can save your sorry a$$ from countless situations,
but you have only a limited charge: try to keei it only for "special
occasions".
- If you're aiming for points, destroy every single part of the bosses,
and hit the bigger enemies with a x16 Multiplier before wiping out the
weaker ones.
- No attack is impossible to avoid, keep this in mind.
- Destroy immediately enemies who could fill the screen with small
bullets, such as Scouters and Yellow Tanks.
- Be quick! The faster you destroy the enemies, less bullets you will
find on the screen.
- Practice is your best friend.
- Relax.
----------------------------
PART XI: FINAL NOTES
----------------------------
This is a superlative game, but is difficult indeed! Once again Cave
made a kick-ass shooter, but they could do something about the
gigazillion of bullets on screen... Anyway, I am not a champion, nor a
recordman, and this guide is far from perfect: if you find any errors,
or have suggestion and tips I didn't mention, please feel free to email
me at
[email protected]
Many thanks to Kamajin, for supporting me, and to Raiden fighters II
for some advice on how to beat Garra.
Enjoy, ESPers!
Evrain [
[email protected]]
