Raiden is the greatest series of arcade vertical scrolling shoot-em-ups ever created. The series consists of Raiden, Raiden 2, Raiden DX, Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2, Raiden Fighters JET. They are made by a small japanese company known as Seibu-Kaihatsu. Some of the games have been converted to home consoles such as the playstation and tg16. The Raiden Fighters games remain arcade only. These games are known to eat rediculous amounts of quarters.

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Type: HBV-05-E (Heavy Battle Virtuaroid)
Height: 17.8m
Weight: 12.28t
Max. Gross Weight: 32.5t
Max. Power Output: 8824kw

Left - G-Bomb
Tosses a disc-like bomb that slowly slides along the ground and explodes on the surface of the ground with a large blast radius.

Right - Bazooka
Fires one or many rockets that travel at a medium speed toward the opponent. Does decent damage, and is good versus airborne enemies. Recharges quite quickly. Makes good covering fire as well as an offensive weapon.

Both - Lasers
The most powerful weapon in the game, one single laser can equal Apharmd's Tongfers, but you fire two of them so a direct hit end the game right away for weaker VR's, such as Viper II, Bal Bas Bow and Fei-Yen. You can let them loose in straight forward (two lasers) or in the air or dashing (a wider spread). They recharge slowly, so don't waste them. Beginners often overuse the lasers and as a result lose.

Slow, but with a wide array of extremely powerful weapons. Actually not a bad melee fighter (as most people think), as all his weapons are quick to fire and do monstrous damage (try to get the laser or the bazooka off instead of the weak bazooka bash, also the shoulder bash using the right trigger works much better). Raiden has a lot of armor and can soak up a few hits. Not a mech for perfectionists (those people use Viper II), but works quite well in many cases.

Raiden can often lay traps against downed opponents. His lasers, having unlimited range, can effectively cut off part of the entire arena for the opponent. While he batters them with bazookas and bombs, he can laser the panicking enemy as they try to dash away. Often beginners cannot dash-cancel and run right into the laser, taking away half his energy. Very effective.

Raiden is a difficult mech to play effectively, due to the wild inaccuracy of his laser and his cumbersome speed. The trick with Raiden is to predict what your opponent will do next and let loose the lasers on him. Most players with Raiden that I know always fall back on those to make the final blow. Panicking enemies who dash are doomed to run into them.

The first Raiden (or as it was somtimes known; "Raiden Trad") was relased in 1990 by Seibu Kaihatsu*, a Korean based company with three different localizations. It was later ported to the Turbo Duo, SNES, & Gensis.

Raiden II was relased 3 years later in 1993, with much of the same impact, but many people complained that the improvements were lacking ("I waited three years and all I got was a purple trace lazer?!"). The game was later ported (2 years late mind you) onto the windows platform.

Raiden DX, relased one year later in 1994 added vast improvements (as compared to Raiden II). The game utilized three buttons (fire, bomb, & rapid fire) as compared to the defacto standard two buttons Raiden and Raiden II utilized. The graphics were also on par with other games of the same genre (shooters). Raiden DX was later ported for the Playstation.

Raiden Fighters was relased 2 years after Raiden DX in 1996, and to fans was considered '...a step back and forward'. While new features were added (like mutiple ships and much more stunning graphics), features like rapid fire were removed. To my knowledge, Raiden Fighters was not ported to any console or computer system.

Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive, relased in 1997 is, for lack of better words - amazing. The technical detail added is above par, however - I'm only aware of this being avable in some arcades.

The final** game in the Raiden series is Raiden Fighters Jet (Taking a page from the World Heros series trick book it would seem). Raiden Fighters Jet, relased in 1998 was much of the same, pretty explosions, pretty ships - prettyness all around. To my knowledge, this has also not been ported.

The Raiden games have much been a bane of the emulation community, for after the first game massive encryption techniques were implemented - which is a shame really, as some of the games are beging to disapear. If you find a PCB on ebay for any of the games, I'd recomend it, there all excellent (nit-picking aside).

* = Seibu Kaihatsu made all the games, however different companys published or ported the games (/msg me if you know them).
** = 'Final' is a risky word, chances are they'll be more.

These are the moves for Mortal Kombat 2. Only some of the special moves, and none of the finishing moves, are applicable to other MK games.

Special Moves
Flying Attack: Back, Back, Forward (can be done in mid-air)
Teleport: Down, Up
Lightning Bolt: Down, Down/Forward, Forward + Low Punch
Shock : Hold High Punch for 3 seconds, release

Finishing Moves
Massive Uppercut: From up close, release High Punch after holding it for 8 seconds (you must start a few seconds before the end of the round)
Shock Therapy: Hold Low Kick for 5 seconds, release, then tap Block and Low Kick until the fatality ends
Babality* : Down, Down, Up, High Kick
Friendship* : Down, Back, Forward, High Kick
Kombat Tomb/Pit II: <Block> Up, Up, Up </Block> High Punch

* Of course, you cannot do a babality or friendship if you've done any punching in the winning round

雷電

Japanese for "thunderbolt". The proper pronunciation rhymes with "my den", not "maiden".

And now, to remind you that there are other kinds of nerd on e2:

Any fan of sumo will tell you that Raiden - or, to give him his full title, Ozeki Raiden Tameimon - is popularly regarded as the greatest sumo wrestler of all time.

Tarokichi Seki was born in 1767 in the village of Oishi, Shinano Province (now Nagano Prefecture), to a poor peasant family. From childhood he took an interest in the seasonal travelling sumo exhibitions; as an uncommonly tall, strong young man of seventeen, he caught the eye of a scout from Urakaze-beya (the Urakaze sumo stable). He followed the troupe back to Edo, joined Urakaze-beya, and adopted the fighting name of Raiden.

His first tournament was in November 1790, where he immediately distinguished himself by winning all his bouts and the championship. Over a career lasting 21 years, he won another 24 of 32 championships; his lifetime tournament record of 254 wins to ten(!) losses (plus two draws and nineteen no-contests) remains unapproached. Although the supreme honour of Yokozuna had been instituted by his time, Raiden declined the title in deference to his sponsor, Unshu-Matsudaira - responsibility for its bestowing belonged to Matsudaira's feudal rival.

In his day, Raiden was a popular hero, inspiring awe not only with his fearsome 6'5", 370lb frame, but with his skill, his speed, and his famous intelligence and grace. He embodied what has become the sumotori creed: shin, gi, tai - "heart, technique, physique".

Raiden died on February 11, 1825, aged 59. His body is interred at Akasaka, and he has gravesites at Matsue (seat of the Matsudaira clan) and Oishi containing locks of his hair.

"Raiden" by Masumi Abe <http://www.sumoweb.com/old/essays/raiden.html>
"The Great Raiden" by Nakamura Chaho <http://www2.crosstalk.or.jp/nakamura-chaho/raiden.htm>
The Sumo Mailing List, archived at <http://www.banzuke.com/ArchiveIndex.html>

Also:

The Mistubishi J2M Raiden was a Japanese land-based fighter-interceptor warplane produced in the latter stages of World War II. It was designed for fast climb and heavy offensive capability, making it a valuable asset in homeland defence against America's high-altitude B-29 Superfortress bombers.

"Aircraft of the World" by Joe Baugher et al <http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/baugher_other/j2m.html>