Raiden Fighters 2 Train Level Review

[@JimmyMcG33]

I forgot to mention: the game is on Steam but it doesn't work very well. store.steampowered.com/app/407600/Raiden_Legacy__Steam_Edition/ A nice MAME setup will be way better and opens you up to playing all sorts of other great games.

[@yukansk7834]

Immediately clicked as soon as I got the notification because this has become my new favorite channel for video essays. The quality of the narration, research and editing is always top notch and the scripts you come up with consistently illuminate your subject matter from new and insightful angles. I also find myself agreeing with your aesthetic sensibilities a lot, which is nice too. So all around great job with the stuff on this channel, looking forward to finishing this new video!

[@pacer2310]

Jimmy rocks

[@jessetuneguy1518]

Damn jimmy, heartwarming ending you chucked in there, I have given to many hours of my life to bad media criticism KZbin videos for art ive I’ll never bother to engage with first hand

[@JimmyMcG33]

same here

[@BadHatNZ]

fwiw I think your little virtual world is pretty neat, Jimmy

[@any_austin]

I went to a bar last night, in New Orleans, and (having watched the first third of this video earlier in the day), spent about 15 or 16 minutes in the corner playing Galaga on an arcade machine instead of sitting at the bar having conversation. Those minutes reminded me how much I love arcade video games. Thanks!

[@tenv]

Hey its you

[@kgblagden]

If you're interested in more indie shmups Hydorah, Mecha Ritz, and Dezatopia are defo worth a try! As for old shmups the R-Type and Darius are both a must and Einhander is straight up my favorite shmup, it's a masterpiece that's just been straight up forgotten by Square.

[@JinvorionSTG]

I will never forget when i was like 4 yo, i couldn't reach the stick so my father got me in his arms and so i was just watching... i know it was Jet cuz i clearly remember those big and cool looking footsprints in the sand stage, it gave me an intriguing feeling, like i know something was about to happen... THEN THIS MASSIVE and gorgeous looking tank appeared and my mind just blow up, my face was no reaction, but inside my brain was just exploding, freakin face glued to the crt, epic raiden experience... so as time passed i kept going to that place and they have F2 and Jet, always credit feed jet a bit more, idk why but both have a big place in my heart so that's why i decided to 1cc'd F2 just the other day, and as the pressure wasn't enough i rediscovered and felt in love with a ship that has no replay on yt, so i had to find a route myself cause every ship changes things a lot in those games, really crazy 2 weeks to get back into the genere, i would never imagine i could 1cc'd any game and even less any of the Fighters series, my heart was pumping like crazy the last 3 stages but.. who cares about me hah However... sorry for the wacky english and many thanks for the quality of the video, up to the peak pixel art these games has, seriously was a joy to watch

[@strawberrydrip]

A video on SHMUPS!?! I knew you were a man of taste but this is unexpected!

[@eightstunningangles]

thought the same thing, always wanted shmup video essays but i wasnt expecting jimmy to be the guy to make one

[@ker0356]

I've just installed a browser plugin that disables recommended videos on youtube and my god, it's so nice not to see those annoying videos that are trying to grab your attention by hating everything and everyone. Thanks for the video btw

[@Kyfow]

It's sad that instead of being a venue for art, thumbnails are just a solved question whose answer is always angry, closed up face looking at you

[@ker0356]

@@Kyfow or a face with a black rectangle over the eyes

[@Kirobsi]

what's the extension?

[@ker0356]

@@Kirobsi unhook

[@meatlejuice]

​@@ker0356gotta be the worst type of thumbnail, at least to me

[@chlobes]

I've been thinking about positive vs negative motivation (similar to criticism motivated by love/hate) and how it affects the things we make I think if you try to make things with negative motivation you tend towards iterative improvements on existing things (trying to eliminate their bad qualities), while positive motivation tends towards trying to create something new You can see why positive motivations can work better when making art, but I'm not willing to blanket dismiss negative motivation as bad, some of the best games come from taking a great game that already exists and trying to iteratively improve on it And, thanks for that optimistic bit at the end, I think I really needed that

[@JimmyMcG33]

Yeah I think negativity is very useful, if you want to improve you have to be critical of your work, and knowing what you hate about other works in your field is very useful for crafting something different. 'Hate' and 'negativity' are slippery words, but imo indifference is the actual opposite of love, hate still requires some underlying care for the hated thing.

[@typingwhilepoopingLOL]

@@JimmyMcG33 Really interesting point on indifference being the opposite of love, I'm going to have to think about that for a while

[@mylifeisajoke1]

You videos are consistently some of the best on the platform, I can't wait to see what else you make.

[@danbo2401]

we've found him, the man prophesied in history, the one man who could possibly review hellsinker your channel is wonderful, thank you

[@JimmyMcG33]

🤔

[@Undermog]

@@JimmyMcG33 Screw Hellsinker, play Blue Revolver.

[@fy8798]

That last bit of this video was genuinely inspiring in its feeling. Well done, well written. Maybe not your train level yet (who knows!) but on the way there!

[@cthlbrennan]

The end of this video is really excellent, this channel is special

[@icedcactus6882]

Honestly suprised you haven't finished zeroranger. That game and void stranger's later portions are the most insane things I have ever seen done in games. Both games inflicted me with a religious fervour no other games have. I hope you do manage to finish zeroranger, even if the thoughts you had and explained were also ones that have been floating in my head lol. Great video as always

[@JimmyMcG33]

I ended up watching ZR and spoiling myself--the playthrough I saw has fantastic commentary so I don't feel *too* bad--but I am absolutely going to beat Void Stranger without any outside knowledge.

[@icedcactus6882]

@@JimmyMcG33 That's unfortunate lmao. I still think you should probably play and try and beat it though, as that playthrough doesn't go over all the interesting things in white vanilla, and zeroranger's post game has a lot of interesting stuff as well as achievements to get you to learn to score run which are done really well. I will also say that void stranger kind of expects you to know a lot of story bits and other stuff from zeroranger, and i found having gone into it having been deep into zeroranger before to make playing it that much more joyous and suprising. have fun with void stranger!

[@Pblrzo]

Almost an hour long video about a single shmup level. I love you, Jimmy.

[@Notester82]

Holy heck, this was a nice video! :D I appreciated the context and build up before talking about Raiden Fighters 2, the medal mechanics really do seem interesting, and it was cool to see how passionate you were over the game's train level! Also, that ending section and the concluding statement of "the awkward beginning might be like Xevious, but everyone has their own train level waiting to come out" while talking about learning a new skill was sweet. c:

[@brooke89776]

Loved your channel ever since the AI one. Your narration and wording is enjoyable and it was cool to see you talk about one of my favorite games of the computer lab at school. Happy new year.

[@racimlongou5178]

Another banger rolls out. And with it, a window for me into a world I had never even considered, and a spark of motivation to express myself in new, weird and wonderful ways Great work! ❤

[@hare8850]

Ironically this video made me interested in shmups, and my first game to get into it (aside from the binding of isaac i suppose but idk how much that counts) is zeroranger, and now I find myself going down the rabbit hole. Also I didn't expect the end of a video on shmups to be so inspirational, but I'm glad it is. Great video!

[@heckheckheck]

shout out to train levels fr, gotta be one of my favorite genders

[@JimmyMcG33]

truuue

[@netdoll]

Train levels and cloud levels tbh

[@Onmyoji_Red]

I promise you when i say your videos are an impeccable change of pace in the youtube landscape, you are exactly what i want to see and if i finally decided to commit you are EXACTLY what i would want to be as a youtuber... please continue to pursue your passion and i promise we will be here to appreciate it even if the number seems low compared to the extreme popular individuals

[@lazzlepops]

During the scrolling of all those youtube clickbait videos I thought is was the same 20 or so looping round. Then it kept going. I started to think you had used some video thumbnail generator to churn them out like memes. But no it's people creating actual videos of mind poison. You are right in that people do like to keep to the same few kinds of games they enjoy. I certainly replay rts ones over and over again just because they are comfortably familiar and sometimes taking time to checkout all the other possible genres out there. Great vid as always!

[@cobaltJude]

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH BABEY JIMMY MCGEE ON SHMUPS

[@R8Spike]

Thank you for this entire video. Gushing about a Shmup that's outside my taste of touhou clones and cave likes, and that ending got me right when I needed it, as I'm learning art and crying about it. Thank you so much for this video

[@calebharris292]

I've been playing vampire survivors lately and I think it has some elements of sh'mups; mainly the threading through enemies, moving for setup of the autofire weapons. I wouldn't call it a sh'mup however, because you're generally scaling the increase of enemies with your powerups and at the end of a run you're probably unkillable barring the reaper, and sometimes it needs to spawn more than one. Also I appreciated the ending :)

[@KisekiFox]

Damn dude, I love your videos. I may not always agree with your opinions on some things, but that's genuinely cool, you have a very unique voice and viewpoint on what you want from games and what personally affects you, and I love hearing you talk about it and what these games do for you. It makes me appreciate a lot of games more than I may have initially. Your talk about other reviewers at the end, the difference between critiquing from a place of love, and critiquing from a place of hate, and how so many people trap themselves into that immature worry of ever being genuine and opening up about the things you care about is something I also strongly agree with, I hope you keep making awesome videos dude, I really loved this one.

[@mikezambri]

Any time I see a new video from this channel watching it IMMEDIATELY becomes something I need to do that day. The consistent quality and analysis are staggering for a channel this small.

[@100hundert]

I just took a little break from the massive "passion against reason" shmup documentary from The Electric Underground to find your new video, also on shmups! Seems like I'm not going to bed as early as I had hoped tonight 😂 absolutely love your channel, especially your review of Tetris The Grandmaster!

[@KuroOnehalf]

Great to see you do a piece on shmups. I've long bemoaned how underrated of a genre it is, and nowadays pretty much no one talks about them, despite them being so interesting. I must take this opportunity to peddle my Hellsinker propaganda. If you've never played it, I urge you to give it a shot. I've had a decade+ obsession with it, and I wish more people would experience it. It's now on steam and with new tutorials, making it easier to get into. ps: If you enjoyed the grazing mechanics in Graze Counter and haven't tried Touhou 16 specifically, give it a shot. The unique mechanic there is specifically about that, and one of my favs in the whole series.

[@JimmyMcG33]

Thanks. A couple people recommended Hellsinker, it's on my wishlist now.

[@SmokinBrick]

i got excited because you finally made a video about something i don’t give a shit about but then you went and made me give a shit about it

[@CharlieHankey]

Awesome video as always, never a bad suggestion to get a bit outside your comfort zone. Interesting to think about that nebulous and hard to encapsulate form genres take that you were talking about in relation to the last part of your video. Palworld has that artificial kind of outrage around it online, it was made to be that low hanging fruit of provocation. And while the tiny predictable loop of discourse keeps going about how daring it was, it's ironically just more Fortnite, Pokemon and survival crafting. It could have been really special if it was informed by a love of the games it was responding to, but instead of fulfilling the potential we all know is there, it seems more like a angsty teenage spit back at anyone who had faith/hope for Pokemon. Here's hoping that the eternal plight of loving our games stays strong

[@curryweek]

Your description of level 3 is exactly why I fell in love with shmups recently. My focus is on Hellsinker, but hitting alternate stage 3 was the moment I really got the game.

[@bingusdingus7787]

i love shmups so much. this video really made me realize how much fun a scoring system can be when it isnt an afterthought. typically i have to play just to survive as im not very good still, but it just means that theres still a lot to learn. if theres any shmup i could recommend its einhander. its one of my favorites, mainly for its presentation and pacing. the way levels seamlessly transition in that game really stuck with me, and the soundtrack is impeccable. boss design is relatively creative too especially in the first half. i feel like its one of the few horizontal shmups at the time that really took advantage of what you could do in 3d - though i could be totally wrong and would love to see more games like it if there are.

[@pepozuniga6495]

I miss you Jimmy man, I sincerely can't wait for the next video

[@garblechunk]

Beautiful writing, great analysis and quite the hard turn at the end there! (Couldn't agree more)

[@halliwedge]

The Final Chapter is very well said. Please don't ever stop making videos.

[@MotWhinnana]

Very serendipitous that this came out the same day as Mark's "Passion Against Reason" doc. I loved your gambling videos, so I'm happy to see you spreading the good news about arcade style games in general.

[@JimmyMcG33]

I saw that video right after I published mine, it was great! He has a really unique perspective.

[@ezraciagara9600]

YOU GOT IT BRO THAT VIDEO ESSAY SAUCE YOU HAVE IT WHAT A BEAUTIFUL VIDEO I NEVER THOUGHT I’D HEAR SOMETHING AS BEAUTIFUL AS “𝓤𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓼𝔂𝓷𝓸𝓷𝔂𝓶 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓪𝓬𝔂“ IN A VIDEO ABOUT SHOOT EM UPS. THIS IS WHAT I WATCH VIDEO ESSAYS FOR, INCREDIBLY INSIGHTFUL WRITING MIXED WITH PASSION OVER NICHE TOPICS AND IDEAS I AM NOVICE TO. THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT. KEEP IT GOING BRO 🔥🔥🔥 also your A.I. video is a masterpiece easily the best video on the topic i have seen yet.

[@CleverlyStoopid]

I appreciate you Jimmy. You're a super comfy channel to watch and this video is no exception. Since you like shmups, I know one game that you might enjoy called "Rym9000". It's visually overwhelming but the art style is gorgeous, it's animated very well and the soundtrack is probably it's strongest asset, making it feel like a playable music album. Keep doing you're thing man, looking forward to your next project.

[@GoFastLily]

Holy shit wow. Uh... this is absolutely not the direction I expected this video to go. Amazing stuff!

[@kynlem]

i think this is my favourite channel on youtube. thank you for the video.

[@chasepalumbo2929]

Excited to watch this, I’ve been a fan of your channel for a while and I love shmups so this is hype

[@koveltskiis8391]

I appreciate your work and artistic views! Thanks for continuing to put your voice out there.

[@jdquairoli]

Amazing video as always man and I definately will continue to grow this new year thanks for sharing your love for something I had no clue about til now

[@Seeyn]

Thanks for creating another great essay Jimmy!

[@TheDoctorAndALobster]

thank u mr jimmy great video

[@jrheard]

Love you jimmy never change

[@superbro6413]

Heck yeah, shmups (+bullet heavens)! There's not enough videos deep diving into a genre with as rich and understated a history as this one. Bit of a personal anecdote here, but years and years ago I fell in love with _R-Type Final 2_ for the PS2. I was never super great at it, but it's melancholy really spoke to me. These games can be truly beautiful. Unfortunately this platform is without a good retrospective on the game, so if I do find the time to learn something new, and be the change I want to see Games are cool, and this video is cool too

[@drkreuzer670]

Man, that train boss is so cool, i wish trains were real. 😢

[@axolotus6451]

thank you for continuing to cook

[@hansterica]

I remember finding the Raiden Fighters 2 FAQ archived on your site and chucking it up to it somehow being part some bigger Shoot'em up video I didn't expect for it to contain a train level to rival whole games in terms of adrenaline.

[@winkyflex7826]

Recently found your channel and have binged it all. Great stuff

[@barstow_x86]

love the little comparison to a stamp/coin collection!

[@spookyfrogs1874]

Great video as always Jimmy!!! edit: WOW i need to play that game with the hamster dance level, it's beautiful :')

[@thatmanjames1647]

Thanks for the obligatory Touhou segment. I heard the series music used earlier in the video but was peeved it went without mention. Now I can just call it forshadowing and all is well with the world.

[@brobzoid]

another game with a similar aesthetic is air gallet, which has some great moments that hit just right because of how grounded the art style is. the first stage ends with you chasing a discovery space shuttle taking off as you shoot off its huge launch engines. the second stage, a city stage, culminates in a boss fight over the tokyo tower, which has a parallax effect that really sells how huge the tower is and how close you are to it, even from an overhead perspective. very beautiful stuff. the sound is great too, lots of radio chatter in english that helps ground it further. as a game its probably less considered in its mechanics, since you can milk bosses very hard and the medals are simpler. I'm no expert tho, so who knows. it was also designed by a toaplan veteran. definitively worth checking out for anyone who found the description of raiden fighters 2 in this video compelling

[@JimmyMcG33]

I actually meant to play it for the video but it fell through the cracks. Checked it out just now and I totally agree on all your points. That transition from the runway to overlooking the town in level 1 is so cool.

[@stinkystink9830]

Jimmy back at it. Much love

[@Randomguy768]

nice to see you back

[@tigergaj]

Once again; ty for being so cool, I love your videos.

[@draven6665]

I'm a jimmymcgee fan and I recreationally use crack :) btw this video is gonna be awesome

[@audiosurfarchive]

Absolutely love your writing my guy

[@RemnantCult]

What hooks me to the shoot 'em up genre is the raw zen feeling it gives you from blowing up enemies and dodging bullets. There's a thrill to chasing that exclusive club of achieving 1cc in a specific game. My most favorite has to be Crimson Clover which is a great game to start out but is also great for mastering.

[@THEdanrugaming]

I find the old Raiden games really beautiful. The art, subtle storytelling in the backgrounds, and the set pieces impress me a lot, along with the banging soundtracks. I was just watching some Raiden II playthroughs last night.

[@efemertsanl2085]

whatever you call this video, its a banger

[@neverhave]

Cannot wait to hear about a genre I know nothing about, I'd listen to you talk about anything 👌

[@brianmanning5351]

Ahhh, a new Jimmy McGee video. Time to enjoy this one, and then go re-watch the original Rain World one. It's become a comfort video for me.

[@Squeejee09]

Your videos are really good. Nuff said.

[@SHRUQq]

Thank you so much, I had such a terrible day, jesus

[@hideousarmor3985]

Happy new Year Jimmy! Thanks for making these videos and best of luck learning Blender!!

[@chinbag]

Really enjoyed the more optimistic take towards the end. I really can't think of much good art that was born out of spite or malice, even some of the most popular parody media is made out of understanding and love for the source material. For every KZbin video saying "x MUST be stopped" I think a way better point is "How x could be better". If a negative review is about how a piece of media fails to deliver in an original aspect of itself, it shouldn't mean that idea is poison, just possibly premature. I was never a fan of shmups, but I'd be lying if I said the moment the train level began to pick up I didn't feel a rush of excitement. Also: Did you ever get around to trying Baba Is You?

[@JimmyMcG33]

I did and I liked it, it's a very good premise for a puzzle game and they get a lot out of it. It is the kind of game where I need to put it down when I get stuck, so I haven't gotten very far. My backlog just gets longer and longer but some day I'll be struck with the urge to finish it. If you're the person I'm thinking of who recommended Baba, you might like Void Stranger, it's a sokoban game from the people who made ZeroRanger. I haven't played a ton of it yet but I've heard great (and mysterious) things.

[@milos1967]

Yo what was that video on blender I'm curious

[@ImNedA12]

Really, really excellent video

[@matt61956q]

I just bought more land in the Metaverse! Love your vids brotha.

[@Swarming-Languendo]

Hell yeah! another banger vid

[@nu1x]

Yeah, I only take negative videos seriously if a channel also makes loving criticisms. But there are those channels that are 100% negative all of the time, and I learned to notice them myself. No fun allowed. That's why I am eternally baffled when I make a mistake of reading anime reviews by people on sites like my anime list. It's as if they watched something totally different and missed the point completely, and are talking about some imaginary anime that's way better or worse than it actually is.

[@harryc5595]

the whole video was great but that final section was straight heat, THANK YOU for verbalising that weird 'malaise' they would make me feel. Do you have any channel recommendations of people who actually like art? there are a few channels out there but they're few and far between. I found matthewmatosis because of you, so thanks :) I need to check out zero ranger now lol

[@yagami999913]

Kinda new to shmups myself. Just managed to get my first ever 1CC with M2 Ketsui's Deathtiny mode. It just happened one morning during a casual session. Shmups (and arcade games in general) are really something else in this modern world of boring, hold-your-hand gameplay. I'm looking forward to improving and getting more 1CCs. Keep up the good content ! Edit : My personnal recommendation for shmups would be Darius Gaiden. Mesmerizing atmosphere !

[@TheMMMification]

I wasn't expecting Zeroranger to become part of the vid, but as a really big fan of that game I appreciate it.

[@Krog517]

Love you Jimmy

[@ArgaJacint]

Your criticism of these (i don't know how else to call them) anti-woke media critique channels were absolutely savage, and i appreciate that despite that you managed to turn it into a positive and somewhat profound note. It would have been very easy to go for the low hanging fruit and just find one of their videos to laugh at and take apart while claiming it's for demonstration purposes, totally not the joy of laughing at someone we dislike.

[@areallypleasantperson8719]

came for the rain world, stayed for the history of shmups.

[@776Mine]

love your vids, keep it upp

[@raycestg3447]

What a video... just amazing. That ending was beautiful.

[@shaypurge310]

I couldn't find the music of 40:31 ,could you please give me the name of that music 😁. Thanks for the video . I like it , may be some day I will play this game .

[@shaypurge310]

Sorry to bother , but I found the music I was looking. Thanks 👍

[@fatdewy15]

Raiden II is one of my favorite games of all time so imagine my surprise and my terrible reading comprehension when I see Raiden (fighters) II! Regardless, phenomenal video as always boss

[@xx_ggplot2_xx]

I remember playing Raiden X as a flash game when I was a kid and it sparked a life-long love of bullet hell games. I haven't thought about it in years but man what a great genre.

[@xx_ggplot2_xx]

I tried to play it a few years ago (before flash was deprecated) and it was impossible because my computer was better now and the old game was tied to frame rate.

[@gilbertcarter2375]

real is back

[@swan-cloud]

ZERORANGER MENTIONED

[@mihailnikolov5535]

I dedicate this first comment to my brother and 2 best friends!

[@Boney9551]

Honestly not surprised you did not finish zeroranger. That game and void stranger's later portions are, paraphrasing here, some of most insane things I have ever seen done in games (based on statements I have read). Both games (from my experience looking in) have inflicted people with a religious fervour no other games have (to them). I hope you find time to muse on beating zeroranger, even if the thoughts you had and explained were also ones that i have seen others claim they've also had, great video as always!

[@100pizzas]

sick you played zero ranger, very cool vid thanks for posting

[@Psiclone]

Thank you for this. I loved shumps games on my SNES. Gradius, Super Nova, Bio Metal... I've been really missing them and I appreciate this list of games I can go try.

[@drakep.5857]

I really wish that KZbin would recommend quality videos from new channels about good things again. It doesn't anymore so they can make hate click money. You're probably the greatest youtuber I can name on the platform, other than cloud cuckoo country, shammy and hbomberguy

[@GameDevYal]

If you like video games and puns you should check out TehSnakerer, his scripts are immaculate and you need to rewatch videos a couple times to catch every joke.

[@ruddygreat4914]

42:00 you should've mentioned Star Of Providence! It's a shooter that's probably also the best roguelike ever made (or at least, my favourite); it does an amazing job of mixing the two genres in a way that I can't really put to words. It gets compared to zero ranger a lot, but I've not played that to see how close the comparison is.

[@JimmyMcG33]

Wow, it was on my wishlist and I didn't even notice. Will check it out soon, thanks!

[@ethanb12007]

On speed Thunder Force III and IV let you change speeds freely. There may have been others before Donpachi but I'm not hugely versed in the genre and those 2 just happen to be games I played. Great video.

[@SnakeTheHat]

Didnt watch it yet but I'm ready for some A1 quality game review content

[@zuni4ful]

Top tier video

[@twenty_twenty_four]

I love blue revolver, it's like CAVE came back : )

[@Stromboly]

Loved your vid ! As always. Plus I was incredibly happy to see a KZbinr I love talk about one of my favorite genres 🎉 I’m guessing you did seeing as you mentioned its sequel, but did you try out the original Mushihimesama ? Its stage 3 is my fav « giant enemy » type level ! If you can try it out on a home console port, my rec is to play on casual mode (from the main menu), and then choose the hardest difficulty option (from the in game arcade menu) : you’ll get impressive bullet patterns that move slowly enough to be dodgeable :) And seing as you didn’t mention the game, you should also try out Ketsui’s stage 3 (my fav incarnation of the « fleet of giant enemies » level type, similar to the DDP stage 3 you mentioned in Your vid)