#rayforce

RAYFORCE/LAYERSECTION/RAYCRISIS

RAY'z Arcade Chronology

Ray’z Arcade Chronology

After re-releasing the Darius games as the Darius Cozmic Collection and G-Darius / G-Darius HD, M2 has returned to Taito’s other big shoot-em-up series with the Ray’z Arcade Chronology. The “Ray’z” name seems to be Taito’s official designation for the 90s-era trilogy consisting of RayForce, RayStorm, and RayCrisis, which all feature the same incredibly satisfying lock-on laser game mechanics as well as the usual spacey soundtracks from inhouse band Zuntata. This collection offers ports of all three games, based on the original arcade versions, developed by M2 as part of their ShotTriggers line of shoot-em-ups. Beyond their incredible emulation accuracy, they also include gadgets on the side of the screen, which let you know your current stage, the difficulty rank (if applicable), and status of your lock-on lasers. A particularly amusing option features background noise recorded from the Hey arcade in Akihabara, Tokyo, if you want to further immerse yourself in the action.

ININ Games will release Ray’z Arcade Chronology and RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection for PlayStation 4 and Switch in the west, the publisher announced. A release date was not announced.

While ININ Games will publish RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection both physically and digitally, it will only publish Ray’z Arcade Chronology digitally. A physical edition of the latter will be sold by Strictly Limited Games, however.

Ray’z Arcade Chronology, which is due out on March 9, 2023 in Japan, includes the following titles:

RayForce (1994)

RayStorm (1996)

RayStorm NEO-HD (2023) – A remastered version of the arcade version of RayStorm. RayStorm HD launched in 2010 with additional elements and support for 16:9 aspect ratio, but RayStorm NEO-HD includes the same content as the arcade version and retains a 4:3 aspect ratio.

RayCrisis (1998)

RayCrisis HD (2023) – A remastered version of RayCrisis.