RayStorm X RayCrisis HD Collection (NSP, XCI) ROM

RayStorm X RayCrisis HD Collection Experience the thrill of lock-on laser combat and epic sci-fi clashes in TAITO’s revered vertical shoot‘em ups – The original arcade and HD versions of both games! RayStorm takes place in an alternate universe to the original. RayForce, where Earth and humanity have thrived enough to establish space colonies extending to the arm of Orion.

To preserve security, Earth enforces martial law, but a federation of colonies led by Secilia seeks to overthrow the Earth’s government and annihilate the planet and its inhabitants. In response, Earth dispatches a covertly developed fighter known as the R-Gray, aiming to infiltrate Secilia’s atmosphere and destroy their central base, the Juda Central System. RayCrisis unfolds within a cyberspace realm, departing from the series’ usual style. Serving as a prequel to RayForce, it reveals the events in which the sentient supercomputer called Con-Human rebels against its human creators.

While Earth is demolished to serve as Con-Human’s new physical form, a mecha-neurologist launches a desperate assault to connect with the supercomputer’s virtual core and halt its madness. It is your duty to pilot the Waverider viruses and prevent the malevolent AI from causing further havoc – even if it may already be too late. Your mission is to safeguard lives in the real world by putting an end to Con-Human’s reign in the digital realm.

Set in a parallel universe to the original RayForce, the Earth and humanity have prospered enough to expand space colonies into the arm of Orion in RayStorm. To maintain security, Earth imposes martial law, but a federation of colonies led by the colony of Secilia overthrows the Earth’s government and plans to obliterate the planet and all the people on it. To counter this, Earth sends out a covertly developed fighter codenamed the R-Gray in hopes of penetrating the Sicilian atmosphere and obliterating Secilia’s base of operations, the Juda Central System.

RayCrisis is set in a cyberspace environment and marks a style departure from the rest of the series. As a prequel to RayForce, it details the events during which the supercomputer called Con-Human gained sentience and rebelled against its human creators. While the Earth is demolished to be remade as Con-Human’s new corporeal form, a mecha-neurologist launches a desperate assault to jack into the supercomputer’s virtual core and cease its insanity. It is up to you to pilot the Waverider viruses and keep the malicious AI from causing any more chaos – even if it is too late, you must ensure that no more lives are lost in the real world by stopping Con-Human in the digital realm.

The idea of releasing a 2-pack with the last titles of a trilogy at the same time the whole saga is released sounds dumb already, for some reason Taito and M2 decided to release this “2 games in 1” compilation ditching RayForce. Most players would think Taito should give the game’s menu a different look to make it different from Ray’z Arcade Chronology, but guess what? Taito recycled the whole interface of the original trilogy up to the title screen theme, the menu layout, and even the RayForce-based “Loading” animation. Without RayForce, we can only play RayStorm and Raycrisis.

For those who are hardcore fans of the Ray series, this compilation is very similar to the 2-in-1 PlayStation title Simple 1500 Series Vol.75: The Double Shooting – RayStorm X RayCrisis. But unlike The Double Shooting, Raystorm X RayCrisis HD Collection has much better features, starting with the lack of loading screens as they’re based on the original arcade versions.

Both titles lack certain features from the Extra/Special mode of the original PS release. The PS Simple 1500’s release lacked the Extra soundtrack but had the Extra Mode, While RayStorm X RayCrisis lacks the Extra Mode, but has the option of playing with the original and arranged soundtracks like in the Arcade Chronology edition. Like the Arcade Chronology trilogy, it carries the option of playing the games with the cleaner and crispier Neo-HD editions.