Raiden III x MIKADO MANIAX

I went in expecting a competent shmup port and got exactly that, which is either fine or maddening depending on what you wanted from this package. Raiden III originally hit arcades in 2005, and the MIKADO MANIAX edition brings it to PC with a higher-resolution coat of paint, locked 60 fps, and a fully customizable remix soundtrack sourced from the Mikado arcade game center in Japan. The core shoot-em-up loop is unchanged: pick up colored weapon gems (red for spread Vulcan cannons, blue for auto-targeting ion plasma lasers, green for free-fire proton plasma), stock up on bombs, survive seven stages of increasingly dense enemy patterns, and post your score to global leaderboards. Bosses are large, transform through attack phases, and still hold up visually even for a game this age. Enemy bullets never quite reach full bullet-hell density, which means reaction time matters more than memorizing pixel-perfect dodge corridors. That is a relief. The weapon system is deliberately stripped back compared to later entries in the series. Three main weapons, three sub-weapons, and a screen-clearing bomb that detonates immediately from your position. If you arrived here from something like Raiden V and expected deep loadout customization, that is not what this is. What you do get is tight, readable hit feedback, a flash-shot multiplier that rewards aggressive forward positioning, and a scoring system that stacks medals, hidden targets, and end-of-stage surplus bomb bonuses. Score Attack and Boss Rush modes unlock after clearing the main campaign, and there is a Double Play option that lets either one player operate both ships simultaneously using both analog sticks (chaotic and difficult, but genuinely interesting for a different kind of challenge) or two players co-op locally with some weapon interaction bonuses between ships. The MIKADO collaboration is purely musical, and it carries more weight than it sounds. Remixed tracks split into two flavors, electronic and dance on one side, rock and metal on the other, and you assign them per stage however you like. Completing runs, even failed ones, unlocks new tracks and wallpapers. That progression loop is thin but effective at pulling you back for one more credit. The unlockable wallpapers fill the dead space on your 16:9 display around the vertical play field, and tate mode works if your monitor swivels. One real PC-specific annoyance: there is no in-game VSync option, and screen tearing can get noticeable. The game does not play nice with Steam Deck either, which is a miss given how naturally a handheld suits this format. The critical consensus settled around a 75 average across reviewers, with the split being predictable. Shmup fans who skipped the original or want a cleaner modern version have a solid reason to own it. Players who already own the older Digital Edition will find the core game identical, with the MIKADO remix soundtrack and global leaderboards being the only meaningful additions. Seven stages runs one to two hours for a full credit, so the longevity question comes down entirely to whether you replay for higher scores, cleaner clears, and new music combinations. For that audience, this has real legs. For everyone else, it's a competent but light package.

Fred · Scout Team

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