Ray'z Arcade Chronology

Just how many re-releases are there? Many Psikyo classics were released on mobile like more than once with later releases being based on the Zerodiv ports. The same can go for Taito's Rayforce on modern consoles and Deathsmiles on PC with the City Connection port being part of the compilation with DLC characters for the first game. Even the original Darius is guilty of the same thing, one that is Arcade Archives version and the other being part of the compilation made by M2. A regular audacity ever since the past times is how overpriced Taito games are.

City Connection has plans for modern console releases of several Taito arcade classics although Puzzle Bobble 2 was already in Arcade Archives under ACA Neo Geo but that was a little bit graphically inferior to the other arcade version of the same game whose hardware is 32-Bit. A cool thing about the S-Tribute release of Rayforce is that you can set the in-game screen orientation without setting the external UI to be in the same screen orientation as the in-game. Since the game is based on the Saturn version, you get superior soundtrack although the graphics are inaccurate in horizontal screen mode and the S-Tribute version doesn't fix the flaws the Saturn version has. The real concerns are the input-lag and screen shimmering and City Connection was aware of the input-lag issue.

What can the upcoming M2 version do besides the fact that all the games in the upcoming compilation game, Ray'z Arcade Chronology are based on the arcade versions? Will there be a consumer mode for the all games that have different game modes? G-Darius HD had Ver. 2 and Consumer Mode you can choose from in addition to the initial arcade version. Like G-Darius HD, Raystorm and Raycrisis will have a similar treatment from M2, so other than the games being basically upscaled, the rest of the graphics are the same. The mobile version of Raystorm is said to have Hi-Res HUD and rearranged Stage 1 BGM as the exclusive additions but it's a shame that the upcoming compilation game will not have that Hi-Res HUD for Raystorm Neo HD.

One exclusive bonus is that you'll be able to try out the prototype, R-Gear, which has only one stage. Suffice to say, it's something as experimental as G-Darius Exhibition from G-Darius HD Steam version, the deepest part of the compilation.

As for the choice of modern console ports of Taito's arcade classics, you can choose to go for either the City Connection port or the M2 port of Rayforce. It's unexpected for the upcoming compilation game, Ray'z Arcade Chronology to be the next project from M2 and it's going to be released in March next year. Only time will tell what else will they work on in the future.

Raycrisis for mobile obtained!

One thing you should know before buying the game for your Android device, I recommend that you play it on a device that runs Android 4.2 and above but the thing is, some description says that the game can work on an Android 4.1 device but guess what, the game didn't work on my main tablet at all that I might have to switch to another one that actually runs Android 4.2.
It wasn't easy getting the game to work probably due to the limited specs and the worse thing was that the main app data is stored on the system storage which is quite limited compared to the data storage of the tablet device which has tons of capacity as advertised. Another unfortunate thing was that I made one part of the game unplayable after all such emergency maintenance about cleaning things up that I wasn't able to move the game app to the data storage that acts as the SD card. Another annoying experience was that some USB mouse caused that tablet to act up like a retard when hooked up to it that I switched to another USB mouse. It was troublesome and I don't know if this same technical problem may spread to other Android devices like the Set-Top-Box I have sitting in the living room.
Problems aside, I managed to get through the game in both modes. The Remix Mode is sort of like the Special Mode from Playstation/PC versions except that you can continue the game in case you run out of lives and that the game is closely based on the arcade version. The third ship, WR-03, is available at the start, unlike the arcade version where you have to unlock it. Note that the Remix Mode has multiple endings similar to the Arcade Mode but the conditions are obviously different of course and the information about this is scarce as of now. I managed to get through the Remix Mode with several continues, faced the True Last Boss and saw the True Ending but if you take too many continues, this is where you'll face a different ending. The Arcade Mode has slow ship movement when dragging it and this has been there on purpose throughout the series on mobile. Like Rayforce and Raystorm, only one of the stages is remixed when it comes to in-game music. To hear it, you will need to set the Area/Stage 1 Music to Arrange, that is for Rayforce and Raystorm. In Raycrisis, this is a different story as the stages are randomized in order. The track, Lavande Bleu, which is the theme for Intelligence and Consideration Parts, is the track that has both the original and arrangement versions. The improvement may be a little in Raycrisis I should say as adding one arrange track for other games is not enough for me. In fact, such plans like that should have been suited for Groove Coaster, not the existing games.

Raycrisis in Remix Mode

When you proceed to the main menu of the game, you get to hear an awesome medley of the entire series. This is something exclusive to the mobile version and I don't think it is listed in the upcoming album CD of the entire series that will be out next month. Speaking of that album, it consists of the soundtrack CDs of the entire series including the tracks taken from the console versions of the games. Bonus tracks are probably from some Superplay discs or whatnot and especially the mobile versions. Will there be Groove Coaster arrangements in those bonus CDs? I don't know. But I don't think that the medley is being previewed whatsoever. Even Neo-Penetration is there which is said to be from the prototype version of Raystorm that was being location tested back then as R-Gear 1.5 or something. There is a trailer video like that from Ray-Ray CD-ROM which contains Raystorm and Ray-Tracers.

Ray'z Music Chronology Preview (From Zuntata's Official YouTube Channel)

Raycrisis Mobile Version - Main Menu BGM

Flaws so far:

• The Arcade Mode's ship movement is wack on touchscreen but you can use the Bluetooth controller which is the only workaround/savior against control crappiness. (Flaw partially solved as it supports Bluetooth but not the other.)
• For increased replay value, only a few stages are playable between the first and last stage out of all available ones but the bad way is the amount of stage sets of randomized stages. About 40+ stage sets available to choose from. This repetitiveness is made even worse for Darius Burst Another Chronicle and Chronicle Saviours.
• Only one stage BGM is arranged for the entire series and Raycrisis makes things a little bit better or worse as if the arrangement shifts back to the original track after a while should you take too long to defeat the bosses. Before the patch, the music fades out after a while and the arrangement music is played on first two stages, Beginning-Intelligence/Beginning-Consideration.

Other improvements include the translucent laser effects from your ship, the improved suction effect from the final boss and translucent explosions. That may supersede the arcade version a little bit.

Raycrisis on IOS and Android

It had been years since Raystorm was released on IOS and Android and Raycrisis is the final addition to the series for mobile. Before the IOS and Android releases of Raycrisis, the mobile versions of Rayforce and Raystorm were updated again with widescreen support, bluetooth controller support and the arranged music for Stage 1 which may seem to be a strange and incomplete move for me. The same can go for Raycrisis in which one of the stages will have its track arranged although the original version is still there if you ask me.
Most of the gameplay videos of Raycrisis aim for the true ending so to find the ones with bad ending and good endings may be rare whether it's the arcade version or the Playstation/PC version. The mobile version is based on the arcade version minus the 2-player support similar to other shmup games ported from arcades.
The future plan will be to buy the game for my Android tablet from Google Play Store as my Ipod Touch had its screen damaged even worse. Maybe I used it while it was being charged and no wonder it took up so much power than ever. However, I don't know if Raycrisis is going to work well on my Android tablet as this is released this year but my guess is that it uses the same porting engine as Rayforce and Raystorm as indicated from the similar interface and walllpaper.
One thing to keep in mind is that the ending is different between the arcade and the Playstation/PC versions and the true ending leads to the beginning of Rayforce as Raycrisis is the prequel.