Raimais (Japan, rev 1) - MAME machine

Arcade Video game published 36 years ago:

Raimais © 1988 Taito.

A great maze chase game.

The players take the lead of beautiful Rika Midorikawa, a heroine of bikers, in order to rescue her kidnapped brother, she must ride her 3 wheeled jet vehicle to challenge and explores the labyrinths while collect all the dots and pick the power-ups to defeat or avoid all the enemies in each stage, to open the exits and destroy the big bosses and win to rescue his captive brother.

TECHNICAL
Taito L System hardware
Prom Sticker: B36

Main CPU: (2x) Zilog Z80 (@ 6 Mhz)
Sound CPU: Zilog Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)
Sound Chips: Yamaha YM2610 (@ 8 Mhz)

Players: 2
Control: 4-way joystick
Buttons: 2

TRIVIA
Raimais was released in April 1988 in Japan.

Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Taito DJ Station: G.S.M. Taito 5 - PCCB-00037) on August 21, 1990.

UPDATES
The original Japanese version has a storyline and voices. They was removed on the Export versions (see Tips and Tricks section for more information).

SCORING
Energy Plates come in 8 colors:
White: 50 points
Orange: 60 points
Light blue: 70 points
Green: 80 points
Red: 90 points
Blue: 100 points
Purple: 110 points
Yellow: 120 points

Metal Plates are different. Multiple passes are required to collect these. Every 8 rounds the number of passes increases by 1.
Round 1 to Round 8: 2 times
Round 16 to Round 9: 3 times
Round 17 to Round 24: 4 times
Round 25 to Round 32: 5 times

The points awarded for Metal Plates are calculated by the round number x 50. So in the 10th round these will be 500 points.
Since Metal Plates have the highest points, to get a high score the player may choose mazes with plenty of this type of plate.

TIPS AND TRICKS
In each level the player starts from the bottom row. If the player collects every "Energy Plate" (the dots) in a stage, all enemies and the items the player did not take disappear. 8 gates will be opened, two in each direction, to proceed to the next stage. The direction chosen determines which maze is next. Taking either door in the same direction has the same outcome. One of them probably is a backup, in case the maze design blocks one of the gates.

There are 4 different maze types associated with the 4 directions:
Up: Red Maze
Down: Blue Maze
Left: Gray Maze
Right: Green Maze

The direction taken does not affect the stage design. For example, if Down is chosen on round 22nd, the same 23rd round will be seen.

ITEMS LIST:
(S) Slow Down: Slows down enemies.
(L) Laser: Gives ability to fire a laser to destroy enemies. The laser can be fired with the item button. This item can be collected more than once to increase the fire rate (maximum 4). This ability is kept after losing a life, but not to the next maze. There is also automatic rapid-fire available by holding down the item button.
(A) Armour: Gives shield to protect player from dangers. Like the laser, the more items you take, the more hit points can be gained.
(P) Extend: Awards an extra life.
(B) Brake: Opens up 2 gates to advance to the next stage without requiring the current one be cleared.
&Copy; Crash: Clears dots on the screen. This works like passing over every dot on the screen once, so Metal Plates may still require more passes.
(O) Other Route: Opens an entrance to the reverse round where a giant boss may be hiding.
&Reg; Rainbow: Causes a random effect. Some possible effects are cleaning up all plates on the screen including Metal Plates, or giving a powerful shield.

The Japanese version of the game has a storyline and 4 endings. The game checks several variables to determine which ending you get, the most important being whether or not you have the Light Mirror. However, beyond obtaining the mirror, there are two other variables that determine whether or not you can access the endings:

• Whether or not you’ve lost any lives: you must do a no-miss clear.
• How many stages you’ve completed: it must be under 17.

So here are the different endings you can get:
1) Reach the last stage going through 17 stages or more and by having the Light Mirror.
2) Reach the last stage going through 17 stages or more and by not having the Light Mirror.
3) Reach the last stage going through 16 stages or less without losing a life, and by having the Light Mirror.
4) Reach the last stage going through 16 stages or less without losing a life, and not having the Light Mirror.

This mirror can be obtained at the Reverse Round entrance at 23rd Round (down).

STAFF
Staff: Akira Fujita, Shiro Yoshida, Yuji Sasaki, Shinichiro Kanari, Kei Kitsuno, Ichiro Fujisue, Hideki Hashimoto, Takashi Ishii, Akira Iwai, Yasuo Tsumori, Kenji Kaido, Takashi Ono, Hiroshi Ogawa, Hirotoshi Okura, Chitose Asakura, Naomi Ono, Hiromi Nishibori, Masahiro Murakami, Akira Inoue, Tetsuro Kitagawa, Yukio Ishikawa, Kazuya Mikata, Genya Kuriki, Taira Sanuki, Makoto Fujita, Yukie Kimura, Hitomi Kusano, Hideyuki Tomita, Tetsuya Mizutani, Teruyuki Ozeki, Masayuki Kikuchi, Naomasa Kitatani, Shiro Saito, Natsuki Hirosawa, Yoshinori Aiura, Masahiko Takaki, Kazuyuki Onui, Naoto Yagishita, Shizuo Aizawa, Hirokazu Matsubara, Yuta Saito, Taro Arakawa, Rika Fukami, Hiroyuki Noguchi, Minoru Yoshimura, Tsukasa Nakamura, Tomio Takeda, Junji Yarita, Hidehiro Fujiwara, Toshiyuki Nishimura, Hiroshi Tsujino, Taito Design Room, Taito Ebina, Koji Kenjo

PORTS

• CONSOLES:

Nintendo Famicom Disc System [JP] (oct.28, 1988) "Yuu Maze [Model TFD-UMZ]"
[JP] Sony PS2 (aug.25, 2005) "Taito Memories Gekan [Model SLPM-66092]"
Sony PlayStation 2 [AU] (mar.30, 2006) "Taito Legends 2 [Model SLES-53852]"
[EU] Microsoft XBOX (mar.31, 2006) "Taito Legends 2"
[EU] Sony PS2 (mar.31, 2006) "Taito Legends 2 [Model SLES-53852]"
[US] Sony PS2 (may.16, 2007) "Taito Legends 2 [Model SLUS-21349]"

• HANDHELDS:

Sony PSP [AS] (jan.3, 2006) "Taito Memories Pocket [Model UCAS-40040]"
[JP] Sony PSP (jan.5, 2006) "Taito Memories Pocket [Model ULJM-05076]"
Sony PSP [KO] (feb.10, 2006) "Taito Memories Pocket"
[EU] Sony PSP (oct.6, 2006) "Taito Legends Power-Up [Model ULES-00473]"
[AU] Sony PSP (nov.9, 2006) "Taito Legends Power-Up [Model ULES-00473]"
[US] Sony PSP (may.17, 2007) "Taito Legends Power-Up [Model ULUS-10208]"

• COMPUTERS:

[EU] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (mar.31, 2006) "Taito Legends 2"
[US] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (jul.10, 2007) "Taito Legends 2"

CONTRIBUTE
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