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Raiden II is an excellent sequel to Raiden, one of the best shoot em-ups ever made. The game is not very well known due to its limited distribution (sold in Japan only, ported by Cyberfront Studios), but that doesn't stop us from honoring it here, of course ;)
The plot picks up where Raiden left off. It's been 3 years since you utterly destroyed the alien forces and sent the survivors packing. But the angry stragglers, bent on revenge, returned to their planet and raised a vicious army. Now they're back, tougher, meaner and better armed than before. To turn the tide of battle, the members of Earth's Think Tank regroup, and develop an even more powerful and maneuverable fighter craft... and guess who they put in the cockpit?
Raiden II has all the addictive gameplay of its predecessor, this time with even sharper graphics and a rocking soundtrack. The graphics are very more detailed, with excellent 3D effects (e.g. flying enemies cast shadows on the ground, so you could distinguish them from ground-based enemies). In contrast to most shoot em-ups where enemies you destroy just blow up and disappear without a trace, enemies in Raiden II blow up, turn into a wreckage, plummet to the ground, and only thenexplode on impact. This causes a lot of debris to fly around the screen, which in turn cause nice ripple effects on the grass and even on the water once they land -- very, very nice. Background graphics are also excellent, especially in the volcanoes levels.
















This version of Contra Hard Corps was designed for Sega
Genesis (known as Sega Mega Drive in Europe), which was the first
ever 16-bit
video game console manufactured
by Sega in the years 1988 - 1997. It was a direct competitor
to the SNES console and the successor of the well known 8-bit
console Sega Master System.
The unit price of Genesis was approximately $ 190 and
worldwide about 40 million units of this console were sold. More
information about Sega Genesis
can be found 

This version of Golden Axe was designed for the Sega Master
System (SMS), which was an 8-bit video game console
manufactured
by Sega in the years 1985 - 1992. It was a direct competitor
to the much more successful NES console and the predecessor of
the much beter console Sega Genesis.
The unit price of Master System was approximately $ 200
and worldwide only 13 million units of this console were sold.
More information about Sega Master
System can be found