ESP Ra.De. (エスプレイド) is a 1998 arcade game developed by Cave and published by Atlus. It is the first non-DonPachi game released by Cave. ESP Ra.De. received spiritual prequels in the form of the Espgaluda series; however, ESP Ra.De. is related to the Espgaluda series only by shared name and programmer Tsuneki Ikeda.
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1CC'd with Yusuke at 41 hours and 24 minutes. https://youtu.be/1xLUxvuavPI
ESP Ra.De. is not usual CAVE fare. It's still bullet hell, but the approach you take in this game is much different than in games like DoDonPachi and Mushihimesama. Patterns in this game do not require nearly as much micrododging, but the game often demands you macrododge. It doesn't like it if you try to dodge in a corner, it will wall you and force a hit. It wants you to keep moving from one side of the screen to the next. It takes it further by forcing you kill enemies quick, or you will miss out on items that both increase your score and your supply of energy. The risk/reward keeps increasing with each stage. The routing for stages 4 and 5 is very strict, demanding you make no mistakes, and the final boss tests everything you have learned, by being a moving target with a small hitbox that you need to keep on top of. It's so meticulously made and so very addicting to play. I'm not the best at reviewing, but I urge you to play this if you even have the most minuscule amount of interest in shoot 'em ups or CAVE. It's fucking peak.
ESP Ra.De. is not usual CAVE fare. It's still bullet hell, but the approach you take in this game is much different than in games like DoDonPachi and Mushihimesama. Patterns in this game do not require nearly as much micrododging, but the game often demands you macrododge. It doesn't like it if you try to dodge in a corner, it will wall you and force a hit. It wants you to keep moving from one side of the screen to the next. It takes it further by forcing you kill enemies quick, or you will miss out on items that both increase your score and your supply of energy. The risk/reward keeps increasing with each stage. The routing for stages 4 and 5 is very strict, demanding you make no mistakes, and the final boss tests everything you have learned, by being a moving target with a small hitbox that you need to keep on top of. It's so meticulously made and so very addicting to play. I'm not the best at reviewing, but I urge you to play this if you even have the most minuscule amount of interest in shoot 'em ups or CAVE. It's fucking peak.
Hay muchas explosiones y eso mola
1CC:d with all characters.
I love the aesthetic and general pace of this game and it was the first CAVE game that grabbed me. But it has some really janky things I cant dismiss:
- When you end slow movement by releasing the fire button there is 0.5s delay until you begin moving full speed again. This results in a burst of speed outside of your control unless you do a planned stop in place while unfocusing. Extremely weird design decision. The delay only makes sense for entering slow movement (without a rapid button), not exiting.
- One of the heaviest and most annoying slowdown behavior in any CAVE game. Super heavy slowdowns at parts of the game. At least it's not affected by player fire as much as SDOJ.
- Scoring system ruined with broken boss milking. Big portion goes to End bonus though so there is definitely something to play for after clearing the game. However M2:s PSI PS4/Switch ports alternate mode basically fixes the system.
I love the aesthetic and general pace of this game and it was the first CAVE game that grabbed me. But it has some really janky things I cant dismiss:
- When you end slow movement by releasing the fire button there is 0.5s delay until you begin moving full speed again. This results in a burst of speed outside of your control unless you do a planned stop in place while unfocusing. Extremely weird design decision. The delay only makes sense for entering slow movement (without a rapid button), not exiting.
- One of the heaviest and most annoying slowdown behavior in any CAVE game. Super heavy slowdowns at parts of the game. At least it's not affected by player fire as much as SDOJ.
- Scoring system ruined with broken boss milking. Big portion goes to End bonus though so there is definitely something to play for after clearing the game. However M2:s PSI PS4/Switch ports alternate mode basically fixes the system.
Obligatory 5 star rating for a Cave game.
Why in the gosh darn hell did no one else realize that making a shmup with the Akira aesthetic was absolute gold?
I saw others playing it and I've always been curious about this game so what did I think? It's not a masterpiece like Deathsmiles is to me but man this game is pretty great too. I think I just really love the spectacle of these kind of shmups. Even if I'm awful at them.
You can play as three different characters though I played with only Irori for the game. You can't really swap unless you beat the game or reset the run you're on. You have this normal shot that makes you slower when using it. You also have this stronger projectile that has to recharge very quickly. The best part has to be with the next weapon where you surround yourself with a shield and can shoot huge lasers at the enemies! You can also use it to collect chips and powerups from bullets with the shield which feels very satisfying. Just be careful as you can only restore energy from grabbing energy items or dying.
This game is very challenging as it is a bullet hell. I'm not sure if it's because I've played Deathsmiles a lot so I can get decently far without dying but I felt like this game was harder then that one. Though it's still not the biggest challenge ever at least from other bullet shmups I've seen.
The bosses can be pretty hard and I think it's because I'm too dumb to know where my hitbox is. I know it's small but idk where it is on my sprite. Maybe I'm stupid. It can feel really satisfying to get good dodges on projectiles. That's why I like these games sometimes, even if I'm awful at them I still feel like I'm having a blast.
The game looks pretty good for 1998 and there's some good music here. This game also has cool level end screens. The game did lag for me but I think that's just cause my computer sucks so it's probably fine on real hardware. I also like the voice clip that plays when Irori powers up.
I'm glad I tried this and will gladly replay it next year because man these kind of games can be fun. Maybe someday I'll try to buy a copy on switch if it's cheap. I'm happy to give it a try. If you haven't played this then you are missing out if it interests you. Go play it now!
You can play as three different characters though I played with only Irori for the game. You can't really swap unless you beat the game or reset the run you're on. You have this normal shot that makes you slower when using it. You also have this stronger projectile that has to recharge very quickly. The best part has to be with the next weapon where you surround yourself with a shield and can shoot huge lasers at the enemies! You can also use it to collect chips and powerups from bullets with the shield which feels very satisfying. Just be careful as you can only restore energy from grabbing energy items or dying.
This game is very challenging as it is a bullet hell. I'm not sure if it's because I've played Deathsmiles a lot so I can get decently far without dying but I felt like this game was harder then that one. Though it's still not the biggest challenge ever at least from other bullet shmups I've seen.
The bosses can be pretty hard and I think it's because I'm too dumb to know where my hitbox is. I know it's small but idk where it is on my sprite. Maybe I'm stupid. It can feel really satisfying to get good dodges on projectiles. That's why I like these games sometimes, even if I'm awful at them I still feel like I'm having a blast.
The game looks pretty good for 1998 and there's some good music here. This game also has cool level end screens. The game did lag for me but I think that's just cause my computer sucks so it's probably fine on real hardware. I also like the voice clip that plays when Irori powers up.
I'm glad I tried this and will gladly replay it next year because man these kind of games can be fun. Maybe someday I'll try to buy a copy on switch if it's cheap. I'm happy to give it a try. If you haven't played this then you are missing out if it interests you. Go play it now!