Cult-Classic PS1 Shooter Returns With a New Release on Current-Gen Platforms
A cult-classic shooter that released on the PS1 in 1995 has returned on modern platforms this week. Although shooters didn’t truly take off on PlayStation consoles until the arrival of the PS2 (or even PS3), there were plenty of games in the genre that appeared on the original platform. Now, one of the most beloved from this early era of PlayStation has been brought back with a surprising new port.
As of today, The Raiden Project has landed on PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 consoles. Released in the United States in September of 1995, The Raiden Project puts players in control of a fighter jet that looks to take on hordes of alien invaders. This compilation of the first two games in the Raiden series marked the debut of the franchise on consoles, as it had only ever been in arcades before. Raiden would continue to go on to be incredibly popular in the decades to come, culminating in Raiden V launching back in 2016. However, it’s The Raiden Project that many still look back upon as one of the high points of the series.
“As a pilot of the ultra high-altitude fighter-bomber, fight to save Earth from the invasion of aliens that suddenly appeared!” says the game’s description. “The Raiden Project is a full-fledged vertical-scrolling shooting game that includes both Raiden, an arcade vertical-scrolling shooting game released in 1990 that gained explosive popularity, and Raiden 2, which was released three years later and was also very popular.”
Perhaps as expected, this new release of The Raiden Project comes from Hamster, which is the Japanese publisher that operates the “Console Archives” program. The Raiden Project is merely the latest in a long line of PS1 games that Hamster has been bringing over to modern platforms over the past year, with this catalog expected to continue growing over time. Like past releases, this new version of The Raiden Project comes with additional features not found in the original such as save states, customizable buttons, and various video filters.
If you’re looking to snatch up The Raiden Project, the game is currently live in a digital capacity across both the PlayStation Store and Nintendo eShop. Across both PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2, the game retails for $11.99.
Are you happy to see that The Raiden Project has made the jump to PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 hardware? And will you look to pick it up for yourself? Let me know down in the comments section.