RayStorm (also known as Layer Section II) is a vertical shooter Arcade game developed and published by Taito in 1996 . RayStorm is the 2nd game in the Ray Series but chronologically has little to do with the rest of the games. It is an improvement of RayForce yet still uses the same principles (the two attack layers). The improvements include two new ships, a special bomb attack (called the Laser Barrage, another attack for full lock-on on a target (which apparently causes 64X damage), and better graphics.
Story[]
Taken from manual:
In the year 2119, space travel became a reality. With all of the nations on Earth working together, humanity expanded throughout our solar system, setting up colony after colony. To maintain a reasonable level of peace and security, the government of Earth established a "Star Federation." This Federation would be responsible for controlling all of the colonies local governments.
It is now 2219. In the past one hundred years Earth quickly expanded its colonies all the way to Orion. However, the Star Federation has found it increasingly difficult to keep security in all colonized sectors. Therefore, the Federation heavy handedly put all of the twenty space colonies under strict martial law. As the Federation continued to tighten its iron grip, the space colonies mutinied.
On the planet Secilia, the strongest of the colonies, the rebels established the "Secilia Federation," and began their fight for freedom. They won sweeping victories, and finally defeated Earth and its Star Federation.
Not content with winning the war, the Secilia Federation transferred all of Earth's inhabitants to the colonies and announced its intention to destroy the Earth. After suppressing the opposition from the colonies, a special strike force was sent to destroy the Earth.
However, hidden deep within the Balca section, a new spacecraft, developed under the code name R-Gray, has been completed. It was built from thirteen different Secilia ships and features a highly experimental weapon system. This is the only ship capable of stopping the Secilia Federation from destroying the Earth. With all mankind's future at stake, the time has come to attack the Secilia Federation in a desperate assault to gain reprieve from Earth's death sentence - OPERATION RAYSTORM.
The ending is quite tragic, going in style with a number of Taito games. The ending has the R-Gray fighters destroy Secilia's Juda Central Core and with it the planet.
*SPOILER*
The ending from Extra Mode is as follows:
R-GRAY Mission Summary
Mission log: August 8, 2219 0:13 AM
Juda Central Core generator has imploded. All circuits have ceased to function. Juda's status as the leader of the Secilian rebellion has been terminated. The Juda Satellite colony has been blown out of orbit by the force of the explosion and is on a collision course with Seraphim, a planet composed of highly volatile gases.
Destruction of the Satellite colony seems imminent. Etrulia, the capital, has evaporated along with 16 adjacent regions. The mass of the Satellite colony has already been reduced by 30%, and further deterioration continues. 70% of the seven billion inhabitants have lost their lives already, and the remaining 30% have no clear hope for survival. The Secilian empire no longer poses any tangible threat.
Mission Accomplished.
*END SPOILER*
The Fighters[]
According to the story, the R-Gray series of fighters was created from 13 Secilian vessels. They are very powerful and are very different from each other in style.
Stages[]
- Stage 1: August 4, 2219, Albion D.U., Earth
- Stage 2: August 5, 2219, Old Gaul City, Earth
- Stage 3: August 5, 2219, Palmyra Valley, Earth
- Stage 4: August 5, 2219, 3rd Fleet, Earth Orbit
- Stage 5: August 5, 2219, Carthage Base, Secilia Orbit
- Stage 6: August 6, 2219, Etruria, Secilia
- Stage 7: August 7, 2219, Juda Central System, Secilia
- Stage 8: August 7, 2219, Juda Core, Secilia
Arcade and PS1[]
The PS1 port of RayStorm features several additions as follows:
- Arcade Mode - The arcade version of RayStorm.
- Extra Mode - A modified version of Arcade Mode. Enemy patterns, colors, and boss tactics are different, as well as a modified ending. Every stage also has a background pointing out the route of the player.
- Adjustable Stage Difficulty - Unlike other games where you have Easy, Normal, Hard and the like, the game allows you to change the difficulty of each stage individually. If any stage is set to Easy, the whole game is set to Training Mode and lasts 4 stages.
- Extra Settings - Upon beating the game, the extra options menu is enabled. They are 13 Ships Mode, Shooting Down Rate, and Stage Select.
- 13 Ships Mode - Go though the game using only 13 ships, 2 from each fighter type (R-Gray 1 and 2) and each lock-on mode (Auto, Manual). The last ship is R-Gray 0 which uses Manual lock-on. Enabled by beating Extra Mode in Combat Mode difficulty.
- Shooting Down Rate - Calculates your enemy destruction rate by giving # of enemies destroyed/# of enemies encountered. Enabled by beating Arcade or Extra Mode in 13 Ships Mode.
- Stage Select - Allows you to play any stage and also lists the shooting rate and high score for that stage. Enabled by beating Arcade and Extra Modes.
Layer Section II[]
The Sega Saturn port has several differences to the PSX/PC port such as
- The absence of Extra mode and the subsequent 13 Ships mode. Only Arcade mode available, however Stage Select (called Attack Mode) is available from the start
- Addition of intermission FMVs in-between stages.
- R-Gray 0 is initially available from the beginning
RayStorm HD[]
This game will be released on the XBox 360 (XBox Live) and PS3 (PSN). Not too much is known about it, save for the fact that it is a graphically enhanced port of RayStorm with some extras, not sure though if it's a port of the Arcade version or the PS1 version. More information about this is pending.
What is known: