RayForce
Encyclopedia
RayForce is a vertical space shooter style game by Taito
released for the Taito F3
arcade hardware in 1993 and later ported to the Sega Saturn
in 1995.
Due to trademark problems, when the home version was released in Japan it was renamed Layer Section. Finally, when Acclaim
got a hold of it for the North American and European home releases, it was renamed yet again as Galactic Attack. To add more confusion, the game was also titled Gunlock in European arcades.
governments, across the planet Earth
, construct a massive supercomputer
, named "Con-Human". The purpose of this computer is to govern the planet's environmental systems, verifying proper nutrients and care is provided to ensure the culture of humans and animal alike.
However, disaster strikes when, after a clone
d human's mind is linked with the system, Con-Human becomes sentient and insane. It begins to induce calamities across the planet, constructing corrupt clones of existing organisms, destroying its human masters and exterminating the nature it was intended to protect, apparently intending to replace everything with what Con-Human considers improved versions of themselves.
After prolonged war, Con-Human has succeeded in exterminating 99.8% of humankind, with the remnants fleeing to space colonies. Meanwhile, Con-Human remakes the very interior of Earth. As a result, Earth, as humanity knew it, has utterly ceased to exist, transformed into a planet-sized mobile fortress that is in fact Con-Human's body. Con-Human intends to use the transformed Earth to seek out and destroy the colonies, erasing all remaining traces of old life from the universe and leaving only the new life that it personally created. Now, taking the full-scale offensive, mankind develops powerful ships, one of them the RVA-818 X-LAY starfighter
, to fight the oppressive machine by destroying the now-infected Earth entirely.
The player is provided with a ship called the RVA-818 X-LAY, which is outfitted with two weapons: a primary weapon that fires straight laser
s and increases in power when the player accumulates power-ups, and a secondary lock-on
missile launcher, which can also be increased in power, that can target up to eight enemies at once by moving the targeting reticle. This weapon is used to attack enemies that appear on a lower plane than that of your craft, which are inaccessible to the player's primary weapon. During play, the screen predominantly scrolls vertically, but there is some horizontal leeway as is common in games of this genre.
.
.
A prequel, RayCrisis
, was released in 1998.
. Both games feature an auto-lock weapon that can fire at a lower plane, as well as an epic descent to an earth-like planet for assault missions.
Taito Corporation
The is a Japanese publisher of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix. Taito has their headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, sharing the facility with its parent company....
released for the Taito F3
Taito F3 System
The Taito F3 System is an arcade system board released by Taito Corporation in 1992.-Specifications:* CPU: MC68EC020* Sound CPU: MC68000* Sound Chip: ES5505 and ES5510 * Video resoution: 320x224...
arcade hardware in 1993 and later ported to the Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
in 1995.
Due to trademark problems, when the home version was released in Japan it was renamed Layer Section. Finally, when Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
got a hold of it for the North American and European home releases, it was renamed yet again as Galactic Attack. To add more confusion, the game was also titled Gunlock in European arcades.
Story
In the distant future, humanHuman
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
governments, across the planet Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, construct a massive supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
, named "Con-Human". The purpose of this computer is to govern the planet's environmental systems, verifying proper nutrients and care is provided to ensure the culture of humans and animal alike.
However, disaster strikes when, after a clone
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
d human's mind is linked with the system, Con-Human becomes sentient and insane. It begins to induce calamities across the planet, constructing corrupt clones of existing organisms, destroying its human masters and exterminating the nature it was intended to protect, apparently intending to replace everything with what Con-Human considers improved versions of themselves.
After prolonged war, Con-Human has succeeded in exterminating 99.8% of humankind, with the remnants fleeing to space colonies. Meanwhile, Con-Human remakes the very interior of Earth. As a result, Earth, as humanity knew it, has utterly ceased to exist, transformed into a planet-sized mobile fortress that is in fact Con-Human's body. Con-Human intends to use the transformed Earth to seek out and destroy the colonies, erasing all remaining traces of old life from the universe and leaving only the new life that it personally created. Now, taking the full-scale offensive, mankind develops powerful ships, one of them the RVA-818 X-LAY starfighter
Starfighter
"Starfighter" is a science fiction term used to describe small, fast, usually one-manned craft designed for armed combat .The appearance and use of fictional starfighters is often modeled on fighter aircraft, with little regard for the actual physics of spaceflight...
, to fight the oppressive machine by destroying the now-infected Earth entirely.
Game system
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
s and increases in power when the player accumulates power-ups, and a secondary lock-on
Fire-and-forget
Fire-and-forget is a third-generation method of missile guidance. The military uses the term for a type of missile which does not require further guidance after launch such as illumination of the target or wire guidance , and can hit its target without the launcher being in line-of-sight of the...
missile launcher, which can also be increased in power, that can target up to eight enemies at once by moving the targeting reticle. This weapon is used to attack enemies that appear on a lower plane than that of your craft, which are inaccessible to the player's primary weapon. During play, the screen predominantly scrolls vertically, but there is some horizontal leeway as is common in games of this genre.
Compilations
This game was also released on Taito Memories in Japan, as well as Xbox and PC versions of Taito Legends 2Taito Legends 2
Taito Legends 2 is the sequel to Taito Legends and is a follow-up collection of 39 Taito arcade games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC....
.
Sequels
At a point Taito worked on a sequel, R-Gear; however, that was canceled early in development, in favor of RayStormRayStorm
RayStorm is a scrolling shooter developed by the Taito Corporation . Originally released in Japan as an arcade game in 1996, it was later ported there to Sony's PlayStation game console in 1997, to the Sega Saturn in that same year, and to Windows-based personal computers in 2001...
.
A prequel, RayCrisis
RayCrisis
RayCrisis, known as RayCrisis: Series Termination in North America, is the third game released in the "Ray" series of Taito shooting games. Chronologically, it is considered a prequel to the first game, RayForce...
, was released in 1998.
Influence
A few games have been made that copy the general feel of RayForce, most notably Kamui and Terra DiverTerra Diver
is a vertically scrolling shooter game released by Raizing in 1996. The game is unusual in that, rather than using a 3:4 aspect ratio to simulate the arcade feel of other shooters, it uses a horizontal monitor in the style of Giga Wing and Radiant Silvergun....
. Both games feature an auto-lock weapon that can fire at a lower plane, as well as an epic descent to an earth-like planet for assault missions.