Raiden III x MIKADO Maniax looks like solid, old-school shmup action

Gals ‘n’ Guns

Japanese studio MOSS has released a new gameplay trailer for its upcoming release Raiden III x MIKADO Maniax — the flashy, remixed edition of the stellar 2005 arcade shmup Raiden III.

Raiden III x MIKADO Maniax is a revisioning of MOSS’ adrenaline-pumping classic, kitted out with new modes and features and sporting an entirely new score composed by a who’s who of Japanese electronic artists. Among the musicians featured in the new release are GoSatoBan, Heavy Metal Raiden, Fantom Iris, O.T.K., Soshi Hosoi, Daisuke Matsumoto, Cosio, Keishi Yonao, Ryu☆, Raito, and Yu Shimoda — performing a total of 20 new stage and boss battle themes.

Away from the block-rockin’ beats, the remix includes several new features including monitor orientation options, online rankings, and the ability to upload your latest run to an online server, for viewing by the Raiden community. Alongside a standard and remixed edition of the original arcade mode, MIKADO Maniax also includes Score Attack and Boss Rush modes, as well as a beginner-friendly hitbox, to help newer players learn the geometry of the game’s challenging patterns.

Raiden III x MIKADO Maniax launches in Japan, February 23, on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch platforms. There is currently no word on a western release, although the previousRaiden x Mikado title did get a localization, so hold fire for now.

Chris Moyse

Senior Editor – Chris has been playing video games since the 1980s. Former Saturday Night Slam Master. Graduated from Galaxy High with honors. Twitter: @ChrisxMoyse