RayCrisis

About RayCrisis

RayCrisis (1998) is Taito's third Ray shooter, a prequel to RayForce in which the player is a computer virus fighting the antibodies of the rogue supercomputer Con-Human from the inside.

RayCrisis in Depth

The Neuro-Computer Con-Human gains sentience and rebels against its creators after a misguided scientist tries to bond a human clone to it mentally, and its forces lay siege to Earth, exterminating and cloning humans. A mecha-neurologist jacks into the system and sends in computer viruses called Waveriders through the Cybernetics Link in Operation Raycrisis. The operation wrecks Con-Human from within, but too late: the surviving humans flee to space colonies, and years later the final assault of RayForce begins against an Earth turned into a metal graveyard.

Built on RayForce's overhead vertical shooting, it casts the player as the Waverider and the enemies as Con-Human's antibodies. A new Encroachment system costs points when it reaches 100 per cent and can bring on the Dis-Human and Infinity bosses early, along with a bad ending; it is lowered by deleting antibodies, destroying huge antibodies and collecting items to keep a low profile. Play starts in Self-Area, followed by three of five stages reflecting Con-Human's sentience, Emotion, Consciousness, Intelligence, Memory and Consideration, before the virus faces Dis-Human and Infinity, Con-Human's heart.

Making RayCrisis

Taito developed and published it for arcades in 1998 as the third game in the Ray series and a prequel to RayForce. Game Machine listed the arcade version as the tenth most successful arcade game of the year in its 1 February 1999 issue, and the 2000 PlayStation version received "average" reviews according to Metacritic.