RayForce / Gunlock | 1994 | Taito
A game unlike any other, RayForce is a wholly unique vertical SHMUP that is a graphical showcase for the Tatio F3 hardware. While the concept is nothing new, as it’s a more modern riff on Namco’s classic Xevious, RayForce treads its own path by giving the player more control over what and where to shoot on the multiple, independently scrolling background layers.
Considered a true classic in the modern era, RayForce will dazzle you with its outstanding 2D presentation and sound design and keep you coming back for more with a solid and addictive gameplay loop.
Disclaimer: The history portion of this review is mostly sourced from a 2016 interview with the development staff. You can check out the full, translated interview at shmuplations.com. I may also use STG and SHMUP interchangeably (same genre), but I prefer STG.
In 1992 Tatsuo Nakamura (Director, Designer, and Programmer for RayForce) dreamed of developing his own STG (Shooting Game) after working on classic hits like Darius II (known as Sagaia in the West). While his development team at Taito Kumagaya was tasked with creating other genres for the company (with other teams focused on STGs), the team understood his vision for a new STG using the powerful new F3 hardware Taito had just released and they collectively created a design document for the game using the tentative title LayerSection. Because of the strong documentation and planning, management at Taito greenlit the project and the rest is history.
Fun Fact: The team at Kumagaya and Taito management were unsure of what to call the game for its release. LayerSection was the name used during development, but before release there was a vote to use one of the two other names for the game: RayForce and Gunlock. All three titles speak to the gameplay mechanics in one way or another. Oddly enough, all three titles ended up being used. RayForce is the name of the game for its original Japanese arcade release, LayerSection is the name of the Sega Saturn port in Japan, and Gunlock is the name of the arcade release in Western territories. What’s more, when Acclaim published RayForce for the US Saturn audience they changed the name one more time to Galactic Attack.
Released in arcades in February 1994, RayForce was released on a single, integrated PCB that includes the F3 hardware and game ROMs. Unfortunately for modern arcade collectors, RayForce released right before Taito launched the F3 Package System, which uses interchangeable cartridges like the Neo-Geo MVS, so there is no cartridge version of the game.
According to the publication Game Machine in Japan, RayForce was the third most popular arcade game in March 1994. Like so many STGs of this era, though, it was a tougher sell in the home market. Japanese reviews for the mostly perfect Sega Saturn port were generally positive (as STGs were more popular in that territory), but US publications almost unanimously cited dated graphics and gameplay. Thankfully, RayForce is one game that overcomes the plague of bad mid-90’s game journalism and is seen today as not only an essential shooter that all STG fans should experience, but it is also seen as a true masterpiece in both presentation and gameplay. Like a few other “masterpiece” titles on the F3 hardware, there really isn’t another game quite like it.
The story in RayForce is quite dour for the time. To sum it up, a supercomputer named Con-Human was developed to control the environmental systems of a ruined planet Earth. A cloned human then integrates his mind with Con-Human which makes the computer go berserk and insight an eventual war that wipes out 99.8% of all human life. Con-Human basically turns Earth into a huge mobile fortress and is set on traveling to the various human colonies to eradicate the remnants of the human species. As the pilot of the special RVA-818 X-Lay Starfighter, your mission is to infiltrate the center of the Earth and wipe out of the core of Con-Human.
RayForce doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to vertical shooters of the day, but it does layer in (like what I did there?) new features to time-proven genre tropes. The main hook of the gameplay is to lock on to various targets in one of the scrolling background layers (LayerSection – get it?) and shoot homing lasers that take down the targeted foes. While you’re contending with enemies in the background, you have a standard spread shot that takes care of enemies in the foreground.
At the start of your adventure you can lock onto up to five targets at once, and the more enemies you target before shooting your laser blast the higher the score multiplier. There are green L capsules that appear from time to time you can collect that allow you to target additional enemies for an even bigger score boost or deal more damage on single enemies that you can target multiple times (like bosses). At max power you can target eight objects, denoted by the laser meter at the bottom of the screen. In addition to the green laser pickups, you can also collect yellow and red pickups that boost the power and spread of your main foreground gun. When you lose your last life on a credit, you'll immediately gain access to three yellow powerups for your main gun and one to two lock on powerups when you continue - which is a nice touch and a blessing in this very difficult game.
Unlike other STGs of the day, the developers chose not to include a bomb mechanic. Bomb mechanics in STGs often function like a “get out of jail free” card that, if used correctly, will eradicate most enemies and bullets on screen when things get tough. RayForce has none of this. It is as intentional and deliberate of an STG you’ll ever play, and that was 100% by design.
The strategy of RayForce comes from playing center field. The majority of bullets targeting you come in from ground fire, so in order to take out turrets and other ground cover immediately, you’ll need to be on them the second they appear on screen. There are enemies in the later stages that swoop around below then behind you as well, so staying too far to the bottom of the screen in the late game is suicide. It may take you time to get used to playing mid-screen in an STG, but RayForce is a hyper aggressive game. Learning this technique will help you in all other STGs as well.
Similar to many other arcade games of the day, RayForce has a behind the scenes ranking system that adjusts the difficulty on the fly depending on a number of factors. In the test (service) menu, you can select a set difficulty for each stage in the game out of eight options. Normal difficulty is the third option. Starting from your pre-set difficulty, the game will increase your rank for clearing a level, clearing a level without dying, and gaining an extra life. Basically, if you do not lose a life and get over 1000000 points to score an extra life, you'll be at max difficulty by the beginning of stage 4. Your rank is not static, though. If you lose a life the game adjusts the difficulty down by one rank.
I won't go in depth on detailing the scoring system which includes not only the number of enemies you lock on to for score multipliers, but multiple other factors including things like the techniques you use to maneuver past some enemies. Additionally, there are strategies that you can employ to keep rank manageable like losing a life intentionally in a few spots to drop your rank on the fly. You can read all about these techniques at this old but essential primer. Personally, I play STGs for survival as I'll never spend the amount of time needed on any one shooter for score. My goal for any STG (really, any arcade game) is to beat it in 4 credits. Which is the equivalent of putting a dollar (one credit per quarter) in the machine back in the 90's.
If you think RayForce sounds a bit like Namco’s Xevious, you’re not wrong. Xevious was used as a main source of inspiration for RayForce (among other classics), including the exclusion of a bomb mechanic. Despite being inspired by a game that was almost a decade old by 1994, the gameplay loop in RayForce is exceedingly balanced and fair. When you make a mistake, it is your mistake. While RayForce’s excellent mechanics aren’t anything extraordinary, they are honed to a razors edge and present the player with a satisfying action experience through seven heart-pounding levels.
RayForce is a joy to play for sure, but it is also one of the most beautiful examples of 2D game design ever conceived in this writer's humble (and informed) opinion. The Taito F3 is known for being able to push hundreds of sprites on screen all while moving up to four independent background layers of multiple sizes simultaneously. Nakamura and his team wanted to take advantage of everything the F3 had to offer, so the mechanics of the game were designed around the unique hardware attributes of the platform.
One of the most memorable graphical features of the game are the level transitions. After you clear a stage boss, you are thrust immediately into the next round with a slick transition filled with impressive detail. For example, after you clear the second stage boss you begin diving into the Earth’s atmosphere, then break through the clouds, and finally find yourself flying above the surface of the earth. By using the F3’s layering effects and alpha blending techniques, these transitions will make you stare in awe the first time you see them no matter your age or experience with video games.
The 2D mastery on display also comes with another surprise, the game's ROM size is quite small at only 88 mega bits (11 mega bytes). While the ROM size is on target for other games developed around this time, there are few games from this era that will dazzle you like RayForce. Other Taito releases on the F3, like Darius Gaiden, are almost twice this size for a game of this type. It's all very impressive.
RayForce is a game that must be experienced in motion to appreciate the level of artistry on display. Still pictures absolutely do not do the game justice, and I highly recommend checking out the game on YouTube (see bottom of review) if you are even remotely interested. Even in 2023 RayForce will leave your jaw on the floor – especially if you have a keen understanding of the hardware and technology from that era.
Complimenting the masterful 2D work on display, the music in the game is also an absolute showstopper. Zuntata, Taito’s in-house band, created a rich tapestry of soundscapes that capture not only the action of each individual stage, but also the emotion the developers want you feel as you journey through each of the zones. From the upbeat song Penetration that opens the adventure to the haunting Quartz that closes off the lead-up to the final battle with Con-Human, every song is an addictive earworm that gets stuck in your head for days or weeks on end. This is one arcade OST more than worthy of a listen to outside of the game.
Here's a sample: Penetration (Stage 1)
Much like Elevator Action Returns, I can’t really find fault with RayForce. It is an exceedingly deliberate game with stellar presentation, masterful sound design, and perfect pacing. While others may see Darius Gaiden as the STG showpiece for the F3 hardware, I feel RayForce is the (slightly) better game overall in both graphics and gameplay. RayForce is hands-down my favorite STG ever created and I'm a very lucky man to own an actual PCB.
How can you play this masterclass of game design today? Thankfully there is no shortage of ways to play if you’re a modern or a classic gamer. First up is, of course, the original arcade PCB. These are exceedingly rare, though. So, even if you do manage to locate a working board, you will be paying upwards of $1000 depending on how complete the kit is and/or the board version. You can find "good deals" direct from Japan, but you need some familiarity with shopping and ordering from that market. I've included some resources for sourcing games from Japan in the Resources section of the site. Keep in mind that a "good deal" on a game of this vintage will still be out of reach for the vast majority of players. From my research, the Japanese RayForce "white" F3 board is the cheaper variant (the version I have), while the US/Euro Gunlock "yellow" F3 board variant is more expensive even though these boards are prone to some color bleeding issues due to some cheaper components used on the PCB.
While the stand-alone PCB is a very rare commodity indeed, you could spend roughly the same amount of money on a Darksoft Taito F3 Multi-Game kit. This PCB kit converts an F3 cartridge to a multi-game, SD card solution that stores all Taito F3 games on a ROM bank and allows you to choose the game you want to play out of the 37 or so games released on the hardware. Basically, it runs the game ROMs on hardware rather than an emulator for a 100% authentic experience you can use on a home arcade (SuperGun) setup or directly in an arcade cabinet.
As an arcade purist, I feel RayForce is best played on a high-quality arcade CRT monitor or PVM to remove all possible instance of input lag and motion blur. I will often concede that most classic games are entirely playable on modern displays, but RayForce is such a precision game that being directly in front of a crispy CRT with absolutely no lag is an incredible experience.
Next is the Sega Saturn release called LayerSection in Japan and Galactic Attack in the US. The US version is a bit more expensive than the Japanese version, but considering this is the best (imo) STG on the Saturn, both versions are still quite affordable given the collectability of Saturn games in the modern retro market. While touted as "arcade perfect" by some, this is far from the truth. LayerSection has two modes: Saturn and Arcade. The Saturn Mode squishes the screen to fit on the normal 4:3 aspect ratio and is generally unplayable due to many graphical features being removed, enemies shooting you from off-screen because of the different screen size, and being unable to lock-on or shoot many enemies at the top of the screen. Thankfully the Arcade Mode is a full tate (vertical perspective) presentation in which you'd need to turn your display on its side. This mode restores the lost background effects in the Saturn Mode for an experience closer to the original that fixes the frustrations listed above. While closer to the arcade original, there are other differences. Sound effects are mostly intact, but there are a few instances of missing effects all together and many sound effects were either changed to something completely different or the samples are cut short. Additionally, the default difficulty was lowered and you earn a life at 500k points rather than 1000000.
For modern gamers, you can check out the game on popular PC emulators, the Taito Egret II Mini console, or on the upcoming Ray'z Arcade Chronology compilation being developed by M2. This collection of RayForce, RayStorm, and RayCrisis will be available in mid-2023 for the Nintendo Switch and other platforms. If you don't have access to a Saturn to play in Tate mode, I say wait for the Chronology. The Egret II Mini has over eight frames of input lag, which is a hefty amount for a precision STG like RayForce. It's not unplayable, but it is not the best way to play. UPDATE: Taito released an updated firmware that optimizes the built-in emulator's code in the Egret II Mini that fixes this input lag! So make sure to update your unit if this is your preferred method of play!
Additionally, the emulators that run the game on PC have numerous graphical and music glitches that mar the presentation of the game considerably, but present a generally smooth way to play. If emulators are your cup of tea, check out the SHMUPARC emulator that is tuned specifically to play classic STGs. There is a port of LayerSection available on Switch and Steam already, but stay FAR away from this release as it has numerous flaws that make it one of the worst ways to experience this classic. Similarly, you can find RayForce on mobile devices - which works pretty okay despite touch screen controls but is, of course, not exactly the best way to play a game based on precision.
RayForce was followed by its two sequels on Taito’s FX arcade hardware which was a marginally souped-up Playstation. In this move to full 3D, the Rayz games lost much of their charm from the original. The "layer" approach to targeting was also dropped because in a full 3D environment it's actually harder to make out what could be considered a "layer." The targeting system is still in tact, though, but it's just another way to shoot enemies rather than being a unique way to target enemies not directly in front of you. RayStorm and RayCrisis are both good games to be sure, but not nearly as good as the original.
The team at Kumagaya began development on a 2D sequel to RayForce on the F3 hardware shortly after its release. Sadly, Taito management canned the project in favor of moving to a fully 3D platform. Titled R-Gear, this famously unfinished sequel is said to be available in some form on the upcoming Ray'z Arcade Chronology from M2. I'll update this review with information on R-Gear when/if available.
At the end of the day, if you play only one game on the F3 hardware, make it RayForce. It was truly a game ahead of its time while also being a game locked in the past. Gamers of the 90’s didn’t quite get its brilliance like we do today (hindsight being 20/20 and all). It is an awe-inspiring adventure more than worthy of your time.