ESP Ra.De.

Did You Know?

• ESP Ra.De. was developed in conjunction with Dangun Feveron (1998) by a small crew of nine members.
• ESP Ra.De. began production immediately after completion of DoDonPachi (1997).

Gameplay

ESP Ra.De. is a vertically scrolling bullet hell game with a science fiction setting, comparable to DoDonPachi. Players choose from three characters—Yūsuke Sagami, Jb-5th, or Irori Mimasaka—and progress through five stages that grow harder as they go. The story follows ESPer Lady Garra and her Yaksa syndicate as they attack to eliminate opposition and seize control of Tokyo. Unlike many Cave shoot 'em ups, these characters only have a shot attack, but holding down the fire button slows their movement. A key feature is the power gauge, which provides a force field that acts as a shield. When activated, the field makes the character invincible and turns enemy bullets into power-up and gold blocks; this effect lasts until the shield button is released, which drains the gauge. Letting go of the shield button unleashes a strong psychic blast that can wipe out enemies and bullets on screen. Each character also has a unique piercing attack for extra damage, but it cannot be used rapidly. If the piercing gauge empties, the character cannot perform a piercing shot for a short time until the gauge refills. This piercing attack is important for achieving high scores and earning extra lives. Destroying enemies sometimes reveals power-ups, and more appear based on a score multiplier that increases when hitting enemies with regular or piercing shots. Using the regular shot to destroy an enemy raises the multiplier by targeting parts of the enemy, though the current multiplier level is hidden during normal play and can only be seen with a cheat code. When a character reaches full power, defeated enemies drop gold blocks, which grant points when collected. Collecting 200 gold blocks starts a timer, and the multiplier then provides energy tanks that restore the power gauge. Once the timer ends, the collected gold blocks are lost. Lives are shown as hearts; losing a heart stock reduces the character’s firepower back to its starting state and also removes any collected gold blocks. When all heart stocks are gone, the game ends, but players can continue by inserting more credits into the arcade machine. This continuation resets the player’s score and prevents them from switching characters.

Release

Atlus and Nihon System brought ESP Ra.De. to arcades in April 1998. A joint soundtrack release from Scitron and Gamest, featuring music from both this game and DoDonPachi, hit Japan exclusively that November. After securing the DoDonPachi license for the PolyGame Master, International Games System had plans to launch the title in Taiwan. Cave handled mobile ports, first releasing two separate EZweb versions through their Gaesen Yokocho service in June 2004, then an i-mode conversion called ESP Ra.De. DX in 2005. Because of rights complications with Atlus, the game missed out on a home console port during its original era, unlike other Cave titles. Finally, in December 2019, M2 issued ESP Ra.De. Psi for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 under their M2 ShotTriggers label. This edition includes the original arcade game plus upgraded visuals, additional modes, newly recorded voice work, and a fresh character named Alice Master.

Reception and legacy

In June 1998, Game Machine ranked ESP Ra.De. as Japan's fifth most popular arcade game over a two-week period. Critics François Daniel and Reyda Seddiki of Player One highlighted its power gauge mechanic as a standout feature among shoot 'em ups. Nick Zverloff of Hardcore Gaming 101 found the scoring system overly complex but admired the stylish visuals, Junya Inoue's artwork, and the audio design, calling it an underrated Cave classic, though he noted Irori's voice was grating. Famitsu's reviewers appreciated the Psi version's "Super Easy" and "Irori's Room" modes, plus a new playable character. Mark MSX of Nintendo Life likened the visual style to Akira and Ghost in the Shell, and noted that the gameplay and scoring differed from DoDonPachi. He praised the Psi version for fixing the original scoring, adding a character, improving the interface, and including extra modes, but criticized the absence of an arranged mode and additional music. ESP Ra.De. led to two spin-offs: Espgaluda in 2003 and Espgaluda II in 2005. Junya Inoue later said both games are fine for what they are, though he felt the term "ESP" doesn't fit their lore well.