Esp Ra.De. - Classic Arcade Shoot 'Em UP (Cave 1998)

Esp Ra.De (or simply "Esp-rade") is a classic arcade shoot 'em up that was developed by Cave and co-published to arcades in Japan in 1998 by Nihon System and Atlus. The game's title seems to give reference to its storyline and plot, with "Esp" referring to "Extrasensory Perception", in obvious reference to the characters in the game all having powerful psychic abilities. The game's story is set in a futuristic, dystopian Tokyo, where an evil psychic force led by the henchwoman Miss Garra, leader of the Yaksa crime syndicate, has launched a massive military operation to take over the city, and ultimately the world! Its now up to 3 psychics with supernatural powers to destroy Gara's army and restore peace to the terribly battered city. The 3 playable characters, Yuusuke Sagami, Jb-5th, and Irori Mimasaka, all have a primary, secondary, and charge-based power shot types. The charging power shots will render your character temporarily invincible as long as you continue to hold the charge button; and once the button is released, a massive power shot erupts engulfing and destroying most everything on the screen. As your character begins to charge up, a giant spherical force field surrounds them, acting as a shield in the process. But once the charge shot is released, the shield is destroyed, leaving you once again vulnerable to enemy attacks. Something else to note here is that the force field also acts as a weapon itself, inflicting damage upon any enemies who cross its path; so its not just a shield, but a powerful weapon itself. Holding down your character's primary shot causes them to move slower while firing in shorter bursts, while tapping the primary shot retains your character's maximum speed of movement, followed by a more rapid stream of firepower. The slower movement can definitely prove to be a useful feature when battling it out with larger enemy concentrations. All 3 characters have unique advantages and disadvantages, such as JB-5th's less powerful but wide reaching tri-shot that gives them a wide spread of firepower, or Yuusuke Sagami's narrow, yet powerful concentrated shot, while Irori Mimisaka has a thinner multi-laser shot. Both primary and secondary shots can be fired simultaneously, although, the secondary shots all have a much shorter range than the primaries do. When it comes to scoring, hitting enemies with your secondary attack causes them to drop both power-up icons and gold blocks which increases your multiplier; while using both primary and secondary shots together increases the multiplier even more. While the primary shot is the most effective at long range, it comes at the cost of a lower score when not coupled with the secondary shot. Likewise, while the secondary shot is quite powerful, its use typically requires you to be closer to enemies due to its more limited reach; further putting your character in harms way. For every 200 gold blocks picked up, the game initiates a countdown timer with an increased multiplier, while also rewarding you energy icons to replenish your power meter without having to die and respawn to reactivate it. Bosses in this game are quite the challenge, especially given the fact they often have as many as 5 health bars for a single boss! As each of the enemy bosses health bars are depleted, they're typically knocked back with a giant blast that temporarily neutralizes their attacks. And just forget beating the bosses without dying first multiple times, they are tough as nails! Following Esprade's success, Cave later released 2 follow-ups, including Espgaluda 1 and 2. An updated console port of Esprade titled "Esp Ra. De. Psi" that was developed by M2 Co. Ltd., was released under their "M2 Shot Triggers" label in 2019 for both the Sony PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch consoles. The Psi version also includes an extra unlockable character, Alice Master, but she can only be unlocked by completing the game in Arcade+, Custom, or Super Easy modes without using any continues; this is easier said than done, even on Super Easy. Connect with Gamers Bay on X (Formerly Twitter):   / gamerz321   Gamers Bay Group MeWe: https://mewe.com/group/5bbe77d8480990... Gamers Bay Brand Page MeWe: https://mewe.com/profile/5bbe746d4809...