To say the least, I'm not currently rolling in gold. More than 30 days of strikes will take my budget and I will have to cut back for a while in order to concentrate on the essentials of life. So goodbye, then, to impulse purchases devoted to gambling and other leisure activities. Nevertheless, the fact that I pre-ordered certain items well in advance will still allow me to temporarily get a little extra tantrum in this area. This is the case today, with the arrival of this copy of ESP Ra.De. Psi which will not only fulfill its role of entertaining me and playfully feeding my PS4, it will also fulfill my expectations as a video game collector.
Released only on the Japanese continent, on December 19th, on PS4 and Switch, ESP Ra.De. Psi is the long-awaited port of a title that made the arcade's heyday in the late 90s. Developed by Cave and published by Atlus, this manic shmup was the object of much covetousness for nearly two decades. An illustrious danmaku with a unique atmosphere and exemplary gameplay, this game was particularly coveted because of a dark rights story that didn't allow the original developer to exploit it as he wanted. Indeed, Atlus, the main license holder of this game, didn't see fit to give it back to Cave and thus allow an exploitation outside of arcade darkrooms.
As the PCB was being sold to the fans at a high price, the M2 team took the initiative to negotiate with Atlus in the hope of distributing this marvel outside of an insider's circle. After more than two decades, ESP Ra.De. has finally made a resounding comeback on the home console, much to the delight of shmup fans. Of course, when this excellent news was announced, I couldn't contain my joy and excitement, while spending a few pennies on the collector's version, during the pre-order openings that took place last year.
So the wait was long and my concern grew as the release date approached. Will this portage live up to my expectations? Anyway, my version reached my mailbox at the beginning of January. At that moment, doubt gave way to joy as well as the pleasure of discovering a more than generous collector, rewarding without any doubt this long and painful wait. Clearly, M2 did not do things by halves and offers us a luxurious packaging, accompanied by a guidebook for the first buyers of the title. Exemplary, seems to be the term to use to qualify such a debauchery of goodies of all kinds, provided inside this box. It includes two sheets of stickers, the arcade markees of the time, an OST CD, of course the game in its box, and a totally sublime artbook (more than 200 pages!), tracing the conception of the game and its universe.
A goldsmith's work, done by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, which many wealthier publishers should be inspired by (Isn't that Ubisoft ?). This is probably the most complete collector's item I currently have in my collection. Thank you M2 for this wonderful version that pays a very nice tribute to a great game !
Trivia :
- ESP Ra.De. proposes to incarnate three teenagers with extra-sensory powers, more commonly known as Esper. According to the scenario, a criminal group called Yaksa, hidden under a political label, seems to have won the public's trust by providing protection against these famous superhuman beings. Founded by unscrupulous Espers, they were given full powers to establish a new order through the introduction of fear and terror among civilians. Faced with the magnitude of the situation, a small group of high school students with telekinetic power took the firm decision to end the hold of this organization. This scenario, looks like the X-men's story !
- The events of this game take place in 2018 ! Pretty much, you could have said it's current events. I mean, no... Not really...
- Joker Jun, whose real name is Junya Inoue, took on the role of artistic director for the creation of the universe associated with the game. In addition to designating all the stages and characters, he also doubled the voice of one of the game's characters. Moreover, in the Psi version, Joker Jun gave a little of himself by dubbing the voice of the announcer, during the credits and the game over. Former member of Toaplan, Junya Inoue is a well-known and renowned artist in Japan, well known for his style mixing a mature trait with anything childish.
- Developed in 1998 on an antique Motorolla 68000 / Zilog Z80 combo, ESP Ra.De. was with Guwange the two games that pushed the limits of this architecture. A real work of optimization, both titles boast up to 800 sprites simultaneously ! That's twice as many as the NeoGeo's original capacity! It wasn't until the gen of the Xbox 360 and Ps3 that this process was perfectly transcribed ! So the 68000 still has a lot of it in its gut !
- There is an alternative and far more tragic end to the fate of Irori. At the end of a Dantesque battle against the founder of Yaksa, the young girl, at the limits of her strength, lands painfully in a Tokyo square before losing consciousness. While the original ending shows a passer-by coming to her rescue, the alternative ending offers us a totally different scene. The same passer-by shows indifference as she passes by, letting Irori cover herself with snow and freeze to death... If you want to watch this famous ending, you just have to stay and press the start button during this passage.
