Arcade Archives: Viper Phase 1

Watch on YouTube

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Viper Phase 1 (Seibu Kaihatsu, 1995)

The PSN version is out there but you will have to search for it on your PS4, it won't appear any other way (thanks, ohfivepro!)

Switch
EU
US

Both the Old and New versions are included, with the differences being explained in the manual. Preference Settings allow solo players to play as the player two side ship.

The store description for this reads, "While the game system is orthodox, the extremely high quality of this popular title has made it a favourite among shoot'em up fans" and that actually sums it up pretty well. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of experience with this title but it has a similar weapon system to Seibu's Raiden games- wait for a slowly-moving item to change to the weapon type you want, then grab it- but these weapons are really side-arms to bolster your normal vulcan shots, and this one also has individual power-up items to boost your standard weapon and the side-arm, rather than relying on picking up the same weapon icon to power it up. It also focuses entirely on space-based combat with a few fortresses to blast through, as opposed to the Raiden series that, up to this point, had sequences on the planet's surface before moving into space. Bit of a shame as I always liked the details in the planet parts, but Viper Phase 1 doesn't slouch in the presentation department with a lot of super-detailed explosions and enemies! Again though, this one has never received a home port until now, so having it show up here is a nice, unexpected surprise. It wasn't Seibu's final shmup, mind- they would continue on for a few years with the Raiden Fighters series, which even includes the Judge Spear from this game as a secret playable ship.