is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game by Eighting released in 1999. It is the spiritual successor (sometimes incorrectly thought of as a sequel) to the 1996 arcade game Battle Garegga. Players control one of nine fighter jets and shoot enemies, collect power-ups, and defeat bosses to advance through the game.
In 2022, the game will be included as part of the Sega Astro City Mini V, a vertically oriented variant of the Sega Astro City mini console, marking its first appearance outside the arcades.
Gameplay
Stages
Training: There are less enemies and bullets, and player's fighter automatically uses a bomb when being hit. The game ends after four stages. Normal: A course of medium difficulty with six stages. Advance: A course with eight stages, with increased enemy firing rate and bullet density. Special/Only Boss: When selected without specifying stage or boss, player plays a course consists of all the boss segments of all stages. When specifying a stage or boss (by pressing left or right), player plays a course consists of the selected stage or boss twice, with second trial featuring increased difficulty. Special can be unlocked either by entering code a special code at the title screen or clearing the Advance game. However, clearing Advance game does not unlock the Special course permanently.
After choosing Normal or Advance course, Stage Edit mode allows player to choose the sequence of stages 2–5 from a set of four stages.
In Special/Only Boss mode, an additional Stage I is included, which consists of mid-boss battle in Cloud stage (Stage 6).
Fighters
There are initially four fighters, with extra fighters available by using unlock codes (up to nine fighters). Pressing different buttons when choosing a fighter can alter a fighter's ability: Main shot power type: Press A button Bomber power type: Press B button Side shot power type: Press C button Speed up type: Press Start button
When using Team Edit, player can choose different fighters for successive lives after the initial fighter is destroyed. If Team Edit is unavailable, it can be unlocked by inserting a coin and press Up, Down, Up, Down Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, Start before timer passes 10.
Fighter's rapid fire rate can be increased by holding C then press A when inside a stage, or decreased by holding C then press B when inside a stage. Sky Dragon Saber Tiger Lightning Wolf Hammer Shark
Phase 2 fighters
Flame Viper
Steel Bat
Solid Ray
Phase 3 fighters
Buster Lizard
Blade Owl
Medal system
Some enemies drop medals when destroyed. In addition, medal can also be found in neutral background objects when destroyed. The medal initially worth 100 points, but the value increases when player collects all on-screen medals without missing any before another medal is revealed, up to 10000 points. When a medal is missed, the next revealed medal is worth 100 points. If there are multiple on-screen medals, player can restore medal level after missing a medal by collecting the remaining highest value medal on-screen without missing further medals, before revealing any other medal.
Multiplier system
Whenever a player's fighter destroys a large enemy, a score multiplier is set. The multiplier doubles every time a large enemy is destroyed before timer reaches 0, for up to 64. The multiplier timer increases whenever a large enemy is destroyed. When multiplier is in effect and the player's medal level is already at 10,000 points, revealing medal causes 100,000-point medal to appear instead. When multiplier timer reaches 0, the score multiplier effect simply disappears.
Rank
Bakraid features a dynamically adjusting rank system that makes the game harder, similar to the rank system in Armed Police Batrider and Battle Garegga. The rank increases when the player collects items, fires its weapons, or uses its bombs. The rank will only decrease when the player grazes bullets or loses lives. In Bakraid, it's easier to graze bullets and survive than in Batrider since the player sprites are larger in comparison to their hitbox.
Bakraid has a fixed moderate starting rate at the beginning of the game compared to the high starting rank of Batrider and the minimum starting rank of Battle Garegga. Still, it's no surprise players would suicide or graze bullets to decrease the rank for the game.
As rank increases, more bullets spawn, some bullets move faster, attack patterns are generally trickier to negotiate, and enemies gain health.