The first Raiden game did well in the arcades because it gave shooter fans pretty much everything they looked for in shooters. A good looking main sprite as your ship, leagues of tough metallic enemies, megalithic bosses and cool power-ups. Raiden DX continues the successful formula in the latest incarnation. The main fire power is a shot that can be upgraded so that the arc of fire covers an area roughly 120 degrees in front of you. The other weapon is a laser weapon that gradually grows in strength as you shoot. In the most awesome levels of power, the laser snakes around the screen and locks onto enemy airships, obliterating most everything that it hits immediately. Bosses still take a couple of seconds to blow up but thats usually what makes them bosses. You can collect missles which help in the attack as you go through the levels and bosses in the game.

The Playstation Raiden DX gives the player two viewing modes. The standard mode is what you see to the right. Two black borders line the screen and everything is scrunched down so that it looks longer from the top to the bottom. The other mode is the screen that you see above which is true to the arcade original. You will have the physically rotate your television 90 degrees to the right. Owners of the upscan convertor and a Radius monitor have the luxury of playing Raiden DX in the original arcade mode without having to do any heavy lifting or manual labor.