In January of 2012, Taito released their classic 1994 arcade shoot ’em up RayForce ($6.99) to the App Store, and about 6 months later they released its 1997 sequel RayStorm ($9.99) as well. Shooters like these always translated well to the touchscreen and it seemed pretty likely that Taito would be bringing the third game in the trilogy RayCrisis to mobile too. I mean, why wouldn’t they bring the whole trilogy over, and if the previous Ray game release schedule was to be trusted, I would have bet they’d release RayCrisis at the end of 2012. Well, that release schedule was not to be trusted. RayCrisis never came, and while both RayForce and RayStorm were excellent additions to the App Store’s shooter catalogue, they sat around virtually untouched after their release and were never updated with any of the modern trappings that came with newer and better iOS hardware and software.

Then a little over a month ago, RayForce got a huge update out of the blue bringing it up to modern standards while also adding in MFi controller support and some other goodies like a remixed Area 1 tune. Even more exciting was the update came with news that RayCrisis was indeed on its way to mobile sometime this summer, and that a similar update for RayStorm was also in the works. Better late than never I guess! While we’re still awaiting RayCrisis‘s release that huge update for RayStorm has just dropped today, and it’s a doozie! Unlike RayForce and its 2D pixel art sprites, RayStorm was a 3D polygonal game, so today’s update sharpens up all the 3D models in the game. The textures are still as they were when they were created in 1997, so pretty low-res by today’s standards, but overall the visuals are much improved over how they were prior to this update.

Aside from the visual bump, RayStorm also follows in RayForce’s update steps by getting MFi controller support and a remixed version of the music from Area 1 in the game, courtesy of Taito’s “house band" Zuntata. They also tweaked how the autofire option works in the game so that you’re able to lock onto multiple enemies at the same time and destroy them with your lasers even when you have autofire enabled. I am SO onboard with these long overdue updates to both RayForce and RayStorm, they’re something I’ve been wishing for for literally years. Even though it took some time I’m happy they finally arrived, and I’m especially looking forward to RayCrisis which is still slated for “summer 2017" so should be coming along anytime now. Also, RayStorm is on sale for $7.99 down from its normal $9.99 price in celebration of this update, and RayForce is still on sale for $4.99 if you haven’t picked that one up yet either.