Raiden 3 PC better than PS-2 version. New Raiden IV...

Last year I bought Raiden 3 for the PS-2 but I wasn’t that impressed primarily due to the fact that the purple “snake” laser was missing, the graphics weren’t that impressive for PS-2 standards and the over all gameplay just didn’t feel like Raiden.

However, yesterday I played Raiden 3 on the PC and I was greatly impressed!
For some reason the gameplay and the over all speed was quite improved and the graphics looked a lot sharper. Especially in TATE when rotating the 19” TFT monitor vertically, it looked awesome and felt like a vertical arcade monitor.
Now, if they had added the Purple snake laser it would have been perfect!

Is it my imagination, or does Raiden 3 PC really take advantage of the better PC graphics hardware compared to the PS-2?

I also noticed that the intro sequence was shortened on the PC version.
I hope they haven't cut the ending sequence as well, as I haven’t completed it yet.

By the way, anybody knows whether Raiden 4 will be released for the PC some time next year? The classic purple snake laser is present on the arcade version of Raiden 4; I would love to see it on my PC!

Very sinister looking fire power (Raiden IV):
http://raiden.mossjp.co.jp/raiden4/arcade/gamecapture.html


Cool Raiden IV Wallpaper with the Snake laser:
http://raiden.mossjp.co.jp/raiden4/arcade/wallpape1_1280.htm
http://raiden.mossjp.co.jp/raiden4/arcade/download.html

Various Raiden 3 shots: