Armed Police Batrider

Armed Police Batrider is an arcade shoot-'em-up by Raizing, now part of Eighting. Released in 1998, the game has teams of armed pilots fly through vertically scrolling combat zones. Unlike a classic shooter with a fixed player ship, Batrider places particular emphasis on assembling several machines and switching between their individual strengths.

In the game world, members of the ZERO COP unit take on armed gangs and their backers. The setting is called Violence City. In Oct 2026, M2 announced a new version that is meant to preserve the historical arcade game and make it more accessible to today's players.

The original came out in January 1998 for arcade machines. Eighting lists it in its own catalogue with the date Jan 1, 1998; given the historical dating, only the month is confirmed.

On Oct 10, 2026, M2 presented the planned re-release as part of the 10th anniversary of M2 ShotTriggers. The title is still referred to as a working title. No specific release date, year or final list of target platforms is known for the new version so far. The event was an announcement, not a market launch.

The arcade version is the historically confirmed release. Eighting's official list of works assigns Armed Police Batrider to arcades. M2 has presented the upcoming re-release, but has not yet firmly named a target console or PC version.

Earlier releases of other ShotTriggers games for PlayStation, Switch or PC do not provide a concrete platform commitment for Batrider. A release outside Japan is also not yet scheduled. Accordingly, a native platform link for the new version is deliberately left open.

Before a mission, Armed Police Batrider lets you put together a team of up to three controllable units. The choice determines more than which aircraft take part. The pilots have different shot patterns, movement abilities and special attacks. The original game links these decisions to several courses and boss sequences.

Eighting's archived manual documents an unusual detail: even the button pressed during character selection can change shot or power variants. This creates a second decision step before the actual run begins.

A total of 18 selectable pilots belong to the original. Nine come from Batrider's regular teams, and nine more are guest appearances from older Raizing games. These include characters and machines from Battle Garegga and Mahou Daisakusen (Sorcer Striker).

The pilots are more than cosmetic alternatives: their aircraft, weapons and speeds differ. Anyone building a team therefore combines different roles. Eighting's historical archive lists regular and guest pilots separately.

The classic game offers different route lengths and conditions for hidden encounters. The choice of team can influence which bosses appear, as can certain actions during a stage. Eighting documents these rules, including hidden enemies, on its historical website.

In addition there is a dynamic difficulty level, often called Rank in the genre. Players who master the game or collect certain upgrades may then face especially harsh enemy attacks. Not every difficulty setting of the original can therefore be reduced to a single menu option.

The new ShotTriggers version is not meant to simply bring the historical game to modern screens, but to make additional information accessible. M2 promises so-called gadgets, including displays for upcoming items, unlock conditions for hidden bosses and special formations. This makes previously hard-to-follow systems in the game visible.

Planned are an arcade mode close to the historical game and a specially adapted Super Easy option. For the latter, especially difficult attacks are to be reworked separately, rather than simply reducing the general enemy speed. Further variants are being developed; specific details and final scope are still pending.

The original concept assumes a deep knowledge of the game systems: team composition, hidden triggers and a difficulty level tied to performance interlock. For experts, precisely this depth was the appeal; for newcomers it often remained unclear why the next encounter played out differently.

This is where M2 comes in with its information displays and the more accessible mode. The announced aids are meant to make decisions more transparent without replacing the arcade mode that stays close to the original. Whether the new edition fully convinces technically and in gameplay can only be judged after release.

Raizing developed Armed Police Batrider in the late 1990s; the arcade version was released by Eighting. Eighting's official work overview still lists the title as an arcade production to this day and names both brands in the historical copyright.

M2 is responsible for the new version. The ShotTriggers series is dedicated to historical shoot 'em ups and adds displays, game variants and other aids to original versions where needed. The specific contract and publishing roles for the new Batrider release have not yet been fully published.