 IGN's Jesse Schedeen listed Raiden as one of the "gaming icons" and most valuable players of 2009, in response to his role in an upcoming Metal Gear title. Dave Meikleham of GamesRadar wrote an article entitled "Why Metal Gear Solid: Rising [Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance] will make you love Raiden", explaining why fans who disliked the character would find his character and role appealing in the game. In a 2010 Famitsu readers' poll, Raiden was voted the 42nd most popular video game character. In 2013, Complex ranked Raiden as the 12th greatest soldier in video games, "even as he's not as cool as Solid Snake," while GamesRadar called Revengeance "perhaps the greatest cyborg ninja game of all time" and PLAY ranked Raiden as the second top ninja in games.
