Battle Raiden

# Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden

* Main
* Characters
* Traps
* Gallery
* Gallery (Bosses only)
* Subpages

(Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden
© 1995 HUDSON SOFT
© Kikuhide Tani and Yoshihiro Kuroiwa /
Shueisha, Kitty Films and TV Tokyo)

**Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden** is the first of 3 Super Nintendo games based on the Kishin Douji Zenki series.

It was the first Kishin Douji Zenki game to be released for the home consoles in Japan and hit the stores on August 4, 1995.

Battle Raiden is based on the first 3 issues of the Kishin Douji Zenki manga and thus features a slightly modified version of the Jushi ark.

There is also a sound test, which can be accessed from the game's main menu. It can be found by entering the **CONFIG** menu.

**Romanized Titles and omitted Gods**

The game is also known as both "Kishin Douji Zenki - Batoru Raiden" and "Kishin Douji Zenki - Rettou Raiden" in the original Japanese version, due to the romanization, but not translation of the Kanji and Furigana titles. The English translation by Dynamic Designs calls it "Demon Child Zenki - Battle Raiden" instead, due to the Kishin Douji Zenki series being shipped as Demon Child Zenki, omitting the God (aka Shin) due to religious reasons, back in the nineties.

**Did you ever wonder why they called the game "Battle Raiden"?
Here's Semerone's answer:**

The game's titular "Battle Thunder" *(also "Battle Raiden")* isn't an ingame item or special object, it's actually the game/developers making a pun that is referring to Zenki himself.

This relation can be explained by two simple facts regarding Zenki: He descended from heaven as a thunderbolt, before he materialized as a demon, and he loves fighting.

## How To Play

### **Main**

Battle Raiden is a sidescrolling jump and run game where you play as Zenki (both in his Chibi and Demon God forms) as you traverse through different places, ranging from forests to icy mountains to graveyards and even bizarre (almost alien) architectures in the fourth ingame stage.
To play the game properly, it is advised to let the intro cycle a few times, so you can watch Chiaki's tutorial on explaining the controls.
Mastering Zenki's controls is almost essential, as game can be really hard, if you don't.
This is especially the case in the stage sections, where you play in Zenki's Demon God form.

*The tutorial is featured as it's own gallery in the middle of the "Stages and Controls"-subpage of this article.*

### **Stages**

The game consists of five stages, each made up of four individual level-sections.
The first and the third section are normal levels, while the second section is a mini-boss level and the fourth section the stage boss.
The bosses (also a few, but not all, of the mini-bosses) will always be fought as Demon God Zenki, while the playthrough of the individual sections might be either in his Chibi or his Demon God form.

More about the individual stages can be read in the "Stages and Controls"-subpage, which also explains how to play as Zenki.

##### **Loop 2**

Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden is the only game from the Kishin Douji Zenki series featuring a **second loop**. Once the player has played through the game and defeated Shijura, the ending will play, the credits will scroll, and the game will then start over (loop) from Stage 1-1.

The player will keep their score, lives and Rudra Protection Scrolls from the end of the first loop.

While the general layout of the stages is the same, it features slightly different placements of platforms and enemies and will be indicated by the text in the hud showing the stage, the player is currently on, being blue/cyan instead of orange/yellow.

Loop 2 also amps up the difficulty by introducing some enemy types earlier than usual and decreasing the drop rates for items like the Hyouinomi (which now has a higher chance of being hostile instead of a health refill) and lives (the Zenki masks/faces), like standard 2nd loop affair.

Despite this, the difficulty of the mini-bosses and bosses stays the same, thus don't expect much change in difficutly there.

After beating Loop 2, the ending will play again, the credits will scroll again, and the game is over. Then the player will be returned to Battle Raiden's title screen.

The only other known Kishin Douji Zenki game to feature a similar mechanic to Battle Raiden is Kishin Douji Zenki FX - Vajura Fight, which features two difficulty settings instead.

### **Items**

The game features different items which Zenki can collect. These exist both in regular and huge versions and more about these will be explained in this section.

**Crystal Ball**

If Zenki collects these, he will gain points which will go towards his score counter. Otherwise these do nothing. Also, the score counter is just there to show off your awesome score and doesn't do anything else.

##### **Appearance**

A regular crystal ballA rare, large one. This one gives way more points than the regular crystal ball.
**Hyouinomi**

There are two kinds of Hyouinomi ingame.

One can be collected, causing Zenki to eat it and restore some of his health.

The other kind is an enemy which will reveal itself if Zenki gets too close. It will gain spider-like legs, walk over to Zenki and leap at him. If it's successful, it will cling to him, slowing Zenki down, making him jump very low and draining his health.

Zenki can free himself by shaking it off. (the player has to quickly change directions between left and right to do so)

Zenki can prevent the monster from leeching onto him by punching it while it leaps at him. If Chibi Zenki punches it, it takes two hits to destroy the monster, while Demon God Zenki instantly kills it.

##### **Appearance**

The Hyouinomi as an enemyNo matter if it is an enemy or item, it will start out looking like this.The large version is a rare item drop and restores a great anmount of health if Zenki collects it. It also never turns into an enemy.
**Rudra Protection Scroll**

If Zenki collects three of these and has enough health left, he can use the Rudra which will cause him to yell "Rudora!!!" and explode. The explosion will hit all enemies on-screen.

Minor foes will be taken out instantly while the mini-bosses and bosses would take multiple Rudras to be defeated. The only exception is Anjura, who dies in about 2 Rudras because of her elemental weakness.

*More about Zenki's Rudra attack can be read both in Chiaki's Tutorial and Zenki's article.*

##### **Appearance**

The regular version of the Rudra Protection Scroll.The rare, larger version gives Zenki multiple scrolls instead of just one.
**Life**

This item looks like a mask and is probably supposed to look like Zenki's face. If Zenki collects this, it will give the player an extra life.

If the player can't collect any more lives, Chiaki will show up and tell them that "The number of people won't increase any further."

More about this can be read in the FAQ section of the Testing and Cheats article.

##### **Appearance**

The regular life item is a very rare item drop, but some of them can be found in secret and well hidden places.Probably the rarest item drop is the large life item. It gives Zenki multiple lives upon it's collection.Zenki's mask or face as it appears in every volume of the manga.Chiaki's message, if the player has too many lives in the original, Japanese version of the game.

**Chiaki:**
"The number of lives can't be increased any further."The English version by Dynamic Designs is a quite literal translation of Chiaki's original line. While it can be understood by English speakers, it doesn't make much sense, as it's more "Engrish" than anything else.
## Notable differences to the Manga plot

The game switches the introductions of Anjura and Kajura around.
In the games Anjura is the second boss and Kajura the third boss, whereas the manga introduces Zenki's fight against the Kajura first.
In the manga Anjura especially uses the information, which she gained from watching Zenki fight her brother, to get an advantage over Zenki.
Although this is only notable if you have read the manga and played the game (in whatever order).

### ***Trivia***

#### **Voiced grunts and lines**

* Battle Raiden is notable for being one of the rare SNES games, to feature voiced lines and grunts for its characters. While the former only applies to Zenki and Chiaki when they perform the Vajura-on-Ark and a few other single instances, the latter applies even to minor foes like the Crazy Monks or mini-bosses like the Crab man.
* Voiced lines and grunts didn't become common in games until the Nintendo 64 era and even then, voiced lines were a rarity

#### **A common mistranslation**

* The correct translation of **Kishin Douji Zenki** would actually be **Demon God Child Zenki**

#### **Japanese title and a proper translation**

* In Japan, Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden is known via the Kanji and Furigana writings of
鬼神童子 ゼンキ - 烈闘雷伝 and きしんどうじ ゼンキ - バトルライデン respectively
* Both writings can be either translated as "Demon God Child Zenki - Battle Thunder" or
"Demon God Child Zenki - Battle Lightning"
	+ This is due to イデン (Raiden) being derived from the English loanword "lightning",
	but also being commonly translated as "thunder"

#### **Zenki's mask or face**

* The header image, that appears at the top of every manga volume's table of contents, starting from Volume 1, has been the template for the menu background in Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden. This becomes obvious when putting both of them into direct comparision without the menu elements.

The header from the mangaThe background image from the game

## The Good Guys

* Zenki
	+ He is the main character, you play as him throughout the whole game.
* Chiaki Enno
	+ In this game she is a minor character that only appears in the beginning of the game, the tutorial section and the "Vajura On Ark!"-Transformation cutscenes.
* Ozunu Enno
	+ He only gets mentioned a few times and never appears physically.

## The Bad Guys

* Amon
	+ Amon is the first boss. Halfway through the battle, he throws his robe away.
	+ Ingame, he is referred to as **Mouryu**.
* Anjura
	+ Anjura is the second boss. Halfway through the battle, she transforms into a purple naga with a trident. Zenki can defeat her very quickly by using Rudra.
	+ While the original Japanese version has her flirting with Zenki and telling him, that she is his "dragon princess", the English translation features an alternate transliteration of the Kanji and calls her **Princess Ryuuki**.
		- So the original version actually never has her stating her name, while the translation just forgot to translate that part of her line. (likely be sheer accident)
* Kajura
	+ Kajura is the third boss. He wears a flame armor and takes little damage. Zenki has to use the Gale Dragon move to fight him properly.
	+ The English translation of the game calls him **Enjuurou**
* Majura
	+ Majura is the fourth boss. He eats a few Seeds of Evil to transform himself and then charges at Zenki. Halfway through the battle, he eats more seeds and becomes more aggressive.
	+ The English translation of the game calls him **Goukaku**
* Shijura
	+ He is the game's final boss. Shijura often warps around the arena and is hard to hit.
	+ Ingame, he is referred to as **Shiguma**.

# Traps

In this section you can read about the various traps, so you can learn how to avoid them ingame.

## Spike Floor

### Type

static
ground type trap

### Introduced in

Stage 1-1

The **spike floor** is introduced in **Stage 1-1**. Zenki can avoid it by jumping onto the floating platforms and riding them.

If Zenki misses the jump and leaps into the **spike floor**, Zenki will get hurt and receive a medium knockback. He will keep getting hurt until he leaves the **spike floor** by jumping back onto the normal, non-harmful terrain.

The first time Zenki misses his jump and leaps into the **spike floor**, Zenki will start cursing.

Zenki's cursing differs between the original, Japanese version and the Dynamic Designs version:

#### **Initial Encouter**

While the Japanese version has Zenki stating "Owwww! I went straight into that stupid trap!", ...... this changes in the Dynamic Designs version, where he says "Damn them! They made such a worthless trap!" instead.
So in the original version, Zenki blames himself, while in the translation, he blames someone else. (presumably the Jushi's ingame counterparts)

#### **Other**

The spike floor as it appears along with a Kishin-eating plant in Stage 4-1

## Large Spike Pillar

### Type

fast moving
ground type trap

### Introduced in

Stage 1-1

The **large spike pillar** is a large pillar made of what seems to be crystal or ice which ends in a spike. They often apper in groups up to three and are first hidden underground. If Zenki walks too close to them, they will shoot out of the ground at a very fast velocity and then go back in at a slightly lower speed.

These are used as obstacles and are almost twice as tall as Demon God Zenki, so he can't jump over them without hurting himself. If a **large spike pillar** hits Zenki, it will hurt him and cause a low knockback.

Zenki needs to take note of the timing it takes to traverse the **large spike pillars** and has to use the dash to traverse them safely.

A large spike pillar in its full gloryChibi Zenki's first encounter with a large spike pillar at the very end of Stage 1-1Demon God Zenki in comparision to a large spike pillar in Stage 1-3

## Bottomless Pit

### Introduced in

Stage 3-3

First appearing in Stage 3-3 of Kajura's volcano themed stages, the classic **bottomless pit** makes its first appearance in this game.

It behaves just as expected as just like in any other classic jump-and-run game, Zenki will immediately lose a life if he misses a jump and falls into one of these. Luckily **bottomless pits** are very rare in this game and only appear in Stage 3-3 and Stage 5-1.

In stage 3-3 they take the appearance of a deep pit filled with lava. While regular lava doesn't harm Zenki unless he is more than waist deep in it, falling into a bottomless pit in a sea of lava only implies why he loses a life if he ends up in it. As it's too deep and Zenki can't swim, he will be submerged in the lava and end up burning to death as Chiaki, being a human, obviously can't help him in this situation.

In stage 5-1, which features many swinging bridges and is set in the sky, Zenki will fall into a quite literal classic bottomless pit. While it's not implied ingame, the manga states that the previous stages have turned into an infinite void. So everytime Zenki falls offscreen in stage 5-1, he falls into an infinite void, where he would be stuck forever if it weren't for the game, well... being a game.

*To do: This trap needs one or more images...*

## Spike Ball

### Introduced in

Stage 4-1

The **Spike Ball** is a trap that first appears in Stage 4-1. It comes in two variants: The **Spinning Spike Ball** and the **Spike Ball Chain**.

The **Spinning Spike Ball** is a single spike ball spinning in mid-air and floating up and down in a set pattern and at a medium speed. Zenki needs to avoid it, by waiting for the right moment and then dashing past it. He will get hurt if he attempts to jump over it or uses the spin jump.

The **Spike Ball Chain** is a chain of up to five spike balls that is mounted to the floor or ceiling and will spin similar to the fire chains from the Super Mario Brothers' series 2D games. But unlike them, it will spin at a very fast pace, making it almost impossible to safely cross paths with a Spike Ball Chain.

Not only can the Spike Ball Chain spin in a clockwise or counterclockwise motion (which will luckily always stay the same), the ones that are hard to cross are actually only the floor mounted ones.

Crossing paths with the ceiling mounted Spike Ball Chain is easy. Zenki just needs to wait for it to disappear in the ceiling, then move forward and crouch as it appears again to avoid getting hurt. Once the Spike Ball Chain has passed him, he can dash away and is safe.

If he crosses paths with a floor mounted Spike Ball Chain, he needs to react to it accordingly to its rotation. If it spins counterclockwise, Zenki needs to wait for it to disappear in the floor and then quickly dash forward and make a dashing jump and continue dashing to avoid getting hit.

When Zenki faces the clockwise spinning variant, he needs to wait for it to appear from the ground and then dash and make a dashing jump in sync with the Spike Ball Chain to avoid getting hurt by it. This is difficult as it needs precise timing.

If Zenki makes contact with the spikes, he will still be safe and won't get hurt, but if he touches the main body, he will get harmed by it.

*More traps will be added soon.*

## Title screens and Box art

The credits screen from Dynamic Designs' translated version. The original Japanese version has no intro credits screen.The title screen from the original Japanese version by Hudson Soft.
*It reads **Kishin Douji Zenki - Battle Raiden**.*The title screen from English version by Dynamic Designs.
*It reads **Demon Child Zenki - Battle Raiden**.***Battle Raiden's box art**
Zenki (in his Demon God and Chibi forms) and Chiaki can be seen in the box art. Demon God Zenki looks rather threatening, while Chibi Zenki looks like he wants to fight someone. Chiaki looks like she's proud to be Zenki's master.
## Gameplay

### Sprites

Chiaki Enno
*She's doesn't move until a scripted attack happens, after which she just disappears. Unlike Zenki, Chiaki doesn't have an idle animation.*Chibi Zenki's idle animation
*It shows him standing in place, breathing steadily.*Demon God Zenki's idle animation
*Just like his little Chibi self, big Zenki also just stands there and breathes steadily while idling.*The animation of Chibi Zenki fainting after the player loses a life.A levitating platform. This one drops a bit if Zenki jumps on it, but will then rise back up to its original place.Another variant of the levitating platform. This one moves up and down or from the left to the right and back.
### Hud Icons

Chibi Zenki's health barDemon God Zenki's health barThe Rudra Protection Scrolls' hud icon
#### Notes

* Demon God Zenki not only has basically twice as much health as Chibi Zenki, he is also twice as strong both in offense and defense, but the latter two aspects are never depicted in the hud.
* The number of Rudra Protection Scrolls rises as Zenki collects them and the white scrolls on the side will light up one by one. If Zenki uses Rudra, the number decreases and the scrolls will fade out, leaving only a shadowy silhouette.

### Other

#### Stage Intro and the Config Menu

The stage intro screen for **Stage 1**. Each stage has the same screen only with a different stage number.The only difference between the original game's stage intro and the one from the English Dynamic Designs version is the changed title banner, which changes from "Kishin Douji Zenki" to "Demon Child Zenki - Battle Raiden".The Config Menu. In this menu the player can change the control-setup and listen to any music and sound effects from the game. They can also change the sound to stereo or mono.
#### Death and Game Over

**Chiaki:**
"Jeez, you're worthless."

*While in the English translation by DynamicDesigns, Chiaki berates a fainting Chibi Zenki on his failure...***Chiaki:**
"He is dead, because he
couldn't rely on me."

*...the original, Japanese version has her blaming herself for his death. This was likely changed, because the original version is very sad and depressing.*The Game Over screen. It shows a few Hyouijuu with Shijura laughing in the background.
### Stages

The tutorial Stage. It can't be played in the main game and is only shown during Chiaki's Tutorial sequence.A screenshot of the beginning of Stage 1-1. It shows a rare message, which is only displayed if the player tries to collect another life after already having the maximum anmount of lives.

**Chiaki:**
"The number of lives can't be increased any further."Sometimes, the player might come across, what Chiaki calls a "suspicious hill". These need to be destroyed to advance in the level and give out random items, that help Zenki on his journey.

**Chiaki:**
"I am seeing a rather suspicious hill over there."A screenshot of the beginning of Stage 1-3. This is the stage where you are able to play in Zenki's Demon God form for the first time.When Zenki reaches the summit of this mountain, he is ambushed by two zombies.There's also another summit where Zenki has his first scripted encounter with the enemy version of the Hyouinomi.This screenshot of Stage 3-1 shows Demon God Zenki using the Gale Dragon attack to protect himself from a jet of fire.This is a screenshot of the beginning of Stage 3-3. Chiaki will talk about the boiling hot magma and how she doesn't want herself and Zenki to fall right into it.After dispatching the barrier at the end of the stage, Zenki and Chiaki are free to move on an fight Kajura.A screenshot of the end of Stage 5-3. It shows Zenki trying to get through the barrier that leads to the final boss, Shijura.The background image of Stage 5-3. It depicts a sunset above the clouds and puts emphasis on the threat of Zenki's sudden death, if he happens to mistime his jump and fall down into the infinite void below. A gigantic, red column with a line of spikes on it can be seen as well, but can never be interacted with.
### Mini-Bosses

Zenki wants to free himself from being bound to Chiaki, after beating the giant oni head (Stage 2-2)Zenki talking to a fire breathing dragon before fighting it (Stage 3-2)Zenki talking the mini-boss of Stage 5-2, a strange blue dude who stands on a levitating platform and will shoot lightning bolts at Zenki. After defeating him, Zenki will say "Bravado alone isn't enough to be me."

## Zenki VS Amon (Stage 1-4)

Amon talking to Zenki in the intro of the boss battleZenki asking Amon who he is (ingame they don't meet each other before the boss battle)Amon introduces himself. Ingame he is referred to as "Mouryu".Chiaki wants Zenki to deal with the foeAfter taking out half about of his health, Amon will compliment on Zenki and......decide to fight with all of this strength!Amon flings his cape away and......starts moving faster and attacking more aggressively.
## Zenki VS Anjura (Stage 2-4)

Anjura flirting with Zenki.She teases Zenki to "play with her".Chiaki is surprised that the enemy is a woman.Anjura introduces herself. Ingame she is referred to as "Princess Ryuuki". In the original Japanese version, she giggles and says
"I am your dragon princess and the lord of the second barrier."Anjura brags about her skills.Zenki dares her, starting the boss battle.After taking out half about of her health, Anjura states something funny.Because she is seemingly too weak to compete with Zenki......Anjura transforms into a naga!The Rudra deals a great deal of damage to Anjura.It is also possible to finish her off with it before she gets a chance to transform.
## Zenki VS Kajura (Stage 3-4)

Kajura talking to Zenki in the intro of the boss battleHe is tired of waiting for Zenki and Chiaki.Chiaki already doesn't like Kajura.Kajura introduces himself. Ingame his name is mistranslated as "Enjuurou".He tells Zenki and Chiaki that he is a proud flame user.Kajura summons his flame armor. He shows his playful and ruthless character.After Kajura is on fire, Zenki will throw a snarky comment at him.Zenki extinguishes Kajura's flame armor by using the Gale Dragon attack, but stands too close and is hurt by the flame armor's fire.After defeating Kajura, Demon God Zenki has used up to much of his strength and......ends up in his Chibi form.

### Trivia

* *Demon God Zenki will return to his Chibi form after winning the battle against Kajura. There is no way to prevent this, as it is a scripted event. The next section will be played as Chibi Zenki.*

## Zenki VS Majura (Stage 4-4)

Majura talking to Zenki in the intro of the boss battleHe introduces himself. Ingame his name is mistranslated as "Goukaku".Majura wants to kill Zenki.He tells Zenki about his special ability.He takes some Seeds of Evil and eats them.Majura uses the seeds to transform himself.After taking out half about of his health, Majura will compliment on Zenki and......eats more seeds to transform again!Majura transforms and becomes more aggressive.He has finished his tranformation. The boss battle goes on.
## Zenki VS Shijura (Stage 5-4)

Shijura introduces himself. Ingame he is referred to as "Shiguma".Shijura calls the dead souls of the previous bosses/his servants.The souls appear and circle him......then they will merge with him.Shijura has now transformed and the final boss battle begins!

### **Subpages**

* **Stages and Controls**
	+ Visit this subpage to learn about the various **ingame stages**,
	**how to use Zenki's various moves** and the two currently known **definate elements**!

* **Enemies**
	+ Visit this subpage to learn about the various **minor foes**, **mini-bosses** and **bosses**, Zenki fights over the course of the game!

#### **Cutscenes**

The cutscenes from the game are now featured on their own subpage!

You can either visit the subpage by clicking here or visit the individual sections from this selection:

* **Intro**
	+ The game's intro cutscene. It explains the plot leading to the actual events of the game.
* **Vajura on Ark**
	+ As usual, the Vajura on Ark cutscene depicts Zenki's transformation from his Chibi form into his Demon God form.
* **Ending**
	+ The ending, which is seen after beating Shijura.