R-Type-ing

While I wouldn't say the side scrolling (or vertical) shooter genre is one of my favorites, it is one I have some nostalgia for. Within the genre itself there is no series this is truer for than R-Type. Super R-Type on the SNES was my introduction to the series, and an unforgiving introduction at that considering there are no midway checkpoints in the stages for when you die. I put R-Type Final in recently and started just messing around on my save with a completed ship library, but when it came to trying to get through some of the later levels in my unpractised state I decided I wasn't really in the mood for dying over and over to get good enough to proceed further. So I decided to move on to something else, and yet shortly afterward I found myself downloading R-Type III: The Third Lightning on the Wii's Virtual Console. Apparently I did feel like dying over and over in a game. Excessively so.

R-Type III is one of the few games I just gave up on trying to beat. I don't recall every game that would make this list, but Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage for the SNES is also a prime member of it. While I was able to complete R-Type III once upon a time by cheating basically, the thought of getting through the lava flow nightmare in the foundry level alone filled me with the gamer equivalent of mortal dread. I wouldn't say the game is my white whale, but it's within that ballpark. So anyway that's the game I decided to start up and within a 24-hour period I somehow managed to beat it. It was certainly a proud moment. I managed both forward and backwards through the lava flows, through the fifth level of corridors that morph into enemies, and then defeated what I'd previously believed to be a nightmarish final boss. Oh I died many, many times, but I persevered like a kid on the weekend without a single other thing to do. As epic as the final boss is it wasn't nearly as hard as I remember it. I think psychology played a role in that. To begin with things are pretty standard until you think you destroy it, blowing its limbs across the screen, but then you discover victory was premature as the limbs dart around trying to take revenge for the death of their body. Just as it starts to feel hopeless firing at the deadly limbs with a life of their own, you discover the final boss is still very much alive, tearing a dimensional hole in space as it chases after you. So yeah, epic.

To critique R-Type III a bit, it is a very strong entry in the series. Despite its brutal difficulty it at least is mostly generous when it comes to checkpoints and continuing. It has very nice looking sprites, a great soundtrack, and the controls are precise. The player's R-Type ship is a powerful little bastard and its available choice of three forces was the series' first attempt to offer some real variety in play style. As brutal as the game is, it would be impossible without the ship's extremely potent wave cannon.

After finishing the game I was still looking for more from the series, so I started on R-Type Delta, which is my favorite entry in all ways besides the massive number of playable ships in R-Type Final. Visuals and audio are both quite good, but the levels are where the game truly shines. There's something about them that is nostalgic yet fresh, exciting yet laced with atmosphere. You also get the chance to fight some really interesting things. It is R-Type though so of course it is hard, but unlike many other entries the difficulty rarely feels unfair, although there is a stretch of the fifth level that is absolutely brutal on any difficulty but easy. Years ago I had the game down very well and it was a learning process to get even close to my previous skill level, which unfortunately I don't think I was able to achieve. Excellent game though, one that is readily accessible through the Playstation Store.

My last real stop was a game I'd have my eye on for quite some time, R-Type Dimensions. The game, downloadable for the equivalent of $15 on Xbox Live Arcade, is both a faithful port and remake of the two arcade titles that started the entire series. Players can change at the press of a button anytime during gameplay between the original graphics or new 3D ones. However, even R-Type III has nothing on the difficulty of its arcade predecessors. These games were not just designed to take quarters, it seems like they were designed to take all the quarters and still leave you on a screen with a boss that just refused to let you kill it. Very fortunately, there is an unlimited lives mode where the only penalty is the depressing thought of just how many ships it takes to make it through the harder levels (essentially every level after the first or second stages). Instead of going back to a checkpoint a new ship immediately appears in this mode. While the control is precise for the ship, control of the force leaves a bit to be desired compared to later entries, but I suppose that's part of it being a faithful port. None of the music or sound effects were updated and although I wouldn't have said no to redone music, it's not something that bothered me. Something that does bother me are both included games' final bosses, which I guess technically glitch in unlimited lives mode if not killed quickly enough. These things were not meant to be fought without power ups and eventually they just kill you instantly over and over as new ships appear since they are unable to keep up as the difficulty of the fights escalate. Was R-Type Dimensions worth $15? Honestly, probably not, but despite that I'm glad I have access to it all.

So there you have it, my recent foray into my favorite shooter series. The mood to play R-Type will again someday rear its head out of the chest of Dobkeratops and when that day comes I will be ready to pilot an R-9 again.