(9/26/2015 - 10/2/2015) Game of the Week: R-Type

[SamIAm]

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September 26 - October 2: R-Type
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(chosen by crazydean)

R-Type, made in 1987 for the arcade, was one of many shooters to come out of the mid 80's. Setting the bar high for all shooters that came after it, this game is a must-play for all.

After the arcade, R-Type was ported to almost every console and computer of the era, including the PC Engine. First being released in Japan on two separate HuCards because there is so much action, it can't be contained in a single card! Part I and Part II comprise the first four and last four levels, respectively, of the game. Interestingly, since they are so short, a boss was added onto stage 6 (previously, there was no boss on this stage).  In the U.S., they somehow managed to fit the entire game on one Turbo Chip with no noticeable change to the nearly perfect arcade port. Later, Japan saw a release on CD called R-Type Complete which comprises of all eight levels with modified music and several cut-scenes.

As a new player to R-Type (and as someone who sucks at shooters), I prefer the CD version because you can choose the difficulty in the start menu by pressing select. "Easy" sure doesn't feel like it, but there does seem to be fewer projectiles and the bosses are easier. Also, the CD version has unlimited continues as opposed to just two on the HuCard version.

Which version you choose to play is up to you, but keep in mind, this is a game known for its difficulty. It's frustrating until you learn the pattern and rewarding when you finally beat that next level. I doubt I will beat this game anytime soon, certainly not within a week, but it's a lot of fun and a must-play on the PC Engine.

(Great blurb, crazydean!)
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GOTW Schedule:
1. 8/22/2015 - 8/28/2015: Override (lukester)
2. 8/29/2015 - 9/4/2015: Rondo of Blood (o.pwuaioc)
3. 9/5/2015 - 9/11/2015: Street Fighter 2 (Nec.Game.head)
4. 9/12/2015 - 9/18/2015: Bloody Wolf (Gentlegamer)
5. 9/19/2015 - 9/25/2015: Kabuki Itoryodan (Sadler)
6. 9/26/2015 - 10/2/2015: R-Type (crazydean)
7. 10/3/2015 - 10/9/2015: Fray CD: Xak Gaiden (Nulltard)
8. 10/10/2015 - 10/16/2015: Wizardry 3&4 (BigusSchmuck)
9. 10/17/2015 - 10/23/2015: Lords of Thunder (SamIAm)
10. 10/24/2015 - 10/30/2015: TV Sports Hockey (gredler)
11. 10/31/2015 - 11/6/2015: Blazing Lazers (escarioth)
12. 11/7/2015 - 11/13/2015: Genpei Toumaden (VenomMacbeth)
13. 11/14/2015 - 11/20/2015: Hyper Wars (JoshTurboTrollX-16)
14. 11/21/2015 - 11/27/2015: Drop Off (turboswimbz)
15. 11/28/2015 - 12/4/2015: World Court Tennis (grolt)
16. 12/5/2015 - 12/11/2015: Atlantean (jtucci331)
17. OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Rules:
-All members are allowed one submission. When there are no further submissions, we will have a reset and everyone will be able to submit another game.
-Each game may only be submitted once.
-If you wish to retract your submission, please do so at least two weeks before your game is due. Your next submission will go to the back of the cue.
-Please don't submit games that have a high language barrier or will take too long to complete (particularly RPGs).

[ccovell]

After the arcade, R-Type was ported to almost every console...

Hmm... I can count the TG/PC-Engine and Sega Mark III/SMS.  Were there others?

[PukeSter]

After the arcade, R-Type was ported to almost every console...

Hmm... I can count the TG/PC-Engine and Sega Mark III/SMS.  Were there others?

MSX? That was considered a console in some countries.

Still surprising there wasn't an NES port. Nintendo published the Arcade version in the USA.

[o.pwuaioc]

After the arcade, R-Type was ported to almost every console...

Hmm... I can count the TG/PC-Engine and Sega Mark III/SMS.  Were there others?

Game Boy and, according to Wikipedia, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Famicom (pirate, I think), PC-88, Spectrum, and X68000, too.

[esteban]

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

This was one of the reasons why I wanted TG-16 back in the day, since I loved R-Type in the arcade.

However, Toys-R-Us always had this game priced obscenely high (I am pretty sure it was $59.99 or $69.99).  This was XMAS 1989.

So, I actually didn't get this game for a long time, because the price did not drop for awhile.

I have speculated that NEC, initially, may have used a system of pricing tiers based on the Mb of a HuCARD.

In 1989, R-Type was first 4Mb HuCARD in NA. I guess the initial production costs were higher.

At this time, we usually think of NA getting hardware/software long after it has been available in Japan, but here is one example of NA getting the "innovative" 4Mb HuCARD right away.

I can never remember the details, but there ACTUALLY ARE differences between the JP HuCARD vs. NA HuCARD vs. CD-ROM concerning flicker (and resolution)? I'll let someone else explain. I was surprised because I played all versions and I didn't really notice any differences (technical gurus gots knowledges).

[CrackTiger]

They narrowwd the resolution and throretically, it should reduce some flicker. I've never seen an actual flicker comparison though.

What's more interesting to me and I don't think that I ever got a straight answer for... can the PC Engine basically run at any horizontal resolution? Is it anything between its minimum and maximum?

So many ports of games which originally ran at 320 pixels wide were done at what some emulators spit out at 336 pixels wide on PCE, but then just gave a black boarder or something else on the edges. If you can not only program a game at a custom resolution, but can just go in to a completed game and change the resolution, why didn't we get PCE games at all kinds of different resolutions?

[WoodyXP]

This was one of the reasons why I wanted TG-16 back in the day, since I loved R-Type in the arcade.

Yeah R-Type put TG-16 on the map for me.  Unfortunately I never got the game or the system.  Ended up getting R-Type for C64, which turned out pretty good, IMO.

These days I prefer Complete for the PCE.  Love the red book audio and cheesy cut-scenes.

[ccovell]

Game Boy and, according to Wikipedia, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Famicom (pirate, I think), PC-88, Spectrum, and X68000, too.

Some of us don't know the meaning of console: a "cabinet (as for a radio or television set) designed to rest directly on the floor" which eventually was specialized to mean a home gaming system", quite distinct from handhelds and home computers.

Sure, R-Type got official ports on handhelds such as the GB and GBC, and home computers: MSX, Atari ST, X68000, etc...

The Famicom game you mentioned was a pirate clone named "Magic Dragon":

If you're going to include clones like these then, oh boy, open the floodgates to a thousand of them on home computers!

Anyway, yes, the PCE can have a screen width of anything from 8 pixels wide to around 565 pixels (limited by screen display), in increments of 8 pixels.

[crazydean]

My bad, guys. I didn't mean to confuse anyone with the "consoles" thing. It's my first time writing something about a game. I guess I need to more accurately use proper video game jargon 

[ccovell]

Not a problem; I just needed to nit-pick.  I guess it's a pet peeve of mine when people say stuff like "The GBA was a great console..." and I'm thinking "It's not even big enough to qualify as a 'console', let alone a console."  ;-)

[fsa]

This is one of my favorite game of all time, I have gotten the different version for different retro systems, Turbo of course, SMS - R-Type, SNES - Super R-Type, PS1 - R-Type Delta (Can't seem to find R-Types for a good deal) and PS2 - R-Type final. The one I keep going back to is the TG-16 port.

[geise]

The Atari ST R-Type was pretty rad.  Not as good as the pc-e port but a good release.

[jtucci31]

R-Type is one of those games that I really enjoy everything about. The music, gameplay, look of it, everything. However I still cannot get past the 3rd stage. I'll be using this week to put in some practice. Gotta love irem.

[Damon Plus]

Not one of my favorites, but I can understand its greatness. Also, a perfect pack-in for the turbo, IMO.

[SamIAm]

Played R-Type for the first time in years the other day. Got killed in all kinds of embarrassing places.

Also accidentally reset the game once when I was only intending to pause it.

Still, this is an incredibly solid shooter. Duh, right? I mention it only because of how immediately apparent it was. It would have been something else to play this when it came out back in Japan back in March 1988, that's for sure.

[crazydean]

I figured out the third level, but the boss strategy evades me. I just can't get a hit on him.

[GohanX]

Get the blue laser at end if the stage put it on the back of the ship. Keep to the upper right of that screen and shoot the crap that the boss shoots you with. Eventually you can move to the left and nail the weak point with a charged shot or the rapid fire pea shooter.

[crazydean]

Get the blue laser at end if the stage put it on the back of the ship. Keep to the upper right of that screen and shoot the crap that the boss shoots you with. Eventually you can move to the left and nail the weak point with a charged shot or the rapid fire pea shooter.

Thanks for the advice. I keep forgetting that you can shoot from the rear.

Anyway, as the week comes to an end, I managed to get to the level 5 boss. He's pretty tough, what with all those balls flying around.

[CrackTiger]

Game Boy and, according to Wikipedia, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Famicom (pirate, I think), PC-88, Spectrum, and X68000, too.

Some of us don't know the meaning of console: a "cabinet (as for a radio or television set) designed to rest directly on the floor" which eventually was specialized to mean a home gaming system", quite distinct from handhelds and home computers.

Sure, R-Type got official ports on handhelds such as the GB and GBC, and home computers: MSX, Atari ST, X68000, etc...

The Famicom game you mentioned was a pirate clone named "Magic Dragon":

If you're going to include clones like these then, oh boy, open the floodgates to a thousand of them on home computers!

Anyway, yes, the PCE can have a screen width of anything from 8 pixels wide to around 565 pixels (limited by screen display), in increments of 8 pixels.

Thanks a lot for answering this. Is there a reason why most PCE games only use one of three horizontal resolutions? Were they just some presets from dev kits or something?

Can the vertical resolution be adjusted to anything besides 224 or 240?

That last Sonic Genesis port used what Magic Engine spat out as 336 pixels wide instead of 320. Do you need to know some specific code which isn't commonly known in order to get the PCE to do a non-typical resolution?

[A Black Falcon]

On the note of R-Type, does the Turbo CD version really have infinite continues?  That would be a huge help, if true, compared to the cart... I love R-Type, but it's an extremely punishing game.  I've beaten R-Type DX for the GBC, since it lets you save, but on TG16 the best I've done is getting to level six, I believe it was...

[Gentlegamer]

My New Year's Resolution was to beat the first stage of R-Type.

Still working on it.

[Psycho Punch]

Game Boy and, according to Wikipedia, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Famicom (pirate, I think), PC-88, Spectrum, and X68000, too.

Some of us don't know the meaning of console: a "cabinet (as for a radio or television set) designed to rest directly on the floor" which eventually was specialized to mean a home gaming system", quite distinct from handhelds and home computers.

Sure, R-Type got official ports on handhelds such as the GB and GBC, and home computers: MSX, Atari ST, X68000, etc...

The Famicom game you mentioned was a pirate clone named "Magic Dragon":

If you're going to include clones like these then, oh boy, open the floodgates to a thousand of them on home computers!

Anyway, yes, the PCE can have a screen width of anything from 8 pixels wide to around 565 pixels (limited by screen display), in increments of 8 pixels.

There's a hack for making magic dragon like R-Type but I don't know if it is true because I never saw a rom of it. 2:36
Pretty good for the NES if true!

[fsa]

My New Year's Resolution was to beat the first stage of R-Type.

Still working on it.

This made me laugh. It's all about memorizing and a little bit of skill (lol).

[jordan_hillman]

Never being able to beat R-Type is always going to irk me.

I was, sadly, never able to make it passed the 6th level 

[esteban]

My New Year's Resolution was to beat the first stage of R-Type.

Still working on it.

This made me laugh. It's all about memorizing and a little bit of skill (lol).

I was laughing, too.

Gentle gamer, you gotta beat the first level.

The iconic first boss—you can't go to the grave without at least beating him!



I'm serious.

Practice some more.

[Gredler]

My New Year's Resolution was to beat the first stage of R-Type.

Still working on it.

This made me laugh. It's all about memorizing and a little bit of skill (lol).

I was laughing, too.

Gentle gamer, you gotta beat the first level.

The iconic first boss—you can't go to the grave without at least beating him!



I'm serious.

Practice some more.

I didn't post as I wasn't able to get as far in this version as I've been able to in others due to the limited continues, but I agree that first boss is super easy, the game only gets gnarlier after that

I really dig the music and the nice animation, the flicker of course is a bit intrusive, but otherwise the game runs well. I really am curious if the CD version allows you to continue more than 3 times.

[crazydean]

The CD version really does allow for unlimited continues. There is no value for the number of continues, the text isn't there. The CD version also has a difficulty setting at the menu which can be accessed by pressing select.

[fsa]

Here is an article talking a little about R-Type etc.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~bevhome/risforrtype.htm

[grolt]

Finally got some time to play this in earnest.  I've played the first couple levels many times on the Master System over the years and did likewise with the TG-16 port when I got it earlier this year.  I'd always thought the graphics, music and control were above average, but nothing really ever pulled me in, and the difficulty can initially be very crippling.  Looking to give the game its due for this GOTW, I sat down to progress further - and got decimated.  You can be doing everything right, and then some small random bullet nicks you and you're back to the next checkpoint.  What I've come to respect about R-Type, though, is that the more you play it the further you progress.  It's not just about quick reflexes and being a gaming savant, it's more about learning the layout of the level and developing a strategy.  As I played through it, I could get to the 5th level without dying once, and I'm pretty terrible at shooters.  At this point I've managed to get midway through the 6th level but have yet to figure out the right place to be midway through where all those yellow crates just come shooting out in every direction.  Still, I really respect the game design here - it's an incredibly difficult game, but with practice you can own it.  Thanks guys for getting me to obey this game and bow to its addictive splendor.

[PukeSter]

"I'm pretty terrible at shooters"-Grolt.

"I can get to stage 5 without dying once."

Seriously? I can't even get past stage 4. Nor beat Monster Lair. Don't sell yourself short.

[Gentlegamer]

Grolt did what is called a 'humble brag.'

[grolt]

No, I'm honestly really bad.  I'm just really persistent.  After probably 70 credits worth of dying, the first 4 levels are muscle memory for me at this point.  In R-Type, if you die enough, you'll learn where you can go to avoid being attacked.  The Level 4 boss is a good example - if you wait in the middle of the screen for him, he's insanely tough, shooting bullets everywhere from both sides of his body, but if you start in the bottom right corner, he won't shoot at all if you stay low and just chip away at him using your deflecting blue laser.  The Level 2 boss can be defeated similarly easily by just camping right above the eye and holding fire.  That's what I like about the game, even a poor player can advance if you learn the patterns and the layout.

[johnnykonami]

I beat R-Type (once!) when I was younger, but I remember it being an uphill battle like some of you are also saying in this thread.  Stage 5 or 6 ramped up the difficulty something fierce if I recall correctly, but I had the first 3 stages down pat from dying over and over again and replaying those the most.  Stage 3 was particularly cool to me since you faced off against that giant battleship instead of being a traditional stage.

[A Black Falcon]

The CD version really does allow for unlimited continues. There is no value for the number of continues, the text isn't there. The CD version also has a difficulty setting at the menu which can be accessed by pressing select.

Infinite continues... okay, I definitely want the CD version then.  It's too bad that Irem didn't make a Turbo version of R-Type II, but those, combined with the CD audio music and cutscenes, are some nice additions in the CD version of the first game.

[martinine]

This is a game I have been dying to get. Hopefully before the year is out.

[ClodBusted]

I didn't know there was a difficulty setting in Complete CD. Thanks! This will be helpful since I had trouble getting past level 3. I have the feeling the slightly smaller screen resolution compared to the Arcade makes some situations more tricky than they used to be.

I played the Arcade version on Xbox 360 (R-Type Dimensions compilation) and advanced to the level 4 boss, where I always die. This version has unlimited continues and a level select for any beaten level. Although you don't want to use any of them, since you need every ship upgrade from the beginning of the game to have the smallest chance for survival.  It also has a coop 2-player mode (online and offline) as well as an instant respawn/infinite lives mode which lets you play through the whole game easily. Though you'll still hear your dying sound effect every five seconds. There's also R-Type II on the collection - if you thought the first game was too easy for you, try this one.

[esteban]

BONUS TRIVIA:

If anyone has any info on this, please share.

R-Types (PS)

I don't know if this is a glitch found in original arcade, or just the PS port...

(1) Defeat the first boss, then purposefully kill yourself by crashing into a projectile a moment later.

(2) you will progress to the next level, but all the graphics are glitchy, some enemies invisible, your ship invisible (at times?)

(3) I am pretty certain I made it to the third stage, but then I got trapped/stuck behind physical barriers(?) in the stage.

[Warbucks]

Just picked up the game, it is pretty fun.

[seieienbu]

Missed the boat on playing this one while it was the game of the week.  R Type had long haunted me as a game that I'd had since I was a kid but had never beaten.  I finally beat R Type for the first time maybe two years ago.  I'd gotten to the final boss several times; the first time I made it to him I recall was around 1994 or so and I was in jr. high at the time.

Anyway, I booted it up and played for a while yesterday.  I made it to level 5 before dying for the first time. Afterward things went downhill quickly.  I was hoping to get a second game clear but was clearly unable.  Perhaps I'll never beat it again but at least I made it through once.