R Type

Arcade 1987 Dos Irem Horizontal shooter Side scrolling

A truly classic but hardcore shooter

A true classic, R-Type remains the archetypal side scrolling shooter that fans of Gradius or Gunstar Heroes are sure to lap. Legendary for its intense action and high difficulty level, R-Type features the staples of the genre, like insane bosses and upgradeable weapons and combines them into the near perfect shooter. One its main innovations was the force pod, which could be detached and positioned wherever needed to protect your fragile ship, while also offering fire support. The game is also notable for its huge and graphically impressive bosses, with one level being one long and incredibly intense battle that really tests your nerves and your flying skills. The level design on display here is more complex than other similar shooters, making success not simply a question of hammering down on the trigger, but also requiring swift reactions and some strategic manoeuvres. Definitely not a game for beginners, R-Type remains challenging today, and will test even hardcore gamers, so if you are looking for an easy ride, this is not the place for you. If however, you want to experience one of the most influential, addictive and historically significant games, then you can't do much better than R-Type.

The quintessential side scrolling shooter

R Type was such an in-demand game when it was first released for cabinets that it soon got ported on an entire host of consoles and home computers. The game even squeezed itself on the puny Sinclair Spectrum where it managed somehow to still play, even if the memory of most machine was 48 kilobytes! The interesting and at the same time challenging design choice in this game is the placement of enemies. This is not a game where enemies generate randomly, instead they are always hidden and spawn in the same spots. This, along with a smart level design as well as cool and smartly designed bosses, leads to a very strategic game, a game where chance is mostly absent from the equation. As you would expect, you will be highly reliant on the weapons and upgrades you manage to collect during your left to right journey. But, if you get hit or hit the walls you lose them all. Yap, this is a game that, while fair, is ruthless and very challenging. So don't expect a warm welcome, instead expect to have to invest a lot of hours in the later stages if you want to progress. This is a hardcore game but a fair game nonetheless.

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