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

[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.

[ClodBuster]

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.