R-Type review - PC Engine

R-Type is a side scrolling shoot 'em up best known for its extremely tough and strategic gameplay. You control the R-9 spaceship as it launches a last-ditch effort to repel the evil Bydo empire.

The R-9 comes equipped as standard with a small gun which can only take down the smallest of enemies without firing several shots. By holding down the fire button, it can be loaded up so as to release a large burst of energy, eliminating all but the strongest enemies in its path.

The stages of R-Type are made in an organic style, certainly inspired by the Alien movies. When it came out, it was considered trend-setting since it broke off from the stereotypical sci-fi mould of other shoot'em'ups. In part, the levels themselves are your enemy, which is exemplified by the fourth, where spider-like creatures weave webs that cover the screen and block your path, or levels with intricate tunnel systems.

Retrospective comments

The PC Engine port is a faultless rendition of the arcade original with literally no differences. The music is outstanding and memorable. Irem were ahead of their time with the graphics and gameplay in this horizontal blast em' up. Every level featured a huge end boss with a weak point to shoot out. Level 3 in particular is outstanding where you take on a huge mother-ship which fills up 10 screens!! By today's standards R-Type is quite a hard game. However with perseverance one can usually progress a little further each time. It is an essential buy for any shoot em' up fan!

Have your say about this review

Michaelb - 24 Sep 2008, 09:33 GMT

damn fine game on a damn fine console

Richy Girth - 04 Dec 2008, 13:38 GMT

It was only in the last couple of years have gained access to PC Enginnery, but saw this running at an exhibition/trade show in 89/90.
It was running on a big colour monitor and I as looked on I thought the game on this machine was orgasmic.

I finally played it nearly 20 years later.

And it WAS.

Beatiful Beautiful Version. May as well have been a straight port.

PooshhMao - 19 May 2009, 19:11 GMT

While undisputably a sublime conversion by the standards of it's era, it is not perfect, there are slight differences.

Matt Taylor - 04 Aug 2009, 01:10 GMT

Ahhhh, the PC Engine, like the Neo Geo and the early days of the Japanese Megadrive & Super Famicom (who remembers the advertisements in C&VG and Mean Machines for import SFs for £800.00?) was a source of unattainable wonderment for me, only accessible through the pages of magazines. Here was a machine no bigger than a hearty cheese sandwich that could replicate arcade machines exactly (or so it seemed to my wided eyed pre-pubesecent self). I, Like Richy finally got my hands on a PC engine decades later and am blown away by this stunning conversion of R-Type today, God alone only knows what I would have thought of the game had I owned the machine in its prime. Classic conversion of a genuine milestone in the history of the shoot-em-up.

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