R-type III

[Graham Mitchell]

I'm a relatively big fan of the R-type series. Played through R-type, Super R-type, and R-type Final for ps2. Because of the fact that R-type III came out relatively late in the SNES's lifecycle (I jumped ship when Saturn came out, so there was a lot I missed out on) I never got to try it. Well, thanks to the Wii store, I got to try it for the first time this weekend.

It's great. How did I miss this? There are a lot of obvious things about it that make it great, like the creative use of the force and the bits through areas with reverse or vertical scrolling. But what really blew my mind (and prompted me to write this thread) was what I just saw in the factory level (the fourth area, I believe). So, I finally get through the maze with the flames, which was quite frustrating having never played it before. It required memorization for starters, and because of the discrepancy between the size of your ship+force unit and the size of the holes, I had to train myself to stare at the ship while I traversed the maze, and not just take in the gestalt of the screen like I normally do. I was glad to get through that, in hopes that I wouldn't have to do it again. Well, I beat the boss, and the fucking screen starts scrolling backwards. IT FORCES YOU THROUGH THE MAZE A SECOND TIME!!! I was blown away.

Irem was staffed by same sick, evil, and beautiful geniuses, and this game is a stone cold classic. I hear the GBA version was butchered in some way, which is really unfortunate. I'm actually quite thankful for the Wii store offering this. Yeah, everybody will say "why didn't you try this on a emulator years ago?" Well, I didn't, so there. I hope they'll put more underappreciated games on there for people to try (the Guardian Legend would be a great one to throw on there, for example!)

Anyway, what does everybody else think of this wicked and beautiful game?

[tom]

i got R-Type III on SNES, one of my all-time faves on that console. Played it through, yes very wicked game indeed, but rewarding.

Also got R-Types (game I and II) on PSX and R-Type Delta for PSX, which I am playing at the mo. Bloody game, my reflexes are slowing down nowadays. But I get there sometime or another. Excellent game nevertheless.

"Gestalt of the screen"? Wow, that's some handy German/English mixture you integrated there

[extrarice]

Yes the GBA port is terrible. The rumor I heard is that the developer handling the port had zero support from IREM. No source files of any kind. Considering that lack of support, it turned out very good.

[Graham Mitchell]

"Gestalt of the screen"? Wow, that's some handy German/English mixture you integrated there

Ooops, sometimes my nerdy lingo gets out of control. I forgot the specific German definition, but in psychiatry and psychology they use it to mean the "overall big picture" or something to that effect. Glad you're impressed, though. :)

So why didn't Irem give them anything to go on for the GBA port? Anybody know?

[Haoie]

Remember how the boss of area 2 shoot giant eyeballs at you? Well apparently, in the original J version, it shot giant sperm.

Zing!!

[DigitalSpace]

R-Type III is my favorite vertical shooter on the SNES. It's a shame the GBA version got messed up. In fact, I read the following in the rarest GBA games thread:


R type III is a pile because they lost the original code and had to resort to emu to make the game....which turned out broken.

[Graham Mitchell]

Remember how the boss of area 2 shoot giant eyeballs at you? Well apparently, in the original J version, it shot giant sperm.

Zing!!

Take a look at the shot that comes out of the bits when you've got the red FP in the first R-type. Looks kinda suspicious.

[BydoEmpire]

Yay, R-Type - my favorite shooter series! Why do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1) I like the slower pacing. Yeah, it's memorization-heavy. But so are pretty much all modern shooters.

2) I like that you can reasonably get through a level on one life... in fact, you pretty much have to. I prefer this design to "how many continues do you have." I'm just not skilled enough to have much fun with bullet swarm shooters.

3) The weapons are pretty cool and unique,

4) The Giger-esque art design is awesome.

5) The giant battleship stages.

[Sotenga]

Biggity-BUMP!

Ah, GM... you've brought up the EXACT point of frustration that I wax about oh-so often when it comes to this fine shmup. Honestly, I think the last two levels are slightly easier than level 4 and its backwards molten maze hell.

This game just oozes absolute quality and greatness. A quick question: Which Force does it have to be? I almost always go with the Cyclone Force myself. Its weapons are just friggin' powerful, that's all there is to it.

[Technosis]

R-Type III is a great but hard to find game. I remember buying mine new in box at a department store back in 1996 or so for $19.99. Like everything else, I should have picked up a few more copies and tucked them away for the future :-)

[Graham Mitchell]

Biggity-BUMP!

Ah, GM... you've brought up the EXACT point of frustration that I wax about oh-so often when it comes to this fine shmup. Honestly, I think the last two levels are slightly easier than level 4 and its backwards molten maze hell.

This game just oozes absolute quality and greatness. A quick question: Which Force does it have to be? I almost always go with the Cyclone Force myself. Its weapons are just friggin' powerful, that's all there is to it.

You know, I've only started from the beginning once because the VC allows you to save your game in progress, so I haven't restarted yet, and I can't remember the one I picked. I think it was the cyclone force, actually.