Overview
- Number of Players
- 1 (Single Player)
- Genre
- Release Date
TurboGrafx-16
25th Mar 1988
1989
Wii (Wii Shop)
25th Dec 2006, 800 points
29th Dec 2006, 800 points
Wii U eShop
30th Apr 2014, ¥600
14th Jul 2016, $7.99
28th Jul 2016, $7.19
- Also Available On
- Series
- Controller Support
Reviews
Review R-Type (Wii U eShop / TG-16)
More like our type
You can't have a conversation about shoot-'em-ups, or shmups, without mentioning R-Type. Back in the late '80s and early '90s the game was synonymous with the genre. Unfortunately for Nintendo fans at the time one of the best ports of the arcade classic was on the TurboGrafx-16, an also-ran console that never found its place in...
Review R-Type (Wii Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
This is R type of game!
R-Type is widely considered one of, if not the greatest shooters every created. But kick off any conversation with a shooter fan about R-Type and you're likely to get a 10 minute rant on how excruciatingly difficult the game is. Over the years, shooters have come and gone. Some have been good and some have been bad, but in...
Screenshots 6
R-Type News
Nintendo Download 28th July (Europe)
Secret Files Tunguska! 3 Street Fighter Games! 3 TurboGrafx-16 games! More!
We're a little later than normal with the European Nintendo Download Update details today thanks to a bit of confusion, but in any case our pals at Nintendo Insider have helped us out, so a big hat-tip to them. This week brings plenty of Virtual Console goodness across both...
Nintendo Download 14th July (North America)
Monster Hunter Generations! Tumblestone! 3 TurboGrafx-16 games! Much more!
It's that time again, dear readers, for the North American Nintendo Download Update. We'd suggest that this week is a good 'un - there are promising download-only titles on both Wii U and 3DS, while the Virtual Console also has some tasty options. There are also two major...
News A Duo Of TurboGrafx-16 Games Hit The Wii U Virtual Console In North America This Week
R-Type and New Adventure Island inbound
Kayne West will be delighted to find out that a lovely pair of TurboGrafx-16 games are making it on to the Wii U's Virtual Console in North America on 14 July [updated from 'later today', a mistaken mix up on dates in our original text]. Nintendo of America's site has listed both R-Type and New Adventure...
News R-Type, Street Fighter And Alien Crush Are All Flocking To The Japanese 3DS Virtual Console
Retro heavyweights flex their muscles on Nintendo's handheld
If you're a fan of blasting aliens, punching robots and playing demented pinball tables, then next week's Japanese 3DS Virtual Console releases should be right up your street. Irem's iconic 2D shooter R-Type is on the way (the PC Engine version), along with fellow PC Engine title Alien...
News Four Turbografx-16 Games Return to the Wii Virtual Console in PAL Territories
A rather pleasant surprise
The Wii Virtual Console was not only the first of its kind on Nintendo hardware, but it had terrific diversity in the platforms and games that it offered; we'll have to see how far the Wii U Virtual Console progresses on those terms. One of the platforms that was supported, giving excellent opportunities to those that...
News R-Type Boss Molded in Plastic
Someone had a lot of spare time on their hands.
Ever wondered what that enormous third stage boss in R-Type looked like as a whole? Tired of trying to picture it in your mind through screen after screen of scrolling? Well wonder no more. It seems someone decided to put together a garage kit of the ship and judging from the picture of the model, it's...
About The Game
Pitted against the Bydo Empire, the "R-Type" class ship is humanity's last hope of thwarting the impending invasion. Equipped with a sphere like object, called the "Force," this weapon contains the only form of energy strong enough to destroy the Bydo. Unfortunately, you've been chosen as the delivery system for this weapon - so it rests upon you to complete the mission.
Imagine a weaponized organic form, much like a virus, but millions of times larger and you have the Bydo. They are completely manevolent, and like a virus, seek only to infect and destroy all in their path. Mankind has fought these creatures for hundreds of years and it's come down to this moment.
Comments 51
One of the best old-school shooters of all time in my opinion! I plan on getting R-Type 3 as well and hopefully we'll see Super R-Type for the VC as well!
A classic in every way!
Just as good as you remember and a brilliant arcade conversion too. This version was originally billed as the best conversion on any machine, and R-Type is one of those rare entities .. a game that doesn't age. It's still as good now as it was back then. An added bonus with this version too is the autofire button option on the classic controller. One button charges up the force beam and the other fires rapidly. Nice!
Word of warning though. R-Type is still as rock hard to play as it was originally. You'll need patience to progress through the levels. Lots of trial and error, lots of replays, and you'll learn where to expect the aliens to come from. Hugely satisfying if you're willing to put in the time & effort.
I completely agree with Bald-as-a-coot, this is another great classic game, but its hard. The sense of achievement of just reaching the first boss is gigantic.
Thoroughly recommended.
bold as coot couldnt of said it better myself has taken my about 3 hours at least of play an i am only good enough 2 get 2 level 3 i wonder how many levels it has anyone compleated it if so say plz
This game rocks!
Unfortnately i can't beat the level 4 boss!
R-Type on the PC Engine was great, had it on import at the time.
Need to know one thing before I download it from the VC...Do the sprites still flicker like there is no tomorrow?
Not noticed any sprites flickering but that may be more to do with the distraction of the quality gameplay.
One other thing....this has one of the best soundtracks ever. It's rare that music in a game makes any impression on me but from the opening of the first level it really is the balls.
I have to agree the music is excellent. You will have you humming for days.
I have just downloaded it. I kept putting it off as I loved R-type in the arcade but none of the 'home' versions had the same feel. How annoyed I was when I finally did and I realised I had wasted so much time without it! I could be on level 5 by now.
I had previously been playing the Mastersystem version but the PC Engine port is incredible. Now thats flicker for you . If you have been putting off downloading it - don't it's amazing even 15 years after it's release.
This game is easily one of the best titles on VC. I remember seeing screenshots in C+VG when it was released in Japan, and it made our 8 bit home computer versions look absolutely dire. The music is great, the graphics are amazing for thier time and still look good. The gameplay is hard, but with a little effort and a good memory you can soon get close to completion. AAA
I think I just suck at shoot 'em ups, I struggled just to pass the first level.
The game seems indeed to be very hard, but that's an advantage in my opinion. I will need to play it some more until I'm able to give it a rate, but so far I'm enjoying it.
This game will separate the casual from the hardcore gamers, but if you've never played it, don't let that scare you.
It's a classic in all ways. Awesome stage layouts, cool bosses and great music. Yeah, it's hard, but you just have to be willing to put in the time to finish it. I've got it for the TG-16, so no need for me to d-load, but just letting it be known how great this game is.
Brilliant game, better than I expected.
The stuff was certainly true about the diffiulty, I'll master it though. I did it with Probotector and the GnG games (can do them on hardest difficulty with no trouble) which were both meant to be very difficult games, I can do it with this!
Daz claims there's no diffs from the arcade, but just from that video it's obvious both the graphics and sound have been downgraded. And I assume because of a lower resolution, I see that this one forces you to scroll up and down to see the entire height of the level. That was not the case in the arcade version.
Ok, I'm stuck for ages on level 4, it's just amazingly difficult. I guess all these years playing child-easy games took the skill out of me...
Anyway, the game is very good. I too agree with the music part. I actually found myself humming the first level music one day without noticing it! For it's 600 points, and for the challenge it represents, it's a good purchase.
an awesome little old-school 2-D shooter, in my opinion it's better than Gradius
Yes, it is still a great game and seems way harder than the C64 version.
Strange that the very bottom of the screen is missing (I only see the top half of the 'beam' bar) on my hdtv though.
Does anyone else have this problem?
I downloaded this just so that I could make a (feeble?) attempt at beating it. I can get to level 5 most of the time. It's just so hard all the way through, but I find myself continuing to want to get further. Try and try again...
It has a good mixture of difficulty and fun, though, so you are encouraged to keep trying even against often terrible odds....
A long time ago, I beat this game on the c64 and Amiga. I'm now about 4 hours into the game and in level 5. One word: omg. Much harder than the other versions I played, but well worth the money
By far the best TG-16 up on the VC so far, This is a great yet very hard game. I can only get up to level 3 ):
May i ask why this was 800 and not the standard 600?
Because in Japan it was released on two separate carts (hucards) each containing 4 levels of the arcade. The US version had a double sized cart so crammed in all 8 levels, but at extra cost.
Looks great, but where are the Bullet and Explosion sounds? That's what makes the MAME Aracade ROM version more atmospheric .....
I loved this game on my ZX Spectrum ages ago (a true feat of technology for Uncle Clive's humble machine), and played it on my AMIGA (preferring Katakis back then, if anyone remembers that title), but have never seen the Turbographix version.
Worth a try I guess!
@Dazza - In the separate carts in Japan, did you have to finish one to start the other or could you just start on level 5 if you had the second cart? I don't have any need to know, but I was just curious how that worked if you happened to know...
I can get to level 6 reliably now! The game doesn't seem to get any easier along the way...I still love it, though.
@Sharecrow - On the Japanese R-Type II hucard you simply started from level 5. I think you might have needed to enter a password maybe
Good skillz to get to level 6, is that on one credit? I have lost my skillz, level 4, the dot level proves too fiendish for me now!
Thanks for the compliment. I've gotten to level 6 on one credit only once. I usually die a couple times on level 4 (or more) and then usually at least once on level 5. But I can almost always get to 6 each time I play, though, before running out of credits. I heard there was a cheat code to get extra credits but I haven't used it. It makes it harder to practice new levels, but I don't mind....
I had the first japanese hucard (just levels 1 - 4).At the end you got a password(and a nice bit of music ,hope you get to here it at the end of the game,I'd like to here it again) but I never had the second hucard to use it.I could almost always complete it without losing a life on the tiny pc engine handheld screen.So I finally get to see the rest of the game after 17 years!!!!! Time flys, we will all be dead before you know it.Level 5 and 6 (which is as far as I'v got) are proving quite difficult and I was laughing at other people saying how difficult it is.I'm not laughing now.Modern 3D my mum can play that games have made my game skills crap.Use it or lose it.Lets Return to 2D.
I agree with Geoff, modern games have made me lose a step on some Shmups I used to be pretty good at. R-Type is one that I've never had much luck at though. I have this game for my TurboGrafx. Very challenging. I have the TurboStick and can cheat with slo-mo, but it still gets me. Love the music. I find myself humming the tunes to this for a couple of days after I have a gaming session with it. A classic Shmup, I recommend it to any fan of the genre.
just downloaded it,its awsome but jes it is die hard,but anyway i will do my best to defeat it!
That ship at the end of the video reminds me of that one stage I'm stuck on in R-Type Final. Connection?
In any case, I really want to get this, but I think I'd rather get R-Types from the PS Store. I mean, it has 1 & 2 for $6, I can't pass up a deal like that. I'll make sure to get R-Type III though.
Edit: and now they're remaking R-Types and including online co-op, so I guess I won't be getting the PSP version either.
R-Type's always been known as being difficult, and the original certainly lives up to it. Yet I find myself constantly coming back to it, in the vain hope that I will one day be able to defeat the fouth boss
I recently purchased R-Type Final and it's bloody fantastic. Once I complete it, I'm going to have to download this, to see where it all started.
I played through R-Type this week and almost had a stroke doing it. I love the shooters but wow, this one's difficult. I'll take what was learned and download number III. It's a great game, but once again, ouch babe!
Tough as nails, but equally fun. Gotta love R-Type.
SOOOO hard, I can make it to level 5, how about the rest of you? Anybody beaten it? 8-I
@AJL: I can get to 7 now, but I think I'm a long way away from beating it still...
In the review, they say this is
"the best home console port of the game"
Well, that is absolutely not true.
The PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16 version of R-Type not as good as the nearly arcade-exact PlayStation version in R-Types, which contains the arcade versions of R-Type & R-Type II, released in 1998/1999 in Japan/U.S.
Downgrades from Arcade version to PCE / TG-16 / Wii VC version:
*lower resolution
*very slight loss in detail & color
*slightly less animation
*no parallax scrolling backgrounds
*downgraded music
"The TurboGrafx port of R-Type is a faultless rendition of the arcade original with hardly any differences"
Well i disagree with that too. The sound, the music and the graphics are downgraded in places. This is more of a conversion than a port. If you need an arcade perefct port I hear R-Types on the PS1 is your best shot.
R-Types on PlayStation is not 100% perfect, the resolution is something like 320x220 whereas the original 1987 & 1989 arcade R-Type & R-Type II were both 384x256 resolution, but PS1 R-Types is very close, and certainly of 'arcade quality'.
If you want 100% perfect, you have to use MAME on PC or a console or handheld (Xbox1, PSP, PS3,) setup with emulation/ROMs.
I also forgot to mention the PCE / TG-16 / Wii VC version has a TON of sprite flickering when a lot of sprites, or larger sprites, are on screen. Someone was asking if there was flicker, so the answer is YES.
Also, there was a powerful 16-bit computer platform in Japan from Sharp called the X68000. It's not based on PC or Mac, and used custom graphics chipset, like Amiga, but much better. I believe Hudson developed the custom chipset for X68000 (as they did with the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx).
The X68000 got a port of R-Type in 1989 that was superior to the PCE/TG-16 version. Here's a video of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Tm3QIwv3I
Probably a dumb question, but why is this 800 points, versus 600?
@ lockelocke
Because we have the extended version of this game. In japan the PC-Engine version of R-Type actually came on two Hucards which means they have to pay 1200 to download both.
@slangman
Nice, thanks, man. What about Gradius 2? That one is 900 points; I know part of it has to do with it being an import, but, again, why 900 instead of 700? Similar thing?
Kinda similar except Gradius II is a CD game that came on the TurboDuo which was an add on for the TurboGrafx resulting in CD quality music. The extra feature is well worth the 200 points.
R-Type, the classic.
I have some explaining to do: R-Type is hard. Unreasonably hard, in fact--many (if not most) arcade games/conversions have the fragile hero who can take one or a few hits and then it's "INSERT COIN" time. R-Type has huge bosses and numerous enemies that actually move in such ways indicating that they really, REALLY are out to get your super-unpopular ship. R-Type's stages are short, which, in this case, is a mercy.
What makes R-Type such a big deal? The Force. This nutty concoction truly makes R-Type a really special exercise in multi-tasking, and it's designed appropriately for it. Your ship can become pretty powerful rather quickly, and there are always a ton of enemies around to soak up your firepower.
So far I've made it to level 4 in this one! No, really, I was more invested in some other shooters before, I've only just started to try and tackle R-Type. It's a real purist's experience, and (so far) the design is arguably good enough to call it a classic not to be forgotten.
This is a hard game. o.o
It is a brutal game, but I won't buy it on the VC because I have R-Types on the original Playstation (Which has both the first R-Type and the Second R-Type) that I play on my PS2.
Best shooter on the VC. But quite hardcore.
A very hard side Scroller from 1987. R-type was a hard game. I was always impressed when someone was "good gas" at this game. An ancient term for some one who could make it past level 5. R-type is that kind of game if you could make it to the final boss.. You had skills. To see someone do that in the arcade was very rare.
Too bad this isn't the CD version, R-type Complete. That would've been cool.
An amazing conversion for the time and a feat of programming considering the hardware limitations. During the 80s this was 2nd only to the X68000 version.
Definitely fun to play but the "Pan&Scan" style vertical scrolling prevents you from seeing the entire game area at once.
Only get it if you're a former TG16/PC Engine owner and want to relieve some nostalgia or you're curious about the different home versions of R-Type. Otherwise, play the actual arcade machine via MAME.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...