Super R-Type

The Good
R-Type is a popular shoot-’em-up created by Irem in 1987. This was followed by a sequel two years later. Three platforms – Amiga, Atari ST, and Game Boy – had the luxury of getting both games. Now owners of Nintendo’s 16-bit console get to have a home version of this classic, and it gets the “Super” treatment. The SNES version is essentially a remix of these first two games, both in the graphics and sound department. It features four stages borrowed from the sequel, but adds three new ones.

As always, you control the R-9 spacecraft and must fly through seven stages, killing enemies with the main gun. You are also equipped with a powerful laser beam that is ideal for killing enemies in packs. You also have the opportunity to obtain The Force, a device that attaches to the front or rear of the ship and provides one of three additional weapons. Power-ups can be collected along the way, and these mainly give you upgrades to your main weapon. At the end of each stage, you need to defeat a boss that has its own attack patterns, and it is worth memorizing these patterns if you want to be victorious.

The title screen looks very good, and it is here that you can press Select to view the options. I like how the title moves up to reveal them. The options let you select the difficulty level and the sound type, and listen to the background music or the sound effects. Upon starting the game, you watch an impressive intro watching the R-9 getting ready to enter space. Like previous games in the series, the game is unforgiving. As you shoot your way through each stage, there can be about eight enemies appearing on screen at one time, and their projectiles will fly all over the place. This type of frenetic gameplay is too much for the Super Nintendo’s Ricoh 5A22 chip; the more action that appears on screen, the more chance the game slows down. This can be used to the player’s advantage, however. If they have virtually no firepower, they would just be able to easily sandwich themselves between enemy projectiles and get to the spot they want to go.

The quality of the backdrops is on par with the arcade versions of the games, and they look impressive. My favorite are the planets in the first stage. There are times when I was being tricked that the waterfalls on stage three were part of the backdrop; they actually push you down. Some of the background music are essentially remixes of the music in both R-Type games. The boss theme is a modified version of R-Type’s, for example, while the music in stage two is a reworking of R-Type II’s first stage. The sound effects are also excellent.

In true Irem fashion, defeating the final boss triggers an Extra Game mode where you have to finish each stage again, but your job is slightly harder. Once you have defeated the final boss a second time, you will get the true ending. Irem assumes that when you play the game the first time around, you would get used to it.

The highlight for me was destroying the battleship on stage four, and listening to the game’s excellent soundtrack. It is worth spending on hour listening to the sound test for.

The Bad
Unlike its counterparts, Super R-Type lacks checkpoints. So when you lose a life in the middle of playing any stage, you have to start at the beginning of the stage. I was angry when I lost a life while defeating one of the bosses.

The Bottom Line
R-Type is a classic that made its way to Nintendo's SNES console, and it is worth owning if you are a fan of shoot-'em-ups and especially the series. Essentially a remix of the first two games, this version is nearly flawless. The graphics and sound are excellent. However, if the difficulty is too much for you, you'd better invest in a Game Genie or Pro Action Replay cartridge if you don't want to be jettisoned back to the beginning of the stage when you lose a life.