R-Type, 1987
parallax-scroll
By Alex Kierkegaard / June 10, 2006
"R-Type from Irem Corporation is, if possible, even more playable than
its best-selling predecessors [Defender, Nemesis and Salamander]. ...
Other than the incredibly addictive nature of the game, the stunning
graphics will take your breath away. They are far larger than those in
other similar games, and are higly imaginative and very colourful."
--Computer & Video Games, Aug '87
"... Irem's R-Type was probably the most talked about arcade game of
1987 for its amazing graphics and its exciting gameplay."
--Sinclair User, Apr '88
"R-Type is undoubtedly the most impressive coin-op of the lot, and one
of the hardest to get to play -- because there's almost always a crowd
round the cabinet! Graphically it's stunning: some of the later, more
organic, palpitating levels are truly revolting. As for the game
itself, it is simply second to none..."
--Crash, Oct '88
It's hard to overstate the impact Irem's now-legendary shooter had
when it first appeared, almost two decades ago. Without warning, R-
Type invaded every half-decent coin-op establishment from East to
West, and went on to dominate the shoot 'em up scene for many years
afterwards. It was the kind of game that was impossible to ignore.
Hype was not easy to generate before a game's release back then, but
once R-Type was out it made its own. You'd walk by as someone was
taking on the third stage, and catch a glimpse of the mothership,
stretching across several screens, brimming with cannons, turrets and
jet engines; a hulking monstrosity moving through dark space with
astonishing smoothness. The game was so gorgeous, it made contemporary
shooters, such as Konami's Gradius (1985) (known as Nemesis in the
West) and Salamander (1986), look positively prehistoric.
It was developed on Irem's brand new M72 hardware, which offered a
large palette of colors, and was able to push around the screen
sizeable sprites in great numbers. More importantly, it drew
everything at a high resolution: 384 x 256 pixels, in contrast to the
Konami shooters which were displayed at 256 x 224. That made for a
huge difference in detail -- in both the enemies and the backgrounds
-- and enabled the artists to infuse the game with more of their art,
something that Irem exploited to great effect. Horror in space was R-
Type's theme, and it was masterfully realized. You'd face slithering
metallic snakes and giant robotic monsters; lumps of creature flesh
intertwined with the cold steel of an alien technology. And during the
course of the game you'd see all those abominations torn apart by the
great bolts of lightning and the waves of pink/blue laser beams
emanating from your spaceship.
Wrapped in all that great artwork and pyrotechnics was a nuanced,
highly addictive shooter. It commanded you to "Blast off and strike
the evil Bydo Empire!", and gave you an agile, compact spaceship, the
R-9, and a versatile power-up system to play with. This revolved
around the Force, a glowing, spherical pod, "an indestructible living
weapon", that could be attached either to the front or the back of
your ship, or flung across the screen to fire at enemies autonomously.
This pod was the game's most famous and unique feature. It could be
upgraded three times and fitted with a variety of diverse weapons,
which were both highly inventive and satisfying to use.
By picking up various items, the ship could also be fitted with up to
two so-called 'Bits' -- small, floating orbs, resembling miniature
Forces in appearance, that hovered a short distance above and below
the spaceship -- as well as up to two homing missiles. The ship's
speed could be controlled by collecting speed up and speed down items.
If the inspiration for the Force and Bits was to be found in the
Options of Gradius, the Wave Cannon was certainly Irem's invention. By
holding down the fire button the player could slowly build up energy
(reflected by a charging bar at the bottom of the screen) and then
discharge it as a destructive beam. At full power the beam could tear
through waves of enemies, but had the disadvantage that the player
could not fire normal shots while charging it. It was an elegant,
highly useful device, that made the fighting more fun without
unbalancing the game. Moreover, it was such a natural action --
charging up and then releasing -- that it was duly adopted by
countless other games, even outside the shoot 'em up genre.
It is fascinating that in its relative infancy Irem could shape a game
as finely tuned as R-Type. It reeled you in with its inspired art and
cutting edge graphics, and then it slowly eased you into its outwardly
simple, yet intricate system. But what kept you dropping coins was its
masterful level design.
R-Type's real strength was its series of meticulously planned --
almost choreographed -- scenes, starting from a brief encounter with
waves of enemy ships outside a space station, and ending in a freaky
alien's lair, pulsing with crimson hues and sinister life. The stages
were kept short and tight, with no extraneous segments. Even the few
brief pauses served a purpose: to set the scene for bigger and more
dramatic showdowns.
R-Type moved at a slower pace than most other shooters, with a
deliberate, almost leisurely scrolling speed. The idea was not to
simply destroy everything on screen -- though many players
instinctively tried. The idea was, quite simply, to survive. Given the
claustophic nature of the stages, with enemies rushing you from every
angle and dense fire often criscrossing the screen,that was a daunting
task.
Sitting in the smoke-filled half-light of the arcade, you would
inevitaly die, again and again, at the same damn spot, until you
figured out the correct path to follow (oftentimes there would be only
one), or the winning strategy.
Unleash the Wave Cannon at the belly of the giant alien; destroy the
crab-like creatures before they get a chance to move; attach the Force
to your back when you reach the end of the giant mothership -- and so
on and so forth.
Sometimes you'd stumble past a tough spot without quite knowing how
you did it. Other times you'd blindly walk into the only bullet on
screen, cursing all the way back to the start of the stage. But you'd
go home and take a break, and you'd inevitably return the next day and
make it that much further. You kept coming back because you had to see
what would happen next -- how the hell would they top that giant
mothership? (Those who never managed to beat the game might still be
wondering about this. The answer is they didn't.)
Quitting was never really an option, because what else would you play?
That's not to say there weren't any other good shooters back then.
That is to say R-Type totally demolished them.
Gradius had come out two years earlier, but by 1987 everyone had
already beaten that. Those who hadn't probably never would. Its
successor was still in the making, leaving the shoot 'em up landscape
filled with many half-finished thoughts and weak ideas. Darius,
Gigandes, Sauro -- those were the kinds of games R-Type went up
against, and boy they didn't stand a chance.
I recently got hold of the Japanese flyer for the game, which
proclaimed in broken English that "It lets you feel thrill,
excitement, shock all at the same time." The shock may have worn off
for most, after all these years, but the thrill and excitement are
still there.