R-Type: An 8-bit Port Comparison
R-Type is the greatest game ever made, right? Right? No? Then get off my land, you pervert. It just is.
The 8-bit ports of the game were mixed: the Amstrad got a terrible, slow, drab port. The C64 got a fun shooter that felt loosely based on the source, but which loses points for straight up doing it's own thing (as the C64 often did).
But it's the ZX Spectrum port that really shines. More colourful than it had right to be, fast, faithful, fun. It was a weird kind of miracle: so accurate you could even use your arcade learnings to do well at the game.
So, for the 8-bit micros at least, clear Speccy win!
...
But they were, all of them, deceived, for there was another 8-bit computer R-Type made.
On the internet, in the coding forums, homebrew coders forged in secret an Amstrad port to beat all the others. And into this port they poured colour, accuracy, music...
And the result is pretty great. Amazing to see what the Amstrad can really do when it isn't getting stinky Spectrum ports. I would say this one ties with the Spectrum port for playability.
Now that's the sort of quality content I'm here for! I've never really gotten into shmups back in the day, on account of them being so God damn hard.
Ever since I've got an Anbernic 35XX on my nightstand with every game under the sun on it I've been going through the various shmups, and R-Type just is the best of them all. I love the SNES version, personally. That being said, no genre makes me rage quit more, and basically every loaded R-Type save state will greet me with a Game Over screen, but it is what it is.
So, across all retro console generations (Arcade, 8/16/32), which is the best R-Type in your opinion?
I mean, the arcade is clearly the best version... (if you're talking the original game).
For the ports... the Spectrum is great for sheer chutzpah, but the PC Engine port is probably the most faithful of all the versions that weren't running an emulator. The Sega Mastersystem is also extremely good, on much less powerful hardware.
PC-Engine CD version, R-Type Complete.
IMO it’s better than the original arcade version. That soundtrack is amazing.
The ZX Spectrum port was legendary. Couldn't believe I was playing R-Type in my home back when the arcade machines were so far ahead of what home computers could pull off.
Our local pub had a little arcade section for the kids with R-Type as one of the machines and I remember pumping in plenty of 20p coins into it.
Another fond memory is the excitement of getting R-Types on PSX back in the day.
I guess I need to try out this Amstrad port to see how good it is.....
The coder who converted the Spectrum version (Bob Pape) wrote an excellent memoir about how he went about it, his life at the time (he was basically a teenager) and his interactions with the weird, nascent world of gaming development companies. It's really fascinating and well worth a few hours. And it's free! It's Behind You: The Making of a Computer Game
Oh nice, I'm flying to Spain next month so I'll put that on my reading list for the journey to and from. Thank you!
I miss places like that, so many restaurants that had bars would have arcade games, sometimes standup sometimes the sit down ones. There was an irresistible draw to play them haha
The Sega Master System version is pretty impressive.
I added a Yamaha FM chip to my console, similar to the chip in japanese consoles. It turned out, the game uses the added sound channels when it detects the chip.
Indeed, the SMS port looks pretty good:
https://youtu.be/dQc_hkTEb4s?t=26m
Omg I loved R-Type on SMS, and after decades I bought it for iOS, don’t play it regularly anymore but here’s a quick screenie
Amazing the time when arcades were soooo much better than home consoles.
Like, there was a time when a home console was pretty good at simulating the arcades, but that was about it.
Also, the coders who ported these games often wouldn't have access to the arcade cabinets at all, other than some hastily recorded VHS footage. So getting a port that actually felt like the original was a rare treat. Most of the time the ports felt like they were inspired by the source material more than anything.
Bit late to this party but R-Type was one of favourites at the arcades and back when ther were so many outstanding games.
I occasionally get my kids to try them and despite the fact the controls are so much easier they can't play them, the games are too hard!!!
I feel the same way about their games or at least the controls, I feel like I need to learn to be a court stenographer to use the controls using multiple combos to do something. Pah I say!
I had a similar experience with one of the more recent NBA games.
Like, shooting the ball was a whole process. First you initiate a gathering action or decide what kind of plant or pick you're going to make, there's a button for whether you jump or not, what kind of jump (fade away, in place, diving towards) and then timing for shot accuracy. God help you if you're going for a dunk.
Damn it all, what ever happened to one button for pass and the other for shoot!
I'm out here doing advanced Street Fighter combos just to throw a damn ball. It's easy as doing a tatsumaki super canceled into a neutral aerial shakunetsu hadoken. And that's just one thing, every damn mechanic in the game felt like this.
The Master System version included a hidden level and boss that I don't believe were on any other ports. I could be completely wrong, as I'm going off memory from a long time ago.
That hidden level was quite difficult for me then. Probably still is.
Yeah, it did. It was an excellent port as well!
Cool shit, I had no idea there were all these ports of the original R-Type.
IMO R-Type Complete for PC-Engine CD is the absolute best version of this game available. Better than the arcade version even.
I'm impressed with what developers could do with what amounted to an electrical typewriter on a budget (down to the color limitations being based on the device being text-first). Kind of what happens when a cheap, mass-produced, simplified version of a technology finally lands in the hands of a lot of people. A bit sad that nothing of the sort seemed to happen with the Raspberry Pi...
Although I loved R-Type 2 as a kid, I never really got into the first one for some reason - it was probably because I didn't have a pirated copy on my Amiga, whereas I did for R-Type 2. Both amazing games though, and I'm very glad R-Type Dimensions exists on Steam.
R-Type Delta is #1 R-Type for me though. Best level design, best music, best ships before it went completely nuts for Final.
Was hoping I’d see some shmup discussion on Lemmy! I’m a massive fan of Cave STGs myself. More please!
The PC Engine version is nearly arcade perfect: https://youtu.be/ZRbw_sRDPWU&t=510
Yeah, it's incredible! The only thing that lets it down slightly is the vertical scrolling (and the fact that they split the levels on two separate releases - I think the TGX16 version got them all in one).
I used to love this game even though I was terrible at it.
It would be perfect now, though, to emulate the arcade version and enjoy without going through a million quarters.
Oh man now I got a new game I gotta try. Probably the SMS version though to be honest.
That’s the only version I had as a kid, I didn’t even know it was on other systems until years later, and now because of that, every other version feels wrong to me.
sad Gameboy noises
Hah! I seem to remember that R-Type DX on the Color was really good, wasn't it?