June 2018 Shmup Club - R-Type

[MetalFRO]

I forgot to post this before, but I briefly spoke about the shmup club idea on The Electric Underground podcast a couple weeks ago, along with shmups in general, collecting, etc. I name-dropped RF Generation a couple times, of course

https://soundcloud.com/user-306325657

[davyK]

yeah - I'm in...

[MetalFRO]

yeah - I'm in...

Awesome! Welcome aboard, and I look forward to your thoughts on whichever iteration you play.

[mightyqdawg]

Here's my current score for Sega Master System R-Type.  This score was achieved by a deathless run until the beginning of Stage 4, at which point I died and then (now being completely under-equipped) lost all my lives in quick succession.  I'm not sure how this score compares to similar runs on other ports (but maybe I'll try them and see...)

[MetalFRO]

Stage 4 is where things really ramp up in the game, so yeah, it's easy to hit a wall there and find it harder to recover. Nice score, and welcome to the play through! Officially, this ramps up June 1st, but no harm in getting an early start, especially if you're hoping to power through and beat the game by the end of the month.

[mightyqdawg]

Whoops!  I guess I jumped the gun.  I wondered why no one was posting scores yet....

[Duke.Togo]

R-Type is also on the C64 (and I'm guessing other computers of the era). I'll have to give that version a go.

[MetalFRO]

R-Type is also on the C64 (and I'm guessing other computers of the era). I'll have to give that version a go.

I watched a play through of the C64 version yesterday. It's a fair bit different. The dev made a number of sacrifices to get the game to run on the hardware, and it appears to make the game significantly easier.  And yes, it was also on the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, MSX, PC-88, and X68000. Apparently, DotEmu has released R-Type and R-Type II on iOS and Android as well.

[Zagnorch]

I got a little something on my doorstep the other day:

[img width=700 height=503]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/886/42243686972_8eb1d59d0d_b.jpg[/img]

Let's see what I got:

[img width=640 height=413]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/962/41568970094_1520f54201_z.jpg[/img]

Looks like I'm joining in the fight! Put me in, coach!

[singlebanana]

That's pretty awesome!

[MetalFRO]

Woot! Welcome aboard, Zag!

[Square_Air]

Heyo, another shmups forum member here droppin' in. I'm no stranger to shmups but I've never gotten around to playing through the R-Type series, so this seems like a great opportunity for me to fill in a gap in my STG knowledge. I just started playing about 10 days ago and have put a good amount of time into the japanese arcade release and the Master System port, and I'm looking into jumping into either the Game Boy or PCE version next. Just to be clear, I will be playing with emulation. MetalFRO has expressed no problems with this, so i'm pleased to be able to join in on this.

Let's blast off and strike the evil Bydo empire! 

Here's my current score for Sega Master System R-Type.  This score was achieved by a deathless run until the beginning of Stage 4, at which point I died and then (now being completely under-equipped) lost all my lives in quick succession.

Stage 4 is where things really ramp up in the game, so yeah, it's easy to hit a wall there and find it harder to recover.

The 4th stage of SMS R-Type is actually significantly harder than the arcade version, it's almost as difficult as the arcade second loop version in fact. The low shot cap and the unforgiving hitboxes really ramps up the challenge. Overall the SMS port is somewhat easier than arcade, but they made the 4th stage scarier to compensate.

I'm not sure how this score compares to similar runs on other ports (but maybe I'll try them and see...)

Scores for the SMS port will be naturally lower than the standard. There are less enemies in general, certain scoring opportunities didn't carry over, and the most lucrative scoring/milking point (the stage 7 trash robot boss) is pretty lackluster in this version due to the low shot cap and fewer destructible objects.

[MetalFRO]

Welcome aboard, Square_Air! Thanks for coming over, and welcome to RF Generation

[D-rock]

I'm a huge fan of shmups, though like many others expressed on the other thread, I'm not actually that good at them. I revisited them as an adult and have never been able to devote the time necessary to master anything. But I have amassed quite a few of them over the years. About a month ago I bought R-Type Dimensions for PS3, and a PS2/PS3 adapter to use my PS2 Real Arcade Pro SA on the PS3. AND, I'm a teacher and will be on break starting June 2nd. All that to say, count me in!

[MetalFRO]

Awesome! Welcome to the shmup club, and welcome to RF Generation, D-rock! Glad to have you aboard