Invest in a better version of R-Type
In 1987 shoot-em-up video games were hardly new. But R-Type gave new meaning to the term 'side-scrolling space-shooter'. Featuring subliminal imagery, awe-inspiring bio-mechanical villains, jaw-clenching gameplay, brilliant music and amazing power-ups, R-Type set a new standard that was soon mimicked in more games to follow than you can shake a stick at.
The story behind the game has earth come under attack from a race of mutant aliens called The Bydo Empire. Instead of sending a whole fleet of warships to fend them off a single R-series space vessel must penetrate the hordes of Bydo scum and make it to the core of the mothership and blast them back to the far side of the galaxy.
It was hard. Very, very hard. And you'd be screaming with frustration. But that was the ingenuous part. IREM deliberately made the game near-impossible so you'd spend more money on it. And by jove it worked on me.
Apart from several R-Type sequels, IREM never mounted to much after this. R-Type was their one hit wonder. Ported onto just about every home console you can think of, the best version of R-Type was always the arcade machine. If you see it, don't think twice about playing. And paying.
Like I said, R-Type was brilliant. And of course a sequel was more than welcome. But the sequel we got was just far too similar to the first. It feels more like an expansion pack than anything else. The first level of R-Type II is virtually the exact same as before. Even the music hasn't changed.
Level 2 did feature a cool, and very hard, underwater stage and there were a couple of new power ups for that crazy force orb. But it was all just too samey. IREM didn't put much imagination into this game at all. On its own, when not standing next to the first, R-Type II is still a great game but is no-doubt a rip-off when regarded as a sequel. With all of the pale imitations of R-Type that followed the original's release then they should have tried harder to make this something special.
You can play this Gameboy Color game in 5 ways. First you have the black and white Gameboy version of R-Type. And let's face it, who wants to play that? Or you can play it in color. A wiser choice. This option also features on R-Type II (now missing the cool underwater level seen in the arcades).
Or you can choose to actually play the game as R-Type DX, which is a combination of both. And you'll never know it. It's a bit dull, the infinite continues don't temp me to play for hours on end and the primitive graphics and sound of the Gameboy Color don't do justice to the usually brilliantly detailed R-Type universe.
Pick up for no more than 1 dollar.