r-type-type shmups

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 4:02 pm

Having enjoyed Pulstar recently, I ask:

1. What other shmups do you think of as heavily influenced by the r-type series, artistically or gameplay-wise?

2. What are the best r-type-type shmups?

Thanks much.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 4:26 pm

Well, R-Type was so influential in many regards, that it would be difficult to isolate a single progeny. For example, there's no doubt that Thunderforce III is heavily influenced by R-Type when it comes to aesthetics.

But, assuming that you want R-Type clones, then Z-Out (amiga) comes first to mind.

Katakis is another one: although the Amiga version is more R-Type-ish, the C64 version is the better of the two.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 4:31 pm

Then there are games in which the strategic use of a detachable pod/shield is essential in their gameplay. The Genesis has a couple of them, Curse and Gaiares. (whereas the pod use in Gleylancer is more similar to Compile stuff)

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 4:49 pm

For more R-Type-ish games when it comes to visuals/atmosphere, you shouldn't miss the rest of Irem library. Gallop is pretty much considered an R-Type spin-off, X-Multiply has a similar bio-organic feel. In the Hunt might be called the missing link between R-Type II and Metal Slug.

Oh, have a spin at Oshaberi Parodius too. The "Ran" ship is an evident homage to the R-9.

icycalm · Post by **icycalm** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 5:36 pm

X-Multiply is very good--I was just playing it, actually. Starts off more aggressively than R-Type, with killer music and fast-paced action. The art is not as good though.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 7:16 pm

Surprisingly no one's mentioned Last Resort yet.

RoninBuddha · Post by **RoninBuddha** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 7:26 pm

Damocles wrote:Surprisingly no one's mentioned Last Resort yet.

yeah, i find it to be R-type gone cyberpunk... i hate the "long" ship though..

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 8:15 pm

There's always Rezon if you're desparate.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:00 pm

Sly Cherry Chunks wrote:There's always Rezon if you're desparate.

I was just about to say.....

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:20 pm

Bio Metal
Sinistron
the Rayxanber series (maybe?)

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:46 pm

I'm glad you asked as i found out about this great Pulstar clone being produced for the NeoGeo AES, CD, and Dreamcast just last night. It looks fairly killer - don't know so much about those tunes though.

http://www.ngdevteam.com/ - LAST HOPE

It's release - Q2 2006. Now i have to go hunt down another Neo, as mine gave up the ghost a bit back...

Bydobasher · Post by **Bydobasher** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 1:10 am

Lovely topic!

As Turrican mentioned, you can always start with other Irem games. We've already mentioned Cosmic Cop (Gallop), which doesn't really feel very much like R-Type to me, as well as X Multiply, which seems to have its share of fans around here of late. But there's also Dragon Breed -- which I like better than X Multiply -- and Image Fight, which is the closest we have to a vertical R-Type.

(Also, as Turrican alluded to, you can really see where Metal Slug's animation style comes from by tracing it back through Gunforce 2, In the Hunt, Last Resort, and Cosmic Cop, all the way back to R-Type 2.)

Last Resort by the way is one of my favourites along with Pulstar. I agree with circuitface that Last Hope looks exciting!

Z-Out is excellent, although I don't enjoy it quite as much as some others around here (Herr Schatten

).

Turrican mentioned Gaiares on account of its pod, but it has its own distinct feel. Bio-Hazard Battle has a pod that's not dissimilar, but it feels even less like R-Type. Anyway, I enjoy both of 'em.

Rob, I find it interesting that you mentioned the Rayxanber titles, because they don't always come up in a discussion like this -- unlike say, Pulstar -- but I completely agree. There is something very "R-Typeish" about both Rayxanber 2 and 3. Undoubtedly the checkpoints -- and the unforgiving nature of the second game -- have something to do with it. Also on PCE, there's Psychosis, which adopts something of an R-Type feel, although its art design is very unique.

Where Pulstar strikes me as a homage to R-Type, Rezon seems more of a rip, but it's worth checking out in spite (or because?) of that.

No one's mentioned Gigandes! There's a lot of R-Type in Gigandes, but it manages to be very original, and a lot of fun. I recommend it highly.

And of course, there's the game that everyone always seems to forget about: XEXEX (the Japanese version). Konami's R-Type. Great stuff, one of my favourites, but you do have to play the Japanese version; the world version is emasculated. Most of the weapons are gone, the one-hit kill is gone -- you have a lifebar, which doesn't work for me at all -- the checkpoints are gone, the autofire is gone ... the only thing going for it is that it supports 2-player simultaneous action. Play the Japanese version....

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:33 am

Bydobasher wrote: And of course, there's the game that everyone always seems to forget about: XEXEX (the Japanese version). Konami's R-Type. Great stuff, one of my favourites, but you do have to play the Japanese version; the world version is emasculated. Most of the weapons are gone, the one-hit kill is gone -- you have a lifebar, which doesn't work for me at all -- the checkpoints are gone, the autofire is gone ... the only thing going for it is that it supports 2-player simultaneous action. Play the Japanese version....

Goemon's 2 Xexex (on both SNES and GBA) is based on the Japanese version with the pods and powerups and still has the one hit kills, but it's only the second level.

AirRaidX · Post by **AirRaidX** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:39 am

I dream of the r-type-type NATIVE for Jaguar someday being finished and released, even on a different platform

Bydobasher · Post by **Bydobasher** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:07 am

BrianC wrote:Goemon's 2 Xexex (on both SNES and GBA) is based on the Japanese version with the pods and powerups and still has the one hit kills, but it's only the second level.

Yes, that's as close to a home port as currently exists. I guess part of the reason for that is there's no way the home systems of the time would have been able to do justice to the graphics.

As for NATIVE, I'd never heard of it until just now. That screenshot posted by AirRaidX looks beautiful though, so I did a little searching and found a few more pics on this thread and also what looks like the developers' site, where you can download a demo of the first stage and some boss videos -- the mantis looks very much like it got lost on its way to the Apidya set!

Anyway, it looks great, and it's a shame it was never finished.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 4:40 am

Wow, Native does look pretty cool... too bad i don't have a Jag anymore i could play the demo.

I can't even believe something like Last Hope is even happening. It wasn't even a possibility in my mind that anyone would ever make an homage to Pulstar...

I'm gonna pre-order from the site pretty soon - i think i'm just going to get the AES version instead of the Dreamcast one just because that's what i play Pulstar on...

I doubt there will be many differences between the two.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 5:42 am

I think of myself as having played quite a lot of shmups, but 90% of the things mentioned here I have yet to play. Excellent! So much to look forward to.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 8:00 am

Dear God why hasn't anyone mentioned Xexxex yet?

Post by **Ghegs** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 8:38 am

Blade wrote:Dear God why hasn't anyone mentioned Xexxex yet?

Bydobasher wrote:And of course, there's the game that everyone always seems to forget about: XEXEX (the Japanese version). Konami's R-Type. Great stuff, one of my favourites, but you do have to play the Japanese version; the world version is emasculated. Most of the weapons are gone, the one-hit kill is gone -- you have a lifebar, which doesn't work for me at all -- the checkpoints are gone, the autofire is gone ... the only thing going for it is that it supports 2-player simultaneous action. Play the Japanese version....

Ko.oS · Post by **Ko.oS** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 10:58 am

Not to play the role of the pedantic shmuck, but its more accurate to describe Last Resort as the bastard child of GALLOP and IMAGE FIGHT.
Ya know, gallop=big ship & cyberpunk look, IF=orb system.
Of course LR takes loads of inspiration from RT as well nonetheless (stage3 BG, stage 5 pacing, final boss, etc).

If you stretch you're (sic) imagination a little, viewpoint is mucho like RT as well, they just took the pod away and replaced it with a fucked up perspective. and no, I dont like zaxxon.

two more things -
a) metalslug look = check out air duel (sorry no pic because the klov server is deprecated). http://klov.com
anyway, the main programmer is Aiko (RType12, MSlug, etc)
b) "r-type-type" makes my eyes bleed.

hehe :)

SPACE HARRIER · Post by **SPACE HARRIER** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 12:04 pm

G-type!!! A R-type rip off!!!!!
look here fore more info...http://www.acid-play.com/download/g-type/

Just stick to the orginal one!! A CLASSIC!!!

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 12:10 pm

G-Type? Wasn't there a Fanfic by the same name? It was supposedly a Gradius/R-Type Hybrid.

Wouldn't that be interesting.

Oh yeah, oops...I was looking for Xexxex when it's actually spelled Xexex that's why I didn't see it, Ghegs.

Last Guardian · Post by **Last Guardian** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 10:08 am

Ko.oS wrote:
a) metalslug look = check out air duel (sorry no pic because the klov server is deprecated). http://klov.com
anyway, the main programmer is Aiko (RType12, MSlug, etc)

Maybe a supid question but is the programmer resonsible for the look of a game, is it the artist or is it a collaboration? How does this work ?

Also, anybody know of a place where you can check who's done what on which game (preferably the R-Types/LR/Pulstar etc) ? I've tried to compile a list of people who worked on some of my fave games but there's too many codenames and blanks, trying to come up with something comprehensible is proving pretty hard. (would hate to credit feed some of them just to check the credits, besides they probably scroll too fast for my writing).

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 12:14 pm

(as credited by MAWS)

R-Type LEO

Game planners :
Hirogon
Akikaze

Programmers :
Denden
Yuki
Drunker
Shaka

Graphics designers :
Sakotan
U.W.F.
Maccoy
Kimi
Hidarin
Kakapo
Yassy

Sound :
Hiroshi
Aiai

Pulstar

Nenko
M. Yoshida
T. Nagakubo
Naomi
Daikiti
K. Katoku
K. Urahama
K. Okabe
Toshio. I
Yamadasan
Shion
F. Ryuze

Music composed by :
Harumi Fujita
Yasuaki Fujita

Blazing Star

Executive producers :
Akio Inove
Nobuyuki Okude

Producer :
Takaya ida

Sub. producer :
Isamu yutani

Director :
Michio Sato

Main programmer :
Minoru Yoshida

Sub. programmer :
Taka/M. Sakae

Chief designer :
Tomonori Nagakubo

Designers :
Kyou Yamanaka
Izumi Senou
Saki, Shotabira
Yumetard
Tatsuo Shioda

Character designer :
Daikichi

Design helpers :
Mayumi Takeuchi
Itsuo Iton
Mitsuo Takano
Masakazu Ishizaki

Sound designer :
Yasuaki Fujita

Music composer :
Harumi Fujita

-------------------

I searched around to find the staff of R-Type 1 and 2 but the best i could turn up was 'Staff of Irem'

. So i think i'll just play through them again sometime this week and snapshot the credits screens. I've been wanting to see if anybody from the Pulstar staff was really on the R-Type credits anyway. If anyone else feels like doing it go ahead, as i am a procrastinator.

This was the best information on Pulstar i could turn up, but i haven't the time to do a more thorough search right now - and i'll probably just play through it later as well.

Ko.oS · Post by **Ko.oS** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:30 pm

Maybe a supid question but is the programmer resonsible for the look of a game, is it the artist or is it a collaboration? How does this work ?

im supid so i dont mind supid questions:) - honestly i dunno, maybe the guy's nick is actually spelled akio and he was the main designer? i use those terms interchangeably in an attempt to sound more knowledgeable than i am . . .

regarding the snk/irem/rtype/whatever connections, dont bother, its a waste of time (due to stupid aliases, missing info, etc).

Im outta the loop when it comes to the internet, but pages that were vaguely helpful a couple years back were:
mobygames.com (SuperRType, ...)
arcade-history.com (compare LR and Tophunter, etc)
vgmuseum.com (maybe?)

RT1&2 (and many other oldschool irem games) have no stafflist - however, for RT1 there's a vid floating around that spits out a couple names at the end (not specifing their jobs, though). maybe its on superplay.co.uk? I only recall Akio (sorry, i dont have the list/vid anymore, at least not on this comp).
RT2 = check SRtype on moby, it says "original design by Akio and Tarachan". play a round of RT2, die and then take a close look at the HISCORE screen. it has three names there (S-something?, Akio and Tarako, aka Tarachan;). the SRT composer Hiya! shows up on a lot of irem/snk games, BTW.
AirDuel; vgmuseum has the ending and the hiscore screen; no matches(?), but play LR and AD back to back and the similarities are, of course, striking. MrHeli would be worth digging through as well -- maybe Inc knows more?

anyway, dont get me wrong, but most of time i talk outta my arse (especially on the net), and there's lots of misinformed bull floating around when it comes to stafflists and the like (ketsui "no death" pcb, yaddayadda), so take my words with a salt of grain . . .

as for the topic - you can draw RType connections to a lot of modern vert scrollers as well; the more obvious ones are Ika (eating bullets), RSG (Gallop boss, 100% destruction (like in ImageF), and maze-like levels), DragonBlaze, and last but not least, MarsMatrix.

that is all for now, take care

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:53 pm

already mentioned all, but:

-X-Multiply is great (and also irem)
-Rezon is a fun, little fucker of a game. seriously, you'll love to hate it.
-Pulstar is great (as you know)
-Katakis is amazing. (first game i tried for the C64... i emulated it

)
-Curse is alright fun. i bought my copy for five dollars and i don't regret it.

the last level is a bastard considering the rest of the game though. instant death lasers abound!

... and while not strictly R-typish, Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius is the finest Parodius Konami has to offer!

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:00 pm

G-Type is a homebrew game which mixes R-Type with Gradius. You have the R-9 but a Gradius Power up, gradius level design and lots of gradius enemies.

It`s a very cool game

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:08 pm

Shatterhand wrote:G-Type is a homebrew game which mixes R-Type with Gradius. You have the R-9 but a Gradius Power up, gradius level design and lots of gradius enemies.

It`s a very cool game

it is pretty cool, but it never worked properly with my controller. and the keyboard doesn't suit it.

visuatrox · Post by **visuatrox** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:13 pm

Disposable Hero, one of the best r-type like games in my opinion

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:17 pm

visuatrox wrote:Disposable Hero, one of the best r-type like games in my opinion

not intending to be a flame with this one. but i was very eager to give this game a try, and when i finally got the chance, i found it nigh-unplayable. rezon is a fricking kitten compared to this.

shmups.system11.org

r-type-type shmups

r-type-type shmups

Re: r-type-type shmups

Re: r-type-type shmups