R-Type is complete rubbish

[Plasmo]

The title is first and foremost for provocation purposes and is not meant seriously. Please don't feel offended, I'm hating the bydo empire as much as you do!

The original R-Type is the only shooting game from the '80s that still regularly appears in the annual top 25 lists of this forum. Its historical importance is undebatable and so is our nostalgic love for this game. However, I was asking myself the question if maybe these are the only reasons for R-Type to still have such a high reputation.

If you grow up with CAVE and Touhou shmups, could you still enjoy R-Type? Will R-Type be voted a top 25 game in a future poll with all voters being born after 1995? Is R-Type a timeless classic or merely a nostalgic relict? How does R-Type hold up to SDOJ?

Discuss!

[ACSeraph]

Darius > R-Type

[trap15]

R-Type is the original memorizer. As long as people like memorizers, people will continue to like R-Type.

[mastermx]

Non shmup players and Casuals alike all know R-Type and respect it. People always hold it up highly, even though most of them have never played it. It's always in top 10 lists. I really think for most people, it's just a nostalgia thing.

[Mister Midnight]

As a shmup expert, I would have to say R type was always a mediocre game, repetitive and clumsy...one of the most overrated ones

[Skykid]

Darius > R-Type

Works for me.

[trap15]

As a shmup expert

May I see your license to shmup?

[Xyga]

If you grow up with CAVE and Touhou shmups, could you still enjoy R-Type? Will R-Type be voted a top 25 game in a future poll with all voters being born after 1995? Is R-Type a timeless classic or merely a nostalgic relict? How does R-Type hold up to SDOJ?

Would you compare Jazz to Metal ? No. But it's still music, different flavor and technique, different cultural influences, different eras... okay, now does that make one superior to the other ?

Though more modern shmups often (not always) have the eye-candy advantage I don't feel they do everything better, far from it actually, there are things an R-Type or Raiden offer that a SDOJ or Touhou don't. Period.

Now if you can't appreciate things that are not from your time I can understand perfectly, that's a common, natural and cultural phenomenon.
Personally I enjoy most shmups from the mid-80's up to today's, but I was born in 79 and as much as I can't take disco or hippy music I'm having a hard time enjoying Galaga or Xevious.

Look around you, there are plenty of kids already who feel like throwing up when they see your favorite 'modern' shmups.

PS: and yes R-Type is still good though I enjoy titles that later improved on the formula more.

[AntiFritz]

R-Type is good, but I wouldn't say great. I've only played the third game on snes (virtual console) though, so the other games might be better. They're memorisers through and through though, and the almost complete lack of scoring system doesn't help either. Music is great.

Darius is better with its better upgrade/powerup system and multiple routes.

[Ghegs]

When I first got into shmups oh-so-many years ago, it was with Cave's games and thought R-Type was boring. Yet as years went by and I kept trying out and playing different shmups, I discovered I didn't really enjoy Cave's games, or danmaku style of shmups in general, all that much.

At some point I re-discovered R-Type and really enjoyed the personality the game has. The monstorous Bydo bosses that are more than just spawn points for bullet patterns, the battleship, the stages themselves with their environmental hazards. In comparison Cave's games feel utterly empty to me. Using the Force effectively (or even doing no-Force runs), testing out different weapons against different sections and bosses, that's fun for me.

So, yes. I love R-Type and its ilk. One vote for timeless classic. There's no nostalgia there, as I never played the game when I was young, only after some of Cave's titles.

[SuperDeadite]

What I love about R-Type is the freedom it allows. The game is a memorizer, but that doesn't mean there is only one way to play it. From what I've seen most new players tend to be very defensive, parking the force as a shield 99% of the time. I find that style very boring. For me it's all about letting that force fly, using that 5-way shot to murder everything on the screen. For me it's pure offensive, moving all over the screen, constantly sending the force, mashing that fire button (screw auto-fire with this game), and making a wall of death.

To be fair though, R-Type 1 and Leo are the games I truly love in the series. 2 is too strict, and 3 flat out sucked.

[Mister Midnight]

As a shmup expert

May I see your license to shmup?

My dear fellow wingman, I've posted a link to my youtube shmup channel, my videos and obscene obsession will speak for themselves! IM AN EXPERT!!!!
One more thing - R-Type final on PS1 is the best one, and a great game on its own

[ciox]

If you grow up with CAVE and Touhou shmups, could you still enjoy R-Type? Will R-Type be voted a top 25 game in a future poll with all voters being born after 1995? Is R-Type a timeless classic or merely a nostalgic relict? How does R-Type hold up to SDOJ?

Would you compare Jazz to Metal ? No. But it's still music, different flavor and technique, different cultural influences, different eras... okay, now does that make one superior to the other ?

Though more modern shmups often (not always) have the eye-candy advantage I don't feel they do everything better, far from it actually, there are things an R-Type or Raiden offer that a SDOJ or Touhou don't. Period.

Now if you can't appreciate things that are not from your time I can understand perfectly, that's a common, natural and cultural phenomenon.
Personally I enjoy most shmups from the mid-80's up to today's, but I was born in 79 and as much as I can't take disco or hippy music I'm having a hard time enjoying Galaga or Xevious.

Look around you, there are plenty of kids already who feel like throwing up when they see your favorite 'modern' shmups.

Not just this, but there's only 9 years between R-Type and Battle Garegga the poll winner, both games were state of the art when they came out, to state that one is a dessicated retro dinosaur and the other is so totally not is strange, it feels like you want R-Type to crumble into dust a bit too fast, the game is hardly Space Invaders.

If you hate R-Type now in 2014 tbh I don't know what to tell you, its main features still shine: very distinct weapons, very distinct stages, unique "Force" powerup that the stages were built around for strategy, all powerful and new features that are still valid and enjoyable in 2014.
Its main criticism is perhaps that scoring is simple and relies on checkpoint milking, but that's in a lot of horizontal games.


Here's something that blew my mind a while ago, if you're patient the turrets on the battleship actually begin to regenerate and can be destroyed repeatedly for points, kinda like what you do in Garegga I guess
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWBVUWiI0nY&t=8m19s

[Raytrace]

though I muchly prefer Gradius - R-Type is still a masterpiece IMO, even if you just count it's art...

[Jeneki]

Is this topic about Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun?

(runs)

[KAI]

Darius > R-Type

[DEL]

trap15 wrote;

R-Type is the original memorizer. As long as people like memorizers, people will continue to like R-Type.

Yup, that works for me.

Other than that, R-Type has a good soundtrack and great graphics & playability for its day.

Herr Plasmo wrote;

How does R-Type hold up to SDOJ?

Discuss!

That'll come down to personal taste. For me, I will usually choose anything other than an Ikeda game.

[nasty_wolverine]

R-Type final on PS1 is the best one, and a great game on its own

Dude what are you smoking? Everything is wrong with that statement.
- R-Type Final was on PS2
- R-Type Final was terrible

Aside from that, R-Type Delta on the PS1 was great, probably the best R-Type game. It had everything, the memorizing, the atmosphere, the stage obstacles, great bosses, amazing music. Thats how you make a great game.

[Jeneki]

lol Darius.

Yah, lets fight the same formations of enemies, that fly in the exact same way and shoot the same way, while flying over repeating terrain, over and over, and call it a zone. That game is Milestone-level rubbish.

(this post is in the spirit of this topic)

[Strikers1945guy]

Darius > R-Type

Gradius series > Both tbqh

I agree with the timeless classic frame of mind. Nostalgia for some aside, it's one of the greatest memorizers, was one of the first to really stand out, and will remain respected by shmupers for decades to come. It's a good introductory recommendation to memorizers as well for newer people to the genre. I like all style of shmups really, totally depends on my mood for what I feel like playing.

[pestro87]

I actually played a bit of R-Type a few weeks ago. Prior to that I hadn't played it since I was a kid and I remember that I didn't get very far at that time. Yes, it is a memorizer but I quite enjoyed it except for Stage 6, that stage really managed to capture the aspects that I dislike about memorizers. However, Stage 3 and 7 are fantastic though!

I'm not a big R-Type fan overall but I quite enjoy the orb mechanic. It was the first thing that caught my attention when I played it as a kid and I still enjoy it to this day. There's just a great risk/reward with releasing the orb and I enjoy trying to figure out where to position it during the different parts of the stages.

[Plasmo]

If you grow up with CAVE and Touhou shmups, could you still enjoy R-Type? Will R-Type be voted a top 25 game in a future poll with all voters being born after 1995? Is R-Type a timeless classic or merely a nostalgic relict? How does R-Type hold up to SDOJ?

Would you compare Jazz to Metal ? No. But it's still music, different flavor and technique, different cultural influences, different eras... okay, now does that make one superior to the other ?

I wouldn't compare Jazz to Metal and that's why I don't compare R-Type to League of Legends. But we all are comparing R-Type to modern shmups in the annual top 25 voting. If I take your argument seriously, we would need to ban R-Type for the top 25 list which would be nonsense (or have two seperate votings, 'old school' and 'modern' which, again, wouldn't make too much sense).

Not just this, but there's only 9 years between R-Type and Battle Garegga the poll winner, both games were state of the art when they came out, to state that one is a dessicated retro dinosaur and the other is so totally not is strange, it feels like you want R-Type to crumble into dust a bit too fast, the game is hardly Space Invaders.

That's because Battle Garegga's gameplay is miles more complex. I think it was Randorama who coined the term 'the great complexity era' for the late '90s in regards to our beloved genre (back in 2005 on his blog). The complex gameplay of Garegga, Raiden Fighters and others is probably responsible for the decrease in popularity of shooting games in general and led into some kind of recession. CAVE made scoring simpler again (but bullet patterns more difficult).

[Kollision]

It's that fuckin' force/orb/whatever.
That thing is what ultimately differentiates R-Type from its horizontal memmorizer bethren.

To know that you have the freedom to toss it everywhere, weave your pointy hull into its rear or have it rub your back from behind, well... it's just irresistible.

[Strikers1945guy]

It's that fuckin' force/orb/whatever.
That thing is what ultimately differentiates R-Type from its horizontal memmorizer bethren.

To know that you have the freedom to toss it everywhere, weave your pointy hull into its rear or have it rub your back from behind, well... it's just irresistible.

But Xexex uses the whole detachable pod idea wayyyyy better imo

[trap15]

Are you kidding? Flint is dumber than a bag of rocks, and I hate playing the game because its ineptitude frequently kills me. Xexex sucks.

[Bananamatic]

saidaioujou is a superior memorizer

[ciox]

Yeah the Flint is pretty awkward in actual gameplay but the control scheme had some improvements IMO:
- you can go through the detached Flint without it reattaching because you need to press the Flint button to grab it, so it's very easy to switch it from front to back in tight spaces unlike R-Type's Force
- you can choose to either drop the Flint close or shoot it far away, it goes far if you have a fully charged gauge, R-Type blasts the Force to the other side of the screen no matter what

These wouldn't necessarily be an improvement for R-Type, since you're supposed to strategize and usually have the time to do it, but they seemed kinda nice anyway

[Icarus]

R-Type final on PS1

What.

The complex gameplay of Raiden Fighters

What

[Strikers1945guy]

Are you kidding? Flint is dumber than a bag of rocks, and I hate playing the game because its ineptitude frequently kills me. Xexex sucks.

Play the superior PSP version where they gave flint more intellect and it's actually useful at killing things or providing protection.

[Xyga]

I wouldn't compare Jazz to Metal and that's why I don't compare R-Type to League of Legends. But we all are comparing R-Type to modern shmups in the annual top 25 voting. If I take your argument seriously, we would need to ban R-Type for the top 25 list which would be nonsense (or have two seperate votings, 'old school' and 'modern' which, again, wouldn't make too much sense).

Way to mock people by twisting their own point, you know that's absolutely not what I mean.
You're the one willing to discriminate shmups to begin, that's the goal of your idiotic thread and your comment below is proof.
Be honest.

It still stands and is carried by nostaglia alone.

Games like Lords of Thunder are shockingly shallow compared to modern (from 1995 onwards) shooters. Their audiovisual presentation is admittedly quite good sometimes, but the lack of gameplay makes them rather irrelevant when nostalgic factors are ignored.

I'd love to have a top 25 list one day without complete rubbish like R-Type. Let's face it.

You're from 'that' crowd shitting on everything that's not bullet hell. No need to hide it.