R-Type Delta just opened up a can of it on me :(

[JBC]

I don't know if i just suck this bad at memory based shmupping but i just lost every continue without beating the first boss of R-Type Delta. Now granted i've never played Delta before and i'm not saying i'm normally some shmupping god or anything but that is just ridiculous. In every shmup (except for Pulstar) i always make it to at least level 4 on my first try before running out of continues. Maybe it's my tendency to attempt force podding everything to death or being hypnotized by the choppy-awesome old ps1 graphics but... damn.

Is the game really this hard or is it due to circumstance?

[Damocles]

Run into walls much? That was my biggest problem with that game. I'm a relative noob in R-Type games, so whenever the Force is attatched I always find myself thinking my hitbox is that instead of the ship.

[JBC]

Run into walls much?

Nah... lost 3 on the boss' thrusters and the rest on stupid enemy shots near the end of the level. It's right before the boss when enemies are rolling out of the ceiling in a formation near the rear limit.

[iatneH]

Try busting the thrusters first thing with a fully powered charge shot, one shot ought to do it. They'll still be there, but the flames won't be so big...

I could be wrong since my memory's a bit fuzzy. I haven't played it in a long time but I'm itching to fire it up once I get the PS1 swap discs to use on my PSTwo.

[sideshow]

Delta gets very challenging toward the end. That game is superb in my book.

[Specineff]

The end, challenging? Hardly. The stage before it, the infected base, now that's a little slice of hell.

C-face, try playing with the Albatross. Everyone goes for the Cerberus and the Anchor force, which are overrated. The fully powered Tentacle force is a freaking wall that will stop most shots when the tentacles are open, and when you detach the force, it will fire four blasters at the closest enemy while it rams it at the same time for MASSIVE damage. Blast the thrusters, hold the rapid fire button, and concentrate on dodging. Your Force will do the dirty work for you.

Also, unless you get crushed between the screen edge and the scenery, you can collide with the walls all you want and not get a single scratch.

[Dylan1CC]

Being able to graze the walls was a refreshing addition. And seconded that tentacle force is the best. It's like force pod meets swiss army knife.

It's my fave in the series next to 3. Very balanced with some of the best visuals ever on the PS1. I made my way to the final boss about 6 years ago and it aced me. I really need to pick this up again.

The end, challenging? Hardly. The stage before it, the infected base, now that's a little slice of hell.

The level with all the debris and colliding bulkheads, right? That was painful and nervewracking. Then the next stage babied me until the final boss. I still don't know how to kill that evil force pod.

[scrilla4rella]

damn, you guys suck!

No, the game is hard if you use any other other than the Albatros. It almost feels like cheating sometimes...

I am not an R-type vet or anything but Delta seems like the easiest in the series.

awsome game that got me back into shmups, along with Einhander back in the mid PSX days.

And IMO Delta craps all over Final

[Gorecki]

R-Type Delta is one tough mother. I think the second and third in the series are perhaps just slightly more difficult, but level 3 of Delta puts the smackdown on me every time, despite a lot of practice. I have only once ever managed to last longer than a minute into that level. It seems like as soon as you die, you're screwed, as you have insufficient cover/firepower to fend off the waves of enemies from each side and take out the walker's guns.

This though is why I love the game, and the series. Irem are the grand masters of ass-handage.

[Kaiser]

R-Type Delta is one tough mother. I think the second and third in the series are perhaps just slightly more difficult, but level 3 of Delta puts the smackdown on me every time, despite a lot of practice. I have only once ever managed to last longer than a minute into that level. It seems like as soon as you die, you're screwed, as you have insufficient cover/firepower to fend off the waves of enemies from each side and take out the walker's guns.

This though is why I love the game, and the series. Irem are the grand masters of ass-handage.

I can manage to beat first 3 levels on 1 credit but level 4 screws everything

[sven666]

. I still don't know how to kill that evil force pod.

its pretty obvious once you know the trick

cool boss, hard as hell on hard too.
i think i have yet 2 notes to unlock, anyone know what they might be?

amazing game this, havent played it in ages, maybe i should break it out again

[JBC]

I'm gonna chalk that one up to me being really tired last night and give it another go (on the new slick monitor i'm picking up today ^.^) with the Albatross tonight. I bet i'll do much better. I realized right before the end that i was forgetting a few obvious force pod tactics (like launching it into the enemy and withdrawing it as necessary).

[Gungriffon Geona]

This thread reminded me to go try the game again. I just remembered why I hate this game, it's too slow. remember when the games were 2D? yeah, they were never this trudging.

[Edge]

Really awesome game, my favorite of the series.
Reccently I gave it a shot, but got destroyed in stage 5 and barely made it to stage 6.

circuitface:
Some times R-Type needs some patience, some new boss or level parts will cost you lots of lifes. Until you'll get the trick. But once you have learned how to do a passage you won't die there so often. That's the motivation in these I think.

That's how i fight the first boss:
standard R-Type ship, I fire an already maxed charge shot when the boss fight begins. Then throw my force device onto him and holding the rapid fire button. Now I try to destroy those thrusters (if they are still alive).
If the boss turns around I'll use the time to charge the shot, otherwise I just stick with rapidfire. I hope this was useful to you...?

And don't give up on it.

I still don't know how to kill that evil force pod.

You have to throw your force pod into the final boss and then release the delta special weapon, (the smart bomb-like attack) inside it.

I think it was killed like that, or somehow similiar...

amazing game this, havent played it in ages, maybe i should break it out again

I think you'll get one note for clearing the game without using a force device. But I haven't done that. And some you'll get for a certain time amount. Ask Icarus about it, I think he had all notes.

[sven666]

You have to throw your force pod into the final boss and then release the delta special weapon, (the smart bomb-like attack) inside it.

I think it was killed like that, or somehow similiar...

nice guess, but thats rtype 3

[iatneH]

No, the game is hard if you use any other other than the Albatros. It almost feels like cheating sometimes...

Right, I forgot to say this too. Gotta use RX. You can even shoot through walls with it.

The ship got suckified in R-Type Final though (as did the rest of the game)

[Turrican]

The ship got suckified in R-Type Final though

How exactly? Seems like the good ol' Albatross to me. (Sure the Eclipse next to it is better, but still...)

[Specineff]

*POSSIBLE SPOILER*

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The last boss has two phases. The Bydo Core will begin by rotating around the screen, firing radial plasma bolts, which you can easily dodge. Just fire your force so it gets stuck between it and the edge of the screen so it charges the delta weapon, and hold the rapid fire button for additional damage. You can fire your delta weapon to finish it off quicker.

Second Phase. The Bydo Light will enter your force, and use it to create Bydo Core 2.0. You are kinda naked over here, but I have been able to finish the game with no missiles or bits at all. Bydo Sperm (TM) will come out from the top and bottom of the screen, homing into your location, while Bydo Core 2.0 bounces around. Since this time it's smaller, dodging is easy, and its tentacles are completely harmless. So... all I do is put my ship in the middle of the screen, height-wise, right next to Bydo Core. Then, tap backwards to retreat one step at a time, so the Bydo Sperm head to the space I was in one second before, and meet with my main gun shots. As soon as I hit the left edge of the screen, I rush to the right edge in one movement, leaving behind all the Bydo Sperm that were heading to my earlier location, and repeat. Just avoid colliding with Bydo Core 2.0 and as soon as your Force reaches full Delta charge, unleash it to "Attack the weak point for massive damage". Then go play Riiiiidge Racer.

The ship got suckified in R-Type Final though

How exactly? Seems like the good ol' Albatross to me. (Sure the Eclipse next to it is better, but still...)

Agreed. Albatross, Eclipse, Cross The Rubicon and Sexy Dynamite are pure Pwnage with their "smart" Forces and huge defense area. Now the Cerberus... that poor puppy has lost a lot of its bite.

[Strider77]

R-Type Delta just opened up a can of it on me

it tends to do this

[Edge]

Second Phase. The Bydo Light will enter your force, and use it to create Bydo Core 2.0.

Ahh.... I think I barely remember this now, I totally forgot the second form, I just had this big uterus-like thing in mind. But anyway, if you throw your force pod into it, it will eventually capture it if it starts it's second form. Hmm... haven't seen the last stage for ages. Maybe I am going to play some R-Type Delta again.

[Dylan1CC]

Thanks to Edge and Specineff on how to beat the final boss. Maybe this week I will end my 6 year hiatus from the game and finish it.

[PFG 9000]

I can clear the first two stages with little trouble, but the AT-AT mech thinger in Stage 3 beats the snot out of me. I think I made it to the first checkpoint once.

[iatneH]

The ship got suckified in R-Type Final though

How exactly? Seems like the good ol' Albatross to me. (Sure the Eclipse next to it is better, but still...)

Agreed. Albatross, Eclipse, Cross The Rubicon and Sexy Dynamite are pure Pwnage with their "smart" Forces and huge defense area. Now the Cerberus... that poor puppy has lost a lot of its bite.

Hmm, I'll give it another try tonight. I don't really like how they changed the shockwave of the charge shot, I had to change my playing style for it.

[Diabollokus]

I just bought R-Type final hope its half decent, after a new hori, not played delta though.

[Gungriffon Geona]

How exactly? Seems like the good ol' Albatross to me. (Sure the Eclipse next to it is better, but still...)

Agreed. Albatross, Eclipse, Cross The Rubicon and Sexy Dynamite are pure Pwnage with their "smart" Forces and huge defense area. Now the Cerberus... that poor puppy has lost a lot of its bite.

Hmm, I'll give it another try tonight. I don't really like how they changed the shockwave of the charge shot, I had to change my playing style for it.

They weren't the end-alls though. that one has to go to the Hylios, the final Gallop ship, and the final Image ship. notable mention to the final short-range ship as well. (keep in mind I'm not mentioning the unkillable ones like the Leos and Ragnarok2, and any others I might've forgot. the ones I listed definitely aren't invincible, but they're definitely very good.)

[WarpZone]

The problem with the Albatross/tentacle force in Final is that it's imbalanced, the red laser being more powerful in the wide rather than narrow position. The reverse seems to be true in Delta.

[Turrican]

The problem with the Albatross/tentacle force in Final is that it's imbalanced, the red laser being more powerful in the wide rather than narrow position. The reverse seems to be true in Delta.

That doesn't spell suckified in my book - "more powerful" more like it.

[iatneH]

Yeah, I played a bit yesterday using Eclipse. I take it back

I think I'm just more used to having that very short range cone of destruction that even surrounds the ship a bit (which is useful sometimes), rather than shooting the circular shockwave some distance away.

[than]

Delta is definitely my favourite in the series, and as a few people have pointed out already, the Albatross is the biggest ass kicker because the force homes in on stuff and you can just let it seek out and kill small enemies that might otherwise fill the screen with bullets.

By the way, does anyone know if the Japanese version has less checkpoints than other versions? Level 3 in particular seems a bitch as it has just one, though actually the patterns are fairly easy to memorise for that stage. The end of stage 4 is where I start having real trouble (it's a total shitter if you don't nail it first time and have to start from the checkpoint without all your stuff) and as I've not played much of stage 5 yet I tend to die a lot trying to dodge rotating beams and stuff.

Actually, despite the R-Type series being my favourite of all shooting game series, I haven't yet completed a single one of them without cheating. I need to get some practice

Finally, I'll just mention that I like R-Type II. A lot of people seem to think it is the weakest in the series, but it has far better music and graphics than R-Type, contains more cool set pieces and I think has some gameplay enhancements that make a difference for the better (charging the force to level 2 for instance).

[Asherdude]

Dammit guys. Now I'm going to have to pop that one in and play it for a while to get my fix.