Game:

R-Type (1987)

Category:

Review

Duration: 29:51

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Huge playlist archive with AY / GFX improved games: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxOanVBhqd3t74YnYAJA9p4vMQYZYCJWX
Here it is - The ultimate version of R-Type for the ZX Spectrum. This version features all the original music for all levels, new loading screen, Kempston mouse support, trainer option. Thanks a lot to Goodboy and Tiboh for making this fine version!

INTRODUCTION (From the manual): A desperate battle is being fought out in the limitless and unknown dimensions of space which have been contaminated and corrupted by an evil power. The evil power is the Bydo Empire, which is determined to subjugate the world. It is inhabited by weird creatures, whose very sight inspires fear. But Mankind is fighting back, and sends you into battle in an incredibly sophisticated plane, the R-9 fighter. Behind the control panel of this fantastic fighting machine, you are Mankind’s only defence against the enemy.

GAMEPLAY (From the manual): The movements of the R9 fighter are controlled by standard up, down, and left and right keys or by joystick. The weapons are controlled by the fire button; holding down fire will build up the strength of firepower until the button or key is released. Weapons are increased or modified by shooting one of the enemy craft which reveals jewels. Collecting a jewel is rewarded by the addition of one of the following weapons:

REFLECTION LASER
ANTI AIRCRAFT LASER
GROUND LASER
HOMING MISSILES
EXTRA SPEED
SHIELD ORBS

The first jewel collected also releases a special weapon, the Force, which can be attached to the front or rear of the F9 fighter, sent ahead to clear a path, or behind as a rearguard. The Force is equipped with its own lasers. A key will be used to release this weapon, whether keyboard or joystick, control has been selected.

REVIEW:
R-Type is an arcade game, and for the time being, it was one of the best looking arcade games. Besides that the gameplay was really good and you had the possibilities for upgrading your ship with lots of weapons.

And how does all that fit into the ZX Spectrum version ?? Well… the game was released by Electric Dreams Software in 1988 and programmed by Bob Pape, Mark A. Jones, Robert L. Hylands and they did a really amazing job with this version! R-Type is by many considered to be the best horizontal spaceship shooter for the Spectrum!

The game is an almost exact port of the arcade game with all the enemies and the weapon system. The arcade game do of course have more details and colors, but the Spectrum version really makes good use of the hardware. The game is one of the best looking shooters for the system, but where it really has it’s strength, compared to a lot of the other R-Type versions, is in the gameplay. The scrolling of the screen and movements of the enemies and enemy bullets is not too fast and not too slow, it is just like it should be, so you have a chance to react.

You have to blast your way through eight levels defeating the end of level boss on each level, and when you defeat the boss on level eight the Bydo Empire is defeated and the world is safe again. To do that you have your R-9 fighter that you can find upgrades for when you shoot down enemy waves.

The weapon arsenal is impressive, there is a huge amount of weapons to collect, and collecting a lot of these is making you almost unstoppable! When you have an upgraded force in front of you, shield orbs over and under you and the plasma shots as weapon you’re on your way!

Graphically this is a show-off of what the ZX Spectrum is capable of, and the gameplay and control system is also top notch! The game also has an ending instead of just looping like many other games from that time. What was strange, though, was that the game is from 1988 and only was released in a 48k version. The game is mighty impressive for being a ZX Spectrum 48k game, but it was just a shame to release such a brilliant piece of coding without support for the AY chip in the 128k machines. The game was also only released on tape, there was no +3 disc version, and all re-releases was also on tape.

Now a complete version of R-Type finally exists for the ZX Spectrum, and it is stunning, it has all the original MSX music, and if you get tired of this you can select the AY sound fx from the CPC version instead – Very cool! And if you have Kempston mouse it is also possible to play the game with this!

R-Type was published as a 48k game without music by Electric Dreams Software in 1988.

Rating: Standard 48k version = 95%
Goodboy & Tiboh 2019 128k version = 100%

48k 1988 tape version: http://archive.org/download/Sinclair_...
128k Goodboy & Tiboh 2019 Beta Disk version (The program SAMdisk can change .scl to .trd so it also can run on DivIDE / DivMMC devices): https://vtrd.in/gamez/r/RTYPE_GT.zip

If you don’t like the original music R-Type also exists in another version with unofficial music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3FWtK_eibk

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