Around 9 hours 29 minutes to beat. That time doesnt include letting the game run with X set to Auto Fire, to unlock free play mode. This was a very hard game. Having played through R-Type 3, R-Type Final and R-Type Leo in the arcade, this seems to be harder. Main reason was the grainy visuals and odd hit detection making some deaths seem to come out of nowhere. The clearer 2D installments are alot easier to see whats going on. Most R-Type games have unlimited continues as default but for this game you have to unlock them through play time. I recommend doing that first. The No Commentary version is also posted up.
To get unlimited continues you can use fast forward on the emulator to speed that process up. Just set the X button to Auto fire on the emulator, or use a rapid/auto fire controller. If you only have rapid fire , then you can tape the X button down. Leave the game running and after 6 hours of play time it will unlock Free Play mode. You still have to beat each checkpoint legit, you just dont have to worry about limited continues. I reccomend doing this first so you can focus on working on the game normally.
The first death of each checkpoint is shown in this video so that the checkpoint transitions are clear. I edited out the deaths for the first checkpoint of each stage, since no transition needs to be shown there, and also all the deaths after the first death at each checkpoint. There was a few extra deaths left in accidentally, but for the most part thats how it was edited.
Stay tuned !!