Amidst series like Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Gradius or Truxton, R-Type surely held its own during the fourth generation of console gaming as a pure-bred arcade experience that didn’t back off for sake of the more casual home audience. Both Super R-Type and R-Type III: The Third Lightning were hard, relentless even, with limited continues to spend. Like Capcom, Irem never compromised on the coin-guzzling tactics of the arcade games these titles were derived from, even though the subject of todays review, R-Type III, was never released in arcades, it still carries the arcade pedigree fully.
I really loved the highly detailed pixel art and stage environments of both Super R-Type and R-Type III. On the other, I was put off by the relatively harsh difficulty. So yes, I like the idea and concept of R-Type. In that sense, I personally think that R-Type Delta was the pinnacle of the series and the first game that really struck the right balance between mechanics, strategy and difficulty. It gave players more time to exploit the wondrous capabilities of the Force orb, the detachable centrepiece around which much of the puzzle-like gameplay in the R-Type series revolves.
Building on the successful and critically acclaimed R-Type Dimensions EX, developer
KRITZELKRATZ 3000 and publisher Tozai Games now take on R-Type III with R-Type Dimensions III. To be frank, R-Type III follows exactly the same remaster route as Super R-Type did in Dimensions EX, with all features intact.
The general consensus on Dimensions EX was that the ability to switch between the original pixel art and the newly created 2.5D visuals was very well executed. In addition to this, Tozai added a true 3D visual perspective to the game, which can also be switched on the fly. While it looks amazing, it feels a bit like a gimmick. The gameplay itself is so demanding that the new perspective somehow adds another layer to the already brain-breaking mental stack this game requires.
And boy, R-Type Dimensions III makes you crawl into the fetal position and cry for mercy. The complexity of the incoming enemies and their variable-speed bullets, environments that function as contrived horizontally scrolling puzzles and run-defining weapon choices make for a brilliant but difficult game to get into. The amount of training and memorisation required for R-Type III is far more mentally demanding than I remembered.
Even then, some of the environmental hazards and enemy fire still feel highly unpredictable at best. The learning curve is so steep that finally defeating the first stage boss feels like reaching Base Camp One on the slopes of Mount Everest.
From that perspective, the biggest and most valuable feature for players is the Infinite Mode. Just like in Dimensions EX, it lets you play the game with infinite lives and respawn exactly where you got shot down, instead of having to restart from one of the few checkpoints spread throughout the lengthy stages.
For both casual and experienced players, this helps unlock all levels, allowing you to use any stage as a starting point thanks to the Stage Select option. Without it, I’m fairly certain none of us, including hardened shmup fans, would ever see the final two levels at all. This then allows you to train those stages individually before eventually tying all that practice together into a single scoring run. From my perspective, it at least gives me a fighting chance.
For me, the mandatory online leaderboard is another welcome feature, just like it was in EX. For many players, it adds a layer of purpose to the experience. First, get yourself into the top 100. After that, try to claw your way further up the rankings. Somehow there are still arcade remasters being released on modern consoles without leaderboards, which I find unacceptable.
While the Mount Everest remark sounds like an over-exaggerated dad joke, the leaderboard suggests that not many people can actually reach stage two on a single credit. I always wondered how difficult R-Type III really is. While it certainly has a reputation, I distinctly remember playing R-Type III not too long ago and couldn’t reconcile that memory with the level of difficulty I was experiencing here.
So I grabbed my SuperStation One, booted up the ROM and cleared the first stage without dying once. A single credit carried me well into stage three, reinforcing the idea that something feels off with this remaster.
As far as I can tell, the overall animation frame rate of the remaster appears higher, but bullet speeds also seem noticeably faster in certain situations. Hitboxes on incoming projectiles also appear off. For example, the projectiles fired by the three mechs you encounter halfway through the first stage highlight both issues. Their bullets seem harder to dodge due to increased speed, larger sprite sizes and even larger hitboxes. In the original game, these projectiles were never particularly problematic. As you progress further using Infinite Mode, these issues become increasingly apparent, occasionally resulting in genuinely unfair situations.
The rocket exhausts encountered in stage one also appear significantly larger and once again have hitboxes that do not properly match the visuals.
So while I initially thought people were simply overstating their abilities, I now believe the leaderboard reflects players’ ability to overcome the additional hurdles introduced by this remaster rather than their mastery of the original game. Judging by that metric, not many people seem capable of clearing even the first few stages on a single credit.
I’ve never played Dimensions EX myself, but based on the reviews I’ve read, I find it difficult to imagine that remaster suffered from the same issues while simultaneously achieving an OpenCritic score of 80.
Once you start replaying the original R-Type III, you run into the glaring differences in sprite sizes, hitboxes and projectile speeds that make this version, while visually beautifully done, almost impossible to play. R-Type Dimensions III might as well have been called R-Type III: Ultra Hard Edition, and if you are a veteran of the game who relies on muscle memory, you will surely be put off by the sheer differences in these areas. At the same time, it is too steep a mountain to climb for newcomers to the series.
The net result is that the original SNES game, while still hard, is much better balanced and ultimately the better version to play.
