R-Type I

n/a

R-Type I
System(s): PC Engine, Virtual Console (Wii)
Publisher: Hudson Soft
Developer: Hudson Soft
Licensor: Irem
Developer(s) of original games: Irem
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1988-03-25 ¥4,9004,900 HC63007 JP ▼ 2006-12-13 600pts600

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R-Type I (アール・タイプI) is a 1988 PC Engine release containing the first four stages of R-Type. It exists presumably due to the cost of manufacturing high capacity HuCards at the time; a couple of months later Hudson Soft released the second half, R-Type II. In the West, the two were combined for the TurboGrafx-16 R-Type release.

Story

The Bydo Empire, aliens from another dimensional plane, are preparing to invade Earth. The Earth Defense League has deployed the R-9, a top secret spacecraft, to counter-ambush the enemy in their own dimensional plane.

Gameplay

The game is a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up. It is the first of two halves of the same game. The player controls a small spacecraft called the R-9 and must navigate terrain and fight enemies using the various ship weapons. The R-9 moves in any direction with the D-Pad. The playfield is slightly taller than the viewable area, so the screen pans when the ship is near the top or bottom. It is equipped with a main gun, fired with Ⅱ. A more powerful gun called the Wave Cannon can be charged by holding Ⅱ. The Wave Cannon destroys larger enemies in fewer hits and can penetrate through multiple targets.

During the game, the player can obtain an auxiliary device called a Force (also called the "Power Pod" in the manual), which resembles a glowing orange ball. The Force appears after collecting a weapon upgrade and can be attached to the front or back of the R-9. It can be detached with Ⅰ to fly freely. Likewise, it can be called back to the R-9 with Ⅰ. The Force initially fires a pulse beam away from the ship when attached, but it can be upgraded by collecting another weapon upgrade to provide one of three different powerful weapons. It can be upgraded another time by collecting another weapon upgrade, which further empowers its weapon. When detached, the Force instead fires a secondary set of guns concurrently with the R-9's main gun, even if the Force is at a distance from the spacecraft. These guns fire directly up and down and at 45-degree angles up and down in front of it. Additionally, the Force is completely indestructible and therefore acts as a shield, neutralizing enemy fire from the back or the front of the R-9 (depending on where it is mounted) and destroying enemies that it contacts.

The R-9 is destroyed after taking a hit from an enemy or by colliding with terrain. The player starts over from a predetermined checkpoint without any power-ups after losing a life. If the player runs out of extra lives, the game ends, but it can be continued as long as the player has credits remaining. The player is awarded extra lives at 50,000, 200,000, 350,000, 500,000, and 700,000 points.

On the title screen, the player can press  SELECT + RUN  to enter a password to start the game on its second loop, at a higher difficulty. This password is given after completing R-Type II. Likewise, after completing the last stage in R-Type I, the player is given a password that can be used to continue the game in R-Type II. Passwords contain the player's score, extra lives, and power-ups.

Items

	POW Armor
	A battlefield delivery vessel that drops an item when it is destroyed.
	Laser Reflecting Unit
	Shoots three laser beams ahead of the Force, one straight ahead and two at 45-degree angles, which ricochet off surfaces that they hit.
	Ring Laser Unit
	Shoots tall, ring-like energy waves from the Force.
	Ground Laser Unit
	Shoots fireballs directly above and below the Force, which roll along terrain that they hit.
	Speed Unit
	Increases the movement speed of the R-9.
	Twin Missile Unit
	Arms the R-9's weapons with twin homing missiles. Missiles continue to fire while the R-9 is channeling its Wave Cannon.
	Option
	Supplements the R-9 with a protective power sphere, up to two. The first Option collected hovers above the ship, while the second Option hovers below. Options are invulnerable and can destroy enemies by touching them. They also fire pulse beams if the Ring Laser is equipped.
	Force
	Augments the R-9 with a Force, which provides support fire and can be attached to the front or rear of the spacecraft or fly freely alongside it. The Force flies in from the left side of the screen after collecting a weapon item. It can be leveled up twice by collecting further weapon items.

Stages

	Stage 1
	Boss: Double Keradops
	Stage 2
	Boss: Gomander
	Stage 3
	Boss: Giant Battleship Cruiser
	Stage 4
	Boss: Convira

Versions

Compared to the arcade version, the PC Engine version scrolls vertically slightly because of the reduced screen size. It adds a brief intermission cutscene after completing the fourth stage.

Magazine articles

Main article: R-Type I/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

NEC Retro Average
Publication Score Source Complete Guide to Consoles 92 №1, p69

	92
Based on 1 review

PC Engine version

PC Engine, JP
Cover
Card File:R-TypeI PCE HuCard JP Manual.pdf Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 cec3d28a MD5 ac7e0730b10c3cf1afdc675c808572b1 SHA-1 1170c63839fb94c754d07c4f6f49ad2de6666668	256kB		Card (JP)