Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
This article deals mainly with the arcade version released in 1987 (the 1st title) and with versions for home consoles, smartphones and other digital devices (see #Other versions for the details).
The overseas version of R-TYPE is also to be included on the PC Engine mini, a reissue console from KDE released in 2020 with about 50 PC Engine titles pre-installed.
The underlying hardware was far weaker — the sound had only 1 channels — so the graphics and sound keep almost nothing of the original, but the character movement is a close port, and the review in the British magazine Your Sinclair gave it 9/10 and 6th place in its best 100 games of all time, a high rating.
It was developed by a team of 5 called Factor 5 at Rainbow Arts.
It won 3rd place for the Grand Prix in the 1st Gamest Grand Prix (1987) run in the magazine Gamest, as well as 9th for Best Ending, 4th for Best Graphics, 4th for player popularity and 1st for Best Income among table games.
It also took 15th place in the readers' vote in the mook The Best Game, published by the same magazine in 1991, which rated the game's development positively as "a shooter full of wonderful ideas, researched and researched again".
In addition, it took 25th place in the readers' vote in the mook The Best Game 2, published in 1998.
In the "Cross Review" in the magazine Famicom Tsushin, I and II were rated together, scoring 9, 9, 9 and 7 for a total of 34 points, which put it in the Gold Hall of Fame.
This score also placed it 10th among all PC Engine titles (485 titles in total, as of 1993).
This score also placed it 115th among all PC Engine titles (485 titles in total, as of 1993).
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu, the game scored a total of 24.
This score also placed it 99th among all PC Engine titles (506 titles in total, as of 1993).
The British game magazine Mean Machines reviewed the Master System version, praising the graphics and the quality of the software in particular, and gave it 92% overall.
The ZX Spectrum version scored 9 out of 10 in the 1989/1 issue of Your Sinclair, the British magazine devoted to Sinclair machines, and placed 6 of 100 in the Your Sinclair readers' poll.
In the software review in the magazine Dengeki PlayStation it scored 85 and 80, for a total of 165 points.
It scored 27 points in the Famitsu Cross Review.
In the "Cross Review" in the magazine Famicom Tsushin it scored a total of 25 points.
In the "Game Report Card" reader poll in the magazine Family Computer Magazine it scored a total of 21.9 out of 30, as set out below.
It is, however, only "the last shooting game from Irem": the R-TYPE TACTICS series, which are simulation games and not shooters, followed with 2 titles.
Strictly Limited Games released physical copies of the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch versions in February 2019, limited to 2,000 and 3,000 copies respectively.
A Mean Machines magazine review praised in particular the graphics and the high quality of the challenge offered by the game, awarding it an overall rating of 92%.
It was one of the earliest titles released in the history of the PC Engine, and at the same time the first home port of the original R-TYPE.
The last series the old Irem released.
R-Type was the first game to run on Irem's 16-bit M72 arcade system.
The arcade version was distributed in North America by Nintendo, and was the last arcade title to be released by the company.
The TurboGrafx-16 version of R-Type was one of the first games confirmed for Nintendo's Virtual Console.
Tozai Games returned in 2018 and released an updated digital-only version of R-Type Dimensions, now carrying the title R-Type Dimensions EX, for Microsoft Windows (via Steam), PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
The Game Boy version is also included in "Irem Classic Collection Vol.1" inside Pachi-Para 3D Dai Kaimonogatari 2, released on 2012-5-17.
In "PC Engine All Catalog '93", a special supplement to the 1993-10 issue of the same magazine, it was called "one of the 1 great shooters in the history of games.
R-Type was commercially successful and praised by critics for its graphics and addictive gameplay, but was criticized for its difficulty.
A Mean Machines magazine review praised in particular the graphics and the high quality of the challenge offered by the game, awarding it an overall rating of 92%.
The Games Machine praised the "incredible use of colour" and that it "blows away almost every other shoot'em up on the Spectrum".
Sinclair User praised the weapons system and difficulty curve, and C+VG called it "an excellent shoot'em up that's both challenging and addictive.
In a developer interview in the magazine Gamest it was said that the reflecting laser and the giant battleship in this game came from the planner, a fan of Gradius, being inspired by it.
Susumu Imai of IGN named it the best game of 1987 and one of the "three great horizontally scrolling shooters", calling its music "the eeriest, most sinister in the history of shooters" and saying that "together with the atmosphere it left a powerful impression".
Clare Edgeley of Computer and Video Games selected R-Type as the "game of the month" in July 1987.
According to Mega Guide in 1992, R-Type had sold "squillions on hand-held".
A 1995 article in Next Generation stated that the "PC Engine [TurboGrafx-16] conversion of Irem's arcade smash R-Type is still regarded as the system's definitive contribution to the shoot 'em up genre.
The Games Machine praised the "incredible use of colour" and that it "blows away almost every other shoot'em up on the Spectrum".
On the later TurboGrafx-16 version of R-TYPE — the overseas PC Engine — larger ROM capacity had become possible, so all 8 stages were fitted onto 1 HuCards.
The overseas version of R-TYPE is also to be included on the PC Engine mini, a reissue console from KDE released in 2020 with about 50 PC Engine titles pre-installed.
The Japanese release was split across two game cards (HuCards), titled and , while the later North American release (published there by NEC Home Electronics) contained the entire game on a single card.
The Japanese releases for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U use the North American version instead of the Japanese one, presenting the game as a single download; however, the game was removed from the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U stores on July 30, 2020.
The underlying hardware was far weaker — the sound had only 1 channels — so the graphics and sound keep almost nothing of the original, but the character movement is a close port, and the review in the British magazine Your Sinclair gave it 9/10 and 6th place in its best 100 games of all time, a high rating.
As for the character design, the boss of stage 1 was finished first, and the giant battleship's jet exhaust had been red until a member of staff said "surely there is no fire in another dimension", after which the colour was changed.
It was originally made as a title outside the series, but was folded in as one of the 1 when Delta was released.
The Japanese releases for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U use the North American version instead of the Japanese one, presenting the game as a single download; however, the game was removed from the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U stores on July 30, 2020.
It was developed within a few months of this game's release, but it was so similar that Activision Europe, which held the rights in Europe, gave notice to either port R-TYPE officially or face an infringement suit, and in the end Factor 5 ported this game officially.
The Master System version became available as well on the Virtual Console for Japan on May 19, 2009, North America on November 2, 2009, and Europe on September 25, 2009; however, due to licensing issues, this version was delisted on September 30, 2011, in North America and Europe and October 18, 2011, in Japan.
Collector's Edition variants were also issued which contained a hardcover artbook, dog tags, stickers and cards, once again limited to 1,000 on the PlayStation 4 and 2,000 on the Nintendo Switch.
The ZX Spectrum version of R-Type was awarded 9/10 in the January 1989 issue of Your Sinclair and was placed at number 6 in their official top 100.
R-Type was commercially successful and praised by critics for its graphics and addictive gameplay, but was criticized for its difficulty.
Sinclair User praised the weapons system and difficulty curve, and C+VG called it "an excellent shoot'em up that's both challenging and addictive.
The sentences quoted on this page were taken from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles exactly as they stand. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) — usable under those terms. They are the work of the people who wrote them.