An Irem Super R-Type, hard and gorgeous, the first striking SNES shooter. Slow at times but truly classy, essential for fans.
Your verdict
Category
Shooter1 player7+
Description
Irem horizontal shoot-'em-up featuring the R-9 spacecraft with its attachable Force system. Published by Irem, released in Europe in 1991. R-9 navigating dense Bydo enemy levels with attachable and detachable Force and high difficulty. SNES port of the first Irem R-Type.
Super R-Type review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
1/5
Story
★★★★★
"Anecdotal"
Atmospheric and tense, Irem's music plunges the R-9 pilot into an oppressive science-fiction of rare intensity. Anxious electronic pads and nervy themes underline the permanent threat of the Bydo. This immersive sonic atmosphere, polished down to the detail, remains an unsung peak of the shooter on SNES.
Super R-Type accompanied the European SNES launch, giving it founding-shmup status within the PAL catalogue. From Irem, it stays sought by shoot-'em-up fans for its Bydo aesthetic and legendary difficulty, more than for any raw scarcity. Widespread as a bare cartridge, its value comes from a tidy complete PAL copy and above all the sealed one: a clean cardboard box and intact multilingual manual make the difference for European collectors.
Is Super R-Type still worth playing in 2026?
An expanded port of Irem's legendary R-Type, Super R-Type adds new stages and keeps the charge weapon and the Force pod that defined the horizontal shooter. The demanding level design, the biomechanical aesthetic and the memorable bosses remain a genre reference. Marked slowdown during busy moments and the lack of a checkpoint after death handicap the experience. A great shmup for fans of memorisation shooting and old fashioned challenge, despite its technical flaws.
