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 Japan 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.
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.
