I probably spent close to as much time as a child in the Bydo Empire as I did in The Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule and Potos although whilst Bowser, Ganondorf and Thanatos have all been slain multiple times; I never quite defeated the Empire. Hello Save States and welcome to the Virtual Console the classic Irem shoot-em-up: R-Type.

Without the definitive shoot-em-up on the system; the Virtual Console plays host to the likes of Recca, Gradius and Salamander which whilst awesome played on a home console are ‘just’ excellent on a portable screen due to the sprites/bullets being a bit too chotto. Chain Blaster and StreetPass Squad both resolve the sprite size issue and whilst both excellent games are hardly definitive. Again, welcome R-Type.

Originally released on the PC Engine on two game cards (split into four levels apiece as the game was too packed for the tiny card) but stuffed into one card for the TurboGrafx release and just 31 blocks on the 3DS. If the shoot-em-up check list includes excellent power-ups and awesome power-ups then arguably one should add beefy sprites to the list where a portable system is involved.

And the answers are a capslocked YES, lower-case yes and a somewhat. The power-ups of R-Type are second to absolutely none with the detachable Force pod being simply awesome. Boss-wise R-Type is impressive but unfortunately peaks with the level-one Giger-y Dobkeratops (pictured). The sprite size issue is mostly alleviated although the backdrops and franticness of the latter stages are somewhat problematic (not game breakingly so, and the final stage is again clean).

R-Type has indeed aged incredibly well with great graphics, a very good soundtrack and a solid difficulty curve. Great level design too with an emphasis not necessarily in total carnage but more-so in tactical carnage, letting some of the Bydo Empire survive in order to preserve your own survival which is somewhat fitting due to the Darwin-esque origins of the R-Type name.

Again benefitted not only in the Save State function of the Virtual Console but in the added PC Engine screen resizing and button remapping features which make the 3DS version of R-Type objectively the best of the portable versions; superior to when played on the PC Engine GT or indeed the excellent Game Boy’s original version and the GBC’s DX colourised version

Not to say R-Type is perfect as not only several aforementioned faults (the clutter of stages 5-7), the inconsistency of the boss graphics, but also in the highest speed power-up being largely uncontrollable and the frustration of the un-killable four inverted swastika like obstacles that haunt you on what I assume is the final boss (still not beat!) but all fail to prevent R-Type being simply a delight to play and what is now the shoot-em-up to beat on the 3DS.

9/10