Greetings, Starfighter. You have been recruited by the Star League... 3/28

Here’s something that kept me up all night last night: R-Type Final. I know, why the hell is he going to waste my morning with video games? Well before you go ahead and click over to The Onion or Google ‘college cheerleaders’ on Moderate Safe, just read on a little bit more.

R-Type Final was, indeed, final. The team was disbanded after its completion and the series is officially over. Done. Forever. Blessed with the knowledge that there would be no sequels, the team from Irem made an amazing game slash tribute to their liscence; a proper good-bye for the series and gave it to the world. This game is full of things that get me excited and inspired.

101. Look at that number for a moment. Think of how many things 101 is. 101 Ferraris, 101 Eddie Griffins to crash them, 101 shoes, 101 e-mails, 101 is a lot of things. R-Type has 101 SHIPS for you to choose from before you play through it.

Yes. 101. Sure, you start out with one ship on your roster, but after a play through or two they will begin to unlock pretty quickly. Well, most will. As you play you will notice that some blocks in the ship museum won’t fill up. Think of it as the game is the dealer on the corner. He gives you the first batch for free; you have to pay for the rest.

The last 50 or so ships take effort. You have to beat stages under a certain time, a certain way, or with a certain ship in a certain level using a certain weapon. Other than a vague hint from the empty dedication plaque in your museum, you are left to your own devices to unlock it.



This isn’t just a shooter; it’s a GORGEOUS shooter with a zillion options. Each ship, aside from color options, can be set up with a varying number of weaponry. Each ship uses variations of a main weapon. Each ship is SLIGHTLY different from the others. Think about that while I remind you that there are 101 of them.

I know, you think that the repeated play through would get tedious, and in most cases you would be right, except that R-Type Final not only looks so great, but some levels change depending on what you did the LAST time through. One stage in particular undergoes drastic changes in water level and temperature, so much so that it changes the way you have to play your way through almost every time.


The bosses range from easy to insane but they are all amazing to see. My personal favorite is the Battleship level where, long before Shadow of the Colossus, the level IS the boss. Flying around a massive ship, taking apart its defenses and causing considerable collateral damage to the city it’s flying over, you feel powerful.

Back to the ships, though; this game activates that part of me that loves machines. Each ship has a registry and a short history (they are also from a couple decades worth of shooter games for a final adieu) and a design that is interesting and somehow plausible.

I can spend hours thinking about their configurations, their quirks, and their weaponry. Some ships ‘transform’ when you speed up or slow down, some have powerful particle rifles or steady laser beams. Each one can find a FORCE, a little device that you can attach to the front or the back of your ship (on the fly, I might add) to increase your weapon power and block most shots. Almost all ships have a FORCE unique to its model type or family tree.

I want to sit down and make up things like this. A world of machines with numbers and functions, people to polish and oil them, parts, devices, manufacturers, paint schemes; people to fly them and crash them. This game reminds me how a person can invent anything they want and expose the public to it through MANY types of media. It thrills me that there are people getting paid to imagine these rich, detailed worlds.

It reminds me that we can share anything we want these days and SEE it realized. It also reminds me that it’s almost noon and I need to get back to work…