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The memory of pumping coins into a lone stand-up R-Type arcade game whilst on holiday with my parents years and years ago is still strong.  The name was cool, the ship looked great, the weapons were powerful, the explosions satisfying and the music stayed in your mind long after the game ended; it was an almost perfect shoot ‘em up experience.  Except for one, tiny thing.  It was hard as nails.

The art of making a sideways scrolling shoot-em-up has been all but lost, with modern interpretations adding in all kinds of superfluous features, losing the essence of what made this genre such a success twenty or more years ago.  Fine, times have changed, but if you’re curious to see by just how much, sit down to play R-Type (iTunes link) on the iPhone.

The concept is simple, destroy the invading Bydo empire before they destroy you by shooting absolutely everything on screen.  Your fighter comes with a standard weapon and a Wave Cannon, which needs charging up before it fires, but there are several power-ups to be collected including the Force; a pod that sits at the front or rear of your fighter and can absorb basic fire or be launched directly at the enemy too.  Other additions include deflecting beams, an outrider, missiles and speed-ups.

At the end of each level you’ll meet a boss with a weak point, who must be destroyed before progressing to the next.  With just eight levels, R-Type may not sound particularly good value, but these are likely to be some of the toughest levels you’ll ever battle through!

R-Type on the iPhone looks, sounds and feels exactly as it did in the arcade, and is a fantastic technical achievement.  From my recollection, each wave has been perfectly replicated and there has been no obvious fiddling with the graphics to modernise them, so this is a retro experience through and through.

Players have been given a variety of options for controlling R-Type.  The first and best is the touch system, where your left thumb moves the ship around just by touching the screen, while your right operates the Force and charges the Wave Cannon.  The second uses the accelerometer to move the ship, which feels great but isn’t precise or fast enough to play well, as there seems to be only one speed no matter how much you tilt the phone.  Finally, there is a virtual D-pad and two fire buttons set against an arcade cabinet backdrop, which makes a hard game even harder.  An autofire option is provided and we strongly suggest leaving it on!

You can play R-Type normally, with four lives and a continue, or chose an Unlimited mode where you have infinite lives but lose points when you die instead.  Only the first level is unlocked at the start, with others opening up as you reach them. By completing the game in normal mode, you unlock an Insane Mode, where the enemies get even stronger!

Playing the game is exciting, heart-pounding stuff, where you not only need to ensure you destroy air and ground enemies, avoid their fire and collect the power-ups, but you’ve got to think about where you’ve got to place your ship to avoid certain death too.  There is no better example of this than level three, which is so intense that it’s the first game on the iPhone in a long time to entirely engross me as I played.  Yes it’s hard, but it’s SO satisfying when you get it right.

As a conversion, it’s superb then, but there are one or two small problems.  Although the Touch control option is the only way to go, your thumb does get in the way quite often, seeing you reverse into bullets or enemies hiding behind it, plus on the iPhone 3G there is some significant slowdown when things get busy.  We’d be surprised if the iPhone 4 had this problem, but the 3GS may encounter some.

I’m sure I’m not the only one with nostalgic reasons for loving R-Type, but even putting these aside for a moment doesn’t sour what is a brilliant game and an impressive conversion.  For $1.99/£1.19, this is a steal and should be snapped up by fans not only of the original and retro gaming in general, but by those who love a challenge and want to see how a sideways-scrolling shoot ‘em up should be made!

Overall: 5/5