R-type question

[blucey]

I could always get to level 4 but could never get past level 5 I think.

[Jbizzel]

I think getting to level 4 is easy enough. The first 3 levels are pretty easy, and part from a couple of pinch points.

level 4 seems ridiculous. I never got past it.

I think one version of the game is physically missing the last level of the game. It's explained in Bob's book, but I can't remember now.

[RWAC]

I've never got passed the level 2!

[worcestersource]

I think one version of the game is physically missing the last level of the game. It's explained in Bob's book, but I can't remember now.

Great read. I think it was a version of level four.

Bob Pape’s possibly my favourite Speccy coder. I loved R-Type in the arcades and was blown away by how accurately he converted it to the humble Speccy.

[ionut76]

R-Type is impossible to finish without pokes. Dixit.

[Weiv]

R-Type is impossible to finish without pokes. Dixit.

I finished it without pokes (but after almost 2 months of training with saves and rollbacks). I have a bunch of my fair RZX-walkthroughs from this period

[PQR]

R-Type is one of my all-time favourite schmups, and I’ve played many happy hours on the Spectrum version back in the day.
I remember there was a demo version that came with C+VG (I think) that contained the first level only. It was great for practice before I got the full game. Just like others commented -- I never made it past Level 4. It gets brutally difficult there with the dot laying ships.

Unfortunately R-Type suffers from “Gradius syndrome” a lot. If you manage to stay alive and collect all power-ups the game is relatively doable. But if you loose a life, you’re left with a seriously underpowered ship and it is very hard to recover from that.

[Weiv]

Unfortunately R-Type suffers from “Gradius syndrome” a lot. If you manage to stay alive and collect all power-ups the game is relatively doable. But if you loose a life, you’re left with a seriously underpowered ship and it is very hard to recover from that.

Yes, it's true. As far as I remember, there are some places in the game that are completely impossible to pass without addons (level 7). In my youth I found pokes that retain all power-ups when you lose a life.

[Pobulous]

The massively inaccurate horizontal collision detection between your ship and the pixel-scrolling background objects always did for me on level 6, as you had to get fairly close to the vertical walls.

[BiNMaN]

if you have a DivMMC try R-Type GT on a real speccy ,it's a SCL file but can be converted to TRD. The 128k music and effects really do the business.

[Vampyre]

Nice. Congrats. Did you play The Hit Squad release? Is that version fixed?

After 4 days I’ve beaten level one only once. I make it to the boss regularly, but only got past it with luck. This is on about 30-45 minutes a session. I’m shooting for a month, but two seems more realistic.

I don't think anyone's mentioned this yet... When you get to the boss, fire the Force into the face that eventually starts appearing in the middle of the boss. Move your ship to the top of the screen, out of the way of the tail, and let the Force do it's work.

[Weiv]

I don't think anyone's mentioned this yet... When you get to the boss, fire the Force into the face that eventually starts appearing in the middle of the boss. Move your ship to the top of the screen, out of the way of the tail, and let the Force do it's work.

An easier way is to stand in the corner at the bottom left of the screen and shoot the boss with a laser. This way you won't damage the boss's top eye (losing all the eyes will cause the boss to move towards you).

[GRC7800]

An easier way is to stand in the corner at the bottom left of the screen and shoot the boss with a laser. This way you won't damage the boss's top eye (losing all the eyes will cause the boss to move towards you).

I'm at work so I will try this later, but does it matter if it is the angle laser or the circle laser? I have beaten the boss a couple of times, but I can't do it consistently yet. It seems so frenetic, I'm just blasting away and sometimes I kill it and sometimes I don't. I've tried to detach the force and sic it in the emerging face, but I can't get it to stay attached!

[Weiv]

I'm at work so I will try this later, but does it matter if it is the angle laser or the circle laser? I have beaten the boss a couple of times, but I can't do it consistently yet. It seems so frenetic, I'm just blasting away and sometimes I kill it and sometimes I don't. I've tried to detach the force and sic it in the emerging face, but I can't get it to stay attached!

It matters, you need angle laser. Defeating the first level boss this way is very easy, just stay and shoot.

[GRC7800]

It matters, you need angle laser. Defeating the first level boss this way is very easy, just stay and shoot.

Excellent, thanks! This is the trick I needed! Now I can start strategizing Level 2. I've been cruising through Level 1 until I got to the boss for a few days now. I'm ready for the next challenge.

[GRC7800]

if you have a DivMMC try R-Type GT on a real speccy ,it's a SCL file but can be converted to TRD. The 128k music and effects really do the business.

Nice, I do have a DivMMC. But, I will have to research file conversion. This is not an aspect I'm familiar with yet. Seems totally worth it though. I love the R-Type in-game music in other versions.

[flatduckrecords]

But, I will have to research file conversion. This is not an aspect I'm familiar with yet.

If your DivMMC's version of esxDOS is up to date you should have Nihirash's dot-command called SCL2TRD, e.g.

Code: Select all

.scl2trd <filename>.scl

That will run for a few minutes (and generate <filename>.trd). A quicker route might be to open the disk image in an emulator and re-save it in TRD format (Fuse supports this for example).

Another R-Type mod you might enjoy is Velesoft's patched version that adds Kempston Mouse support. I think it's a nice way to play.

Anyway, good luck with your challenge!

[GRC7800]

If your DivMMC's version of esxDOS is up to date you should have Nihirash's dot-command called SCL2TRD, e.g.

Code: Select all

.scl2trd <filename>.scl

That will run for a few minutes (and generate <filename>.trd). A quicker route might be to open the disk image in an emulator and re-save it in TRD format (Fuse supports this for example).

Another R-Type mod you might enjoy is Velesoft's patched version that adds Kempston Mouse support. I think it's a nice way to play.

Anyway, good luck with your challenge!

Wow! Thanks for the help on file conversion. I didn't know any of that, but I will definitely be giving it a go. Much appreciated!

[Lethargeek]

if you have a DivMMC try R-Type GT on a real speccy ,it's a SCL file but can be converted to TRD. The 128k music and effects really do the business.

unfortunately since one AY channel is used for sfx the music sounds too shallow
there's a fresh 2024 mod with beeper sfx but the tune isn't the original one

[bob_fossil]

If your DivMMC's version of esxDOS is up to date you should have Nihirash's dot-command called SCL2TRD, e.g.

esxDOS v0.8.9 supports loading .scl files directly so you don't need to do this. You can open them straight from the standard esxDOS NMI browser or my replacement long filename browser.

[BiNMaN]

unfortunately since one AY channel is used for sfx the music sounds too shallow
there's a fresh 2024 mod with beeper sfx but the tune isn't the original one

not seen that one...would like to try it

[Lethargeek]

not seen that one...would like to try it

check the remix section @ vtrd site

[Jbizzel]

Great read. I think it was a version of level four.

Bob Pape’s possibly my favourite Speccy coder. I loved R-Type in the arcades and was blown away by how accurately he converted it to the humble Speccy.

Rampage is also great.

[Xela]

If your DivMMC's version of esxDOS is up to date you should have Nihirash's dot-command called SCL2TRD, e.g.

Code: Select all

.scl2trd <filename>.scl

If your esxDOS version is up to date - theres no need to use SCL2TRD:

esxDOS v0.8.9
(c) 2005-2021 Papaya Dezign
---------------------------

This version has the following (notable) new features (for detailed info check the changelog):

* Support for SCL (TR-DOS) disk images
* TR-DOS MOVE and FORMAT commands are now implemented
* Z80DMA timings are configurable
* New/Updated Commands: .tar, .launcher, .te, .gsc, .drives and .rm

[Xela]

Velesoft's patched version that adds Kempston Mouse support. I think it's a nice way to play.

Version by goodboy & tiboh (with CPC & MSX Music/SFX) also have support for Kempston Mouse (and supported Kempston Joystick with 3 fire butttons)