R-type question

[GRC7800]

My goal is to beat R-Type within the month of February. I’ve never played the game before on the Speccy and I just bought it on tape. No emulator and no cheat codes. I aim to play it as it was back in the day.

Any of you guys finish the game without POKEs? If so, how long did it take you? If not, how far did you get before you gave up?

[AndyC]

Good luck. It's a great game but absolutely rock hard. I think I made it to level 5 without any cheats, but I'd struggle to replicate that these days

[Andre Leao]

If you bought the original version from Electric Dreams, you won't be able to complete it

[GRC7800]

If you bought the original version from Electric Dreams, you won't be able to complete it

It’s from The Hit Squad it turns out. What happened to the original version? Bug?

[p13z]

It’s from The Hit Squad it turns out. What happened to the original version? Bug?

It wouldn't load the final level. Can't remember the exact details - but basically final level data was b0rked one way or another (I guess something that the majority of players would never encounter without POKES given the difficulty after level 3).

[blucey]

I think level 7 was on twice instead of the eighth being there.

Brutal game. Stops being fun after level 4.

[Andre Leao]

Yes, one of the levels is duplicated and another is missing on the tape

[Morkin]

Cool, love challenges like this - you'll have to give us some progress updates.

I don't think I ever got very far, one of the issues is that you lose your power ups after dying, which makes it harder. I got pretty frustrated with it.

Even with POKEs I think I only got to the big spaceship level (level 3?).

Major kudos if you manage to play it to completion from tape on a Speccy without emulation, even for practice. When we did the Manic Miner challenge we could use snapshots for practising levels, as long as any completion attempt was done fairly from the start of the game without them without snapshots or cheats.

[Weiv]

I completed R-Type (all 8 levels) without cheats after almost 2 months of regular play, but on my emulator, and I trained with rollbacks. And I knew how to pass levels 1-3 from my youth.

[clebin]

Yes, one of the levels is duplicated and another is missing on the tape

Funny, I never had that problem with my Electric Dreams tape.

*because I wasn't good enough to get past level 2.

[Andre Leao]

Funny, I never had that problem with my Electric Dreams tape.

*because I wasn't good enough to get past level 2.

ahah, I had to read the small letters...

[GRC7800]

I completed R-Type (all 8 levels) without cheats after almost 2 months of regular play, but on my emulator, and I trained with rollbacks. And I knew how to pass levels 1-3 from my youth.

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.

[worcestersource]

Are you playing with keys or joystick? It’s best with keys.

I used to use a curious combination of z, x, k, n, l to fire and space for the force. Controversial, I know but somehow I’d get further than using q, a, o, p and either n, m or space.

At my peak I could get to level 5 on my first life but I guess because of the effort involved, could never rack up enough experience to learn the level and defeat it.

[GRC7800]

Are you playing with keys or joystick? It’s best with keys.

I used to use a curious combination of z, x, k, n, l to fire and space for the force. Controversial, I know but somehow I’d get further than using q, a, o, p and either n, m or space.

At my peak I could get to level 5 on my first life but I guess because of the effort involved, could never rack up enough experience to learn the level and defeat it.

Joystick, I’ve always used a joystick for Speccy games.

Level 5 is impressive, more than halfway on a such a tough game is nothing to sneeze at.

[Xela]

My goal is to beat R-Type within the month of February.

Next challenge, after you'll beat game

[Weiv]

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

Thanks I played the Electric Dreams/Activision release with normal 8th level. As for the Hit Squad release, I have version that does not have levels at all except the first one.

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.

You can make it a lot easier if you watch the walkthroughs of the game on Youtube.

[Xela]

Are you playing with keys or joystick? It’s best with keys.

I tried playing R-Type, Zynaps, Chronos, Fliyng Shark with the DualShock 4 using the 8bitDo Retro Adapter.... Oh! The analog stick in these games is heaven and earth compared to a regular joystick and even more so to a keyboard.

[Lethargeek]

Next challenge, after you'll beat game

FAKE TITLE HE DID SHOOT THE POD FAKE FAKE

[Turrican]

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.

Man... level 1 is easy compared to the rest...
Good luck.

Without any poke I can reach level 4. To finish it... only with pokes.

[Weiv]

Joystick, I’ve always used a joystick for Speccy games.

Well, it will be more difficult with joystick, because some places require very precise positioning (for example, level 6 with the maze).

Level 5 is impressive, more than halfway on a such a tough game is nothing to sneeze at.

Level 5 is tough because of the boss with a bit random behavior.

[GRC7800]

Next challenge, after you'll beat game

I had no idea this challenged existed. For my sanity’s sake, I’ll pass!

[GRC7800]

I tried playing R-Type, Zynaps, Chronos, Fliyng Shark with the DualShock 4 using the 8bitDo Retro Adapter.... Oh! The analog stick in these games is heaven and earth compared to a regular joystick and even more so to a keyboard.

I’m going to try a NES style game pad today. I find it easier to shoot, but I’m worried about precision. I need to look into those analog sticks, though.

[GRC7800]

Man... level 1 is easy compared to the rest...
Good luck.

Without any poke I can reach level 4. To finish it... only with pokes.

Thanks! Getting halfway through the game is pretty good without pokes!

[XTM]

I was very impressed with the "no shooting" video that Xela posted. In the comments section of that, someone mentioned your ship in the arcade version has only a 1 pixel hitbox in its center, something that became a sort of standard for those bullet hell games that came much later. I had no idea this was a thing in R-Type too. The Speccy version certainly does not have this so in this regard it will probably be harder

[Weiv]

I was very impressed with the "no shooting" video that Xela posted. In the comments section of that, someone mentioned your ship in the arcade version has only a 1 pixel hitbox in its center, something that became a sort of standard for those bullet hell games that came much later. I had no idea this was a thing in R-Type too. The Speccy version certainly does not have this so in this regard it will probably be harder

Spectrum version cannot be finished that way at all, even the first level.