I am a huge fan of scrolling shooters, I may not be as good at them as I used to be but I still find them entertaining. R-Type was one of those shooters I enjoyed in arcades and on my Super Nintendo with Super R-Type. I was also an avid video game magazine reader and waited month after month to see anything about R-Type coming to the Sega Genesis. It never happened and I eventually lost interest in seeing it anyhow as I got older. Thanks to a fan, I can now enjoy R-Type on the Sega Genesis as they are working on completing their port.
I am not sure what exactly Earth has that makes all these aliens want to invade our planet but here we are. At least with Robotech/Macross the reason was pretty apparent, we had their technology and they felt that simply could not stand. With R-Type we are just a planet of interest for the Bydo Empire and that is good enough for a full scale invasion.
While R-Type may not have a United States President like the one in the Independence Day movie, nor a Randy Quaid to finish the job, we have you.
R-Type is not above reproach by any means like games such as the original Legend of Zelda or Dragon Warrior both on NES and Ultima I on computers, it is still a solid title. Getting to play it on the Sega Genesis is great, while I must rely on emulators, I can imagine this running nicely on real hardware just the same.
The Genesis was made for scrolling shooters. Just look at the library available.
This port by itch.io user The Roboz is coming together nicely. There is still work to be done but according an update earlier in 2025 all levels are in the game now.
Fans can expect both arcade and remixed soundtracks, four stages, two difficulty levels, and many options exclusive to the Mega R-Type port.
Are you a fan of scrolling shooters? Either way, what games did you rock back in the day, whatever “back in the day” may mean for you?
