Game operation is pretty basic. They attack you. You shoot them and try to survive until the next level.
R-Types does work nicely with the Dual Shock compatible controller, and also has some nice optional user settings such as cockpit/screen adjustment and screen scroll. (Pause the game to get to these options.) When you start a game, you have to push Select to add a “Credit” so you can play. When they say straight port from arcade, they mean it! Be greedy like me. Keep hitting that Select button till your finger bleeds. I stopped at 30 Credits, but it looked like no end was in sight. Also, you can increase the number of ships you start with from two to five. Hehe.
One really cool feature is R-Types’ Library Ver. 1.0. This is a section you can visit which includes the Geneology, History, and Data of R-Types. Go to Geneology to check out all of the ships available in the game, as well as their stats. There are 3D pics of each ship, so you can spin them around and see the entire ship. When you select a certain weapon, the ship will spin to the weapon’s position on the ship and a pop-up box will describe it. In History, of course the background of the war with the Bydo is described, as well as the creation of the R-Types. A “photo” of the ship created will pop up when you select that history tidbit. In Data... well, duh. It lists all of the enemies from both R-Type and R-Type II (separately, of course) with pics so you can learn to spot them. I said all this to say that this is possibly the coolest feature of the game. It’s obvious that much time was put into the Library, so definitely check it out. It will help to give you an edge in the game. Plus, it’s way cool.
