R-Type

is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and released by Irem in 1987 and the first game in the R-Type series. The player controls a star ship, the R-9 "Arrowhead", in its efforts to destroy the Bydo, a powerful alien race bent on wiping out all of mankind. The R-9 can acquire a glowing orbicular device called a "Force", protecting it from enemy fire and providing additional firepower. The arcade version was distributed by Nintendo in North America; it is the last arcade title Nintendo distributed. R-Type was the first game to run on Irem's 16-bit M72 arcade system. The development team drew inspiration from Gradius, Aliens and works by H.R. Giger. The music was composed by Masato Ishizaki, while character designs were by Akio Oyabu. The game's title stems from the word "ray", as in a ray of light, in reference to the player's raylike weapons used throughout the game. R-Type was commercially successful and celebrated by critics for its graphics and addictive gameplay, but was criticized for its difficulty. It is commonly cited as one of the best shoot 'em up video games, and one of the greatest video games of all time. Its success inspired several sequel and spinoff games, and home ports and releases for digital distribution services. A remake of the game was released as R-Type DX for the Game Boy Color in 2000. A 3D remake, R-Type Dimensions, was released for the Xbox 360 in 2009; for the PlayStation 3 in 2014; for Microsoft Windows, the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4 in 2018; and for iOS in 2019. The game has a generally slower pace than similar shooting games of the time and emphasizes enemy pattern memorization as much as player speed. It is composed of eight levels, with a boss enemy at the end of each. The player controls a small spacecraft and must navigate terrain and fight enemies using the various ship weapons. The player's spacecraft has, by default, a weak but rapid-firing main gun; and a more powerful gun called a wave cannon, which requires the player to hold their fire to build up power for the cannon.