R-Type is an incredibly polarizing franchise because while it’s a beautiful example of classic gaming, it’s also one of the most punishing shmups out there and always has been. Ever since the original R-Type launched way back in 1987, it has been a game and series that has been both lauded and reviled in equal measure. Gamers love to play it and they love to hate it as well, leading to ongoing frustration for decades.
Nowhere is this more apparent than R-Type Delta. Originally released on the original Playstation in 1998, Delta was the first R-Type to shift from sprite-based graphics to 3D. It’s an absolutely stunning looking shmup that effectively uses background design and movement to create a multi-layered experience that’s far more immersive than other shooters. Right from the first level, you know you’re in for something special and that’s really how R-Type Delta gets you, because actually getting to see and survive those fantastic levels and chunky old pixels is awful thanks to the steep difficulty curve. All of that incredibly design intricacy is locked behind a skill wall that keeps anyone but the most determined players firmly out, frustrating the average player.
High difficulty hasn’t lessened the demand for R-Type Delta though and the original PS1 version commands a healthy price even today on secondary markets like eBay. Since that has been the only way to play R-Type Delta since the ‘90s, it was far past time for a remaster though and now we have R-Type Delta: HD Boosted from developers IREM and City Connection and publisher Clear River Games for modern consoles! While there have been a dearth of re-releases of old games to the point where it seems like there are no new ideas, some titles such as Delta have been particularly inaccessible, so from a preservation standpoint, this is excellent, especially with the prices that vintage shmups command on secondary markets.
Boosted takes the original game and swaps in all new HD graphics, cleaning up the old chunky PS1 polygons and giving them a razor-clean look. While the game itself has been cleaned up, it hasn’t been changed and the classic R-Type aesthetic is still present everywhere you look. The original visuals are still entirely intact too, giving you a cleaner impression of a vintage game that came out during the shift from pixels to polygons. Unsurprisingly, the difficulty hasn’t been changed either. In fact, R-Type Delta: HD Boosted is just as challenging as it always was and there are only a handful of QOL updates. The standard difficulty for the game is called Human and it’s gruelling. Drop down to easy and you’ve got Kids mode, which lessens the fire patterns of enemies and makes things a bit easier. Crank things up to Bydo (hard mode) and just forget it entirely, only a handful of players can survive!
The problem with R-Type Delta: HD Boosted is that each stage requires precise movement and memorization. Enemy patterns don’t vary and only a handful of enemy shots are positional, meaning that if you follow a very specific route through each level, you’ll know exactly where every enemy will fire and where to put your ship in order to dodge it. Deviate and you basically die almost every time and only luck will save you at all. That’s questionably fun at best for the majority of players, though hardcore shmup fans would argue that it’s a gratifying challenge to make your way through the 7 stages of Delta, especially if you’re chasing that elusive 1CC.
The mechanics of Delta haven’t changed of course, as this is a remaster and not a remake. Standard R-Type rules apply here and the Force ball is back, along with the classic R-Type lasers and other weapons. You have 3 ships to choose from, each with two different ship specific main weapons, as well as the standard charge shot. In addition, R-Type Delta features the Delta weapon. To charge the Delta weapon, you need to use your Force ball to come into contact with enemies. Once the Delta weapon hits a full charge on the meter in the lower left-hand corner, you can release a massive blast of energy, destroying basically anything on the screen. If you hang onto that charge until you really need it, you also rack up extra score while it’s fully charged so don’t just blast everything the second you reach full power if you’re playing for score!
Once you realize that choosing the correct weapon in the correct spot at the correct time is exactly how the game is supposed to be played, gameplay really only appeals to a handful of perfectionist players. The rest of us mortals are less likely to spend the time it takes to master such a challenging game, though the updates from City Connection make it more worthwhile. The most important addition by far is a Practice mode that allows you play through stages in the game with any level of power-ups you desire. Practice mode lets you work on the patterns in a particular stage until you have it down pat and are ready to play through the stages in order in the main game. However, there’s one tiny little shortcoming of Practice mode…you can only practice a stage once you’ve reached it! That means either you can’t practice later levels or you’ll have to incrementally work your way up to beating each stage before you can run them in practice. Fortunately, you can unlock Practice mode for all stages of the game in Kids mode but even Kids mode is more difficult than you might expect and will take many hours of deaths, restarts, and abject frustration to unlock the 7 stages of R-Type Delta: HD Boosted.
Practicing until you get each stage down gives you a slow but steady progression of unlocking and memorization that makes it easier to work out how to complete the later stages of the game. The ability to game the powerup system in practice mode is particularly neat because you can decide which checkpoint to start at, what powerups you’ll have, and even whether or not you want to be invincible in order to see how the stage unfolds. Once you get a stage down, you can then do a run-through trying to unlock the next stage in Practice mode. Normal shmups force you to have perfect runs to make it further, exponentially increasing the difficulty of learning later stages, but Delta manages to make this less of a chore and more interesting, an excellent improvement, even though it does take a long time to unlock everything.
Delta is a visual masterpiece and the dynamic backgrounds and unpredictability of the angles of some enemies enhance an otherwise standard horizontal shmup. In true R-Type fashion enemies can come from anywhere and utilizing and realigning your Force attachment (the ball on the front of your ship you can shoot out and reattach to the front or back) is essential to your survival. But surviving is tough in a game that looks this cool because the clean and crisp visuals in R-Type Delta: HD Boosted are distractingly cool. You really want to stare at the huge bosses or check out the detailed backgrounds the whole time you’re playing but the slightest deviation from your established patterns results in an almost instant death. City Connection has also included a retro mode, allowing you to view the game in its original PS1 glory, so if you’re craving that old school vibe, this is going to be the method for you. Either way, this is a beautiful game with the outstanding design aesthetic that has always permeated the R-Type franchise.
Sound design is also an integral part of R-Type Delta: HD Boosted and the laser effects and explosions are in full force here as you’d expect for one of the original shmup franchises. In addition to the excellent sound design, there’s a new and updated soundtrack with tracks from IREM composer Masahiko Ishida, the original R-Type sound team, and even Chris Hülsbeck who worked on the Commodore versions of the soundtrack. The best part is that the new soundtrack is entirely optional and you can swap between the excellent new tracks and the original soundtrack whenever you’d like. Between the ability to change up both music and visuals, Boosted allows for a solid variety of preference selections, a refreshing change from some remasters.
While R-Type Delta: HD Boosted is an excellent update to a classic game, it isn’t perfect. The difficulty of the series is legendary and that definitely hasn’t changed. That creates a barrier for casual players who enjoy shmups and a lot of tension and frustration while trying to master each stage in this high-precision game. Other remastered titles have included limited fast-forward and rewind options and it’s a shame that those aren’t available here. Though R-Type Delta: HD Boosted isn’t as gruelling as other older IREM games such as Image Fight, it’s still remarkably hard, so don’t expect to breeze through the levels unless you’ve mastered the original on PS1 already. There are also no additional extras here. Many of the remake we see these days include original manuals, concept art, and other extras for enthusiasts and by comparison, Boosted is a bit bare bones in terms of additional content.
City Connection has managed to make a very challenging classic game a bit more approachable with R-Type Delta: HD Boosted. While it’s still just as hard as it always was, the practice mode helps a bit but it’s also a shame there aren’t a few more QOL options available for accessibility. The new visuals are utterly fantastic though and the new optional soundtrack is excellent, making this a fun new way to experience R-Type Delta while still preserving the original game. All in all, there’s a lot to love here and as long as you’re ready for the intense challenge that R-Type games represent, it’s definitely going to be worth your time, especially at the $25 price point which is much lower than buying a retro copy of the game!
This review is based on a digital copy of R-Type Delta: HD Boosted provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes and played equally well on both. R-Type Delta: HD Boosted is also available on Playstation, Xbox, and PC on Steam.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.