R-Type Final 2

[Nester the Lark]

Here's a new interview with Kazuma Kujo at Eurogamer.

Here are a few interesting parts:

It did feel like a grand farewell. How has the landscape changed to make it viable for R-Type to come back now?

Kazuma Kujo: [laughs] I get that question a lot! When we released R-Type Delta, I thought that would be it, that there wouldn't be a tonne more games in that genre. I certainly didn't think that I'd be asked to make another game in that genre. However, the genre did not die!

In 2003, when R-Type Final was released, I thought that was definitely going to be the end! But contrary to that, the genre stuck around! They have staying power! On top of that, these great indie shooting games were releasing in the genre as well. So that's one reason.

One other thing that's kind of changed was wider TVs. Widescreen is the standard. In my eyes, an R-Type style game on that type of TV feels like a natural fit. But when I presented it, I did not expect the reaction to be what it was - I figured it'd maybe have more of a cult following. We got a really big response and I was surprised by that.

. . .

The original R-Type Final was quite a traditional shooting game, as opposed to more hectic bullet hell type games. Is that going to be a similar case with R-Type Final 2, where it'll be a kind of more sedate, traditional type of shooting game?

Kazuma Kujo: It's definitely coming away a little bit from the danmaku genre and is going to have a more traditional flow. Even if danmaku was all the rage, R-Type would never be that kind of game!

Some more specific questions about R-Type Final 2. You said about making an R-Type game for widescreen TVs. How does that impact the design of the game, the pace and the feel, when having that space?

Kazuma Kujo: The first thing that comes to mind with widescreen TVs, we're able to have what I consider to be a proper distance between the ships and parts of the stage. There's certainly more freedom in general, and essentially making enemies was easier - the process is just a little more natural and a little simpler because of that. We did have to increase bullet speed as a result - if they stayed the same speed the pacing would not feel quite as good so their speeds were increased. It resulted in a creation process that was a bit different than the previous games.

R-Type Final was known for its huge selection of ships. I know you're not going to have quite as many this time around. But how did you go about that selection process and deciding which ones to keep and which ones to discard?

Kazuma Kujo: First of all, I chose the ones I liked the best!

Haha, that's the perfect answer.

Kazuma Kujo: So first I started with the ones that I liked. And eventually they just kind of went in order, and the idea was to fit in as many as possible. I haven't told anyone else this yet, but the end goal, possibly with DLC later on, is to have every single R-Type Final one ship in R-Type Final 2.

I like that he makes the point that R-Type will never be a bullet hell-style shooter. I'm not a big fan of bull hell shooters, and I much prefer classic-style shooters, but even most modern indie shooters that try to be retro in style can't help but fill the screen with bullets. It's like some developers forgot what made classic shooters so good.

And besides, can you imagine a bullet hell shooter where you got sent back to a checkpoint every time you lost a life? (Some of the Gradius games do veer towards that, though.)

[Nester the Lark]

NISA demoed the first stage during the New Game Plus Expo live stream yesterday. The commentary is really annoying, and they don't say anything of substance, so feel free to mute it.



The stage seems rather sparse and uninteresting, and doesn't seem too challenging despite the difficulty being set above normal. These are complaints I've heard against the first R-Type Final, as well. If you compare it to the first stages of any R-Type game previous to Final, there's quite a big difference in pacing and design. I hoped for something a bit more inspired (although, Dobkeratops, the boss and a recurring enemy in the series, being frozen in ice was kind of interesting, I guess).

The game will have recreations of previous R-Type stages as bonus stages, so there's also that. I suppose the real appeal is to experiment with all the different ships, but I still hope the level design gets better later.

[Nester the Lark]

There's now a demo available on the eShop in North America (and, I assume, other regions). It includes the first level, three ships (which can be customized), and four difficulty settings.

Based on it, I'm happy to learn that the Switch version seems to run just fine (to my satisfaction, at least). I also had a surprisingly hard time beating the boss until I figured out a strategy that works.

Aside from the demo, I was disappointed to learn that the bonus levels that recreate classic R-Type stages are planned to be paid DLC. Although, if you backed the crowdfunding campaing at a tier for either a digital or physical copy of the game, you'll be able to get them for free.

[Nester the Lark]

I found out that in addition to the three ships in the demo, you can actually unlock three more, so the demo actually has a total of six ships. You have to finish the first stage, and then purchase the additional craft in the Museum mode with the materials you collected. Unfortunately, the demo doesn't save progress, so you would have to unlock them again every time you start the demo.

[Nester the Lark]

So, I've been playing R-Type Final 2 this past weekend, and I thought I would post my impressions.

I got the physical "Inaugural Flight Edition" because I didn't want the game to take up too much space on my Switch's memory... and I ended up having to download a 2.4 GB day-one patch anyway. *sigh* Modern gaming...

But on the plus side, it came with a CD soundtrack and a small artbook. The artbook contains an entertaining Q&A with Kazuma Kujo.

As for the game, I was happy to find out that the level design gets much more interesting after the first stage. There are seven stages in a regular playthrough, although there are three different stage 6s, and three different stage 7s. (To be clear, they are not variations of the same stages, but entirely different stages.) The branching path depends on a certain thing you do in stage 5.

The stages, themselves, can also vary a bit depending on the difficulty setting. For example, if you set the difficulty to R-Typer, the boss of stage 1 is no longer frozen, and it becomes an entirely different fight.

I've unlocked a bunch of ships so far. A couple required passwords for some reason, but the collective internet has already cracked them. The various ships are fun to experiment with. Some are much more powerful than others, while some seem to be more of a novelty. You have the ability to swap ships between stages, which can add a little bit of a strategic element to the game. The difficulty of a stage can vary a lot depending on the ship you use. The bottom line is that the game isn't really intended to be balanced for each ship equally. Rather, it's better to think of it like a sandbox to play and experiment with.

Additionally, there's a lot of frivolous stuff to unlock and play with outside of the main game. You can customize the look of your ships, as well as your pilot. Various artworks can be unlocked and set to be used for either the title screen or loading screen. You can also customize the title of the game with various preset words. It's all kinda pointless, but still amusing.

The first of three DLC packs is already available, and includes remakes of stage 4 from R-Type III and stage 5 from R-Type Leo. I haven't gotten it yet, but probably will at some point. Naturally, it's a slightly better value to get the full season pass rather than the individual packs.

Overall, I'm highly enjoying the game so far, and I expect to be playing it for quite some time.

[Nester the Lark]

I've been playing quite a lot of R-Type Final 2 since it came out, so I wanted to talk about it a little more.

While the game is still in a bit of a rough state, I get the feeling that Granzella is taking a Smash Bros-like approach to R-Type Final 2, with steady updates and new content planned for the future. I can't find an original source, but I've seen people claim that Kazuma Kujo mentioned in a Japanese interview that he planned to support the game for about two years. In a new blog post, he indicates that there are updates planned for the next several months.

The original R-Type Final already seemed to be a little like Irem's Smash Bros, with all the different ships that are not only based on ships from previous R-Type games, but other Irem games, as well. (Including the Peace Maker from Gallop/Cosmic Cop, the ship from Image Fight, a ship partially based on the one from X Multiply, Mr. Heli, and even a ship named Disaster Report.) R-Type Final 2 takes it a step further with the DLC homage stages, based on stages from previous R-Type games.

I went ahead a bought the stage pass. The first two packs are out now, each including two stages. The third pack is supposed to include three stages. They're interesting because they aren't exact recreations of the original stages, but rather feel like remixed versions of them, with certain elements changed. (You can see videos with direct comparisons here and here.) They also seem to be much harder than they were in their original games (at least to me). It's also kind of funny that they look better, graphically, than some of the stages in the main game.

One feature I neglected to mention in my original impressions was the course editor, which lets you create a sequence of seven stages from any of the stages available in the game, with the exception that stage 7 must be one of the stage 7s from the main game. This isn't a terribly exciting feature with the limited number of stages in the base game, but combined with the extra DLC stages, it starts to feel like a "make your own R-Type" game.

The base game had "only" 54 ships, but there's already been a free update that adds one new ship: the POW Armor from R-Type Delta. The rollout for it was a little strange, though. The PS4 version got it weeks ago, but the Switch version was only updated with it yesterday. Kujo has stated that he wants to include all the ships from the original Final, but it seems that there may be even more beyond that.

If Granzella does continue to support R-Type Final 2 for the long term, I wonder what other content there may be. Perhaps another stage pack with more classic stages? Maybe more original stages? Maybe even stages from other Irem shooters?

I seem to recall an interview with Kujo (unfortunately, I can't remember where, so I hope this isn't a case of the Mandela effect) where he mentioned that back in the late '00s, he wanted to make a crossover shooter with content from other companies, so it would be like R-Type X Gradius, etc., but he couldn't make it happen. If he still has ambition for that, I wonder if we might even see something like that with R-Type Final 2. (It would not be unprecedented. Taito's Dariusburst Chronicles Saviours has DLC for crossover content from Capcom, Sega and CAVE.)

Or maybe I'm just letting my imagination run away with me. I'm sure a lot depends on how well R-Type Final 2 sells. Personally, I love the game. It really caters to how I like to experiment with different ships and discover new strategies. It's one of my "games of the year" so far.