Games of the 8-, 16- & 32-bit era

R-Type

Title	R-Type
First release	1987
Developers	Compile, Irem
Publisher	Irem
Platforms	Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Arcade, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MSX, Master System, PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16, ZX Spectrum
Genres	science fiction video game, shoot 'em up
Players	1–2 players
Co-op	Yes
ESRB rating	E Everyone
Releases	Arcade: 1987-10-01 (NTSC-U) Atari ST: 1988-01-01 (PAL) ZX Spectrum: 1988-01-01 MSX: 1988-01-04 Commodore 64: 1988-05-03 Master System: 1988-12-24 (NTSC-U) Amstrad CPC: 1989-01-01 Amiga: 1989-05-01
Wikidata ID	Q55673

The R-9A Arrowhead fighter craft battles the Bydo Empire in this side-scrolling shooter. Players manage a standard small gun for minor enemies or hold the fire button to charge a large burst of energy to eliminate stronger threats. Navigating through horizontal stages requires strategic movement to survive the high-difficulty combat encounters.

Description: REG-Vault, CC BY-SA 4.0

View on Wikidata Read on Wikipedia

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), gaps filled from REG-Vault and TheGamesDB and Arcade Database (ADB). Only retro platforms tracked by this site are listed; the year is the earliest release date recorded on Wikidata.

Sources

Wikidata (Q55673) · last updated 2026-09-27 · CC0

REG-Vault (c64/r-type) · last updated 2026-09-30 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (amiga/r-type) · last updated 2026-09-28 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (zxspectrum/r-type) · last updated 2026-10-07 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (amstradcpc/r-type) · last updated 2026-10-22 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

TheGamesDB (5479) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (88379) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (2996) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (42114) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (6514) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (36763) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (28301) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (8226) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (45427) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

Arcade Database (ADB) (rtype) · last updated 2026-10-05 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · internal use only

Arcade Database ADB

MAME romset	`rtype`
Title at ADB	R-Type (World)
Manufacturer	Irem
Year	1987
Genre	Shooter / Flying Horizontal
Players	2
MAME driver status	GOOD

Artwork: ADB (Arcade Database); artwork © original manufacturer (Irem); snaps by ProgettoSnaps via ADB. Non-free, internal use only (hotlinked, not downloaded).

Scraping using Arcade Database by motoschifo · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · romset via Wikidata P2451 (wikidata-qid) · fetched 2026-10-05 05:05 UTC · no fields filled (other sources take precedence)

Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © Irem · internal use only

1 / 27 Box art Box art (front) 1

Image credits

Box art, Screenshots, Logos, Artwork (16): Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © Irem · internal use only. REG-Vault page

Box art, Screenshots, Logos, Artwork (7): Source: TheGamesDB (user-uploaded) · © Irem · internal use only. TheGamesDB page

Screenshots (3): Source: libretro-thumbnails (upstream libretro-thumbnails (art by developers/publishers; see repo README)) · © Irem · internal use only.

Image: Own work Picture taken in Červený Újezd, Central Bohemia, Czech republic, the last day of the Extra! demoparty, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (“R-Type video game machine.jpg”)

Sprites

No sprite sheets yet. Find sprites on The Spriters Resource ↗ /

Videos

Master System Longplay [111] R-Type (US) (FM)

World-of-Longplays · Master System version · longplay · 46:41auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:42 UTC

Amiga Longplay [043] R Type

By Urien84 Longplays · Amiga version · longplay · 34:37auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:41 UTC

"Auto-matched" videos were found automatically (title + platform match via the YouTube Data API) and may occasionally be wrong. Videos are hosted by YouTube (embedded via youtube-nocookie.com; nothing loads from YouTube until you press play) and belong to their channels.