The Bydo Empire is back! More powerful and deadlier than ever, the Bydo are en-route to Earth, and only you and your lone R-90 fighter stand in their way. Unlike its arcade predecessors, R-Type III: The Third Lightning was made especially for Super Nintendo, making full use of the ‘Mode 7’ graphics system to generate backgrounds that twist, tilt and spin.

R-Type III also introduced new Force pods - Round Force, Shadow Force and Cyclone Force – that can be attached to the front or rear of your ship to provide massive firepower, especially when upgraded with the plentiful power-ups. Plus, the charged-up Wave weapon is now joined by the awesome Hyper Wave Cannon. Use it sparingly, though, or your ship will overheat. Read More »

If you loved the original R-Type on Turbografx, R-Type III The Third Lightning is a blast from the past that belongs in your collection.

Review

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 by Damien McFerran

The Bydo Empire is back! More powerful and deadlier than ever, the Bydo are en-route to Earth.

R-Type III is an interesting title in many ways. Firstly, it was a console exclusive, which generated quite a stir when it was first published. Secondly it takes advantage of the Super NES 'Mode 7' graphics to bring rotating backgrounds into play..

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User Comments

1. mini_stephen 19 Feb 2007, 21:50 GMT

Great little game but bloomin' hard by today's standards..... when you die you have to replay the whole level again grrrrrr

2. Valtox 28 Feb 2007, 10:29 GMT

Good game but it's not for 2 players as stated in the Wii shop.
You'll play one at a time like in Super Mario World and it's pretty lame I think.

3. Dazza 28 Feb 2007, 10:32 GMT

Naughty Wii Shop. All the same I don't think this game would benefit that much from a 2 player option honestly. You think Super Mario World is lame as it's 1 player? We are wasting our time!! :-)

4. sam 14 Mar 2007, 03:47 GMT

I prefer other R-Type over this version. The hardest thing about this game is avoiding the walls/scenery/rotating objects rather than the enemies. It is no where near as fun as other Rtype games. More enemies would have been appreciated.

5. justsumdude899 18 Mar 2007, 09:16 GMT

What a great game! Like Kirby's Adventure, this is one of those few Virtual Console games that I'd never played before, and for some reason, that makes the buy just that much better. After downloading Super Star Soldier and not liking it (mostly to what I thought was insane/unfair difficulty), I was shying away from shooters on the VC. To me, it didn't feel worth it to play through 2 levels of a game and give up. I avoided R-Type 3 for awhile, but I'm glad I finally gave it a chance.

This is one of my top 3 VC downloads so far. A challenging game, but fair, and it allows you to "continue" endlessly and progress. Well worth the 800 points.

6. Sektor 25 Mar 2007, 22:07 GMT

Ahh! i just completed this game, it is very good, one of the best shooters around by far, if not the best.
the 2-player mode is adverage, but its fun to complete it with all the types of force.

7. Hattes 08 Apr 2007, 18:42 GMT

There never was an "original PAL SNES release"! This is the game that has gotten people's hopes up for Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Super Mario RPG and the like.

8. William 10 Apr 2007, 05:04 GMT

How do you guys compare between the R-Type series (majorly or minorly.. doesn't matter) for the SNES and T-GX 16 systems? Thanks. I am comparing the reviews here and there (and the star rating). Hm... might give R-Type a try, I guess!

9. Sam 10 Apr 2007, 18:42 GMT

I just beat the first level and I'm absolutely loving it so far. I also bought Soldier Blade - another great shooter, but R-Type 3 is my favorite of the two.

10. TheNintendoBoy 22 Apr 2007, 19:00 GMT

R-Type still works pretty well on the SNES as it's pretty slow paced and tactical for a shooter, so if you like the R-Type style of gameplay, you won't be disappointed.

11. moosa 18 May 2007, 08:38 GMT

This game is superior to the original R-Type in almost every way...
Of course the original is great, and absolutely worth playing, but this game expands on that concept greatly...
A stunning achievement on the SNES, you'll be hard pressed to find a better shooter anywhere!
The R-Type series is extremely technical for its time. It's not hyper-intense, but its dang hard and so cool that any onlookers will be amazed =D
Maybe the best-looking SNES game ever, and the gameplay is truely stellar.
MUST BUY.

12. Jonno 26 Jun 2007, 06:00 GMT

A pretty challenging shmup. Can never get past the 1st level save point!

13. BluePaladin25 21 Jul 2007, 10:08 GMT

If you hate getting stuck on the last level, don't get this game.
IT IS HARD!!!!!!!

If you enjoy a challenge, however, then this is one of the best space shooters out there.

14. Paulymate 30 Jul 2007, 12:24 GMT

Great game, well worth the download.
Also, contrary to Hattes, above, I am afraid there was a PAL release - I certainly had a copy back in the day, and it pops up on Ebay fairly often, at an inflated price.
Sorry, but the presence of this game on the PAL VC is not a good reason to get your hopes up for Euro release of Super Mario RPG or Chrono Trigger, as this game *was* released in Euroland...

15. KhaoShar 08 Sep 2007, 21:23 GMT

Yup, it was, I remember having played it ages ago. It was thrilling and the effects where real eye-candy, but it was un-be-leave-ably hard!!

I think about getting I for VC but I'm telling all the kids out there: this game is nothing for people with a low self conciousness- you have to belive in yourself to see the end of this 8)

16. jackaroo 13 Sep 2007, 15:43 GMT

I have this on GBA. Im tempted to get this version since i cannot do the GBA version. I cry just from looking at the title screen lol oj. But i have NEVER got past the first level and im wondering Has anyone played this and the gba version and is there any chance that one is harder than the other or are they identical in difficulty. Still i do enjoy this game so i think a 4 star rating is good from me too.

17. tovare 26 Sep 2007, 17:20 GMT

Jackaroo, the GBA version has a bad reputation. The first level is quite easy and if you get stuck there's some play-throughs on youtube to get you going again. R-Type III is a really great side-shooter, but I really miss a proper high-score table.

18. darthmix 06 Nov 2007, 17:02 GMT

My all-time favorite "shmup" game. I can't even say what it is, exactly, that puts this game above Gradius III, or Gate of Thunder, or even more recent shmups like Einhander for me. I guess it's that the level design is superb and the force-weapon and power-ups seem to be more thoughtfully designed than any other shmup I've played. It's wonderfully hard, but thanks to supsend points on virtual console you don't even have to beat it in one sitting like you did on the SNES. If you like shooters, this is a no-brainer.

19. Jonno 21 Jan 2008, 05:38 GMT

Ha, this is a really challenging game (just how I like my schmups).

20. whalleywhat 24 Jun 2008, 01:55 GMT

Who said you have to replay the whole level when you die? Each level has a few checkpoints, plus you have unlimited continues and they also start you from the checkpoints. So you can keep re-trying a section as many times as you have to. And you will have to. Personally, for a shooter as tactical as this that requires memorization to get through sections, this is an awesome way to dole out lives. If I had to restart levels and had limited continues, I'd probably get really frustrated. Great graphics, and the slowdown is nowhere near as bad as Gradius III.

21. Stijnco 27 Jul 2008, 10:46 GMT

This game is hard-.-but still entertaining!

22. Mickeymac 06 Aug 2008, 08:53 GMT

If I had $100, I'd spend it all on VC shooters.

I have R-Type Final, and loved it, but man was it hard. This seems a little more forgiving, since you have unlimited continues. Sure it doesn't have an "Easy mode" like Final does, but even on easy it's still hard, so I think I'll live with what they give me.