Few arcade shooters have left fingerprints as deep as R-Type. Its imagery is burned into the collective memory: the Force ping-ponging about the screen, the Wave Cannon charging in silence, levels that feel less like stages and more like hostile ecosystems. But to understand why R-Type landed with such force in the late 1980s, and continues to inspire with R-Type Delta: HD Boosted, and be replayed (I have the Evercade cart), you have to look beyond the screen and back to Irem itself, and the particular moment in arcade history that shaped it.
By the mid-80s, game arcades were brutally competitive spaces, and shooters were locked in an arms race of spectacle and difficulty. Companies like Toaplan, Konami, and Namco were iterating rapidly, but Irem carved out a different identity. Where many shooters leaned into speed and reflex, Irem’s games often felt heavier, more deliberate, more spatially oppressive. Retro games like Image Fight and Mr. Heli prioritised enemy behaviour, positioning, and pressure over raw screen-filling chaos.
As he puts it: “The fact that I’d actually worked on arcade shooting games at Irem, had discussions with Irem staff about game development, and repeatedly read through materials left behind by my predecessors became my foundation when I first took on the challenge of creating an R-Type series title.”
Retro game insights
Those materials mattered because Irem, like many arcade developers of the era, documented obsessively. Enemy tables, damage values, spawn timings, and stage layouts were how design knowledge survived team changes and shifting hardware. When Kujo later came on board the R-Type series, he inherited an era-defining brand and a body of thinking built during the arcade boom’s most demanding years.
That inheritance also came with pressure. R-Type had launched in 1987 as a statement game, one that rejected twitch-heavy improvisation in favour of memorisation, positioning, and calculated risk. Returning to that world years later for a PlayStation release was daunting.
“When we started developing R-Type Delta, I was extremely nervous, but at the same time, I was also confident that we’d be able to find a way through; some common ground (between the previous iterations and Delta),” reflects Kujo.
That “common ground” wasn’t visual nostalgia. It was structural. Arcade shooters at Irem were built around intent: why an enemy exists, where it appears, and how it forces the player to respond. The goal was to transfer that ethos onto new hardware, and for the first time, using 3D graphics
Kujo explains: “In particular, the mindset I acquired during my time at Irem – about creating enemy specifications, enemy placement, and boldly structuring stages for level design –served as the basis for R-Type Delta’s game design.”
This way of thinking helps explain why R-Type still feels distinct within the genre, even as in the case of Delta, it evolves into 3D. While its mechanics are iconic, Kujo argues their power comes from the design discipline surrounding them.
“Of course, features like the Force and the Wave Cannon are essential, but I think what really stands out is the consistency in level design and enemy creation that brings those mechanics to life, the boldness of stage composition, and the refusal to follow fleeting trends in game pacing,” he says.
The R-Type template
That refusal to chase trends was unusual even in the late '80s and early '90s, when arcade developers were under constant pressure to escalate speed and spectacle. R-Type instead asked players to slow down, learn, and survive. That philosophy has aged surprisingly well, allowing different generations of R-Type games to coexist.
“Because of this, even as remakes of older titles coexist with new entries, both manage to share common traits while maintaining their own individuality.”
For Kujo, this isn’t accidental: “This coexistence shows that multiple companies continue to release R-Type titles in parallel, and that the R-Type series is not just a single game franchise; it has become a format that continues to influence the entire shooting game genre.”
Despite decades of sequels, remasters, and reinterpretations, Kujo is candid about where the benchmark was set. “I hate to admit it, but I feel the original R-Type is the most complete in every respect.”
That completeness is a direct product of its time. The original R-Type was built when arcade games had to earn every credit, when difficulty curves were unforgiving, and when visual identity had to be instantly legible across a noisy, smoky arcade floor.
“Anyone involved in creating R-Type titles is both captivated and overwhelmed by the originality and boldness of its level design.”
For Kujo, certain moments still define the series’ design DNA. “The Wave Cannon, the Force, and the enemies you must defeat using them… Stage 1’s Gomander, Stage 3’s massive battleship, Level 4’s green clusters/blobs, Stage 5’s Mura/Slither – their nature as enemies and their visuals are all incredibly refined.”
Later entries don’t try to escape the shadow of the original but embrace, develop, and even subvert it. “Even when making new R-Type games, we break down the stage and enemy components of the original R-Type and use them as a framework, adding new ideas on top of that.”
Outside influences
Kujo’s thinking, however, was never shaped by shooters alone. While classic Irem retro game shooters such as R-Type, R-Type II, R-Type III, and Image Fight fed directly into Kujo’s own games, R-Type Delta and R-Type Final 2 / 3 Evolved, other genres left their mark too.
“Outside of shooters, the original Resident Evil and Another World influenced the game design and development of Disaster Report,” he says, explaining that what links those games to R-Type isn’t genre, but intent. "The boldness and clarity with regards the experience they want the player to have were extremely helpful. Both are games I deeply respect."
That clarity underpins Kujo’s advice to younger designers trying to channel retro ideas today. “Deciding what comprises ‘retro’ as a style is tricky, but if we define it as side-view or top-down shooters or action games, I recommend reducing the game design down to key components as much as possible during design."
Strip back a game to its fundamentals, shares Kujo. “Think about just three elements: the player’s objective, the obstacles to that objective, and the means provided to the player to overcome those obstacles. Spend time considering your game through that lens.”
Advice to new devs
He also offers a warning shaped by years of shipping games under pressure. “On a more mental note: while observing others play your game can be helpful, don’t get too caught up in their verbal feedback.”
But be warned, “It can sting when someone criticises a game you’ve worked so hard on, but praise can also become a heavy burden.”
And when it comes to adapting classic design thinking to modern players, Kujo doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. “As for adapting to modern players, that’s something I’m still learning myself – I’m currently gaining insight from our younger staff.”
Seen through the lens of Irem’s 1980s arcade scene, R-Type’s endurance makes sense. It wasn’t designed to chase trends or overwhelm with speed, but to apply pressure through structure, memory, and restraint. That foundation, laid down in one of the most demanding eras of arcade development, is what continues to support the series decades later.
Clear River Games' release of R-Type Delta: HD Boosted is out now for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam.
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