R-Type
A legendary game that revolutionized the genre and completely changed
the way players viewed the humble shoot'em up. R-Type is an incredibly
difficult game but, due to the superb graphics, breath-taking level
design and never-before-seen gameplay, the game was a huge success, and
is still regarded as being the finest of its genre.
R-type's real stroke of genius was in the innovative weapon system the game introduced. The first is the beam weapon: when the player presses and holds the fire button, a beam 'power meter' starts to charge up, once the meter was full, releasing the fire button unleashed a very powerful 'plasma burst', capable of destroying most of R-type's enemy ships. The trade-off was that charging the weapon took up valuable seconds, giving the Bydo ships time to attack.
The second and perhaps most significant innovation was R-type's now-legendary Force Pod. This takes the form of an invincible, detachable laser-firing pod that can be attached to either the front or rear of the player's ship, or can be detached completely and sent forth into the enemy ships. The pod laser was a stroke of true genius and, coupled with the superb level design, gave the world its first "strategic" shoot'em up. (arcade-history)
The gameplay of R-Type is noticeably distinct among shoot 'em ups. Invariably the player will lose not because of an inequality in firepower, but because of the design of the levels themselves. There is usually a 'correct' way to get through a level, but players must learn these by experience—i.e. by losing and restarting from earlier in the level. (Wikipedia)
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