Back when I was a teenage shoot ‘em up virgin it was the original R-Type that first introduced me to the world of bullet dodging. I spent many hours grinning from ear to ear playing through its challenging stages, holding a sideways Wii Remote and repeatedly exploding into space shrapnel. There are plenty of R-Type games I haven’t played since this formative experience though, and one of those is the first 3D take on the iconic shooter. R-Type Delta: HD Boosted is here now to polish up a classic and test my shmup skills, and to say they were tested would be an understatement.
For those uninitiated, R-Type is one of the longest running and most beloved series that falls under the shoot ‘em up umbrella. It’s a horizontal shooter with all sorts of spaceships and aliens to blast, and one particularly interesting mechanic that sets it apart from its peers. As well as the usual collection of laser blasting upgrades you can get for your ship in R-Type, you can also get a Force. This is a glowing ball that attaches to your ship at the front or back, can be used to block damage, and most importantly be fired at enemies and left to hover and fire additional bullets. This is as cool a mechanic now as it was back in the arcades, with plenty of layers to master.
While I have some experience with old school R-Type games, I’ve never played a game in the series with 3D visuals. Originally released on the PS1, R-Type Delta features those chunky blocky visuals that are synonymous with that first Sony console. This obviously doesn’t really affect the gameplay a whole bunch though, and you’ll still be scrolling from side to side and firing those lasers.
Coming from the older games in the series, Delta offers some new features I wasn’t expecting but was delighted to see. The first of these I couldn’t help but notice was that I could choose from three ships to play as, which all function completely differently. I was very familiar with the standard ship with its bouncing lasers, but there’s also a ship with tentacles that spread across the screen and one with an anchor which can be used to latch on and deal tons of damage. These really change your strategy in dealing with foes, and are worth experimenting with.
There’s also a special ability which is essentially a powerful ultimate attack, which you can use by overdosing your weapon (using it to shoot a lot of foes). This is your standard big epic power attack, which although not exactly novel for a shmup does feel unusual to see in an R-Type game. It’s a great mechanic that’s fun to take advantage of though, and it got me out of many a scrape.
Shiny new (for 1998 anyway) features aside, what makes R-Type Delta special today is what made me fall in love with it as a teenager – its expertly crafted levels and precision dodging. Whereas a lot of shooters see you zooming about the screen to avoid attacks, in R-Type you’re much more likely to be using tiny movements to sneak through tight gaps in an exploding space station. Delta does this just as well as any other game in the series, and will delight arcade junkies.
As a youngster I would’ve gleefully spent months slowly mastering the tricky stages of R-Type Delta: HD Boosted, but modern era Lyle doesn’t quite have that patience. With one shot destroying your ship entirely and only limited checkpoints to jump back to, this is a brutal shmup that’s not for the faint of heart. I feel like most remasters released in 2025 would feature some difficulty options or settings (even a level select) that would allow you to enjoy a tough old game without so much pain, but that’s not the case here.
In fact there’s very little that HD Boosted feels like it adds to this decades old horizontal shooter. The visuals while crisper certainly don’t feel massively overhauled, and in terms of content there’s practically nothing added. This is simply a way to play an older game on newer consoles, and it’s worth knowing that before going in. Outside of this my main complaint with the game is just that the cluttered visuals often make it hard to see bullets, which is especially annoying when one stray dot can send you back.
R-Type Delta: HD Boosted ensures that a shoot ‘em up classic can still be easily enjoyed by modern gamers, and it’s still special even today. Not a whole lot has really been added to this shiny new version of Delta, but if you’re dedicated enough to take on its tricky stages you likely won’t mind a whole bunch.
