The Super Nintendo was known for slow down when trying to put a lot of action on the screen. This was most apparent in scrolling shooters (horizontal and vertical) such as Gradius III. By the time R-Type III Third Lightning came around developers pretty much had the SNES hardware figured out. The Super Nintendo was the only place you were going to get to play this Irem release. At least until the Game Boy Advance port came along 11 years later.

Slow and steady wins the race

One thing that is readily apparent about R-Type III Third Lightning is that there is a good mix of fast and slow paced segments. There is also quite a bit of use of SNES Mode 7 effects throughout the levels. Enemies zoom and rotate from off in the distance and whole chunks of the level rotate and spin. While that is going on other enemies relentlessly bring an onslaught of epic proportions.

What platforms did not see an R-Type release over the years?

A genre all but forgotten

Horizontal scrolling shooters are tough to come by nowadays on platforms such as Android and iPhone. During the 16-bit days we could hardly go a month without reading news of a new scrolling shooter. Man, I miss those days.

All about the details

R-Type III Third Lightning features many staples of side scrolling shooters. Bosses are going to make your life a living hell as long as possible. The old adage “they don’t make them like this anymore” rings true with R-Type III Third Lightning by Irem.

Head over to Ebay or Amazon to grab a copy of R-Type III Third Lightning for the Super Nintendo or Game Boy Advance. It is one of the best ways to blast aliens back to the planet they came from. If you cannot get enough of scrolling shooters and want to get a taste of what else is out there, check out these articles.

Carl Williams

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