R-Type Leo

R-Type Leo is a 1992 arcade game published by Irem, and among the entries in the series it is the odd one out — best understood by what it leaves behind. R-Type was built from the start around the Force, that indestructible pod you could clamp to the front or the back of your ship, using it as a shield and a weapon changer. Leo has no Force. Instead, two Psy-Bit satellites fly alongside you, following your ship and firing.

That change matters, because the Force was never just a gun; it was armour and a tactical toy. Classic R-Type played like a puzzle in which you shifted the pod according to where the danger was coming from. Leo drops that layer and replaces it with speed. There is more dodging and less planning, the pace is brisker, and the whole thing is friendlier than the entries that prided themselves on making you memorise every screen.

As a piece of craft it is top of its class. Six stages on the M-92 hardware look rich, the bosses have real character, and two players can fly together — the feature contemporary reviews praised most. Sound and animation sit exactly where arcade games of 1992 were expected to be.

The open question is whether it is still R-Type. Developers and later critics broadly agree that it is an inventive game missing the cold, deliberate difficulty of the first two — prettier, more playable, less memorable. As a shooter it is excellent; as a sequel to a legend it is slightly beside the point. I would send a newcomer here before the original, while anyone attached to the Force should expect to miss it the whole way through.

On oldgame.cz you can start R-Type Leo directly in your browser, with no installation.