R-Type Dimensions 3 review – lightning strikes thrice

SNES classic R-Type 3 gets the remake treatment, with a new version of the 2D shooter that allows you to instantly switch from the original visuals to more modern graphics.

We’ve a great love for 2D shooters (but not the term shmup) at GameCentral and even though Gradius is our favourite franchise we – and we think most other fans – accept that R-Type is the king of the genre. It is the Rolls-Royce of horizontal space blasters, the Chocolate Hob Nob of rote learning and outrageously difficult boss battles. However, despite starting in 1987 there aren’t many entries in the series, not least because original developer Irem no longer makes video games.

Many of the original staff left to form new company Granzella but despite having been around for nearly a decade they’ve only made R-Type Final 2. They certainly don’t seem to have had anything to do with this, which is a remake of R-Type 3: The Third Lightning – which was originally a SNES game from 1993.

That’s not very obvious from the name but the idea is that this is a follow-up to 2009’s R-Type Dimensions (there is no R-Type Dimensions 2), which featured remakes of the original two arcade games. This second/third entry is by an entirely different publisher and developer, both of whom are German. We appreciate their enthusiasm for the series, but we’re sad to say this remake does have some serious issues.

Although it started out as an arcade game, that has been ported to virtually every format under the sun, the majority of R-Type games are actually console based. R-Type Delta on the PS1, which had a remaster last year, was essentially R-Type 4 but even by that point they’d given up with any kind of real continuity between the titles. The surprisingly good R-Type Tactics does have an interesting plot but since it’s technically a spin-off we’re not sure if it’s canon.

There’s no attempt at storytelling in R-Type 3, as you pilot your lone R-90 spacecraft against the biomechanical (the original R-Type came out only a year after Aliens) Bydo Empire. In typical 2D shooter form you are tasked with slowly travelling from left to right, blasting away at anything that comes near you and trying to collect as many power-ups as possible before you reach the boss at the end of the level.

R-Type is revered for three primary reasons: its highly detailed pixel graphics, its tightly designed levels, and its unusually complex power-up system. As always, the latter revolves around a drone called a Force, which you can attack to the front or rear of your craft or leave floating around in space, while still firing.

One of the key innovations in R-Type 3 was having three different Force types, each with different special abilities and weapons. The standard Round Force is basically the same one as in the previous two games, while the Shadow Force can be recalled to your ship a lot quicker and can gain a trail of its own drones – similar to the Multiples in Gradius. Meanwhile, the Cyclone Force acts something like a battering ram, allowing you to launch it at enemies and even drag it around inside the bigger ones.

Aside from its rock hard difficulty, R-Type 3 is also memorable for its use of simple Mode 7 3D effects, which allowed the levels to rotate and move in a way that was not possible in the original games. Unfortunately, that came at a great cost, as the game was riddled with slowdown – making it almost unplayable at times.

Naturally, this version of R-Type 3 does not have that problem, because while you can play the game with the original SNES graphics that version is not a port but a recreation. This allows you to switch between it and the more modern graphics at any time, with the additional option to alter the camera angle in modern mode, so that it’s tilted sideways for a quasi-isometric view. This looks more cinematic but, like the original R-Type Dimensions, it’s not very practical for playing.

R-Type Dimensions 3 also adds a simultaneous local co-op mode, which the original didn’t have, although R-Type’s style of level design is notoriously short on space and that makes having two people moving around at once almost more trouble than it’s worth.

What’s of more obvious help is the new Infinite mode that respawns you where you died, instead of at a checkpoint, but where you can’t earn Trophies or Achievements. There’s also an Advanced mode that makes the game even harder, plus a fair amount of visual customisation options, including various filters, HUD changes, and graphical effects.

That sounds like a lot but there’s no difficulty modes and you can’t make your own, by doing things like changing the number of lives. There’re also no save or rewind options, despite that being almost de rigueur for retro games nowadays – especially one like this where success and failure depends on pixel perfect positioning.

And therein lies the biggest problem with R-Type Dimensions 3. Not only do the modern graphics look rather bland and shiny, compared to the wonderfully detailed original, but it’s much harder to read the action with so much going on. Enemy bullets are harder to spot than they were, and the backgrounds are often very distracting, even if the developer is clearly just trying to make them more visually interesting.

Those problems are much reduced using the original SNES graphics, except because it’s not a port it’s still very difficult to be as precise as you need to be. The hit box for your ship seems all wrong and things that used to not kill you, such as exhausts, suddenly do. Whether that’s on purpose or not is hard to say but considering the other random problems with poor collision detection we’re going to assume it’s an unintended error.

R-Type 3 is a great game and if this had offered a straight port of the original version, but with all the slowdown removed, that would have been perfectly fine. The modern remake is a matter of taste, but we don’t particularly like the clinical new art style and the remixed music is also slower and less exciting. As R-Type fans we struggle to recommend this remake to fellow devotees but for anyone new to the series this is just about the worst place to start, which is a real shame.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC
Price: £29.99
Publisher: Inin
Developer: Kritzelkratz 3000
Release Date: 19th May 2026
Age Rating: 7

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.