I’ve reached Stage 6 few times now. The first four stages are a cakewalk but I still make the occasional whoopsie on Stage 5. I have a good strategy for the whole thing, it’s just that in the heat of the moment I may start to doubt myself in the latter part of the stage (which resembles Stage 1 from the original R-Type) and that results in swooping through the rotating metal bars at the wrong moment. I feel confident against the bosses, they shouldn’t give me any more trouble.

RX is my main ship, but I tried the other ships at last and R13 feels like a powerhouse. It was with R13 I got to Stage 6 for the first time, actually. Couldn’t make up my mind whether R9 feels strong or not. The charge shot requires you to NOT be right in the target’s face or it doesn’t do full damage, so it can be hard to use against some of the bigger enemies. Stage 3 feels most difficult with R9, the other ship’s forces are far more suitable for it.

The famous R-Type innuendo really starts to show…Stage 5 had the Giant Space Vagina and the Battleship’s “core” looks like the male counterpart, and now in Stage 6 there’s an Armored Giant Space Poop pushing through what resembles a colon. Really now, Irem.