Following the messy port of R-Type III released recently, ININ Games plans to rectify the situation by fixing the game’s issues and delaying the physical release.
In addition to fixing the issues in the game, ININ Games intends to listen more to the gaming community and take its quality assurance testing process more seriously by hiring more testers, including those from Japan.
When I reviewed R-Type Dimensions III, it was clear that multiple changes had been made compared to the original SNES version, making the game much harder. I even put together a comparison video (shown below).
This is also the second R-Type-related retro port with issues, as R-Type Delta HD Boosted again had various issues, although that was published by the Embracer subsidiary, Clear River Games.
In all instances, though, these retro games were treated as new money for old rope, with no due care or diligence taken in their re-release.
Cutting corners to get a retro game out quickly and, above all, cheaply will always cause issues down the road.
Game publishers cannot treat retro games as something to be strip-mined and expect huge revenue from them.
You need to invest in these releases properly and ideally hire experienced developers such as M2 to handle the porting of these games, especially if they originated in the Japanese arcades.
The business model is also very much long-tail in its structure, with the return on investment coming from an aggregated release of various retro games, rather than from each game.
Gaming’s history should be treated with respect, not as a quick way to make money without caring about the finished product.
Once the patch for R-Type Dimensions III is released, I will make sure to cover the various fixes and re-appraise the game accordingly.
Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently writing regular columns in Japanese about mecha games and mecha anime for both Game*Spark and Automaton.