R-Type/Stage 6

Transport System
While not necessarily a difficult stage in terms of the amount of firepower that’s thrown at you, the sixth stage probably requires the greatest of memorization in order to safely reach the boss without getting trapped and colliding with an enemy. Due to the arrangements of walls, Reflection Lasers are quite effective here. Besides power-up transports, you will only face two major enemies here. One resembles a computer chip that “walks” along the walls that you fly between, and shoots bullets at you. The other is a very large object which strictly follows a path through the corridors created by the walls. They can be destroyed by shooting the glowing side enough times, but it’s better to identify a safe location and allow them to harmlessly fly past you.

As you approach the first section of walls, two chips will be guarding the entrance. A power-up transport will fly in, hit the wall, and drop down. If you hit it, it will drop a Reflection Laser. One large craft will eject through the entrance, so wait for it to pass, and then fly in. More crafts will appear and circle around the outer edge of the wall from top to bottom. Chips will occupy many of the horizontal walls along the way. When you’re deep enough in to see a hole in the ceiling, more craft will drop down, hit the middle path, and travel left. After this occurs, another craft will fly up from the bottom hole.

More craft will fly across the top from the right, while other craft enter along the bottom from the left. When you reach the next section of maze, this will switch, with craft flying in along the top from the left, and the craft on the bottom arriving from the right, then flying up along the middle passage. Whichever path you decide to take, it would be a good strategy to keep your Force attached to the rear of the R-9a.

This section ends with a wall coming down from the ceiling, which forces you to pass through the bottom. Wait for one craft to fly in from the right and drop down. Then enter the path and fly to the top. A craft will appear from behind you, and two more will fly in from the bottom. Get to the far right side of the screen, and hover low above the third and final wall. If you can’t destroy the rightmost craft which flies up from the floor, fly low enough to allow it to fly over you. Then back up and allow another craft to drop down in front of you.

The next section offers a short break from the craft, while walking armored mechs amass on the top platform. Wait high enough to shoot them down as they each appear. After a craft passes by to the right, a transport will appear, offering Counter Ground Lasers. It is not recommended that you collect this if you have Reflection Lasers.

If you die after this point, this is where you restart and it is very difficult. When you restart, position yourself underneath the platform the mechs are on, and shoot as fast as you can as they drop off the edge, it sometimes helps to move downwards towards the end so that their shots spread out. Grab the reflection laser when you can. Demo of recovering from restart here.

The next section sees craft flying in from the bottom right, travelling up to the top, and proceed out to the right. A transport will be tucked away in a small sectioned off region in the middle, providing Reflection Lasers. Even if you want to collect the upgrade, you must be very careful collecting it, as a lone craft will fly into this section and kill you if you get trapped inside.

As you approach the last two sections, two craft will occupy the top and bottom of the room, leaving the middle clear. However, you can not remain in the middle since a third craft will come barreling through it. There are two ways to avoid collision. You can either fly to a height that is precisely level with one of the two horizontal platforms. Or, you can fly to the very top or bottom of the screen while the craft fly closer to the middle, and then quickly get to the middle of the screen after the center craft flies to the left. Then you will fly into the final chamber of the game.

Boss
In most versions of this game, there is no actual boss on this stage. In the final room, you must survive a continuous assault of the crafts that you’ve been avoiding throughout the stage. Quickly fly to the bottom of the screen and advance to the right. You do not have to destroy every craft that appears, but you certainly shouldn’t allow any to fly up the right side of the room if you can avoid it. Reflection Lasers give you the best odds of survival, especially if your Force is attached to the rear of the ship. Most of the crafts’ weak points will be on the right, allowing you to destroy them very quickly by firing backwards at them. However, a few will appear with their weak point on the left side. You will have to fly out of the way to dodge them or attack them from a different direction. A good way to avoid attack is to fly up and into the center vertical passage, then down and back to your original position in the lower right corner.

Alternate tactic
Top of the screen where the crafts come down the vertical shaft, there is a gap on the left, in the screenshot above it is exactly where the craft is positioned.

Position your ship in this gap with the force just poking into the vertical shaft. Charge a beam and every time a craft comes down, release the beam as it passes and you will destroy it. You need to get the positioning just right - too far into the shaft and you will be hit, too far to the left and the beams won't work.

= Loop 2 =

Enemy move faster and fire more often.