Most recently, Irem closed the door on their R-Type legacy with the release of R-Type Final for the PlayStation 2, an above-average shooter with plenty of great graphics and gameplay combined with hundreds of ships (including classic Irem arcade models- gotta love it) and a two-player mode that added a bit of interest. And with that, I thought the series had come full circle with a nod of the ol' Force Pod and said adios. Apparently not, as R-Type III: The Third Lightning now makes its way to the Game Boy Advance.

If the title sounds familiar, it should. The game debuted on the SNES a few years ago courtesy of Jaleco, and turned out to be a rousing addition to the classic series. It's still one of my favorite 16-bit games, right up there with Super Turrican 2, Super Metroid, and a slew of others. So I was eager to give the GBA port a go and see if the game still held well in my memories.

Well, the game itself does. The SNES game, that is. What we have with this GBA version is a game produced by a different studio than Irem (they followed the blueprint but apparently not the programming code) and published for a cheap price tag of $20. In essence, this is a careless product. R-Type III: The Third Lightning is flawed in numerous departments, and stands as one of the most disappointing Game Boy Advance games ever made.

The game structure is basically the same. You take control of your spacecraft and take on the evil Bydo empire across six levels, jam-packed with enemies. You can choose from different Force Pods, which allow you to use different types of firepower that you can pick up in each level in your quest to obliterate enemies. The game also utilizes a password save, so you can write down your progress and continue at a later point. Yeah, like you'll want to.

The main problem with R-Type III is that it's been tweaked very badly in terms of gameplay. The game moves along alright, but the Force Pods move a lot slower which means that, while you're switching the position of the pod from front to back, it plods along, leaving you wide open for a field of gunfire. Ouch. And if that's not enough, the programming team failed to do a proper check for the most important factor -- collision detection.

I say this because R-Type III is loaded with levels with twisting walls and tunnels, and the frustration will mount as you avoid the cavern walls only to end up blowing up anyway because you were too close... not event making contact, just too close. It's like the game didn't go through the proper testing angles.

The graphics are alright but there's nothing new here, and some slowdown gets into the way of the game's performance and leaves it choking at some points. Come on... this could have been fixed as well. Then you have the game's sound department, with music that has since become rather grating in the translation. Sound effects are alright but get drowned out by this so-called soundtrack. Yeah, a soundtrack for power tools in the dishwasher.

And I have a big problem with the password system. Why no battery? How will I be able to keep track of my high scores? By notepad? Furthermore, the game lacks any sort of two-player support or extra challenges to get into past the six stages. Sure, the game's challenging, but it was challenging back then... not to mention more fun.

If a game succeeds, I'll give it props. R-Type Final succeeded because a lot of effort went into it and it said farewell to a series in true Irem style. R-Type III: The Third Lightning fails miserably because no care went into the product. Quickie ports like R-Type III: The Third Lightning for Game Boy Advance should be tossed right into the garbage and forgotten. End of story.

Our Final ScoreTerrible

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