Released to public acclaim in 1987, Irem's R-Type remains the greatest 2D, side-scrolling shoot 'em up ever created. It was then converted by a team at Hudson Soft and appeared on NEC's PC Engine console, before R-Type II debuted in 1988. This was later converted to Super R-Type for the SNES. A final coin-op version, R-Type Leo appeared in the early '90s, but it wasn't as warmly received as earlier versions.

However, translations of R-Type have popped up on Atari's ST and the Amiga with great success, and more recently, R-Types made its 32bit debut on the PlayStation. Ostensibly, a conversion, it still played a treat, and now Delta is the first version to recognise polygons and three dimensions. And it's still the most addictive gaming experience on the manor.