Today Japanese developer Granzella made a surprise announcement with a new trailer revealing R-Type Final2.
The game is supposed to come for PS4 developed under license from Irem, but to be fully honest, we don’t know whether it’s an April Fool prank or not. It was published right when it was midnight on April 1 in Japan, so that’s very suspicious.
The idea of a “Final2” also sounds a bit like a joke.
If it’s a prank, it’s very well made, and you can see the video below.
Here is a description of the project
“Granzella has started planning to bring out the latest work of the milestone in side-scrolling shooter games, “R-TYPE”, which went out into the world in 1987.
In this latest version of R-TYPE game, all the player fighters that appeared in R-TYPE Final, expressions of attacks, operability and the exhilarating feeling of the gameplay will be intensified.
In addition, more customizable elements will be available for the player fighters.The stages are rebuilt from scratch for the new game. As this is going to be the first R-TYPE game since 16:9 displays have become the standard, the screen structure will be reviewed to improve the playability and make the side scrolling shooter game more exciting and enjoyable. In addition, the stages that appeared in the earlier work will come back with new expressions and interpretations.
Though the difficulty level of the game is originally high, this game allows the player to set a difficulty level from a wider range according to his or her ability.
The higher the difficulty level, the more scores the player will get. It also enables the players to compete the scores with R-TYPE pilots from all over the world.”
More snippets of information describe the features.
“Wave Cannon attacks by trans-dimensional fighters equipped with firepower equivalent of that of a battleship.
This game is thoroughly focused on expressions of how enemies are destroyed.
The feeling of exhilaration in the destructions is thoroughly pursued.”
“The Stage Dominated by Decaying Organism.
As new enemies are generated from carcasses of the enemies, the more the player plays the game, the stronger enemies he or she gets.
Not only the player’s fighter, but also the stages will evolve. That’s R-TYPE FINAL2.
Moreover, new stages are planned to be added after the release of the game.”
“The level of difficulty is automatically adjusted according to the player’s ability.
Exquisite gameplays will be met with higher difficulty levels which offer explosive increase of the scores. It guarantees high playability of the game by Score Attack.
On the other hand, those who are not familiar with R-TYPE and who are new to play side scrolling shooter games are given a moderate level of difficulty so that they can avoid a gameplay that is “too difficult to play”.
The gameplay in which players make full use of Wave Cannon and Force to defeat formidable enemies remains alive.
The game will be carefully created to bring about maneuvering and game development that are unique qualities of side scrolling shooter games.”
A notice at the end mentioning a crowdfunding campaign coming in May actually might be interpreted as a hint to what this might really be:
“We are planning to run a crowdfunding campaign to elicit cooperation from R-TYPE fans for “Project R”–Granzella’s New R-TYPE production project.
The next update is scheduled around May. We kindly ask for your cooperation.”
You might notice how this doesn’t mention “R-Type Final2” but a more generic “Project R” which would be Granzella’s new R-Type project.
It’s entirely possible that this is indeed an April Fool prank but used to advertise a crowdfunding campaign for a real R-Type project code-named Project R. Until tomorrow, your guess is as good as mine.
If you’re not familiar with Granzella, it’s the studio behind the Disaster Report series. To add fuel to the fire, they did tease that they would announce their new game in the spring.
Now it’s certainly spring.
Update: Producer Kazuma Kujo himself confirmed that the game is indeed real.
