The gaming industry is quickly evolving throughout time, from sharper textures to better resolutions and a lot more frames-per-second… more that you could even actually see with your naked eye. Sure, these things are important to some extent but technology can never replace creativity and pure fun.

R-Type Dimensions is no graphical or technical beauty, but in some way or form got me hooked. It’s that old experience, combined with the new features that makes you want to play the game as it’s 1980. However, it could never replace a title with good storyline and some delightful portrayed main characters, but can easily make your Sunday morning great.

Dimensions contains content from both R-Type and R-Type 2, combining them into a single game with no more than 14 great levels. The fact that the game was updated to match the graphics and features of today’s arcade games doesn’t mean that R-Type was dumbed down in terms of difficulty.

However, there’s an option to switch from the Normal mode to the Infinite one. Normal mode is where the real challenge lies, as the player will only have three lives throughout an entire level. Infinite mode is for those light-hearted, who love to have an infinite amount of lives and to just have fun while shooting around.

Back in the days, the multiplayer mode in games only consisted in the “couch” co-op. Meaning that one or more friends would come and grab an extra controller in order to play the so-called multiplayer. Sure, it made things a bit harder and time-consuming, but there’s no better feeling than the one when you hear your friends screaming when they lost or died in a game. Racing for the higher score was also a pretty common thing back then, making the game a bit more interesting and challenging.

R-Type Dimensions brings those memories back to life, having a great two-player co-op mode. This way you’ll also have a better chance of beating the game in the Normal mode, which otherwise seems impossible.

To add an extra layer of awesomeness, the controller is fully customizable to fit your needs. You’ll get to assign buttons as you like, or even mess with your friends by changing their mapping while they are not paying attention.

While the game is short, it’s action-packed and it has the kind of visual madness you’ll rarely find in a game. The screen seems to always be crowded with enemies or huge bosses. While advancing into the level is only possible by timing out your moves and shots, fighting a boss is a whole different story. Every boss has a weak point that has to be exploited in order to be defeated, and a set of unique moves.

Dimensions has a lot of great things, not to mention the amazing ten dollars price tag, but it also has a somehow annoying problem. I do understand that porting a really old game could be a struggle, but adding two vertical black lines doesn’t make the game wide. So, no matter what kind of TV you have, you will be still seeing those annoying black lines.

It’s fun, it’s cheap and it will certainly make you go back and revisit some old childhood memories.

Score: 3.5/5