R-Trope
You might find yourself doing a double-take at this week’s Arcade Archives release — And nobody could blame you for suffering something of a sense of deja vu, as Hamster reaches into the bottomless well of old-school shmups and pulls out Allumer’s suspiciously familiar Rezon.
Released to the arcade market in 1991, Rezon is a space-themed horizontal shmup, which puts the player in the cockpit of a hi-tech vessel, blasting off in a hazardous mission to the stars. As you battle your way through waves of enemy ships, ground walkers, and snaking, pattern-based baddies, your ship can be outfitted with a variety of cool new weapons and abilities, all of which will be more than necessary to redress the balance, as Rezon is nothing if not absolutely rock solid — borderline relentless.
Check out the action in the video below, courtesy of YouTuber Martinoz.
But let’s address the elephant in the room: It’s R-Type. It’s shamelessly R-Type. Not in the sense that titles such as SNK’s Last Resort are “kinda R-Type“. Rezon is almost a direct clone, with carbon copy stage layouts, enemies, weapon designs, and general gameplay flow. Allumer’s rip-off doesn’t have the excellent bosses of Irem’s 1987 hit, but it has practically everything else.
Unsurprisingly, Rezon did not make its way to any home platform, perhaps more than aware of the questionable legal situation it might find itself in if too many eyes looked its way. Still, despite its xeroxed nature, it should be noted that Rezon provides a helluva challenge for hardened arcade fans, and is still worth a quick blast for the more dedicated of shmuppers.
Rezon is available to download now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at around $8.
