i finally got around to playing r-type for the ps2. after playing for a bit i started to look at the manual, and was mildly surprised to see that it had a esrb rating of E...E for everyone, fantasy violence. the whole sort of concept of the game is about reproduction and the creation of life. r-type animals vs k-type animals bla bla bla. you fly your spaceship into the reproductive systems of the bydo horde and battle giant sperm as you navigate the dangerous corridors to the alien womb. in r-type final they seem to have taken it a step further. the first boss right before you battle for a brief second looks like a giant penis. then the next boss has a giant yellow glowing penis come out his mouth complete with sperm. i havnt finished the game, but a friend told me one of the next boss's is a giant vagina and in the background of one of the levels two people are having sex. can someone confirm that? ...everything in the game is phallic looking even down to the ships, i mean the cockpits look like giant purple dildos. am i reading too much into this or does anyone else think this is a bit much for an E rated game? i like the game, its not great but it isnt completely terrible...im just wondering how how the esrb rattings get decided. anyone know the criteria? i noticed the blueman group under 'music credit' , i looked up on irem's webpage and instead of them its a girl performing 'proud of you.' what other changes were made for the u.s. release?
You know, I always thought that weird pink level in Gradius V reminded me a lot of conception. You know, your little white spaceship, battling chemical and barriers in a pink, fleshy, organic tunnel, battling to get to the end. And one hit kills you. Those bacterion bastards have some SERIOUS contraception, though... but then again, regular, non Vic-Viper, Sperms don't have lasers or options. You might be reading too far into R-Type. Though shooters do have a lot of that symbolic stuff everywhere, and R-Type does borrow some from Giger, who is a notorious sexual deviant. I myself love R-Type final. I'm gonna have to play through it again and I'll get to you with an answer.
I don't see how the two are conflicted. :-D Geniuses are generally sexual deviants, or other type of deviants as well.
Err... I think you're reading FAR too much into R-Type on a dirty mind there, socialdrone. Just take it as a game against an unfamiliar alien horde and you won't be bothered by it. I doubt the ESRB put on their 'sexually repressed individual' hats and went looking for every possible phallic symbol in the game when they rated it. I'm sure Freud would have some choice words to say about this interpretation of R-Type...
im not bothered by the content at all, and personally i see nothing wrong with the game being rated E. its just that i think a lot of people would disagree, and im wondering what exactly is the process involved when a game goes up for a rating. i might be reading too much into the phallic shape of the ships, but the rest is pretty much done with intent.
That's not the story of the R-Type games. R-Type's story is "Blast off and destroy the evil Bydo empire!" And the visual theme isn't sexual or reproductive, it's just fleshy and organic. You're crazy. I haven't played R-Type Final, tough, somaybe I'm missing something. ...word is bondage...
Think R-Type in 3D. Really not that different at all from the 2d releases, and it definitely doesn't beg the interpretation given here - you really have to stretch to come up with that.
