R-Type Final - Stage 6.0 with Albatross - R-Typer

This video is part of the Ship Showcase 2.0 playlist. About this ship - The Albatross debuted in 1998's R-Type Delta. It has a long wingspan and an explosive Wave Cannon and a huge, defensive Force. Pros the Tentacle Force can be opened and closed with horizontal movement giving you wide defensive coverage when opened. the red weapon is supremely powerful - while the Force is opened, strangely enough - in R-Type Delta, the closed, concentrated beam was more powerful, but in Final the opposite is true, so leave the Force open while pouring on the laser fire. the blue weapon's lasers will hook onto tough enemies and not let go, and can be used like a windshield wiper if you open and close the Tentacle Force. the Wave Cannon is a powerful AoE blast that can take out multiple targets around the explosion. when detached and firing, the Tentacle Force will home in on enemies, firing bullets, and dealing damage by touching the target. Cons the Tentacle Force can home in on the wrong enemies while detached - take care when throwing it and make sure you're launching it at the right enemy. the yellow weapon is an extremely short range pair of tentacle whips that are totally outclassed by the other two weapons. can only use ground based missiles. the Wave Cannon's blast can be interrupted by destructible bullets - it won't pass through, and you can miss your target because of it. About this stage - irem ramped up the difficulty because - like they always did - it's the penultimate stage. Stage F-A isn't as dense with enemies, but this stage is a true test of your skill. This is Bydo space and has a beautiful red space background. The music is akin to a wonderful dance, which is what you'll be doing in this stage if you want to avoid enemy bullets. The hallway of doom has missile launcher enemies, Revos that come in groups of four from in front and behind, enemies from the shaft below you, and then Tarans from above that fire their yellow bullets. You know, just in case the game wasn't difficult enough on R-Typer. The boss is Gomander, originally from stage 2 of the original R-Type and you can see its big eye blinking as you fly over it. This time you have to fly inside and destroy its guts, all the while avoiding the Outslay snakes that swim in and out. A safe spot here is the lower left corner with your Force attached to the front of the ship. Since you get two Bit powerups in this stage, you should be well protected from the debris that comes in from outside. If you want, you can just time out the boss by staying in the lower left, or if you have a wide range laser, just sit there and fire until the boss dies. Personal notes - This is a super tough stage that I like to use the Albatross for. The Tentacle Force provides a huge deal of protection. The hallway of doom is tough no matter what - I got some good advice on how to handle that part from someone in the comments (Leosklein) but I didn't practice, instead doing this my own way. The amount of times I got destroyed on the morning that I recorded made the raw footage 30+ minutes long, and I cut all that out and kept the recording you see here. The lines of text at the beginning of this stage are my favorite in the game.