R-Type III: The Third Lightning was released in 1993 to the Super NES console exclusively. It later ported to the Game Boy Advance and the Wii's Virtual Console.
Story
BYDO RETURNS!
The dark forces of the BYDO Empire threaten humanity yet again, with more powerful weapons than ever. Over the past few years, they have crept close to Earth, building hidden bases for their fleets. The Earth Science Center had believed that all of the BYDO Empire was destroyed. Now they know that somewhere a BYDO mother ship carries the remnants of that foul civilization. Earth will be overthrown unless the latest R-series vessel, the R-90, can defeat BYDO's armies. Equipped with the mighty Round, Shadow, or Cyclone Forces of power, the R-90 can warp into different dimensions and meet the enemy ships and ground troops on an equal basis. As the Captain of the R-90, you must seek out the mysterious mother ship and destroy it to save humanity.
- - SNES Manual
After the events of R-Type III, nearly four centuries pass until the next known mission, R-Type Final.
Spacecraft
The pilot is supported by TP-2 POW Armor.
- The R-90 Ragnarok has more than enough power for this mission. So powerful, in fact, that it's future version in R-Type Final was reduced.
Armaments
- Standard Force (This is called the Round Force in the game).
- Shadow Force
- Cyclone Force
- Speed Up
- Missile
- Bit Device
- Laser Crystal
- Wave Cannon: The Ragnarok can switch freely between the following Wave Cannons, but switching resets the charging gauge.