I played some R-Type Final and R-Type 2 tonight.

R-Type Final Spoilers: I made it to final stage C. I haven't been able to beat it yet, though (not even on Baby!). I don't know how hard I'd say any instant of the stage is. But, in any case, this stage must be beaten on a single life (if you die during the normal game, you get an instant Game Over; you cannot continue) and it's long. It's so long it's almost like a little game unto itself. While I haven't beaten it, you're given an idea of how long it is: You start in some year (like 2164) and have to make it to 2501. As you play, a little counter in the upper right corner marks the year, and it constantly increases at a fixed rate. So far, I've made it to 2350 or something. So, I still have a ways to go. You ARE, however, able to practice this stage in the score attack mode, so you don't have to play through the entire game just to get one shot at this stage.

With R-Type II, I was playing Very Hard with Wait Control off. Not only do I think this game still holds up as one of my favorites, I even think it can be pretty bullet-heavy. Too bad I can't make a video of myself playing stage 4 (an underrated shooter stage) as demonstration of this.
I LOOOOOOVE Flying Omelette!!
Crawl and 1000