R-Type Dimensions III patch 3 fixes its worst bosses

ININ has pushed out a third major patch for R-Type Dimensions III, and this one arrives with a peace offering: the digital artbook that used to be locked inside the Steam Ultimate Edition is now part of the base game on every platform, at no extra cost. The publisher is calling the whole exercise a relaunch. Three months after a launch bad enough to force a public commitment to fixing it, that word is doing an enormous amount of work.

What patch 3 actually changes

The meat is in Advanced Mode. Stage 5's bosses have been reworked across shot patterns, movement and speed, and Stage 6's Mother Bydo has been overhauled in every phase, including arm duration that now scales with how well you are playing instead of running down a fixed timer. According to ININ, the goal is to bring those fights closer to the pattern design of the original game rather than the version that shipped in May. Patch 3 also folds in gameplay refinements, stability fixes and visual corrections.

It is live now on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox. Switch owners wait a little longer: ININ says the Nintendo build follows within the day once platform certification clears.

Patches 1 and 2 did the unglamorous work first, addressing collision, audio and visual problems with a stated focus on mechanical authenticity, and ININ's June improvement initiative promised both targeted updates and a tighter quality assurance process. The reference point is R-Type III: The Third Lightning, the 1993 Super Famicom entry this whole package is built around. Three months on, the publisher reckons the game in players' hands is finally the one it should have been at launch. The base price has not moved, which keeps it at $34.99 on Steam.

Why the free artbook is the interesting part

Handing over an artbook costs nothing at the margin. It surrendered the Ultimate Edition upsell and bought back a little goodwill, which is about the cheapest apology a publisher can make, and it is the right one. Artbooks also say something about what a company thinks its back catalogue is worth: pull one out of a paywalled edition and you are admitting the artwork matters more than the margin.

Our opinion

Here is the uncomfortable read: none of this should have been necessary. The fixes that matter are the ones that make the Stage 5 and Stage 6 fights fair, and a shooter's boss patterns are not polish, they are the game. Getting them wrong at launch is not a bug, it is a broken promise, and three months of patching is the repair bill, not a bonus feature.

That said, a publisher that spends three months rebuilding its own shooter instead of quietly walking away deserves the credit it is asking for. Nintendo players should check that the Switch download actually appears before trusting the word relaunch, because certification is still the last thing in the chain. If you bounced off R-Type Dimensions III in May, this is a sensible moment to give it a second run. If you bought the Ultimate Edition for the artbook alone, you have just been refunded in spirit, so check what else it still bundles before paying that premium again.