Laser Crystals allow pilots to fire different beams through an attached Force. These items are obtained by destroying POW Armor (or their like, such as TP-2M Frogman and TP-2S Cyber Nova). Each Force interprets the wavelength differently; that is, a Red crystal will cause different Forces to fire different attacks, sometimes vastly so. Pilots must often choose between power and utility when picking up these items. Collecting a Laser Crystal without a Force will summon a Force instead, at the embryonic level of growth. Some lasers resonate with Bit Devices, causing them to fire similar beams as covering fire. This typically occurs with Red crystals (alongside the Round Bit), but some Bits respond differently to different crystals, when used by different Forces. Laser Crystals are omnipresent in all R-Type entries except for R-Type Command and R-Type Tactics II: Operation Bitter Chocolate, in which Force-attached R-craft have access to all three attacks and can choose which ones to use in a situation.

Standard

The standard trio of crystals are:

• Red crystals imbue a Force with a powerful forward-firing air-to-air attack. While this is often the most powerful standard attack a Force can muster, it usually requires a pilot to directly assault the target (often placing them into the path of incoming fire) and is not ideal for enemies with shielding.
• Blue crystals typically allow for angled or wide-range attacks. Blue is often the weaker of the crystals, but makes up for it in versatility, allowing the pilot to attack from advantageous directions. A skilled pilot can use these beams to attack from otherwise impossible directions.
• Yellow crystals grant air-to-ground attacks. Often strong, these attacks are all but useless in direct assaults (thus increasing reliance on the standard forward-firing Vulcan cannon and Missiles), instead allowing the pilot to control enemy groups above and below. Without solid surfaces to facilitate this attack, it becomes much harder to effectively use this laser and it's generally advisable to avoid Yellow Laser pick-ups in areas without surfaces. In R-Type Final and R-Type Final 2, the Yellow laser is often more of a ship-specific unique attack, rather than an air-to-ground attack (yet many Yellow lasers still do fall under this category).

Other

R-Type II introduces two new crystals, grey and green, with specific effects, which Super R-Type changes. These crystals were never used beyond these missions:

• Grey crystals are a variant of Red crystals, providing the same forward coverage to the exclusivity of all else.
  • R-Type II: Shotgun Laser: Fires a large shell forward, exploding after a short distance.
  • Super R-Type: Shoots a pair of forward-firing bullets.

• Green crystals incorporate aspects of Red and Blue, imbuing a Force with the ability to shoot versatile yet stronger forward-firing lasers.
  • R-Type II: Search L45 Laser: A pair of lasers fire forward, making one 45-degree course correction to hit the nearest Bydo.
  • Super R-Type: Fires a spread of bullets.

R-Type II's lasers would be later incorporated into the Standard Force C, and Super R-Type's into the Standard Force K.

R-Type Leo uses Laser Crystals which don't require a Force, increasing the firepower of the adjoined Bit Devices instead. Laser Crystals shift colors every couple of seconds, so pilots can simply wait until the desired color appears.