Gradius

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Gradius
Publisher Konami
First title Gradius (1985)
Last title Gradius Rebirth (2009)
Platform (s)
Genre (s) Shoot 'em up

Gradius , and Nemesis , called a series of is shoot-'em-up - computer games from manufacturer Konami , whose first title was published in 1985.

Gameplay

The player controls the battleship Vic Viper by scrolling levels . He tries to shoot down as many of the enemy objects as possible and at the same time avoid collisions and enemy fire by moving the spaceship up, down, forwards or backwards within the image section. As is typical of the genre, capsules left behind by defeated enemies can be collected to improve the performance characteristics of your own spaceship and exchanged for power-ups such as higher ship speed or better armament. At the end of a game segment, the player has to face a particularly powerful and large boss . If the player loses a life during the game, he will start over in the same phase of the game if he still has extra lives, but he will lose all upgrades to his spaceship.

chronology

  • Gradius (1985) - Originally released as an arcade game , it was later ported to other platforms: Nintendo Entertainment System , MSX , PC Engine , Sega Saturn (as part of the Gradius Deluxe Pack ), Sony PlayStation (as part of the Gradius Deluxe Pack ) , Sony PSP (as part of the Gradius Collection ) and Nintendo DS (as part of Konami Arcade Classics ). In some countries Gradius was sold under the name Nemesis . In Japan, a special version of the game was released for the Famicom, which was published by the ramen noodle manufacturer ArchiMENdes for advertising purposes. The specialty is that certain powerups have been replaced by ramen noodles. Because of its rarity, this version is in great demand among collectors.
  • Gradius 2 (1987) - The successor first appeared for the MSX and for the first time offered an intro sequence to convey the background story. It is also possible to receive weapons from defeated bosses. A port of Zemina for the Korean master system (Gam * Boy) appeared in the same year. An improved version was later released for the Sharp X68000 under the name Nemesis '90 , which was used for the game in Europe.
  • Gradius II: Gofer No Yabou (1988) - Originally released as an arcade game, it was later ported to other platforms: Nintendo Famicom, MSX, PC Engine, Sega Saturn (as part of the Gradius Deluxe Pack ), Sony PlayStation (as part of the Gradius Deluxe Pack ), Sony PSP (as part of the Gradius Collection ). Gradius II appeared in some countries under the name Vulcan Venture . With the MSX version it is possible to choose between different ships. In Japan it appeared as G II: Ambition of Gofer , in Europe as Nemesis 3: Eve of Destruction .
  • Nemesis (1989) - The first Gradius for a portable video game system, the Game Boy . It appeared worldwide under the name Nemesis . It combined game elements from Gradius and Gradius II with new features.
  • Gradius: The Interstellar Assault (1992) - This title was also released exclusively for the Game Boy. It appeared on a cartridge with a high capacity of 2MB for the time. The game is quite different from the rest of the series.
  • Gradius Gaiden (1997) - The first Gradius , which was produced exclusively for a home console (PlayStation), is considered one of the best titles in the series; however, it was only released for Sony PSP outside of Japan in 2006 (as part of the Gradius Collection ). Here, too, it is possible to choose between different ships. For the first time, a two-player mode is included.
  • Gradius IV (1998) - Originally released as an arcade game, it was later ported to the Sony PlayStation 2 (as part of the Gradius III set ) and to the Sony PSP (as part of the Gradius Collection ).
  • Gradius Galaxies ( 2001 ) - The first Gradius that Konami had programmed by an outside developer (Mobile 21 Studios) appeared for the Game Boy Advance . In Europe it was published as Gradius Advance , in Japan it finally appeared as Gradius Generation . The most recently released Japanese version contains some exclusive features.
  • Gradius V (2004) - The first official Gradius sequel, released exclusively for a home console, was developed by Treasure and Konami and was released for the PlayStation 2.
  • Gradius Rebirth (2008/2009) - The current game in this series was released for the WiiWare platform from Nintendo and is therefore playable on the Wii . It is largely based on the previous Gradius parts, a kind of "best of" so to speak. You can choose between two game modes: Standard and Score Attack. The latter only allows a single attempt to achieve the highest possible scores, which can be transmitted to an online leaderboard. You can also choose between 5 types of ships and 5 stages, each of which presents its original final boss.

Also worth mentioning

  • Parodius (1988)
  • Parodius Da (1990) - All Parodius games are based on the same game principle as Gradius. Likewise the power-up system. The big difference, however, is in the presentation. Even when choosing your own plane you get an impression of the unusual ideas of the programmers and graphic designers: you can choose between an octopus, a penguin and a stick figure on a paper plane. The good old Vic Viper is also at the start. Instead of flying around in sci-fi realms and shooting down all kinds of spaceships, in this shoot-'em-up parody you have to deal with eagles, kissing mouths, stripteasers and other crazy opponents. Parodius Da was released as an arcade machine, for Gameboy, the PC Engine ( Turbo Grafx 16 ), the Super Nintendo and for mobile phones.
  • Gokujyou Parodius (1994)
  • Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius (1995)
  • Sexy Parodius (1996)
  • Paro Wars (1997)
  • Little Pirates (1998)
  • CR Parodius There! (2000)
  • CR Gokujo Parodius! (2006)
  • Otomedius (2007)
  • Gokuraku Parodius (2010)
  • Otomedius X (2011)

In addition to the Parodius series, the following offshoots appeared:

  • Life Force / Salamander (1986)
  • Salamander 2 (1996)

The focus here was more on organic opponents.

Web links