Gradius questions

[Blue Lander]

Okay, recently I became a convert to Gradius. Played it as a kid, didn't like it, but recently started playing again and now I'm in love with the series. But I've got general Gradius-related questions, and rather than start a bunch of new threads, I figured I'd just throw them all into one.

1: I've played through the first loops of X68000, PC-Engine, and NES versions of Gradius 1. I haven't beat the MSX version yet, but I'm pretty close. I believe there's also versions for the C64, X1, PC-88, Amstrad, and Spectrum. Do any of those versions have any special new features that make them worth playing (extra levels, stuff like that)?

2: Is the ending different for the second loop than the first loop?

3: I'm ready to move on to another Gradius game. I've got Gradius 2, Gradius Gaiden,Life Force (NES), Gradius III (SNES), Gradius V, and Parodius Da. Which one of these is the easiest? I'm trying to work my way up from easiest to hardest.

4: Are there any Gradius games not worth playing? I hear Gradius 4 isn't so hot, and is insanely difficult as well.

5: I've got the Japanese version of Gradius V, and it came with a little booklet "The history of Vic Viper". It's got a bunch of nice pictures, but it's in Japanese. Did the US version come with a translated version of this? (doubtful)

6: Gradius 2 Gofer on the X68000 has slowdown in some areas. Like in the first level with those big fire dragons, or the second level where those tentacles are flailing about. Does the Arcade/Saturn/Playstation version have this slowdown as well?

[TWITCHDOCTOR]

There was a C-64 (Commodore 64) version. It was "so-so" at best.
I remember placing a weight on the "return" key to create "rapid fire".
I used a joystick, but when the return key was pressed in, those shots were FAST. (just hold button down)
I figured this out on my own, man, I was the "hacker" back then.
I even knew about "paremeters"!!!

[Kiken]

5: I've got the Japanese version of Gradius V, and it came with a little booklet "The history of Vic Viper". It's got a bunch of nice pictures, but it's in Japanese. Did the US version come with a translated version of this? (doubtful)

The History of Vic Viper manual was not included with the US release of the game. In fact, I believe it was a Japan-only inclusion.

[Blue Lander]

There was a C-64 (Commodore 64) version. It was "so-so" at best.

So nothing makes it worth hunting down, eh? Do you recall if it has the extra bone level the PC Engine and MSX versions have? If I do ever get this version, I'll be sure to remember your enter key trick

Speaking of the bone level, are the MSX and PC Engine versions the only ones that have it? The level's actually totally different in each version, but the theme is the same.

The History of Vic Viper manual was not included with the US release of the game. In fact, I believe it was a Japan-only inclusion.

Damn. There's a lot of text in there, I wonder what it's all about. It's no suprise that they were too cheap to bother translating it, though.

[TWITCHDOCTOR]

I never got that far in the game at that time. Yea, I've since 1CC the PSX Deluxe Pack.

Anyway, IV is actually pretty good! Its not as hard as III (arcade/PS2)
I prefer Gradius III on the Super Nintendo.
Still, I reccomend the Gradius III&IV for the PS2.

Also, GET GOPHER!!!! Gradius II. If you can, shoot for the PC-Engine version.

[landshark]

For me in terms of difficulty

Easy -> Hard

Gradius (ARC)
Gradius III (SNES)
Gradius 2 (ARC)
Gradius V (PS2)
Gradius Gaiden (PS)
Gradius IV (ARC/PS2)
Gradius III (ARC<US>)
Gradius III (ARC<JP>/PS2)

[whoisKeel]

I never got that far in the game at that time. Yea, I've since 1CC the PSX Deluxe Pack.

Anyway, IV is actually pretty good! Its not as hard as III (arcade/PS2)
I prefer Gradius III on the Super Nintendo.
Still, I reccomend the Gradius III&IV for the PS2.

Also, GET GOPHER!!!! Gradius II. If you can, shoot for the PC-Engine version.

I agree Gradius II for pce-cd is my favorite older gradius game. The music alone is worth it, and it pops up on ebay for $20 if you are patient.

[punkfox]

As far as I know, the endings for the second loops on aren't very different, but I've yet to pull off a Loop 2+ clear, so I couldn't say.

As for games, I'd say, in terms of diffiiculty....

(Top is easiest, bottom is hardest)

Gradius Gaiden
Gradius V
Gradius III (SNES)
Parodius Da! (This and Gradius III were hard for me to choose)
Life Force (NES)
Gradius 2 (Arcade)(Damn 3rd Level...)

I've yet to play Gradius IV, but I'd like to check it out just to see what it's about myself.

[BrianC]

Didn't you just beat Nemesis recently? What is your opinion of it? It's one of my favorite Gameboy shooters (you did a comparison with the other versions of Gradius. Why not this one?).

[Herr Schatten]

There was a C-64 (Commodore 64) version. It was "so-so" at best.

So nothing makes it worth hunting down, eh? Do you recall if it has the extra bone level the PC Engine and MSX versions have?

Speaking of the bone level, are the MSX and PC Engine versions the only ones that have it? The level's actually totally different in each version, but the theme is the same.

The C64 version is actually very fine. It's not quite as good as the PCE one, but excellently made and very well worth tracking down. It's a bit easier than the PCE and Arcade versions of Gradius, though, I was able to one-credit it within a few hours (while the PCE version took me about a week). Think of it as another great Gradius game rather than a port of the arcade original.

And yes, the C64 version does have the bone level. From what I remember it played very similarly to the one found in the PCE version, but I don't exactly recall either stage layout.

There's one little detail I absolutely love about the C64 version: If you're hit, instead of the usual boring Gradius explosion you'll see the Vic Viper going down burning, with a trail of smoke behind it, then crashing into the scenery. Lovely.

[Minzoku]

I'm pretty sure you could ask tviks about loop 2+ clears

[OmegaFlareX]

6: Gradius 2 Gofer on the X68000 has slowdown in some areas. Like in the first level with those big fire dragons, or the second level where those tentacles are flailing about. Does the Arcade/Saturn/Playstation version have this slowdown as well?

Arcade, yes. But you can turn it off in the Deluxe Pack for SS/PS1 in the options menu. I've never played the PC-Engine version so I can't comment on it.

[ForteMP3]

Hey Blue Lander, I don't suppose there's any way I could request you upload some scans of the History of Vic Viper booklet somewhere? I'm a total Gradius nut myself. I've been dying to see what's in that History of Vic Viper booklet even if it's in Japanese, cause I'm a sucker for Vic Viper artwork.

[Blue Lander]

Thanks for all the info, everyone. It seems like everybody rates the difficulty of Gradius games differently, but I think I'll do Gradius Gaiden next.

Also, GET GOPHER!!!! Gradius II. If you can, shoot for the PC-Engine version.

Is there any reason to get the PC Engine version when I already have it for the X68000? I assume the soundtrack is nicer. But The PC Engine could barely handle Gradius 1, Gradius II must have rampant slowdown.

Didn't you just beat Nemesis recently? What is your opinion of it? It's one of my favorite Gameboy shooters (you did a comparison with the other versions of Gradius. Why not this one?).

I thought it was pretty good. It seems like a mish mash of elements from Gradius 1 and 2 with some unique stuff thrown in. It's a bit too easy on the default difficulty level, but I haven't tried the second loop yet. It's hard to compare it to other versions of Gradius, because it's so different than the others. I approached it as a unique game rather than a port of the arcade version.

Hey Blue Lander, I don't suppose there's any way I could request you upload some scans of the History of Vic Viper booklet somewhere?

Sure, no problem. If you like Gradius artwork, you should check out the art book that came with Gradius II on the X68000. I was going to upload scans of that, but I found out somebody else already did.

The C64 version is actually very fine. It's not quite as good as the PCE one, but excellently made and very well worth tracking down. It's a bit easier than the PCE and Arcade versions of Gradius, though, I was able to one-credit it within a few hours (while the PCE version took me about a week). Think of it as another great Gradius game rather than a port of the arcade original.

Ah, you've convinced me to get the C64 version once I beat the MSX version. I'd like to hear a SID rendition of the Gradius soundtrack, too.

Speaking of Gradius 1 difficulty, of the versions I've played, this is how I'd rate them for difficulty.

1: Arcade/X68000
2: MSX
3: NES
4: PC Engine

Once you've beaten the arcade version, the PC Engine version is a cinch. You already know all the patterns, and all the slowdown makes it even easier. I suck at shmups, but I beat it in my second or third try. I made it to the last level without dying at all, and I only died twice overall. The NES and MSX games are so different from the arcade, you basically have to start from scratch. They'd be equally as difficult, except the shields in the NES version protect your entire ship rather than just the front. I think the MSX version is closer to the arcade one as far as accuracy goes, although the NES does have some elements the MSX one doesn't.

[BrianC]

Thanks for all the info, everyone. It seems like everybody rates the difficulty of Gradius games differently, but I think I'll do Gradius Gaiden next.

Also, GET GOPHER!!!! Gradius II. If you can, shoot for the PC-Engine version.

Is there any reason to get the PC Engine version when I already have it for the X68000? I assume the soundtrack is nicer. But The PC Engine could barely handle Gradius 1, Gradius II must have rampant slowdown.

Didn't you just beat Nemesis recently? What is your opinion of it? It's one of my favorite Gameboy shooters (you did a comparison with the other versions of Gradius. Why not this one?).

I thought it was pretty good. It seems like a mish mash of elements from Gradius 1 and 2 with some unique stuff thrown in. It's a bit too easy on the default difficulty level, but I haven't tried the second loop yet. It's hard to compare it to other versions of Gradius, because it's so different than the others. I approached it as a unique game rather than a port of the arcade version.

Hey Blue Lander, I don't suppose there's any way I could request you upload some scans of the History of Vic Viper booklet somewhere?

Sure, no problem. If you like Gradius artwork, you should check out the art book that came with Gradius II on the X68000. I was going to upload scans of that, but I found out somebody else already did.

The C64 version is actually very fine. It's not quite as good as the PCE one, but excellently made and very well worth tracking down. It's a bit easier than the PCE and Arcade versions of Gradius, though, I was able to one-credit it within a few hours (while the PCE version took me about a week). Think of it as another great Gradius game rather than a port of the arcade original.

Ah, you've convinced me to get the C64 version once I beat the MSX version. I'd like to hear a SID rendition of the Gradius soundtrack, too.

Speaking of Gradius 1 difficulty, of the versions I've played, this is how I'd rate them for difficulty.

1: Arcade/X68000
2: MSX
3: NES
4: PC Engine

Once you've beaten the arcade version, the PC Engine version is a cinch. You already know all the patterns, and all the slowdown makes it even easier. I suck at shmups, but I beat it in my second or third try. I made it to the last level without dying at all, and I only died twice overall. The NES and MSX games are so different from the arcade, you basically have to start from scratch. They'd be equally as difficult, except the shields in the NES version protect your entire ship rather than just the front. I think the MSX version is closer to the arcade one as far as accuracy goes, although the NES does have some elements the MSX one doesn't.

From what I heard, the PC Engine Gradius II has a level not in the arcade version. I don't know if it has slowdown, but it is a SCD game, so it might not have the slowdown of the PCE Hu Card Gradius. Unlike the SEGA CD, the PCE CD does add extra memory to games.

One thing about Nemesis is that is does let you choose from two different difficulties from the start. Number 2 is the harder mode and I highly recommend choosing that one. I think the game is a bit too friendly with the configuration menu, though. It actually lets you choose up to 99 lives.

Have you tried the second GB Gradius game? I love that game, but it really is an oddity. The levels seem to be all new and there is no Moai stage. It actually starts out with you trying to escape from a big ship while dodging asteroids. Konami's naming for the GB Gradius games is a bit confusing. They were called Nemesis and Nemesis II in Japan, but Konami actually changed the names to Gradius for the SGB Konami GB collections.

[Blue Lander]

Hmm, I might have to hunt down Gradius II PCE, then, just for that extra level.

I haven't tried the second GB Nemesis game (Interstellar Assault) yet, but I intend to one of these days. It seems a bit harder to find than the first, but I'm sure I can find 'em on E-bay. First I'm going to try to beat Nemesis 1 in the harder difficulty setting.

Does anybody know anything about Gradius III on the MSX? Gradius II MSX is a unique game, but from what I've read Gradius III has some elements from Gradius II Gofer but mostly new levels. Is it different enough to consider it a seperate game from Gradius II Gofer?

And let me just add, Gradius 1 on the MSX is a cold, cruel, dirty bitch of a video game. The first couple levels are pretty easy, but starting at level 3 it gets much harder. The Moai heads in level 3 are very difficult to destroy and lay down a much thicker field of fire than they do in the arcade version. Level 4 isn't bad except for that upsidedown volcano, which can be tricky. I haven't figured out how to beat the mini-boss for level 5 yet, that's my current main stumbling point. I think I'm going to have to take a Gradius break soon, though. My hands ache (mostly from the NES joypad), and I don't want to get carpal tunnel or anything.

[BrianC]

Hmm, I might have to hunt down Gradius II PCE, then, just for that extra level.

I haven't tried the second GB Nemesis game (Interstellar Assault) yet, but I intend to one of these days. It seems a bit harder to find than the first, but I'm sure I can find 'em on E-bay. First I'm going to try to beat Nemesis 1 in the harder difficulty setting.

Does anybody know anything about Gradius III on the MSX? Gradius II MSX is a unique game, but from what I've read Gradius III has some elements from Gradius II Gofer but mostly new levels. Is it different enough to consider it a seperate game from Gradius II Gofer?

And let me just add, Gradius 1 on the MSX is a cold, cruel, dirty bitch of a video game. The first couple levels are pretty easy, but starting at level 3 it gets much harder. The Moai heads in level 3 are very difficult to destroy and lay down a much thicker field of fire than they do in the arcade version. Level 4 isn't bad except for that upsidedown volcano, which can be tricky. I haven't figured out how to beat the mini-boss for level 5 yet, that's my current main stumbling point. I think I'm going to have to take a Gradius break soon, though. My hands ache (mostly from the NES joypad), and I don't want to get carpal tunnel or anything.

Gradius: The Interstellar Assault is also known as Nemesis II: Return of the Hero. It's also in the fourth European Konami GB collection as Gradius II: Return of the Hero.

I have played a bit of Nemesis III MSX via emulation and I plan to play more of it. From what I heard, it is a mostly unique game with some elements of Gradius II MSX in it, as well as some elements from the arcade Gradius II. BTW, it's not actually Gradius III. The Japanese title of the game is Gofer no Yabou Episode II.

[Zach Keene]

Does anybody know anything about Gradius III on the MSX? Gradius II MSX is a unique game, but from what I've read Gradius III has some elements from Gradius II Gofer but mostly new levels. Is it different enough to consider it a seperate game from Gradius II Gofer?

Absolutely. The whole first stage (and arguably the second stage boss) is pretty much borrowed from the arcade Gradius 2, but after that it's a totally different game.

It also continues Gradius 2 MSX's tradition of picking up additional weapons, although they're now found by flying into hidden hotspots (kind of like finding the bonus stages in the previous two MSX titles).

[Blue Lander]

It also continues Gradius 2 MSX's tradition of picking up additional weapons, although they're now found by flying into hidden hotspots (kind of like finding the bonus stages in the previous two MSX titles).

There's a bonus stage in Gradius 1 MSX?! Any idea how to get to it?

Oh, I've come up with another Gradius question. I got Gradius III and IV for the PS2 today. The Japanese version of Gradius V comes with a booklet the US version doesn't, does the Japanese version of Gradius III and IV come with anything neat the US one doesn't?

[Shatterhand]

Gradius/Nemesis on MSX was a port of the arcade game, with the secret level stuff.

Gradius/Nemesis 2 on MSX was a sequel exclusive to MSX, released BEFORE Gradius 2 on arcades

Gradius Gofer episode 2/Nemesis 3 its a sequel inspired in Gradius 2 arcade, but indeed its a game of its own.


Its all really weird really. Coming from a childhood of lots of MSX gaming, when I first saw Gradius 3 on Snes, I thought it was Nemesis 3 MSX updated, and then I got a completely new game, and thought "What the fuck?"

It took me sometime to get all the facts

[Zach Keene]

There's a bonus stage in Gradius 1 MSX?! Any idea how to get to it?

There's a pretty blatant dead end at the bottom of the screen near the end of stage 2 you have to shoot through a narrow row of destructable orbs to get to. Against your better judgement, fly into it.

There may be others but that's the only one I know about.

[Blue Lander]

I found the little secret part you mentioned. Not only do you have to go through there, you've got to move slightly up once you're in that little cavity. The bonus stage is pretty interesting. I've never seen yellow power ups before!

I finally beat Gradius on the MSX today. Next I'll try to beat that hidden stage.

Some observations about Gradius MSX:

In my opinion, it's harder than the arcade version. It's the hardest version I've ever played. But it's also very good, and is worth playing even if you've played the hell out of the arcade or PC Engine versions. You do get continues, though. I never used any, so I don't know if they're infinite or not. You get points for picking up powerups, which is an incentive to continue picking them up even after you're 100% powered up. The scrolling is extremely choppy, which takes a little to get used to. It's so bad in level 2 that I got motion sickness the first time I played it! You'll probably crash into a lot of walls, too, because they jump from position to position, which can accidentally hit the front of your ship. Like the NES version, your shields don't change size. So you aren't penalized for brushing them against a wall or enemy. Collision detection is EXTREMELY accurate, if you so much as touch a single pixel to an enemy, you're dead. You get 5000 points for beating the first loop.

The second loop:
I only played level 1 (since I beat the game with 0 lives left), but the level itself seemed identical to the first loop. Enemies didn't shoot more at me or use suicide bullets, they didn't move faster, and there weren't more of them. The only difference I noticed was the boss. Instead of just shooting lasers at you, he shoots a flurry of bullets at you as well. He also moves faster. I died pretty quickly, but it actually made the boss battle much more interesting! I wish they did something like that in the later levels of the first loop.

Final score: 671,700

So I've beated the X68000, PC Engine, NES, and MSX versions. Next version to conquer: Commodore 64.

[Shatterhand]

There are more secret levels in Gradius on MSX... I think there are 3 or 4 on total, but I don't remember where...

It shouldn't be hard to find out on internet , though.

Yes, the continues are infinite. 1cc it is not that hard. In an MSX community there were some people bragging that they had 1 lifed all the Gradius games on MSX, and someone said what I find to be really amusing.

To finish those games without dying. I wanna see someone dying in level 4, and THEN finish the game

[Blue Lander]

I actually found 1ccing the MSX version much harder than doing the arcade version. I believe I died on level 4 trying to get through that upsidedown volcano when I beat the game. I don't think it made beating the game much harder, though. You don't really need a lot of firepower to beat the level 4 mini-boss, and you don't need a lot of fire power to get through level 5 until you make it to the mini bosses (although having a laser and option is helpful for destroying those skulls) And I actually find it easier to make it through level 6 when you don't have any powerups. For some reason it's easier for me to destroy those brain tentacle things with the regular shooter than the laser, and it's easier to dodge bullets when you don't have any speed power ups. I wouldn't want to try making it through level 7 without the laser, though.

I downloaded the C64 version of Gradius a couple days ago (I paid for 3 versions of Gradius, I figure the rest ought to be on the house) and copied it to disk. But for some reason when I go to play it, the joystick doesn't work. Pressing fire moves the ship left and pushing the joystick in any direction pauses the game. The C64 uses standard Atari 2600 joysticks, right? I'm playing it on a C128 in C64 mode if that makes any difference.

And does this game not have any music during the levels? That's sort of lame. The graphics look nice from what I've seen so far, though.

I also started Gradius II Gofer on the X68000 yesterday. Is it just me, or is this game a little... easy? I made it to level 6 after just a couple tries. I probably would have made it through 6 too if I had known I needed more speed powerups.

[Herr Schatten]

I downloaded the C64 version of Gradius a couple days ago (I paid for 3 versions of Gradius, I figure the rest ought to be on the house) and copied it to disk. But for some reason when I go to play it, the joystick doesn't work. Pressing fire moves the ship left and pushing the joystick in any direction pauses the game. The C64 uses standard Atari 2600 joysticks, right? I'm playing it on a C128 in C64 mode if that makes any difference.

And does this game not have any music during the levels? That's sort of lame. The graphics look nice from what I've seen so far, though.

I never had control issues with the C64 version of Gradius. Are you sure the fille you downloaded worked properly in the first place? Did you try the other joystick port?

The C64 indeed uses standard Atari 2600 joysticks and playing on a C128 shouldn't make any difference.

And no, there's no music during levels. Obviously, Konami didn't want the C64 port to load inbetween levels, so they squeezed the whole game (+ one bonus stage) into the 64K RAM available. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
However, the game has suffered a bit from this decisision. You can tell it not only from the missing music, but also from how pixelated the bigger sprites (like the mothership and the pink brain blobs) are. You can see that they are technically only small sprites blown up, so they use up less memory space.

[BrianC]

I downloaded the C64 version of Gradius a couple days ago (I paid for 3 versions of Gradius, I figure the rest ought to be on the house) and copied it to disk. But for some reason when I go to play it, the joystick doesn't work. Pressing fire moves the ship left and pushing the joystick in any direction pauses the game. The C64 uses standard Atari 2600 joysticks, right? I'm playing it on a C128 in C64 mode if that makes any difference.

And does this game not have any music during the levels? That's sort of lame. The graphics look nice from what I've seen so far, though.

I never had control issues with the C64 version of Gradius. Are you sure the fille you downloaded worked properly in the first place? Did you try the other joystick port?

The C64 indeed uses standard Atari 2600 joysticks and playing on a C128 shouldn't make any difference.

And no, there's no music during levels. Obviously, Konami didn't want the C64 port to load inbetween levels, so they squeezed the whole game (+ one bonus stage) into the 64K RAM available. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
However, the game has suffered a bit from this decisision. You can tell it not only from the missing music, but also from how pixelated the bigger sprites (like the mothership and the pink brain blobs) are. You can see that they are technically only small sprites blown up, so they use up less memory space.

Definatly try the other joystick port. I had the same problem with the game in an emulator, but the C64 Gradius works fine with Joystick 2. In fact, Gradius isn't the only game where you need to use port 2, so try to keep this in mind. Also, the shift key is used for selecting power ups, at least on the emulator I tried.

[Blue Lander]

Ahhh. Thanks guys, player 2 port did it. It's been so long since I've played my C128, I forgot that some games use player 2 port for whatever reason. It took me awhile to remember how to get Star Commander to work so I could copy the disk image, too.

Now that I've got it up and running, my first impressions aren't too favorable. The lack of music is sort of a bummer (I was looking forward to some rockin' SID tunes). I don't like taking my hand off the joypad to hit 'shift' to power up, either. I do like the graphics, though. It has a European feel to it, which is a nice change of pace. I did notice some of the pixelated graphics, but they didn't look too bad. All things considered they did a good job with 64k. The MSX disk version of Gradius does have load times in between levels, but it's just a few seconds. With the 1541, I bet the load times for the Commodore would be considerably more.

I'm going to give this game time to grow on me, though. For one, I can't find my Commodore AV cable so I'm hooked up via RF, and the picture is mighty staticy. Maybe I'll like it more once I have a proper video hookup. And I'm using a Sega Master System joypad which isn't the most precise thing in the world, so I need to rummage through my "big bucket o' joysticks" for a better C-64 compatible controller.