Gradius IV (AC,PS2,PSP)

[Aquas]

Aquas / LWS / 405,100 / M / Capricorn / 1-7 / G4A / FF / default / PS2

Slight increase of score, but I think it's worth posting considering it was the first time I made it the Hi-Speed stage in one credit and because I breached 400,000 :] ... I ALMOST got past the hi-speed stage, but I crashed into a wall during one of the last few corridors, argh! Died on the maoi stage at first, at the maoi reborns then took me 2 or so lives to recover from that, died near the end of the cell stage twice, and again on the boss, but beat him anyway on my last life. I also did this in the Hi-Score mode so I guess I enabled Stage Select somehow by getting to the Hi-Speed stage. Yay! I've been trying to get it for a while and I didn't know that was a method of getting it, if the only one. Now that I have stage select the 1cc is within my grasp! I'm having a blast with this game, and my game clock is at twenty hours right now. I expect the 1cc within the next 5 hours if play, ideally.

I would like to note that my life expectancy on the bubble stage is very high now. I go lazers with the Mine type, (G4A) and just stick to the top right of the screen for the majority of the stage. Spreading my options out in front of me using the mines to destroy stray bubbles and such, I usually don't die, and I've become a lot better at predicting how the bubbles move and divide, once you get a grasp on how everything reacts to eachother in the stage I think it's much easier. It is like Gradius III's bubble stage in this manner.

As for the bubble core boss, he's really not as bad either once you know how to deal with him. I'll tell you how to do that. With Double on G4A just try to consciously destroy many of the bubbles, by doing that and staying near the left side of the screen, there will be opportunities where you can capitilize on shooting the core when more bubbles need to pumped out by the boss. Being aware of the quick moving bubbles is also important to survival, as they can destroy you suddenly. I usually spend the first 15-20 seconds of the fight fending off bubbles, then proceed to attack the core with moderate persistence.

[Carmen]

Updated, keep us updated on the progress Yea G4 isn't bad... I wish I still had that PS2 pack. Also a noticible pattern emerging with all the top players using G4A type select... hmm...

Also I ran the score chart through my Firefox browser and it displayed incorrectly... hopefully its just an error on my side (it looks fine in Opera after all), but if there are any problems with the display of it let me know and I'll try my best to fix it.

[Aquas]

Aquas / LWS / 506,600 / M / Capricorn / 1-9 / G4A / FF / default / PS2

Yep. Died at the beginning of Stage 9 *shrug* I hate that part! And it's nearly impossible to recover from that point, at least I haven't been able to yet. But, pretty happy with this run in any case. The boss rush is easy sauce and I kicked the cell boss' ass hardcore with one option. 1cc is coming soon! And I think I'm going to keep playing into the 2nd loop once I achieve that.

Such a badass loop, friggen re-arranged landscapes and more enemies for the win! That's what I call a loop.

But yeah, the Hi-Speed stage is no problem for me now. Got a route all memorized.

[Carmen]

Rearranged landscapes... really? Didn't know about that. I know that the second loop sees enemies shooting lots of suicide bullets...

[Aquas]

Aquas / LWS / 528,900 / M / Capricorn / 1-9 / G4A / FF / default / PS2

Heh, in this run I was fooling around with the analog stick on the Dualshock and crashed into the floor in Stage 2, oops! (Did you know the PS2 port supports analog directional movement? It's pretty smooth.) Aside from that, a pretty good run. The boss rush gave me some problems because I died at the Hi-speed stage's boss where he shoots his middle lazer turrets rapidly near the end of his life. Used a bunch of lives on the boss rush, making it to the last stage with no lives remaining. I made it past the part I always die on, initially, but when the screen rotated the first time I was in a really bad position and bit it against the wall. Dah! Decent score, I think.

[Aquas]

Aquas / LWS / 751,600 / M / Capricorn / 2-4 / G4A / FF / default / PS2

Yeeeaaaa 1cc! I died like 3 times against the Shadow Dancer in stage 9 lol, really nervous 'cause I never got to that far in stage 9, always die earlier on. Thanks to the PSP letting me save and practice that part fully powered up. I went into the 2nd loop with no lives, but got 2 extends eventually, dying at the beginning of the volcanoes in 2-4 (there's more of them!)

I'll be practicing the 2nd loop so I'm not quite done with the game yet. xD

Fun fact: it took me roughly same amount of time to 1cc this game as it did for Gradius V, that is, roughly 30 hours. I was more dedicated to this game than V though, because of V's length.

[Carmen]

It took me almost 200 hours to 1cc Grad V. So ahm... yea. Haha, congrats on the 1cc man.

[Aquas]

Wow I got really nervous after I beat my old score in this run... really should have paused the game and collected myself a bit more. So close to taking that 2nd spot! Of course, I had to crash into one of the maoi heads instead of actually being shot and killed, too. >< I've been practicing ^_^

1 million or bust!

Aquas / LWS / 838,400 / M / Capricorn / 2-5 / G4A / FF / default / PS2

Just a note about the cell stage: I think it may be beneficial to sever the limbs of the tentacle creatures rather than kill them all right away at full rank. I heard they respawn faster if you kill them quick, and I find this tends to be true. Death is unavoidable if you're surrounded sometimes, but it can be resourceful to just sever the limb of one and hide near that side till it's dead instead of being swiped in its reach.

Another note: I find it's safest to kill the cell boss using the option trap quick kill technique at the beginning of the battle. You can get away with 2 or 3 opportunities to damage it before it will close in on you, I forget the exact number. The point is it's safer to retreat in front of it before it encloses in on you so you don't risk death by it ramming you if you're not damaging it enough to kill. If you're me, its attacks for loop 1 won't phase you much at that early stage of the battle, don't forget you can weave between the blue tails of its tri-laser attack if need better position.

So yeah, I unlocked the stage select for loop 3, too. I can't get past the end of Stage 2 with those flowers that burst white pollen balls because of the suicide bullets that are flung at you from the destroyed buds and ships, mainly. It's a tough part! I think I should just try to be on the right side of the screen or something, but the suicide bullets are wicked there. Especially since I can't get there with much of a Force Field left.

[Aquas]

Aquas / LWS / 961,400 / M / Capricorn / 2-6 / G4A / FF / default / PS2

Oh, man! The adrenaline was rushing as I advanced through the Maoi stage in loop 2. I paused the game to collect myself this time, and it helped. I lost all but my last life trying to recover from the last checkpoint in the Maoi stage loop 2, lucky for me I had practiced that recovery point many times, and knew how to tackle it. When I made it out of the Maoi heads I was like "PHEW!" and then methodically destroyed the Maoi head boss as usual. Going into stage 6 with no power ups was gonna be a challenge, I knew. I decided to get one option, then a force field, and hoped to power up quickly off the cell spam from the veins. It didn't work out my way, unfortunately, as I chose to get a 2nd option, and was gradually pushed to the back of the screen in the anxiety of it all and overwhelmed by cells that my options couldn't kill. So close to the big million, too!

I probably should have gotten double after the first option because those turrets were really making me uneasy.

I'm still aiming for the mil though!

[Aquas]

Aquas / LWS / 1,039,800 / M / Capricorn / 2-6 / G4A / FF / default / PS2

I think I got hysterical after I beat the maoi stage fully powered up, wow. Almost beat the cell boss, that tricky bastard. Lost the rest of my 3 lives on that stage. 2 were spent getting the rank down enough for me to fly by the tentacle guys. Rank is definetely altered more difficult compared to practicing loop 2 in practice mode.

Glad to break a million though, now I'm like tviks' apprentice or some shit. ;D

90 hours!

[Carmen]

Sorry for the delay, and thanks for the PM to remind me, haha

Seems Gradius IV is still as deep as before

[tinotormed]

Improvement:

tviks / TVI / 4,569,200 / M / Virgo / 3-9 / G4A / FF / 8 / PS2

Played on the hardest difficulty this time since it is allowed in the rules and you can score more. Still didn't beat the damn 3rd loop though.

The only thing is he couldn't stand a chance against the counterstop WR, so I suggest you playing on a very normal difficulty.

[saucykobold]

saucykobold / SCY / 259,400 / M / Aquarius / 1-5 / G4A / FF / 4 / PS2

[Carmen]

Updated

Ugh, nobody plays this game, otherwise we might switch it to normal only.

Gradius IV, most unplayed Gradius ever...

[pegboy]

No idea if this is still being maintained but I just got the 1CC for Gradius IV.
pegboy / DAN / 591,700 / M / Aries / 2-2 / G4B / FF / 4 / PS2

Here's my video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpLecf04HAs
The video stops at the end of 1-9 but my actual run ended at 2-2.

Also, I have a boss rush mode score as well: pegboy / DAN / 6:24:67 / M / Aries / G4B / FF / 4 / PS2
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7f0Dj_WbTA

PS. You can see my hi score for the above run during the boss rush video I posted since it's saved.

[Carmen]

Added you in, nice score. Not sure if anyone wants to do a boss rush thing (not a lot of love for these games lately) but if there's enough interest can make one.

[Cee]

clp / clp / 861,100 / M / Libra / 2-5 / G4B / FF / 4 / PS2

After playing nothing but Gradius these last few months this one is fast becoming my favorite, shame more people don't give it the chance it deserves. First time into the loop and nothing but adrenaline fueled shit myself panic play to get through the stage rearrangements lol.

[Carmen]

Nice score! Added you in. I would like this game more if I knew what I was doing in it :S

[Cee]

Well if you need any tips man i've got some pretty solid strategies for most of the first loop. I used the psp emu and save states alot for practice before doing these full runs on my ps2, definitely helps.

[Perikles]

Perikles / JPB / 532,400 / M / Libra / 2-2 / G4B / FF / 4 / PS2


Clutch run, very similar to pegboy's, actually. Died a few times on that blasted organic stage and then in the fortress (one ducker ran into me and killed me even though I still had a force field activated ), but managed to flail my way through.

I don't outright dislike it anymore, but I'm still not fond of it, honestly. Credit where credit is due: checkpoint recovery is sometimes tough, yet always manageable, especially after dying a few times. It's moreso in line with II's first loop checkpoints than most of III's flat-out impossible coup de mains. Furthermore, some of the boss fights are genuinely fun and a few stand-out stages are also to be found (I quite like the second stage as it encourages smart positioning of the options while also posing an unique threat with these elastic vines).

Most of the game - I feel so, at least - is really annoying, though. Not especially demanding (no idea how anyone could claim IV's first loop is harder than III's), just annoying. What's up with stage 3, for example? Cross II's ice cube stage with III's bubble stage (both of which work great on their own) in the hope of doubling the fun? I had one time where two blocks managed to occupy both available passages, leaving me with no other way out than to die. Superb design. Also not delectating those comical contraptions that'll kill you the first few times. Flyswatters and cheerful carousels in the high-speed stage, silly pneumatic pistons in the final level. Eh.

Lastly, why did the publisher made it so inconvenient to get some practice? You need to 1CC the game before you get a stage select, you can only use the Konami code once per beaten stage, and while you have infinite continues for the entire game at your disposal it's instant game over if you lose your credit in the final stage. Truly nonsensical decisions. Not that it's too bad for the game is much easier (and shorter!) than III, I don't understand it, regardless.

I still had fun, of course. But compared to all the other games in the series I find it to be fairly weak. No desire to ever visit it again which is a first. Guess it's time to move on to V and finish the saga!

[pegboy]

Good job! I agree with your analysis 100%, Gradius IV (and I would lump III into this as well honestly) is pretty much a game where after I got the 1CC I have very little interest in ever revisiting the game. It's not outright horrible but there is definitely something off with the game.

It has the most balanced checkpoint recovery in the series sans Gaiden, but it often takes multiple deaths to get the rank low enough to do it. The soundtrack is also very weird and unlike anything else in the series, and not in a good way. Like you said I think the boss fights are the best part of the game, not quite as good as in V or Gaiden, but better than the earlier games in the mainline series.

I think you will like V, assuming you are ok with the absurd length of the game (1 hour loops lol). Everything about it works for me - smaller hitbox, awesome boss fights, ship types that are all quite different. Also the removal of checkpoints was long overdue. I'd be curious to know how you rank the whole series both difficulty wise and from best to worst once you're done.

[Carmen]

Congrats on the 1cc! Also wow, ten year anniversary for this thread already? Time flies...

Yeah this game isn't that great... hehe. I got Gaiden last January and I'm sure in the three months I was playing it I put in at least three times as many hours compared to IV (which unfortunately, since I don't have the game or a US PS2 anymore, I have no way of confirming how much time I played...). And I still put in Gaiden now and then to play...

Gradius V also blows this game out of the water, easily have over 230+ hours of play time on that. Oh well... I am the oddball out since I actually like Gradius IV's music, enough that I bought this and the Salamander 2 OST off of Gamemusiconline or whatever import CD shops they had back in the day. Still have them around back at home too...

Speaking of I really would like to pick up the Salamander pack one of these days...

[Kollision]

Kollision / EDW / 557,000 / M / Cancer / 2-2 / G4B / FF / 4 / PS2



this was certainly easier than part 3

[Carmen]

Updated, congrats! I don't even think I ever beat the bubble stage in AC G3

[Carmen]

So in light of being some 12 years older since I originally started this thread, I've kind of realised that not having one difficulty for everybody to follow is sort of silly . So I've put the difficulty to default (4), which doesn't make that much of a difference on the scoreboard (I've nullified my score and reverted tviks' score to his 4 difficulty score, nobody else's score was affected.) So hopefully now things are a lot more streamlined! Also Despatche, feel free to take over the thread anytime you're ready!