Shameless self-spam: The Gradius edition

[Randorama]

Ok, i admit that i'm a silly spammer, but: i've made a Gradius think-tank-like (ayeee double-dash!) article on the latest issue of gamersquarter . In case you wonder, i've talked of shmups (i.e. Darius and the Rayseries) on past issues. I hope you will enjoy the reading (even if we haven't been able to edit the few typos and errors here and there)

[DC906270]

interesting article randorama, i've put the site on my favourites tab for future viewing. also liked the Darius article issue 2 (Darius being my fave horizontal). hope the money's good for being a games journo

[crithit5000]

i've talked of shmups (i.e. Darius

That was you who wrote that??? Good stuff, and now I have to read the others for sure...

[zinger]

I didn't know you wrote that Darius article either, but now it all makes sense! What other mystery person could've written such an awesome article on Darius containing such accurate and tasteful descriptions, if not the good ol' Rando. Wonderful stuff man, I'll check out that Gradius thingy right away! And oh, keep up the good work.

EDIT: So, I read it. Sentimental ramblings and impressions of a great series that I've played far too little of. I did enjoy it, thanks.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

It's hard to take you seriously when you cover Gradius Gaiden in a four-or-so lines paragraph. Next time, try to keep extreme bias outta your articles unless you're going to write something that's purely personal opinion, in which case feel free to do whatever you want.

[Rev. Stuart Campbell]

Constructive criticism, eh? Okay.

The piece is a long, rambling exercise in pointlessness, a waste of the reader's time that goes nowhere, badly. What's it actually supposed to be about? As far as I can tell, it takes a very long time to tell us that you liked Gradius 1 and 2, didn't like 3 and 4 so much, like 5 again, and don't know what might be in 6. Did we need thousands of words to learn that less-than-compelling information? And what the hell kind of self-proclaimed Gradius fan hasn't even played Gaiden, the second-best game in the series?

Worse than all that, though, is the problem that your command of facts is dismal, but it doesn't stop you going ahead and making blatantly wrong statements anyway.

Everything in shmups, at least in its basic form, comes from Gradius. Power-ups? Gradius.

Well, no. Not even nearly. There's a case to be made that the docked ships in Moon Cresta (1980) and Galaga (1981) constitute "power-ups", since they have to be earned by skill and they increase your firepower. (Galaga's could be counted as a primitive "Option", too.) Vanguard (1981) could also lay claim the accolade for its invincibility-bestowing "Energy" powerup. But even if we're talking purely about picking up an onscreen icon, dropped by destroyed enemies, that upgrades your ship's offensive strength permanently until death, then Gyruss (1983) and Star Force (1984) - to name but two, neither of which are exactly obscure - both clearly beat Gradius to the punch.

Ground weapons? Gradius.

Hardly. Even if we're generous and discount the likes of Sky Raider, then Scramble (1981) and its many clones/sequels (Battle Of Atlantis, Super Cobra) featured both forward-firing lasers and ground-attack bombs. And even though Scramble has been retrospectively (and inconsistently) co-opted into the Gradius line, we all know that's just historical revisionism. (Vanguard also featured a considerable amount of ground attack, albeit with all-purpose weaponry.)

Multi-tapping with the weapon or autofire? Gradius.

Not even close. Countless games autofired your bullets (usually at a slower rate) if you held down the fire button, long before Gradius did it - Xevious (1982), to name just the first example that comes into my head. And autofire in Gradius is so useless anyway that you can't even count it as a feature in any meaningful sense.

Rank? Gradius.

What on Earth are you talking about? Even if it did award you "ranks", Gorf (1981) clearly got there first with its identification of the player as "Space Cadet", "Space Captain", "Space General" and so on as he progressed through the game.

So of the four core features of shmups that you attribute to Gradius, precisely none of them were actually invented or even popularised by it. I suppose we should at least be grateful that you didn't try to give it the credit for shields, too.

I won't pick on the standard of writing, since it's unfair to criticise people using a second language. But the Internet is responsible for a whole army of idiots making public proclamations about videogaming history that are plain wrong. If you don't know the facts and can't be bothered to do the research, then at least have the decency to shut the fuck up and stop adding to the confusion. As the old saying goes, "It's better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

[Turrican]

Heh, I wonder if Gradius did pioneer something, after all. The ancient civilization theme nope, that one comes from Xevious too. What about the bio-technology that shmuppers are used to link with R-Type? After all, you fight cells and brain in the end, although the whole thing was made much more evident in the following Salamander...

[Rev. Stuart Campbell]

I'm a bit mystified as to what makes Gradius 3's bubble stage worse than the essentially-identical and even nastier iceberg stage in Gradius 2, as well...

[Shatterhand]

Well, Gradius invented the "Gradius power-up Bar", which was copied in a few games later.

Taken from the shmup glossary (http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1348):

Rank: Gameplay system found in many shmups which will automatically adjust the game’s difficulty in accordance with the player’s performance: for example, in many cases more enemies will appear (and/or existing enemies will attack more aggressively) when the player is fully powered up. Some more “extreme” rank systems require that the player purposely avoids powering up, shooting down enemies, etc. in order to effectively increase his chances of survival, although often at the cost of higher scoring opportunities. Some rank systems are controlled directly by the player’s status and can change quickly, while others will continually increase depending on the player’s actions until they “max out,” and efforts to control them can only slow down how fast they increase.

[CIT]

Hi Rando, I just read your article.

I have to start by saying I'm not a fan of the Gamer's Quarter's approach. I really couldn't care less about people's nostalgic ramblings about games, as I have my own memories of these games, and that's already what I cherish most. Mainly I like to read an essay about games to gain some sort of insight about the works in questions and not about the person writing the essay. There is of course a qualitative critique of the Gradius series in your piece apart from the whole "evocation of collective gamers' consciousness", but I think it's too thin to really hold up. The only reason you give contra IV is that the graphics somehow seemed out of place. Also the omission of Gaiden, Gradius II MSX, etc. belie the title "A Retrospective".

And peepo, as much as I hate to say this, is right about the facts. Power-ups, autofire and ground bombs were all in place before Gradius came onto the scene. He obviously doesn't know what the term "rank" means, though, although I'm not sure whether Gradius was really the first to use this element.

So yeah, I generally found your article pretty disagreeable. At least it wasn't boring.

[Rob]

As the old saying goes, "It's better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

Cool! Here's another saying: "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

[Rev. Stuart Campbell]

Well, Gradius invented the "Gradius power-up Bar", which was copied in a few games later.

Taken from the shmup glossary (http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1348):

Rank: Gameplay system found in many shmups which will automatically adjust the game’s difficulty in accordance with the player’s performance: for example, in many cases more enemies will appear (and/or existing enemies will attack more aggressively) when the player is fully powered up...

Does Gradius do that? As far as I can see the exact same enemies appear whether you're powered up or not, though you get a few bonus ones if you die. I presumed it was a reference to the fact that it says "Rank: B" or whatever at the end of your game, but I'm having trouble thinking of other shmups which have adopted this essentially meaningless "feature". Dancing games and Advance Wars, yes. Shmups, no.

[Rev. Stuart Campbell]

As the old saying goes, "It's better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

Cool! Here's another saying: "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

"If you don't understand what the conversation's about, don't join in."

[DC906270]

peepo - this is purely a magazine article and was probably never intended to be super-informing. i agree that it doesnt tell me anything new, it is just an enjoyable and entertaining look at the gradius series from someone elses viewpoint, albeit through rose tinted spectacles heh. something to read and enjoy during your coffee break

[Shatterhand]

There are dozens of shmups which features rank....all the Parodius games, most Cave games, every Psikyo shmup, Sonic Wings, nearly all Raizing games (I am not sure if Mahou Daisakusen has it, but Battle Garegga, Armed Police Batrider, Soukyugurentai among others are famous for their rank system).

If you play Gradius for more than 15 minutes you will quickly notice it. Try to play Level 4 with 4 options, laser and shield, and then try to play it without any weapons to see the difference.

You just have to collect the shield and notice that in the SAME INSTANT the amount of bullets is doubled.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Does Gradius do that? As far as I can see the exact same enemies appear whether you're powered up or not, though you get a few bonus ones if you die. I presumed it was a reference to the fact that it says "Rank: B" or whatever at the end of your game, but I'm having trouble thinking of other shmups which have adopted this essentially meaningless "feature". Dancing games and Advance Wars, yes. Shmups, no.

Battle Garegga, Zanac, Ibara & and your thoughtfully reviewed Gradius 5 spring to mind Stewie.

Now send me money for no reason.

[Rob]

For modern shooters it'd be easier to name ones that don't have rank. Like, none.

[Rev. Stuart Campbell]

If you play Gradius for more than 15 minutes you will quickly notice it. Try to play Level 4 with 4 options, laser and shield, and then try to play it without any weapons to see the difference.

You just have to collect the shield and notice that in the SAME INSTANT the amount of bullets is doubled.

So what we're saying is, Gradius simultaneously pioneered the idea of adding lots of powerups onto your ship, and the idea of making those powerups completely pointless by increasing the difficulty when you get them...?

"Rank" is a REALLY stupid name for this feature, by the way.

[neorichieb1971]

I read about the first 5 pages of the article. I liked the piece of SoTC because I believe we need more games like that.

However, all the stuff about controllers has absolutely no audience.. Older gamers already have first hand experience of most consoles and the new comers will not even care.

I didnt read much of the Gradius piece because i'm at work, but I will say I had to read alot to get to anything related to the subject matter.

Saying that I think its a great achievement to get somewhere in gaming journalism..

I think the main criticism is that no new information came to light. I don't know if we are the target audience though

[neorichieb1971]

"Rank" is a REALLY stupid name for this feature, by the way.

If rank didn't exist the game would be a cake walk. What would you call it?

[CIT]

So what we're saying is, Gradius simultaneously pioneered the idea of adding lots of powerups onto your ship, and the idea of making those powerups completely pointless by increasing the difficulty when you get them...?

Have you ever heard of the concept of "balance" in game design!?

[Turrican]

So what we're saying is, Gradius simultaneously pioneered the idea of adding lots of powerups onto your ship, and the idea of making those powerups completely pointless by increasing the difficulty when you get them...?

Have you ever heard of the concept of "balance" in game design!?

Chill out, none here is saying that Gradius isn't balanced or it sucks. But I don't think either that Gradius pioneered "balance" in the whole gaming industry, of course.

Rank: Gameplay system found in many shmups which will automatically adjust the game’s difficulty in accordance with the player’s performance

Oh, is that so? I didn't know that term either. It's slightly misleading, yes. However, I think that Xevious already does that.

[Rev. Stuart Campbell]

So what we're saying is, Gradius simultaneously pioneered the idea of adding lots of powerups onto your ship, and the idea of making those powerups completely pointless by increasing the difficulty when you get them...?

Have you ever heard of the concept of "balance" in game design!?

Funnily enough I have, being that I'm a former professional game developer with a No.1 game to my name. Usually it involves balancing risk against reward. If you're punished for achieving rewards, there's not much point in taking the risks to get them.

If rank didn't exist the game would be a cake walk. What would you call it?

Well, what about something that at least had some vague relevance in English to what it's describing? "AI Adjustment", say. "Rank" already has at least three shmup-related meanings (four if you count using it to describe Thunder Force games), using the word to mean a fourth thing (which has nothing to do with any known definition of "rank") only confuses matters. As we've just seen.

[elvis]

Constructive criticism, eh? Okay.

Did you join this forum just to troll? Or did somebody hurt your feelings, and this is the best alternative you have to petty revenge? You sure are taking a few random postings on the internet to heart.

Surely as a "professional journalist" (and I use the term lightly) you must by now have at least one or twice had your work criticised, and be used to such internet-bound drivel. Although your behaviour on these boards has only shown you to be childish and petulant, and only capable of throwing one almighty hell of a tantrum when somebody dares do disagree with your opinion.

As a person who seemingly makes a living critiquing other people's work, you sure get a bee in your bonnet when somebody critiques yours. Not one for getting a taste of your own medicine, I see.

I assume this is nothing more than your attempt at getting as many threads locked as you can until the holidays are over and you can get back to whatever it is you do for fun.

Yeah yeah... I know... don't feed the troll....

[Rev. Stuart Campbell]

Constructive criticism, eh? Okay.

Did you join this forum just to troll?

In what way is my post "trolling", you illiterate halfwit? It is exactly what it says - constructive criticism. I didn't call the author a twat or anything, I helpfully pointed out that the feature lacked focus, failed to convey any interesting or new information, and was wildly factually inaccurate. I even supplied the correct facts, for future reference. That's the textbook definition of "constructive criticism". For someone who claims to be so keen on it, it's a shame you have absolutely no idea what the term means.

[elvis]

you illiterate halfwit?

Troll it is then. I wonder if you're poking for a reaction with all of these throw-away insults, or if this just is the only way you know how to interact with people? From what I can see on other forums, it might just be the latter.

I'm a former professional game developer

Heh. From what I understand you did a few levels for one of the Cannon Fodder games. Not exactly ground-breaking work, but who am I to stop you if you desperately want to hold on to your glory years?

The only thing worse than a developer with a huge ego is an ex-games developer who can't let go of the past.

[Rev. Stuart Campbell]

you illiterate halfwit?

Troll it is then.

Your posts have been extremely ignorant and rude, so you get treated accordingly. You don't have to swear at someone to be offensive. Myself, I prefer the swearing approach, because it's more honest and less two-faced. So go fuck yourself, cockwipe.

[Randorama]

Ah, i'm not surprised to see that this thread has quickly become a troll-fest
True, the whole "Gradius as a pioneer of stuff" is bullshit, and to make things worse, i didn't remotely bother to correct. It is also true that the whole gamingquarters' thing is just an excuse to reactionarily rant about old games (i'm getting old, you know): in some sense, it's a sort of self-parody, i often write them while also whining how good were the days, protesting against the lack of respect of the youngsters, and wearing a hat all the time.

Since most of the stuff i wrote until roughly a year ago was mainly the reviews on this site and the STs (or my journal entries on games, which often were notes on progress on games), i decided to approach the "omg personal experience!!" approach as a form of light-hearted public rant (uhm, does this definition make sense? I hope not! ). In short, it's exactly the opposite of any useful article should be, and on purpose. After all, i can't spend all of my time writing how many pixels on left you need to be to exploit a safe spot and nail a 1-gazillion points chain

(If you wonder why, well, it's because i *obviously* lead a post-modern life! )


On rank: i think that the first Zanac was the first game to introduce rank. Arcade-wise, Xevious should be the first title with rank, unless i'm missing something ( i can't think of other 1983 titles with rank, honestly). I lack information on which title (Zanac or Xevious) was published first, and if the eventual difference is meaningful (i.e. if one title was published 2 weeks after the other, it is likely that both programming teams developed "in parallel" the idea).

[Thunder Force]

So go fuck yourself, cockwipe.

Your conduct is not in accordance with the Forum Rules. Please restrain your behavior as repeat of such posts could lead to your loss of access to this site. To clarify - disagreeing with people here is fine, but an excessively abusive attitude towards shmups.com members is not acceptable. This gaming community is not a place to vent your anger. If you are unable to interact in a civil way, there are several other videogame forums on the internet that have more lenient rules of conduct. This is just a light warning.

Regards,

TF

[Turrican]

On rank: i think that the first Zanac was the first game to introduce rank. Arcade-wise, Xevious should be the first title with rank, unless i'm missing something ( i can't think of other 1983 titles with rank, honestly). I lack information on which title (Zanac or Xevious) was published first, and if the eventual difference is meaningful (i.e. if one title was published 2 weeks after the other, it is likely that both programming teams developed "in parallel" the idea).

2 weeks? Four years is more like it.

http://kelesis.free.fr/hp/compile/index_eng.htm