Gradius collection for PSP

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:14 pm

^^^

All I know is on my import rev, Gradius III has waaay more slowdown than the SNES cart.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 12:01 am

$29.99 at Toys R Us. I was expecting $39.99.

I see that this has Gradius II: Gofer on it. Nice-- haven't ever played this one before.

MSZ · Post by **MSZ** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 2:23 am

professor ganson wrote:$29.99 at Toys R Us. I was expecting $39.99.

I see that this has Gradius II: Gofer on it. Nice-- haven't ever played this one before.

You will love Gofer no Yabou a lot, it is a hell lot more playable than GIII and GIV.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 4:03 am

MSZ wrote:
professor ganson wrote:$29.99 at Toys R Us. I was expecting $39.99.

I see that this has Gradius II: Gofer on it. Nice-- haven't ever played this one before.
You will love Gofer no Yabou a lot, it is a hell lot more playable than GIII and GIV.

Do you mean more playable on this collection or more playable in general? I've heard complaints about the version of GIII on this collection (major slowdown).

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 5:42 am

As far as i can tell every game on the collection is more playable than previous incarnations.

1- there is now a save feature that lets you pick up where you left off, power ups in tow.
2- the difficulty levels seem to be more adjustable than before and easier on default settings.
3- alot of the slowdown on everything but III has been improved and in most cases completely removed.
4- the graphics look f'in sweet on the PSP, naysayers be DAMNED. I don't care how many people claim that strectching them out makes the game look crappy they are full of shit - the graphics are crisper and brighter than ever before. The handheld setup even makes keeping track of the enemy shots alot easier.

Downfalls -

1. The PSP was not meant for this kind of gameplay. The D-pad is awkward and the analouge has some major prescision issues.
2. I don't think there are any unlockable goodies. Poo.

Lets hope Konami feel compelled to top this off with a Parodius/Salamander collection.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 5:51 am

^^^So far I'd agree with everything. I'll add that the dpad isn't quite as sluggish as I'd worried. Definitely hard to be ultra-precise in my movement, but the controls are pretty responsive.

MSZ · Post by **MSZ** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 10:21 am

professor ganson wrote:Do you mean more playable on this collection or more playable in general? I've heard complaints about the version of GIII on this collection (major slowdown).

More playable in general.

GIII and IV are way too hard IMO.

Soldato J · Post by **Soldato J** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 12:27 pm

circuitface wrote:Lets hope Konami feel compelled to top this off with a Parodius/Salamander collection.

My soul cries out for a Parodius PSP collection...I wanna shoot Tanuki Balls again

Danny · Post by **Danny** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:21 pm

Hey guys is there any "ghosting" or "bluring" in the display of this game that makes the game unplayable? (or any graphics/gameplay defects in the collection at all apart from the slowdown in G3?)

Just wondering because a friend of mine herd from some sources that it does thus dsitracting from the gameplay.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 12:41 am

Danny wrote:Hey guys is there any "ghosting" or "bluring" in the display of this game that makes the game unplayable? (or any graphics/gameplay defects in the collection at all apart from the slowdown in G3?)

Just wondering because a friend of mine herd from some sources that it does thus dsitracting from the gameplay.

This is another good example of gaming publications not being able to find something prominent to complain about and so they embellish an almost non-existant problem so that their review of a 2d game doesn't make it sound so perfect.

Seriously though, i've only noticed a very slight case of this on one level in Gradius II - where a boss fires curved, dark blue arcs of light at you which travel across the screen at just the rate to make them look slightly blurry and dark. Is it a problem? Well, putting it to you simply - i did not die.

Otherwise i haven't encountered much screen distortion on any of the other games, including the ever-present speed maze levels found in each. I actually just finished playing the one in Gaiden and IV and neither of them seemed to be any different than they should be - and as i recall the one in IV was MUCH HARDER to navigate on PS2.

As a matter of fact part IV on PS2 regularly slapped me around like a bitch but i'm not having so much trouble with it on PSP even after adjusting the difficulty up.

Kamakazie · Post by **Kamakazie** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 2:56 am

Danny wrote:Hey guys is there any "ghosting" or "bluring" in the display of this game that makes the game unplayable? (or any graphics/gameplay defects in the collection at all apart from the slowdown in G3?)

Just wondering because a friend of mine herd from some sources that it does thus dsitracting from the gameplay.

The PSP screen does have some absolutely terrible ghosting, but its really not a problem in this game. Even when you have a bunch of bullets flying at you, they're still going slow enough to keep the ghosting down to a minimum. The starry backdrop on the other hand...

MSZ · Post by **MSZ** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:35 am

Just a little rant here:

The newly designed Gradius Gaiden logo(font) is ugly.

I'm glad I got the Japanese version.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 11:54 pm

I finally got my copy of this collection (along with a new PSP), and it's way beyond my expectations. Definitely one of the best official sources of portable shmupping out there. The whole collection just oozes quality. Based on this I'll definitely be getting the upcoming Salamander and Parodius collections.

Bloodreign · Post by **Bloodreign** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 7:47 am

Gradius Collection is the reason I got a PSP for, it's perfect, even if the control is a bit stubborn, but I've adjusted to flying the Vic Viper well enough to not die silly deaths. I'm crossing my fingers on the other 3 Konami collections, and they find their way to the US.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:28 am

^^^^

Just import 'em. If they're anything like my import copy of Gradius Portable, almost all of the menus will be in english and extremely easy to navigate like any other import shmup.

In any case, unless a company like Atlus actually makes the effort to obtain western distribution rights to these (very unlikely), I seriously doubt Konami will bother to localize these as they've never cared to bring over Parodius or Twinbee overseas (outside of Stinger for NES and the PAL SFami rev of Pop 'n Twinbee unless there are others I am ignorant of)

So take advantage of that nice region free feature.

And here's hoping when I pick up my Twinbee and Sally collections that there will be a devhook workaround for the upcoming firmware 2.82 (as a slap in the face it has ZERO features, simply listed as "security update.") The new 1.50 emu currently works with 2.81 machines FYI to those who currently have 2.81 like me.

tviks · Post by **tviks** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 12:18 pm

There is a small bug in Gradius Gaiden. When selecting your ship the announcer never says it's name (they still announce the shield type and OK)

The d-pad is indeed horrible. I'm willing to buy the replacement d-pad but is seems to be hard to come by. Any help?

One more question: Are the saves and the smaller hitbox options allowed to use for the highscore boards here?

bcass · Post by **bcass** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 1:25 pm

The d-pad topper makes little difference in Gradius Collection. Diagonals do actually start to respond, but you have to be very firm with the d-pad. Just as unplayable as without the d-pad topper.

As for the term 'perfect' being used for this abortion of a collection, I refer people to a post I made in a previous Gradius thread...

bcass wrote:What is all this talk of Konami 'not screwing up' collections? Gradius Portable collection for the PSP has all manner of things wrong with it, and I'm not just talking about the crap d-pad controls. Just to refresh everyones memories...

- Imperfect music looping (especially noticable on Gradius 2, Stage 1)

- Music skips ever so slightly sometimes during fade-outs

- Sound effects and speech are disproportionately balanced compared to the arcade/console originals (yes, I know there is an option in Gradius Gaiden, but not for the other titles, and even in Gaiden, you can't balance the speech, only the music and sfx)

- Music error occures on the Moai stage in Gradius 2 - the music speeds-up at the wrong point. In this version, the audio speeds-up on the 2nd loop of the tune, but it should in fact only speed-up half-way through the stage when the heads turn red and start turning in your direction

- There is a slight 'freeze' on screen in some of the titles between levels, probably indicating the loading of a new level - this is especially noticable in Gaiden, where the 'freeze' is longer, and happens just before bosses

- The save feature is arduous and very poorly implemented and puts a major dent in the flow of the game

- Imperfect emulation of slow-down - slowdown is present, but it doesn't accurately resemble the slowdown on the originals;

- Imperfect emulation of difficulty levels - again, not accurately resembling the originals;

Konami royally f*cked-up Gradius Portable. It was obviously rushed and has zero attention to detail, that such a well regarded franchise such as Gradius deserves.

And that's not including bugs that others have found, as mentioned above. Oh, and how crap is it having 1 set of score boards for all difficulty settings?

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 3:23 pm

bcass wrote:Oh, and how crap is it having 1 set of score boards for all difficulty settings?

Didn't most of the previous Gradius home ports do the same thing? The only one I can think of which split them up is Gradius V...granted, it would have been a nice addition, but it's not like they took out something that was already there.

MOSQUITO FIGHTER · Post by **MOSQUITO FIGHTER** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:35 pm

I think it's worthwile to own even if imperfect. Choices for portable shmups are still pretty slim. And considering the collection is not even possible to do on the DS it's not too bad.

The biggest problems with the collection to me are:

- The psp d-pad which can be improved with the d-pad cover. Which might fall off. Even if it stays on don't expect saturn controller quality.

- Tiny bullets made even more difficult to see on the small screen. And the refresh rate of the psp doesn't help much either.

The best choice to me is to just get a laptop. And not becuase I don't want to pay for games. Just no one has made a very good portable shmup and system to play it on.