THE TIMELESS CLASSIC
When modern shmups fail, its time to bring in the classics.
Despite this game and the entirety of its series has been spoken, reviewed and debated for decades, There's always room for it. I'm talking Konami's Gradius.
This time is the Arcade Archives release by Hamster and Konami.
Let the real battle begin!
A pioneer of the genre, Gradius innovated beyond previous works like Scramble and Time Pilot. While those two retained the basic premise of simply take down enemies and pick a specific item to keep playing, Gradius went much further and added new features. The most remembered of all is the Power Meter, where you can upgrade the Vic Viper based on where's the indicator marking with yellow.
SPEED UP: Increases your ship's velocity when it moves to a specific direction. You can upgrade this multiple times, but keep in mind, Once you climb the speed there's no turning back.
MISSILE: The Air-to-Ground weapon of the game. Fires a missile in a diagonal direction which runs across the ground until it hits a target.
DOUBLE: Fires a standard bullet in a 45° angle simultaneously with the frontal shot. Good as an Anti-Air defense, but here's the catch: Reduces the fire rate to 1 shot on screen due to the double fire.
LASER: The power weapon of the game. Shoots a thin beam of energy capable of pierce through multiple enemies, including Big Core's barrier's.
OPTION/MULTIPLE: Options act like a secondary ship as they fire missiles and bullets/lasers. The Vic Viper can carry a total of 4 of them, and they become extremely useful in a "Double firing strategy" as we can have 10 bullets on screen. Also, the Options will separate a few pixels from the Vic Viper and from each other with each Speed Up.
SHIELD: Tagged as "?" summons two energy pods that provide frontal protection to the Vic Viper. Each time they get hit they will shrink until they're eventually gone.
Getting power ups is different from most shooters, because you can get them in two ways: One is destroying enemy formations, and the other is by taking down red colored enemies, which is much easier to do since your fire rate is of two bullets on screen. The most important thing in Gradius is to know how to build a good offensive, and that starts on level 1. The sequence that I do for powering up the Vic Viper is "Speed Up > Speed Up > Option > Option > Missile > Laser > Option". Two Speed Ups are more than enough for a very manueverable Vic Viper. The reason of upgrading to the Laser after obtaining two Options is because having the Laser in the first stage is REQUIRED in order to destroy the magmatic rocks expelled by the volcanoes prior to Big Core. Right after that is picking the last Option and switching to the Double for the rest of the game. One of the reasons for this strategy is because you are going to need diagonal firing support more than brute force. This is NOTORIOUS on the Moai and Tentacle stages.
These guys can't even spell "Slow".
Speaking of Tentacle, this stage suffers of MASSIVE slowdown and that apparently affects the Laser performance because it sometimes fail to detect the hit against an enemy, making the Laser a sometimes useless weapon at the point of exposing you to a run-over by the Tentacles. On the other side, the Moai stage is an obligatory requirement if you want to make it out alive as the Moais will fire rings of energy with a rate based on skills. To put it simple, if you hadn't lost a life yet, they will spit rings in a considerable stream like "ooooo" while if you lose a life in their level, their rate drops to an "o o o o" giving you a thin chance of recovery. Speaking of recoveries, regaining strength is a life or death priority in the game. Regardless of what are you planning to obtain, the first obligatory step is to obtain a Speed Up in order to go defensive until you can rack up for an Option. So, being pushed back to a checkpoint will be the least of your problems. Difficulty is since the beginning of time a dilemma of how far a game shall go, and Gradius actually made a balance between challenge and difficulty: Tough but Fair, just like R. Lee Ermey said on Full Metal Jacket "Because I'm hard you will not like me, but the more you hate me the more you'll learn. I am Hard but I am Fair". Its a short 6 level shmup, but is not gonna give up easily. If there's a flaw in this game is the Shield, because instead of being deployed in front of the ship immediately, they appear from the right and have to move to your position, as soon as they're on screen they're prone to enemy fire, and what's worse; if there's an obstacle, they'll get damaged because the game will count the ground contact as a hit.
Go up, there's turrets
Go down, there's turrets.
While the stages are your basic horizontal scrolling levels, there's two levels that add a new interesting feature: Infinite vertical multi-screen. The concept of this is that as you scroll either up or down you'll be facing the enemy above or below you as the layout loops indefinitely giving the player the sensation of being navigating a infinitely vertical combat zone while retaining the horizontal flight path. One thing was doing a infinite looping sky like in Time Pilot but that was a vertical scrolling shmup, while in Gradius is an horizontal shmup, and for this type of games it was an impressive innovation.
Big Core: This boss has become something of a "Poster Boy" for Bacterion's forces.
And it’s not without merit, it's who many consider to be his most resiliant weapon.
In the majority of levels, except for the Cell level, you'll be facing Big Core. A mid-sized battleship with a lethal 4 bullet laser firing. While it is invincible to almost all exterior attacks, it has a weakness: There's four security pillars in between the cannons and a final "Emergency" protection that keeps its core from being hit. While it takes multiple bullets to take each one of them, the Laser can pummel through most of them requiring less shots to destroy it. You can also have fun with the boss and just dodge its attacks until it retreats.
Looks like a simple trick but it's "Experts only".
In the final level there's an obstacle that, at first sight, look unavoidable: A "Don't touch the beams" death game where you will also have to dodge the bullets from your enemies above and below you. But there's a trick to avoid the obstacle and that's moving up or down without hitting either the ceiling, the floor or the cage. This is why you only need two Speed Ups, because it would be extremely difficult to perform this trick with 3 or even more.
This boss' demise is about to redefine the concept of "Pull the Plug"
In a twist of irony, after all the hardships, the final boss is extremely easy. Just take down the "plugs" that connect the Xaerous Brain with the base and you're done. It might look and sound odd and messed up, but after all the troubles, it was good enough to make it all the way to the end and just unplug Bacterion once and for all.
Once you're done, is not the end of the game. As long as you have spare ships, the game will loop again. This time in a higher difficulty and this doesn't just mean more bullets fired at you. Now the enemies have a 50% probability of firing a "Suicide Bullet" which means they will leave a bullet heading towards you right after they're shot.
With an intense but fair challenge, the implementation of new features that improved gameplay and excellent graphics and sound, this was the "Top Hit" that became the triumphal consecration for Konami on the arcade scene, and the sudden success of Gradius on the arcades this resulted to one particular thing: Massive Homeporting. Basically, every computer and a few consoles had ports of the game. The NES and the PC Engine versions are the most memorable of all: The NES as one of the console's "Best Sellers" and the PC Engine due to its arcade accuracy. But there was other arcade faithful ports, being the Sharp X68000 almost-arcade perfect in terms of graphics, but with different sound due to the use or arranged music and effects. The Commodore 64 had a voice sample saying "Nemesis: The Final Challenge" in a very clear quality for Commodore's standards (even more than the "Hello and welcome to Turrican") but audiovisually wasn't too great as the sound was only music. The Amstrad CPC version, well...it is a testimony that this game was way too much for this computer despite the Amstrad was making its best effort, but the worst port is the ZX Spectrum version with its terrible rendition of the main theme on the title screen, along with the abscene of music in the gameplay. ¿What is that, Silent Gradius? Just put Metallica and Montrose songs on the stereo or Walkman and you're set. The MSX version is a nice decent port despite limitations, starting off with a nice intro screen with the cover art of the game featuring some passing lasers as animated effects, but also adds a new stage called "Wasteland", making the game much longer and more challenging. The MSX "SCC Version" from the Game Collection Vol.3 arranges the music making the port feel like the definitive MSX version of the game. The PlayStation Konami Antiques MSX Collection Vol.1 and MSX Collection Ultra Pack from 1997 are a re-release of the old MSX port, so there's not much to say unless you want me to repeat myself. The PC Engine/TurboGrafx version is actually an enhancement of the original arcade. Like the MSX versions, it has the cover art animated with even more animations such as the Vic Viper firing at the enemy base and the Moais on the background spitting their deadly energy rings. The color palette is darker than the Arcade and it was semi-multiscreen as the screen has to scroll up when you move unlike the arcade. It also adds the Wasteland extra stage like the MSX version. An unusual thing for a port, but back then, when it was about playing Gradius on a console, this was the closest thing to the arcade. This version was included in the TurboGrafx Mini back in 2020. The first "Arcade-Perfect" ports arrived in 1996 with the Gradius Deluxe Pack for both PlayStation and Sega Saturn. In the dawn of the cellphones and J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) Konami made a port of Gradius in 2004 where the results are dubious as the game only had music but no graphics and the music were short second loops as bas as an Allumer game (Rezon for example). Some people might think this was a great way to play Gradius "on the go" due to its colorful, yet minimalistic graphics, but the music was more like the Milli Vanilli fail done in Konami style. Also, Konami already made a Gradius to play "on the go" years ago for the Gameboy as Nemesis (released by Konami's Ultra Games division) which took some liberties from the original arcade, but this was a good option for a portable game. It was later released in 1997 for the Gameboy Color as part of Konami GB Collection Vol.1 renamed as Gradius. Speaking of portables, Gradius was ported again on the PlayStation Portable as part of Gradius Collection in 2006 and in 2007 on the Nintendo DS as part of Konami Classic Series: Arcade Hits which were much more faithful than the PS port. The Java 2 Mobile Edition got another port of Gradius in 2008. While the graphics were improved as cellphones had better screen resolution, the sound is as bad, the stage music is more of like the original game but in MIDI style and loops less, at least in the "main areas". So, this release on Arcade Archives is the latest of all the ports, and this time, the game focuses on make the arcade experience as genuine as possible and believe it or not, it does. Not only that, this game features three versions for Original Mode: Japanese Gradius Version, American Nemesis and European Nemesis. Being the American version the hardest of all as bullets are faster and the difficulty is climbed up compared with the European and Japanese counterparts, but adds more power up carrying enemies when you respawn, and unlike the Japanese version, and if you thought being unable to continue was a harsh disadvantage, the American version adds a continue option when you lose all your lives, giving you the chance to resume the game right where you died. In that case, the best option for your first incursions in Gradius is by playing the Japanese version, otherwise you'll be suffering a lot with the American Nemesis. It was later released as part of Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics where the Japanese version became "Bonus Version" and ditching the European release.
Something that I've noticed of the Arcade Archives version is that Hamster addresses a detail in the button scheme: Giving the player the option of fire both shots and missiles simultaneously with a single button. This was something that apparently they've forgot on their releases of Darius and Darius II. Also, since Gradius was one of the first Arcade Archives releases, it requires to open menus, read all the manual, resetting the game and uploading your high score after losing the game rather than the common "get specific number of points" and "submit your score in Hi-Score and Original Modes", making Trophy progression way too easier. But the true fact is that Gradius is more, much more than just a trophy hunt.
The closest thing to Gradius on the SNES.
This "port" deserved a special mention. Strangefully, the SNES lacked of a port. While it had Gradius III, it didn't had the first Gradius. Instead of doing a full home port, they made a 1 stage mini-game port as a bonus game in 1991's Goemon game The Legend of the Mystical Ninja and while it makes a good effort on the sound and color palette used, it is a shame that this was the only way to play the original Gradius and don't tell me "It was impossible for the SNES to port it" as the excuse that tries to justify the unavailability of Xexex on SNES, because Konami ported Gradius III with great precision, yet taking liberties to adapt it on the Super Nintendo, becoming the clear testimony of Konami's arcade faithfulness and porting Gradius would be a great way for the SNES to flex its "Arcade muscles" as a fundamental step on its path of becoming the arcade powerhouse we all knew and a SNES version of Gradius would give the TurboGrafx version a run for its money.
If you don't act quickly, this will be come a dance of death.
Audiovisually, Konami made a timeless effort as the game looks superb in terms of graphics as the visuals look modern, even for today's standards. Despite being "Space based" all the time, it throws a creative setting of environments that brings more life to the blackness of space. A good sign of it is the volcanic world in Stage 1 where the forests managed to grow on the ground and above the ceiling as we we're looking a transversal view of the interior of an asteroid, along with a tangled web for the "Cell" stage, which look more like a combination between artificial and organic architecture as if it was some sort of sentient amoeba-shaped life forms and the final stage which is the interior of Xaerous fortress. But if there's one particular detail of the graphics is the Moai and the "Stonehenge" stages due to the multi-screen scrolling. The soundtrack is also another point in favor as we have a succession of themes that cover the "atmospheric thematic" this game demands. From the adventurous calm of the space inbetweeners, the fanfarrious expedition feel of "Volcano", the energetic yet mysterious beats of the Stonehenge and Mountain levels, and the enigmatic music of the Tentacle stage. Basically, each theme of this game is memorable by itself.
TRIVIUS
There's plenty of Gradius funfacts, but I'll mention a few of them for the sake of writing a review.
- The Vic Viper had a plethora of alternate names: Nemesis (American Nemesis arcade flyer), Warp Rattler (NES), Proteus 911 (Gameboy Nemesis) and M.A.X. (Gradius III).
- The American Nemesis flyer claimed the Vic Viper was some sort of Nautilus saying the ship was piloted by Captain Nemo and his crew.
- This premise of Nemo in space predates the 1995 cartoon Space Strikers.
- For the "Nemo and his crew" premise, it would require the Vic Viper to be as big as a battleship or an aircraft carrier. This is somewhat depicted on the ship interior of the Famicom commercial.
- The famous Konami Code was invented in this game and used in other games of the company like Contra, Gradius III and Airforce Delta Strike.
- In both Gradius III and Airforce Delta Strike, the Konami Code is a bogus as it acts as a self-detonate code.
- To make the code work on Gradius III, you have to replace left and right with the L & R buttons.
- Along with Gradius, Vic Viper also appeared in other Konami titles: Parodius, Otomedius, beatmania IIDX 20 tricoro, Contra 4, Airforce Delta series, Zone Of The Enders: The 2nd Runner, Busou Shinki, Sky Girls, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Contra Rogue Corps, Contra Returns, Super Bomberman R and Dead by Daylight.
- The Yu-Gi-Oh! Vic Viper card is wrongly called Gradius.
- In Airforce Delta Storm, the Vic Viper appears with a stealth fighter-esque redesign and renamed as the XF-0002 Phosphorus, while in Airforce Delta Strike the Vic Viper is the T-301 from Gradius V.
- Gradius' influence in pop-culture earned a good amount of mentions in different Non-Konami media being the anime High Score Girl and Disney-Pixar's film Lightyear two of the latest.
- Throughout the series, the Vic Viper's design has changed with time.
- The Arcade Archives release is the first Konami title in Hamster's lineup of vintage arcade games.
- Its manual refers the Vic Viper as a "Trans-dimensional" spaceship, term mostly used on IREM's R-Type series.
Witnessing and surviving the legacy of a long-lasting challenge.
With almost 40 years of history, Gradius is a clear testimony of how you can make a challenging game without pulling unfair tricks or bullet spams, but from making challenge from the stages themselves.
Konami didn't knew it, but Gradius was the beginning of a legacy of shooting which will follow them for many years and several consoles consolidating its well earned place in arcade and shmup history.
No need to explain this.