A NINTEN-SIVE ARCADE PORT
Gradius for your PlayStation 4 Entertainment System.
The Gradius reviewing continues, and before tackling Life Force and Gradius II, I'm gonna review VS. Gradius.
Before proceeding, you might be asking ¿What is the Nintendo VS. System? It was the second incursion of the Nintendo Entertainment System in the arcade territory. Unlike PlayChoice-10 where Contra, Megaman III, Ninja Gaiden and Gradius were the same NES games only with a time limit which was replenished by putting more coins in the machine, the VS System were Arcade-styled NES games. For example, one of their exclusivities aside from having the "VS" slapped on the title screen was the arcade-like buy-in and continue features in games that originally lacked of them or required cheat codes. While most of them were Nintendo's own games like Super Mario Bros. and Dr. Mario, a few companies gave them a chance, and Konami was among them: The Goonies, Top Gun, Castlevania and of course, Gradius.
You played it at home, now you can play the NES on the Arcade!
Talking about the gameplay of VS. Gradius is talking about the NES version in core gameplay, so this is gonna be a double review of some sorts. At first, the gameplay seems to be identical to the original Gradius arcade game, but as you power up, you'll be noticing the changes. The first one and most notorious is the reduction of Option capacity. While the Vic Viper originally carries 4 of them, the NES version only allows two. The amount of enemies was also reduced and some of them were removed like the cannons on the floating bouler in Stage 1, but there's also place for improvements in the realm of 8-Bit for this game. First off is being able to fire both bullets and missiles with the B Button, due to the button limitations of the NES/Famicom, the game took the arcade's missile and fire buttons and merged them in a single button, leaving A button for powering up the ship. The Shield was also improved. While in the arcade version only provided frontal protection, here it protects the whole ship, so if the Vic Viper takes a bullet from behind, it won't explode as the Shield will absorb the damage received. Another problem from the arcade was the fragility of the Shield, which depleted even when it was on contact with a surface. This problem also affected it when the Shield was on its way to protect the Vic Viper. The NES version pops the barrier in front of your ship instantly, effectively protecting you from enemy fire.
With the weapon order simplified, the rule of powering up has changed from what we've learned on the arcade version. Now the best way to arm yourself goes like this: Speed Up > Option > Missile > Shield > Laser > Option > Speed Up. Like in the arcade, unless you have a death/Game Over wish don't pick more than two Speed Ups, two are more than enough for the game.
While the horizontal levels suffered from few enemy changes (Ex; the spinning Iron Maidens replaced with a reverse volcano eruption in level 4) while keeping most of the arcade accuracy, it was the multi-screen levels which took the worst part as they were simplified to linear horizontal levels like the rest of the game. Curiously, while the game removed things, there's one part in the game that retains the same flaw from the arcade and that's the Tentacle level, where the game will suffer a FPS slowdown until the boss theme plays. The good news here is that you don't need to switch to the Double like in the arcade and you can take the Tentacles down with the Laser with ease.
Apparently, no one taught their pilots about volcanic ambushes.
With less options, the idea of destroying the volcanic rocks during the eruption prior to Big Core's fight is out of the question, forcing you to stand on a higher place in order to avoid the rocks or be almost at ground level on a corner. This is where having a shield is a must for both beginners and average shmuppers, since predicting where the rocks will go is gonna be much more difficult since they're now flying at a much faster speed.
Looks like there's more tricks that we couldn't do at the arcade.
Unlike the arcade version, the NES version have a few more secrets that you never expected. The first ones are hidden bonuses. If you pass through certain spots you can get either 5,000 points or a 1Up. There's also a hidden bonus feature known as the "Power Up Wraparound" which works like this: Depending on which number your score is when you pick the next power up item after the "?" is highlighted, you'll be getting a particular bonus. If the thousands digit of your score is at zero, you'll be activating the Rapid Fire, which allows you fire your bullets and lasers with greater speed allowing you a slightly faster firing rate. If the thousands digit is at 5, then you'll get a bonus score of 10,000 points which comes in handy if you're planning to get 1ups.
Big Core is always a formidable adversary.
Believe it or now, the NES version of Gradius was adapted in arcade format, not once, but twice: As part of the Nintendo PlayChoice-10 and the Nintendo VS. System, which is the version used by Hamster as part of Arcade Archives. Unlike the PlayChoice-10 where you can pause the game and input the same cheat codes like the home version of Gradius did, in the VS. System that option its gone. That's right Nintendo jock, we're now playing arcade house rules. Thinking about the "Up-Up-Down-Down" thing? Not here, kid. The Konami Code is gone too, if you're gonna play Gradius, you'll go by the numbers, cheaterhead. Same thing for the Down-Up-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A Continue Code. But this is an arcade styled game, so here's the good news: You can continue as much as you want as long as you have quarters to do so. That's waaaaay more helpful than having a "Once per stage Continue Code". It also retains the secret 5,000 points, hidden 1Ups and the special upgrades that require the power up wraparound trick, so there's some advantages you can still use.
Party Over: Escape before things go boom.
Audiovisually, Konami made a nice approach to the arcade version despite removing things in order to adapt them to the NES. Rather than focusing on the Vic Viper, they paid more attention to the levels to make it as close as possible to the arcade. The soundtrack was rendered quite well despite the Nintendo's limitations and manages sound as arcade-esque as possible, being the first level the most memorable of them.
VS. TRIVIUS
So, this means Konami wasn't doing its job right?
- ROM Hackers Messatu and Kasion created the hacks Gradius Arrangement Chronicle Death and Gradius AC 2000 which made a major graphic and even gameplay overhaul proving that the NES was indeed capable of much higher arcade accuracy than Konami itself.
- While Messatu's Arrangement Chronicle Death is capable of carrying four Options, multi-screen scroll in levels 2 and 3 and the energy confinement trap in the final level like the arcade version, Kasion's Gradius AC 2000 retains the two Options restriction and simplified levels 2 and 3, despite having a much more arcade accurate color palette.
- According to Konami's ad blurb in the NES package, the original Famicom port sold more than 1 million copies in Japan.
- While the PlayStation 4 obviously omits the "LICENSED EXCLUSIVELY TO NINTENDO" disclaimer on the title screen, the Switch release also paints out the disclaimer despite being a reissue on a Nintendo console.
- While the Arcade Archives Gradius website describes the Vic Viper as a "Super Dimension Fighter" and its manual refers it as "Trans-dimensional Spaceship", the manual of Arcade Archives VS. Gradius refers to it as a "Hyper-Space Fighter".
Before M.C. Kids, Yo-Noid! and Chester Cheetah Too Cool To Fool,
there was Gradius Archimendes.
- In a promotional stunt for the "game snack" Archimendes, Konami released a limited edition of the Famicom version of Gradius called Gradius Archimendes Hen (Gradius Archimendes Edition) where the power up capsules were turn into Archimendes snacks and changed the congratulatory message in the ending saying "Congratulations! The key word is 'Power up with Snack Archimendes'".
- To make this release even more of a very rare and expensive relic of gaming, only 4,000 copies were made. THAT's gonna be an expensive "Shmup-mmercial" if you ask me.
Someone had to teach Bacterion a lesson.
Konami was a heavy hitter in both Arcade and NES scenes, and Gradius was one of its key players, leaving a solid footprint on the legacy of the Nintendo Entertainment System as one of the major hits of the console along with Super Mario Bros., Contra and Metroid.
It's Gradius, do we have to explain you what does this result means for the "Eda Scale"?