Has Konami continued its little tradition?

popawell · Post by **popawell** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 5:29 am

I recall seeing a little section on the gradius base showing many of the games konami made have minor refrences to gradius. Do any of their newer games have this little "tradition" in them? If so how big are these refrences?

For everyone on this site, Have a happy New Year!!!!!!!

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 7:50 am

Moai heads were hidden in Sons of Liberty, so I'd say yeah, definitely.

Also, Zoradius and "GV Weapon Set" in Neo Contra are recent examples.

Shocky · Post by **Shocky** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 10:48 am

Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow:

One of the bosses transforms into a big MOAI statue and shoots out bubbles from its mouth!

Gungriffon Geona · Post by **Gungriffon Geona** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 2:04 pm

This is the kind of thing that I like seeing. A company that actually cares about it's little masterpieces. Konami has given most every game a small little touch of gradius in some form, and I seriously doubt they'll quit doing so any time soon. I mean for god's sake, it's one of the games that gave them their name, and it's a definitive money-maker no matter how many times they sell repackages of the old games. They don't want to ignore that, or atleast they can't. (though honestly Kojima made the overall best cameo with ZOE2.)

Belmont · Post by **Belmont** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:45 am

In the new castlevania Portrait of ruin you can get an item called vic viper that looks just like the 8 bit ship. I think you have to beat the game on hard mode or something to get it i will have to check my stratagy guide.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 11:39 am

Yes, PoR has some stuff; according to Bloodreign, it has Vic Viper and Twinbee trophies.

Nuke · Post by **Nuke** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 8:26 am

Best. Cameo. Ever!
And, oh! Merry Xmaz!

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:01 am

Even the Yu-Gi-Oh card game has a Gradius card (basically a Vic Viper) as well as a "Gradius Option" card to accompany it. Portrait of Ruin has other Konami references in it as well (such as items that cost $573 in the shop.) Airforce Delta Strike (on the PS2) included a fair number of Historical Konami fighters (including the Vic Viper, Lord British and Twinbee.)

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:16 am

Harmony of Dissonance had the infamous "Shield" spell - the very same Gradius shields Alucard could summon with the Shield Rod in Symohony of the Night.

Dawn of Sorrow has a "573" room too.

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:04 pm

Koitsu and Doitsu from Parodius show up as the 'mastered' version of the paper aeroplane in PoR, and you can get a Konami Man trophy for beating the game with a level cap of 1 (as well as the above-mentioned VV and Twinbee trophies).

The Salamander spell is a fairly obvious reference, too, and it also appears as a spell for the mage in Curse of Darkness. Probably the strongest in the game.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:51 pm

Vexorg wrote:Even the Yu-Gi-Oh card game has a Gradius card (basically a Vic Viper)

I actually have that card in my wallet at all times. I got it from my girlfriend's little brother after i showed him Gradius V.

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 4:51 pm

Vexorg wrote:(such as items that cost $573 in the shop.)

What's the significance of that? It ain't ringing a bell for me.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:14 pm

Vexorg wrote:Even the Yu-Gi-Oh card game has a Gradius card (basically a Vic Viper) as well as a "Gradius Option" card to accompany it.

There was a ye olde topic some time back which displayed several Gradius-inspired cards (including Koitsu and Aitsu, the Big Core and several others), I probably still have a few of those pics sitting around someplace...

What's the significance of that? It ain't ringing a bell for me.

I don't know exactly offhand, but I think that saying those three numbers (or some variation on them) in that order in Japanese sounds something like the syllables in "Konami." They use that combination a lot: in any Gradius game (and probably others too), the default high score is 57,300 or something along those lines.

Gungriffon Geona · Post by **Gungriffon Geona** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 6:40 pm

there was a new Yu-Gi-Oh card that came out called "Victory Viper XX03".
http://slayzab.cjb.net/Main/Portals/0/N ... -JP011.jpg
Weird incarnation it seems. very different from all the other incarnations of VV.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 7:45 pm

that's pretty cool looking... even though they likely aren't, makes you wonder if they're planning on using that design for anything else.

popawell · Post by **popawell** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:07 am

Gungriffon Geona wrote:This is the kind of thing that I like seeing. A company that actually cares about it's little masterpieces. Konami has given most every game a small little touch of gradius in some form, and I seriously doubt they'll quit doing so any time soon. I mean for god's sake, it's one of the games that gave them their name, and it's a definitive money-maker no matter how many times they sell repackages of the old games. They don't want to ignore that, or atleast they can't. (though honestly Kojima made the overall best cameo with ZOE2.)

I agree about the money maker part. My local game store (the only one in my area that carried Gradius V) sold out its first shipment of the game in 3 days. Sadily I don't think (correct me if im wrong on this) Gradius Galaxy sold very well though.

Hey thats a nice find Gungriffon! Im guessing thats in the new line of cards. Have you seen any other gradius related cards in the new decks?

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:52 pm

Gungriffon Geona wrote:there was a new Yu-Gi-Oh card that came out called "Victory Viper XX03".
http://slayzab.cjb.net/Main/Portals/0/N ... -JP011.jpg
Weird incarnation it seems. very different from all the other incarnations of VV.

Def stat seems pretty high, shouldn't it be 1? Or is that with the Force Field enabled? Make it a 12 then.

PooshhMao · Post by **PooshhMao** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 9:25 am

shinsage wrote:
Vexorg wrote:(such as items that cost $573 in the shop.)
What's the significance of that? It ain't ringing a bell for me.

That's the default hiscore in many older Konami games. 5='ko' 7='na' 3='mi', you see. Might be slightlyy wrong, but not very much.

Gungriffon Geona · Post by **Gungriffon Geona** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 4:05 pm

popawell wrote:Have you seen any other gradius related cards in the new decks?

Two so far, anyway. Not sure if there's more, since my friend stopped collecting them when his deck was stolen. (which he had all the known Gradius cards in for my sake.)
http://www.yugioh-cards.net/Merchant2/g ... -EN013.jpg
http://www.yugioh-cards.net/Merchant2/g ... -EN047.jpg
not exactly new, but these weren't put up in the last thread about the Gradius cards.

circuitface wrote:that's pretty cool looking... even though they likely aren't, makes you wonder if they're planning on using that design for anything else.

Best scenario? Gradius 6. Worst Scenario? absolutely nothing. Either way, it's still kind of a strange version of the VV.

Minzoku · Post by **Minzoku** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:06 am

popawell wrote:Have you seen any other gradius related cards in the new decks?

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=1195

Goshi · Post by **Goshi** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 11:27 am

Dawn of Sorrow -
Already mentioned but anyway, one of Bat Company's forms turns into a moai head and shoots those ring bullets.
One of Dario's attacks summons two dragons from Gradius 2

Portrait of Ruin -
Already mentioned but the Vic Viper item.

Symphony of the Night -
One of Maria's spells summons a blue Salamander dragon boss.
The Shield Rod can create a Gradius type shield in front of you. It seems to do nothing though.

Harmony of Dissonance -
Already mentioned but one of the spells summons the Gradius type shield.

Castlevania Chronicles -
Yes the moai head bonus item still appears.
One of the trees looks like a moai head.

Circle of the Moon -
This one doesn't really have any that rings bells. Though those ring shaped bullets could be one I guess. No the Salamander Card does not count.

Lament of Innocence -
Nothing rung a bell here too. Hmm...

Contra -
Those alien enemies that hatch out of eggs are like the ones found in Gradius 2. Though it could be the other way round.

Ganbare Goemon 4 -
Same deal. Aliens hatching from eggs. Though they're chickens instead.

Damnit I bet some these were already mentioned somewhere too. I'm bad at finding and remembering cameos >_>