|
|
|
|
グラディウス
©Konami 1985,1991
Release : 1991-11-15 (¥6000)
HuCard (2 Mbits) KM91001
Shooter / Horizontal
|
Gradius is a horizontal shooter and the PC Engine conversion of Konami's popular
arcade game originally released in 1985 (also known as
Nemesis in the West). The players takes control of a prototype
space fighter called the Vic Viper
(aka Vulcan in America) and fights his way through eight deadly and
long stages that include countless enemy defenses, giant Moai heads,
huge end of level bosses and their weak cores.
Some enemies drop Power-Pods when defeated - the most common are red
and they increase the choice of weapons available during the game. These power-ups
are visible at the bottom of the screen on a power meter and it is up to the player to
decide of the weapon that fits the situation the most.
This feature is at the core of the gameplay - cruel choices, should the
player go for a new floating option or wait a bit more and
grab a protective shield ?... The most basic weapons are ground missiles
and double shots but they are soon followed by flying options that mimic the
current active weapon and by deadly laser beams.
Interestingly, this conversion
features an extra level and several bonus stages not seen in the arcade game without
forgetting a two 'non-simultaneous' player mode.
|
The original arcade game was released by Komami in 1985. It is also known in America as
Nemesis (Picture on the left). This game was converted for many systems: Famicom (1986),
MSX (1986) (included with Konami Antiques MSX Collection for Sony's Playstation
released in 1997), Sharp X68000 (1987), C64 (1987) and so forth...
Interestingly a sequel followed in 1987 and was called Gradius 2 (aka Nemesis 2
in the west). This version was only released for the MSX and Sharp X68000 computers.
One more game followed for the MSX and was called Gofer No Yabō Episode II (aka
Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction in the west). Surprisingly the last two MSX games
are more spin-offs than sequels. Gradius II - Gofer No Yabō (aka Vulcan Venture)
is unrelated to Gradius 2 released for the MSX and is often considered as the
chronological sequel to Gradius. Countless conversions followed - Famicom (1988), Sharp X68000 (1992),
PC Engine CDRom (1992) and included in Gradius Deluxe Pack (Playstation, 1996).
In 1989, Konami released Gradius III which was later
converted for the Super Famicom (1991), Sharp X68000 and was part of Gradius IV
for Sony's Playstation 2.
Gradius IV - Fukkatsu appeared nearly 10 years later in 1998 and was
also converted for the Playstation 2 (1999). Other versions, not available in arcades,
exist - Nemesis 90 Kai (Sharp X68000), Gradius 1 (GameBoy, 1990), Gradius 2 (GameBoy, 1991),
Gradius Deluxe Pack (1996), Gradius Gaiden (Playstation, 1997), Gradius Generation
(GameBoyAdvance, 2001) and even a Gradius LCD game (1989). A 3D game was also released
in 1997 (Arcade only): Solar Assault Gradius and Solar Assault Revised.
And finally, Gradius V was released in 2004 for the Playstation 2 and developed
by the shooter lords from Treasure. As a side note, a Wii Ware version of
Gradius was released in 2008 and called Gradius Rebirth.
|
|
Two other Konami game series are closely related to Gradius. The first one is
Salamander (aka Life Force) - the games
are clearly set in the same universe and feature similar fighters (see Salamander
for more information) . The second one
is Parodius which is mainly based on Gradius.
|
It is interesting to notice that the hi-score 573000 is often found
in Gradius and other Konami games score tables. This is also the case for this PC Engine
port. An interesting anecdote suggests that Konami is often represented
by the number 573. 5 in Japanese is said "Go", 7 is said "Nana",
3 is said "San" but 3rd is said "Mittsu".
If you shorten "Nana" to "Na" and "Mittsu" to "Mi", you end up with something
that sounds like "Konami".
|
Game Staff (Copied from the end credits) :
Programmer
T. Tokuda
T. Kou
|
|
Graphic Designer
T. Miyoshi
H. Morii
M. Suenaga
|
|
Sound Designer
H. Muraoka
Producer
A. Nagata
|
|
Special Thanks To
K. Hashimoto
R. Shogaki
M.Fukunaga
|
|
Presented By
Konami
|
|
O
M
A
K
E
|
|
|
|
|
Click on picture to enlarge |
S
E
C
R
E
T
S
|
|
The usual Konami 'FULL WEAPON' works for this game. Pause the game and press
(Up) (Up) (Down) (Down) (Left) (Right) (Left) (Right) (II) (I) and unpause the game
On the title screen, press (Left) (Select), hold (Up)
and press (II) three times. press (Run) to start the game. You should now have 30 lives.
|
|
|
|
|
|
LK
|
|
Add your Pov here !
|
P
O
V
s
|
|
Gradius is what gives classic gaming all its meaning and this
conversion is a great triumph considering the hardware it's running on.
Not that the PC Engine hardware is bad in any ways, on the contrary,
but don't forget that we're dealing here with an 8-bit machine and a
2 Mbits HuCard.
Everything plays like the arcade and the gameplay is magnificent.
Graphics are surprisingly close to the arcade and they only lack
the colorful brightness seen in the original game. There are a few
animation slowdowns here and there but the gameplay doesn't
really suffer much from them. Keep in mind that this
was Konami's first game for the PC Engine system and
they have done an amazing job with this release. They've also
included exclusive stages not found in the arcade!
A great PC Engine version that shooter fans definitely shouldn't miss.
|
|
|
|
