The setting is between Gradius III and Gradius IV. During the " Third Bacterian War ", the planet Gradius defeated the Bacterians, and peace returned to Gradius. After two hundred years passed, Gradius prospered, but when the disappearance of a science vessel which went to a nebula known as "The Evil Range", the colony planets of Gradius were attacked by some unknown force that destroyed 99% of the Gradius Army. The Gradius Army Headquarters decided to launch a desperation attack on the "Dark Nebula", which was the source of the invaders. Four Hyper Space Fighters launched from the mothership with orders to stop them.
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Reuses a lot of older elements from the series (there's even a boss fight near the end I swear I remember from another Konami game called Axelay) but reinvents them into some really exciting and ingenious set pieces. I was already rolling my eyes at yet another planet of mountains after the previous Gradius and then a black hole just starts sucking everything through the whole level adding to the tension
I I remember it being on decent space shooter.
Design so precise everything from top to bottom is imbued with the game's overall structure; every action the player does, every choice they make and every accomplishment they revel in is electrifying. Only the "Option" power-up threatens that equilibrium, thankfully the Gradius games know that full well and often subvert the player's rise in power. Awesome graphics, awesome music, a must-play.
OOUFUGUUGUGUGHHHG OOUGO OUGGGUUHHGGGGHGHHHHH
Now this, this is it. This is the Gradius experience I've been looking for. Gradius is a series I've wanted to love but it's constant stagnant level design, enemy design and visuals just made every game feel almost like remixes of the original. They felt uninspired, stale and though there are flashes of promise they never hit a height to open up that potential. Gradius Gaiden feels like the first true sequel to the original Gradius, it just took Konami 11 years to get there, or 20 for it's eventual Western release. Gaiden takes all the aspects of Gradius and builds or reuses them in fresher ways to make it both exciting yet familiar all at once.
This being a console release immediately made it more accessible for a start. That artificial arcade difficulty has been removed so it's now still challenging without being controller throwing obnoxious. After a cool cutscene you can choose between 4 different ships with their own unique weapons, the Vic Viper, Lord British (a ship from the spin off Salamander series), Jade Knight and Falchion β.
Once the game starts the action doesn't take long to get going and many staples of the series like the Easter Island Statue heads, volcanoes, and flame dragons are there though with some twists. The Easter statues fire giant lasers, volcanoes can now be destroyed before erupting and the flame dragons are used as attack weapons out of a bacterial ship rather than a solar flare in an interesting twist. The new stuff though is more important mixed in with giant snow caterpillars, ship graveyards, crytal levels and many of the bosses are really cool to fight and don't just feel like the same basic ship from every other Gradius game. The game is fun, feels pretty action heavy and stage 8's sequence while hard was especially intense. I loved it.
Visually Gaiden really uses the PlayStation's capabilities with coloured detailed sprites, transparency effects etc. There are some really cool little features like one boss that spins the whole level around you whilst enclosed, or crystals that reflect lasers for example. It is very intricate looking and has a good soundtrack to boot, and I don't just mean music as the vocal narration the series is known for is a lot more pronounced and audibly clearer with my favorite part being the spinning boss mentioned above verbally taunting you during the fight which I've not really seen before in a shoot 'em up. The OST is fantastic with the traditional Gradius theme ramped up but the whole OST is really worth a listen too.
Honestly I don't have much bad to say about this game. It's balanced right, it looks gorgeous, the music is great, it's a blend of old and new in a fresh way and have you seen that cover art?
This being a console release immediately made it more accessible for a start. That artificial arcade difficulty has been removed so it's now still challenging without being controller throwing obnoxious. After a cool cutscene you can choose between 4 different ships with their own unique weapons, the Vic Viper, Lord British (a ship from the spin off Salamander series), Jade Knight and Falchion β.
Once the game starts the action doesn't take long to get going and many staples of the series like the Easter Island Statue heads, volcanoes, and flame dragons are there though with some twists. The Easter statues fire giant lasers, volcanoes can now be destroyed before erupting and the flame dragons are used as attack weapons out of a bacterial ship rather than a solar flare in an interesting twist. The new stuff though is more important mixed in with giant snow caterpillars, ship graveyards, crytal levels and many of the bosses are really cool to fight and don't just feel like the same basic ship from every other Gradius game. The game is fun, feels pretty action heavy and stage 8's sequence while hard was especially intense. I loved it.
Visually Gaiden really uses the PlayStation's capabilities with coloured detailed sprites, transparency effects etc. There are some really cool little features like one boss that spins the whole level around you whilst enclosed, or crystals that reflect lasers for example. It is very intricate looking and has a good soundtrack to boot, and I don't just mean music as the vocal narration the series is known for is a lot more pronounced and audibly clearer with my favorite part being the spinning boss mentioned above verbally taunting you during the fight which I've not really seen before in a shoot 'em up. The OST is fantastic with the traditional Gradius theme ramped up but the whole OST is really worth a listen too.
Honestly I don't have much bad to say about this game. It's balanced right, it looks gorgeous, the music is great, it's a blend of old and new in a fresh way and have you seen that cover art?
This game is basically if they took the good parts of Gradius' History and blend them into one masterpiece. This game would be just as great as Gradius II with the Pixel art, activity, the difficulty, and everything else about it.
The best part is that they took what Salamander have with playing Co-op on one screen and brought it into this game. I wish I can do that with somebody cause I can imagine that would be the BEST.
The best part is that they took what Salamander have with playing Co-op on one screen and brought it into this game. I wish I can do that with somebody cause I can imagine that would be the BEST.