A little more well-rounded than the NES port of Gradius, and it has co-op! It's as punishing as you would anticipate, but if you just want to power through it, grab a friend and punch in a code. It's a perfectly serviceable little shooter and one of the better ones on the NES. A shame we never got Gradius II on the platform, though.

I don't really have much to say about it. I just wanted to take the opportunity to highlight that the Japanese release (titled Salamander) easily has the coolest cartridge design ever. I mean, just look at it.