Gradius (1985)

When I got into shoot-em-up games, the Gradius series was one that I bounced off of quickly without giving much of a chance. In the first game alone, you very quickly run into some of its more punishing ideas and need some time to adjust to its unique power-up system. M2’s Gradius Origins collection offers a great excuse and opportunity to really sit down with the games and get better at them in a more transparent and customizable package.

That power-up system I mentioned is a major hook right from the start of this first entry. A bar at the bottom of the screen displays a range of available power-ups. Collecting power-up items by killing orange enemies or certain waves highlights the next item on the bar, which you can cash in at any time, resetting the bar back to the start. A typical run might involve quickly grabbing a couple of much-needed speed power-ups, then gradually building up your offensive power before finally grabbing your forward-facing shield that you’ll spend the rest of the life replenishing as needed. It's a sort of unusual system at first, and somewhat awkward if you want to keep an extra shield banked at all times later on for example, but makes for some fun decision-making that makes the relatively easy opening stages feel extra dynamic and interesting.

It’s typical to lose some power on death in these kinds of games, but Gradius’s complete reset of your ship when you’re sent back to a checkpoint is pretty brutal. I feel that it often encourages a loop of just resetting the whole game, but it also gives some opportunity to try and claw your way back up to full strength, which can occasionally work out in a satisfying way. I enjoy playing through the start of the game, so don't necessarily mind resetting. Personally the third stage has a somewhat un-fun and very difficult design which is the thing that takes the wind out of my sails a bit when I think about wanting to try to perfect the game. But generally the game is quite solid, especially for its era, and especially once you get used to some of its particular challenges and tricks. Maybe with some more boss variety (you get the same fight over and over) and a couple stages being better I could say the game is great.

The Origins port has a practice mode as well as an ability to instantly rewind on-demand or on death to perfect a section. You can also toggle on highlighting for the hitboxes of the player, enemies, and projectiles. These hitboxes often differ significantly from what the sprites imply, so it’s helpful to see it, but I can’t really play with it on since I feel the way it’s implemented hurts the game’s overall legibility. I haven't played the other games in the collection yet, but am definitely glad I revisited the first one and was able to finally appreciate and enjoy it.

In space, no-one can hear you rage. Gradius is very difficult, and if you die, you lose all your upgrades. Might as well start over at that point. Your ship isn't originally as fast as in other shooters, and you really need every single pickup you can get a hold of - and you need to hang on to them if you wanna survive. It's not a long game at all, but without the upgrades it's pretty much over and donzo. At least it was for me!

Bosses are pretty simple in design and attack pattern, but the level design is vibrant and cool looking, especially the moai heads i space stage! Music is catchy and energetic and keeps you on your toes, all locked in, sometimes you're not even breathing for 30 seconds trying to navigate your way through a swarm of enemies and projectiles! There's some slowdown when there's a lot going on, but it kinda helps you out playing in a bit of slowmotion. Gradius is a well known classic, still being released, and if you're a fan of shmups you already know this game!

This game made me appreciate Ghosts 'n Goblins so much more tbh. In comparison, I found Gradius Way, WAY harder to play, despite Ghosts 'n Goblins starting very hard from the start.

The difference between the two is: One game is showing you that It's going to be a hard Grinding game from the beginning, and the other one just straight up throws you into a mine battle.

History:
My teen years were consumed by two types of arcade games. The first 2D fighting games. Tekken could suck it, I had Marvel vs Capcom 2 and Samurai Showdown to play. The second were shmups, specifically Raiden and R-Type. At home, however, my only scrolling shooter option was my copy of Gradius III for the SNES. Not until years later would I learn the first entry was released on the NES.

Expectations:
I'm honestly expecting Gradius, but worse... ish... I mean Gradius is awesome no matter what, but I have some concerns as to how it will play on the NES.

Finally, it's finally time to dust this baby off! I'm actually writing this post immediately after beating StarTropics at 11:45pm on a Tuesday so I only have about two minutes to play, but damned if I don't get those two minutes in.

The game fires right up (First try!) and is, as expected, simpler than its sequels in that there is no weapon selection or configuration. You just press Start and you're off. I'm cool with this. The first thing I notice is that this game is buttery smooth, so much so I get distracted and die early... because I was distracted... The game is fast and awesome and I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna beat it but I'm gonna give it my best!

After accidentally beating the first stage, I power down and head to bed. Until tomorrow!

Night 2:

The Advantage ended up being... not that. I guess I'm just too accustomed to using a D-pad. Same with fighting games. Anyway, Gradius did a good job at reminding me how unfair it is over the course of the first three stages.

And that's where I am, Stage 3. While I'm having fun playing, this appears to be my stopping point, even with the Konami Code refilling my power-ups once per continue. The game, like Gradius III, is so reliant on power-ups that when you do die and come back with nothing, you may as well just reset the game.

Gradius is a fun distraction, but I'm not sure mastery of this game is quite within reach...

Night 3:

Another hour of me smashing my face into my controller. I'm definitely finding myself having less and less fun with the game the more I play it, and I think it's time to hang it up...

Conclusion:
I still have fun with this game, but for me the fun comes from picking it up for a few minutes at a time to shoot some aliens, then putting it down. By playing nothing but Gradius for three days straight, I nearly came to hate it. That said I'm still very impressed with how well it plays on the NES, though its SNES counterpart will most likely still be my Gradius of choice moving forward.

Play it Again?
Yep! Frequently in fact. When I need that arcade action. Will I ever sit down and beat it though? No, probably not.

Personal Score: