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Gradius (1985)

Konami

Arcade · Sharp X68000

3.25 from 300 ratings

726 members have it in their collection · 13 playing now · 119 backlogged · 49 wish listed

How long? Main story 3h · 100% 4h (from 5 logged playthroughs)

One of the defining characteristics of the Gradius series is the use of a "power meter." The power meter is powered by a power-up item, whose purpose, when collected, is to move a highlight to the next power-up on the power meter. When a power-up that the player wants becomes highlighted, he or she may activate it, also causing the highlight to reset.
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Details

Developers
Konami
Publishers
Konami
Genres
Arcade, Shooter
Themes
Action, Science fiction
Franchises
Gradius
Series
Gradius

Release dates

  • May 29, 1985 (Full Release) (Japan) Arcade
  • Sep 1985 (Full Release) (Europe) Arcade
  • Mar 28, 1987 (Full Release) (Japan) Sharp X68000

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Rating distribution

5 stars
27
4 stars
69
3 stars
161
2 stars
37
1 star
5
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Community All Reviews Statuses

JLucasCAraujo

Status JLucasCAraujo May 25, 2025

Fun, but all games from the arcade age had its difficulty increased so kids spent more money in the machines. More deaths, more coins sold!

But really, its a fun game, specially for a game from the 1985, I mean, I had more fun playing this than playing TES Arena or Daggerfall.

I don't know if its worth trying to …

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Fun, but all games from the arcade age had its difficulty increased so kids spent more money in the machines. More deaths, more coins sold!

But really, its a fun game, specially for a game from the 1985, I mean, I had more fun playing this than playing TES Arena or Daggerfall.

I don't know if its worth trying to complete it since it has its probably better sequences. Ill try all of them later.

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1 Comment Permalink
internpepper

Status internpepper Jun 10, 2024

It didn't age super well, but for the time, the amount of upgrades were really diverse for a port with only two buttons. I loved learning what each powerup did, and exploring how they were useful in various situations.

Now, the flaws. My poor thumb. Just let me hold down the button to fire. No? Alright. There are a lot …

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It didn't age super well, but for the time, the amount of upgrades were really diverse for a port with only two buttons. I loved learning what each powerup did, and exploring how they were useful in various situations.

Now, the flaws. My poor thumb. Just let me hold down the button to fire. No? Alright. There are a lot of "gotchas" in this game. The most notorious one is failing to get into the tunnel in the last stage before the wall closes. Great, now I gotta respawn in the most dangerous room with no upgrades. The bosses get re-used in every stage, which while a welcome break in difficulty, brought down the overall experience.

The mini-bosses are usually just environmental hazards where you have to practice through trial and error what sections are safe. Then, after a complete mess of a final level where enemy ever is flooding the screen with bullets, the final boss is... a stationary object that can't even attempt to fight back.

While an uneven and often frustrating experience, the levels and music were engaging enough along with using all the powerups. I look forward to seeing how this series grows over time.

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2 Comment Permalink
scoopings

Status scoopings Mar 8, 2023

I had read this is super hard, and for the first few mins I was like, wow I'm a good player look at me go. And then my screen became one mass of enemies and bullets aimed at me and yeah, I kept dying lol. I love me some Scramble, and this clearly is its sequel/descendent and I love it …

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I had read this is super hard, and for the first few mins I was like, wow I'm a good player look at me go. And then my screen became one mass of enemies and bullets aimed at me and yeah, I kept dying lol. I love me some Scramble, and this clearly is its sequel/descendent and I love it for that. Good game, but a bit too much for me. It was fun going insanely fast from the power-ups tho lol

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2 Comment Permalink
WildScallion

Status WildScallion Sep 28, 2021

Been playing this on switch online a bit and wow, this is brutal. I'm not the greatest at shooters, but make one mistake and it's game over, because you lose all your power ups.

I've probably played about an hour and made it past the first stage once.

1 Comment Permalink
Reset_Tears

Status Reset_Tears Apr 5, 2021

A horizontally-scrolling shooter on the NES. I've played various Gradius games over the years, never really getting far in any of them and generally just finding them to be... good. I mostly like the stranger quirks of the series, like the presence of Easter Island head statues in an outer space setting.

This first entry for the franchise is really …

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A horizontally-scrolling shooter on the NES. I've played various Gradius games over the years, never really getting far in any of them and generally just finding them to be... good. I mostly like the stranger quirks of the series, like the presence of Easter Island head statues in an outer space setting.

This first entry for the franchise is really damn difficult ("Nintendo hard!"), and some of the sound effects (namely the laser) are super annoying. But there's still a good time to be had, and the upgrade system it used played a huge role in the game's enjoyability and replayability. Experiment with all the different weapons, and see how far you can get.

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1 Comment Permalink
thegameistobesold

Status thegameistobesold Dec 30, 2020

Fun shooter but when you maximize SPEED holy shit it's too fast you'll be crashing everywhere!

Once you get the shields and invincibility code it's smooth sailing from there and actually beatable! Props to everyone who beat this game legitimately lol!

2 Comment Permalink
KP_Neato_Dee

Status KP_Neato_Dee Aug 8, 2019

Wow! It's somewhat alarming how bad I am at this! ;)

Playing via the NES and "Gradius Collection" on the PSP. I prefer the PSP one because it has adjustable skill levels but otherwise it's emulating the coin-op.

3 Comment Permalink