Retro Profile: Gradius (NES)
Sunday, September 30th, 2007 at 6:00am by Jamie
Gradius is a neat little shooter to play on the NES. It was ported over from its 1985 arcade original, and this was also Konami’s first NES game to be released in America. The funny thing is I never saw this game in our family’s NES library back in the day…although we had Contra and Double Dribble. I didn’t discover this game until the second time that I got an NES in the house in 1996. Gradius came with it and I was immediately interested in seeing the game because it had that classic Konami box art. You know–the whole “grey box with the lines on both sides” look. The artwork really jumped out at me and made me want to play it.
Gradius really brought something new, yet practical to the shooter genre. Something that really appealed to me was the fact that you didn’t just shoot a power up capsule and automatically gain a quick upgrade. You have to pick and choose which ability you want to enhance every time you pick up one of those power up thingies. As a result of that kind of power up system, it added in a little strategy element, that still made the game very fun to play. Something else that I found to be very unique, for it’s time, was the Option drones. I never could figure out exactly what they were, but it’s like they had a life of their own. The Options prove to a real big help in any situation that you may run into, as you take on more hordes of enemies. My only regret is that you are limited to only 2 Options. The arcade version let you have up to 4 of them. Even so, 2 Options still work just fine for the NES version.
This is a very good example of an arcade port done right. Nothing is really missing or changed from the original in terms of game play and overall content. The graphics are crisp and easy on the eyes, and the sound effects are very well done too. Not annoying or just plain embarrassing…it fits the NES very well. What I like the most, though, is the music! Despite the limitations that any developers will run into while porting an arcade title to a home console, Konami didn’t let that stop them from making the music mimic, almost perfectly, the original stuff. Not to mention, the music is also quite catchy and you’ll probably be humming some of tunes in your head too.
There is one thing that many, including myself at times, have found a bit troublesome about the game. When all tricked out with Options and weapons and all that good stuff, you’ll be fine…as long as you don’t get killed. If you die, you’ll be stuck with a slow ship and the basic pea shooter weapon. Sometimes you’ll get restarted to a particularly tough section of a level, and if you can’t move around fairly quickly, then you’re toast. But then again…that’s why they made the Konami code…up, up, down, down….well, you know the rest.
Play or Stay? Gradius is a solid game that most fans of the old school shooter genre wouldn’t mind playing when they have 20 minutes to spare. If you don’t have an NES, you can still download it on the virtual console for 500 points. Happy blasting!
September 30th, 2007 at 7:08 am
i had this game for my NES back in the day. i really liked this game even though it was pretty much impossible to beat. i played it with a game genie once and made it to the end of the game and then died. i was pissed.
September 30th, 2007 at 7:31 am
The nes version of Gradius is alright, but it is different from the arcade version. What i don’t understand is why they put the nes version of it on the virtual console instead of the superior tg-16 version.
September 30th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Never played it, but it sounds identical Life Force, released 2 years later by Konami. It has the same upgrade system and everything. If you like Gradius, Life Force is worth a try.
Does Gradius have the up, up, down, down… trick? Life Force does and it is the only way I can play the game.
September 30th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Link to Life Force video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4002714780117324326&q=Lifeforce+nes&total=64&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1
September 30th, 2007 at 11:39 am
now this is my type of game!
September 30th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Ah the shoot em up, the most memorable videogaming genre of my childhood, and still dear to my heart today. I’m glad to see it is still being kept alive by some releases today.
Nanostray 2: DS
R Type Tactics: PSP
Bangai-O Spirits: (with co-op and multiplayer) DS
Geometry Wars: DS Wii
to name a few… long live the schump!
September 30th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
It was one of the toughest games I played on the NES. I managed to finish it once. I guess I had a lot more patience then than I do now.
September 30th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
@ peshue: My best guess would be probably because it was a game that was most popular on the NES console, and anything associated with Nintendo’s name will get pimped first by the “big N”. I’ve never played the TG-16 version of Gradius, but I did download their port of Dragon Spirit. It’s far closer to the arcade version than the NES.
@ retodd: You know, I didn’t play Life Force until just a few years ago, and for some reason, I don’t like it quite as much as Gradius. I think it’s because the arcade version of Salamander\Life Force was more graphically intensive and it felt more like a sequel than the home console version did on the NES.
I still like Life Force anyway, but just not as much. To me, the hardware limitations of the NES at the time made it feel more like “Gradius 1.5″.
@ Tom: Yes, Gradius was definitely a tough game for me back then. It seems a little easier now, in comparison with the later game in the series, but I still have a hard time getting past the 3rd stage and beyond sometimes. Maybe I’m just getting old.
September 30th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
This is Off Topic but saw nowhere related to post it, but Nintendo promised us ’something amazing’ in the way of downloadable content for mid-september.
It’s October, has everyone, including Nintendo, forgot?
October 1st, 2007 at 3:25 am
@ retodd
yes gradius does have the up up down down… konami code.