Customer Reviews

Gradius

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Gradius is a classic horizontal-scrolling space shooter and the first in a line of awesome sequels. Very similar to games like R-Type or Raiden (though Raiden is a vertical-scrolling shooter), features include the influential power-up system in which you collect generic power-up tokens that are exchanged on the fly for various power ups. Your power-ups are governed by a bar at the bottom of the screen, divided into tabs: Speed Up, Missile, Double, Laser, Option, and "?". Each power-up token you collect advances your bar one step to the right, starting with Speed Up. So if you pick up one token, and immediately hit B, your speed increases. If you pick up another token, Speed Up is highlighted again, but if you wait and pick up another token, you pass up Speed Up and now Missile is highlighted (and so on). This system brilliantly allows you to strategically decide which power-ups you want and in what order.

Speed Up can be repeatedly taken until the ship moves so fast you will overcorrect your movements and make a lot of errors. Missile can be taken once and gives you the additional missile drop while shooting, though you drop significantly fewer missiles than your main canons fire their shots. The missiles do travel a bit when they hit the ground. Double will cause you to shoot double cannon shots, OR if you have chosen Laser, you will shoot double Laser shots. This can be taken once, and if you take Laser after taking Double, you will have to take Double again to get Double Lasers. Laser of course gives you lasers instead of cannon shots (whatever the default gun is). And once you have Lasers there is no way to "power-down" back to regular shots. The benefit of lasers is that they pierce through multiple enemies, so swarms of small single-shot enemies will be obliterated with far fewer shots. Option is my personal favorite, a staple in many scrolling shooters; a floating orb that doubles as a second weapon, firing shots and missiles identical to yours simultaneously with your own shots. It rotates around your craft when you change direction (ie, if you move up, it is below you, if you move down, it is above you, always "trailing" behind). The "?" power-up gives you a sort of energy barrier on the nose of your ship, but I haven't put much time into this power-up so I can't say much about it.

Other things to note are environmental obstacles -- you must avoid rocks spewing from a volcano at one point -- and many small sub-bosses. This is also the sort of shooter in which you lose ALL POWER-UPS when you die, every time you die, and I'm honestly not even sure if you can get continues or 1-ups, I've never lasted long enough! That should be a good indicator of the old fashioned difficulty level. Nonetheless, this is a solid classic shooter to be enjoyed by old-school enthusiasts and scrolling shooter fans alike!

If your a fan of the "shooter" genre in the old school era, then this game has to be a part of your collection. An incredible translation from arcade to the NES, the game has smooth controls, good graphics for it's time and has great gameplay value. It's super fun and addictive and hard, yet you can't put it down,(on those lazy days).
Here is a code for all powerups and shields, so you'll have more fun and last longer in the game:During play, pause the game and press up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Select and start.
Also recommended in the genre:R-Type, LifeForce(Gradius 2), Abadox, Xevious, Section Z, 1942 and 1943.