You can also configure the order of the power-ups on the weapons bar. The weapons are not interchangeable between ships, but you can switch between ships when you continue.
It has the Rolling Missile – a bomb that fires straight down and then explodes horizontally – and Auto Aiming, a multidirectional shot that will automatically target foes, and a Gravity Bullet, which is a very powerful shot that explodes like a Spread Bomb. The other new ship, the Falchion Beta, is based off the spacecraft from the Famicom Disk System game Falsion. The Lord British – making a triumphant return from Salamander – has a Two-Way Missile, a Ripple Laser, and a new laser beam called the Disruptor, which emanates a thick, solid pulse across the whole screen.Ī new ship called the Jade Knight has the Spread Bomb, the Round Laser – which fires a circular laser that surrounds your ship – and the Pulse Laser, which is basically the same as the Twin Laser. The good old Vic Viper features the standard Gradius payload with the usual Missile, Double, and Laser weapons. This time, you can select from four ships. Unfortunately, the weapon selection isn’t quite as vast as in Gradius III, although it’s still fairly expansive. This also affects the intro, which is done in English with a Star Wars-style text scroll. There’s even the option to switch between male and female voiceovers. It’s definitely classic Konami, top caliber stuff that feels considerably more evolved than previous entries. The Moai stage has an exotic instrument that sounds a bit like a bagpipe, while the final fight has an epic, faux-orchestral quality to it. The boss theme has an unnaturally catchy rhythm, and is far more memorable than the repetitive tunes in most of the other games. The music, again like Symphony of the Night, consists of a wide selection of genres, ranging from peppy new age to upbeat rock to cool atmospheric tunes. The game climaxes with the usual boss rush – one of the toughest parts of the game, of course – as well as a speed up zone, a bipedal robot with rocket powered skates, and a final boss that puts on an impressive light show while cycling through images of bosses from Gradius’ past. It’s a replica of the first level from the original Gradius, except it’s being torn apart by a black hole, requiring that you dodge bits of scenery that are being tossed at you. The biological and plant stages are cool, but the real standout is the “Event Horizon” stage. (The Moais even taunt you with voice clips, yelling “You think you can beat me with that? Loser!” when you first fight them.) The level boss is a square room with four huge Moai heads on the wall that spin around, which brings to mind that famous level in Super Castlevania IV, where the entire screen rotates. The statues in the Moai stage fire huge lasers, which continue to radiate even after being destroyed. The third stage is another crystal level, but here, the crystals bend and refract your laser shots, which looks really, really cool. The second stage is a ship graveyard filled with wrecked remains of old Gradius bosses, some of which still fire off some shots despite being buried deep in rubble. Gradius Gaiden really excels because it has lots of familiar moments with cool twists. The whole thing is interrupted by a gigantic white caterpillar which bursts out of the ground and begins to attack.
It’s a beautiful trip through a snow field as colorful auroras shine peacefully in the background.
The tone is set by the first stage, a snow filled area called “Beyond the White Storm”. It features gorgeous, splendidly detailed 2D graphics that totally blow away most other shooters, with improved color depth, transparency effects, and rotating and scaling sprites, with barely a polygon in sight. Graphically, it does to Gradius what Symphony of the Night did for Castlevania.
GRADIUS GAIDEN BLACK BAR HOW TO
Got to get my Volksgasmaske on, folks.Gradius Gaiden is the perfect example of how to evolve a series. This time I'm using the Astraea and try to go w/o any superplay videos. But surprisingly, these differences and breaks with the rigid tradition of shoot'em-ups are the reason, which makes this game so exiting to someone, who knows this genre well. Another break with expectations.įor me personally, this game plays more like a Contra with a jetpack and not an STG, maybe kind like Side Arms Hyper Dyne dressed in polygons. Fascinating, too, how those bosses, despite their rich killer-weapons arsenal, prefer to crush you instead. Goddamn, this game is so un-shooter like with its nebulous hit-detection, wobbling bullets intersections, explosions and debris obstructing visibility or the tricky boss AI holding myriads of surprise attacks before you figure out a pattern, which will be insecure anyway. III, the beginners ship, and it cost me a lot of nerves - I forgot why, though, so I tried it again and now I remember. Years ago (eons maybe) I did a one credit run with the Endymion Mk.
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