The Gradius saga shines again in a compilation with the quality seal of yesteryear of Konami.
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When we think about Konami’s glory days, the first names that come to mind are Contra, Castlevania, Metal Gear, the first beat’em ups of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, perhaps Sunsetriders, and a few other scattered names; but the truth is that there was a time when seeing the Konami logo shining in the presentation of a title was synonymous with guaranteed quality.
A saga that normally stays out of this mental count of great made in Konami names is Gradius, a franchise that was also a emblem of the Japanese developer, but belonging to a somewhat niche and almost forgotten genre like shoot ’em ups (also known in some parts of the world as matamarcianos), often goes unnoticed in the mental records of players.
Gradius turns 40 in the market and while it has already appeared in other Konami compilations, this is the first time we have an exclusive compilation of the IP in all its splendor, although it’s also worth noting that some deliveries are missing. Four decades after its inception, it’s incredible how the games still remain relevant in terms of mechanics and gameplay, which clearly demonstrates how these releases were the foundation of a genre that achieved quite a bit of popularity, mainly in Asia.
This compendium of releases comes loaded with news, many of which have to do with accessibility and open the doors of a genre to many people who may not have been encouraged to enter, possibly due to being a reference to what is known in Japanese as danmaku; a hell of bullets, where reflexes and response speed were always the key to advancing through levels. While this was the idea popularized by titles like Cave or Raizing, the Gradius saga always applied a formula more related to memorizing the patterns of the phases and the movements of the bosses and enemies to overcome the difficulties of the levels.
Get ready your thrusters, your cannons, and your desire to shoot constantly at incredibly hostile worlds, because in this analysis, we will go through the most unusual scenarios with a lot of destruction and little help. Here we go.
Technical Section
Each of the games included in the compilation presents an improved resolution section that makes HD possible, that is, with some visual tricks like adding frames to the screen; but ultimately, it will be the player who decides how to view the title, even with the possibility of adding CRT filters to reminisce about those eternal lines of tube monitors.
Within the visual options, there is also the gallery section where you can see different works related to the game’s art, as well as a wide variety of documents from the sketches of the included titles.
In terms of sound, I’d like to challenge readers to tell me when they’ve heard a bad soundtrack in Konami’s classic titles. In Gradius Origins, a sound gallery is included that includes the original soundtrack, but also many of the albums released in the 80s and 90s, among them the MIDI Power Pro CD.
Another detail worth mentioning is that the menus and options are localized in Spanish, not the games themselves (which would require a lot of technical work), but being able to enjoy the historical and technical information of each of the presented games is truly spectacular and worthy of celebration.
Gameplay
The compilation welcomes the player with a main menu from which you can view different objects as if in a museum, change general options, select the games that are part of the title, and even train in different levels, something that I found very interesting.
The title includes seven games in total, but each one has different versions and other options that can be modified. As you can change the difficulty from its original instance to easy or an invincible mode that, as its name suggests, will not allow the player to die, that is, in this mode, you cannot obtain achievements or qualify for global point rankings.
I remember that when the compilation was announced, one of the questions that arose most in social media and forums in general was about the games that would be included in the release, and what increased the mystery was the little information Konami provided; well, to resolve the issue, the titles included here are, for the Gradius saga, Gradius JP ver. Gradius Bubble System ver., Nemesis (Gradius North American ver.), Nemesis EU ver., Nemesis NA Prototype ver., Gradius 2 JP early ver., Gradius 2 JP mid ver., Gradius 2 JP late ver., Vulcan Venture (Gradius 2 North American ver.), Gradius 3 JP old ver., Gradius 3 JP new ver., Gradius 3 Asian ver., Gradius 3 JP AM Show ver. As for Salamander, Salamander JP ver. Life Force (Salamander North American ver.), Life Force JP ver., Salamander 2, and Salamander 3, the latter being a new addition that premieres with this compilation developed by M2 in its entirety, which demonstrates how much Konami trusts the studio.
Paradoxically, Gradius 4 and Gradius 5 do not appear in the compilation, perhaps due to a matter of space or simply because the name “Origins” of this compilation seeks to focus on the beginnings and launch a new release with more current titles later. That said, by using a trick that involves entering the Konami code on the game selection screen, you can also enjoy Vs. Gradius, which is a port of Gradius for NES, and Salamander Power Up Capsule, which is Salamander with the power-up system of Gradius.
In case you don’t know the games, I’d like to tell you a bit about what you can find in each one:
Gradius
The most basic release, being the first, has a single set of weapons and a boss at the end of each phase, however, the mechanics would be the basis of everything we saw later, and it feels very good despite being 40 years old.
Gradius 2: Gofer no Yabou
In the arcades, the game already had a much better board, which gave it the possibility of rendering graphics considerably superior to those of the first release. Here, 4 selectable weapons are added, and an exclusive boss for each phase.
Gradius 3: Densetsu kara Shinwa e
Here, there seem to be more weapons, and the difficulty increases again. The Western version was a bit simpler so that frustration wouldn’t be excessive.
Salamander / Life Force
Salamander is a spin-off of the saga with more organic enemies, if you will. It features the same ship as in Gradius, the Vic Viper, and presents the possibility of playing in cooperative mode with phases of horizontal and vertical scrolling alternately.
The Western version, known as Life Force, has a completely different story, although the game returned to Japan as Life Force with other improvements, a localization that went full circle.
Salamander 2
It arrived in 1996 with a much more modern graphical aspect than its predecessor and a perfect soundtrack, but with the same imprint as the original version.
Salamander 3
The new face of the compilation, was created by M2 with a retro style that emulates what was seen back in the glorious 90s. By itself, this game alone is worth paying for this entire release.
The modernized options of the release, in addition to those already mentioned, include the possibility of saving the game at any time and rewinding the action to avoid a particular enemy or attack.
Duration
The games themselves are quite short, about 2 hours per release, but the time becomes much longer with all the attempts it will take to face the various challenges in the original difficulty levels, so I suggest you don’t worry about feeling like you’re missing hours of gameplay. It won’t happen here, on the contrary.
Conclusion
For me, Gradius Origins is a truly spectacular collection, a title that pays homage to one of the most important sagas of the genre with the respect it deserves.
If when you saw the game’s announcement, you thought it would just be an emulator running different games from the saga, you were wrong. This collection reaches the heart of any Gradius fan with a lot of visual, sound, and, if all that weren’t enough, it also includes a new Salamander game as the final ingredient of an exquisite dish.
Don’t hesitate to board these ships, the journey will be difficult, but truly beautiful.
We thank Konami España for the material provided to carry out this analysis.
Translator and video game localiser with a passion for retro titles and simulators. He has never let go of a controller since he was given an Atari 2600. He collaborates with different developers in the localisation of their titles into Spanish through Camelot Translations.
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