Destroying the Core Since 1985: Let's Play 30 Years of Gradius!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Destroying the Core Since 1985: Let's Play 30 Years of Gradius!

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Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Previously, on the Mr. Godzilla! Show:

You're Going Down. Prepare for Descent.
You're Going Down Again. Let's Play Descent II.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Video and update links - this post
Miscellaneous vidoes

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Click the game title to go to that game's post.

Downloaded videos have two audio tracks: one with commentary and one without.

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May 29, 2015, marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Gradius in Japanese arcades. Since 1985, players have taken the Vic Viper and warded off attacks on the planet Gradius by the Bacterian Empire. Over the years, Gradius has spawned many sequels, conversions from arcade to console, side series, and many Konami games have left references to the groundbreaking shooting game in their other works. Over these last 30 years, Gradius has been a beloved part of the SHMUP (SHoot eM UP) genre. This thread will celebrate the 30 years-worth of games and cover as many Gradius-related games as possible.

In this thread, you can expect to see updates related to Gradius, Salamander, and Parodius. At least 30 games will be covered in this thread. Videos will include the entire game in a single video, since the length of these games typically run from about 20 to 40 minutes. For those familiar with my Descent threads, you can also expect a revolving door of co-hosts, such as UZworm, ElephantGun, and more.

Audience participation is greatly encouraged in this thread! Please submit your own videos and compete amongst each other for the best hi-scores you can get! The player with the highest score for each game that a contest is held for will win a prize!

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The List of Gradius Games

The following is a list of Gradius and related releases that I've compiled. The games I will be playing will be pulled from this list. Not all releases are covered, such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum ports of Gradius. Ports that I have included in this list provide some significant changes to the game they are based on or that I just think are noteworthy to cover. I will not be playing every game in this list, which I will answer why later.

Scramble?
Yes, Scramble, the Konami STG from 1981. Gradius was initially planned to be a sequel to Scramble, and was even titled Scramble 2 during development until the name Gradius was decided on. Scramble was the first scrolling shmup that featured distinct levels, thus setting the standard for all shmups made after that to be designed around unique levels. Scramble also features the ability to fire two different weapons that could be independently fired and hazardous terrain. These gameplay mechanics would be present in Gradius four years later.

What is Salamander?
Salamander is the first side-series to Gradius. It is a direct sequel to Gradius and music, bosses, and other features were incorporated into the fold of future Gradius games.

What is Parodius
Parodius is another side-series that is not part of the Gradius-Salamander series of games, but is very heavily based on them. The Parodius name is a compound word that is a play on the words "parody" and Gradius. The Parodius games parody Gradius and make references to many other Konami games, such as Castlevania. Different power meter selections in Parodius use different characters instead of the Vic Viper (which is also in Parodius). The game's aesthetic is humorous and makes references and jokes that involve Japanese culture and folklore and is often absurdist (for instance, there is a large enemy that is a flying pirate ship with a cat's head and cat paws as oars for the boat that mews when you shoot it, or a giant bald eagle that wears an Uncle Sam hat.

What is Otomedius?
Otomedius is a spiritual sequel to the Parodius games, and the title is a play on the Japanese word for "maiden", otome and Gradius. I will not be playing the Otomedius games. Among reasons why is that I do not have an Xbox 360, let alone the means to record from one. I also think the direction that shmups have gone by using the otome theme is completely tasteless and appeals to a toxic part of Japanese gaming culture. Parodius can get pretty racey, but I think the humor in those games is referential to Japanese culture and has more of a Ren & Stimpy kind of vibe. Playing Parodius also doesn't make me feel like I've been put on an FBI watchlist, either.

What other games will you not be covering?
Other games that I may or may not make videos for are Solar Assault and the i-mode cell phone games. Emulation is possible for all of them, but we'll see how that goes.

How do you pronounce Gradius and what does that name mean?
There are two ways. Based on the reading of the Japanese katakana (グラディウス), Gradius is pronounced /grɑdiʌs/. In English, the stressed vowel is usually the "a", so it usually ends up being pronounced as /gr�diʌs/, similar to how you pronounce the word "graduate". The pronunciation /greɪdiʌs/, where the first syllable is said like the word "grey", is incorrect. Gradius is a made-up word and unlike in Japanese, English is much more fluid in what sounds its written consonants and vowels are meant to sound like (largely because English spelling didn't become standardized until after Shakespeare and the language is the result of many cultures beating the ever living poo poo out of each other over the centuries). The word Gradius also has nothing to do with the Roman short sword called a gladius (which in Classical Latin was pronounced /gl�diʌs/). The name was inspired by a science-fiction move title and the similarity between Gradius and gladius didn't occur to the game's developers until long after the game had been released. The name Gradius refers to the planet Gradius, and is the homeworld of the Vic Viper. But just remember that in Gradius, you collect power-ups so that you can graduate across the power meter.

Star Man's Gradius Favorites

Favorite game - Gradius IV
Favorite soundtrack - Gradius II arcade
Favorite track - Speed (Gradius Gaiden)

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Thread Rules

Spoilers - There is barely anything resembling a plot in Gradius games. Bacterians invade, the Vic Viper destroys them, the final boss is usually harmless, you beat the game and start over again on a more difficult loop. There's no need to make the thread look like a declassified CIA document with spoiler tags. But don't get too far ahead of where the current update is.

Etiquette - I am not a very serious player of these games and prefer to play for survival rather than for score. I am playing them at their default difficulty and score settings. If you are a better player of Gradius games than I am or everyone else in the world, then good for you and contribute to the score contests. We all enjoy video games for our own reasons and shmup fans approach the genre in their own way. Don't knock me or other contributors down for inefficient or suboptimal play. Criticism is good, but don't be a dick about it.

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LINKS

Gradius Homeworld - one of the few Gradius fan-sites in English that you'll find extensive information on the series. Gradius Homeworld has been around for a long, long time and Gamestone's been maintaining it since 1998. Gradius Homeworld covers information on every single released game and soundtrack. The site's curator also has an impressive collection of Gradius-related merchandise and arcade and other hardware. The website is also home to a small forum with discussion centered around Gradius and fan-games.
Gradius Wiki - A fan-made Wiki that compiles a lot of information about Gradius games, although most of them are poorly written. Useful for learning things like enemy and boss names.

SHMUPS.com - a forum for STG/shmup discussion. Also has some information on a handful of Gradius games and others.
Shmuplations - a website that has translated articles and interviews about Gradius games and other shmups.

More links to come.

Star Man fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Mar 25, 2016

# ¿ May 31, 2015 10:03

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 10:54

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

HI-SCORE VIDEOS

You know that feeling when you do well enough at an arcade game to rank on the hi-score table? Especially the feeling knowing that the arcade, restaurant, or grocery store you played arcade games in didn't reset the machine every night, so your score would last?

In this thread, audience participation is encouraged! Submit your own videos of Gradius games where you compete among each other for the best score.

How to submit a hi-score video

Video - if you have the capability to, record a video playing the game and upload it to your preferred video hosting site and provide a link. This is the preferred way of submitting your high score.

Input recording - if recording gameplay in a video is not possible on your system, then you may submit an input recording from your emulator of the game. You can get in touch with me by private message or e-mail [spoiler]starmanaevum at gmail dot com[spoiler] to arrange getting me the input recording. I will then record the video and upload it myself.

Screencap - if, for some reason that you are not able to provide a screen capture video or input recording (such as you played the game on a console), then you may submit a screenshot or photograph of the hi-score screen and indicate which entry is your submission.

Gradius 1 Arcade

Jaimers - 753,500 points.

MISCELLANEOUS

Gradius 1 Arcade

Over six hours of Gradius - includes recovery after death.

Gradius 1 Famicom

Averaging Gradius. - at least ten different recordings of the first stage of Gradius are overlapped. Each layer is given its own color to differentiate them from the others.

Salamander Arcade

Brain Golem dislikes gravity - not actually from Salamander, but you can tell that the boss is inspired.
Superplay by Spy Yamato - this is a rip from a VHS tape of a player playing loop ten of Salamander. Yes, you read that right, this was ripped from a video cassette. The video was recorded in 1988. We have invented nothing. The introduction is dope as gently caress.
14 loops of Salamander

FAN ART

By me. Look what happens when I combine my stupid and expensive space Barbie hobby with Gradius:

Star Man fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Sep 20, 2015

# ¿ May 31, 2015 10:03

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Co-hosts: Elephantgun and Jacobus Spades

Scramble, released in Japanese arcades in February 1981 and in North America the following month, is a horizontal-scrolling shooting game. Scramble is not Konami's first shmup. The first shmup released by Konami was Space King in 1978, a Space Invaders clone.

Scramble is not a Gradius game, though it is given a mention in the opening of Gradius Generation. Scramble is noteworthy for being the genesis of several shmup gameplay mechanics such as being able to fire multiple weapons independently of each other, hazardous terrain, and distinct levels. These features would appear in virtually every horizontal-scrolling shmup later. During the development period for Gradius, it was called Scramble 2 until a name had been decided on for the new game.

Scramble has been released on many different platforms since 1981 and still is today. The game has been ported to systems such as the vector-based Vectrex, home computers and video game consoles. Newer editions of the game feature new graphics, but gameplay remains the same.

The object of Scramble is to progress through all six stages while destroying enemies, avoiding hazardous terrain, and destroying fuel containers. You lose when you collide with an enemy or the terrain or your ship runs out of fuel. You can replenish your fuel by destroying fuel containers on the ground. The game has a progress bar that keeps track of what stage you are in. When you reach the sixth stage, "BASE", you must destroy the enemy base that is at the bottom of the screen to complete the loop. If you don't, you will be given repeat chances to destroy the base until you run out of fuel. Destroying the base rewards you with a point bonus and you will start the game over on a more difficult loop. A little flag on the bottom right corner of the screen indicates which loop you are on.

Star Man fucked around with this message at 08:27 on Jan 31, 2016

# ¿ May 31, 2015 10:04

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Co-hosts: Elephantgun and Jacobus Spades

Gradius is a 1985 shooting game released by Konami in Japanese arcades and as Nemesis internationally.

In Gradius, you play as the Vic Viper from the planet Gradius to fight against the invading Bacterian Empire. Waves of enemies will attack you in formation and from stationary positions. Destroying certain waves or red enemies will yield power-up capsules that you can use to increase the rank on the power meter below to select a new weapon or power-up of your choice after enough capsules have been collected. At the end of each stage is a sub boss that is followed by a single large ship known as a Big Core. Destroy the blue core at the center after penetrating through the barriers on the ship and you will progress to the next stage.

The game is one of the handful of arcade games released on the Bubble System arcade board. Konami's bubble system used bubble memory, a type of data storage that used magnets instead of a mechanical disk. The weakness of this type of hardware was that it was easily interefered with by the powerful magnets used in arcade speakers and other magnetic sources that were common in arcades. Finding a working bubble system arcade board is extremely rare and are worth a lot of money if they still function. The international release of Gradius and later hardware revisions used a standard ROM chipset instead. The bubble system requires that the board be warmed up to a specific temperature before booting up the game. A 99-second countdown accompanied by a song called "Morning Music" would play while the board warmed up to its required temperature.

Vic Viper BP-456X

The Vic Viper is the protagonist ship that you play as in Gradius and in nearly all future games. The Vic Viper is a space fighter capable of using many different weapon load outs and is a very destructive craft once all options are implemented.

The Vic Viper is named so because of its options. The options mimic the movements of the ship during play like a snake's body and tail, thus its name. The ship's design was inspired by the anime adaptation of E. E. Smith's Lensman. The movie's plot and design of the battleship Britannia greatly influence the look and setting of Gradius.

Power-Ups

In Gradius, the hallmark feature of the game is the power meter. In other shmups, you will find power-ups as you destroy enemies and pick them up and use them right away, and sometimes shooting at them would let you change what the item was.

In Gradius, you instead pick up red power-up capsules to advance the meter one grade. This allows you to choose the sequence in which you acquire weapons to your liking. There are six grades on the power meter, and picking up more than six without selecting an option will reset the meter back to the first grade. When you die, you will lose all of your accumulated power-ups and start over again naked. If you had anything selected on the power meter, it will reset back to the first grade, allowing you to get a speed-up.

Picking up a blue capsule will instead activate a Mega Crush, which erases all small enemies from the screen. In most future games, this will also erase any projectiles fired by enemies as well.

A speed-up will increase the speed that the Vic Viper travels as you move the joystick or control pad. You can activate up to six speed-ups, and each additional one will further increase your speed. More speed-ups will also increase the distance that your options are from the Vic Viper and from each other, allowing for an even greater amount of coverage of fire.

The missile is fired by a separate button from your main gun. Missiles fall to the ground and travel along the ground until they collide with an enemy or impassible terrain.

A double shot will add a second bullet that fires upward at a 45-degree angle. Your rate of fire is slowed down because you can only have two bullets on screen at a time for each option and the Vic Viper.

The laser is a long blue beam that will penetrate through enemies until it travels off-screen or into something it cannot destroy like a stronger enemy or terrain. Moving up and down will cause the laser beam to also travel in the same direction. Holding down the firing button will let the laser extend to its full length. Tapping the button will fire shorter lasers.

Options (or Multiple in certain releases) follow the Vic Viper around and mimic its movement and weapons. They cannot be destroyed by enemy fire or terrain. You can position your options so that they will travel through terrain or enemies to create attacking formations that will be advantageous to your survival. You can have up to four options at once.

The shield is the "?" selection on the power meter. Activating it will summon two blue gears that fly in from the right side of the screen and attach to the Vic Viper's nose. The shield can absorb fifteen hits by enemies or projectiles. Be careful because it makes you a larger target and skimming across terrain will deplete the shield. Activating it when there are many enemies on screen or in a lot of terrain will also deplete the shield while it flies toward you, but advanced players can use this to their advantage and take out a few enemies before the shield attaches to the Vic Viper.

Bosses

The Big Core is a recurring boss in Gradius and in many future games. After finishing the sub-boss in a stage, a Big Core will rise from the bottom of the screen and begin to attack you. It moves up and down and fires four shots in approximately your location. It cannot be damaged while the core in the middle is revealed. Once the blue core is revealed, you can shoot through the yellow barriers that shield the core to destroy the Big Core. If you do not destroy the core after a short time, the Big Core will self-destruct and deny you of any points.

Nucleus is the boss of the sixth stage. When you encounter it, a blue membrane covers the nucleus of the mechanical globule. Destroy it or let it time out and the tendrils will fire projectiles at you. These projectiles can be destroyed and award points, so this is a great place to milk for points.

The brain is the final boss of the game. It is protected by the Electronic Cage, two mechanical tendrils, and a shutter. Fly through the shutter before it seals and you will encounter Bacterian (also known as Xaerous Brain). Destroy all six bases that the brain is attached to or wait 30 seconds and the brain will be destroyed.

Music

Morning Music - warm up for the Bubble System.
Beginning of the History - Kuchusen. Music that plays at the beginning of each stage.
Challenger 1985 - stage one.
Beat Back - stage two.
Blank Mask - stage three.
Free Flyer - stage four.
Mazed Music - stage five.
Mechanical Globule - stage six.
Final Attack - stage seven.
Aircraft Carrier - boss.
Historic Soldier - ranking.
Game Over

Selections from Suite Gradius Fantasia

Navigation
Gradius Sonata

Selections from Perfect Selection Gradius.

Free Flyer
Challenger 1985

Selections from Gradius in Classic II

Act III 1
Act III 2
Act III 3
Act III 4

Selections from MIDI Power Pro 7 - Gradius

Ranking

Selections from Gradius Arcade Soundtrack

Hope & Joy Peace & Love
Gradius Medley

Selections from Gradius Tribute

Morning Music ~Large Mix~
Gradius MS 20 Mix
Challenger 1985
Final Attack

Selections from Gradius Ultimate Collection

Morning Music/Bubble System - from Keyboardmania
Gradius -FULL SPEED- - from ~beatmania IIDX 10th Style~
Leo! Leo! - from Zone of the Enders: the 2nd Runner

Selections from Otomedius Original Soundtrack

Challenger 1985
Blank Mask
Final Attack

Star Man fucked around with this message at 08:27 on Jan 31, 2016

# ¿ May 31, 2015 10:04

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

It just scrolls right through things, but it's a game from 1981 and ancient as hell. Without that bar at the top to tell you that you're in a different level, you'd have no idea. Deaths also put you at the beginning of the level you're in when you start the next life.

And why the game changes colors every 15 seconds is completely beyond me.

# ¿ May 31, 2015 20:31

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Dabir posted:

I don't see Falsion on that list .

I suppose I should play all the Ultima games because the ship called Lord British may or may not have been inspired by that game's creator.

Actually, I forgot that the Falchion Beta is something lifted from another Konami shmup. But then again there are also things lifted from Thunder Cross in Gradius III and Trigon in Gradius Gaiden, but then this would just turn into the Konami shmups megathread.

Snorb posted:

A couple years ago, we got quite a few copies of Otomedius Excellent in at work. Not surprisingly, it was bargain-priced at $20.

My first thought when I saw it was "Yup. That's a blue-haired anime girl riding the Vic Viper. And of course they went for the tits-n-rear end shot on the cover."

My second thought was "'Inspired by the legendary Gradius series?' Why the gently caress didn't Konami just MAKE Gradius VI like everyone wants them to? Who actually asked for this?"

We no longer have any Otomedius Excellent copies; whether it's because they got clearanced out and shipped back to whoever dumped them onto us, or people actually bought this thing, or whether it's because the company I work for no longer sells video games, I'll never know.

Actual Gradius-related question: What's the timeline for the series? Galaxies implied it goes Scramble > Gradius > Salamander > II > III > Gaiden > IV > Galaxies, and I'm guessing V and Rebirth happened after those.

Otomedius Excellent's collector's edition comes with a pillow case with the main girl on one side and the cast on the other. It's not body pillow-sized, but that doesn't make it much better in my eyes. It's also poo poo like this that makes me want to stay clear the gently caress away from it.

I view the Gradius Generation/Galaxies intro as an homage to the same intros that were in Gradius II and III and don't mean much. It's the only instance where Scramble has ever been considered a part of the Gradius series and Konami seems to no longer consider Scramble as a Gradius game and instead its own thing. I do find it weird that Gradius Gaiden is a part of that intro but not Salamander 2. If there is a timeline, it seems that the Gradius and Salamander arcade games, Generation, Gradius V, are certainly one continuity. The MSX games would be their own timeline and Gradius ReBirth is probably a part of that since it makes so many callbacks to those games. I don't know where the two Gameboy games would stand in all that, though. Unlike something like Mega Man or Zelda, I don't believe that there's really any kind of debate over what the timeline even is. There might be some information regarding one in a sourcebook or liner notes of a soundtrack somewhere. Perhaps I should scan the liner notes of my copy of the Gradius Arcade Soundtrack and find someone that can translate it.

Also, just a reminder for those that may have glazed over the post: I'm encouraging anyone to make hi-score videos and share them here. The person with the best score will win some kind of a prize!

# ¿ Jun 2, 2015 23:32

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Salamander is a loud and annoying game that just moves at a million miles per hour. The Famicom/NES (which is Life Force, for those that don't know) port is so much better, but that opinion is probably shaped by growing up with it and playing it so much that I can play it while asleep. Salamander on MSX is fuckin hard, though.

I also didn't think through a deadline for hi-score runs. Let's just go with one month(ish) for videos to be posted.

Gradius 1 Arcade hi-score videos are due by June 30.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2015 05:40

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Elephantgun posted:

I'm obligated to post here.

I've never played a Gradius game. With my intense knowledge, that's why I was chosen to guest on the first episode.

But I can tap you for Gradius references that made it into Castlevania.

EDIT: How the gently caress are there 38 tracks to a soundtrack for a loving pachinko machine?

Star Man fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Jun 5, 2015

# ¿ Jun 5, 2015 04:51

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

toddy. posted:

Best Gradius reference used in other Konami games is there is a bossfight against the Vic Viper in Zone of the Enders 2. Not close.

And then you get to play as the Vic Viper in a bonus minigame called Zoradius. There are even Moai.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2015 18:20

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

EightFlyingCars posted:

If you have a Playstation thingie you can buy R-Type Delta for like six bucks. You can grind on terrain all you want and not get a scratch!

You'll still die a lot though.

Irem pulled all of their games from PSN and the Wii store in 2011.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2015 13:02

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

New update coming soon for Gradius 1 Famicom/NES.

Also got the thread tag changed with help from JordanKai and I'm going to fix some of the animated gifs and other little things later.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2015 06:22

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Co-hosts - UZworm and Kingeffingfrost

The first home version port of Gradius was released on the Nintendo Famicom on 25 April 1986 in Japan and on the North American NES the following December and in Europe in November, 1988. Despite the name change to Nemesis for the overseas edition of the arcade game, the Famicom/NES port is known as Gradius worldwide. The Vic Viper in the international release is known as the Warp Rattler instead. The Famicom/NES version of Gradius has been ported to the Nintendo Vs. series of arcade games and has been re-released on the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U Virtual Console.

The Famicom's hardware was nowhere near as capable of producing the same graphics or effects as the arcade original and was altered to better fit the format of the console. The port is as faithful as it can be to the original release of Gradius by only altering the function of some power-ups, sprite changes, removal of vertical scrolling, and a few additions.

The Famicom/NES port of Gradius is most famous for implementing the Konami code. The code was inserted by Kazuhisa Hashimoto, one of the game's programmers, that was not very good at the game during bug testing. He implemented a code that he could remember and would input it when the game was paused. By pressing up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, the Vic Viper would be granted two options, missiles, and a shield. The code was left in, but the cheat code didn't become well known until the NES port of Contra implemented it on its title screen to award the player with 30 lives at the start of the game.

Changes from the Arcade Game

Power-Ups

Increases the Vic Viper's speed. Up to five speed-ups can be activated. In this port of Gradius, speed-up is still available even when the player has maxed out their speed. Activating it again will only reset the power meter. With frame perfect play (though this might only be possible in a tool-assisted run), it is possible to fly through enemies and projectiles at maximum speed.

The missile is unchanged from the arcade edition of Gradius.

The double shot is also unchanged from the arcade edition of Gradius.

The laser in the Famicom/NES port of Gradius now fires in a burst instead of one long beam. The laser still penetrates weak enemies and can be fired rapidly.

The Vic Viper is limited to two options in this version of Gradius.

The shield now appears instantly upon activation. It seems to be able to protect the Vic Viper from all directions instead of only from the front. Able to withstand fifteen attacks before depleting.

Bosses

Big Core - the Big Core has been shrunk to compensate for the Famicom's hardware. It now appears after the sub-boss is cleared and a screen away from where that fight occurred. It is now possible to fly behind the Big Core, but it will try to collide with you if you do.

Nucleus - The nucleus at the end of stage six no longer has its protective membrane. Otherwise, this fight is unchanged.

Bacterian - the big brain is the final boss once again. Its supports cannot be destroyed and shooting at the brain will not deal damage. Just simply wait for the game to time out the boss and play the ending sequence and be awarded a 10,000 point bonus for completing the loop.

Cheat Codes

Konami code - While the game is paused, enter up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A to give the Vic Viper a missile, two options, and a shield.

Continue - during the game over screen, enter down, up, B, A, B, A, B, A and you will continue the beginning of the stage.

Reset screen message - hold down B and A while you press the reset button or soft reset your emulator. You will get a hidden message.

Warps

Stage 1 - to skip to stage three, you must destroy all four enemy generators in one life while the thousands digit of your score is an even number.

Stage 2 - to skip to stage four, you must destroy the Big Core within two seconds of its core turning blue in one life.

Stage 3 - to skip to stage five, you must destroy at least ten Moai in one life.

Music

Beginning of the History
Challenger 1985
Beat Back
Blank Mask
Free Flyer
Mazed Music
Mechanical Globule
Final Attack
Aircraft Carrier
All Pattern Clear
Game Over

Star Man fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Jun 14, 2015

# ¿ Jun 14, 2015 02:06

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Shaezerus posted:

I'm not sure how I feel about the NES Gradius Laser. On one hand, rapid-fire is so nice to have considering the cooldown on the arcade version, but sweeping a gigantic beam of death a third of the way across the screen is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

The best feature of the original laser is that once the beam leaves the Vic Viper, you can still move up or down and the beam will move accordingly.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2015 03:53

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Jaimers posted:

My two cents on this hiscore contest since I've participated in a few in the past: making a video for every time you want to submit something can be quite a bother and I think people are more willing to submit something if the rules are a bit more lax.
I think for a relatively small local contest just posting a screenshot would be enough and of course they would be free to submit videos as well.
Alternatively just make people submit MAME inp replay files which take no effort to make or upload.

I think that's fair. A button-input recording from MAME or for an emulator of the Saturn or PSX ports is fine and something I can work with and make a video of and upload. The idea of having a video is not just a matter of proof, but so others can see the spectacle of the whole thing.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2015 05:24

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

I have recorded video for Salamander and Life Force arcade. I still don't like them.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2015 17:12

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Update on the next video: commentary for Salamander has been recorded. I'm just trying to get a two-player video done as well so that I can do it all in one update instead of two.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2015 17:53

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Co-hosts - UZworm and Scruffy

Salamander is the 1986 arcade sequel to Gradius. A new Bacterian invasion reaches the planet Latis and the Vic Viper of the planet Gradius is dispatched to thwart them. Planet Latis sends its own star fighter, the Lord British, to assist the Vic Viper in repelling the Bacterians. Salamander was released under the same name in Europe and in North American arcades under the title Life Force. Changes in the North American edition features the same organic webbing from the first stage's background in later stages and the game's introduction was written to reference the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage. Salamander would then later be re-released in Japanese arcades as Lifeforce and the re-skinning of stages and enemies to match the organic theme would be taken to a greater extreme.

The game maintains many of the same features as its predecessor, but also separates itself from it in many ways. The game features simultaneous two-player where player one pilots the Vic Viper and player two pilots the Lord British. Salamander also alternates play by scrolling the screen horizontally in odd-numbered stages and switches to vertical scrolling in even-numbered stages. Salamander also features voiceover for when the player picks up a new weapon and warning them of when a boss is about to arrive on-screen. The power meter has been replaced with weapon pickups and the player is instantly revived upon death instead of using a checkpoint system. Salamander is also the first Gradius game to have unique bosses at the end of all of its stages and features the first boss rush where three Big Cores attack the player halfway through the game's final stage.

Power-Ups

Increases the speed of the player's ship, up to a maximum of five boosts.

The missile power-up fires two missiles above and below the player's ship. They will crawl along the terrain until they collide with an enemy.

The ripple laser replaces the double shot from Gradius. The ripple laser fires an energy ring that expands as it travels across the screen. A player with four options can cover the entire height or width of the screen with the ripple.

The laser from Gradius returns and is just as devastating.

The option has been renamed to multiple, but functions the same as it did in Gradius. Picking up multiples creates an orb of energy that mimics the player's movements and weapons. Multiples do not have as tight of pathing as they did in Gradius, so positioning them is a little more difficult compared to the game's predecessor. A maximum of four multiples can be used by a single player. Multiples can be shared among both players, but there can only be a maximum of four multiples in use between both players. If a player dies, the multiples they had will drift to the left or bottom of the screen until they scroll of the screen or a player's ship picks them back up. A second player can steal options this way.

The shield has been greatly de-powered in Salamander. The shield will deplete over time and are also a very uncommon drop in the game.

Bosses

Brain Golem - the boss of stage one is a gigantic version of the tentacle golem from Gradius. It begins the fight encased in a membrane and will awaken after both of its arms have extracted from the brain's sides. After a few moments, the Brain Golem's weakspot will reveal itself. Shoot the eye to destroy it.

Cruiser Tetran - the boss of stage two is the first core boss of Salamander. It swings four arms clockwise in an attempt to whip the player's ship with them while circling around the center of the screen. The ends of each arm occasionally fire bullets and extend themselves from the center of Tetran's body the longer the fight goes on. Destroy the barriers that guard its core and the core itself to destroy Tetran.

Intruder - the third stage boss is a long, serpentine dragon that emerges from the fire of planet Latis's sun. Intruder will chase the player around the screen in order to collide with it and fire beams of fire. If the player has enough power-ups on hand, Intruder will encircle the player and try to constrict him or her. Shoot the head to destroy Intruder.

Center Core - the fourth stage boss is a wall of cores that release crystal balls that bounce all over the screen. It is accompanied by several turrets and ships that drop power-ups as well. Center Core is a very difficult boss to fight and it is likely that you will die at least once during the fight. There is a safe spot where the player should be safe from dying in the bottom-right corner of the screen, but the player must position themselves there before Center Core starts unleashing crystal balls.

Death - the fifth stage boss will fly in from the left side of the screen until it is in its position to attack you. Death will start by summoning enemy ships that can be destroyed and the same crystal balls that Center Core fires. Destroying the hatch will cause Death to fire faster crystal balls and stop summoning ships. Continue shooting the hatch to destroy Death.

Zelos Force - the final boss of Salamander is mostly harmless, but it will try to collide with you by flying in from the bottom of the screen before locking into place. Destroy all four of its supports to beat it. It's easier to do this if a player is equipped with missiles, but it's possible to destroy all four supports without them with very tight control into the narrow space. If the Zelos Force is not destroyed, the player will have to start the game over again on the same loop and attempt to reach Zelos Force again. Once it is destroyed, the player will have to fly through a high-speed tunnel with trap doors that will leave little space or close to prevent the player's ship from escaping the exploding planet Salamander.

Music

Power of Anger - Stage 1
Fly High - Stage 2
Planet Ratis - Stage 3
Starfield - Stage 4
Burn the Wind - Stage 5
Destroy Them All - Stage 6
Aircraft Carrier - Big Core
Poison of Snake - Boss
Peace Again - Credits
Crystal Forever - Game Over and High Score

Selections from MIDI Power Pro 5 - Salamander

Power of Anger
Fly High
Starfield

Selections from MIDI Power Pro 5 - Salamander: Power Disk

The MIDI Power Pro series of albums came with a floppy disk containing some of the album's music on MIDI files. Assuming you have the appropriate sound fonts, you could in theory recreate the album's music with these MIDIs. They can also be transcoded into sheet music with appropriate software so that you can do whatever you like with the music or play it yourself on your instrument of choice.

Power of Anger
Fly High

Selections from Otomedius Original Soundtrack

Fly High
Burn the Wind
Poison of Snake
Power of Anger

Poison of Snake
Planet Ratis
Destroy them All

Star Man fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Jul 13, 2015

# ¿ Jul 12, 2015 23:51

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Ugh, that took me way too long to get put together. I had intended that post to be made on Salamander's 29th birthday, which was the fourth of July. There will be a hi-score contest for Salamander and the deadline for submitted videos, input recordings, or screenshots of the leaderboard is August 9th.

The winner and sole participant of the Gradius hi-score contest, Jaimers, wins his or her very own forums upgrade for themselves or another user.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2015 00:07

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Jaimers, I need an e-mail to enter to buy you archives.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2015 05:07

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Pneub posted:

I forgot I saved this from 9 years ago until after you're already done with Gradius 1, but here's a video of 15 people playing the first level of NES Gradius, all superimposed together. There's a link to a bigger breakdown of who did what in the description:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfvsdBq9RrQ

Who the hell gets a Shield before 2 Options?! Craziness.

I've seen that before too. I don't know why I didn't include it in that post.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2015 18:59

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Dabir posted:

I've seen something like that but can't now remember what it's called.

Same. After watching that video, I seem to remember watching a similar one where it was done by different players rather than by the same player. I think half of them had all died by the time the game got to Big Core.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2015 02:18

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Update: I have a Life Force arcade video. We recorded commentary for it at the same time that we did Salamander arcade, but I'm tossing it because the three of us all sound like we want to pass out. I do grounds keeping at a golf course and it usually drains me to the point that I don't want to do a god drat thing for the rest of the day when I get home. I was hoping that I would have an update schedule of one video/game per two weeks and not at once per month, but here we are. It also doesn't help that the input recording I made for a two-player Life Force video is also hosed up beyond repair. I hope to have something around soon. I just don't know when.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2015 02:49

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

JamieTheD posted:

That's alright, Star Man. Definitely know I'll hang around for it, because Life Force was the first Gradius I ever played.

Japanese or US version?

# ¿ Aug 5, 2015 18:04

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Pictured: my other incredibly nerdy hobby that distracts me from this Gradius LP while I wait for the planets and schedules to align for a Life Force re-recording.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2015 06:12

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Co-hosts - Heavy Sigh and JSpades

Lifeforce is a reskin of 1986's Salamander. Salamander was ported overseas under the same name in Asia and Europe, but was given a new title for its North American release. The game was renamed to Life Force (with a space in between the two words) and the game's background graphics were mostly changed to resemble an organic theme. Additional voice samples were also created that guide the player in what to do as the game progresses. It was given some introductory text about how you, the player, are cleansing a lifeform in space of an infection, therefore making the game seem as if it's inspired by the film Fantastic Voyage. For whatever reason that compelled Konami to do so, they took Salamander, reskinned nearly the entire game to go along with that organic theme with new organic backgrounds, enemies look more like invasive organisms, three new tracks were composed and replace some of the tracks from Salamander, and even more voice samples in addition to the North American game's.

There were a few gameplay changes made in Lifeforce as well. The power-ups that you could pick up were replaced with power-up capsules and the power meter from Gradius returns, although the meter is in a different order for the Lord British than it is for the Vic Viper. Extra lives can also be obtained by scoring enough points, which was absent in Salamander. A minor change for two-player mode was made so that one player's ship could not push the other player's ship around.

And that's not the only conversion of Salamander. There is another arcade version that was given away as a prize for a stage design contest for Gradius III. This version uses the Salamander graphics, but features the same power-up system in Lifeforce, bringing the total number of arcade versions to four. Based on what little information there is about them, it seems that only two or four of these Salamander Special Prize Clone boards were made and none of them have been accounted for (I said sixteen in the video, but I misremembered the actual number). The winner of the contest is the designer of the Cube Attack stage in Gradius III, and anyone familiar with that game can take whatever they want from that knowing the hardest stage in the entire franchise was made by a contestent. This is why you don't let your fans design things for your games.

Just like the game that it's based on, I don't care a whole lot for Lifeforce. It's an even noisier game with all of the voice samples and the power meter makes the game harder in some ways because it takes more power-ups to assemble a complete armament or to recover after death. It does have what used to be my favorite piece of music in the Gradius series, "Thunderbolt", but Gradius Gaiden's "Speed" has taken that position. The narration of the game is just annoying nonsense, but it does have one of the most amusing lines I've ever heard in a video game, "kidney stones cannot be destroyed!". Indeed, Konami. Indeed.

There being two arcade versions complicates which game you're talking about and there's just enough that's different between them to justify calling them different games. Street Fighter II eclipses Salamander in the number of updates that it received, but it's a similar phenomena and I don't know if this was a common practice in arcade games in the 80s and 90s.

Power-Ups

The weapon pick-ups from Salamander have been replaced with power-up capsules and the power meter. The power meter is different for each ship, but the actual power-ups are the same for both of them.

Speed-Up - increases the speed of the player's ship, up to a maximum of five boosts.

Missile - the missile power-up fires two missiles above and below the player's ship. They will crawl along the terrain until they collide with an enemy.

Ripple Laser - the ripple laser replaces the double shot from Gradius. The ripple laser fires an energy ring that expands as it travels across the screen. A player with four options can cover the entire height or width of the screen with the ripple.

Laser - the laser from Gradius returns and is just as devastating.

Multiple - The option has been renamed to multiple, but functions the same as it did in Gradius. Picking up multiples creates an orb of energy that mimics the player's movements and weapons. Multiples do not have as tight of pathing as they did in Gradius, so positioning them is a little more difficult compared to the game's predecessor. A maximum of four multiples can be used by a single player. Multiples can be shared among both players, but there can only be a maximum of four multiples in use between both players. If a player dies, the multiples they had will drift to the left or bottom of the screen until they scroll of the screen or a player's ship picks them back up. A second player can steal options this way.

Shield (?) - the shield has changed a little bit since Gradius and Salamander. Activating it in Lifeforce will create a shield in front of your ship just as it did in Salamander. Activating it a second time while the shield is still up will create another one at the top of your ship and at the bottom if you activate it a third time. These secondary shields do not seem to dissipate over time if you can avoid colliding them with terrain or enemies, leading to the conclusion that your own fire depletes the front shield. Madness.

Bosses

Zylon - an organic reskin of the Cruiser Tetran in stage two. It swings four arms clockwise in an attempt to whip the player's ship with them while circling around the center of the screen. The ends of each arm occasionally fire bullets and extend themselves from the center of Zylon's body the longer the fight goes on. Destroy the barriers that guard its core and the core itself to destroy Zylon.

Center Core X - the fourth stage boss is a wall of cores that release blue cellular projectiles that bounce all over the screen. It is accompanied by several turrets and ships that drop power-ups as well. Center Core is a very difficult boss to fight and it is likely that you will die at least once during the fight. There is a safe spot where the player should be safe from dying in the bottom-right corner of the screen, but the player must position themselves there before Center Core X starts unleashing its projectiles. Beyond the slight name change and the blue cores being converted into organic projectiles, there is no difference from the original fight.

Gau - an organic reskin of Death from Salamander. The fifth stage boss will fly in from the left side of the screen until it is in its position to attack you. Gau will fire eyeballs that can be destroyed and the same blue cells that Center Core X does. Destroying the mouth will cause Gau to fire faster blue cells and stop firing eyeballs. Continue shooting the mouth to destroy Gau.

Zelos Force - the final boss of Lifeforce is mostly harmless, but it will try to collide with you by flying in from the bottom of the screen before locking into place. Destroy all four of its supports to beat it. It's easier to do this if a player is equipped with missiles, but it's possible to destroy all four supports without them with very tight control into the narrow space. If the Zelos Force is not destroyed, the player will have to start the game over again on the same loop and attempt to reach Zelos Force again. Once it is destroyed, the player will have to fly through a high-speed tunnel with trap doors that will leave little space or close to prevent the player's ship from escaping the exploding giant lifeform.

Music

Thunderbold - Stage 2
Slash Fighter - Stage 4
Combat - Stage 5

Selections from MIDI Power Pro 5 - Salamander

Thunderbolt

Selections from MIDI Power Pro 5 - Salamander: Power Disk

The MIDI Power Pro series of albums came with a floppy disk containing some of the album's music on MIDI files. Assuming you have the appropriate sound fonts, you could in theory recreate the album's music with these MIDIs. They can also be transcoded into sheet music with appropriate software so that you can do whatever you like with the music or play it yourself on your instrument of choice.

Thunderbolt

Selections from Otomedius Original Soundtrack

Combat
Thunderbolt
Slash Fighter

Star Man fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Mar 25, 2016

# ¿ Sep 21, 2015 00:19

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Follow-up poast:

I'm not going to attempt holding hi-score contests anymore. A sporadic update schedule and general disinterest in thread participation kind of makes it meaningless to hold them. Though i still haven't heard back from Jaimers about an e-mail address so I can fulfill that forums upgrade.

Hopefully this thread can get back on track and updates can happen at a pace of the living. The first two MSX games are next. The first is a port of Gradius with some new features and the second is an original game, Gradius 2. Because the MSX can't scroll screens, they look janky as hell, but Gradius 2 is a neat little game.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2015 02:10

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Choco1980 posted:

It's Fantastic Voyage not Amazing Journey you poltroon!

I will never get the title of that movie right. Doesn't help that I've never seen it either nor that I keep calling a movie the name of a song by The Who.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2015 02:42

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

I really want to know what compelled them to convert Salamander to Lifeforce, I really do. The differences in the North American release aren't that obtuse, but a complete graphical makeover and re-release is a lot of effort. I'm sure there's an interview somewhere out there that describes why the conversion happened in some Japanese publication somewhere. It's just a matter of getting it online and translated into English.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2015 06:43

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

A nice touch that was added in Gradius V was using a few Salamander sound effects in the game. The same effect you hear when you shoot st Brain Golem is used when you shoot large organic enemies. The Zelos Forces in the first stage also cry, "Bwah!" when they explode.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2015 17:10

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

I use the PSX Deluxe ports for these videos, mainly for my own flow. There are links without commentary, so you can get a better sense of things without us talking over the game. The downloadable videos also have a second audio track without commentary.

Anyways, the Zelos Force's cry is a long drone in the arcade version of Salamander. It was changed to a shorter cry in Lifeforce and the same sound was retained in ports of the arcade games of both versions and in sound effects collections on CD. But there's also a hard transition between sections of a stage in the first stage in Salamander. The middle section is completely different with blue circular objects that make up the terrain and has a blue and black soft background instead of the veins.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2015 00:35

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Glazius posted:

I could actually kind of buy just abandoning the port completely at some point. I mean, one thing I do know about the engineering of the period is that even something like textures could have serious ramifications when changed.

I'd believe it. And also given the fact that so many games in the 80's were made practically overnight, I wouldn't be surprised if just enough was done to get by or make the director happy.

Update status: I've finally learned a bit about how to use openMSX. blueMSX was my MSX emulator of choice until I needed it for recording gameplay and it does not like to cooperate very well when I want to record the next two videos. openMSX has a learning curve because for some god drat reason the people that make these emulators cannot get it through their heads that not everyone that wants to use these things is a PhD in computer science. But, it's the emulator that the TAS crowd uses, meaning that it's good for recording video games.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2015 03:00

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Just wrapped up recording commentary with my long-time friend ShinerCCC for Gradius 1 MSX. You might recognize him if you're into speed running Faxanadu and I know that he's active with Speed Demos Archive and appeared in one of the AGDQ streams this year.

Update should be up by the weekend.

# ¿ Oct 29, 2015 04:09

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Co-host - ShinerCCC

Gradius MSX is an MSX port of the 1985 arcade game Gradius. The port would usher in a new side series of console games in the Gradius series with their own unique features, characters, and plot. This port bears many similarities with the Famicom/NES port of Gradius, but adds new features that would appear in later console Gradius games. In addition to some new features, Gradius MSX also contains a unique new stage that is inserted in-between stages four and five from the arcade version and four hidden bonus stages.

Gradius MSX was released in Europe under the same name as its international release: Nemesis. The title you see in the title screen of this video is Nemesis instead of Gradius. Gradius MSX was re-released on the MSX with other Konami MSX games on floppy disk. When paired with a cart of Snatcher or Snatcher SD in one of the console's cartridge ports, the game is played with enhanced sound features.

For those unfamiliar, the MSX was a home computer console developed by Microsoft of Japan in 1983. The MSX bears similarities in the function of the Commodore 64. It was released in Japan and gained a following in the Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, the Soviet Union, and Cuba. It never took off in the UK or the US. The operating system is called MSX-DOS and was the backbone of the system. Several different manufacturers produced MSX consoles with different specifications like Sony, Panasonic, and Philips. The most common features of the MSX were two cartridge ports and a galaxy of accessories and peripherals like gamepads, joysticks and floppy disk drives were made. Some MSX consoles only had a single cartridge slot or had floppy disk drives built into them. The MSX name may or may not be an acronym standing for "MicroSoft eXtended". The vice president at Microsoft Japan and director of ASCII Corporation, Kazuhiko Nishi, has stated that the acronym means "Machines with Software eXchangeability", hinting at the MSX being a standard.

Today, the MSX is a rather obscure console with a cult following that persists. Despite its obscurity, it is a platform that birthed many video game franchises and served as a launching point for many game developers in the console market. Konami's Metal Gear series appeared on the MSX2 with Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The first Parodius game was on the MSX (making the arcade game Parodius da! a sequel). HudsonSoft's Bomberman first appeared on the MSX before being ported to the Famicom/NES.

Power-ups

Speed-up boosts the speed the Vic Viper can move around the screen. Additional uses of speed-up increase the Vic Viper's movement even more. A player can have a maximum of eight speed-ups.

Missile

A missile will be launched from the bottom of the Vic Viper. The missile travels along the ground until it collides with an enemy or vertical terrain. Selecting missile a second time will fire a faster missile.

The double shot fires a second bullet at a 45-degree angle. Double reduces your rate of fire by half and is difficult to use against the Big Core. Double is necessary for beating bonus stages.

The Vic Viper will fire a long, blue beam across the screen. The beam will erase most enemies caught in the beam and continue moving forward. Selecting laser a second time will produce a longer beam.

An option will mimic the movements of the Vic Viper and all of its weapons. The Vic Viper can have two options.

The Vic Viper produces a shield in front of its nose to absorb enemy fire or damage from collisions with weak enemies. The shield can also absorb the damage from stronger attacks like the Big Core's shots but it will deplete the entire shield. The shield can absorb about ten hits before dissipating.

Bosses

Big Core - Big Core will rise from the bottom of the screen after beating the stage's sub-boss. Destroy the core by breaching the barriers that protect the core after it has turned red.

Nucleus - the boss of stage six is a gigantic life form that unleashes a torrent of projectiles at the Vic Viper. Position the Vic Viper at the very far left of the screen and spam as much firepower as you can to destroy the projectiles and rack up your score. If you're brave, try flying into the space between the first shooter and the Nucleus's center for a surprise.

Bacterian - the final boss of the game is unchanged from other versions of Gradius. Shoot the supports for a few extra points or wait for the boss to time out to beat the game.

Cheat Codes

All of these cheat codes require you to pause the game by pressing the F1 key on the MSX keyboard. Type the following passwords and press the Return/Enter key to enable them. These cheat codes only work once per game.

HYPER - full power up
DOUBLE - get double
SHIELD - get shield
LASER - get second laser power-up
MISSILE - get second missile power-up
OPTION - get two options

DOWN - slow down the Vic Viper after using any number of speed-ups
AHO - suicide
BAKA - another suicide cheat

KINYO - full power up in extra stage 1
HISAE - full power up in extra stage 2
MIYUKI - full power up in extra stage 3
YOHKO - full power up in extra stage 4
MOMOKO - full power up in stage 1
CHIE - full power up in stage 2
AKEMI - full power up in stage 3
SYUKO - full power up in stage 4
CHIAKI - full power up in stage 5
NORIKO - full power up in stage 6
SATOE - full power up in stage 7
YASUKO - full power up in stage 8

Play as TwinBee - while Gradius is in cartridge port one, insert TwinBee in cartridge port two. The Vic Viper will be replaced with TwinBee, the options will become outlines of TwinBee, and the power-ups will change to bells.

Extra Stages

There are four hidden extra stages in Gradius MSX. To reach them, simply fly into the correct location. Entering a bonus stage will give you a huge boost in points and extra lives. These bonus stages can be tricky to get through and having double seems to be required to even beat them. If you die in a bonus stage, you will be sent back to the beginning of the stage that you came from.

Yellow power-up capsules will give you a bonus of 100 points. Picking up more of them will increase that bonus up to 10,000 points. If any yellow capsules are missed, your bonus will reset to 100 points. Green power-up capsules give you an extra life.

Extra Stage 1 - found in stage two. This one is fairly obvious. Using double will make reaching the secret location easier.

Extra Stage 2 - found in stage three. The second platform of Moai heads that face away from each other is where this secret location is. Fly in-between the heads or destroy the left-facing head to reach this spot.

Extra Stage 3 - this one is tricky. You must fly through the mountain in stage one that has a gap in it. Then, you must do the same with both mountains in stage four.

Extra Stage 4 - found in stage seven. Fly right into the space between the Nucleus's center and its top shooter. You can get into this space before the fight starts or during the boss fight. Just make sure you fly into this gap before destroying Nucleus or else you'll lose the chance to get to the last bonus stage.

Music

SCC enhanced soundtrack

Historic Soldier
Beginning of the History
Challenger 1985
Beat Back
Blank Mask
Free Flyer
Bone Stage
Mazed Music
Mechanical Globule
Extra Stage
Final Attack
Aircraft Carrier
All Pattern Clear
Game Over

MSX PSG soundtrack

Beginning of the History
Challenger 1985
Aircraft Carrier
Beat Back
Blank Mask
Free Flyer
Bone Stage
Mazed Music
Mechanical Globule
Final Attack
Historic Soldier
All Patern Clear
Extra Stage
Game Over

Star Man fucked around with this message at 08:33 on Nov 24, 2015

# ¿ Nov 24, 2015 08:26

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Choco1980 posted:

So how many more versions of the first game are there?

Too many. The MSX version is noteworthy for launching the MSX side series. I might do the PC-Engine port if only because it also has the extra bone stage, but it was completely redone.

Gradius was ported to drat near everything that could run a video game in the 80s. There are editions on Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, NEC PC-8801, and ZX Spectrum. Arcade ports are on Windows, Sharp X68000, Playstation, Sega Saturn, Nintendo DS, PSP, cell phones, and most recently on the Arcade Archives on PS4. Salamander was also ported to about as many consoles too.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2015 01:10

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Major_JF posted:

I was going to jokingly say 28 and that doesn't look that far off.

Can we move on when nothing new, like bonus areas, are added?

The next game is Gradius 2 on MSX, which is all new stuff. Then Salamander on Famicom/NES, which has a bunch of changes, and then its MSX version which gets even further away from the original arcade game.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2015 03:35

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

They might be. Points capsules and 1-ups in bonus stages will erase the pegs when you uncover one in a bonus stage.

Finals this week and then I can go on an MSX recording spree.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2015 03:44

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

I just recorded what's probably going to be the second-longest video for the entire thread.

Oh god.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2015 08:53

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Gradius V is the longest game to complete a single loop. It's about 80 minutes per loop. Gradius 2 MSX takes 50-70 minutes, but I'll hold off on describing why until the video is posted.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2015 01:35

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

Choco1980 posted:

Be patient. I just have to re-record an entire video because openMSX ruined an input recording and I die five minutes in by backing into a bullet that was probably sprite flickered away during play.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2015 04:43

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 10:54

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

gently caress. After openMSX loving ate a 70-minute video, I am really discouraged from redoing this. So much for having a video by the end of the week!

# ¿ Dec 14, 2015 11:30

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Destroying the Core Since 1985: Let's Play 30 Years of Gradius!

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