Game 397: Gradius

Yie-Ar coverage is skipped. TwinBee is TBA.

Shoot'em ups are one of the most enduring genres to come out of the Japanese arcade scene, but they were never my favorite genre. I enjoy a challenge, but the challenge in these games gravitates toward intense rote memorization, knowing exactly what combination of enemies are going to spawn, where you need to be to shoot them down and have a chance of dodging the return fire, and the genre is by and large plagued by a sameyness that kills my motivation to play most of them long enough to reach the point where I could do this.

Despite this, I have discovered and enjoyed a few through DDG. Such as Defender and Konami's Scramble / Super Cobra, which are often seen as predecessors to Gradius.

 

Gradius itself, though, is a game I've never gotten far in, nor its sequels. Exponentially harder than Scramble, this is the point where, I feel, shoot'em ups start taking their modern, memorization-heavy form. Seconds in from starting, a string of enemies comes in from the right, close to the top of the screen, and if you aren't aligned in a position to shoot them down by the time you see them, you don't get to shoot them down in a row and get their powerup. And then you're already behind the curve, because you need that powerup to boost your speed so you can chase down the next set of enemies, kill them all, and get their powerup.

Invariably, I'd start a game, score a few powerups, increase the Vic Viper's speed, get an ATS missile, upgrade the pea shooter to a laser, and maybe even unlock a trailing "option" to double my firepower, and then lose it all once things start getting actually difficult and I take one lousy hit. And then be double screwed, because I'd have to face a difficult section that killed me before, only now my ship is dog-slow and my multiple screen-clearing lasers reverted to a popgun.

Nemesis title background, added to US/EU versions

 

Initially localized as Nemesis in western regions - I assume the original, and now more iconic title to be a recursive transliteration of gladius, I learned that there are no fewer than four arcade versions of the game. The U.S. version of Nemesis, in particular, is dramatically harder, though it also offers some unique mercies.

Gradius had originally been designed for Konami's proprietary - and very short lived - Bubble System board. The system's distinguishing feature was that instead of onboard ROM chips, it accepted bubble memory cartridges; a predecessor to solid state drives. I'm honestly not sure what the advantage would have been over floppy disks in an arcade environment, but high price and reliability problems killed it, and all of Konami's Bubble System games were quickly redesigned as conventional ROM-based boards.

The Bubble System features a distinct startup sequence - even before any display appears, a synthesized voice bleeps out "Presented by Konami. Getting ready," as the board literally warms up so that the bubble memory becomes operable. Once hot, the monitor turns on, a tune somewhat reminiscent of Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 plays from the Mockingboard-like PSG, and a countdown ticks from 99 to 0 as the software is copied into memory. MAME has only added playable Bubble System emulation somewhat recently, and even now does not emulate the entire sequence, skipping the warmup (and synthesized voice) and goes straight to the countdown.

Three ROM based versions exist, and have been emulated for some time. All have some gameplay differences.

• Gradius, Japan - The startup sequence is considerably shorter, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was just for show. Music plays, but the sequence ends before it completes. I can't tell if there are any gameplay differences from the Bubble System version, but I did notice that in the attract mode demonstration, the Vic Viper sometimes gets killed by a volcanic eruption, and sometimes survives, only to be killed right afterward by a spawning miniboss. In the original, it always survives the eruption and gets killed by the miniboss. There might be some differences in input timings or RNG factor.
  
• Nemesis, EU - The startup sequence is removed entirely, and instead, there's a new background graphic to the title screen. Some gameplay sequences are shortened. Support modules are called "multiple" instead of "option." Attract mode demonstration is completely different.
• Nemesis, US - All of the EU changes, plus a difficulty curve that ramps up far more quickly. Enemies are faster, more aggressive, and more numerous. To balance this out, you're allowed up to three continues per game, and after each death, you are guaranteed that the next six kills will yield powerups.
  

 

Even with the latitude granted by Nemesis US, I found it far too difficult to be enjoyable. I stuck with the Bubble System version, as it's the only one which I know features authentic original gameplay. My best attempt, so far, lasts six minutes and gets me to the nigh-unkillable Moai heads, whose dense batteries of energy rings just seem impossible to dodge, especially if you've already gotten hit once and had to restart the area without any speed powerups.

 

Minute 1:

You start off flying through space. Series of enemies fly at you in predictable patterns without firing back much, if at all. It's crucial that you earn as many powerups as you can, by killing chains of enemies or individual red ones.

The powerup system allows you to select and purchase upgrades with a simple menu system. You can stockpile up to six pickups (collecting a seventh wastes the first six and reverts you to one), and with the press of a button, you exchange your collection for the highlighted upgrade.

My powerup priorities:

• Speedup - Costs one pickup, and it is utterly crucial that you have at least one of these ASAP. So crucial that certain sections will grant you a mercy pickup on your death just so that you stand a remote chance of not being re-killed immediately. I prefer to have two of these, but no more, as the Vic Viper starts getting very hard to control after that.
• Option - Expensive at five pickups but worth it, as it effectively doubles your firepower by giving you a trailing orange orb that fires whenever you fire. I always get at least one before upgrading the main weapon.
• Missile - Costs two pickups. Allows you to drop a bomb, which then propels itself along the surface until it hits something. Quite powerful, and capable of taking out heavily armored ground targets in one hit, but quite slow, and not really worth it without an option, but situationally devastating when you have multiple.
  
• Laser - Costs four pickups. Replaces the main gun with a more powerful laser weapon that can penetrate multiple targets, and can be guided by moving the Vic Viper vertically. A worthy upgrade even without options, but I prefer to get one option and the missiles first.
• More options. Maxes out at four, which when combined with the laser makes for a screen-clearing array of death. I aim for that before getting the "ultimate" upgrade.
  
• ? - Costs six pickups. Gives you two shields in front of the Vic Viper which can block a few shots. The last thing I get, because the best defense is a good offense.
• Double - Costs three pickups. Replaces the laser if you have it, and vice versa, with a spreader shot that fires upwards at a 45 degree angle. Seems situationally useful, but overall less useful than the laser, so I never bother with it.
   

About 30 seconds in, the terrain changes, and enemies start fighting back. By this time, I've gotten a single option and the missiles.

Minute 2:

With an actual surface for them to skim, double missiles become invaluable for taking out ground targets, which include ground turrets, bullet-spamming hopper bots and ship-spawning hatches. You can quickly get overwhelmed if you don't destroy your enemies efficiently from here on.

I earn a laser and another option, and this works out great for me until I get too focused on bombing the ground targets and get fatally caught between spawning ships and ceiling-hanging turrets.

Gradius does have one small mercy when you die - there's a dynamic difficulty of sorts, which increases the speed and frequency of enemy bullets and the speed of the enemies themselves over time, and this resets to the lowest level every time you lose a life. But it doesn't stay there long. In this case, it lasts long enough for me to reclaim my speed and a missile, before facing the first boss.

 

Minute 3:

 

The volcano boss seems impossible to beat without your lasers and several options, but you're actually pretty safe from its spew in the top-left corner of the screen.

Survive long enough and a core ship spawns.

 

They're not that hard to beat as long as you have at least one speed boost. Their bullets fire in predictable patterns, and you can just plink at the shields until the blue core behind them is exposed, at which point a few more shots finish them off.

Minute 4:

Back to outer space, and a chance to recover some powerups, but enemies are more prone to shooting back this time.

I get what pickups I can and cash in for a laser. I'm going to need it.

 

Turrets. So many turrets. And destructible walls, which you'll need to shoot to carve out safe tunnels through. The peashooter just can't cope with all this, not even with an option. There's a lot of opportunity for more pickups, and this gets me an option, but you've got to be able to destroy your targets first.

Good luck cutting through that without lasers.

 

Minute 5:

Another boss sequence!

Sphereoids spawn anywhere on the screen - stop moving and you probably die.

Once you've survived long enough, another core ship appears. But lasers, which hit all of its shields at once, make short work of it.

Another space section follows, where I earn my third and fourth options. And promptly lose them to a small group of fighters that slip past my wall of death and shoot me from behind.

Minute 6:

A bunch of Moai heads burp energy rings at my newly underpowered Vic Viper. I don't last.

The high score board logs not just your initials but your gender and zodiac sign too (and I'm not sure what the latter is).

I'm not done with Gradius, but I'm certain that I won't be able to reach the end honestly. I'm glad that I am playing the Japanese original instead of the even more difficult US version - I got much farther on one credit than I'd have been able to get in the US version on four. But I can't help feel that even in this easier version, Gradius is far too punishing for its own good.