Gradius Gaiden

Gradius Gaiden
Gradius Gaiden
Developer(s)	KCET
Publisher(s)	Konami
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Release	JPN August 28, 1997
Genre(s)	Horizontal scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, Cooperative

Gradius Gaiden (グラディウス外伝, guradiusu gaiden, lit. "Gradius Side Story") is horizontal scrolling shooter video game produced by Konami and released in Japan on August 28, 1997. It is the first Gradius-named title to incorporate 3D graphics.

Gameplay

The core gameplay of Gradius Gaiden remains relatively unchanged. However, two new ships are made available whose weapon configurations are new to the series. Moreover, several changes were made on the weapons system. The chargeable E. Laser, the Reduce size shield, option types, are all items that have been removed in the transition from Gradius III to this title. However, the player can select from several ships, each with a unique weapon configuration. In a slight carryover from Salamander 2, Missile, Double and Laser weapons can be additionally powered up one level. These power-ups are permanent until the player is destroyed, even if he switches between the Double and Laser powerups. There are two new types of shield. One is called 'Guard', which attaches to the top and bottom of the craft and renders the player immune to physical obstacle collisions. The other is called 'Limit' and gives complete invulnerability and lasts for three seconds.

The difficulty level can also be adjusted from 'easiest' up to 'hardest', for a total of seven difficulty levels. On the easier difficulties, the more troublesome boss attacks are removed and the number of enemies on-screen is reduced.

New ships

Jade Knight: Eponymously, every weapon this ship has is tinted green, including the options. Its missile, the spread bomb is a carry-over from Gradius II. This ship has two different kinds of lasers available: round and pulse. The round laser, the most unusual weapon presented in this game, fires concentric rings of laser origination. The pulse laser is a two or three pronged burst laser, similar to the twin laser in previous titles.

Falchion β: This ship's weapons are variations on well known themes. The Falchion has two way missile called a rolling missile, which tumbles to the ground where it splits and shoots both left and right. It also has a three-way limited range shot called Auto-Aiming, that fires a second shot within the angles of 0 to 180. Its laser weapon is the gravity bullet, which is a newcomer to the Gradius series but is present in several earlier Parodius titles. It is based on the Spread Gun that is yielded by Pentarou in Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e－ and every title afterward.

Also, it has been speculated that the ship is not new at all, but an upgrade of the Falsion from the 1987 Konami game of the same name. [1]

Ports

Gradius Gaiden never initially saw availability outside of Japan until the release of the PlayStation Portable compilation, Gradius Collection, in 2006 for North America and PAL regions.

References

External links