Nearly all of the titles have been ported to the home consoles, and they’re usually rebalanced so those with less than superhuman shooter skills can actually stand a chance. Gradius began in the arcades, and the games can get mighty difficult. The first level theme is named “Challenger 1985”, most likely after the space shuttle which unfortunately experienced a great disaster the following year. Most of the subsequent games keep this style, which contrasts to the darker, rock or techno inspired soundtracks found in most shooters. The original arcade game features a very upbeat and peppy soundtrack. The Laser is a powerful weapon that shoots straight forward, and can usually tear through multiple enemies and do quite a bit of damage to bosses. It’s weak, with a lower rate of fire than even the default weapon, but it’s much more versatile. In Gradius, one shot will fire straight forward, another at an upward angle. The Double weapon fires in two directions simultaneously. In the arcade games, Missiles are fired by a separate button, but in many console ports the regular and Missile attacks are assigned to the same button. The second is the Missile, which fires a missile projectile diagonally, which can be used to hit enemies that your regular guns can’t reach. The first is the Speed Up, which obviously makes the ship faster. At any point, the player can activate the highlighted item, receive it, and then the power meter resets. Each collected capsule advances the power meter by one step. Grabbing one will activate the power meter. When you destroy a wave of enemies or kill a red colored foe, they’ll drop an orb. The most unique element of Gradius is the power-up system, which allows you to customize your weaponry. As an interesting touch, the high score table asks you to enter your initials, your gender, and your astrological sign. Most of the endings are the same as well – the Vic Viper escapes from an exploding mothership or planet and flies off to safety, while the credits begin to roll. A recurring trend in the Gradius games is a defenseless last boss, which will sit and maybe shoot a few projectiles at you, but can easily be destroyed without much effort. It’s a friendly bit of advice shouted by an unseen narrator. This is where the famous Gradius catchphrase “Shoot the core!” – introduced in the second game – comes from.
Nearly every major enemy ship in Gradius has some variation of this, and many of them have multiple cores. After shooting through the barriers, one can eventually damage the core, which makes it turn shades of red before it explodes.
GRADIUS 2 NES BOX ART SERIES
The weak point is a core in the middle of the ship, guarded by a small series of barriers. In Gradius, the Big Core is one of the only bosses, which is repeated at the end of almost every stage.
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