The original Gradius was a huge hit in the arcades. This was one of Konami’s early titles, and it was brought to households everywhere on the Nintendo Entertainment System. The port was actually pretty good, and it was also fairly popular. Unfortunately a multitude of other shmups with more features and better visuals were also hitting the scene. Even Konami’s own game Life Force made gamers collectively say ‘Gradius who?’ They’ve never shied away from sequels, and a follow up to Gradius hit arcades a few years later, and eventually the Japanese Nintendo Famicom console. The original title was very limited so I wasn’t sure Gradius II could compete with the others. I was wrong. Let’s check it out.
Gradius II takes place just a few years after the first one ended. There’s a new wave attack coming from the Bacterion Empire, and it’s up to the Vic Viper once again to destroy them. The major difference now is that the enemies are led by a giant floating head called Gofer this time around. Yeah, it’s a pretty typical shmup scenario but let’s not be haters here. Gradius II’s scenario and plot may be scant, but it gives us just what we need. Plus there’s a sweet ending sequence showing the Vic Viper flying away from the exploding ship. It’s very cool, and very 80s.
This game plays very similarly to the original release. It’s a 2D scrolling shooter where the screen always moves to the right. As the Vic Viper you’re perpetually moving forward but can maneuver all directions around the screen. You’ll have to do this because enemies fly in from the right and you have to dodge or destroy all of them. The Vic Viper isn’t exactly what you would call a study ship. It take only take one hit before exploding thus forcing you to start over. I’ll get back to this later on in the review because it’s much more significant than that.
Gradius II is focused around power-ups. Destroying specific enemies cause them to drop orb looking icons that when picked up move your power-up bar to the right one space. You can basically choose which upgrades you want. You can either spend it now, or save them up to get something more significant. Probably the most significant change from the original is that you now have more options as far as upgrades go. You can now select from four different linear upgrade paths. These are not entirely dissimilar from one another. They still have the usual speed boosts, options, shields, etc. Really the only differences in the paths are that some off different lasers and missiles with different trajectories. While it doesn’t sound earth shattering these differences are actually pretty significant to the base game and how you play.
Where Gradius II absolutely excels is in its level designs. This is also a point I found rather lackluster in the original, and so the fact that Konami was able to turn this around is very impressive. The last time around the stages were too similar and the environmental hazards boring. That most definitely isn’t the case here in Gradius II. While the first stage starts out very similarly to the past titles. It’s in outer space with just a few incoming rows of enemies. That’s when things change however. You’re flying through various suns complete with solar flares, through really well designed caverns, and more. Heck even the stage with the Easter Island statues is super interesting because they turn based on where you are relative to their position. Mechanically this is one of the most diverse and interesting shmups on the NES.
The variety in stages, and how well designed they are makes Gradius II a real treat to play. Moreso than most shmups of the time even. Unfortunately as I mentioned earlier the Vic Viper can only take one hit before being destroyed. That’s not uncommon in shooters like this, but it has it’s own unique problems here. When losing a life you also lose all of the power-ups you had. In Gradius II (and it’s predecessor) this can make many of the later stages feel impossible. Starting from square one against screens full of enemies is quite a tall order, and power-ups aren’t as constant in these situations as they need to be.
Unfortunately there is a lot of slowdown here. In some places the screen scrolling slows down to the pace of a snail. A lot of NES games suffer from this issue but it’s especially pronounced here. Thankfully this can be used to your advantage. If you have both options and missiles you can slow down some of the crazier sections by firing your shots continuously. I realize that this is exploiting the game but I don’t care. Slowing down the pace of the action can be extremely helpful when trying to precision dodge a screen full of enemies and projectiles. Maybe Konami should have just included this as a feature, because I sure did use it a lot.
One of the only complaints I have is that there aren’t a lot of options in this game. There’s only the main game here and one difficulty level. Unfortunately that doesn’t equal a lot of content. It’s especially true when you keep in mind the fact that once you learn the ins and outs you can complete Gradius II in just an hour or so. I was initially overjoyed when I noticed that this game has a multiplayer mode. I thought maybe Konami had learned from their best shooter Life Force that simultaneous co-op is the best way to play shmups. Unfortunately that’s not the case. Both players simply take turns, and control switches to the other when you die. Come on Konami. You got it right in Life Force so why not here? Gradius II is just itching for simultaneous multiplayer.
Admittedly Gradius II looks a bit plain at first. It’s the same black outer space and nearly identical ships coming at you. When you reach real scenery however you can see how huge of an upgrade this game is over the original. There are actual moving parts in the background, and they rotate and scale super well. Honestly Gradius II looks like it could be an early Sega Genesis game for crying out loud. It’s also super colorful and bright. It’s a real shame about that slowdown, but it’s forgivable in the long run. The soundtrack is also super well done. It sounds like Gradius, but has better music than anything we ever heard in the original. It’s one of my favorite NES soundtracks.
