Gradius

The Gradius (グラディウス, Guradiusu, pronounced: Gray-dee-us) games, first introduced in 1985, make up a series of scrolling shooter video games published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper. In other games of the series, ships the player controls include the Lord British Space Destroyer, Metalion, Sabel Tiger, Thrasher, Vixen, Alpinia, Super Cobra, Jade Knight, and the Falchion β.

Games

Spin-offs

Canceled games

Common elements

There are several gameplay elements that are common to almost all the Gradius games. These include, but are not limited to:

The power meter, one of the Gradius series' defining characteristics, is enabled by power-up items. The items upgrade the selected ability in the power meter. The meter resets when the player chooses to activate the selected ability. Weapon edit lets players create their own power meter sequence.

Gradius (video game)

Gradius (グラディウス, Guradiusu) is a 1985 horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Konami, originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1985. It was the first game in the Gradius series of shoot 'em ups. In Gradius, the player maneuvers a spacecraft known as the Vic Viper that must defend itself from the various alien enemies. The game features a power-up system in which a weapon selection meter called the "power meter", based upon collecting capsules to 'purchase' additional weapons.

The arcade version of Gradius was released internationally outside Japan under the title of Nemesis, although later releases kept the original title. Home versions were released for various platforms, such as the Famicom/NES, the MSX home computer, and the PC Engine, among other formats. The original arcade game and some of the home versions has also been included in various compilation releases and are available for download in services such as the Virtual Console and PlayStation Network.

Gradius III

Gradius III (グラディウスIII -伝説から神話ヘ-, Gradiusu Surī: Densetsu kara Shinwa e, Gradius III: From Legend to Myth) is a 1989 scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Konami, originally released for the arcades in Japan and other parts of Asia on December 11, 1989. It is the third sequel to the original Gradius for the arcades following Gradius II: Gofer's Ambition, and was followed by Gradius IV: Resurrection. The game was later ported to the Super Famicom in Japan in 1990, and for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in 1991 as a launch title, simply known as Gradius III. The arcade version was included with Gradius IV in a two-in-one compilation (Gradius III & IV) for the PlayStation 2 and in the Gradius Collection for the PlayStation Portable.

Gameplay

The player returns as the role of the pilot of the Vic Viper starfighter to battle the onslaughts of the Bacterion Empire. There are a total of ten levels in the game, with stage 4 being something of a bonus level; here, the player controls the Vic Viper in a third-person perspective and must avoid colliding with walls. Though the level is completely devoid of any enemies, free floating power-ups are scattered throughout. There are also two hidden levels that are based on the early sections of Gradius and Salamander. The game contains the familiar weapons, level layouts, and enemies that have become trademarks of the series.