Gradius will forever be considered a definitive game in the shoot 'em up genre, held up as a key example of what makes these kind of games truly special. It's a game familiar for its iconic NES version, of course, but the release of the TurboGrafx-16 iteration on the Wii U Virtual Console is a welcome one - after all, it was a console that delivered arcade ports of enviable quality back in the day. Yet now it's 2017, so it's a question of whether this classic is still worth a purchase.
For those unfamiliar with Gradius, it's a shoot 'em up that scrolls from left to right, and employs a simple - yet surprisingly strategic - power-up system. Some enemies drop power-ups and you need to decide when to activate them, with each one moving along a checklist at the bottom of the screen. Right at the start your ship has all the speed of a dial-up internet connection, so boosting that becomes a priority. After that, though, it becomes a careful game of choice as you opt for double shots, missiles that automatically bomb the area below, a powerful 'laser' and an 'option' that provides extra shots. There's a power-up also marked '??', which brings in a couple of orbs that provide a handy shield - of sorts - at the front of your ship.
Some of these power-ups are unlimited, others deteriorate over time, and all disappear when you lose a life. That's what makes Gradius so brutal - the difficulty ramps up, and not only does death cost you a valuable life, but resets your ship to its default capabilities. When on a roll you can create a true death machine, as you bombard weak foes with a triple laser and double missiles. If your alien enemies get you with one shot, though, the tables are turned. For die-hard players that'll be part of the thrill, a fear of death endangering an entire run through the short but tough campaign.
Of course, this is the Virtual Console, so you don't need to be a champion gamer to get to the end boss and trigger the tricky second run through the game. A tap of the GamePad touchscreen brings up a rather snazzy retro-styled menu, clearly a nod to the original hardware's arcade-inspired era. You can create and load a restore point in rapid time, so spamming this to maintain your ship of ultimate destruction when you die is easy. For initial run-throughs, at least, it's a welcome way to see all the levels without hurling your controller out of the window.
The menu also lets you adjust some screen settings - the default adopts a 4:3 ratio that better suits the source material, though you can change the screen size manually or just whack up to full screen. In our case we used the default view on the GamePad, which gave nice deep colours and showed the visuals in a good light - on a large TV the graphics lack the same clarity and sharpness, a sign of their age and the occasionally underwhelming emulation of the Virtual Console. On the controller, though, with a pair of headphones on, we had a great time experiencing what - at the time - would have been an eye-popping arcade port.
Compared to the NES original this iteration boasts more detailed visuals and a broader range of sound, giving the music in particular an extra kick. We fired up the NES version on the NES Mini, too, and though it looked better on the TV thanks to the sharp 720p emulation on the little system, this TurboGrafx-16 version still has the edge. Oddly, we also found it quite a bit easer to make progress in this TG-16 iteration, showing that 'NES difficulty' wasn't always an urban myth.
Gradius, as we've said, is a classic, and we enjoyed the frenzied button tapping and retro blasting when playing through it for this review. Nevertheless, the experience was spoiled a little in the second half of the campaign.
For starters, there are some serious slowdown issues at key points. One section with destructible scenery causes the action to slow to a crawl, and tough later missions - with plenty of enemies and our own fire on screen - struggled quite badly. This writer is unsure whether this is a problem of emulation or whether the original had the problem, though it's not really important; what matters is that these dips in performance partially spoil the gameplay experience.
There are some coding inconsistencies, too, with some hitboxes not being what we'd expect. Sometimes blasting a foe with a direct laser hit would kill them quickly, sometimes an equally accurate shot would go through the same kind of foe and do no damage. It's not a constant problem, but does become frustrating later on when allied with notable framerate dips.
Conclusion
The TurboGrafx-16 version of Gradius is a handsome iteration of a classic game. Combined with a smart Virtual Console menu and restore point functionality, playing through the campaign is a nostalgic pleasure and one that kept us coming back. That said, there are a couple of notable problems - some areas bring up drastic drops in framerate, and at some points hitboxes appear to be inconsistent.
For fans of the genre eager to sample an iconic game this is worth a look. Hiccups in the final result, however, mean that we aren't giving Gradius its customary sky-high score for this release.
Comments 22
I remember having a lot of fun with this game as a kid.
Slowdowns were somewhat part of this game, and I think it's supposed to happen on all versions including the arcade. You can use it to your advantage on certain points and trigger it by keeping some enemies alive and such.
Great game,love playing it on my NES mini.
and I'm just over here wishing r-type iii would come back
I always found it so difficult, and eventually preferred to play the sequel, Life Force Salamander, over and over again. In saying that, I'm eager to try Gradius again once I get a NES Mini.
@Slaz
Reminds me of Mega Man. The slowdown with multiple enemies on screen when you'd jump... I used to think it was intentional slow motion effect as a kid.
Always seemed to help me
I've always wished for an arcade port of Gradius. I have the NES version on VC but I'd certainly double dip if the TG16 version is better.
Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga for Switch, please! I already own Ikaruga on Steam, but I would gladly pay for it again.
In this case, the emulation is doing it's job as intended, there's nothing wrong with the VC version. It even goes as far as emulating the hard limits of the system. I uploaded a clip of my gameplay of the tentacle stage where I couldn't shoot because, I assume, there was no memory left to crate my shots (I had 4 options with Double and Missile) when the 3rd tentacle creature entered the screen: https://youtu.be/DmAR38Cwr60
By the way, this version is based on the original Arcade version, though they added the fishbone desert stage. And with the superior colors and sound, I feel the PC Engine version even surpasses it.
In Cave's brand of bullet hell shmups, they intentionally program in slowdowns to make dodging easier even though the hardware is perfectly capable of handling all the bullets. It's a throwback to the days when Gradius and other games' framerates would tank when so much was going on in the scene. To some shmup enthusiasts, slowdowns are welcome when they occur.
If anyone's interested, I'm working on a "No Barrier" run of PCE Gradius: https://youtu.be/6pzregfu1No Cave shmups ruined me like that, lol. With this version/arcade version, the barrier is freakin' huge and it sucks. It stops shots only when they hit the barrier, and you're still vulnerable everywhere else. The NES Gradius barrier works a lot better in that respect. Also, if it collides with the terrain, it's pretty much gone. Heck, I might as well not even use it. Hence, why I'm going for a no barrier 1 credit/life clear. I've made it to the last stage since uploading this last clip, but the next one will be the clear.
BUY THIS! One of the best versions of Gradius you can get! Honestly, that slow down is a life saver and certainly forgivable for this game's age.
@samuelvictor I hope Rondo of Blood gets a Wii U release - I found it too hard without restore points on the Wii.
@JTMnM Yes. This!
It never came out on the TG-16. PC Engine only.
"A tap of the GamePad"
Who uses that terrible controller for Virtual Console games with all the lag??? Wiimote, Pro Controller, whatever - use a better controller with less lag!
I have the original and this is true to that slow down too good game to tackle for five to two hours trying to blast blast blast those enemies
@samuelvictor My Wii U, no matter how much I faff about with settings, doesn't have particularly great contrast on my TV, which I think is a hardware / software thing (it's a fancier TV than my old one, which might not suit it well). Some games look ok, this one lacks definition and good colour on my screen, and frankly it looked better on the GamePad.
It's fine, I don't mean to suggest it's an abomination on the TV, just saying it's not quite as nice as it perhaps could have been.
@JaxonH The bullet hell subgenre takes this gimmick even further, such as with those CAVE arcade games. The devs there intentionally select their CPU based on speed and build the game around that. Theoretically, running these games on faster CPU's would make them impossible as human reflexes have their limits.
This is also why proper emulation of any platform should always emulate CPU cycles too even if that means a game can slow down where it may not be necessarily needed. The NES Classic Mini did this right too (and not just on Gradius).
I like it a lot. Instant download, it is better than nes version. Also I want to upgrade Gradius II and III to Wii U, and even a release of Wiiware Gradius Rebirth. I have all in Wii and i want to play it on Wii U too.
@JTMnM
Especially if we could tilt the tablet sideways and play in its true aspect ratio! I already do that with my Steam version and other shooters on my monitor and use the ol arcade stick too of course.
This is an OK release. Now how about releasing Gradius V for Wiiu or switch. That game is INCREDIBLE.
Bit unfair to suggest the slowdown might be an emulator problem if it happened on the original hardware. If it did, it means the emulator is more accurate, not less. Old arcade addicts like myself used to welcome a bit of slowdown as respite. I can remember even using it to my advantage by creating slowdown with multiples in some levels of this series.
Classic SHUMPs are the best. I have Gradius Collection and Salamander Portable and a bunch of others on PSP. Awesome stuff.
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