Topic: Shoot-em-up help

Yeah so Gradius Rebirth? Might buy any minute ... mistake? It does look so short and got bad reviews...advise please.

I like it, it's a nice homage to the Gradius and Salamander games without feeling like a complete retread.

If you haven't played the earlier Salamander/Lifeforce and Gradius games, I'd give them priority over Rebirth, though.

I was originally not going to get them because of ReBirth, but I relented and got the PC Engine versions (except Gradius III is only available for Super Famicom - wasn't there a PC Engine version?) and they're all good.

Actually I'm going to go for Rebirth and then get Salamander next time. The reason is simply graphics - Salamander is only on the NES VC here and I'd rather have the PC Engine version. Since Rebirth has a Salamander stage (and I was never good enough to get off the first stage originally anyway) it should satisfy my fix and I know it'll be a quality modern shooter with a retro feel.

I still have to get the original Salamander eventually but I'll see if the PC Engine release ever shows up here.

Get Gradius 2, gradius rebirth and star parodier.

None, though there are arcade emulations available for the PS2 (Gradius III & IV) and PSP (Gradius Collection), if that's of interest.

Gradius III is ridiulously hard, though - the SNES port is considered very challenging in it's own right, and it was severely toned down from the arcade.

If you're going for best graphics in a horizontal shmup on the Wii Shop get these:

Gradius ReBirth
Ironclad
Gates of Thunder
Lords of Thunder

Life Force (Salamander) ain't out in the EU shop anyway.

Oh crap, you're right. For whatever reason I keep thinking it is.
Really can't understand why it isn't, either. It was a popular game in it's time.

Aye no Salamander - so sad. Oh well I got Rebirth anyway. It's just what I was after and don't regret it at all (and at 600 points is cheaper than most of the VC games). It's so hard, though! I don't think I have to worry about if it's short - I can hardly get anywhere on it!

Lords Of Thunder ALL THE WAY.
The game is easily worth 8 bucks just for the music, but the game itself is really good too.