Gradius
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New Nintendo eShop releases: Gradius, Chibi-Robo Photo Finder
Let's face it, the eShop is easing out of holiday hibernation. Just four new releases this week, and that's if you count a demo of 2D platformer Jump Trials Supreme. That said, 3DS owners can augment their household reality with Chibi-Robo Photo Finder, while Wii U types can augment any reality with arcade shoot-em-up Gradius. If you're looking for a bit more, Atlus games Code of Princess, Etrian Odyssey 4, and Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers are all on sale, along with Darts Up 3D and Aqua Moto Racing 3D.
ESRB rating suggests Gradius V is headed for PS3
Initially released on the PlayStation 2 in 2004, Gradius V may soon be making an appearance on the PlayStation 3, assuming a new ESRB rating is to be believed. The rating - "T for Teen" with "Mild Fantasy Violence" - offers no information on when we should expect this PlayStation 3 version of Gradius V, nor any word on what might differentiate it from the original version of the game. That said, it seems likely that Gradius V will be released as a downloadable title, owing to both its hardcore fanbase and the middling sales it produced at retail in 2004. Whenever it arrives, Gradius V will mark the first English-language entry in the series since 2008's Gradius Rebirth, a WiiWare pseudo-remake of the four Gradius games released for the Japanese MSX home computer system.
Gradius remade in a LittleBigPlanet 2 level
Media Molecule's next big game, Tearaway, is nothing but potential right now, but here's a good example of why that potential is so darn exciting. Gamers are still creating cool things with LittleBigPlanet 2: like this impressive Gradius port, which brings the side-scrolling 2D shooter into the world of Sackboy and his many toys.This player-made creation has multiple upgrade options and weapon types, a few different stages to play through, and even a few well-made boss fights. If you want to try it out yourself, you can download it via LittleBigPlanet 2 right now.
The origin of the Konami code, as told by its inventor
The legendary Konami code came about because Gradius was too hard for one of the guys making it. Katsuhisa Hashimoto was on the team of four responsible for the NES port of Gradius, and he recalled adding the code in a 2003 interview just translated by GlitterBerri. "I had one guy under me, and he played through the coin-op version," Hashimoto said. "That one's really tough. I hadn't played that much and obviously couldn't beat it myself, so I put in the Konami Code." The code uses its familiar, now-iconic pattern for ... convenience. "Because I was the one who was going to be using it," Hashimoto said, "I made sure it was easy to remember. The game took around half a year to develop, and, at the time, putting the code together was like an entertaining puzzle. 'How on earth am I going to be able to fit these passwords into the program?' I'd ask myself." The solution to that puzzle may have led to your successful completion of Gradius, Contra, or countless other Konami games. [Image: DefunctGames]
TUAW's Daily App: TurboGrafx-16 GameBox
When the App Store first opened, Apple wasn't very keen on running emulators. Not only can they easily fall into a gray legal area, but allowing extra layers of code to run didn't seem safe to Apple at the time. Since then, however, Apple has loosened its policy, and now emulators of old consoles and hardware with official clearance are good to go. The TurboGrafx-16 Gamebox is one of those. It's an emulator of the old TurboGrafx-16 console, and since HudsonSoft designed it and most of the games, they're fully within their rights to sell the code on iOS. The app is free, and old school TG16 titles like Bonk's Adventure, Gradius and Bomberman '94 are available right there in the app for an in-app purchase of US$2.99 each. You also get World Sports Competition for free, so if you just want to download it and see how it works, you can do that. A recent update to the game added five new titles, including Bonk's Revenge, Double Dungeons and Benkei Gaiden, and the controls have been tweaked a few times recently as well. Unfortunately, because it's an emulator, there aren't any iOS extras like Game Center integration, but that's not the point. You really just want to play the old TG16 titles, mostly as they were intended. Kudos to HudsonSoft for putting this all together. Someday, maybe, when the iPhone and iPod touch have finally conquered Nintendo's handhelds like Nintendo beat Sega (no, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon, either), we can finally see a SNES or even a Nintendo 64 emulator running officially on iOS. But until then, the TurboGrafx-16 is worth a look.
TUAW's Daily App: Space Storm
Space Storm is about as conventional as space shooters get; enemies come into the screen from the right, and your ship flies from the left, blowing things out of the sky with a few different weapons and picking up health or power-ups along the way. In this case, though, conventional is good. The game feels right, and the dual-stick setup will have you navigating your ship around enemies and bullets and even slowing time down with occasional power-ups, in no time. Boss levels add a little variety to the mix, but basically, it's fly and shoot. It's very simple and pretty darn fun. OpenFeint adds some replayability to the somewhat short game, but a shooter is a shooter. As of this writing, the game is free on a promotion, but if you enjoy a good space shooter, it's definitely worth a couple of bucks.
Konami shoots 'Gradius Arc' into core of Japanese trademark database
[Hobby Search] Konami has filed a Japanese trademark for something called "Gradius Arc." The "Gradius" part is easy enough to parse -- Konami's long-running series of horizontal shooters, last seen in the form of WiiWare's Gradius ReBirth -- but the "Arc" leads us to one particularly fanciful hypothesis. "Arc" happens to be the frontrunner among rumored names for the PlayStation Motion Controller, having been mentioned by several developers and even trademarked by Sony. Could this be the first evidence of a motion-controlled Gradius game? However, we shouldn't jump to (horrifying) conclusions based on the presence of a common word that happens to coincide with what a controller might be called. "Arc" could just be a subtitle for a Gradius game that you play with a controller like a sensible person.
Konami coin-op cameo in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
While playing through Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for review, our very own Richard Mitchell stumbled upon a pretty neat thing: classic Konami coin-op arcade cabinets. Sadly, you can't play the cabinets in-game, but it's a nice Easter egg for fans, if we may say so. There's Contra, Rush'N Attack and -- our personal favorite -- Gradius. Check 'em out in the video above.
VC in Brief: Life Force (NES)
Life Force (NES, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone – Mild Fantasy Violence, 500 Wii PointsWe say: download it! This week, we've only one Virtual Console game again, and it's another shmup. Thankfully, it's also a Gradius (reminder: Gradius is awesome) clone, which makes it all okay. Every week, we like to check out what's new on the Virtual Console. We offer these videos as a sort of taste to help you decide whether or not you would want the game in question. We also toss in our own two cents because we're pushy jerks.
Watch: Gradius gets LBP'd
LittleBigPlanet is officially a verb. And we're officially wowed by this Gradius-inspired user-created level (full clip after the break). We're not sure what amount of time, effort and total understanding of LBP's quirky reality it takes to birth such a creation ... but we ain't got it.Also: Anyone able to find this level in-game? Our search for "Libidius.jp" (the supposed stage name) turned up nada. You can find the level by searching for the creator: RRR30000. [Thanks all!]
Gradius ReBirth: U.S. to destroy the core soon
Click to enter gallery. Keen ESRB-spotter Spencer at Siliconera has located a welcome addition to the ESRB's database: Gradius ReBirth. While Japan has been pew pewing itself silly since early September, this is the first solid sign that the 1000 Point WiiWare game will be leaving its native country. Input the code and shoot the core down the break for footage of the first two stages. %Gallery-35829%
VC Monday Madness: Digital Champ Battle Boxing and Gradius II Gofer No Yabou
We've got two new imports to play on the Virtual Console this week. We love it when the service hooks us up with imports because they're so fresh and new. We like that. Too bad one of this week's games isn't very good. Which one is it? Hit up the video above to find out. And if you're looking for more, head past the break.
Gradius II goes Battle Boxing on Virtual Console today
This week on the Virtual Console we've got shirtless, muscular men and sidescroller shoot-em-ups. The last time these two worlds met, we were graced with with Cho Aniki. Now that we're done with the history lesson, on with the VC releases! Digital Champ Battle Boxing (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, 700 Wii Points): With Punch-Out!!! already available on Virtual Console -- and with infinitely more exclamation points -- we can only recommend this as a basis for comparison. GRADIUS II GOFER NO YABOU (TurboGrafx16 CD-ROM, 1 player, 900 Wii Points): Don't be fooled by the subtitle; so far as we know, there are no gophers in the game -- and here we were hoping it was a typo lost in translation about some Caddyshack tie-in. Instead, it's a sequel to the classic sidescrolling "shmup" Gradius.
Import Gradius II coming to US Virtual Console in October
Hudson has been responsible for more import games on the US Virtual Console than anyone, and they've announced an October release that's exciting for a couple of reasons. The first, and most obvious, reason is that it's Gradius II: GOFER no Yabou, the PC Engine CD-ROM port of a Gradius game that has never been available in the US (except on the PSP). Sure, the VC is saturated with shmups, but not nearly enough of them are Gradius.The second, more speculative reason we're excited is that this is an import PC Engine CD-ROM game from Konami. The game we want more than any other on the Virtual Console is also a Konami game, and also on that system. Hudson is also releasing the import Digital Champ Battle Boxing in October. It's ... not very good!
Gradius Rebirth announced for WiiWare
It looks like Mega Man 9 started something. A new retro-flavored Gradius title has been announced for WiiWare. Gradius Rebirth will strike Japanese Wii systems this Summer. That's pretty much all we know for now -- details about the game's content, like whether or not it's a remake of a previous Gradius game is still unknown. Considering Gradius (NES) lives on the Virtual Console, we'd be surprised if this wasn't a completely brand-new game. [Thanks, Rlan!]
Gradius is reborn on WiiWare
You can certainly make an argument that the Wii doesn't need any more digital side-scrolling shooters, since a plethora of options are offered on the Virtual Console. Yet, we think when it comes to the Gradius series, you might be willing to make an exception. Konami announced that Gradius ReBirth will hit the Japanese WiiWare service this summer. We really don't know much about the game, but the lone screenshot (above) shows that the classic sprites will be returning. What else do you need to know, though, other than that it's Gradius? As long as the price is right, this is likely a "must buy" for shoot 'em up fans. [Via Arcade Renaissance]
Gradius as a type-em-up
Some game series are strong enough in setting, storyline, and theme that they work well in multiple genres. Super Mario RPG comes to mind as a good genre change, though it isn't exactly 100% faithful to its source material. Perhaps the best transition has been The House of the Dead 2, which went from light-gun shooter to typing game to English trainer. Postman, of the blog Shoot the Core (apparently a Gradius fan to begin with), has reimagined Konami's legendary shooter in a much slower-paced gametype: an Infocom-style text adventure. The results, predictably, are awesome. It's Gradius! Even as a completely different, vaguely nonsensical game, it's great.[Via Game|Life]
VC Friday: The Hanabi Festival returns! [Update]
An immensely pleasing sight greeted our bleary eyes when we inspected the PAL Virtual Console this morning -- the revival of last September's Hanabi Festival! What does that mean? Simple: for the next few weeks, the VC will feature games that were previously unreleased in Europe or Australia, which we suppose justifies the slightly higher price tags.Best of all, we're promised that this will continue for the next few weeks. Wonder what else we'll get? Here are this week's trio: Columns III: Revenge of Columns -- Mega Drive -- 900 Wii Points Final Soldier -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 700 Wii Points Gradius II Gofer no Yabou -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 900 Wii Points As usual, make the jump for footage of all three.[Update: There's much excitement here, as further inspection of Nintendo's press release reveals that Speedos-clad TurboGrafx-16 shooter Cho Aniki will be one of the future Hanabi Festival releases!]
Crank the core with this Gradius music box
This rare Gradius music box has to be one of the coolest limited-edition game-related items we've ever seen. It's not much to look at -- pretty much just a wooden box with the Gradius logo printed on it -- but it's a Gradius music box. It is a mechanical music box that plays Gradius music. We don't think we have to explain the amazingness of such an item.Specifically, it plays a 15-second version of "Farewell" from Gradius II GOFER no Yabou. We found an actual recording of the music box in action here. This item was only available as a mail-in offer to people who purchased three Gradius soundtrack CDs.We don't even get the opportunity to buy soundtrack CDs most of the time over here, and Japanese fans get to listen to those soundtracks as music boxes. Now we just have to ask ourselves: is the best fifteen seconds of Gradius music ever in a box worth $99?[Via GameSniped]
VC Tuesday: Balloon Fight wasn't already out?
The biggest surprise for us this week is right there in the title. Balloon Fight is one of the canonical first-generation NES games. It's already out in the U.S. and Europe, and it was even remade for the DS in Japan in a Club Nintendo-exclusive Tingle version. So why has it taken so long to show up on the Virtual Console in Japan? In the time that Japanese Wii owners have been waiting for Balloon Fight, they've gotten two versions of Wonder Boy in Monster World. Similarly, today brings the second version of Gradius II. Speaking of repeat performances, we'd like to point out how awesomely Treasure is represented on the VC. Light Crusader is the fourth Treasure game to appear on the VC so far, and we appreciate every one. Even Light Crusader. Balloon Fight (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) Light Crusader (Mega Drive, 1 player, 600 Wii Points) Dragon Spirit (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points) Gradius II GOFER no Yabou (PC Engine, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Baseball Stars 2 (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points)
