shooter

This poor game keeps getting delayed, and I know I'm not the only one who REALLY wants to see it released. The last I heard, 2 weeks ago, was that the game would be out Feb 18th (about 1 week ago). The fact that the release has been inexplicably pushed back to July is not a good omen. Let us hope with all our hearts that this is only for polishing, and not because of some John-Romeroesque lack of product. For this would be a mighty addition to our beloved shooter genre.

I haven't played many games of this series (actually only Gradius III), but from what I have seen, this is an increadible game. Although Gradius III was for the SNES, me and my friend spent lots of hours playing in in the Nintendo 64 eras. Many said it had poor graphics, but the gamplay was spectacular, even more, I'll like to say, than many games today. Just to get past the levels with calculated maneuvers untill you reached the boss was lots of fun. Then you could star in awe at the incredible demo on the highest difficulty and the millions of projectiles there where on the screen. For me, its the best shooter of its type...

The game hasn't arrived yet so this shouldn't be considered a review. But more a cheer actually. To those of you who don't know what Gradius is, here it is:
Gradius is a side scrolling shooter, just like the shooters in the arcades 10 years ago. The main thing with Gradius is that you buy your weapons instead of picking them up. The more power ups you collect (without buying) the better the weapon.
Gradius first appeared in the Arcades, and became a HUGE hit.
It has appeared on NES, SNES, Playstaion (but Japan only, which is a real shame), and Playstation 2.) The best thing about Gradius is probably this though: It has ALWAYS stayed the same, with some exceptions:
Gradius: LifeForce (NES) added 2 players on screen.
Gradius III (SNES) added tactical weapons placement.

I remember the first time I played this series on Nintendo, and it ruled! Then came LifeForce, also for Nintendo, and it actually had 2 player mode (like both players on the screen at the same time! Yes!!) So LifeForce is actually the best game in the series in my opinion.

The second best version is Gradius III for the Super Nintendo. It didn't have 2 player, but hey: It had something cool instead: Tactical weapons placement, i.e you could choose where your weapons would be placed on your ship. You could choose an offencive or defence stance! Gradius III was thrown along with IV in the first Playstation 2 release, but was much harder, and without the original SNES music. (I can't say if this is the original music that came in the arcade version or not, because I haven't played the arcade version. But I at least like the SNES version a lot better.)

Next came a sad story: A great game, that recieved excellent ratings, didn't come to Europe or USA. Too bad about Gradius Gaiden, which only came out in Japan, a game which also had two players at the same time on screen.

The version on the Playstation 2 was a tadd more difficult, and the music was not the music I was used to on the SNES (which is far better.) On the cover it said "2 player." But that wasn't 2 player, it was only 2 players taking turns in playing. Boooh!

Gradius III & IV on the Playstation 2 was a HUGE let down.
The music was not so cute and catchy as before, far more difficult (as in impossible), and IV had actually become worse than III (III was much more durable in weapon selection.)

But, despite the let down on Playstation 2, Konami decides to give it another go, and release "V"! Yes!! I hope they pay attention to what fans have been saying. Keep the gameplay intact, try not to get ultra sorround sound crystal music (because that just isn't the good old game man), and please, if at all possible, let's see 2 players on screen (this is asking a lot, but please???!) What the news so far says though, is that the game will now have the same weapon system as on Gradius III, but with even more weapons. Yes! :)

So, ok, I gave you my rant now, hope it adds to the page, and your excitement about this new release.

And let's all hope that this new game embraces nostalgia freaks, as well as high tech new comers to shooters, and the Gradius phenomenon.