PC Engine Longplay #27: Gradius
13Gradius (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 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.
Ports of Gradius were also done for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Microsoft Windows, MSX, NEC PC-8801, Famicom/NES, PC Engine, Virtual Console, Sharp X1, Sharp X68000, Mobile phones, Sega Saturn, PlayStation and Sinclair ZX Spectrum. The game went to number 2 in the UK sales charts, behind Feud.[citation needed] It was also released on Windows Store[1] on December 20, 2013, GameNow in May 2014 and for PlayStation 4's Arcade Archives on January 25 in Japan. The NES version of Gradius introduced a cheat code that would later become known as the Konami Code, as it would be used in numerous future Konami games. In this game, inputting the code while pausing the game would grant the player's ship multiple power-ups instantly.
Gradius was also converted for the Nintendo Vs. Series arcade platform. It is identical to the NES version, but includes no cheat codes and allows the player to continue indefinitely. The arcade version of Gradius is included in the Gradius Collection for the PlayStation Portable and in Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits for the Nintendo DS. A version for the Game Boy was also released in 1990 under the European name Nemesis. It is the first portable game in the Gradius series and contains five levels which play similarly to previous Gradius games. Players select the stage and the number of available extra lives at the start. The game was later included in the compilation Konami GB Collection Vol. 1, where it is titled Gradius.