Gradius

One of the defining characteristics of the Gradius series is the use of a "power meter." The power meter is powered by a power-up item, whose purpose, when collected, is to move a highlight to the next power-up on the power meter. When a power-up that the player wants becomes highlighted, he or she may activate it, also causing the highlight to reset.

Salamander

Salamander is a scrolling shooter arcade game released by Konami as a spin-off to Gradius. It introduced a simplified power-up system, two-player cooperative gameplay and both horizontally and vertically scrolling stages. Some of these would later become the norm for future Gradius games.

Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction

The Bacterians' Commandant Gopher plans to assassinate little Lars XVIII and change the course of history......
Block Gopher's ambition!

Nemesis 2

The Director General of Space Science Agency Dr. Venom was exiled to Planet Sard for a failed coup d'état. In the year 6665, he escapes and invades Planet Nemesis and the seven planets it controls with the help of Bacterion. The Nemesis High Council sends James Burton, ex-pilot of the Vic Viper, to pilot Metalion and attack Dr. Venom and the Bacterion invaders.

Gradius III

In the darkest reaches of infinite space, pure evil lies in wait ... The Dark Forces led by the god of destruction, Bacterian, prepare to launch a massive onslaught against the planet Gradius. Possessing unstoppable power, the Dark Forces threaten to plunge the Universe into total war and complete annihilation.

Their invasion force smashes the Gradius defenses, and the surrounding planets soon fall like dominoes. Now Bacterian's evil grasp reaches for the heart of the resistance...planet Gradius itself...

To counter the oncoming threat the United Gradius World Forces gather all their fighter craft. Half of them form a defensive net - the other half a strike team. But they are badly outnumbered and The Dark Forces easily tear through their thin frontline. No fighters survive the slaughter....

In a last gasp move, the United Gradius World Forces send out two fighters, previously considered too dangerous for combat missions: The InterDimensional VIC VIPER fighters.

The Fighters take off for the heart of darkness to join the fray that will decide the fate of the Universe...

Salamander 2

Like the original Salamander, and as opposed to the Life Force releases, Salamander 2 abandons the selection-bar based power-up system, in favor for a simplified system that focuses on powering weapons up based on specific icons. For example, the player cannot increase his ship speed until a speed icon is picked up; additional speed icons further increase the ship velocity.

Several weapons, when additionally upgraded, turn into a 'super' weapon for approximately ten seconds. If the player has the ripple laser, and then gets another icon for it, the player will receive the high-powered Buster ripple for a short period of time. Options have been slightly changed with the arrival of 'option seeds', which are small options that orbit the ship firing only the basic initial shot. Two option seeds can combine into one full option. Moreover, options can also be sacrificed to utilize a short-term homing beam weapon.

Several enemy bosses typical to Gradius games return, including the Brain Golem (the first level boss) and the Tetran (the second level boss). There are a total of six levels. Since the game is similar to its prequel, Salamander 2 does not use the Revival Start feature from Gradius (which pushes the player back to a pre-determined checkpoint if a life is lost), many people consider this title to be easier than other titles in the Gradius series due to this. Once the game has been completed, it starts its second-loop at a much higher difficulty. The music is also changed to remixed versions of Salamander's music in some stages. The first player's ship is called Vic Viper while the second player's ship is Super Cobra.

Gradius Gaiden

The setting is between Gradius III and Gradius IV.

During the " Third Bacterian War ", the planet Gradius defeated the Bacterians, and peace returned to Gradius. After two hundred years passed, Gradius prospered, but when the disappearance of a science vessel which went to a nebula known as "The Evil Range", the colony planets of Gradius were attacked by some unknown force that destroyed 99% of the Gradius Army. The Gradius Army Headquarters decided to launch a desperation attack on the "Dark Nebula", which was the source of the invaders. Four Hyper Space Fighters launched from the mothership with orders to stop them.

Gradius IV: Revival

Gradius IV is the fourth arcade installment in a series of scrolling shooter video games developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. It was preceded by Gradius III, released in 1989, although spinoffs had been released prior to it such as Gradius Gaiden. This title brings a considerable graphical upgrade, particularly with the use of colored lighting. In addition, there have been several additions and removals to the vaulted weapons system; specifically, the edit mode has been removed and an online ranking system was added.

Gradius V

Gradius V is the fifth entry in Konami’s Gradius series, originally released for PlayStation 2. It introduces new mechanics while retaining core side-scrolling shooter gameplay. One notable addition is the ability to control the firing direction of "Options" (the yellow support pods) using the analog stick. While adjusting direction, the player’s ship remains stationary, adding tactical risk and challenge.

The rest follows standard Gradius mechanics: avoid collisions and enemy fire while collecting power-up capsules to upgrade weapons.

Gradius V was later released on PlayStation 3 as a PS2 Classic but has since been delisted and is no longer available for purchase.

Gradius ReBirth

Blast your way through levels filled with alien spaceships and otherworldly creatures in this retro side-scrolling shooter. Pick your weapons carefully and upgrade them to create a devastating arsenal of space-aged weapons that will aid you in your challenging mission. Players can post their high scores to worldwide leader boards via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and see where they rank against all the other Gradius ReBirth players. Test your skills with Gradius ReBirth and see if you have what it takes to beat this action-packed arcade shooter.

Single player

Shooter

Konami is a Japanese entertainment and gaming conglomerate. It operates as a product distributor, video game developer and publisher company. During a span of many years, the company produced a large amount of popular games and game franchises in different genres, including Metal Gear, Contra, Frogger, Castlevania, Silent Hill, Suikoden, and more. Many of Konami's products have received prestigious awards in the industry for innovation, quality and sales.

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