Gradius/Trivia

• Bad Export for You: The NES Life Force only allows two options per ship (instead of three like its FC counterpart) and lacks the multiple endings from the FC Salamander; its sole ending is a static shot of the Konami logo while the ending theme plays.
• Follow the Leader: A great many shooters followed the Gradius powerup system, sometimes expanding it into a between-levels "shop" where points could be exchanged for powerups, other times using it verbatim.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • The mainline games are fairly good about this, each game from Gradius I through Gradius IV having had about 1-3 Arcade Perfect Ports, but the Solar Assault Gradius sub-series never saw a console release (you may be lucky to find one at Chuck-e-Cheese's).
  • Gradius ReBirth can no longer be purchased as of March 2018, due to the Wii Shop Channel no longer allowing purchases. By 2019, you won't be able to redownload it if you already have it.
• Marth Debuted in Smash Bros:
  • Venom made his North American debut in Gradius V in 2005, 18 years after he debuted in the Japan- and Europe-exclusive Nemesis 2 in 1987. Just to add insult to injury, his massive-brain form in this game looks nothing like how he does in the MSX games or in Gradius ReBirth where he's a comparatively normal green humanoid alien.
  • James Burton, having also debuted in Nemesis 2 in Japan and Europe, did not appear in any game released for the North American market until Gradius ReBirth in 2009, 22 years later.
  • Gofer of Gradius II (1988) had to wait 10 years to appear in a game released in North America, namely Gradius IV.
• No Export for You: Much of the series. In fact, in a world where the U.S. North America gets priority over Europe when it comes to video game releases, the opposite applies for not only this series, but the Affectionate Parody Parodius as well.
• Port Overdosed: The first two Gradius arcade games and the original Salamander got ported to plenty of platforms in some form or another. Particularly in Japan, where the series got the Deluxe Packs on the PS and Saturn, as well as Collection series on PSP.
• Sequel First: Gradius II was released in 1988 in Japan and Europe, but not in North America, where it was officially unreleased until its appearance on Gradius Collection in 2006. Gradius Gaiden is a milder example; Gradius IV and Gradius Galaxies came after it and were released here before Gradius Collection (which included Gradius Gaiden as well).
• What Could Have Been:
  • The first Gradius game had Scramble 2 as a working title when the game was under development as a direct sequel to the first Scramble. However, the final product ended up as Gradius with different gameplay than Scramble.
  • The canceled racing game Vic Viper.
  • The arcade version of Gradius V was in development, but the version was cancelled due to time constraints.
  • Gradius V additionally would have had a feature where selecting the same slot on the powerup gauge multiple times will swap that weapon out with another one of the same category (e.g. replacing Missile with Spread Bomb or Laser with Ripple, something similar to those in MSX Gradius games), but this was scrapped in favor of the traditional gauge select and unlockable gauge edit.
• Wiki Rule: Yes, it has one.