Gradius Gaiden

Gradius Gaiden[lower-alpha 1] is a 1997 horizontal-scrolling shooter video game developed and published for the PlayStation by Konami. Players control one of four different starships in their mission to eradicate the Bacteria army from destroying the planet Gradius. Gameplay involves shooting down enemies, avoiding their projectiles, and collecting power capsules to unlock access to new weapons. It is the fourth mainline entry in the company's Gradius franchise, and the second to be produced specifically for a home console.

Gradius Gaiden
Developer(s)	Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo
Publisher(s)	Konami
Director(s)	Teisaku Seki
Producer(s)	Kazumi Kitaue
Designer(s)	Kei Chigasaki Takayuki Kobayashi
Programmer(s)	Keiichi Isobe Yukihiro Yamazaki
Composer(s)	Norikazu Miura
Series	Gradius
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Release	JP: August 28, 1997
Genre(s)	Horizontally scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Created by director Seki Teisaku, Gaiden was created to refine and build on the core Gradius gameplay, and to create a new, exciting shooter for a home console in mind; as such, the name "Gaiden" was chosen, being the Japanese word for "side-story". Konami worked to make the game stand out from other Gradius games with unique, creative level designs and all-new mechanics, such as a selection of playable ships, new weapons types, and the ability to swap items in the player's "Power Meter". Some mechanics were also created specifically to take advantage of the PlayStation's hardware capabilities, such as its rotation and transparency effects. The game was completed in less than a year.

Upon release, Gradius Gaiden was acclaimed for its visuals, gameplay, soundtrack and creativity, and is seen as one of the best games in the Gradius series. Some have also compared it favorably to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for the way it builds upon the series' core mechanics. Some felt that it relied too heavily on fan service and was too difficult at times. The game never saw a release outside Japan until the release of Gradius Collection in 2006 for the PlayStation Portable, alongside four other Gradius games. In 2019, it was included in the Japanese version of the PlayStation Classic mini console.

Gameplay

The Lord British firing the Disruptor laser into a crystal, reflecting it in another direction.

Gradius Gaiden is a horizontal-scrolling shooter game. Players control one of four different starships — the Vic Viper, Lord British, Jade Knight and Falsion β[1] — in their mission to eradicate the Bacterian army before they destroy the planet Gradius. Gameplay itself remains relatively the same compared to previous installments; the player must complete each of the game's stages while shooting down enemies and avoiding collision with either them, their projectiles, or the terrain. Some enemies drop glowing Power Capsules when destroyed, which when collected will highlight a weapon on the player's "Power Meter", located at the bottom corner of the screen. Collecting additional Power Capsules will give the player access to better, stronger weapons. These weapons include missiles, a double shot, lasers, and glowing orbs known as "Options" that follow the player and will fight alongside them.

Gaiden features many new additions to the core gameplay. It was the first game in the series to include two-player simultaneous play.[1] Each of the player's four ships feature their own unique set of weapons; the Vic Viper features the standard Gradius arsenal of weapons; the Lord British features the Ripple Laser from Salamander and a pulsating shot named the "Disruptor"; the Jade Knight has a "Circle Laser" that creates deadly rings surrounding it; the Falsion β has a powerful "Black Hole Bomb" projectile that will suck in any enemies it comes into contact with. At the start of the game, the player can modify the placement of items in their Power Meter to their liking; for instance, the Options can be moved to the very front of their meter, requiring only one Power Capsule. Two new shields were added; the Guard, which makes the player invulnerable to terrain, and the Limit, which gives the player full invincibility for a few seconds.

Development

Gradius Gaiden was the creation of director Seki Teisaku;[2] joining him in production were designers Kobayashi Takayuki and Chigasaki Kei, sound designer Miura Norikazu, and programmers Yamazaki Yukihiro and Isobe Neiichi, among others.[3] Most of the staff had previously developed Gradius Deluxe Pack for both the Sega Saturn and PlayStation, which made the team familiar with the mechanics of the Gradius series.[3] The goal of the project was to refine and build upon the core Gradius gameplay, as well as creating an exciting new shooting game specifically for a home platform in mind;[3] as such, the development team chose to name the game Gaiden, the Japanese word for "side-story".[3] The team originally considered naming it Gradius IV, but they felt that the Gaiden title allowed them to experiment with different ideas instead of strictly sticking to concepts already established in its predecessors.

The development team for Gradius Gaiden heavily focused on designing new, interesting stages; the first level, "Beyond the White Storm", features a snow theme that staff thought would be a fresh idea and surprise players.

Development of Gradius Gaiden lasted for less than a year.[3] Since the game was being developed for the PlayStation instead of for arcade hardware, the team was able to make the difficulty much more fair and balanced, and could help raise the player's skills as they progressed through the game.[3] The team kept elements what they felt were "essential" and fun to use, namely the power meter system. Gaiden originally began as a single-player game, with a multiplayer mode added later on; to allow players to distinguish between their ship, the team added the Lord British ship from Salamander to accompany the default Vic Viper ship.[3] Two new ships were added alongside them, the Jade Knight and the Falsion β.[3]

One of the biggest things the team focused on was the level design.[3] Takayuki and others wanted the levels in Gaiden to be unique and distinct from those found in previous Gradius games.[3] The game's first level, "Beyond the White Storm", was chosen to surprise players and to be fresh.[3] Takayuki and others chose a snow theme for the level which had never been used in a Gradius title up to that point.[3] The development team wanted to have stages feature unique mechanics that made them stand out from other level types in the series, such as the remains of bosses in the second stage and the laser-reflecting crystals in the third stage.[3] Some levels were also designed to take advantage of the PlayStation's hardware capabilities, namely the rotating Moai statues in the fourth stage.[3] The development team toyed with the idea of a "sea of mud" level that slowed down the player's ship, which was scrapped for it not being fun to play.[3]

The idea to allow the player to rearrange the weapons in their power meter was based on the "meter edit" mode from Gradius III, which allowed the player to change the weapon types in their power meter.[3] The team thought it was a fun idea, and decided to implement it into Gaiden.[3] Four shield types were added to complement the four playable ships; the "Guard" came from Neichii being generally bad at Gradius games and always dying when colliding with the ground, while the Limit was based on an idea of having a shield that was about time instead of its durability.[3] The game's "second loop" was created to be fan service, being the team's way of thanking players who played the game a lot.[2]

Release

Gradius Gaiden was released on August 28, 1997 in Japan.[4] On July 30, 1998, it was re-released as part of the "PlayStation the Best" budget game label, and again on November 20, 2003 as part of the PSone Books collection.[4] Konami announced that the game would be released in the U.S. as part of a bundle with Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus in December 1997,[1] however, it was later cancelled.[5] In 2006, Gradius Gaiden was compiled into Gradius Collection, alongside Gradius, Gradius II, Gradius III and Gradius IV.[6] This version of the game removed the multiplayer mode and suffers from slowdown in some areas.[5] Gradius Gaiden is one of twenty games included in the Japanese version of the PlayStation Classic mini console, released in 2019.[7]

Reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score Famitsu 29/40[8] GameSpot 7.9/10[9] Super GamePower 4/5[10] Ação Games 9/10[11] Maniac 8/10[12] Consoles+ 90/100[13]

Gradius Gaiden was well-received by critics, and is seen as one of the best games in the Gradius franchise.

Several commented on the game's visuals and graphical style. GameSpot, while believing they weren't as "impressive" as those found in games like Star Fox 64 and RayStorm, was excellent, specifically liking its detailed backgrounds.[9] Brazilian publications Ação Games and Super GamePower also praised the game's graphics for being vibrant and well-designed, applauding its transparency and rotation effects.[11][10] Famitsu felt it was one of the best-looking shooters for the PlayStation,[8] which Super Juegos agreed with.[14] Multiple critics have also praised the game's music,[10] with Ação Games in particular finding it to contain some of the best tunes in the series.[11] GameSpot slightly disagreed, saying that while the music was well-made, wasn't as good as tracks found in earlier Gradius games.[9]

The gameplay of Gradius Gaiden was commended by several. GameSpot in particular found it to be the game's strong point for its balanced difficulty and fun mechanics, which Famitsu and Ação Games agreed with.[8][11] Super Juegos favorably compared the game to Konami's own Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for successfully building on the Gradius gameplay in a way that made it a fresh, new take on the franchise.[14] Super Juegos and Ação Games also found it to be one of the best games in the franchise up to that point,[14][11] with Ação Games labeling it a "sensational" shooter.[11] GameSpot applauded its import-friendly nature, and said it was a great purchase for shooter fans.[9] The level design was also the subject of praise for its creativity and originality,[11][10] although Famitsu felt it relied too heavily on Gradius fan service.[8] In their review of Gradius Collection, GameSpot felt that Gaiden was the stand-out game in the collection for its visuals, gameplay and short loading times.[15]

In a 2017 retrospective review, Hardcore Gaming 101 labeled Gaiden as "The perfect example of how to evolve the series", and the Gradius equivalent to Konami's own Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. They commended the game's colorful, detailed graphics, soundtrack and level designs, especially praising the game's creativity and overall quality. Hardcore Gaming 101 also praised the game's weapon system and new shields, although felt that neither of these were as good as the ones in its predecessor Gradius III. They wrote: "Gradius Gaiden is a fantastic game – it’s really a toss-up between this and Gradius V as to which is the best."[5] Retronauts called it "The glorious high point of classic Gradius", and felt that it alone justified the purchase of Gradius Collection.[16]

Notes

1. Japanese: グラディウス外伝 Hepburn: Gradiusu Gaiden

References

1. "Gradius Gaiden: The Classic Shooter Returns". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 101. Ziff Davis. December 1997. p. 108.
2. Gradius Gaiden 1997 Interview. Shmuplations. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
3. Gradius Portable Kōshiki Guide. Tokyo: Konami. March 28, 2006. ISBN 4-86155-111-0. OCLC 675655404. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
4. "グラディウス外伝 [PS]". Famitsu. Archived from the original on 2018-11-24. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
5. Kalata, Kurt (11 September 2017). "Gradius Gaiden". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
6. "コナミ、「グラディウス」5作品を1本に完全収録。PSP「GRADIUS PORTABLE」". game.watch.impress.co.jp. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
7. "PSクラシックの20タイトル、画面写真全部見せます！ 『アーマード・コア』や『パラサイト・イヴ』、『闘神伝』など概要付きで一挙紹介！(1/3)". Famitsu. November 30, 2018.
8. "NEW GAME CROSS REVIEW - グラディウス外伝". Weekly Famitsu. No. 455. 5 September 1997. p. 32.
9. Johnston, Chris (3 October 1997). "Gradius Gaiden Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
10. Mathias, Lord (November 1997). "P.Station Gradius Gaiden". Super GamePower (in Breton). No. 44. Brazil: Nova Cultural.
11. "Nave PlayStation: Gradius Gaiden". Ação Games (in Portuguese). No. 121. Brazil: Editora Azul. December 1997. p. 21.
12. "Sony Dimension: Gradius Gaiden". Maniac (in German). No. 49. Germany: Cybermania. November 1997. p. 50.
13. "Test Playstation: Gradius". Consoles+ (in French). No. 69. France. October 1997. pp. 130–131.
14. "Gradius Gaiden" (67). Super Juegos. November 1997. p. 25. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
15. Kasavin, Greg (6 June 2006). "Gradius Collection Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
16. Parish, Jeremy (30 August 2017). "How Can I Play It?: The Gradius series". Retronauts. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.

External links

• Gradius Gaiden at MobyGames