GAME 64: GRADIUS (NES): 100% COMPLETE

One of the earliest games I played for the 52 Game Challenge is Truxton, a top down space shooter for the SEGA Genesis that was a ton of fun to play: Even for subsequent loops. With that experience down and out, I decided to venture our further into the world of space shooters. And what better entry to try than what can be argued as the defining game of the genre: Gradius! Specifically, the NES port.

While Truxton was top down, Gradius is a classic side scroller. And after experiencing the rewarding mayhem that is Truxton, what did I think about this infinitely more famous franchise?

It's fine. Granted, with some caveats.

Gradius is one of the first of its kind, so naturally it isn't exactly rich in the mechanical department. It's as simple as simple can get: Avoid shit, mash the fire button. Can't give it too much crap for being a trendsetter rather than a game changer, if you know what I mean. But as such, it can be seen as rather basic.

And that's all I can really say for it. It's a basic shooter. It's incredibly hard, too. There are ton of obstacles that are very, very easy to be killed by that it's borderline cheap. Otherwise, the game would just be very short... and it is, cause I used Rewind. So it really did come out as a very quick and easy experience, but hey, that's fine by me. I like 'em short and sweet.

But I can definitely see why this game was sold at full price then. Nothing screams the 80s like being stupidly hard for compensating for short development time and resources.

But what's funny about Gradius is the progression. Unlike Truxton where the game tells you how far you are to the ending, Gradius just continually goes on as one long extended level. Then you beat a boss that you didn't know was the final one... and that's it! Definitely caught me off guard.

My biggest problem with Gradius though are the power ups... or what I assume are power ups. The little notches on the bottom of the UI like MISSILE or LASER. I don't know if I've been playing the game wrong or something, but they don't seem to make any major difference in the gameplay.

Again, I don't mean to compare it to Truxton since Truxton came out so much later... But Truxton did power ups so much better, I'm just saying. Cause Gradius isn't exactly what I call a gratifying experience in terms of feeling like you're getting more powerful the longer you stay alive. It just becomes boring after a while without any spice to your ship through the journey.

So all in all, Truxton is a very satisfying, brilliant space shooter that's a ton of fun.

Oh, and uh. Gradius is alright too, I guess.

GAMES FINISHED: 64

GAMES COMPLETED: 58