Genre: 2D Shooter
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Release Date: Q2 2006
Perhaps upwards of 50% of the titles in the PSP's system library are ports or enhanced ports. They've become the system's stock-in-trade. Fortunately, older titles often do a fine job of filling the "pick up and play" function that most people expect out of a portable title. This is especially true with old arcade titles, so something like the Gradius Collection was basically inevitable. What's really special about the Gradius Collection is that it's getting a US release, despite coming from a genre that the American mainstream often ignores. For some titles in the venerable Gradius series, this will be their first-ever official release in the American market.
The original 1985 Gradius was one of the titles that lay the foundations for the side-scrolling shoot 'em up genre, presenting the basic premise of invading aliens that need to be driven off by a lone fighter ship. In the case of Gradius, the game begins with your ship, the Vic Viper, in a pretty pathetic state. You'll be slow and weak, and your only hope will be to quickly gather power-ups so you can improve your ship's speed and offense. Gradius was unique in that players amassed a generic power-up item that was used to purchase one of a selection of power-up options from a main menu: Speed-Ups to enhance speed, Missiles to attack ground-based enemies, a Double gun to fire at enemies at the top of the screen, a Laser to let you do more damage over a wider radius, Options that exponentially increase the Vic Viper's firepower, Shields to absorb damage, and a Mega-Crush that uses a wave of energy to wipe all enemies off the screen. A gigantic boss waits at the end of each level, often vulnerable only to the time-honored shooter tactic of firing at the enemy's brightly colored core. Gradius did receive release as an arcade title in the US, but became primarily associated with its more widely-available NES port. For the PSP, the Gradius Collection enhances the original Gradius by letting you choose from a variety of display modes for playing the game, including an enhanced 16:9 widescreen mode.
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Gradius II: Gofer's Ambition hit Japan in 1988, and actually received limited arcade release in America with its title changed to Vulcan Venture. It is sometimes confused with the SNES title Life Force, which was a renamed port of a Gradius spin-off originally named Salamander. Gradius II is a wholly separate game, picking up directly where the original Gradius left off. Gradius II's release as part of the Gradius Collection marks its first US home release. Gradius II retains the weapon menu system from the original Gradius, but adds complexity by letting you select from four possible weapon configurations on the Vic Viper before beginning play. The configuration you select determines how the power-ups you purchase during gameplay behave. For example, the Configuration 1 Missile falls to the ground and moves along it until it reaches an enemy, while the Configuration 2 Missile is a spray of fire that streams downward from your ship. Many of the weapons available are very similar to the ones present in Life Force, and part of why the games are often confused. The same variety of display modes available for the original game in the Gradius Collection are also available for playing Gradius II.
Gradius III: From Legend to Myth quickly followed Gofer's Ambition into Japanese arcades in 1989. Americans primarily remember the SNES port, which got a localized release in 1991, but is also in many respects a very different game. The version of Gradius III that is set to appear on the Gradius Collection is the Japanese arcade version, which is more graphically robust and much more difficult than the SNES version. Still, like the US version, Gradius III introduces the idea of creating a wholly customized weapon configuration for your Vic Viper before play, and includes a variety of preset configurations as well. It introduces a curious new selection to the power-up menu: a "power-down" option that lets you do things like slow down the Vic Viper or convert your extra lives into Options. There are points in Gradius III where using these options is required to progress, although normally they're considered undesirable. The game contains the first instance of 3D graphics in the Gradius series, and contains the first levels of the original Gradius and Life Force as hidden bonus levels. Because of the game's stiff difficulty, it contains a "beginner mode" that allows players to go through the first three levels of the game with reduced difficulty. The Gradius Collection enhances Gradius III with selectable screen display sizes, but lacks a true widescreen mode.
Gradius Gaiden was the first console-exclusive entry in the core Gradius series, hitting the PlayStation in Japan in 1997. This game's Gradius Collection release marks its first release in the US market in any form. Gradius Gaiden is the first game to bring full use of true 3D graphics to the core Gradius series. The PlayStation version included many features not normally seen in Gradius titles, such as a two-player simultaneous mode, and it is unknown if these gameplay modes will survive into the Gradius Collection intact. Core gameplay also introduced the idea of letting the player select from one of four ships to use during play: the Vic Viper, the Lord British (essentially the ship from Life Force), the Falchion Beta, and the Jade Knight. Each ship has its own default weapons configuration that cannot be changed, although players are allowed to freely select one of the game's four Barrier types before starting play. All of the ships' weapons can be powered-up an additional level after their initial purchase, too. The Gradius Collection enhances Gradius Gaiden by letting you choose to play it in one of two different screen display sizes.
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Gradius IV: Resurrection brought the core Gradius series back into arcades for one final round in 1999. Reflecting changing times, it introduced an online ranking system to let players across Japan track their high scores, and it doubtful that this feature will remain functional in the Gradius Collection port. The gameplay is still strictly 2D, but it uses some partial 3D effects, particularly in backgrounds. This port will mark the first official release of Gradius IV in the US market in any form. It removes several of the more complex options introduced in Gradius III, such as the edit modes and the power-down options. Players can choose one of six different weapon configurations for the Vic Viper in this title, four of which are completely identical to the configurations used in Gradius II. The other two introduce completely new weapon variations to the Gradius series. In the Gradius Collection, this game can be played in one of three different screen display sizes.
All of the games retain their original graphics and sound, ranging from Gradius simplicity to Gradius Gaiden's 3D effects. The controls for the Gradius Collection are designed to be as faithful as possible to the original controls for each game, but hardware differences have forced some changes. Virtually all of the arcade Gradius titles used an eight-way joystick for movement, while the PSP offers controls that use either the d-pad or the analog nub for control. Of the two input types, the analog nub seemed to be the superior, but it also allowed for a lot of maneuvering that simply wouldn't have been possible in the original titles. Still, the spirit of the games shines through intact in the Gradius Collection, letting American gamers have a chance to play some rare Japanese classics at a completely reasonable price. You can't ask for much more from a port.