It sits perfectly astride two eras, with classic 1980s shoot 'em ups like Galaga and Defender on one side, and more modern games like R-Type and Raiden on the other. The simplicity is what always gets me with the original Gradius. I would even go as far as to say that the NES port of Gradius is my favorite entry moreso even than the more famous Gradius 3 for the Super Nintendo, or the fan-favorite Gradius Gaiden, which is generally lauded for having the best levels and graphics in the series. The Switch version is the one that I tend to play the most, and it's left me with a lasting fondness for the series. Aside from being the progenitor of the Konami Code, it's the version that's easiest to access these days, as it's available on both the NES Classic and the Nintendo Switch. It's this version of Gradius that's perhaps best-known in the U.S. As former USgamer editor Jeremy Parish explains in his NES Works showcase, the 1986 NES port of Gradius was an impressive early feat for the platform, successfully translating the large number of on-screen enemies with only a few compromises. In its day, Gradius' unique customization made it one of the most popular shoot 'em ups around, even if it didn't actually make much money if this interview with team lead Machiguchi Hiroyasu translated by Shmuplations is to be believed. It's possible to get several of these orbs, making the Viper effectively unstoppable-assuming you don't run into a wall. 'Options' are the most powerful of these upgrades, effectively doubling the Vic Viper's firepower with a small orb that fires in tandem with the fighter. You can spend them immediately for a speed boost, but if you wait and acquire a few more, you can start to unlock powerful lasers and shields. In every Gradius game, you acquire capsules that can be used to power up your Vic Viper. Gradius is built around a few simple concepts, the most important of them being customization. I've passed more than a few tranquil plane rides (remember those?) with my headphones on, patiently zapping red-colored enemies and carefully navigating around raging volcanoes. Their unforgiving difficulty is frustrating-I rarely make it more than a few levels before hitting that all-too-familiar game over screen-but also exhilarating. They're the graphical showcases of a bygone age, home to often spectacular 2D artwork and thumping electronic soundtracks. Nevertheless, I have a soft spot in my heart for arcade shoot 'em ups, and for Gradius in particular. Ceilings are always your worst enemy in Gradius. While platformers and other retro genres have managed to persist thanks to complex level design and beautiful graphics, shoot 'em ups tend to be seen as too simple and straightforward-relics of an era where games were designed around the number of quarters they could munch. Among other things, the genre fell out of fashion right around the time that players stopped pursuing high scores. The shoot 'em up genre died for a number of reasons. The last true Gradius release was Gradius ReBirth, which was released on WiiWare way back in 2008 to middling reviews.

It's now been 35 years since the original release of Gradius, and like the genre it helped to evolve, Gradius has largely receded into the mists of history.

Even if you didn't care about shoot 'em ups, you probably recognized the Konami Code, or the familiar silhouette of the Vic Viper, or those omnipresent Moai statues. For a long time, it was practically unavoidable. It was one of the most influential games of its day a shoot 'em up considered to be among the giants of the genre. Gradius had that kind of effect on people. During summer, whenever I'd find the 50 yen I needed to play a game, I'd hop on my bike and race down to the arcade to play Gradius,' he remembered. You'd have tons of lasers flying all at once. 'When you saw Gradius, and you'd hear the music, and the sounds, even though they were old-school synthesizer sounds, it was still just amazing-the world, the options. Like the rest of his generation, Kamiya grew up in the arcade, and Gradius had a profound impact on the man who would go on to design action classics like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. In a 2006 interview with 1UP, PlatinumGames co-founder Hideki Kamiya talked about the effect Gradius, Konami's legendary shoot 'em up series, had on him growing up. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team. This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247.

Gradius 2 nes translated