Gradius Origins

For gamers of a certain vintage, Gradius is an integral part of gaming, to the point that it spawned a parody series called Parodius. That's when you know you've made a cultural touchstone.

Gradius Origins then has plenty of heritage to pick through to create a comprehensive collection of titles, and that's exactly what Konami has done with Gradius Origins. Pretty much every key title is covered here, it's an almost academic piece of work that has clearly taken a lot of love to achieve, with developer M2 creating some absolutely stellar ports that have reduced lag (a problem in many previous home versions) to create an as-authentic-as-possible arcade experience.

The collection features seven titles, and while some may look at Salamander and Life Force as the same game (technically true) the latter had a great deal of work put into not only the localisation but also optimisation, making it the better title overall. 

Salamander? I thought this was a Gradius collection? And so it is - Salamander is a spin-off from Gradius, the key difference between the two being the style of gameplay on offer. Gradius is punishing and intended for the player to make it through on a single life - losing all your upgrades in the later levels renders them, frankly, impossible for most players. Salamander is a gentler offering and less punishing in this respect, making death easier to bounce back from (your weapons float across the screen and can be re-acquired). Another key difference is that Salamander switches between horizontal and vertical scrolling as you move through stages, which provides a nice bit of variety. Konami used Mode 7 to create a similar shift between horizontal and into-the-screen action in Axelay, one of my favourite SNES games. 

The game includes Gradius (1985), Salamander (1988), Life Force (1988) Gradius II (1988), Gradius III (1989) and Salamander 2 (1996), all of which provide stellar representations of their respective experiences. It's clear that M2 have take a lot of care over the games in their charge and fans of these games will find the most definitive collection of these titles short of buying the original arcade boards. Moreover, these games come in different flavours, from Japanese ROM's, Bubble versions (which suffered slowdown) to North American and European releases. 

M2 have also been vigilant in their updates, with hitboxes on display, rewind abilities, changing auto-fire rates and online leaderboards. If there's a quality of life function you desire, M2 has you covered. Furthermore the game doesn't skimp on keeping you informed - footnotes on the select screen will inform you as to the differences between each title variant. There's even a super easy option added so that beginners can get more from the collection - this is a nice inclusive touch and will hopefully encourage more people to try the games.

The ability to turn on hit-boxes is a great learning tool

One of the rare highlights in the package is Gradius III AM Version, which was a trade show exclusive prior to the game's alpha release and had a well-deserved reputation for being insanely difficult, even for veteran players. It's an interesting curio but it kicked me to the curb very hard so be aware that more casual gamers will likely find this difficult to the point of alienation, so maybe leave it until last.

Lastly, eagle-eyed readers might note I mentioned seven titles while only listing six. Congratulations if that's you! M2 have created Salamander III just for this collection, a brand-new entry for the franchise that should excite fans of the series. It plays like a "best of", with all the key Salamander elements catered to, though truthfully it's borrowing much from Gradius too, especially in terms of stage bosses and environment. You have two craft on offer, Vic Viper and the Lord British ship which has a stronger ripple laser. Both share a burst shot that can be fired once the bar refills, all wrapped in an authentically 90's graphical aesthetic. The game plays in loops, starting out easy and then adding more to dodge and increased speed. Loop 2 is the only way to face the true boss, and it will loop again and again until it's basically unplayable. Fun though. Franchise enthusiasts may argue as to whether it's better than Salamander II (I'd say not given the remix-style of III) but it's a worthy and attractive entry for those who have been waiting for a proper sequel.

Without M2's excellent presentation and genuine efforts to open the series up to newcomers, I'd have said this was a collection for fans only, or those that wish to test themselves against the games of yesteryear that were, generally, harder than the games of today. However, all this extra effort has paid off and made the collection truly open to not just fans, but the curious and the casual too. That's a hell of an achievement given how touch some of these games actually are, and I have to commend the efforts of all involved. There are still titles that could have been included to make the collection more complete, but honestly what's here is already terrific value for money and the best in class for this genre.