Collection essentials #359: Gradius Gaiden (PS1)

I’ve talked about Konami’s groundbreaking arcade shoot ‘em series Gradius before. Gradius Gaiden represents the first game in that series to be made specifically for home consoles and not arcades (which is why it’s not a numbered entry and instead has the title of “Gaiden” which means “side story”). Now, obviously I love arcades and the fact that they made games like Gradius possible, but considering how great Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius turned out and then this game, hot dang, I wish Konami had made way more of their shoot ‘em ups specifically for home console rather than arcades first. 

The core gameplay is the same as in other Gradius games, so you can refer to a previous post of mine to read about that. The big and notable thing that Gaiden changes is the fact that you can freely rearrange your power-up bar before the game starts! This is a huge deal and something I’m surprised Konami didn’t do more often with these games. This is a big deal because in order to access power-ups further down on the bar, you need to collect more power-up items which aren’t always plentiful. There are some power-ups like “options” that you will want to activate a few times in a row, and having them actually close to the beginning of the bar is a huge difference. 

Another first for the series in Gaiden is two-player simultaneous play which is also really great to have, and it’s very surprising that it took Gradius this long to get it since its silly sister series Parodius had introduced this feature a full three years earlier.

On top of new stuff, Gradius Gaiden is just very well-made and its quality shines in many aspects. It doesn’t utilize 3D graphics, but this may be for the better because the 2D here is done extremely well and of a higher quality than you’d have seen in the previous console generation. It boasts a quality soundtrack that sets the mood and atmosphere of each distinct level. 

In terms of flaws, the game arguably leans a little too far towards being too difficult. And some deaths can feel a little cheap. But a game like this is one that’s meant to be replayed many times (especially since there are a few different ships with different abilities), and so the frustration factor isn’t overly high. It’s also easier to recover in this game compared to previous Gradius games due to the custom power-up bar which lets you get back on your feet quicker.

Sadly Gradius Gaiden released on the PlayStation only in Japan. And I suppose I can understand why, because a 2D shoot ‘em up wasn’t really what Western audiences hungry for the latest 3D graphics were up for. It did get released worldwide some years later in a future Gradius compilation, but that version had some slowdown not in the original version, so this release is still the way to go. And the game is mostly in English so there’s no language barrier to speak of.

I bought Gradius Gaiden in early 2007, so it was one of the earlier Japanese PS1 games I got my hands on. And I very much enjoyed giving it a spin every now and then. And the game usually kicked my butt once I got a few levels in. But eventually, in 2012, I actually put in the effort to beat the darn thing. It’s hard for me to say whether this or a certain future Gradius game I haven’t covered yet is my favorite in the series, but either way this is a prime shoot ‘em up and very much worthy of the “essential” label. Give it a modern rerelease, Konami!