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I’ve always had a soft spot for shoot ’em ups. Gradius on the original NES sharpened my hand-eye coordination as a kid, and other games in the genre refined them. R-Type. 1942. Twin Bee. Einhander. Deathsmiles. RayStorm. Thunder Force. Ikaruga. Radiant Silvergun. Mars Matrix. I can go on and on and on. I’ve played them all over the years! That’s probably the reason why I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Gradius Origins when I heard about it!
7 Gradius (and its offshoots) games in one package?! Sign me up! The only way this could’ve been better was if Konami had also included the Parodius series! They didn’t, though…so I’m a bit bummed about it.
Did the 7 games in Gradius Origins soothe that pain?
What is Gradius Origins?
Gradius Origins is a compilation of shoot ’em ups in the Gradius series that were released from the late 80s to the late 90s. It is developed by Konami and M2, with publishing duties handled by Konami and is available now on the PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch consoles.
Our review code was provided by the kind folks over at Konami! Thanks so much for the support!
Gradius Origins consists of 6 games taken from the early history of the Gradius series and 1 new title.
In chronological order, they are:
- Gradius (1985)
- Gradius II (1988)
- Gradius III (1989)
- Lifeforce (1986)
- Salamander (1986)
- Salamander II (1996)
- Salamander III (2025)
All of the games are the arcade versions and most of them include the regional (JP, US and EU) versions as well.
That’s a total of 18 versions of the 7 games in the compilation. There’s been no tweaking done to them, which means all of their idiosyncrasies (restarting at a checkpoint upon death, slowdown when things get hectic and the like) are present in the compilation.
This is truly an arcade perfect collection, though that might be disappointing to some.
It’s nice to see that Konami’s learned from their past mistakes of only including a single version of a game for their compilation releases. Differences between the regional versions are also handily explained, so you know what you’re getting into before starting.
I love that some of the games even include their prototype versions so you can get a glimpse of what was tweaked between them and the final release editions.
Like other Konami compilations, Gradius Origins also includes a host of extras.
There’s a music player, an art gallery and a viewer mode to view the enemies from the various games. I’m really partial to the art gallery. While light on content, it does provide some alternate artwork to the designs used in the games.
Too bad there aren’t any commentaries though…those would’ve given a ton of insight on what went on behind the scenes and why some designs were picked over others.
As usual for these compilations, Konami has added in some quality of life features. Save states are now available for the games, as is a rewind feature and an Invincible, Easy and Training mode for certain titles. Of these, I’d argue the most invaluable would be the rewind feature.
Since some of the games throw you back to predetermined checkpoints upon death, not needing to retread certain sections over and over again is most welcome. The rewind function also allows you to try alternate tactics and see what works before committing to a play. It’s especially useful for the games with branching stages, since you can try and rewind to find the optimal route.
Of the new modes, Invincible mode makes you invulnerable to damage (no achievements can be earned though), Easy mode makes the games easier and Training Mode lets you replay stages (and set conditions) to practice to your heart’s content.
Training Mode is probably the best for the hardcore, but it’s pretty useless to the rest of us who don’t plan on mastering these games. The games also have online rankings if you care for that sort of thing.
Of the titles in the collection, Gradius is probably the most difficult. Not only is the Vic Viper’s hitbox humongous, the game doesn’t shy away from tossing a ton of enemies, projectiles and environmental hazards your way…all at once!
The Gradius games have aged rather well, all things considered. Apart from the visuals, the gameplay mechanics are still as fun today as they were back in the day. There’s a risk/reward system at play, as the games force you to juggle between activating your powerup immediately or hoarding them for more powerful powerups.
The Salamander games take that away but adds in vertical scrolling stages alongside the side scrolling ones. The gameplay is still solid, and some may even prefer the powerup drops that give you specific powers instead of how upgrading’s handled in the Gradius games.
Salamander III is a weird outlier.
It’s the newest title in the compilation but it’s also missing a ton of the QoL improvements. Rewind for one, is unavailable for the title. I have no idea why it’s not though. Thankfully, Salamander III gives you infinite continues and lets you respawn where you died, so there’s really no big need for a rewind feature.
Still, the games are noticeably much, much, much tougher than modern shoot ’em up titles.
Modern conventions for the genre such as score multipliers, screen clearing bombs or interactive backgrounds are missing, which might turn of some newer games who were weaned on modern shoot ’em up games.
Like with every compilation though, you do wonder why so and so title isn’t included.
The Nemesis series (which was also an offshoot of the Gradius games) are completely missing. Granted, they’re mainly console games (two for the MSX and one for the OG Game Boy) so perhaps that’s why they’re MIA.
The Parodius games on the other hand, had arcade releases too…so I do wonder why those games aren’t in the compilation. Hopefully these games (alongside more of the console versions of Gradius) will be coming along in a second compilation.
The Bottom Line.
For old school gamers, Gradius Origins scratches an itch that’s gone unscratched for far too long. Having the early entries in the series, in arcade perfect form, in one collection is incredible! More than that, these are historic artifacts from an era where arcade games ruled the roost.
While there is undoubtedly more Konami could’ve done with the compilation (more QoL features, more extras in the Gallery, more titles included), Gradius Origins is still a perfect intro to one of gaming’s oldest franchises for new gamers or old school ones wanting to relive a bygone age.
TLDR:
Great games, fun (but frustrating at times) gameplay, makes Gradius Origins a great compilation to have in your collection.
The Good:
- Good selection of games.
- Rewind feature is invaluable.
- Regional versions included.
- Cool extras.
The Bad:
- Some games are missing.
- Extras could be more comprehensive.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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