This run is outdated. A run that was not only recorded on PS1 in color, but also made it further and scored higher than this run, can be seen here. The subtitles from this video will eventually have to be transferred to that one: [ Ссылка ]

(check the pinned comment for why this is merely a "demo")
(Subtitles/CC available for gameplay tips and additional notes)
Gradius Gaiden
©1997 Konami

I would consider Gaiden the pinnacle of the Gradius series: Amazing soundtrack, spectacular design, fairly balanced difficulty... this is just easily the best game in the series by a freaking mile.

Originally released exclusively in Japan for the Playstation, Gradius Gaiden takes everything great about the Gradius games and adds even more great things to it. For starters, instead of just selecting different weapon types, you actually have the selection between four different ships: Vic Viper, Lord British, Jade Knight, and Falchion Beta. A lot of players will pick the Jade Knight for its Round Laser or the Falchion Beta for its Gravity Bullet, but I find both of those loadouts to be a bit cheap. Lord British isn't that great either, but the Vic Viper works out nicely for this game. This game also brings back double-upgradable weapons. For the Vic Viper, Missiles will now penetrate enemies, the Double adds a third shot going behind the Vic Viper (making it the best weapon in the game by a long shot), and the Laser becomes even longer. Just the Double alone makes the Vic Viper an obvious choice. The Playstation version does have 2-player co-op, but sadly this was removed in the PSP port.

Gaiden also adds two new Shield types: You have the Guard, which makes you invulnerable to terrain, and the Limit, which grants you three seconds of pure invincibility. In addition, Gaiden gives you the option of customizing the order of your power-up bar. So, what a lot of players like to do is place stuff like the Shield, Options, and Laser at the front of the meter so that they can get to full power even faster. However, I don't find this to be nearly as fun as using the standard SMDLO? order, and this game is already quite generous with power-ups anyways, so I stick with the default order. I also find the Limit incredibly cheap, as you can just spam it over and over for an easy win. Shield and Guard aren't that great either, so I stick with the good 'ol Force Field.

The hardest difficulty of Gradius Gaiden bumps the loop 1 rank to the same as loop 2 on Normal, where enemies have a 25% chance of return fire. In loop 2, this increases to 50%, and from loop 3 onward, every enemy not killed within close range will return fire. The higher loops of Gaiden also offer significant changes to the level design, regardless of difficulty. This includes:
- the waterfalls pushing your ship down in stage 1
- two additional heads for the Moai Dimension boss in stage 4
- Mad Skin firing 3 balls at a time instead of 2
- additional enemies scattered throughout stage 6
- a complete layout change of stage 7
- multiple alterations to bosses in the boss rush, including a high-loop exclusive boss in the form of Heaven's Gate
- Boost Core's flames can actually kill you on higher loops
- Sol's pattern is completely different on higher loops

So, it would make sense that I'd want to get a multi-loop run of this game, as there's just so much to show off. And that's not even counting the other elements of stage design in this game that are just fantastic. There's a branching path in stage 2 with a different boss to fight in each end, both of which are showcased in this run. The volcano stage has a black hole behind you tearing apart the level as you go through it. The boss rush is hands down one of my favorites in terms of the bosses' design and the music. But perhaps my favorite is the high speed section of stage 9, which was intentionally designed to fit with the progression of the song, Speed, in the perfect way. Oh, and I did I mention that this game has an amazing OST? Massive credit to Norikazu Mirua for composing this masterpiece.

I love this game, and I would 100% recommend it for anybody who wants to get into Gradius just to see how awesome it is. I'm very proud of this run, and honestly would've wanted it to get at least a little further into Loop 4. Still happy to have this achievement under my belt, and at just the right time, too. Happy 25th to this masterpiece of a game!

Played on my PSP using Gradius Collection.

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