Gradius II pushes the Famicom/NES hardware to it's absolute limits like no other game, and the gameplay is soo good! It's a shame it wasn't released in the states.
They probably didn't release it overseas due to it using a custom mapper chip (NIntendo forbid most developers from using custom chips outside Japan). Konami could have ported it to one of Nintendo's official chips, but would likely have had to use one of the more expensive ones like the MMC5 to do it easily enough to validate a simple port and decided it wasn't worth the effort.
In my opinion, Gradius and Contra take place in the same universe. The battle in space is Gradius, and the aliens in their attempt to take over earth is Contra. There's a lot of similar enemies, that's why I think the two are connected somehow.
But, doesn't Gradius take place sometime in the year 8080, while Contra's around the 2400s?... although, still, the aliens might as well be related anyway. Edit: After actually getting to Stage 2 in the video, i can now see where the comment comes from.
Even though the NES version's soundtrack of this game has some different compositions, there are some pretty cool tunes. The NES sound chip was way ahead of its time and Konami used it to the max.
1:08 This image or sequence of burning balls around and dragon/snake coming up is indelible from my memory. This was one of my favorite games of all time.
One of the things that makes Gradius as hard as it is, is that basically after a certain number of levels, you HAVE to do a no-miss run because it's do a no-miss run or lose.
Yeah. Some of the games either don't have the famous Konami Code or isn't too useful. In this version of Gradius II, the code only gives you 30 lives. Otherwise you're doomed unless you can do as you mentioned and level yourself back up.
My grandpa bought this game for me and my brother when I was 8. Oh the nostalgia… I spent many years playing this game and the furthest level I could reach was stage 6. That spaceship boss with the rotating tentacles always destroy me. Watching this video finally gave me closure haha.
Wow, I had Gradius 3 as a kid, but now I'm realizing how little new content it actually had. 90% of levels / enemies / bosses are straight out of of the first 2 games, lol
Well in truth, Gradius II borrows a lot of bosses from Gradius 1 and Salamander. The first boss at the start of the boss rush was from Gradius 1 while the rest (except the last one) were from Salamander/Life Force. Gradius always pays homage to its predecessors
If we’re talking about Gradius 3 SNES, you have to understand the west never got a port of Gradius 2 in ANY form outside of the arcades until around the PSP with that collection and Wii with the PC Engine VC release. On top of this, Gradius 3 in no way was going to be an arcade perfect port, so they took liberties with it. One of the main ones being that they brought over Gradius 2 elements that many folks never got to experience. stage 4 with the red moai’s as well as its boss is a good example. The fortress stage is closer to its Gradius 2 counterpart than 3. And the speed stage exclusive to the SNES home port of 3 was direct homage to Gradius 2’s speed stage. The arcade Gradius 3 never had that. In all honesty, IMO the SNES game turned out that much better for it. The arcade 3 was a difficulty travesty, and EXTREMELY broken. The original Japanese arcade release especially.
@@Darknight0681Agreed. SNES I consider superior for the most part. The arcade version of Gradius III and its BS difficulty is just ridiculous and clearly meant to drain players of their coins way back then. The cutting out Crystal Labyrinth and half of the Mechanical Base levels was wise. 😅 Seriously, I wonder if any players actually beat Gradius III arcade when it was still new/relevant? And don't get me started on that BS escape sequence after the final boss.
OMG me and my friends would have LOVED this game back in the day wow! I know why they didn’t bring this to the US but man, they could have made an exception
Amazing, the audio-visual presentation holds it's own against the pc engine version! Yes it's much darker, but that gives it a distinct enough look to make both versions worth seeking out imo.
For anyone's wondering what the hell Gofer's mumbling at 25:42 It's just the game's announcer saying Speed Up, Missile, Double, Laser, Option (cutoff) being played at way lower frequency.
God I love the Gradius, the best shmup series of all time and possibly my favourite series of any kind for music (along with Castlevania maybe). Classic Konami was the best of the best!
Check out Konami's Crisis Force. It was a shooter that, just like Gradius 2, we never got in the US. It maybe be Konami's best shooter on the NES/Famicom
Did Konami mess up on this game somehow? Look at 24:07 and 23:19, the score more than doubles when beating that boss, and suddenly 21 lives instead of 9. And something similar happened on my copy too. Is that boss just worth an accidentally massive number of points?
PEG Stage 3 boss gives the least score compared to stage 6. The former gives you 100 points instead of the average points given to you whenever you beat a boss.
For me, a run with "no deaths" was the only way to beat this game as it was nearly impossible to continue after losing a life in later stages (i.e. all upgrades gone). I remember resetting the console and starting over after any misses for this reason until I finally got it right ;;
There is a version with cheat code, i remember when pressing start then hold B then press select to choose which bar you like. Player 2 can also be assisted by player 1 since player 2 has no select and start botton. We we're like 9yo before and no internet just asking for older players who knows the game 😁🤘
Funny thing is... Back in the early 90s when i first got this game... The person who cleared the game for the 1st time is my mom, who... played nothing but tetris ... 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I never knew Burning Heat from Dance Dance Revolution was from this game! (tbh the artwork in DDR should've told me Gradius but it has been a while since I've seen it)
I bet he/she played this game not just once but many hours to master every stages. I did this before when i was in grade school but only manage to reach 3/4 of the games ending. Stages.
Oh yeah I still remember the first time I got filtered by that boss - a mechanical skull that bounces off the ground and then flies right into you while furiously clapping its jaw. What's so freaky about enemies that look like skull?
Me too i noticed that sound when he hit the enemy or explosion.. i think gradius and contra are connected they both fighting against the alien invaders.. Gradius fight into outer space while contra fights into the land of earth😅😅
@@salvacionkoch6039 Because, in southeast Asia. They sold the Family Computer. Which mean, it is the original with the Japan. That why, you got the game.
Well... (Clears throat) Gradius II had a custom mapper chip, the VRC4, programmed into the game (which was common for a lot of Konami games in Japan to have a custom chip tacked on). This same piece of hardware pushed its graphical capabilities to the limit, making it one of the most visually stunning games of its time. On the other hand, Nintendo of America wasn't willing to spend cash money on importing this hardware, pretty much giving Konami (and Gradius fans) a great big "fuck you" as a result. For the TL;DR crowd, Gradius II never made it to America because the cost to import the VRC4 chip was too damn high
There's a patch that let you keep the weapon and missiles, as well as speed ups and shield if you die to a wall, not options tho, but is still a nice crutch
For the last 30 years. Gradius ii had left the mark on gofer the brain. That mission was significant because the planet will never harm, spread disease and infected this infestation to the God's green earth. #Gradius
The 5th option just activates for a short amount of time the rotating options, after that time, the options returns to normal by following your movements, that's why almost nobody uses the "5th" option power-up.
So anybody know how "Lifeforce" fits into all this? Obviously it's part of the Gradius franchise, and I already notice a ton of reused sprites and sounds from Lifeforce in the game... or maybe it's vice versa? And btw... love the Alien references with the eggs and facehuggers. xD
Late 80s and early 90s famicom/nes games if made today might be as expensive as the console considering the amount of chip added to basically just run the game. They basically are arcade cabinets without the screens and controls of course running on a console.
I thought I recognized the Stage 2 music -- they used that in Captain N! Strange they picked a Japanese only song for an American cartoon. At least as far as I know it was not aired in Japan.
Hi does anyone know this game I'm thinking of. Its similar to this but the spaceship turns to a robot and you walk it around, then you can transform back to spaceship. It was a really cool game
@@PEG You can use a noise isolater to reduce the buzzing.static noise to lower it but can be only heard at much higher volumes still. Despite that it's better to use that than having that noise at normal volumes.
This version had some exclusive new music, which even appeared in the show Captain N although this version never left Japan. It makes me wonder if there were ever plans for an American release, as no translation would be needed.
Gradius II pushes the Famicom/NES hardware to it's absolute limits like no other game, and the gameplay is soo good! It's a shame it wasn't released in the states.
They probably didn't release it overseas due to it using a custom mapper chip (NIntendo forbid most developers from using custom chips outside Japan). Konami could have ported it to one of Nintendo's official chips, but would likely have had to use one of the more expensive ones like the MMC5 to do it easily enough to validate a simple port and decided it wasn't worth the effort.
Gradius ll doesn't use any special mapper. It could have been done on a MMC3 board.
ThrilloVanHouten gradius 2 wasn't released stateside? could have sworn I saw this game back then!
Wow you can almost mistake this for a Super Nintendo game.
ptpt88 Nintendo.sucked.for that. We could have had SO many great games!
In my opinion, Gradius and Contra take place in the same universe. The battle in space is Gradius, and the aliens in their attempt to take over earth is Contra. There's a lot of similar enemies, that's why I think the two are connected somehow.
I think that if the connected universe will be made into tv anime series or even a movie?
KONAMI - that's the answer.
Proto Man That and sound effects. The opening stage of Contra ReBirth secretly takes place in the green ship for the original Gradius’ box art....?
That's really cool to imagine
But, doesn't Gradius take place sometime in the year 8080, while Contra's around the 2400s?... although, still, the aliens might as well be related anyway.
Edit: After actually getting to Stage 2 in the video, i can now see where the comment comes from.
From a fellow Gradius-head, those are mad skills, dude. :D
I actually like the NES version more than the arcade one because of the enhanced graphics and OST, not to mention all the additions in the levels.
Even though the NES version's soundtrack of this game has some different compositions, there are some pretty cool tunes. The NES sound chip was way ahead of its time and Konami used it to the max.
I never really liked the NES sound chip but truly Konami knowed how to use it
@@MetalSonicodraco7342 Since Western NES sound chip are limited compare to it's origin: Famicom, since Nes has Chip 10 for anti-piracy lock up.
@@MetalSonicodraco7342 There's another person who had used the NES soundchip to the max. And his name is Tim Follin.
I think this is the famicom it didn't come out on nes
1:08 This image or sequence of burning balls around and dragon/snake coming up is indelible from my memory. This was one of my favorite games of all time.
One of the things that makes Gradius as hard as it is, is that basically after a certain number of levels, you HAVE to do a no-miss run because it's do a no-miss run or lose.
Yeah. Some of the games either don't have the famous Konami Code or isn't too useful. In this version of Gradius II, the code only gives you 30 lives.
Otherwise you're doomed unless you can do as you mentioned and level yourself back up.
Let’s be honest, the US needed this game more than Japan, considering the many different and confusing versions of Salamander or Life Force there was.
Wow, this is amazing for the famicom!
Great game. Cleared so many times. A classic through time.
the pilot better get good pay for all this crap
The pilot is the person who is playing
*🤣🤣😂😂*
@@yurihan104 it was a joke
My grandpa bought this game for me and my brother when I was 8. Oh the nostalgia… I spent many years playing this game and the furthest level I could reach was stage 6. That spaceship boss with the rotating tentacles always destroy me. Watching this video finally gave me closure haha.
5:54 aren't those the same facehuggers from contra?
yes, and ironically this lvl (lvl 2) if far harder than contra's alien's lair
Nah, it´s not harder.
i have to agree. at first it felt hard, but after some practice it becomes really easy. I said it too fast.
@AldousHuxley's Ghost *shooter*
Wow, I had Gradius 3 as a kid, but now I'm realizing how little new content it actually had. 90% of levels / enemies / bosses are straight out of of the first 2 games, lol
Well in truth, Gradius II borrows a lot of bosses from Gradius 1 and Salamander. The first boss at the start of the boss rush was from Gradius 1 while the rest (except the last one) were from Salamander/Life Force. Gradius always pays homage to its predecessors
If we’re talking about Gradius 3 SNES, you have to understand the west never got a port of Gradius 2 in ANY form outside of the arcades until around the PSP with that collection and Wii with the PC Engine VC release. On top of this, Gradius 3 in no way was going to be an arcade perfect port, so they took liberties with it. One of the main ones being that they brought over Gradius 2 elements that many folks never got to experience. stage 4 with the red moai’s as well as its boss is a good example. The fortress stage is closer to its Gradius 2 counterpart than 3. And the speed stage exclusive to the SNES home port of 3 was direct homage to Gradius 2’s speed stage. The arcade Gradius 3 never had that.
In all honesty, IMO the SNES game turned out that much better for it. The arcade 3 was a difficulty travesty, and EXTREMELY broken. The original Japanese arcade release especially.
LOL!!!
@@Darknight0681Agreed. SNES I consider superior for the most part. The arcade version of Gradius III and its BS difficulty is just ridiculous and clearly meant to drain players of their coins way back then. The cutting out Crystal Labyrinth and half of the Mechanical Base levels was wise. 😅
Seriously, I wonder if any players actually beat Gradius III arcade when it was still new/relevant? And don't get me started on that BS escape sequence after the final boss.
OMG me and my friends would have LOVED this game back in the day wow!
I know why they didn’t bring this to the US but man, they could have made an exception
Same. My family played Life Force and the later SNES version of Gradius III a ton back then. We would have eaten this up!
Epic Playthrough Son👍
Outstanding graphics quality for such an old system!
Amazing, the audio-visual presentation holds it's own against the pc engine version!
Yes it's much darker, but that gives it a distinct enough look to make both versions worth seeking out imo.
Had no idea this existed, looks amazing. Famicon was an amazing console. Wish the us would have gotten this gem.
Just as Mr Esturk explained, the fault lies with Nintendo Of America.
John Dubay see this video for this reason ua-cam.com/video/ZCbK02LXGdQ/v-deo.html
lol i've been looking for this game for almost ten years and couldn't remember its title,finaly found it.Should play it again
For anyone's wondering what the hell Gofer's mumbling at 25:42
It's just the game's announcer saying Speed Up, Missile, Double, Laser, Option (cutoff) being played at way lower frequency.
God I love the Gradius, the best shmup series of all time and possibly my favourite series of any kind for music (along with Castlevania maybe). Classic Konami was the best of the best!
Check out Konami's Crisis Force. It was a shooter that, just like Gradius 2, we never got in the US. It maybe be Konami's best shooter on the NES/Famicom
Did Konami mess up on this game somehow? Look at 24:07 and 23:19, the score more than doubles when beating that boss, and suddenly 21 lives instead of 9. And something similar happened on my copy too. Is that boss just worth an accidentally massive number of points?
+tycoinreno yeah it's probably a bug. The amount of points you get there is just ridiculous and I think it can very quite a bit as well.
PEG Stage 3 boss gives the least score compared to stage 6. The former gives you 100 points instead of the average points given to you whenever you beat a boss.
For me, a run with "no deaths" was the only way to beat this game as it was nearly impossible to continue after losing a life in later stages (i.e. all upgrades gone).
I remember resetting the console and starting over after any misses for this reason until I finally got it right ;;
same here. those extra life's are useless
Yep. Dying always put you in a spot that was just about impossible to recover from. No death or bust!
There is a version with cheat code, i remember when pressing start then hold B then press select to choose which bar you like. Player 2 can also be assisted by player 1 since player 2 has no select and start botton. We we're like 9yo before and no internet just asking for older players who knows the game 😁🤘
30 minutos de gameplay... E era a melhor coisa do mundo!
Funny thing is... Back in the early 90s when i first got this game... The person who cleared the game for the 1st time is my mom, who... played nothing but tetris ... 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I never knew Burning Heat from Dance Dance Revolution was from this game! (tbh the artwork in DDR should've told me Gradius but it has been a while since I've seen it)
The famicom version has 4 options?! God Konami really pushed the console.
+Vludi Yeah, it's really sad this game was never released outside of Japan back in the day.
+Vludi
The cartridge had a special chip, it also let them do nicer sounds.
Don't think VRC4 supports expansion audio.
Parodius Da! for Famicom also has four options.
4 Option, at 5th activation makes Multiple Rotate for 30 seconds.
You know they aren't pulling punches when level 1 throws you into a field of flaming hot suns.
12:07 Fun fact, that boss name also used in another konami game, Suikoden 1 as seek valley boss (Crystal Core)
Gofer actually puts up a fight
I bet he/she played this game not just once but many hours to master every stages. I did this before when i was in grade school but only manage to reach 3/4 of the games ending. Stages.
I wish we got this in America, this is a fantastic port of the arcade game
I just realized it use some of the sound effect from Contra.
Because, it was coming from the same person that did both of the games including the composer as well.
18:32 Castlevania sfx too
Seeing that flying skull, the quick mouth motions of it reminded me of Geoff Peterson from Craig Ferguson's show
"Balls"
🤣🤣
Oh yeah I still remember the first time I got filtered by that boss - a mechanical skull that bounces off the ground and then flies right into you while furiously clapping its jaw. What's so freaky about enemies that look like skull?
ファミコンのハードの限界を越えるサウンドとグラフィック。
特殊チップ搭載のおかげですね。
もうめちゃくちゃやり込みましたよ
OMG This is the game my nes clone(good boy) came with. Good times hard but beatable and well balanced game.
I was playing Gradius 2 on FC on my computer about at the year of 2017
6:55 the sounds of lasers is like in contra
The boss dying/explosion sound effect is identical to Contra lol
Me too i noticed that sound when he hit the enemy or explosion.. i think gradius and contra are connected they both fighting against the alien invaders..
Gradius fight into outer space while contra fights into the land of earth😅😅
beautiful game...
Spread Bomb is OP in this game.
Gofer actually fights back in this version, I see.
OMG THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN RELEASED IN THE STATES. WHAT THE HELL NINTENDO???
My cousins and i played this game like in 1990 here in the Philippines. Its one of our favorite game. 😁🤘
@@salvacionkoch6039
Because, in southeast Asia. They sold the Family Computer. Which mean, it is the original with the Japan. That why, you got the game.
@@salvacionkoch6039 I lost our family computer I don't where it is until now :( .
Well... (Clears throat)
Gradius II had a custom mapper chip, the VRC4, programmed into the game (which was common for a lot of Konami games in Japan to have a custom chip tacked on). This same piece of hardware pushed its graphical capabilities to the limit, making it one of the most visually stunning games of its time. On the other hand, Nintendo of America wasn't willing to spend cash money on importing this hardware, pretty much giving Konami (and Gradius fans) a great big "fuck you" as a result.
For the TL;DR crowd, Gradius II never made it to America because the cost to import the VRC4 chip was too damn high
@@hoodmistressreloaded wasn’t this game really similar to Lifeforce?
If you die once in this game, then game over. It's virtually impossible to beat the game without the upgrades we lost.
Yes, and that's absolutely annoying.
There's a patch that let you keep the weapon and missiles, as well as speed ups and shield if you die to a wall, not options tho, but is still a nice crutch
Great video!
Gradius 2 was the hardest shooter I ever play since I was 13 years old in 2014 is impossible get through the first level
NES version of Gradius 2: Gofer No Yabou. Not exactly the same as the arcade but pretty good.
I like the idea of having somenthing differente, instead of just port
Actually i like the changes more than the Arcade, fair while still hard as hell
That skull at 6:55 really was firing his laser.
so much power was necessary that with all those aliens onscreen drives the Famicon crazy!!!!
The furthest I can go in this game is Stage 7, I’m stuck on the high-speed section.
Al parecer este juego es mucho mejor que el anterior.
i never noticed that the flames in the first level erased the stars in the background
Contra-Gradius????
Yes same sound effect.
This is better tho
Contra-esque sounds and graphics
_(Seems like they use Contra Engine 4)_
Contra engine 4?
What the fuck?
I remember the last click of option is where u get the glows spinning around your ship
This is a NES game, but it really feels like a SNES game to me.
Stage 01 : Sun Stage
Stage 02 : Aliens Stage
Stage 03 : Volcano & Red Crystal Stage
Stage 04 : Old Stone Age Stage
Stage 05 : Boss Stage
Stage 06 : Fortress Stage
Stage 07 : Cell Stage
correction volcano and crystal state is mage together
Lo jugue en el Family, q buenas épocas !!
For the last 30 years. Gradius ii had left the mark on gofer the brain. That mission was significant because the planet will never harm, spread disease and infected this infestation to the God's green earth.
#Gradius
I might be crazy, but isn't Gradius II better than Gradius III (SNES)?
I finished this game with save states.
I know. I shouldn't be proud because of that. 😢😢😢😭😭😭
ive made it as far as the fortress stage with out death the only way to play this game is to make it through perfect. its hard :P
Have to watch this before watching the anime OVA
Nice!)
Can you not get the 5th option??? Looks like you could.
The 5th option just activates for a short amount of time the rotating options, after that time, the options returns to normal by following your movements, that's why almost nobody uses the "5th" option power-up.
So anybody know how "Lifeforce" fits into all this? Obviously it's part of the Gradius franchise, and I already notice a ton of reused sprites and sounds from Lifeforce in the game... or maybe it's vice versa?
And btw... love the Alien references with the eggs and facehuggers. xD
Lifeforce/Salamander took place after first Gradius
The core the final boss from life force with green serpent, that I mistaken its a snake, that ability, it attacks with flash tries to kill my eyes.
凄すぎてビックリです！！！。ボスラッシュでかなりやられて大変だったのに…流石です。
Late 80s and early 90s famicom/nes games if made today might be as expensive as the console considering the amount of chip added to basically just run the game. They basically are arcade cabinets without the screens and controls of course running on a console.
This looks like Life Force 2
It's the nes version of gradius 2
I just bpught a cartridge but it only shows a half of game on screen(legend on the center of screen)...bad luck..i bought it on line...
3:53 You shell never return alive.
6:20 I'll bash you.
Also known as Contradius
I have never heard of this game but as soon as the music starts i know the team made this game is the ones who made super contra
well that was intense. good grief...
Wow, its Life Force remastered.
추억의고전게임그리디우스II
26:29 Score 590,220pts
Gradius 11, Contra, Contra 11, Super Mario. mao na dula nako sauna walay patay²
#NoDeaths
I thought I recognized the Stage 2 music -- they used that in Captain N! Strange they picked a Japanese only song for an American cartoon. At least as far as I know it was not aired in Japan.
which episode they used the music?
@@marhansgamingchannel4732 Several episodes. It was one of the most common pieces used.
Stage 5 music was used too.
This game is more Lifeforce than Lifor e itself. Not a bad game but Gradius III still best.
A shame this never came to the USA. They likely would have changed the name to *Life Force 2* though. 🤔
because American version don't have vrc4 that is the reason
6:34 turtles in time
the graphic designs wete like contra's
The Jet fighter of this game is the same of Life Force game..😁
Its cuz the Vic Viper is like the Main Craft of the series who’s been in all of the mainline games as for as I’m aware
Hi does anyone know this game I'm thinking of. Its similar to this but the spaceship turns to a robot and you walk it around, then you can transform back to spaceship. It was a really cool game
Formation Z?
Mag Max?
Hyper Duel?
wow,gofer shoots bubbles out of his mouth...
オプションを４つ装備！ってパターンでオプションのコマンド部分！それが消えないのは次にそのオプション！を選ぶとオプションが回転するんだよね！１回目で時計回り！２回目で逆時計回り！ってパターンでね！試してみてね！
I can tell that your using a real console because of the buzzing noise in the background
+Sonicxtremer Lol yup, it's hard to remove that background/static noise and I've never been able to completely remove t.
+PEG unless if you used an emulator but playing it legitly
@@PEG You can use a noise isolater to reduce the buzzing.static noise to lower it but can be only heard at much higher volumes still. Despite that it's better to use that than having that noise at normal volumes.
@@Sonicxtremer Nowadays you don't need an emulator as you can use a HiDef NES and/or Retrousb AVS which both do HDMI on a real NES.
You should be able to put this on your resume
I think just about every Gradius game has . A fire level except for Gradius 5
Gradiu 1 has no fire level
This version had some exclusive new music, which even appeared in the show Captain N although this version never left Japan. It makes me wonder if there were ever plans for an American release, as no translation would be needed.
Where's rolling Option?
Activating the Option by 5th time (Multiple Rotate)
Damn this looks awesome, they never released in NA? crap
future shock yeah it still boggles the mind!
future shock this video would tell you the reason ua-cam.com/video/ZCbK02LXGdQ/v-deo.html
Wait what's na
@@Persac7 North 'Merica
God Skill
> O Terceiro Vilão espacial Nós do Brasil explodimos ele completamente inicialmente, fim da nossa missão do Brasil...
I was boy 30 life.
mashup of SCAT, contra & galaxian...soundtrack is similar to "shadow of the ninja"
Final Mission (please use that name) and Contra uses the same sound effects yeah