Portable Pedigree: The history of Gradius (or was that Nemesis?)

In the first of what will hopefully be many investigations into the portable history of some of video gaming’s most illustrious franchises, we take a look at the marvellous mobile adaptations of Konami’s premier shooter series.

Alongside Irem’s R-Type and Taito’s Darius, Gradius surely ranks as one of the finest 2D shoot-‘em-up franchises in existence.

Since the legendary space fighter Vic Viper took its inaugural flight in 1985 there have been numerous updates and sequels across a wide range of different formats (not to mention spin offs such as Salamander and Parodius) and several of them have thankfully been of the portable persuasion.

However, thanks to Konami’s puzzling penchant for giving its games different names for each territory, keeping track of these releases isn’t as easy as you might expect.

Here’s a little fact you may (or may not) already know: in Europe the original Gradius was called Nemesis. Although this early Game Boy release retains the European name (as do the Japanese and US versions, somewhat confusingly), it actually has very little in common with the 1985 original, showcasing new level designs and the ability to select the order in which you tackle them.

Konami skilfully re-tooled the unmistakable Gradius (sorry, Nemesis) experience to suit the humble hardware, and in doing so crafted one of the more accomplished shooters for the black and white portable (second only to the excellent port of R-Type).

Nemesis was later included on the Game Boy Color title Konami GB Collection Vol. 1, where the developer attempted to clear up the rampant befuddlement by renaming it Gradius. Phew!

Ok, so we’re cheating a bit here - this release was actually for NEC’s diminutive 8-bit PC Engine home console (released in the US as the TurboGrafx-16), but the fact that it can be played on the PC Engine’s portable sibling, the PC Engine GT, just about warrants its appearance in this list.

A highly accurate conversion of the original coin-op, this edition is blemished slightly by some annoying slowdown when the on-screen action gets especially hectic and is predictably overshadowed by the more recent Gradius entries, but it nevertheless remains a thoroughly enjoyable romp and looks great on the PC Engine GT’s excellent screen.

After the encouraging reception afforded to the first Game Boy outing Konami decided that another instalment was in order.

A totally original adventure with all-new levels, Nemesis II again overcomes the restrictions of the feeble Game Boy hardware to produce a sublimely entertaining blast-a-thon, albeit one that’s not quite as essential as its predecessor.

To completely bamboozle collectors it also possesses three different titles: as well as being called Nemesis II it was published in the US as Gradius: The Interstellar Assault and like the previous monochrome Game Boy outing was later re-named Gradius II: The Return of the Hero for its appearance of the Game Boy Color release Konami GB Collection Vol. 4.

Confused yet?

Arriving a full decade after the previous Game Boy outing, Gradius Advance was Konami’s attempt to finally do away with the naming irregularities that had plagued the portable arm of the series for much of the ‘90s.

However, even with the spectre of Nemesis behind it, this edition was confusingly re-branded as Gradius Galaxies and Gradius Generations elsewhere in the world. Thankfully it’s a fine entry in the lineage, packing in plenty of challenge and oodles of addictive gameplay.

At times the GBA’s screen is a little cramped and the sound is so poor you’ll be tempted to turn the volume down altogether, but ultimately what we have here is yet another robust horizontal shooter worthy of your attention.

These two Japan-only Gradius titles constitute the high watermark of true Gradius fandom - only if you have both of these can you deem yourself worthy of being a called a proper fanatic.

Neo is a fairly straightforward mobile interpretation of the classic Gradius gameplay but Neo Imperial is a complete about-face - instead of hopping into the cockpit of the legendary Vic Viper you assume the role of the enemy, flying from right to left in an attempt to wipe out mankind’s stiff resistance.

Both games are ultimately hampered by the limitations of mobile phone gaming – namely a narrow display and less than ideal controls - but if you can track them down they at least rank as interesting diversions.

The most recent portable Gradius title is actually a collection of four entries in the series. Konami successfully shoehorned the arcade versions of Gradius, Gradius II (AKA Vulcan Venture - yup, yet another name change for us Europeans), Gradius III and Gradius IV, plus the home console-only Gradius Gaiden - appearing for the first time outside Japan.

It only takes a cursory glace at that list of games for even the dimmest of minds to realise that this is a truly essential collection of which all shooter addicts should own at least one copy.

The PSP’s atrocious D-pad conspires to make this less enjoyable than it should be, but it’s worth fighting through the pain because this really is a spectacular UMD if you’re a fan of the series.