The third stage is another crystal level, but here, the crystals bend and refract your laser shots, which looks really, really cool. ![]() The statues in the Moai stage fire huge lasers, which continue to radiate even after being destroyed. (The Moais even taunt you with voice clips, yelling “You think you can beat me with that? Loser!” when you first fight them.) The level boss is a square room with four huge Moai heads on the wall that spin around, which brings to mind that famous level in Super Castlevania IV, where the entire screen rotates. The biological and plant stages are cool, but the real standout is the “Event Horizon” stage. ![]() It’s a replica of the first level from the original Gradius, except it’s being torn apart by a black hole, requiring that you dodge bits of scenery that are being tossed at you. The game climaxes with the usual boss rush – one of the toughest parts of the game, of course – as well as a speed up zone, a bipedal robot with rocket powered skates, and a final boss that puts on an impressive light show while cycling through images of bosses from Gradius’ past. The music, again like Symphony of the Night, consists of a wide selection of genres, ranging from peppy new age to upbeat rock to cool atmospheric tunes. The boss theme has an unnaturally catchy rhythm, and is far more memorable than the repetitive tunes in most of the other games. The Moai stage has an exotic instrument that sounds a bit like a bagpipe, while the final fight has an epic, faux-orchestral quality to it. It’s definitely classic Konami, top caliber stuff that feels considerably more evolved than previous entries. There’s even the option to switch between male and female voiceovers. This also affects the intro, which is done in English with a Star Wars-style text scroll. Unfortunately, the weapon selection isn’t quite as vast as in Gradius III, although it’s still fairly expansive. This time, you can select from four ships. The good old Vic Viper features the standard Gradius payload with the usual Missile, Double, and Laser weapons. The Lord British – making a triumphant return from Salamander – has a Two-Way Missile, a Ripple Laser, and a new laser beam called the Disruptor, which emanates a thick, solid pulse across the whole screen.Ī new ship called the Jade Knight has the Spread Bomb, the Round Laser – which fires a circular laser that surrounds your ship – and the Pulse Laser, which is basically the same as the Twin Laser. The other new ship, the Falchion Beta, is based off the spacecraft from the Famicom Disk System game Falsion. It has the Rolling Missile – a bomb that fires straight down and then explodes horizontally – and Auto Aiming, a multidirectional shot that will automatically target foes, and a Gravity Bullet, which is a very powerful shot that explodes like a Spread Bomb. The weapons are not interchangeable between ships, but you can switch between ships when you continue. You can also configure the order of the power-ups on the weapons bar.
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