I Have Gradius II Again!!

[thom_m]

As some of you may already know, the game I missed the most from my kid days was Gradius II for the Famicom. I lent my CCE bootleg cart to a cousin along with some other games one day and, when I got them back, it just wasn't there. He couldn't explain what happen, and I got soem shitty 100000000 in one multicart for it. That was some good 10, 12 years ago, and I never found another copy again.


Until now!! I saw TWO of them on ML last 2 weeks ago and, while I missed the cheaper one, I managed to score the other (R$26 shipped). It's a bootleg dark blue 72-pin cart (as is my Double Dragon III, which has text in japanese). It's working flawlessly!! Here it is, in all its pirate glory:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/the_gentlemen/IMG0061A.jpg

A close-up of the label:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/the_gentlemen/IMG0060A.jpg

Sorry about the picture quality. My crappy chinese "smartphone"'s camera is all I got.

I'm so goddamn happy right now, and had to share it with someone...and I guess that you guys can understand it better than anyone else. I really missed that game...and now I have it again! And don't even need an adapter for it!!

I have to turn in my pos-graduation final essay tomorrow, so I won't be able to play it today...I can't wait for tomorrow night!

Anyway, that's it. After more than a decade, I have Gradius II again. Yay!!:-D


P.S: I think it suits this forums better since it's a more specific issue but, If the "December finds" is the right forum for this, I apologize and ask the mods to put it there. Thanks!

[delafro]

Actually, not a terrible label design on that, all things considered.

[MrRoboto19XX]

Congrats on your find man, that's pretty excellent. I know things are a bit different in Brazil when it comes to NES games and piracy, so would it be accurate to say this is akin to finding a rather rare game here in the states (lets say Duck Tales 2 just to pick one), or is this on a totally different plane of improbability because it's a pirate?

And indeed, the label looks pretty decent considering when it was done, reminds me a bit of R-Type for the Master System.

[Rickstilwell1]

Hey this proves that it is possible to make a working Gradius II repro. People kept saying it was impossible to get one working on a US NES because it had too much data in the original Famicom cartridge.

[MachineGex]

Hey this proves that it is possible to make a working Gradius II repro. People kept saying it was impossible to get one working on a US NES because it had too much data in the original Famicom cartridge.

I gutted my Gadius II famicom cart and stuck the board into a US Stack-Up cart. It works just dandy on a US system. I have never heard the rumor that the US NES system couldnt play Gradius II. I know it plays jjust fine along with most of the clones. I actually play Gradius II on my NES portable all the time. Gradius 2 & Over Horizon(Pal) are always finding their way into my play list.

[thom_m]

Congrats on your find man, that's pretty excellent. I know things are a bit different in Brazil when it comes to NES games and piracy, so would it be accurate to say this is akin to finding a rather rare game here in the states (lets say Duck Tales 2 just to pick one), or is this on a totally different plane of improbability because it's a pirate?

And indeed, the label looks pretty decent considering when it was done, reminds me a bit of R-Type for the Master System.

I wouldn't know if they're actually rare; what I DO know is that I've been looking for this game for at least 10 years, since my cousin lost my copy. Never saw it anywhere before - used items stores, flea markets, Mercado Livre. Nothing, until those two copies surfaced on ML.

But, as you mentioned, it's hard to know how many were made due to piracy. As far as I know, Gradius II was made by two companies here: CCE, which made a 60 pin black cart (with a cooler label than this one), and "VIC Games", which made this one. I had a CCE cart, and it was the only one I knew until now; in fact, I didn't know anyone else who had the game back then, so I can presume it's not that common. Or maybe I was just unnlucky all this time!

As for the compatibility issues, I was indeed afraid the 72-pin cart wouldn't work properly - specially on the sound department, with those voice samples and all. But it works just fine - at least, just as my 60-pin did.

I don't know how it's made, though...I guess I'll open it later and take some pics for you to see. I don't think it uses an adapter; my Double Dragon III 72-pin cart, made by the same company, clearly uses the japanese rom, but has only one standard PCB inside.

That said, two curiosities about the pirate version:

- the Force Field lasts a LOT. Much more than the original, I presume.

- If you die before enabling a power-up, it won't reverse back to "speed-up", but rather keep blinking at the same spot. For instance, if you die before enabling an option, the option window will still be blinking when you come back.

[Ed Oscuro]

- If you die before enabling a power-up, it won't reverse back to "speed-up", but rather keep blinking at the same spot. For instance, if you die before enabling an option, the option window will still be blinking when you come back.
Will it give you a second-level powerup (if this Gradius has that - on Gradius GBA there's two levels of laser and reverse shot available on at least some ship)?

[thom_m]

Will it give you a second-level powerup (if this Gradius has that - on Gradius GBA there's two levels of laser and reverse shot available on at least some ship)?

There's two levels of laser. If you already have it and choose "laser" again, it gets stronger. I never checked for double, since I never use it. :) I think it's like that on the original, too, right? Anyone?