Life Force by a nose.
Life Force by a nose.
Gradius was the first game I ever bought without the help of my parents.
I never could get into Life Force, for some reason.
Life Force. To me, it just has more character to it. The scenery is more interesting, the bosses are more fun to fight against, there's just more stuff to do. Gradius is a great game but it's pretty bland in comparison.
R-Type.
"As you traitors roast in your own juices, I will be safely ensconced three miles below the earth's surface, listening to my wax-cylinder player and enjoying a delicious phosphate!"
Life Force. The only "lone ship against alien hordes " game I ever liked.
Possibility is infinity! You must be satisfied!
You just can't handle my jawusumness responces. -The Sizz
The original Gradius is a terrible, poorly designed game due to its rigid difficulty, ill-conceived power-up system, boring scenery, and awkward use of a checkpoint-based continue system. Lifefore suffers from many of the same problems, but it has a more appealing continue system and better visual style.
Lifeforce is the correct answer.
Lifeforce
The flamey level was cool... erhm.
life force, if not both.
On NES, Life Force is probably the better game, but I remember enjoying Gradius more for some reason. Maybe it's because I was already hooked on Nemesis in the arcades.
"Ambitious, but rubbish."
While I never owned Life Force as a kid, I had a friend across the street who had it. I went over there and played it endlessly. I never knew about Gradius back then, so I never played it. Now because I am a very wealthy adult, I have afforded myself a copy of each. I've only played Gradius 2 or 3 times since purchase, and found it to be on par with Life Force for the most part. But, I have no fond memories of long afternoons plunking away at Gradius- so I'm gonna side with Life Force. Think I'm gonna go play a bit of both now.
I'd also like to add that I dream of a fully orchestrated soundtrack to "Life Force".
Especially the boss music.
Possibility is infinity! You must be satisfied!
You just can't handle my jawusumness responces. -The Sizz
I'm going to have to go with GRADIUS. I remember going to Toys R Us and looking at the back of the box and thinking, "Gosh, this game looks a lot like the NEMESIS arcade game that I play at 7-Eleven!" After begging my dad to buy it, I rushed home, popped it into my NES and jumped for joy when I saw the familiar aliens attack me on screen! "This IS NEMESIS!!" I ran across the street to get my friends to come over and we played Gradius all day long. Yes, GRADIUS gets my vote.
I did eventually buy Life Force as well. And although it's technically superior to Gradius, it just doesn't carry the same nostalgia. The music was better in Gradius too.
Gradius! As if there were another... (wait for it!) ... OPTION!
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I'll do a write-in vote for Gradius II. It combines the best aspects of both games and multiplies them. It pushes the Famicom/NES very hard in every way but doesn't suffer from horrible flickering or slowdown. My jaw dropped the first time I saw the level 1 boss; the game looks that good. I think of it as the definitive Gradius game.
Between Life Force and Gradius I, well Life Force is a much better game. Gradius I always felt too 1st-gen for me.
If you haven't beaten Life Force, then play the Famicom version because it has extended endings.
I'm personally a fan of the whole Gradius/Salamander series as a whole. I never really got heavily into Gradius NES, but I enjoyed Life Force a bit more. In my opinion, Gradius Galaxies is the most balanced, accessible of the series. Between Gradius and Life Force though, I'd say Life Force, as it's just more interesting. Life Force had a more "organic" setting, and the salamander that eats planets is just awesome.
i would have to go with gradius. I have always played that since i was little and i love it. Not only is it fun and challenging, but it brings back memories.
A smuch as I enjoy both, I have to side with Life Force since it adds so much to the series.
My Gaming Collection (Now at Google Drive!)
The shmup is probably my favorite genre, but I've always thought this series is junk. In both games the asenine powerup system breaks what would otherwise be an average (at best) game. Had the powerups not been broken there still wouldn't be anything special here, just a run of the mill shmup with no memorable features. When the games were new I couldn't figure out why friends who typically wouldn't play shmups thought so much of these two, and I still find no redeeming qualities.
So apparenly, you either love or hate the powerup system. The shmup genre is full of clones, so Gradius having a different mechanic makes it a winner for me.
Life Force, although I do like both quite a bit.
Dan B.
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