There is also an awesome Gradius game that never got released outside Japan at all, Nemesis '90 Kai on the Sharp X68000 computer.
It was a remake of Gradius 2 aka Nemesis 2 for the MSX (which itself was totally different from Gradius II: GOFER no Yabou aka Vulkan Venture).
8-bit MSX version
Thanks for the information and the youtube videos. I didn't know about these two games or forgot about it - I probably should watch the old 'Gradius Breakdown'-DVD which was released with Gradius V and gave you a nice overview about the Gradius history.This was an exceptional bonus - rarely delved a bonus item for a game into the history of a series.
Nemesis 90 looks fantastic and seems to play fantastically. Wish I had that game; and then some gameplayers say collecting doesn't make sense; well, if you have a lot of games you have also a lot of options to play them at one point.
No problem. I'm just enjoying adding stuff to this thread, it's fun
Here's a nice 60fps video of Salamander 2
Saturn version (off-screen, not direct capture)
2nd part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv4OO9nFb9E
And finally, something really different.. An unreleased Salamander / Life Force HD remaster for Android devices. Full playthrough, 60fps
I'd really love to play that one someday, maybe via an Android emulator on PC.
I was lucky enough to play Gradius 2 on FC back in the day. A Japanese friend I knew in elementary school had a Famicom and so did I. His uncle sent him a copy of Gradius 2 back when it came out and I got to see and play it at his house. Eventually he let me borrow it
The android version of Salamander is actually suprisingly nice and even works on the OUYA console. The quickest way to play it there is with a keyboard with a builtin swipe mouse pad. It also works on the Bluestacks Android Emulator and you can even map the swipes and taps to keyboard buttons which in turn can be mapped to a control pad/joystick via joy2key or keypadder software. Played it quite a bit back when it came out. A shame it didn't get a proper release other than mobile....
It's a lot like the 3D Contra 1 remake for Android and iOS from several years ago which imho is quite good... but you really need to play the arcade version of it (only released in China). The arcade version (which has been tweaked to work on a normal PC, as most arcade games just run on a PC anyway these days) has tweaked controls and a much higher weapon firing rate which really makes the game shine. Also more interesting between level maps and what not vs the mobile version.
A bit back on topic, some unusual Gradius 2 items I've picked up over the years and some very unusual Gradius 1 stuff for shits n giggles
An officially licensed Gradius jacket. Ignore the glowing effects and watermarks I made on it for Instagram lol. This jacket was released by Game Glorious Japan a few years ago. I've actually another one (the black version) on the way.
Gradius the boardgame
Last edited by StealthLurker; 02-25-2017 at 02:39 AM.
__________________________________________________ ___
[ Severely Outdated Game Collection Pics ]
[ My Multi-screen MADNESS!! ]
Fuckin' A, that's an awesome collection. I'm a stalwart Gradius fan. I'm quite jealousOriginally Posted by StealthLurker
I was lucky enough to play Gradius 2 on FC back in the day. A Japanese friend I knew in elementary school had a Famicom and so did I. His uncle sent him a copy of Gradius 2 back when it came out and I got to see and play it at his house. Eventually he let me borrow it
The android version of Salamander is actually suprisingly nice and even works on the OUYA console. The quickest way to play it there is with a keyboard with a builtin swipe mouse pad. It also works on the Bluestacks Android Emulator and you can even map the swipes and taps to keyboard buttons which in turn can be mapped to a control pad/joystick via joy2key or keypadder software. Played it quite a bit back when it came out. A shame it didn't get a proper release other than mobile....
It's a lot like the 3D Contra 1 remake for Android and iOS from several years ago which imho is quite good... but you really need to play the arcade version of it (only released in China). The arcade version (which has been tweaked to work on a normal PC, as most arcade games just run on a PC anyway these days) has tweaked controls and a much higher weapon firing rate which really makes the game shine. Also more interesting between level maps and what not vs the mobile version.
A bit back on topic, some unusual Gradius 2 items I've picked up over the years and some very unusual Gradius 1 stuff for shits n giggles
An officially licensed Gradius jacket. Ignore the glowing effects and watermarks I made on it for Instagram lol. This jacket was released by Game Glorious Japan a few years ago. I've actually another one (the black version) on the way.
Gradius the boardgame
! That Gradius 2 LP just kills me..
I've got a Vulcan Venture (U.S. Gradius 2) board and while it's amazing to play on a cab, my favorite version is, oddly enough, the Sharp X68000 version, basically because of the MIDI audio. It sounds like an orchestra! And if you've got an RGB monitor it looks pretty sweet in 15Khz mode.
Did Nintendo manufacture ANY of Konami's games with VR chips in the US? It seems like they were all stripped out when the games were brought to the west, including FM audio. That may have been why Gradius 2 didn't come out here. I believe the cihp allows for multidirectional scrolling (correct me if I'm wrong) and without that the game simply wouldn't work.
The only licensed NES game I know of with a third-party mapper was Batman: Return of the Joker with the Sunsoft FME chip. (and probably the two late PAL-exclusives Ufouria and Mr. Gimmick)
Though I have a Castlevania with a Konami PCB (I think Metal Gear also got print variants on both Nintendo and Konami PCBs), though those use a pretty basic mapper like UNROM.
I don't think Gradius II used an FM sound chip, surprisingly. Pretty sure it was VRC2 or VRC4. Those two mappers (including several wiring variations) were Konami's most used that I think didn't have FM capability.
Awesome collection, and thanks for the great post! No doubt it was amazing to play Famicom Gradius II when it was new.I was lucky enough to play Gradius 2 on FC back in the day. A Japanese friend I knew in elementary school had a Famicom and so did I. His uncle sent him a copy of Gradius 2 back when it came out and I got to see and play it at his house. Eventually he let me borrow it
The android version of Salamander is actually suprisingly nice and even works on the OUYA console. The quickest way to play it there is with a keyboard with a builtin swipe mouse pad. It also works on the Bluestacks Android Emulator and you can even map the swipes and taps to keyboard buttons which in turn can be mapped to a control pad/joystick via joy2key or keypadder software. Played it quite a bit back when it came out. A shame it didn't get a proper release other than mobile....
It's a lot like the 3D Contra 1 remake for Android and iOS from several years ago which imho is quite good... but you really need to play the arcade version of it (only released in China). The arcade version (which has been tweaked to work on a normal PC, as most arcade games just run on a PC anyway these days) has tweaked controls and a much higher weapon firing rate which really makes the game shine. Also more interesting between level maps and what not vs the mobile version.
A bit back on topic, some unusual Gradius 2 items I've picked up over the years and some very unusual Gradius 1 stuff for shits n giggles
An officially licensed Gradius jacket. Ignore the glowing effects and watermarks I made on it for Instagram lol. This jacket was released by Game Glorious Japan a few years ago. I've actually another one (the black version) on the way.
Gradius the boardgame
Also, thank you for that info on the android remake of Salamander.
Parallaxscroll, thanks for posting the video of the remastered Salamander HD. DAMN does this game look and sound great, why oh why doesn't get this thing a physical release on a console? I'd be all over it. It is fantastic.
Stealthlurker, GREAT stuff. Wonderful. I love those jackets!
Gradius 2 = VRC4 (NO FM) from the NES wiki:
Overview
PRG ROM size: Up to 256 KiB
PRG ROM bank size: 8 KiB at $A000, and $8000 OR $C000
PRG RAM: none, 2 KiB, or 8 KiB
CHR ROM size: Up to 512 KiB
CHR bank size: 1 KiB
Nametable mirroring: Controlled by mapper
Subject to bus conflicts: No
The Konami VRC4 is almost identical to the VRC2, but with a bit more capabilities, such as the option to swap PRG at $C000 instead of $8000 and an IRQ counter.
They probably could have just re-used some Nintendo mapper to cover the scrolling and the rest (MMC3) but just ditched it, maybe another case of 'oooh it is too hard for Americans' syndrome. Plays fine on a stock NES w/adapter with no loss of fidelity unlike the VRC6 that loses audio on Castlevania 3.
Now I need to find safe APK download sites for Contra and Salamander.
Thank you sir. Nice! I'd love a Gradius 2 PCB and it's a lot more stable than the Gradius 1 Bubble System. Though I stopped collecting arcade boards because I've had one too many rare ones die on meYeah the x68000 is a fantastic platform for most games (minus R-Type lol). The tri-sync feature of the Sharp CRT monitor is a nice touch too. Too bad not all the games support 15khz mode.
On a side note... speaking of Gradius collectibles, the other day I just won a super rare and elusive Gradius coin! Been after one for years
Thanks! Yeah it's sad that games like these only get a show on the mobile platform. The Salamander game is quite impressive and could be a nice "standard" game on it's own. Even a steam release would be great. But yeah a physical would be awesome. Maybe even a budget combo on a disc with new Salamander and Contra Evolution haha.
Go for the "PC" version of Contra Evolution. It's a much better experience. The faster firing rate really, really makes a difference along with not having to go through hoops to map to physical controls. It also has more interesting features between levels.
Last edited by StealthLurker; 02-27-2017 at 02:10 PM.
__________________________________________________ ___
[ Severely Outdated Game Collection Pics ]
[ My Multi-screen MADNESS!! ]
Dat Gradius coin! You're killin' me, dude.
Been really enjoying this thread for one of my favorite games- surprised that no one's really mentioned the soundtrack by Motoaki Furukawa, which is downright fantastic.
Here's the PC Engine CD Version (Stay tuned til around 20:55, you can hear the excellent music from the animated intro):
And the Famicom version, for comparison (Of course the sound wizards of Konami Kukeiha Club did a great job with it):
Also Egg Music has the X68000 version soundtrack available for purchase. It includes the FM, SC-55 MIDI, and MT-32 MIDI+FM versions. In particular the MT-32 MIDI+FM is fantastic, and it's highly recommended to anyone that would be interested:
http://www.amusement-center.com/proj.../emca0024.html
Last edited by delafro; 03-20-2017 at 09:02 AM.
I used to like the Famicom Gradius 2, but that was before I had much exposure with the arcade original. I didn't care for it much afterward, then the FC AC modification came out a few years ago, which surpasses the original port in many respects.
Whaddya mean invalid parameters?!
9,000 gigs of ram and it still can't answer a simple question!
I was about to order this game, plus lagrange point off of one of my favorite importers on ebay since they were both under $30 but then I found out the NES mini was being discontinued and luckily I was able to pick one up today so....
i'll load them to it and try it that way and if I still really like them i'll probably still order them
Unless you're shoving like retroarch on there forget that idea. The Nintendo made emulator won't run Lagrange Point, not even sure it would run Gradius II either. I know the VRC4(Castlevania 3) and VRC6 (Lagrange Point) are not supported. I never dug much into what Japanese special mapper work or not with it, but many appear not to, and even the US version of a Sunsoft mapper won't run so Return of the Joker is out.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
