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77-539: An early horizontal-scrolling shooter from which gameplay elements of the Gradius series were inspired. Although there is no canonical relationship between Scramble and the Gradius series, Scramble is implied to be a spiritual predecessor to the series, evident by its appearance in flashbacks during Gradius introduction sequences ( Gradius Advance ). Scramble has been ported to other platforms, including MSX and Commodore 64 . In 2002, Scramble appeared on GBA as one of

154-615: A jidaigeki -themed martial arts action game where player samurai fight a number of swordspeople before confronting a more powerful boss samurai. SNK 's Sasuke vs. Commander , released in October 1980, is a ninja-themed shooting game where the player character fights enemy ninjas before confronting bosses with various ninjutsu attacks and enemy patterns. It was one of the earliest games with multiple boss encounters, and one of SNK's earliest games. Phoenix , released in December 1980,

231-556: A "boss song" that is more difficult, or a high-difficulty, computer-controlled opponent in sports games . In multiplayer online battle arena games, defeating a map boss usually requires teamwork of two or more players, but it brings various benefits to the team, such as buffs or lane push power. Some games, such as Cuphead , Furi and Warning Forever , are centered around continual boss fights. Bosses are usually harder to beat than regular enemies, have higher health points, hence can sustain more damage and are generally found at

308-530: A Japanese word meaning "maiden") and " Gradius ." There are several gameplay elements that are common to almost all of the Gradius games. These include the power meter, one of the Gradius series' defining characteristics, which is enabled by power-up items. The items upgrade the selected ability in the power meter. The meter resets when the player chooses to activate the selected ability. Weapon edit lets players create their own power meter sequence. The concept of

385-536: A boss battle, but later appear as a regular enemy, after players have become stronger or had a chance to find more powerful weaponry. Many games structure boss battles as a progression of distinct phases in which the boss produces different or additional hazards for players. This is often reflected by a change in the appearance of the boss, or by a boss displaying increased frustration. The Legend of Zelda series and games inspired by it are recognized for having dungeons with bosses that are specifically vulnerable to

462-786: A boss. They come in many variations, such as the Chargin' Chuck Swarm encountered in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam , the Armos Knights from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past or the Battle of 1000 Heartless from Kingdom Hearts II . A main requirement with most wolfpacks is that the whole group must be defeated in order to win; in order to prolong the fight, many wolfpacks, particularly in games with turn-based combat in lieu of real-time, will summon reinforcements to replenish their lost numbers. An example of this

539-459: A challenge game play mode that had to be unlocked by achieving a high score during a single play-through of the game's normal difficulty mode. Additional challenges could then by unlocked by completing other challenges. The challenge mode was absent from the U.S. and European releases due to the game being released in Japan several months later. The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to

616-500: A concept that Kung-Fu Master designer Takashi Nishiyama later expanded on when he created the fighting game Street Fighter (1987) at Capcom . The term "boss" was used in reference to the game's final boss by Mike Roberts in a review of the game published in the May 1985 issue of British magazine Computer Gamer , while he used the term "super baddies" for the end-of-level bosses. Sega's arcade game Fantasy Zone (1986) popularized

693-505: A crystal stage in which the Vic Viper was challenged by crystal blocks blocking off areas like a maze. In addition, the order of stages was changed. The final stage in the SNES version was based on an early stage in the arcade version. The original arcade version's ending had the main boss in a mechanical setting, then going through a speed-up zone to escape the enemy base, whereas the SNES version had

770-464: A diverse pool of public domain sources, including a large contingent of classical music. A platform game released on the Famicom starring an anthropomorphic moai statue. A newer take from Konami on the Gradius spoof, this game features anime girl representations, designed by Mine Yoshizaki , of Vic Viper and Lord British, in a mecha musume -style approach. The name is a portmanteau of " otome " (乙女,

847-478: A final boss in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link ). A superboss is a type of boss most commonly found in role-playing video games . They are considered optional enemies and do not have to be defeated to complete the game. However, not all optional bosses are superbosses. They are generally much more powerful than the bosses encountered as part of the main game's plot or quest , more difficult even than

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924-752: A more detailed version of the regular ending. Examples of a "true final boss" include the Radiance in Hollow Knight and the Moon Presence in Bloodborne . The term "Foozle" is used to describe a cliché final boss that exists only to act as the final problem before players can complete the game. Scorpia stated in 1994 that "about 98% of all role-playing video games can be summed up as follows: 'We go out and bash on critters until we're strong enough to go bash on Foozle. ' " A precursor to video game boss fights

1001-536: A new storyline, taking place roughly 2000 years after the last Nemesis. It is also the first game in the Gradius series to give players the ability to control their "Multiples" in formations, with formations variable depending on buttons. A Gradius compilation for PlayStation Portable . This compilation contains the classic versions of Gradius I-IV with a few bonus features, as well as the first international release of Gradius Gaiden . A Gradius title for WiiWare . Gradius Rebirth draws most of its elements from

1078-493: A number of titles in the Dance Dance Revolution rhythm game series contain "boss songs" that are called "bosses" because they are exceptionally difficult to perform on. In combat-focused games, a boss may summon additional enemies, reinforcements, or minions ("adds") to fight players alongside the boss, increasing the boss fight's difficulty. These additional enemies may distract from the boss battle or give time for

1155-530: A second power-up of the same type, the player's weapons are twice as powerful for a short duration (10 seconds). The game features variations of previous Salamander bosses, such as the Golem and Tetran. The first Gradius produced exclusively for a home console. This is also the only Gradius game (other than Gofer no Yabō Episode II on the MSX) where players can select which ship they wish to use. Gradius Gaiden includes

1232-578: A series of colorful rings at the Vic Viper. Upon completing the game, the player restarts on the first level while retaining their upgrades from the previous games. Each cycle through the game grows progressively more difficult. The Nintendo Entertainment System port of Gradius represents the first ever use of the Konami Code . If the player pauses the game and enters the Konami Code (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A), they will be given most of

1309-616: A special item that is located within that dungeon. Player(s) typically acquire this item while exploring the dungeon and is given opportunity to learn to use it to solve puzzles or defeat weaker enemies before facing the boss character. Boss battles are typically seen as dramatic events. As such, they are usually characterized by sometimes quite theatrical cutscenes before and after the boss battle and unique music. Recurring bosses and final bosses may have their own specific theme music to distinguish them from other boss battles. This concept extends beyond combat-oriented video games. For example,

1386-494: A temple) and fighting a boss character at the end of each level; in turn, this end-of-level boss battle structure was adapted from the Bruce Lee film Game of Death , where Lee's character fights a different boss character on each floor as he ascends a pagoda. The game was distinctive for giving both players and each boss a health meter , which leads to the game temporarily becoming a one-on-one fighting game during boss battles,

1463-429: A time limit by having a large number of players or parties working together to defeat the boss. Examples of such superbosses can be found in games like Pokémon Go and World of Warcraft , and are generally referred to as a raid . Toby Fox 's games Undertale and Deltarune both feature superbosses in the form of Sans , Jevil, and Spamton NEO. Some major video game series have recurring superbosses such as

1540-490: A typical dungeon campaign there would be one powerful enemy acting as the boss of the weaker minions that players would face beforehand, in the same sense as a crime boss, which later inspired the boss battles of role-playing video games . The first interactive video game to feature a boss was dnd , which was released in 1975 for the PLATO system . dnd was one of the earliest dungeon crawl video games and implemented many of

1617-575: A wide variety of distinct power-ups. The NES version of Salamander , called Life Force in North America (and marketed in that region as the " sequel " to the first Gradius ), and the MSX version used the power meter from the Gradius series. There also exists an arcade game named Life Force that is identical to Salamander released in Japanese arcades the same year, except that a Gradius -style power meter

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1694-458: Is Astaroth in Diablo IV . Many other wolfpack bosses empower themselves when one of the other enemies in the battle is killed to keep the threat level from falling over time. The final boss, last boss or end boss, is typically present at or near the end of a game, with completion of the game's storyline usually following victory in the battle. The final boss is usually the main antagonist of

1771-456: Is Bruce Lee 's Hong Kong martial arts films , including The Big Boss (1971), in which Lee fights a criminal gang before battling the eponymous "big boss", and Game of Death (1972), where Lee fights a different boss on each level of a pagoda , which later inspired the boss battles of martial arts action games such as beat 'em ups. Another precursor is tabletop role-playing games starting with Dungeons & Dragons (1974), in which in

1848-543: Is a fixed shooter where players's ship must fight a giant mothership in the fifth and final level. At several points in Namco's vertically scrolling shooter Xevious (1982), players must defeat an Andor Genesis mothership to advance. In side-scrolling character action games such as beat 'em ups, Irem 's 1984 arcade game Kung-Fu Master established the end-of-level boss battle structure used in these games, with players progressing through levels (represented by floors of

1925-569: Is a horizontally scrolling shooter handheld video game developed by Mobile21 and published by Konami in 2001. It was released later in the same month in the United States as Gradius Galaxies and in 2002 in Japan as Gradius Generation . It is the only Gradius title available for the Game Boy Advance . The game's plot is set between Gradius III and Gradius Gaiden . Bacterion

2002-427: Is an arcade 3D rail shooter in the lines of Star Fox or Panzer Dragoon , with Gradius' s settings. Along with Vic Viper, two other ship choices are available: Lord British and Alpina. Due to never being ported to any console systems, Solar Assault is a relatively obscure part of the Gradius series. Released in Japanese arcades as Gradius IV Fukkatsu ("fukkatsu" (復活) being Japanese for "revival", since it

2079-449: Is generally much more powerful than the bosses encountered as part of the main game's plot and is often an optional encounter. A final boss is often the main antagonist of a game's story and the defeat of that character usually provides a conclusion to the game. A boss rush is a stage where players face multiple previous bosses again in succession. For example, in a run 'n' gun video game, all regular enemies might use pistols while

2156-538: Is unrelated to the second arcade Gradius game (which used the Roman numeral "II"). Instead of controlling Vic Viper, the available ship is called "Metalion" (code name N322). Like the MSX version of Salamander , this game also has a storyline, which is told through cutscenes . The gameplay is mostly unchanged from the rest of the series, though there are some power-ups that temporarily give the ship some enhancements. In addition, when

2233-422: Is used instead of conventional power-up items, and the stages were recolored slightly as well as given some voiceovers to make the mission about traveling inside someone's body, rather than through space. Stages took on names such as "Kidney Zone" and "Stomach". An American release was also made, but it retained the original power-up system of Salamander , though it was renamed as Life Force . The MSX Gradius 2

2310-586: The Kirby games. Others may be a recurring version of a previous boss, who is either weaker than previously encountered or is less of a challenge later in the game due to character or equipment progression. An example is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night ' s Gaibon and Slogra. Other video game characters who usually take the role of a miniboss are Vile ( Mega Man X series), Allen O'Neil ( Metal Slug ) and Dark Link ( The Legend of Zelda series, though he appears as

2387-674: The bosses are defeated, the Metalion can fly inside them before they explode, and a smaller level will start that awards weapon upgrades when finished without dying, depending on the speed at which the boss was defeated. In the same year, Zemina released a version for the Korean Master System . This version was ported to the Sharp X68000 computer under the name Nemesis '90 Kai , with a number of graphical and aural enhancements. A graphically enhanced version with smooth scrolling appeared in

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2464-403: The moai , an undefended final boss, and the upgrade power meter. The weapons system remained mostly unchanged as the configurations available are identical to Gradius III , with the exception that the edit mode is missing. There are four different types of weapons configurations: Balanced, (traditional Gradius ) wide area ( Salamander ) power, and air-to-ground. Each configuration is indicated by

2541-459: The players have faced up to that point in a game. Boss battles are generally seen at climax points of particular sections of games, such as at the end of a level or stage or guarding a specific objective. A miniboss is a boss weaker or less significant than the main boss in the same area or level, though usually more powerful than the standard opponents and often fought alongside them. A superboss (sometimes 'secret', 'hidden' or 'raid' boss)

2618-497: The review aggregation website Metacritic . Nintendo World Report praised the game's awesomeness and said that "it could even be considered the GBA's Ikaruga ." IGN praised the game's ability to save high scores directly to cartridge . In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 32 out of 40. GamePro said, "The control is sharp but depends greatly on how many speed-up upgrades you've acquired. The crisp graphics hold up fine on

2695-478: The "Core" is a central part of Gradius . Cores are usually blue, glowing masses of energy hidden within large warships and protected by a series of barriers. All cores must be targeted in order to defeat a warship, which normally comprises several phases and often uses the terrain to its advantage. In some cases, a core is closed or not vulnerable at the beginning of a battle, only opening or becoming susceptible to attack some moments later by turning blue. Additionally,

2772-611: The Japan-exclusive PSP Salamander Portable collection. Bearing no relation to the MSX game titled Gradius 2 , Gradius II is the chronological sequel to Gradius . The game did not see a North American release until 2006 as part of the PlayStation Portable title Gradius Collection . On November 12, 2020, it was released on the Nintendo Switch as part of Hamster's Arcade Archives series. It

2849-418: The Japanese first-press limited edition, the game included a book detailing internal design, background, and a road map of the Vic Viper series (i.e., "Vic Viper" is the name of a ship series, rather than a single ship), and pre-ordered North American copies included a DVD detailing the history of the series (including Scramble ) and replays of Gradius V . Released only to mobile phones, Gradius NEO features

2926-789: The Lord British Space Destroyer from Salamander and two (relative) newcomers: the Jade Knight and the Falchion β (a variation of the ship from the Famicom Disk System game Falsion ). It was originally released for the PlayStation console and ported in 2006 as part of Gradius Collection for the PlayStation Portable . In 2019, it was included in the Japanese version of the PlayStation Classic mini console. Solar Assault

3003-491: The MSX games rather than mainstay Gradius staples. The game's plot sets the stage for the events depicted in Gradius 2 (MSX). In March 2010, a Japanese trademark database update revealed a filing for this name, submitted by Konami . The "Arc" portion of the name coincided with a pre-release name of the PlayStation Move . This was only a coincidence, however, as Gradius Arc —Ginyoku no Densetsu— ( Gradius Arc —Legend of

3080-578: The NES version was re-released for Virtual Console , NES Classic Edition , and the PC Engine version on the PlayStation Network . In territories outside Japan, the arcade and MSX versions of Gradius were released under the title Nemesis . Set in the same continuity as Gradius . The game is noteworthy for a number of reasons. Most prominently, the game switches between horizontal and vertical stages, one of

3157-638: The Option Shot, the ability to launch the Options as homing projectiles. After firing, an Option would revert to a smaller, less powerful unit called an Option Seed, which revolves around the ship firing the default shot. Weaponry includes the Twin Laser, the Ripple Laser, and the standard Laser. Like its predecessor, Salamander 2 uses a conventional power-up system, rather than the Gradius power meter. Upon acquiring

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3234-596: The Ruby and Emerald Weapons. Some superbosses will take the place of the final boss if certain requirements are met. Some superbosses can yield special items or skills that cannot be found any other way that can give players a significant advantage during playthrough of the rest of the game, such as added experience or an extremely powerful weapon. For example, the "raid bosses" from Borderlands 2 give rare loot unavailable anywhere else. Some superbosses in online games have an immense amount of health and must be defeated within

3311-650: The Silvery Wings— ) was revealed on September 30, 2010, to be a tactical RPG for cell phones. A pachislot game released in Japan in July 2011. It was developed by the KPE division of Konami. A soundtrack for the game was released in September 2011. The Parodius series, started in 1988, is similar to Gradius , but with more cartoony settings. The name is a portmanteau of "parody" and " Gradius ". The Parodius series parodies many of

3388-806: The Ultima Weapon and Omega Weapon in Final Fantasy and the Amon clan in Yakuza . The Warden from Minecraft could be considered a superboss, as it is vastly more difficult to fight than the final boss, the Ender Dragon. However, Mojang, the developer of Minecraft, has explicitly stated that the Warden was not intended to be fought by players. A wolfpack boss is a group of enemies who may be considered weak on their own, but in large groups can be considered strong enough to be

3465-433: The announcer will normally urge the player to "Destroy the core!" or "Shoot the core!" prior to an encounter. For other types of bosses, like large beasts, the announcer may command the player to "Destroy the eye!" or "Destroy the mouth!", depending on the boss. The moai statues of Easter Island ( Chile ) appear as enemies in several Gradius games. They are mounted on either side of flat, free-floating platforms and fire

3542-400: The boss in question becomes progressively stronger and/or less vulnerable as their health decreases, requiring players to use different strategies to win. Some bosses may contain or be composed of smaller parts that can be destroyed by players in battle, which may or may not grant an advantage. In games such as Doom and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night , an enemy may be introduced via

3619-444: The boss to regain or regenerate health, but may also give players opportunity to regain health from health boosters and ammo dropped by the boss's defeated minions. A miniboss, also known as a "middle boss", "mid-boss", "half-boss", "sub-boss" "semi-boss", or occasionally "tank", is a boss-like enemy weaker or less significant than the main boss in the same area or level. Some minibosses are stronger versions of regular enemies, as in

3696-517: The boss uses a tank. A boss enemy is quite often larger in size than other enemies and the player character . At times, bosses are very hard to defeat without being adequately prepared and/or knowing the correct fighting approach. Bosses usually take strategy and special knowledge to defeat, such as how to attack weak points or avoid specific attacks. Bosses are common in many genres of video games, but they are especially common in story-driven titles, and are commonly previously established antagonists in

3773-565: The color of Vic Viper . Unlike Gradius III , there are only two shield options — shield and force field. In addition, the S. option ("snake option") is not present in this version; the player can however choose to have the computer assign weapon power-ups automatically or purchase upgrades manually. The game's configuration allows the player to choose between three difficulty modes, with each mode consisting of three loops — progressively more difficult play-throughs that are unlocked as previous loops are cleared. The Japanese version further included

3850-443: The common elements of the Gradius series, including neon-colored core warships, effeminate moai , and large dancing women as bosses. Early games focused mainly on parodying Gradius games, but more recent games have poked fun at other Konami franchises, including Castlevania and Ganbare Goemon . The games offer a large number of different characters to use, each with different weapons. The characters consist of ones created for

3927-625: The completion of specific additional levels, choosing specific dialogue options or after obtaining a particular item or set of items, such as the Chaos Emeralds in the Sonic the Hedgehog series or performing a series of tasks in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker . These bosses are generally more difficult to defeat. In games with a "true" final boss, victory leads to either a better ending or

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4004-434: The concept of a boss rush, a stage where players face multiple previous bosses again in succession. Michael Fahey of Kotaku noted in a podcast that usage of the term "boss" by Nintendo Power grew sharply around 1988, and that there was no clear single etymology of the term. In the same podcast, former Kotaku editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo speculated that bosses became known as such because they were "in charge of all

4081-554: The core concepts of Dungeons & Dragons . The objective of the game is to retrieve an "Orb" from the bottommost dungeon. The orb is kept in a treasure room guarded by a high-level enemy named the Gold Dragon. Only by defeating the Dragon can players claim the orb, complete the game and be eligible to appear on the high score list. In 1980, boss battles appeared in several arcade action games. In March 1980, Sega released Samurai ,

4158-471: The end of a level or area. While most games include a mixture of boss opponents and regular opponents, some games have only regular opponents and some games have only bosses (e.g. Shadow of the Colossus ). Some bosses are encountered several times through a single game, typically with alternate attacks and a different strategy required to defeat it each time. A boss battle can also be made more challenging if

4235-470: The final boss and often players are required to meet certain conditions in the game or complete a sidequest or the entire game to fight the superboss. The first such superboss (or secret boss) was Akuma in Super Street Fighter II Turbo , that required players meet certain conditions before he would appear as the final boss. In Final Fantasy VII , players may choose to seek out and fight

4312-535: The first games of its kind to do so, and it was also one of the first shoot 'em ups to include cooperative gameplay . The first player ship is Gradius ' s own Vic Viper ship, while the second ship is the Lord British space destroyer (sometimes called the "RoadBritish") which is based on the F-16 Fighting Falcon . Unlike Gradius , Salamander uses a more conventional weapons system, with enemies leaving

4389-563: The game's story. Its plasma laser also left a big impression on them and was why Gradius featured a Laser weapon. The Moai were included because they wanted to add a mysterious element to the game like Xevious and its Nazca Lines. Hideki Kamiya stated in an interview that Gradius is one of the top three key inspirational games from his past. Several of Gradius' starfighters, Core bosses, and various game elements have been adapted into trading cards as part of Konami's Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game . Gradius Advance Gradius Advance

4466-475: The game; however, there are exceptions, such as in Conker's Bad Fur Day , in which the final boss is the antagonist's alien pet. Final bosses are generally larger, more detailed or better animated than lesser enemies, often in order to inspire a feeling of grandeur and special significance from the encounter. In some games, a hidden boss, referred to as the "true" final boss, is present. These bosses only appear after

4543-626: The last to be released, has a number of exclusive challenge modes added. It also includes an additional, invisible 5000 point bonus in one of the levels. Gradius V was released in September 2004 for the PlayStation 2 . Graphics are rendered in full 3D, although gameplay is still mostly 2D ; some areas change the position and perspective of the camera to emphasize the 3D environment. Treasure (developers of Gunstar Heroes , Guardian Heroes , Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga , among others) were primarily responsible for Gradius V' s development. In

4620-470: The player simply avoiding the final enemy's simple and slow-moving attack patterns with no challenge afterward. However, the SNES version introduced the Rotate and Formation Option types, both of which were reused in Gradius V . The difficulty and major boss tactics were toned down to make it easier. The original arcade version is available for PlayStation 2 bundled with Gradius IV ( Gradius III and IV ), although

4697-412: The player's ship into secret alcoves scattered throughout stages rather than entering enemy core ships. The game additionally allows the player to select a preset weapon configuration before starting. This title introduced the "Weapon Edit" method of selecting weapons, which allowed players to create their own weapon array by choosing power-ups from a limited pool of available weapon types (some weapons in

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4774-459: The plot of the video game. Action-adventure games , beat 'em ups , fighting games , platform games , role-playing video games (RPGs), and shooter games are particularly associated with boss battles. They may be less common in puzzle games , card video games , racing games , and simulation games . The first video game with a boss fight was the 1975 RPG dnd . The concept has expanded to other genres, like rhythm games , where there may be

4851-411: The port has some slight differences from the original. Only released in Japan, this spin-off game is a token gambling game with a Gradius theme. The first Gradius for a portable system, released on Nintendo's Game Boy . The name Nemesis was kept for the game's worldwide release, as the game retains some of the elements that were otherwise exclusive to the MSX titles, such as hidden bonus stages. It

4928-457: The power-ups except Laser, Double and Speed Up. The Gradius series was created when Hiroyasu Machiguchi, the series creator was given a team to work with and asked everyone what kind of game they wanted to develop, to which they responded being a shoot 'em up , with the intent of surpassing Namco's Xevious . They decided to make it a horizontal shooting game because they wanted to reuse material from Scramble as much as possible, and Gradius

5005-584: The pre-determined power-ups common in other games in the genre. Originally released as an arcade game , its popularity resulted in ports to the ZX Spectrum , Commodore 64 , NES/Famicom , MSX , Master System , Sharp X68000 , Amstrad CPC and PC Engine . More recently, ports to the Sega Saturn , PlayStation , and certain mobile phones were created. (Saturn, PlayStation and computer versions are all packaged with Gradius II as Gradius Deluxe Pack ). In addition,

5082-459: The preset weapon types are not selectable in Weapon Edit mode, although it includes weapons not in any presets). The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) /SFC port includes alterations to levels, enemies, and weapons. For example, two stages were cut out in the SNES version: a 3D stage which involved avoiding hitting cave walls from a unique first-person perspective behind the Vic Viper, and

5159-465: The selection cursor along the weapon bar at the bottom of the screen. The player can then select the weapon highlighted if they want it. The cursor then resets. In general, the more useful ' power-ups ' are towards the right-hand side of the bar, so the player may decide to stock up on pick-ups until the better item is available. This innovation allowed for deeper tactics on the part of the player and for greater freedom of weapon choice rather than relying on

5236-526: The series, but this one did not, except for the boss music from the first Gradius game with the addition of a small original section to the piece. A little bit of the "between levels" music from Gradius III can also be found at the very first part of the game. It was released as Nemesis II in Japan and as Nemesis II: Return of the Hero in Europe. The follow-up to Salamander . It had several unique features, such as

5313-463: The series, such as Takosuke, and popular Konami characters like Pentarou and Upa (from Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa ). Vic Viper also appears in all titles. The Parodius games also distinguish themselves from the Gradius series with their music. Unlike the Gradius games, whose soundtracks are either unique to each game or refer to earlier games in the series, the music in the Parodius games parodies

5390-424: The small screen, but the music is standard, forgettable fare. However, Gradius Galaxies should more than satisfy your inner twitch gamer." Boss (video games) In video games , a boss is a significantly powerful non-player character created as an opponent to players. A fight with a boss character is referred to as a boss battle or boss fight . Bosses are generally far stronger than other opponents

5467-457: The titles featured in Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced as well as later Konami game compilations for PlayStation and Nintendo DS . The first true Gradius game to introduce the concept of the 'weapon bar'. During the game, many enemy craft leave behind items or 'pick-ups' when destroyed that can be used to power up or modify the player's vessel. Collecting one of these will shift

5544-571: Was developing a powerful weapon to use against the planet Gradius, but it was destroyed. A few years later it crashed on a planet and the planet gradually changed into a mechanical fortress. The planet Gradius then sent the Vic Viper to stop it. The game play is almost identical to other titles in the series. The player takes control of the Vic Viper spacecraft tasked with destroying hordes of enemies. Various traditional elements of Gradius are present —

5621-543: Was later ported with full color support as one of the four games in the Konami GB Collection Vol. 1 for Game Boy Color entitled "Gradius". Another Gradius game exclusively for the Game Boy. It was one of the larger Game Boy carts in existence at the time (2- Megabits ), and was completely different from the rest of the series. Most Gradius games used music, enemies, bosses, and even levels from previous games in

5698-485: Was originally named Scramble 2 . The development lasted for a year after refining and experimenting with the gameplay. The team originally tried twenty different movement patterns for the Options and used a process of elimination when something did not work. For the story, Hiroyasu's team was inspired by science fiction movies, with the popular sci-fi films at the time being Star Wars and the anime adaptations of Lensman . The team saw Lensman together and it influenced

5775-428: Was released as Vulcan Venture in territories outside Japan. The fourth game of the series to be released for the MSX platform. "Gofer no Yabō" (GOFERの野望) is also the subtitle of Gradius II for arcade. Like the other MSX titles in the series, Nemesis 3 has an over-arcing plot depicted through the use of narrative cutscenes. Nemesis 3 retains Gradius 2's weapon capture system, although weapons are obtained by navigating

5852-533: Was released on the PS2 in a compilation pack together with the arcade version of Gradius III ( Gradius III and IV ). Gradius Advance is the first Gradius to be created by a development team other than Konami's own internal teams (by Mobile21 , to be exact). A Game Boy Advance title, Gradius Advance is known as Gradius Galaxies in the United States and as Gradius Generation in Japan. The Japanese version, being

5929-533: Was the first arcade Gradius game in 10 years, following 1989's Gradius III ). Gradius IV lacked the Weapon Edit function of its predecessor, but it had a bigger array of weaponry than the original Gradius games. Weapons exclusive to this game included the Vertical Mine missile (which detonates in a vertical line shortly after deployment) and the Armor Piercing laser (a shorter-ranged, more powerful laser). It

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