Konami has revealed their latest video game anthology franchise collection.
Gradius Origins is releasing this year to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5. PC, & Nintendo Switch. The collection is made by M2, who also made a new sequel for Konami, named Salamander III.
And M2’s Salamander III looks impressive as it is, but the collection is nicely curated. As reported by Gematsu, it includes these titles:
- Salamander III
- Gradius
- Japanese ROM Version
- Japanese Bubble Version
- North American Version (Nemesis)
- EU Version (Nemesis)
- North American Prototype (Nemesis)
- Salamander
- Japanese Version
- North American Version(LIFE FORCE)
- LIFE FORCE
- Japanese Version
- Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou
- Japanese Early Version
- Japanese Mid Version
- Japanese Late Version
- North American Version (Vulcan Venture)
- Gradius III: Densetsu kara Shinwa e
- Japanese Old Version
- Japanese New Version
- Asia Version
- Japanese AM Show Version
- Salamander2
- Japanese Version
We will note that Konami didn’t reveal which one of these versions were based on console, or which consoles in particular. It’s a particular hindrance for figuring out if we could get the best versions of those games from that period. For example, the Sharp X68000 port of the first Gradius jumps above its weight class.
The listed games that say they are the Bubble version do indicate they ran on Konami’s proprietary Bubble arcade board. Subsequently, some of these games already appeared in 2019’s Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection. But on that point, Konami and M2 have added new features that make this collection the definitive way to play these games.
As you may have already expected, there are save state and real time rewind modes, but M2 has added considerably more so you can make the games easier in the specific way that you want.
Fpr example, Easy Mode makes it easier to play by reducing your ship’s hitbox. Subsequently, Invincible Mode stops you from taking damage. The score you can earn in this mode is not based on what enemies you take down, but how many times you are hit.
There’s also a separate Training Mode that lets you make even more adjustments. But then again, you also get to toggle things like dip switches.
It should be noted that many later Gradius games aren’t part of this collection. That includes an arcade exclusive shooter called Gradius IV, and the PlayStation 5 exclusive Gradius V. But all things considered this is a great collection, with a lot of titles for gamers who particularly first played these games all the way back in the 1990s.
You can watch Gradius Origins’ trailer below.
