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They did at least 100 different versions. Designers did a lot of tries before they fixed the design of the ship. First shoot-em-up with serious power-ups.
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Game ID: GX400 Main CPU: MC 68000 10Mhz / G400 BIOS Sound CPU: Zilog Z80 Sound chip: 2 x AY-3-8910 psg Players: 2 Control: 8-way joystick Buttons: 3 TRIVIA Gradius was released in May 1985 in Japan. The end-of-game boss is a giant, disembodied brain. Once these have been destroyed the core itself is exposed and shooting this will destroy the enemy ship. The ship is called the 'Big Core' and to destroy it, players first have to destroy four barriers blocking a narrow channel on the front of the ship. Gradius features five stages with a large alien ship waiting at the end of each. Game difficulty increases depending on how many power-ups the player has equipped, so it is sometimes advantageous to NOT power-up the player's ship too much. Occasionally, destroyed enemies will drop blue capsules, these act as single-use smart bombs that kill all on-screen enemies when collected.
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These capsules can be collected and used to upgrade the Viper's weapons. To achieve this, players must destroy special individual enemies - usually red in colour - or enemy waves that then drop orange capsules.
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The game features a power-up system based on a selection meter at the bottom of the screen called a 'power meter', this allows players to 'buy' weapons and upgrades.
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These new galaxies are teaming with alien life set upon destroying the Viper. Gradius is a horizontally-scrolling shoot-em-up in which the player pilots a spacecraft known as the Vic Viper as they search through unexplored galaxies looking for a lost armada. published 37 years ago: Gradius © 1985 Konami.
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