In honor of Otomedius Excellent being released this past week, I thought I’d talk about some of my favorite games in the Gradius series, as well as some of my other favorite 2-D shooters as well.

Otomedius Excellent is a Gradius game at heart. Except, probably due to the popularity of other character-based shooters like Castle Shikigami and Deathsmiles, the protagonists in Otomedius aren’t spaceships, but underdressed anime girls riding little mini-spaceships around their waists like pool toys. As a game in the Gradius series, it’s not my favorite, but I’m glad Konami released it in the US anyway. But there ARE better Gradius games out there, so here are my top five picks:

Parodius

It’s actually a series of games now, not just one game, but they started out as a parody of Gradius. So it’s a silly version of the classic shooter and now you know why I like it! The stages are colorful, the music is goofy, and the bosses are silly, like a giant pirate ship with a cat head on it, or a cartoony octopus. The characters you play as are crazy, too, and include girls riding on missiles, stickmen surfing on paper airplanes, penguins, and more. I got the opportunity to play a lot of Parodius games by importing the collection they released on PSP in Japan. It’s actually very import friendly as all the menus are in English.

My favorite game in the Parodius series is one that was on the SNES and PSX and Saturn called Parodius: Forever With Me. The reason why I like this one is the stages are based on other classic Konami games, like Twinbee, Bemani, Goemon, etc. The ‘speed’ stage is based on Lethal Enforcers, and even has guns with cursors aiming at you! There’s even a level based on Tokimeki Memorial, a Japanese high school dating sim series (yuck). Some of the characters you can play as are from Konami games, too, like my favorite: Kid Dracula!

Life Force

Also called Salamander, they’re both basically the same game aside from a few cosmetic differences. Some may say it’s not part of the Gradius series, but aside from some weapon changes and vertically scrolling stages, it’s still Gradius. I have my best memories from the NES version, where my friend and I played two players on it all the time. Yeah, we used the code to get 30 lives. I like shooters, but I’m not THAT good at them!

Gradius 3

The third game is actually one of the weakest in the series, but I like it for more personal reasons. It’s actually the first SNES game I ever played, and NOT Super Mario World! You see, I got my SNES a week or so early at a trade days fair (this was before street dates were more strictly enforced). When I got home with my new SNES, we went to the local video rental place and saw they already had SNES games you could rent! So I picked up Gradius 3! I was so blown away by the graphics and sound. It was leaps and bounds ahead of what the NES was doing. That’s why Gradius 3 is special to me, because it was my first impression of the SNES.

Gradius V

I’m probably one of the few gamers who thinks that game maker Treasure is overrated. I think that most of their games are either way too hard to be fun, or not a complete game at all. But there are a FEW Treasure games I actually like. Astro Boy: Omega Factor on GBA is one of them. Gradius V is another. Treasure did a really good job with this PS2 game, but that’s no surprise since Treasure got its start at Konami anyway. Gradius Vis tough as nails, but fair enough that you know that next time you play, you’ll get just a little further each time. And you earn more continues and credits as you play, so that helps you progress even more. They really encouraged you to PLAY the game, not just barrel through it. And the graphics and bosses were creative, too.

Gradius Galaxies

This was a new Gradius game on the GBA. It really wasn’t that good, but I liked it for one reason only. It was easy! I’m horrible at shooters, but I enjoy them anyway. And there are not very many Gradius games I can beat. So I was really happy to conquer this one!

Cary’s Top Five Other Favorite Shooters (Besides Gradius)

Gradius would be on my top five favorite shooter list, but since I’ve already mentioned it enough already, I thought I’d share with you five other shooter series I really like.

Darius

The arcade version of the first game was three screens long, so it caught my attention right away. The music in stage one is also one of my favorite pieces of game music ever. If you want to hear it, just go to YouTube and do a search for “Captain Neo.” I also really liked G-Darius on the PSOne because you could capture any enemy ship, even mini-bosses, and have them on your side to help you! The common element in every Darius game is that the bosses are giant sea creatures. It’s really trippy! I wish that Darius Burst on PSP would come to the US somehow. I would import it, but it’s so expensive!

Ordyne

When I first played this on Namco Museum vol. 4 on PSOne, I fell in love with it right away. It’s a cutesy shooter with quirky catchy music. And the blue-haired shopkeeper Miyuki-Chan is just too adorable. When brother Jeff was very little, he loved playing two players with me and would always ask to play the “Flying Game.” That’s what he called Ordyne!

Gun.Smoke

I rented this game TONS of times on the NES. I think I just liked how the game had a Wild West setting instead of being a tired starship in outer space. And the music was pretty memorable.

Aquatron

This was an obscure game I had on my first computer: an Apple][+. Aquatron was kind of like Defender, except your spaceship could dive underwater to blast submarines. You could go to a ‘home’ ship for more energy, but if you shot it down, you wouldn’t have it anymore! Aquatron is one game I would love to see a remake of.

Gaiares

I couldn’t really decide what my number five pick would be, so I thought I’d honor the Sega Genesis a bit. While I’ve always been a SNES man, I have to admit that, at least in the early days; the Genesis had the SNES beat when it came to good shooters. And Gaiares was one of them. The neat thing about Gaiares was you started out with all the power-ups at your disposal, and you had to switch between them to use the best one for the situation. The game also had little to no slowdown, and the music was awesome!

Anyway, those are some of my favorite shooters! (I like other shooters as well, such as Xevious) In the comments section, let me know what YOUR favorite Gradius games and other shooters are! –Cary

Tags: Misc