Gradius V

Gradius V
Gradius V front cover The Gradius V cover depicts the Vic Viper starfighter accompied by four Options.
Developer(s)	Treasure Co. Ltd KCET
Publisher(s)	Konami
Designer(s)	Hiroshi Iuchi (director) Atsutomo Nakagawa (director) Yasushi Takano (producer)
Series	Gradius series
Engine	Intrinsic Alchemy
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release	July 22, 2004 September 14, 2004 October 8, 2004
Genre(s)	Horizontal scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, Cooperative

Gradius V (グラディウスV, Guradiusu V) is a scrolling shooter video game created by Konami for the PlayStation 2, and the latest title in the Gradius series of games. The game has been noted for its graphical improvements, expanded gameplay, and maintaining the series' core aspects . Gradius V made its first public appearance at the E3 gaming convention of 2003 , and during the subsequent year in a near finalized form , prior to its release on July 22, 2004 in Japan.

Set predominately in space, the player navigates the starfighter Vic Viper through a continuously scrolling background depicting the territories of Bacterion, an evil empire which serves as the player's enemy.

Plot synopsis

Satellite orbit

The story opens in the year 8010, Gradius era, when a military space station orbiting planet Gradius is attacked by Bacterion forces. As part of a counter-offensive, Vic Viper of the Gradius army engages the assailants in space. After a short struggle, two spacecraft appear through a time warp, one identifying itself as a future version of the Vic Viper. The craft requests the aid of his past self in order to destroy the cores within the large craft , which proceeds on a collision course with Gradius.

Diving into the burning atmosphere, the two penetrate the craft's rear hatches and interior defenses, before confronting an alien entity. With one core destroyed, the past Vic Viper exits and engages four approaching Core warships before entering the overrun underground stratum of Gradius' capital city.

Bacterion territory

Vic Viper's success grants the Gradians a brief moment of respite and a frontal assault at the heart of the Bacterion Empire is planned. Shortly after, the Vic Viper encounters a massive alien organism thriving in the darker depths of space. Navigating through an ever-changing terrain of moving flesh and regenerating tissue, Vic Viper eventually reaches the heart of the organism and obliterates it.

After emerging from the creature, the Vic Viper enters a debris-filled asteroid cluster and confronts the Bacterion's forward resource operation outpost. After piloting through the swarms of floating debris and defense installations, the Vic Viper engages a massive Core mining warship equipped with heavy weaponry within a sea of unprocessed rock.

The Vic Viper continues deeper into a nebula and discovers a heavily defended Bacterion manufacturing facility. Deep within, various devices process a mysterious and corrosive green liquid, and the Vic Viper bravely evades the deadly torrent. After navigating the liquid flow channels of the facility, Vic Viper finds an escape path to the exterior by flying in reverse. However, an entire flotilla of Bacterion Core defense battleships is waiting just outside the superstructure...

Bacterion base

With the entire Bacterion defense army on full alert of a certain spacecraft rapidly closing in on the heart of Bacterion space, a massive rush of fighters scramble to engage the Vic Viper. Yet, the Vic Viper continues unimpeded and proceeds to infiltrate the gates of the enemy base at full throttle. After destroying a high-speed defense Core ship in a mad pursuit, the Vic Viper penetrates the high security area, defended by a heavily armed Core Wall and a colossal, multipedal zero gravity walking transport called the Elephant Gear.

Core battleship

Vic Viper invades the innermost hangar of the Bacterion base, but is obstructed by a huge unknown object. After a futile attempt to destroy the object, Vic Viper's computer concludes that it is impenetrable. After a full scan yields no weak points, the pilot recognises the spacecraft as the one that appeared out of a space-time anomaly near the start of the game. He therefore orders the computer to generate that very same space-time anomaly and pass through. On the other side, Vic Viper runs into its past counterpart. Together the two ships manage to destroy the very core of the Bacterions.

Just before its final destruction, the Bacterion base's organic brain reveals that it is only part of a greater whole and thus there will always be new Bacterion invasions.

Mission sequence

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• Stage 1: Satellite Orbital Sky

Big Core Mk-I Rev.2

• Stage 2: Battleship Part 1

Death Mk-III → Tetran
Big Core Mk-II → Big Core Mk-IV

• Stage 3: City Underground Stratum

Ground Spider

• Stage 4: Bacterion Cell Hub

Huge Heart

• Stage 5: Asteroid Front Base

Blaster Cannon Core

• Stage 6: Bacterion Multiplication Factory

Rolling Core → Circle Core
Big Core Mk-III → Covered Core Mk-II

• Stage 7: Bacterion Fortress Hub

Beacon → Keepers Core → Elephant Gear

• Stage 8: Battleship Part 2

Venom

Gameplay

Similar in design and structure to previous Gradius titles, players take control of the Vic Viper spacecraft with a traditional Gradius power meter at their disposal for changing or upgrading current weaponry by accumulating capsules from destroyed enemy ships and emplacements. The game distinguishes itself by introducing new elements and expanding on fundamental gameplay mechanics that previously centered around the player's accumulation of 'Options'.

Option control

New for Gradius V is the addition of a second attribute for the Options (called Multiples in the European and North American releases) which allows players to manipulate the formation and firing angle depending on the type selected.

Types

• Type 1: Freeze

Locks Options in a fixed position relative to the Vic Viper.

• Type 2: Direction

Options can be aimed a full 360 degrees. Adjusting the angle temporarily freezes craft movement.

• Type 3: Spacing

Places an even number of Options above and below the Vic Viper. The distance between the Options and craft expand or reduces when activated.

• Type 4: Rotate

Options circle the Vic Viper in a swirling fashion.

Revival start

The revival start option (disabled by default) determines whether players are returned to a predefined checkpoint or restart from where they lose a life, a la previous Gradius games. When disabled, any Options collected will remain on screen for a short period of time for players to collect on their next life; other weapons and power-ups, however, are reverted to their initial states (as in the previous title Salamander).

Development and history

Gradius V is the result of a collaboration with former development studio Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and Treasure Co. Ltd, to whom Konami outsourced software development - which incidentally was founded by former Konami employees in 1992. Gradius V took many shapes and forms during the course of development and the staff changed aspects of the game's mechanics to distinguish Gradius V from previous efforts. Producer Yashushi Takano of KCET claimed in an interview on the promotional DVD Gradius Breakdown that the traditional Gradius formula had become stagnant, and that he sought a new direction. He also admits that some of their early work was not as impressive as it would later become. An arcade version was also planned but ultimately dropped because of time constraints .

Changes from previous titles

• The hitbox (the area vulnerable to damage) has been reduced and only covers the central body of the Vic Viper. Projectiles and hazardous materials may now scrape the edges of the ship without resulting in a fatal collision.
• INIT SPEED appears in the place of SPEED UP once it has been maximised on the power meter, players can restore the craft to its original velocity by activating it.
• Time limits are placed on each boss battle. Bosses will eventually retreat if not destroyed within a period of time.
• Weapon Edit reappears for the first time since Gradius III, but must be unlocked by completing the game's first loop.
• Rapid included as a button (rather than a cheat) for the first time in Gradius history.

Bundling and bonuses

A number of extras have been included in initial print runs of Gradius V in both Japan and North America. On April 9, 2004, Konami announced that a DVD called Options was being offerered to pre-ordereding customers in Japan, containing interviews with the development staff, an art gallery and a "superplay" video of Stage 5 . Adding further incentive for customers to purchase the upcoming product, Konami later revealed the availability of the "History of Vic Viper" - a limited edition booklet chronicling the history and weapons system of the Vic Viper ship and an additional promotional DVD with expanded content titled Gradius DVD The Perfect. Both items were bundled together with the finished game exclusively for the Japanese marketplace .

Reception

Reviews and awards

Publication	Score	Comment
Famitsu	32 of 40
GameSpy	5 of 5	Editors' Choice
Super PLAY	8 of 10
Compilations of multiple reviews
Game Rankings	82 of 100 (based on 55 reviews)
Metacritic	82 of 100 (based on 46 reviews)

Soundtrack

Main article: Gradius V Soundtracks

The soundtrack was produced by freelance video game music composer Hitoshi Sakimoto, who admitted being both honoured and stressed by the task entrusted to him. He also revealed that specific requests concerning the style of the music were given, and the score as a result comprises remixes of material used in previous Gradius titles, as well as a number of new tracks in the same vein. It was released separately as Gradius V Soundtracks by Konami Media Entertainment on August 18, 2004.

See also

• List of Gradius titles

External links

Official websites

• Official website Template:Ja icon
• Gradius V Rankings

General resources

• GameStone Gradius Home World
• Gradius V Reconquista - an illustrated walkthrough