#GradiusDay

SHMUPS! That's right, Shoot 'm ups. The kind of games MSX has a lot of, and in between all the goods on that list shines the Gradius series. Or, as we MSX geeks call it, Nemesis. The horizontal scrolling space shooter celebrates her 35th anniversary on this day, May the 29th. So, Happy Birthday Gradius!

Vic Viper, the ship's pilot, a fearsome man with balls of steel. Shooting hell and all other evil to bits and pieces, leaving no witnesses. It is that man that got us on the edge or our seats when booting up Nemesis. Step into the shoes of this legendary space hero while screaming "eat that, scumbags!" when another Bacterion bites dust. Nemesis was sure one of the most favorite shmups on MSX in the early eighties. Hell, after 35 year it still is.

Konami's Gradius was the first shooter to introduce the concept of the 'weapon bar'. During the game, many enemy craft leave behind icons or 'pick ups' when destroyed. Collecting one of these will shift 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. Think of weapons like missile, laser and options that enhance Vic's fighter plane.

Nemesis (or Gradius) was the first of its kind, followed by sequels and spin-offs. On MSX we have for example Nemesis 2, Salamander, Parodius, Nemesis 3 and Space Manbow that all tastes like Gradius does. And it doesn't stop there. Gradius also appeared in numerous forms on other (gaming) platforms. It is a brand on its own. All great shoot 'm ups by the legendary software house Konami. And all a success for blisters.

35 years of Gradius calls for a celebration. And on May the 29th we do, it's Gradius Day!

Hip, Hip, Hurray! #GradiusDay

Comments (16)

By TheKid

Paragon (1238)

29-05-2020, 08:22

I was still playing 32KB tape games on my VG 8020, when a friend showed me Nemesis on his MSX 2. It made such an impression, I begged my parents for a MSX 2 aswell. And I played the game a lot. So, thank you and congraturations Nemesis

By tfh

Prophet (3430)

29-05-2020, 08:54

TheKid wrote:

Buying a Nemesis 1 instead of an MSX 2 would have been a lot cheaper
The first nemesis I played was Nemesis 2 though. I bought this for my Toshiba HX-10. I've spent countless hours playing that game. Man... I really, really love this series!

By meits

Scribe (6577)

29-05-2020, 10:39

I like these games a lot as well, but I never have been able to finish any of the games later than Nemesis 1 without cheating. I did have a disk hack of Space Manbow which could cheat you to next stage if you pressed F4. I've finished all the stages and bosses without dying, but never in one session.
Nemesis 2, 3, Parodius and Salamander were just a bit of a lot too hard for me.

29-05-2020, 13:38

haha, and it was the first time I saw a diskdrive, with unbelievable speed (compared to my tapes). So that was a big part of the begging too I was never able to finish any nemesis, though a friend of mine finished them all. I taped it on video cassette (on betamax), since the internet was available then to show it to other people.

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10135)

29-05-2020, 18:49

Meits wrote:

I did have a disk hack of Space Manbow which could cheat you to next stage if you pressed F4.

That tip even appeared in MCM back then, long live SMA.... it was SMA, was it?

By ren

Paragon (1947)

29-05-2020, 20:57

By Manuel

Ascended (19691)

29-05-2020, 22:02

Friends of our parents had a 8250 back then. Their daughter was in my class. Another class mate (somewhere in 1990 or so), copied some games for them on disk. One was Nemesis (yeah a crack). When they tried it out, they didn't get past the initial few screens and wondered what was so cool about "shooting some worms"...

Still, these friends of my parents also had The Maze of Galious and they got me introduced to that game. And the best thing of it: they had the original game, so we could borrow it (for several years?) to play it on our VG 8020. Man, I was hooked.

By fondacio

Master (155)

30-05-2020, 23:44

wolf_ wrote:

It was Martos.

By janghang

Master (131)

31-05-2020, 06:33

It would be wonderful if somebody can make an annotated disassembly of Gradius 2. I would like to study the codes.

By Louthrax

Prophet (2497)

31-05-2020, 09:19

ren wrote:

Good way to stat a Sunday morning :), and happy birthday Gradius, will never forgot my first encounter with Nemesis 2 at my friend's place in 1988 :)

By MaverickMSX

Supporter (6)

31-05-2020, 10:44

Since I played Gradius arcade in 1985, I felt in love for this saga. Even if I prefer Gradius Gaiden or Gradius 2, i love them all coz "destroy them all !"

By Samor

Prophet (2225)

01-06-2020, 16:17

I think Gradius Gaiden is also my favourite (the stage designs are very cool).
I thought Gradius V was really good too, a bit of a more modern take on the series (but there are no Moai, what gives?)

On the MSX I like Nemesis 3 best, even though stage 3 is unfairly hard compared to the rest (you either make it through the gravity zone in one go or better start over).

01-06-2020, 16:23

Did you finish Gradius V?

05-06-2020, 14:32

I think I did, but it was a while ago. Why, do I remember it wrong?

By AnsiStar

Master (144)

05-06-2020, 20:06

I liked them all. My favorite is Nemesis 2. My Brother get through N 1 an N 2 without any lost of a life. Wow!

18-08-2021, 14:00

♫ #GradiusDay, not that far away ♪

The Saga continues with The Ultimate Cosmic Sound Adventure (for real™ ;))

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