But that’s an advanced tactic.Īiding you in your mission to at least get as far as Stage 4 are the power capsules left behind by certain defeated enemies. You’ll also need to shoot at the enemies from time to time instead of taking screenshots. However, if you want to actually beat the game, you’ll need Game Genie and dumb luck. Still, progress is not impossible it just requires the right balance of reflexes, practice, and strategy. By the end of the third stage, you’ll be dead. By the end of the second stage, you’ll have gained some exposure to maneuvering your ship through tight spaces and tackling enemies with more unique attack patterns. By the end of the first stage, you’ll have mastered the basics of dodging, shooting, and collecting/using powerups. The game itself consists of virtually nonstop sidescrolling space-shooting action, and the learning curve is excellent. These turrets look like they’re howling at the moon to mourn my passing. (It’s written like that in the manual: “eeeeeevil Bacterions.”) You, the person holding the controller, have blasted off in the direction of the Bacterion superfortress in a prototype space fighter called the “Warp Rattler,” a name no doubt derived from the nauseating motion of OH GREAT GRADIUS WHY DIDN’T WE TEST THIS FIRST!? Evidently someone forgot to install a guidance system before liftoff, because instead of plotting a safe course around all the hazards between you and the final boss, you pilot the last hope of your people directly through the densest concentrations of Bacterion forces in the galaxy, pretty much guaranteeing the utter annihilation of your civilization. Here’s the premise, summarized from the instruction manual for the sake of the illiterate: Gradius, a peaceful Earth-like planet (a contradiction in terms, I know), is under attack by the eeeeeevil Bacterions. With three lives, no continues, and a fragile spaceship that explodes if the pilot so much as yawns, Gradius is tough…but worth the trip down memory wormhole, especially if you can drag a friend or family member along. Gradius was one of the first three videogames I ever owned (along with Crystalis and Super Can’t Get Past World Fiveio Bros.), and I have fond memories of watching the Game Over screen with my father. There are plenty of other games that use this legendary button sequence, but right now on the VC it's the Gradius code.Nostalgia has a way of coloring one’s perceptions of the past, and I think that’s part of why I so greatly enjoy this game series I’m so terrible at. Entering the code while paused enables powerups like in other Gradius games. Gradius II (Famicom): The code has two uses in this game: entering up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, then Start at the title screen grants you thirty lives, like in the beloved and missed Contra. Gradius II (PC Engine): Entering up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, II, I at the title screen enables all powerups, as usual. Gradius (PC Engine): Pressing up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, II, I works just like it does in NES Gradius. The Japanese VC has a few more Gradii on which the code works. Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES) refers to the code in Zone IV, when a character informs you that "if you use the code 'Up Up Down Down L R L R B A', nothing will happen." He is correct. You must use the L and R shoulder buttons instead of left and right on the directional pad. Entering up, up, down, down, left, right, left, rightB, A, Start will give you all the powerups and then kill you. Gradius III (SNES): Gradius III is significantly trickier about the code. All of them, in fact, but Speed Up and Double. Gradius (NES): Pressing up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, then Start while paused gives you a load of powerups. There are actually only two games available on the American Virtual Console that use the Konami code, and they're both Gradius games. The A, B, B, A continue code from Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road. That's right, we could only be talking about one famous cheat code. You know this code by heart you may even have a t-shirt bearing its pattern. It's the first code anyone thinks of when they hear about game cheats, and it's become an enduring symbol of classic video games. It would be impossible to write a weekly column about classic game codes and leave out the most famous code of all. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage. The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game.
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