Hey all I’m back for this week’s Retro Game Friday with a game I can’t believe I haven’t covered yet. It’s Gradius!

Gameplay: This was one of the pioneers of the shoot em up genre as well as the bullet hell genre. Frankly I can’t believe I have yet to cover this game considering how influential it is. The premise is simple, get through each level while collecting power ups and destroy as many enemies as you can without getting hit. Frankly this game was hard, though that might be because the North American release, called Nemesis at first, actually had a higher level of difficulty compared to the original release in Japan.

Art: The art has aged pretty well with time, though given that this was made during the hey-day of 8-bit gaming at it’s finest that isn’t a big surprise

Music: Very arcade-y, but given that this was originally made for arcades that isn’t a surprise at all. Just don’t be expecting Final Fantasy levels of epic music.

Overall: A very important game that helped shape the future for almost every shoot’em up game that came afterwards.

For those who like: Sci-Fi, Arcade Games, Classic Games, Very Hard Games.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.