Glad I’m not the only one xD

He also missed the trick to position Vic Viper between the boss's firing shots. Vic Viper can fit between the shots, and you can do the trick he does in more places with that knowledge. Man this game was my jam back in the day!!!!

Same, you really need the two speeds at first, otherwise the ship is just WAY too slow.

It was on SNES as well. I remember struggling with an underwater part and the heck levels. The sequel seemed a bit more forgiving.

I'd like to see the Sega CD version if possible. I've been asking for him to do Little Samson on the NES for the past 7 months, but each week.....

@@furiousapplesack There's a missing level in the SNES version so I was thinking the Genesis was a more complete version.

@@brockhard3555 That game has the best worst ending.

I had both Genesis and SNES, and was wayyyyy more a SNES guy, but yeah, absolutely, EARTHWORM JIM was better on Genesis... and of course, all the sports games and Mortal Kombat better on Genesis too ... I was also a big Sega CD fan, so I always kept my Genesis around... Dragon's Lair Mansion of Hidden Souls (very underrated, and if u can overlook the TERRIBLE voice overs, you got a really intricate, spooky, problem solving game that got better the further you got, and has one of the scariest, most unexpected moments of any game I ever played... if anyone reading this knows, uhhhhh..HALLWAY GOLEM, anyone lol??? Sucks, I can't "relive" that thru a walkthrough video, cuz they don't die in those vids, just breeze right thru... but it got me, whomever I showed that to, and the VERY few friends who also played it...) and I believe yet another rather underrated game, but I have yet to meet/chat with someone who HAS played: THE THIRD WORLD WAR on Sega CD, and not absolutely LOVED IT .... actually playing out your invasion battles definitely saved it from being a tedious, monotonous strategy game... and when all else fails, NUKE EM! ("get them before they get you!" 😉)

Beated is not a word. Stop it!

@@Animebryan2 funny, I've seen more people use beated than beat. Thanks for the correction!

Abadox is underrated. Really freaking hard.

Congratulations!! This was one of the hardest games ive done a guide for.

Lifeforce/Salamander is easier due to the fact that it uses a different revival system and potentially having a buddy to give you a hand (but it also features the live stealing system from Contra), Gradius games uses the checkpoint revival system, however in Gradius Gaiden if you are in a 2 player game it uses the Salamander revival system instead, in Gradius V the game by default uses the Salamander revival system for single player (EVEN if you have to use a continue you restart on the same spot you died instead of the start of the stage or checkpoint), but yeah, Lifeforce/Salamander despite that is not a walk in the park, is still hard, bur feels fair somehow.

Actually Gradius isn’t remotely “bullet hell”. While Gradius is SUPER difficult, actual bullet hell games are notable for how many bullets they have on screen. Gradius doesn’t really have many. Bullet hells are also notable for becoming a self mockery by having the player have a tiny bit box and then putting stupid amounts of bullets on screen to appear more difficult than it really is.

@@PikangsFutaba honestly I always thought Life Force was alot harder than Gradius. Sure the revival system is better in Life Force but I think I never actually beat Life Force without the Konami Code.

The armor piercer in Gradius IV was powerful, I would sometimes choose that over the laser.

Same.im a cotton addict

I think the nes gradius doesn’t get a lot of attention at all because it’s just one of many versions and not the best by any means.

I agree. Gradius is much harder because recovery after dying is near impossible. Contra anyway, despite being hard, is nowhere near top 10 hardest nes game. Contra is pretty generous of extra lives and recovery is very possible as long as you being careful.

There’s not really an official pronunciation. Arguably, it’s actually meant to be “Gladius”, as in the Roman sword. But the “r”/“l” Japanese “Engrish” phenomenon has it being translated as a “Gradius”. But you will find support and rebuttal for that theory online. But, generall, no matter what the “long a” pronunciation would be less correct than other alternatives.

​@@JazGalaxythat same r/l thing is also why Nelo Angelo's name in the original Devil May Cry was spelled the way it is

BTW, I also recommend emulators (if one has a legal copy of course) for pretty much any game that relied on the password save system, had no saves/continues at all, or that only had one save location (looking at you, Dragon Quest 1 and Zelda 2). Yes, technically it may make the game easier but it's a huge anti-frustration feature that simply fixes a problem that was originally unfixable (or inherited from the arcade payment-encouragement model) This can even turn nigh-unplayable nightmares (again cough Zelda 2 cough) into interesting games where you can actually explore/get into the gameplay, or at least playable. Also, while this part would immediately disqualify a competitive run because it *is* cheating - if you're just playing for fun, I recommend doing it for games that have That One Sequence (clunky platforming in a JRPG where sheer luck can make you fail? A series of rhythm-linked button presses where if you miss a beat you lose out on a really good item? A boss rush where you've defeated 3 of 5 already but aren't certain where you stand on making it all the way? Etc) because saving state right before the sequence really does remove the "why am I doing this over 100 times just to get there and fail again I HATE THIS GAME" factor.

Yeah, I definitely encountered that mini game (and Life Force) well before Gradius itself. I'm semi-surprised he didn't mention the Blades of Steel mini game in historical portion of the video.

I think they marketed life force as gradius 2. Maybe I’m making that up thoughz

@@JazGalaxy you should check gradius 2 on famicom. That game is really great

You can get Gradius 3 and 4 on one disc for the PS2, graphics and gameplay are incredible!

If you're talking about the Gradius 2 that's called Vulcan Venture in America, the arcade version is on one of the Konami anniversary collections

What was the other one?

Zelda 2 actually

Always appreciated!

Volcano "boss": The manual suggests you have 2 options, missiles, and the laser, and position your ship right above the volcanoes with the options above you. This is perfectly safe even without a shield (this is why I get the shield last), the missiles will rain down on your ship and destroy any incoming boulders. It's much safer to deal with both volcano "bosses" this way, because the laser just mows everything down. Zub Rush: Use a similar formation to the one described above, and let the missile barrage from the options defend you. This should take care of 99% of the incoming Zubs. Motherships and "Meatballs": The manual recommends using your options to take these out as you can "ram" enemies with options. The ramming itself won't do anything, but it keeps your ship from ramming the enemy while your options destroy it. Whenever your shield turns red (around 27:00), that means it's got one hit left. If there are capsules around, you should deliberately take one enemy hit and immediately recharge, because the enemy will start firing several shots a second towards the latter stages, and you want that shield topped up at all times. Capsules are easy after the "meatball" stage. Nucleus boss: You can shoot this boss' projectiles, so you can position yourself like for the volcano bosses above (options above) towards the middle of the left side of the screen, right behind the lip of the lower ledge.