- So far, a little better than the NES version, but not by much.
- The standard shot is worse than in Gradius I and Salamander, which coupled with its checkpoint system, makes the game impossible to beat outside of a 1-life run.
- None of the improvements to the formula seen in Salamander carried over. Feels like a step back.

- With Richter this is a 7/10, with Maria this is a 9/10.
- Certain enemies that back in the NES/SNES games had predictable movement were changed to be complete RNG, meanwhile, Richter's movement is still too stiff to properly react to them. The game feels like its trying to be two things at once.
- The game's level and boss design takes one hell of a nose dive after stage 5.