For the first handheld entry in the series, Nemesis for the Game Boy was a pretty great way to bring the Gradius series to the Game Boy, but on its own, it isn’t anything too special compared to the other games, but was still a good game. It did bring the series gameplay effectively onto the gray brick, while still being fast, fun, and satisfying to play, while also being quite possibly the most accessible entry in the series, given how the game would allow you to customize your playthrough before you would truly dive in. Of course though, this is Gradius we are talking about, and there was no way that Nemesis was going to get away without any kind of follow-up, so just one year after that, the sequel known as Gradius: The Interstellar Assault would be released.
I had no expectations when I went into this game whatsoever. Not to say that I was expecting a bad game out of this entry in the series, but we are all aware at this point as to what we are going to get out of one of these games, especially since this is the 9th entry in the series. But hey, I mean, the series technically reached its 10th anniversary in the year this was made, if you do count Scramble the first title in the series, so you could assume that they would wanna go all out for this entry……………….. which they didn’t do. I can’t necessarily say it is better or worse than Nemesis, but what I can say is that it is still a good title in the series, one that any fan would enjoy, and one that does improve on several aspects of the previous entry, while taking away several aspects.
The graphics are not just Game Boy graphics this time around, but they are also COMPLETELY IDENTICAL to Nemesis, with most of what you see in the game looking the exact same as that game, but hey, it still does look good for what it is, and some of the sprites of the bosses and enemies you face do look pretty good, the music is still good, sounding very similar to that of the original game, but still managing to provide a good selection of tunes to listen to while blowing up space goons, the control is the exact same as the previous, so moving on, and the game is almost identical to the previous in terms of gameplay, but it does bring in elements from the other titles in the series to make it not seem like a direct copy… only mostly.
The game is a horizontal scrolling shooter, where you take control of the ship that just doesn’t know when to quit, the Vic Viper, go through a set of five different stages through many very similar looking areas, shoot up plenty of different enemy spacecrafts and space creatures while trying to avoid turning into a collection of space dust yourself, gather plenty of different orbs to activate plenty of different upgrades for your ship that can do plenty of things, such as increasing your firepower, speed, or defense, and take on plenty of big, bad bosses that will put your shooting, aiming, and dodging skills to the test in numerous ways. It is a good ol’ helping of that same Gradius dish that you had been served plenty of times before, and you may be sick of it at this point, but to its credit, it still manages to hold the same level of quality the previous title had, and it is still fun to play despite its simplicity. And hey, not everything about this specific entry is entirely unoriginal… for the most part.
Returning in this title is the Weapon Select screen from previous games, where before you would begin a run, you would be allowed to choose your weapon preference for your missiles, your main weapon, and even for the lasers that you can unlock for yourself as you play. While it doesn’t change things up in the game too much, it is good to see this feature make a return in this game, and it works out pretty well, allowing for a good amount of variety for your loadouts. Aside from that though, the only real noteworthy thing I can mention about The Interstellar Assault is that, shockingly, there are bit-sized pieces of plot points that are shown throughout the game, and they even change up what happens in the game as well.
At the beginning of the game, there is a cutscene that shows you flying through space beside these spaceships, but they end up getting destroyed by an enemy force, and you are immediately thrown into the first level where you have to then rocket through plenty of obstacles trying to avoid getting shot down by that same enemy force. After you complete the first stage, you are then immediately captured by said enemy force and taken inside of it, to where you even lose all of your power ups, so you have to fight your way out of there. Now, if you were to say any of this about any other game, it sounds like no big deal at all, and really, it isn’t, but having some kind of story bits and cinematic moments in any Gradius game at all, Game Boy or not, is pretty neat, and I did enjoy these moments whenever they did pop up.
However, if neither of these features tickle your fancy, then there isn’t gonna be anything else in this game that will. It is still the basic gameplay that you have seen from the series over and over again, with little to nothing done to change it, and while it is still fun and satisfying, if you are expecting something new and surprising from the 9th entry in the series (which you definitely should expect at this point), you won’t get that here. Not to mention, the game still chugs at that stuttering frame rate that Nemesis did, and unlike that game, there is no customizable option menu that you get before the game. Sure, it isn’t exactly a feature that I expected would stick around after its original inclusion in Nemesis, but the fact that it doesn’t show up in this direct sequel is somewhat upsetting, so that is a bit of a bummer.
Overall, despite the continuing lack of innovation for this series and a lack of features that were in the previous title, The Interstellar Assault is still a solid enough entry in the series, and a pretty good sequel to Nemesis, taking that same gameplay the previous title brought to handhelds and continuing to make it fun, fast, and satisfying. I would recommend it for those of you who were fans of the previous title, as well as those who are big fans of Gradius in general, but all in all, there are plenty of other better shumps that you could play over this. But hey, it’s fine, Konami can just continue the series from here and improve on it further… you know, five years later. Or 8 years later, if you lived in America. I guess they Gradiused too hard and needed to have a bit of a break, like I need as well.
Game #468
I had no expectations when I went into this game whatsoever. Not to say that I was expecting a bad game out of this entry in the series, but we are all aware at this point as to what we are going to get out of one of these games, especially since this is the 9th entry in the series. But hey, I mean, the series technically reached its 10th anniversary in the year this was made, if you do count Scramble the first title in the series, so you could assume that they would wanna go all out for this entry……………….. which they didn’t do. I can’t necessarily say it is better or worse than Nemesis, but what I can say is that it is still a good title in the series, one that any fan would enjoy, and one that does improve on several aspects of the previous entry, while taking away several aspects.
The graphics are not just Game Boy graphics this time around, but they are also COMPLETELY IDENTICAL to Nemesis, with most of what you see in the game looking the exact same as that game, but hey, it still does look good for what it is, and some of the sprites of the bosses and enemies you face do look pretty good, the music is still good, sounding very similar to that of the original game, but still managing to provide a good selection of tunes to listen to while blowing up space goons, the control is the exact same as the previous, so moving on, and the game is almost identical to the previous in terms of gameplay, but it does bring in elements from the other titles in the series to make it not seem like a direct copy… only mostly.
The game is a horizontal scrolling shooter, where you take control of the ship that just doesn’t know when to quit, the Vic Viper, go through a set of five different stages through many very similar looking areas, shoot up plenty of different enemy spacecrafts and space creatures while trying to avoid turning into a collection of space dust yourself, gather plenty of different orbs to activate plenty of different upgrades for your ship that can do plenty of things, such as increasing your firepower, speed, or defense, and take on plenty of big, bad bosses that will put your shooting, aiming, and dodging skills to the test in numerous ways. It is a good ol’ helping of that same Gradius dish that you had been served plenty of times before, and you may be sick of it at this point, but to its credit, it still manages to hold the same level of quality the previous title had, and it is still fun to play despite its simplicity. And hey, not everything about this specific entry is entirely unoriginal… for the most part.
Returning in this title is the Weapon Select screen from previous games, where before you would begin a run, you would be allowed to choose your weapon preference for your missiles, your main weapon, and even for the lasers that you can unlock for yourself as you play. While it doesn’t change things up in the game too much, it is good to see this feature make a return in this game, and it works out pretty well, allowing for a good amount of variety for your loadouts. Aside from that though, the only real noteworthy thing I can mention about The Interstellar Assault is that, shockingly, there are bit-sized pieces of plot points that are shown throughout the game, and they even change up what happens in the game as well.
At the beginning of the game, there is a cutscene that shows you flying through space beside these spaceships, but they end up getting destroyed by an enemy force, and you are immediately thrown into the first level where you have to then rocket through plenty of obstacles trying to avoid getting shot down by that same enemy force. After you complete the first stage, you are then immediately captured by said enemy force and taken inside of it, to where you even lose all of your power ups, so you have to fight your way out of there. Now, if you were to say any of this about any other game, it sounds like no big deal at all, and really, it isn’t, but having some kind of story bits and cinematic moments in any Gradius game at all, Game Boy or not, is pretty neat, and I did enjoy these moments whenever they did pop up.
However, if neither of these features tickle your fancy, then there isn’t gonna be anything else in this game that will. It is still the basic gameplay that you have seen from the series over and over again, with little to nothing done to change it, and while it is still fun and satisfying, if you are expecting something new and surprising from the 9th entry in the series (which you definitely should expect at this point), you won’t get that here. Not to mention, the game still chugs at that stuttering frame rate that Nemesis did, and unlike that game, there is no customizable option menu that you get before the game. Sure, it isn’t exactly a feature that I expected would stick around after its original inclusion in Nemesis, but the fact that it doesn’t show up in this direct sequel is somewhat upsetting, so that is a bit of a bummer.
Overall, despite the continuing lack of innovation for this series and a lack of features that were in the previous title, The Interstellar Assault is still a solid enough entry in the series, and a pretty good sequel to Nemesis, taking that same gameplay the previous title brought to handhelds and continuing to make it fun, fast, and satisfying. I would recommend it for those of you who were fans of the previous title, as well as those who are big fans of Gradius in general, but all in all, there are plenty of other better shumps that you could play over this. But hey, it’s fine, Konami can just continue the series from here and improve on it further… you know, five years later. Or 8 years later, if you lived in America. I guess they Gradiused too hard and needed to have a bit of a break, like I need as well.
Game #468