The people of Gradius are in trouble. The ameoboid Bacterions have launched an all out attack against the planet, and it's up to you to fly into battle and save them. Along the way you'll be able to power up your ship with hyper speed, force fields, lasers, missiles, double beam cannons and more to help you battle. Based on the arcade game, Gradius is a side scrolling shooter. Shooting certain enemies will leave a power up pod behind which can be collected to add more power to your ship. Each level features a wide variety of enemies trying to stop you, with a large boss at the end. Gameplay is for one player or two players alternating.

Gradius is a horizontal shooter and the PC Engine conversion of Konami's popular arcade game originally released in 1985 (also known as Nemesis in the West). The players takes control of a prototype space fighter called the Vic Viper (aka Vulcan in America) and fights his way through eight deadly and long stages that include countless enemy defenses, giant Moai heads, huge end of level bosses and their weak cores. Some enemies drop Power-Pods when defeated - the most common are red and they increase the choice of weapons available during the game. These power-ups are visible at the bottom of the screen on a power meter and it is up to the player to decide of the weapon that fits the situation the most. This feature is at the core of the gameplay - cruel choices, should the player go for a new floating option or wait a bit more and grab a protective shield ?... The most basic weapons are ground missiles and double shots but they are soon followed by flying options that mimic the current active weapon and by deadly laser beams. Interestingly, this conversion features an extra level and several bonus stages not seen in the arcade game without forgetting a two 'non-simultaneous' player mode.

Gradius II is a sequel to Gradius, and Life Force, and is a horizontal space shooter composed of 7 levels. Like it's predecessor, you can collect power up from enemies and chose which ones to use when. This time, this system is enhanced because you can chose between 4 different power-up sequences, allowing you to use differents types of weapons against your enemies. There is also the possibility to gain options, which are mysterious balls of fire that follows your spaceship closely and mimic all its movements (including shots). While you only could have 2 of them in Gradius, you now can have up to 4 of them.

Gradius III for the Super NES looks and plays a lot like its coin-op counterpart, but, as with Super R-Type before it, it is plagued by horrendous slowdown when there are too many objects on screen at once. This disrupts the flow and the fun of what could have been a stellar shooter for the system. Also, the game is quite a bit easier than the original arcade version.

The Vic Viper starfighter returns to battle the onslaughts of the Bacterion Empire.

Gradius: The Interstellar Assault is an Action game, developed and published by Konami, which was released in Japan in 1991.

Salamander was ported to the Family Computer in Japan in 1987. Instead of being a direct port of Salamander, elements were taken from the original Salamander and the Japanese Life Force re-release, and some elements, such as levels and bosses, were removed to make way for new content. Most of the background graphics and enemy sprites from Salamander, however, are used in favor of those used in Life Force, though the Gradius-style power bar is used in place of the original instant pick-up system. The same year, North America received a port as well for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The NES version is practically useridentical to its Famicom equivalent, other than not having the multiple endings, having two option power ups instead of three, and being titled Life Force.

A superb and demanding shoot'em up that shares - along with Irem's "R-Type" - the distinction of being a true innovator of its genre and, again like R-Type, completely revolutionized the humble shoot-em-up.

Gradius' eye-catching graphics guaranteed gamer interest but it was the game's genius 'weapon upgrade' system that really made the difference. Never before could players actually CHOSE how to upgrade their ship. Destroying waves of enemies would often see the player reward with an 'orb' that could be picked up. The player could collect up to 6 orbs and could effectively 'buy' an upgrade from the 6 displayed at the bottom of the play area (speed-up, bombs, double, laser, multiple - which are orbs that follow the player's movements and add greater firepower - and a mystery 6th upgrade that is marked with an '?'). Game difficulty increases depending on how many power-ups the player has, so it is sometimes advantageous to NOT power-up your ship too much.

Gradius: The Interstellar Assault is an Action game, developed and published by Konami, which was released in Japan in 1991.

Salamander is a shooter by Konami and conversion of their own arcade game originally released in 1986. The players takes control of an highly advanced space-fighter called the Vic Viper and fights his way through relentless hordes of aliens and globulous brains. Power-up icons are scattered throughout the game and upgrade the ship in various ways - speed up, missiles, lasers, ripple lasers and force fields. The game features a unique stage layout and alternates horizontal and vertical levels. Each area is specifically engineered to create an immersive gameplay from deadly organic tentacles to hostile fire snakes. Finally, Salamander features a two simultaneous player option and a second player can join the party and pilot the Lord British space fighter. Interestingly, the two ships can even be controlled in single-player mode.

Salamander is a 1 or 2 player sequel to 1985's superb shoot-em-up, "Nemesis". While it retained the same basic gameplay and feel of its predecessor (particularly the superb and innovative weapons system), Salamander featured both superior graphics and a more imaginative approach to level design. The earliest example of the latter appears towards the end of the very first level, in which imposing, organic obstructions grow before the players' eyes. The game's third level - the infamous 'lava' level - is another good example of Salamander's superb design; with huge solar flares constantly erupting both above and below the player's ship that must be carefully navigated to avoid instant loss of life. Salamander introduced further variety to the action with the introduction vertically-scrolling levels, which alternated with the standard side-scrolling levels.

Salamander's weapon power-up system is as follows :
* SPEED UP : Five speed levels.
* MISSILE : Press missile button to launch.
* LASER : Your forward rockets turn into deadly lasers.
* RIPPLE LASER : Use shoot button to fire.
* FORCE FIELD : Protect your ship with barriers.
* MULTIPLE : Increase your fire power by up to four times.

Multiple special powers can be obtained, but the LASER cannot be used in conjunction with the RIPPLE Laser.

Vulcan Venture is an Action game, developed and published by Konami, which was released in Europe in 1988.