Introduction

Few genres have as strong a reputation for difficulty as the shoot ‘em ups. To do well you need a focus and precision rarely seen in other genres of games which can be intimidating. The worst of them are simply a repetitive grey sauce of rote memorization and luck, whereas the best are a crescendo of impressive set pieces and inventive visuals that keeps teaching and testing the player, and pushes the boundaries of what the player thinks is possible.

Gradius is probably the most famous shoot ‘em up series, and Gradius 5 is unquestionably the best. It puts more control in the hands of the player without greatly increasing the complexity. It keeps the level of difficulty high while reducing frustration and making it easier to learn. I hope I can manage to convey just how much I like this game, and why it’s an excellent example of a hard game done right.

Videos

Intro
Level 1 - UNIVERSE
Boss timeout - Looping Core

Level 2 - BATTLESHIP
Boss timeout - Death
Boss timeout - Tetran
Boss timeout - Big Core
Boss timeout - Big Core Mk.2

Level 3 - FORTRESS

Level 4 - CELL

LEVEL 5 - METEOR

LEVEL 6 - SOMETHING GREEN
Boss timeout - Rotating Core
Boss timeout - Spherical Core
Boss timeout - Big Core Mk.3
Boss timeout - Covered Core

LEVEL 7 - IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS
Boss timeout - Beacon
Boss timeout - Keeper Core

LEVEL 8 - FINAL ENEMY