I have been ranting about this game for some time now (since its release in 2004) because I'm just overly passionate about it - so here's my tribute to it.
Gradius V was done by Treasure because Konami doesn't have the resources in-house to do anything of this calibre anymore, where did all that arcadey talent go at the turn of the century?
This game is a brilliant test of endurance and skill, each loop takes about 45-50 minutes to clear and the difficulty increases each time considerably. The scoring is straightforward but indicative of how far you've progressed, your setup determines your ability to take enemies down with a vast array of long, short, and area of effect weaponry.
So forget the pre-configured type one through four, it's all about customising your ship's heroness depending on your needs. Strike a balance for the brutal obstacle courses and bosses, the boss itself or just the levels. Option control (the capsules that mimic your ships movement) also play a central part in this, they can be locked in place, rotate your guns, form a protective barrier and extend to inflict massive damage! And to top it all off the Viper has an amazing hit box. Gone are the big rectangles of old, only the central body of the ship is sensitive to hazards and stray bullets.
In terms of aesthetics it's more consistent and much more mechanically oriented than before, gone are the MOAI statues but replaced with meteor showers, contraptions and huge sweeping lasers who are all doing their best to kill you off, it makes for a thrilling experience but there's always a way out so you only have yourself to blame for any mishaps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ--JqQ1Tf0&NR=1 - tell me that doesn't look exciting!
I loved this game to pieces as well. Any game which has revolving stoners eye balls which scream as they blow up deserves as much recognition as possible.
That being said, it was a bit too hardcore for me. The thing that made me give up on 1CC it was falling victim to, time and time again, those annoying grey and white bullets which just VANISH among explosions. Getting hit by those as you are trying to save power ups for your ship before an epic boss battle, only to get snagged by somthing practically invisible soured my love for it slightly.
That being said, I've seen some crackheads of shmups forums LOOP the game 10 to 15 times! So it may just be that I am shit, which i'm willing to admit.
Awesome music too.
I'm utter shit at this game but love it to bits! The level designs are pure genius and I badly want to be able to finish it but I just don't have the mental stamina. I do try - believe me! I got Gradius Gaiden in for the Saturn aswell and found that I are epic phail no matter how hard I try on that too. I WANT to be able to get good at the Gradius games but I just never seem to improve.
Same story with G Darius which I'm currently playing >_< - trying to learn it in small manageable chunks, that Boss Select screen is pure gold!
I can watch these videos all day;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvDyRU3I9e8&feature=channel_page
Singhoooooo!
Saurian hooooo!
I think you've picked the better ones, Gaiden and V steps up the challenge gradually where the earlier games throw max rank stuff at you from the first level!
I used type 2 (rotate) for ages before embracing type 1 (fixed position) and my game improved immensely. It does involve more movement and putting your ship at risk but you can still reach everything and you have the definitive boss killer right there! Simply lock and move your formation of options into them and boom! Use spread bombs for an extra touch of heroness, too!
Who ever at treasure needs a good slapping for designing that option thief its just mental torture
Was having a good run on this was at stage 4 no lives lost which for me is epic . But all of hells fury opened up on me on the massive regenerating wall option thief appears with absolute panic setting in i manage not to slam in to the wall but my options where all gone and with that my hope. I managed to get one option before the boss appeared i scrapped through it with out dying but it just seemed to last for ever not sure if i killed the boss or it has a time limit and kills itself out of boredom does this game do that? Stage 5 with one option was just epic fail could not gain my lost ground and was just over welmed with space debris all lives lost in rapid succession gutted.
You are invincible to the thieves so what you can do is to just position the options so they appear off the screen and let the theives go past you. They won't be able to steal any options that way.
I got up to stage 6 on loop 2. I was unemployed at the time though. Could never face trying out anything other than type 2, seemed like starting my game all over again. That's where the real scores are, mind.