Gradius II Arcade - Full Run on Very Difficult (3/4)

[Archetype000]

Used to call 'Covered Core' by the more apt 'Missile-Go-Round'

[domedoesntlie]

The only reason I watched the speed run was to see the Lifeforce/Salamander boss fight because the Salamander theme is awesome... and because I haven't played a cool SHMUP since Ikaruga, Gradius V, and Radiant SIlvergun

[Sirfunnyma]

"Shoot it in the mouth!" That is what she said.

[rickonami]

Awesome gameplay.

[coolgamer1677]

5th boss is named "Missiles", I believe. The ice boss of the crystal stage is "Ice Ice". 

[collaterale1]

No Zelos Force

[tinabranford614]

3:27 i have been looking for which gradius game had this song and I FINALLY FOUND IT!!! YAAAY!!! =D

[Fel1230]

1:06 the real name of this song is "poison of snake"

[ScorpianViper]

Hey Seahawk, You know your profile picture? i would say its really cute :}

[cristianruiz1972]

2:20 Cuando despliega los tentaculos por un momento parece que se ve una esvastica.

[2010gaje]

The third boss is Gaw/Gau and the fourth is not Fire Dragon its called Intruder im guessing you don't know the bosses that well or maybe just these but good run though.

[Seahawk0027]

At the time of playing this run I did not know the names of those too bosses because I had never played Salamander before, and finding names for some of these bosses is hard. For example, I still don't know the name of the gunwall on the final stage.

[2010gaje]

@Seahawk0027

the gun wall boss is "Demos" and i don't blame you for not knowing the names i did not know them either at some point so i just wanted to correct you if your offended by this then sorry.

anyway i'm still trying gradius 2 on mame without savestates like the psp version i'm not too happy with what i seen so far dying on the crystal stage and you know where i had type B my first time using that type because i wanted to see what the is like using spread bombs.

[ElecManX]

Dunno if anyone pointed it out, the track you have listed as "Salamander/Life Force boss" is called Poison of Snake

[Theshark15z]

I wish you could destroy the option stealer.

[QwertyGuy499]

"...but without the extreme recovery problems of Gradius III, and without the high difficulty of Gradius IV."

I thought it was the high difficulty of Gradius III and extreme recovery problems of Gradius III and IV?

[Seahawk0027]

Gradius III isn't as hard as people make it out to be, it's just really long. Recovery is impossible in it.

Recovery is very possible in Gradius IV, the game gets easier each time you die. I can recover dying on Moai stage on hardest difficulty.

[hidenoritanno]

Name of Lifeforce BOSS is "GAU".

[Seahawk0027]

Someone already mentioned that, but thank you regardless.

[Kwaj]

Quiz Time:

In what NES sports game did Big Core make a brief cameo?

[Seahawk0027]

No clue. I know a Vic Viper-ish ship comes out when you hit a home run in Base Wars but as for Big Core appearances, I don't know.

[Kwaj]

Blades of Steel.

During the 2nd intermission of gameplay, you can a mini-game of Gradius where you have Vic Viper square-off against Big Core.

It's just in-game advertising. Gradius, Contra, and Jackal (three kick-ass games for the NES) are shown on the jumbo-tron above the ice.

[poopskinTheLiar]

i like how the Option hunter somehow goes through the Xaerous Door at 3:04.

[poopskinTheLiar]

Tetran's Tendrils seem to have gotten a bit longer between Salamander/Life Force and Gradius II...

[Seahawk0027]

In Salamander, I think Tetran's tentacles were Konami's first attempt at sprite rotation, at the time that was a new effect, so they pushed the hardware hard. Plus, with only one 68000 on the board the game lagged already with those few tentacles if you had 4 options plus laser =P.

Remember that technology advances a lot in two years....Gradius II came out two years later with two 68000s on the board, and a better GFX controller. More power = more sprites.

[bluemismide]

Ah, one more thing. That Fire Dragon is named 'Intruder'.

[Seahawk0027]

Ok, that stuff I didn't know. Thanks for being so knowledgable ^^. I'll do fixes with annotations.

[bluemismide]

1. Salamander/Life Force Boss Theme is named 'Poison of Snake'.

2. That Boss from Life Force is named 'Gau'.

[jpopkamaria]

How do you get that text on the screen? I have the MAME version but I never get that.

[Seahawk0027]

You can't get that text on MAME. I made all the text myself and added it during video editing.

[poopskinTheLiar]

Aw, why doesn't the arcade version have Zelos Force?

[Seahawk0027]

Because Zelos Force is too easy to be a Gradius boss =P.

[NDAntilla]

Great video!

I'm stuck at this point in the PSP 'Gradius Collection'.

I can get up to 'Covered Core', but just can't beat it.

I have found that sticking to the very left side of the screen will render you untouchable for most of the battle--there are only 2 missiles that can hit you there; the rest pass right through your nosecone.

I even have my hit-box set to the arcade default.

Good vid! I'll be using this as my study guide for when I'm not bashing my skull against Covered Core.

[Seahawk0027]

That's the tactic I followed, most of the missiles will just graze you without hitting the hitbox if you stay to the left of the screen. When dodging you only have to move a little bit to the right =).

Although, beware, as the hitbox on the PSP version may be different because of the different screen size ratio.