3 Konami Shmups on the NES - a video response to Zagroseckt

A video response to Zargoseckt's video response to my Gradius Tribute video
http://www.youtube.com/user/Zagroseckt
Check out his channel. It's worth checking out and subscribing to!

Gradius on the NES is one of my favorite games also. In the US LifeForce was marketed as the sequel to Gradius where in fact in is not. completely. In Japan Nintendo released Gradius II which is the true sequel to Gradius and features the same glowing suns and firebirds as you find in the Nemesis3 game on the MSX. So Konami really did make a big confusing Gradius/Nemesis universe out of all these games.

I thought you'd also like to take a look at Parodius which did make it to the NES albeit in PAL format. This cart will play fine on the Toploader but will give a toaster model Nes troubles. Unless you clip the 4th pin on the nes10 chip which I did on almost all my toaster models.

And the last game is a Famicom-game by Konami that goes by the name Crysis Force or Crisis Force and is a very nice vertical shmup with game mechanics much like those found in the RECCA Shmup by Naxat. It features some impressive 3D parallax scrolling.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• konami shmup Crysis Force
• Crisis Force
• gradius
• gradius 2
• parodius
• famicom
• nes
• nintendo
• toploader
• markvergeer
• zagroseckt
• video response

[PSI236]

What would be the best way to try Gradius? Preferably on my systems, but I have emulators too.

[markvergeer]

@PSI236 Sorry for not responding any sooner. I remember reading your comment on my phone but not being able to respond right away.

Gradius Arcade will be a very good experience although you need to use two buttons to shoot the bombs and specials separately. On the home consoles the TG16/PCEngine versions are rated very highly. Especially Gradius II on the PCEngine CD-rom.

The ports on PS2, Xbox are pretty much arcade perfect ports (perhaps even emulated versions).

[TrevHead10]

3 great NES games that I really need to make the time to play, as Gradius NES is the only Konami game apart from JPN Xexex that ive spent a decent amount of time playing. Crisis Force is one of the best NES shooters there is, I had no idea it was a Konami game, I thought it was a compile shmup.

BTW how does the NES version of Parodius play like? is it as good as the SNES / Arcade version? Does it have the same difficulty? (while i can 1LifeClear Gradius NES I totally suck at parodius)

[markvergeer]

@TrevHead10 Thanks. I can understand where you're coming from, the game mechanics are very much like compile shooters in this one.

The Nes Parodius game plays great, on my NTSC Toploader it plays the best though as it is designed to run at 60Hz and slows down a little when played on the original PAL-NES.

I think Parodius is a little easier than Gradius. But that could all be very personal. :P

]

[janporra]

CrisisForce looks insane adrhenaline

[markvergeer]

@janporra Crisis Force is an excellent shmup and indeed it really releases quite a bit of adrenaline whilst playing it. A good reason to import a Japanese game I'd say.

[markvergeer]

@janporra Indeed, quite weird it all is. And there's more weirdness later on in the game. :P

[janporra]

8:20 wtf a Cat-Ship. and it does meow

[markvergeer]

@rowdyrob3d Considering the release dates of these Konami games shown here they all came out pretty late in the NES/Famicom lifespan and the machine really is being pushed to its limits here. It is a very good looking game in my opinion and for an 8bit release is amazing. Of course the TG16/PCEngine releases are counted among the best of them.

[markvergeer]

@takigan Thanks. It really is weird why Konami opted not to release this game in the west. I guess the fact that the Superfamicom/Snes was released just prior to it made Konami drop the US and European release of the game that was supposed to be in the works.

It plays well on a Toploader or Toaster with the NES10 chip disabled with help of a 60->72 pin converter I own. It is also possible to use a Gyromite heavy 5 screw cart with built-in Famicom adapter for this.