GRADIUS 2 NOT RELEASED IN USA SERIES

Then you'll have to cut your way through movement-restricting webs, the slightest touch against which will kill you instantly. Right from the start you'll be facing off against huge, fire-breathing dragons leaping out of flaming spheres of burning interstellar death. Gradius has always been a challenging series, and this sequel is no exception to that standard - it's tough. The ability to make those choices gives Gradius II depth and approachability right from its onset, and the selection proves to be a critical one - if you pick a feature set that doesn't flow with how you end up playing the game, you're going to get killed. Somebody blew up Gemini Man's stage, then sent the fragments into space. There are four available arrays, each one offering a slightly different set of upgrades - you can select from a straight, piercing laser or the wider-reaching ripple gun, you can pick an angled double blaster or a rear-firing tailgun, you can choose from four different types of missiles and you can have either a forward-mounted barrier shield or a ship-encasing force field to round out your defenses.

Weapons system customization is the most notable of those elements, as Gradius II gives you the chance to choose what configuration of power-ups the Vic Viper will have access to before you launch into the first stage. And its arrival is sure to please longtime fans, because this is the game that established many of the conventions that later carried over into the sequels that did show up here, later on.

Its debut in the Wii Shop as a downloadable Virtual Console title marks the first time it's been officially marketed to an American audience on its own, outside of the various different compilations over the years.

GRADIUS 2 NOT RELEASED IN USA SERIES

Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou is the long-lost Gradius series sequel that came to the TurboGrafx-CD in Japan, but, for whatever reason, never made the leap across the Pacific to arrive on our shores.

Gradius 2 not released in usa