Gradius Origins Review (Switch eShop)

It is testament to Konami’s back-catalogue, from an era when it was the undisputed king of the 16-Bit and 2D arcade craft, that it can muster so many extraordinary compilations. Gradius Origins joins both the Contra and Castlevania Anniversary releases, and Digital Eclipse’s wonderful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, as yet another essential for purveyors of fine gaming antiquities. M2, long-time Konami collaborator and the professional darlings of the porting industry, return here, adding Gradius Origins as another key entry in their expansive ShotTriggers library.

For whatever reason, the Switch is usually the bottom of the pile when it comes to cross-platform input lag tests. This is less an issue in 3D games, but for 2D – and especially those in the shooting game genre – it’s critical. While input lag can never be perfect, Gradius Origins feels wonderfully tactile, with M2 eking out responsiveness in ways not thought possible. Playing as uniformly close to the arcade originals as one could hope, this is a celebration of seven wonderful titles – six new, and one brand new title. And, while 1988’s Salamander and Life Force are technically the same game, they feature very differentiating regional and mechanical nuances. For many, the latter is considered a something of an upgrade overall.

For clarity, Gradius is a series built around a one-life clear, or as near enough as possible. Typically, dying in mid-to-late stages and being stripped of all power-ups is extremely difficult to come back from. Salamander, on the other hand, is a more immediately accessible spin-off series, replacing the cycling power-up menu with standard icon grabs that instantly enhance your craft.

Salamander does away with checkpoints, allows you to grab Option pods and weaponry back after death, and showboated back in 1985 with a wealth of awesome digitised speech. Here, M2 have provided optional in-game subtitles for this, too, present at the foot of the screen. Perhaps Salamander’s salient gimmick, and now a series staple, is that it switches dynamically between horizontal and vertical stages, prompting you to “go up” after the stage one boss. It also heralds the introduction of the Lord British ship, accompanying Vic Viper in the player two position.

Gradius (1985), Salamander (1988), Life Force (1988), Gradius II (1988), Gradius III (1989), and Salamander 2 (1996) are now joined by Salamander III, an all-new entry in the series, crafted by M2. The last original entry prior was Gradius ReBirth – also by M2 – released seventeen years ago on the Wii Virtual Console. To that end, Salamander III isn’t just an arbitrary bonus; for many it represents the sole reason for purchasing the collection. And, M2, clearly aware of both the responsibility and reputation, have delivered an exceptionally accurate return to Konami’s beloved franchise.

Salamander III kind of does it all. While it plays like Salamander, it takes boss, stage and enemy elements from Gradius. Here, Vic Viper, toting a stronger laser, and the Lord British craft a stronger Ripple weapon, are fighting back the Salamander army yet again. Both now feature a powerful Burst shot that can be used freely on a reheat timer, clearing paths through organic matter and debris. The series’ quirky 80s adventure vibe slaps a smile on your face early on, with the announcer warning you to watch out for Moai heads embedded in muscle tissue, and while the recognisable bacteria theme is present, Salamander III veers through asteroid fields, Gradius III-like sand ruins, and the mammoth techno-corridors of a superfortress.

Graphically, it sits authentically in the pocket of mid-90s arcade games, and is a blast to play from the outset, full of urgency, adrenaline, and blazing lasers. The first loop is satisfying to work through, and surprisingly (and for some, encouragingly) easy, dishing out extra lives like there’s no tomorrow. Loop two introduces more to dodge and some jazzed up enemies, and is ten minutes longer, tougher, and the only way to face the true-last-boss. You can go beyond this, but by loop four it’s plain insanity in fast forward.

Is it the best of the Salamander series, though? No. While solid, there’s a lot in here that feels a little like a remix as opposed to a wholly original outing, perhaps drawing too heavily from past elements right down to its hitboxes and graphical stylings. Salamander 2’s stunningly beautiful, colourful, wonderful arcade chunkiness, snazzy set-pieces and boundless invention still make it the salient entry, with a deeper, more exciting risk-reward Option system. It’s incredible to think that on release it was a game much maligned by an ignorant gaming press. Today, depending on shooting preferences, it’s arguably Salamander’s gold standard.

Salamander III, while the draw, overshadows another delicious bonus: Gradius III AM Version, which was only shown at trade shows in Japan prior to the alpha release, and hasn’t been seen since. Well, it’s here now, and poses a very interesting curio for series fans. This being an infamously, soul-crushingly difficult game, however, one might consider dropping the difficulty or employing the rewind function to see more of it.

The rest of the collection, which documents the series over the years, is beautifully presented. There are accompanying storylines at the selection screen, and even a well-considered warning that Gradius III is so hard it’s likely to grind you to dust before you finish it. M2’s now standard “Gadgets” are in full effect, allowing you to configure information about every on-screen detail, display hitboxes, adjust auto-fire rates, and make use of replays and online leaderboards. You can adjust screen dimensions, tweak filters, buttons, HUD displays, and, bar Salamander III – which is purposely excluded from cheat-your-way-through tinkering – utilise a rewind function at the press of a button. This now-expected attention to detail makes all the difference, breaking down each entry into not just regional variations, but also their respective PCB updates.

You’re encouraged to explore each variant, and footnotes on the select screen will give you a useful overview of what the key differences are. Each title features a bespoke Easy option created specifically for the collection. These exist separately to the configurable difficulty settings that were part of the arcade hardware, making Konami’s wonderfully goofy but fairly challenging space war universe all the more accessible. If that weren’t enough, there are galleries full of original concept and promotional art, and music players to groove to.

While there’s so much glorious stuff here, one may still feel disappointed that Gradius IV, Treasure’s incredible Gradius V, Gradius Gaiden, and even M2’s own Gradius Rebirth, aren’t included. It’s difficult to complain there’s not enough here, because there’s plenty, but fans will know that many of the absentees are considered high points. Salamander III, however, does a lot to smooth over frustration in this regard.

Conclusion

M2, famous for its articulate, somewhat surgical approach to porting historical code just right, has done another fine job with Gradius Origins. There’s so much polish here it positively gleams, and the overall care, bonus gadgetry and quality of life extras are all impeccably set. Salamander III is the big one, and it delivers, even if it doesn’t really push the envelope in terms of originality or visual bombast. It’s a shame there are still Gradius absentees in the list, and one day perhaps a truly comprehensive compilation will rear its head. For now, though, it’s time to saddle up and destroy the core like never before.