The game is basically a side scrolling shooter much like others of the time like Defender. This game is different though as it has a unique power-up system which is used in every Gradius game released since. It allows you to power up your weapons throughout the game.

When you shoot certain enemies or collect a power-up a bar will light on your weapon bar at the bottom of the screen. Once you have all 6 lit you will gain another power-up.

The game has 6 levels in total and as you cruise left to right across the screen, wave after wave of strange enemies come to destroy you.

One of the more annoying parts of the game is the fact that if you get killed you get sent further back in the level and lose all your power-ups. This leaves you with weaker weapons than before yet you must defeat whatever kills you the first time.

This happens throughout the game and I imagine this was very hard the first time round as it is extremly annoying now. Overall the game is fun to play though. The graphics are good for their time and the controls work very well with the Wii system. If you have 500 Wii points to spend this game is well worth it for some Retro fun.

mcfaddenben - console-central.